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- This article is about the Isles of Scilly passenger ferry which operated until 1956. For the ship currently in use, see Scillonian III.
The RMV Scillonian was a passenger ferry built for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company in 1925 by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ltd of Troon, Scotland. She was designed to carry 400 passengers and cargo between Penzance, Cornwall, UK, to the offshore Isles of Scilly.
The contract price was £24,500 (£1,010,000 as of 2024),[1] and the Scillonian was launched on 17 November 1925 and named by Mrs. A.A. Dorrien-Smith. The Scillonian made her first trip to Scilly on the 25 January 1926 and her first regular trip from St. Mary's to Penzance on Thursday 2 February 1926.
At 429 gross tons she was considered, by some, as too big and unsuitable for local seas (the same happened when the second Scillonian went into service in 1956 and again with Scillonian III in 1977)[2], however she became popular over the years.[3]
The Scillonian served the Isles of Scilly in almost continual service for over 29 years (including the war years of 1939-1945, with 40,000 troop movements being recorded)[2] until replaced by a new ship in 1956, which was replaced by Scillonian III in 1977.
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United Kingdom
