Waverley Excursions’ River Clyde based paddle steamer Waverley returned to the south coast for her 2016 season 8th-22nd September during what is the 70th anniversary of her launch in 1946. A boiler issue saw her sailing from Southampton cancelled on 10th September, a day when she was fully booked.

Her former consort Balmoral, a 1949 built motor vessel that originally served Red Funnel as an Isle of Wight ferry, has concluded her second season under the ownership of Bristol based White Funnel Ltd. The vessel should have taken part in proceedings when the Red Jet 6 was named at Cowes on 4th July and was scheduled to operate for Red Funnel 8th-12th September as a relief vessel on Southampton-Cowes in addition to some excursion cruises during her stay. Sadly the latter was completely cancelled due to the collision with the Trinity Landing pontoon in Cowes during June.

On 1st September restoration work in dry dock commenced on the steamship TS Queen Mary, which is in the process of being transformed into one of the U.K.’s largest interactive maritime exhibits in Glasgow. The vessel was built in 1933 and is the last of her class in the world. As part of the vessel’s transformation, specialist coatings supplied by AkzoNobel’s International brand were applied to the ship at dry dock in Greenock. When the work was completed, she was berthed on the River Clyde at the heart of Glasgow’s Finnieston hub, where visitors will then be able to experience the vessel.