AERIAL VIEW OF TS BRIGHTON AT SPEED

A very smart and fast ship.

By Mick Cutler

Brighton (VI) and her French running mate Lisieux were two of the fastest ships on the Newhaven-Dieppe route, both capable of over 25 knots. Although not the official record holder for the fastest crossing, Brighton holds the honour of being the only vessel ever to make three round trips in a day.

A full-size print of this photo, and many others of our steamers, is to be found at Newhaven Museum.

Andy-Editor

Photo:TS Brighton (VI)

TS Brighton (VI)

Old BR postcard

This page was added by Mick Cutler on 04/04/2010.
Comments about this page

What a fantastic shot. Brighton was always my favorite ship, such great lines.

By Terry Howard
On 04/04/2010

Which ship holds the fastest ferry crossing between Newhaven/Dieppe. Dieppe/Newhaven?.

Over to you Andy!

By Bill Purcell
On 07/08/2021

The official record holder is 'Paris IV', at 2 hours 36 minutes.

I discussed this many times with the late Peter Bailey MBE at Newhaven Museum. There are different ways of measuring the crossing. Pier head to pier head is one way and would result in a faster time than the other, which is from letting go the last mooring line on departure to picking up the first mooring line on arrival.

We don't know which was used for the Paris IV. It's possible that Brighton VI went faster on the day she made three round trips but it seems no-one was timing it. What we do know is that on leaving Newhaven, her Master would often ring down for Full Ahead on leaving the East Quay and she would be flying along by the time she passed the end of the Breakwater!

The later catamaran and monohull fast ferries went faster than Paris IV or Brighton, of course - the fastest time was around 1 hour 48 minutes by 'Superseacat Two', but according to Peter Bailey (and me!) the record is always given to a 'real' ship! :)

By Andy Gilbert
On 08/08/2021
Add a comment about this page

If you're already a registered user of this site, please login using the form on the left-hand side of this page.