Isle of Wight ferry services War four of the SW&BRCSPS paddle steamers were commandeered by the Royal Navy as minesweepers leaving only two behind. The PS "Duchess of Richmond" was lost to a mine in the Mediterranean Sea. On 1 January 1923 the SW&BRCSPS was taken over by Southern Railway which had been created in the Grouping ordered by the Railways Act 1921. Isle of Wight ferry services There are currently three different ferry companies that operate vessels carrying passengers and, on certain routes, vehicles across the Solent, the stretch of sea that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. These are Wightlink, Red
Politics of the Isle of Wight county back into Hampshire as a district in the 1974 local government reform, but a last minute change led to it retaining its county council. However, since there was no provision made in the Local Government Act 1972 for unitary authorities, the Island had to retain a two-tier structure, with a county council and two boroughs, Medina and South Wight. The borough councils were merged with the county council on 1 April 1995 to form a single unitary authority, the Isle of Wight Council, as recommended by the Local Government Commission for England. The only significant present-day administrative link with