Hooray and up she rises

Hooray and up she rises

After two years at the bottom of Victoria Harbour it is likely that the historic Lady Chelmsford will soon be salvaged.

Marine Safety Victoria has called a meeting of the stakeholders to finally raise the former Sydney ferry which mysteriously sank at her Central Pier mooring late afternoon on February 18, 2008.

The wreck is now the property of insurance company Nautilus Marine which has not announced its plans for the Chelmsford.

Nautilus marketing manager Mark Crockford would not speak to the Docklands News on the boat’s future.

And her former owner and principal of Pleasureboat Cruises Keith Rankin said terms of a settlement with the insurer prevented him from commenting on the past 24 months of negotiations and legal proceedings.

However, public record documents show that Nautilus denied liability, claiming the vessel was unseaworthy and, therefore, in breach of the policy.  The case ended up being settled in Mr Rankin’s favour by the Financial Ombudsman Service last year.

Proceedings of the case reveal that Nautilus issued the policy in return for a website link as a sponsorship contribution towards the restoration of the vessel.  Nautilus was ordered to pay interest on the sum insured plus the cost of salvage.

Lady Chelmsford was a wooden, single screw steamer built by Rock Davis in Blackwall, New South Wales. First launched in 1910 she had a gross weight of 98 tons, and was 110 feet long.

The boat was one of the last surviving “Lady” class ferries in substantially original condition.  She was modernised with a diesel engine in 1933 which was replaced in 1957.

Lady Chelmsford continued working the harbour until 1971 when she was sold to South Australian interests before coming to Melbourne in 1985.

At the time of her sinking, Mr Rankin was in the final stages of restoring Lady Chelmsford.

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