Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Crossing the River Ely . .

1871 - "Conveyance by Omnibus - Jenkin David, to & from, daily; Richards & Price's, from Ship hotel, to St. Mary street, to & from; Williams, from Dock hotel to St. Mary street. Penarth Ferry. - An omnibus every half hour, from the 'Cardiff Arms', to the ferry."

1871 - "Conveyance by Water - Penarth Dock. - The Kate steamer, from Bute docks, Cardiff, running every half hour, to & fro, during tide time. Penarth Ferry. - A steamboat plies across the Tidal harbour, running day & night." Slater's Commercial Directory [170] for Penarth 1871.

1871 - "Collision in the Gutway - On Tuesday as the screw steamer 'John', Captain Bellamy, was leaving the Ely tidal harbour, a collision occurred between it and the Taff Vale Railway Company's steam ferry boat, which plies from one side to the other of the Ely river. A good deal of damage was the result - the ferry boat being sunk - but fortunately no one was injured." Cardiff Times [019] 28th January 1871.

Which of the steam ferries was sunk is not clear. Or was this the chain ferry? It could have been 'Kate', or ''Jane', or the 'new ferry' referred too in the newspaper report of 1869. Does anyone have a record of this event please?

1880 - "Boat Accident at Cardiff - Four Persons Drowned - The man in charge of the ferry boat belonging to the Taff Vale Railway Company, and which plys from Penarth to the north side of the Ely, from where the Ferry Road leads from Grangetown to Cardiff, was surprised to find at midnight on Friday night a boat half filled with water, and which had drifted on to the chain which stretches across the river and guides the ferry boat. As it was shortly after high water he had little difficulty in placing the boat - a ship's jolly boat - high and dry.

About half-past seven o'clock on Saturday morning he saw the body of a seaman lying on the beach with an oar by his side. The body was conveyed to the dead house, at Penarth Dock, and steps were taken to get the body identified. The boat had painted on the stern "Agathe, St. Malo." Messrs Morel Brothers were at once communicated with, and it was found that the Agathe is a small vessel, employed in the home trade, and was lying in the East Mud. It seems that the captain, Mr Armande Jolie, left Messrs Morel office about half-past five o'clock on Friday evening, with him was his brother, Guiseppe Jolie, the captain of the Perseverance, lying in the West Dock, and another brother, Ferdinand Jolie, the mate of the Agathe.