The Floating Bridge between Portsmouth and Gosport in the 19th century.
The first two ferries were Victoria, quickly joined by the Albert, which were
eventually replaced by the Alexandra and the Duchess of York.
Note the "sponsorship", with Brickwoods marketing slogan running
all the way along the length of the vessel!
The first floating bridge began operating in 1840 and the service continued
until 1959, when lack of funding prevented the company from replacing
vessels that had been kept running by a continuous programme of
repairing and patching up, or from replacing the chains, which were becoming
dangerously corroded. . They call it progress, but I remember how, as a
small boy I used to love to stand watching the bridges come in by the
Still and West pub at Old Portsmouth.

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