The Girl of Our Hearts

On Tynwald Day 1998 a new flagship entered service in Manx waters, she was criticised for being uncomfortable, for not carrying enough passengers and people just didn’t warm to her.

Now, after 25 years of gliding back and forth across the Irish Sea, the Ben-my-Chree will soon no longer be top dog, as her younger sister, Manxman, steps up to claim the crown.

For anyone who hasn’t read Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘I Know You Got Soul’, the basic premise being that machines are not just nuts and bolts put together and powered by petrol or diesel, they are alive.

No doubt if you ask any crew member of the Steam Packet, especially the captains, they will tell you that the Ben has her little peculiars, a noise here and then or a way she behaves in rough weather, yes, she is alive.

The Ben has always had a presence about her, she’s like a horse. Not a race horse obviously, but the sort you’d see in a period drama just going about its business, even when it’s not feeling its best, it still will drag itself that last bit home to ensure she doesn’t let anyone down.

For 25 years she has done that, crossing the sea bringing with her passengers, TT fans, food, medical supplies, mail, even the occasional fair ground ride to our little island, almost like clock work she arrives each morning and evening across the bay, on the home stretch into Douglas harbour.

As an island nation, we understand the importance of sea links and we all know it only takes two days of storms for Tesco to be empty. But even when the weather has been rough, she’s been there, bobbing up and down in a way that would make you feel seasick just looking at it, rising up before tilting forward almost like she’s going to dive down below the waves.

Even during the pandemic, when we were locked down and then when life on the island pretty much returned to normal, she was there, with her crew, reminding us of and providing our only link to, the outside world. Even when the airport abandons us, the Ben is there, come summer or winter, 2.15am from the bleak port of Heysham, she’s there, ready to trot home, bringing with her the weary and their goods.

Have I articulated this brilliantly? Probably not, but what makes a ship special is that it can and will mean different things to different people, to some she will be a commute they do once a week for work, or a link up to the UK’s grimmest train station, to others she will hold memories of a school trip or any number of adventures, it doesn’t matter.

The Ben-my-Chree isn’t just a ship, she’s so much more than that.