By Isle of Wight Observer
A rather lengthy article published in the Isle of Wight Observer of November 10th, 1885, ends with a sentence that brings to mind the ferry company services that the Island ‘enjoys’ today. It was only 36 years earlier, in 1849, that French writer, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, was credited with coining the aphorism “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”, which translates to “the more things change, the more they stay the same”!
ISLE OF WIGHT STEAM BRIDGE.
An advertisement appears in our columns to-day of a scheme which, should it be carried into effect, will prove one of the most important things ever accomplished for Ryde, and the eastern and southern parts of the island, including Ventnor, in particular, and the whole of the other portions generally. The scheme is to apply to Parliament for an Act to empower a Company now in the course of formation to establish and maintain a Steam Ferry or Floating Bridge with all the necessary approaches, &e., between the Stokes Bay Railway terminus and Ryde Esplanade. The advantages which must necessarily accrue from the realisation of this project are so numerous and palpable that it is almost a work of supererogation to attempt to point them out; but as no object, however good, can be carried into effect without the risk of encountering some opposition, it is necessary that a short review of the question should be given. Every one, we imagine, will admit these two propositions: that our insular position gives us immense advantages in point of scenery – we have land and sea, hill and dale, at every turn – which give an irresistible charm to strangers; but these self-same strangers when they want to leave for their homes say, like Moore’s Hinda, “I’ve wish’d that little Isle had wings,” so as to avoid the inconveniences attending the sea passage across either to Portsmouth or Southampton.
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The Pier Company is so recklessly managed that the fares are most extravagantly high, and it is impossible for the vessels to convey the traffic in any improved manner.