At about 1730 on February 18, 2008 one of the great survivors of the Australian marine scene quietly sank alongside her berth in Melbourne’s Yarra River. 
  After almost 98 years afloat the one-time Sydney ferry Lady Chelmsford lay on the bottom of the Yarra with her future very much in doubt. Her owner was quoted as saying that he hoped to refloat her and replace her in survey but keeping in mind the shortage of commercial slipways in Melbourne and the fact that the old ferry has been out of survey for a year or more, the future must be in doubt. In a sad co-incidence another, smaller, ex-NSW ferry Maheno sank nearby in the Yarra in December after apparently hitting a rock. Maheno, built in Sydney in 1923 for the Wyong–The Entrance ferry run, had worked for about 40 odd years in Newcastle before moving, first to Pittwater, then to Sydney and then sailing down the coast to Melbourne in 2005. Maheno was raised, more or less intact, and was then broken up. 
  Lady Chelmsford was built by legendary shipwright Rock Davis at Blackwall on Brisbane Water, south of Gosford. She was launched on April 14, 1910, the first of a new class of steam-powered wooden ferries built to the order of the Balmain New Ferry Co. Safely afloat and taken up, the new ferry was towed to Sydney where Morrison and Sinclair of White Bay, Balmain, fitted boiler and a compound engine, and built her superstructure, fitting her out with accommodation and all that such a ferry needed. 
  Lady Chelmsford was soon to be joined by four sister ships. All were steamers and all were to have very long working lives. All had individual features that allowed Sydneysiders to identify the one from the other, something impossible with the anonymous Sydney ferries of the 2000s. 

  Joining the ‘Chellie’ was the Lady Denman of 1912,and the Lady Edeline, Lady Scott and Lady Ferguson (Fergie) all in 1914. 
  After retirement in 1979 Lady Denman after many adventures, became the focal point of the Lady Denman Heritage Complex at Huskisson near Nowra. The hull of the Lady Scott continues in use on Port Jackson as the cruise boat Harbour Queen, ex-John Cadman. 
  The Lady Edeline was the last of her clan in commercial use as a ferry on Port Jackson. Retired in 1985, she sank during heavy rain in 1988 and was broken up. The Lady Ferguson was sold to Hobart in 1985 after the harbour bridge in that city was smashed. After an expensive tow to Hobart surveyors found that, as was common knowledge around the Sydney waterfront, she was rotten and was totally useless. She was broken up in Hobart. Which brings us to the Lady Chelmsford. 
  Along with her sisters and other ferries she was taken over by Sydney Ferries Ltd in 1917 and, instead of working around the Balmain-Sydney area, was soon working the Lane Cove River run and generally westward of the harbour bridge area. 
  With the opening of the bridge in 1932 Sydney Ferries found they had too many high-capacity ferries. There was a need for economical, mediumcapacity ferries and it was decided to convert the Lady class to the newfangled diesel system. This would mean a crew of three instead of four or five and re-fuelling could be easily and quickly done every three weeks instead of every three days. 
  In 1933 Lady Chelmsford became the test ferry using a Gardner diesel which gave her ten knots. Instead of an all black steam funnel she had a shorter motor ferry funnel and a new colour scheme which was soon universal in the ferry fleet. 
  The Gardner worked until the 1960s when it was replaced by a more powerful Crossley diesel engine which gave her another knot of service speed. 
  By the early 1970s the government ferry service management felt the old Lady Chelmsford was no longer economically viable and she was laid up for sale or demolition. 
  Port Adelaide professional seaman the late Keith le Leu had been collecting Australian maritime items for display in his private maritime museum in Port Adelaide for many years. He decided to buy the after wheelhouse of the ‘Chellie’ and arranged to have it slipped unobtrusively aboard one of ANL’s ships, which delivered it to Port Adelaide. 
  Meanwhile some businessmen from Port Adelaide bought the old girl with the intention of sailing her to Port Adelaide where she would be fitted out as a Showboat. 
  Lady Chelmsford was not built to go to sea and there were many people who felt that she would never make it. In August 1971 the ‘Chellie’ reached Sydney’s Heads and turned right for the first time. Her crew had picked the weather right and away she went. 
  Down near the Victorian border the ferry closed in on Green Pt Light and were told by the (then) lighthouse keeper that “Sydney was up that way – you’re going the wrong way!” 
  The Lady pressed on stopping in Portland for fuel and then came the drama. In the Backstairs Passage between Kangaroo Is. and the rest of South Australia, the crew ran out of cooking gas. Nothing daunted they produced a cooking fire using a fire bucket with strips of malthoid from the upper deck for (very smelly) fuel. The belching smoke from the fire attracted the attention of a passing workboat which came over to help fight the fire! 
  Lady Chelmsford arrived safely in Port Adelaide and can claim a really odd record. She must surely be the only ship ever to enter port some weeks after her after wheelhouse had arrived! 
  From 1971 to about 1985 the Sydney ferry served the Port River as a Showboat, always looking just like a Sydney ferry with a missing wheelhouse. She was replaced by a larger purpose-built showboat in 1985 and went back on the market – almost 15 years after her Sydney owners had sold her. 
  Bill Leahy bought her. He had recently failed in an attempt to sail Karingal, another old Sydney ferry, only slightly younger than the Chellie, from Sydney to Melbourne for use as a Showboat. Karingal could not handle Bass Strait and sank, fortunately without loss of life. 
  From 1985 to about 2005 Lady Chelmsford worked the Yarra and nearby gradually changing her appearance along the way but still looking like a classic Sydney ferry. 
  While her future now looks dubious Lady Chelmsford has been written down before – time will tell. 

*Graeme Andrews’ book The Watermen of Sydney can be had from Boat Books, ABC books and all good book stores. Mail order enquiries may be made to Stannard Marine at 02 9418 3711.