PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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POST-WAR CHANGES The Great Western Docks at Millbay, Plymouth, saw its highest passenger traffic in the year 1930, when 788 liners called, landing 41,130 passengers and 307,912 mailbags. The number of calls fell back after that to just over 500 in 1935, which was lower than it had been a decade before. When, in September 1939, War was declared, both the liners and the Docks had more important things to do. Millbay Docks suffered from bombing during the Second World War, as did the rest of the City. There were air raids on August 27th 1940, when the tender "Sir John Hawkins" was damaged and on December 15th 1940, when the "Sir Walter Raleigh" was hit injuring eight crew members. There was a brief return to prosperity after the War. On June 19th 1945, the Royal Mail Lines' "Drina" made the first of the post-war calls, but the Docks were not really ready for its 25 passengers and 24 mailbags, which had to be landed by the Admiralty paddle-tug "Camel" rather than one of the tenders. The all-time peak for ocean mails occurred in 1949, when a record 437,295 bags were handled. But it could be said that the writing was already on the wall. For over a decade air travel was starting to take over from the sea and road distribution replacing rail transport for freight. Passenger traffic dwindled and slowly the tenders were disposed of. The last of the Ocean Special trains ran on May 18th 1962. Following the closure of the Oranje Lines' service to Canada in the summer of 1963, the "Sir Richard Grenville" made its last excursion on Wednesday September 4th 1963 although it was recalled into service the following month when the Dutch liner "Diemerdyk" became the last liner to call at Plymouth. She embarked 18 passengers and one car but the "Sir Richard Grenville" returned empty to Millbay to await the official closure on October 31st 1963. In February 1972 the roof canopy that had sheltered passengers at Millbay Pier was taken down. Although the Trinity and Princess Royal Piers remained in use, Millbay Pier was too exposed to the elements and deteriorated. The warehouses and buildings on the Pier were demolished in 1988. The old Pier Hotel followed the same fate in March 1989. But all was not lost. New apartments and a marina adorn the eastern side while the deepwater West Wharf area was converted in 1973-74 into a terminal for Brittany Ferries' services to Roscoff and Santander. Although only a shade of its former glory, Millbay Docks is once again enjoying relative prosperity. Back to
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