Back to Woolwich! MV Royal Iris hosted and inspired some of the biggest names in music in the 1960s, and is fondly remembered by many Merseysiders – so how the heck did she end up rotting away in Woolwich?
If you have enjoyed this video, please consider donating the traditional cost of a coffee to the Greenwich Wildlife Network:
https://www.greenwichwildlifenetwork.org/how-to-help
Sources and further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Royal_Iris
IanVisits: Royal Iris – the Mersey ferry rusting away on the Thames
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-mersey-ferry-rusting-away-on-the-thames-36783/
Royal Iris awaits her fate
https://web.archive.org/web/20071107193943/http://www.irishseashipping.com/photofeatures/historicships/royaliristhames0806/royaliristhames0806.htm
Former Mersey ferry gutted by fire, BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg41k7e94dno
Mersey Ferries Meets Merseybeat: Riverboat Shuffle Cruises
Includes a picture of the Beatles playing on Royal Iris, taken by Mike McCartney.
https://www.merseyferries.co.uk/about-us/the-beatles/
Keith Chesworth’s 2006 pictures
https://web.archive.org/web/20100308191431/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/keith.chesworth/amerseyferry/real%20royal%20iris/realroyalirisindex.htm
2014 Urbex – Gabe 28 Days Later
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/mv-royal-iris-london-august-2014.91709/
Music Dayz fact for 25/8/61
The Beatles support Mr. Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band on the MV Royal Iris.
https://musicdayz.com/fact/16924/
The long and exciting career of SS Royal Iris, 1906-1961
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Royal_Iris Mersey
Pirate photo via SatKids https://www.paulmorris.co.uk/satkids/index2.htm