My Hamble Ramble
‘ The Pink Ferry’ runs regularly between Warsash and Hamble and is a familiar sight, well known to the locals along the Hamble, a stretch of river between Southampton and Portsmouth on the south coast of England.
This beautiful waterway has become very popular over the last twenty five years as the yachting and sailing community has expanded significantly, with busy moorings and yards prevalent along the river.
Back in the sixties it was a different story, it was the perfect place to escape. I often remember grabbing the fishing line and heading down to the shore in some rare hope that I would encounter some legend from the deep. But normally just the odd Bass, quite a lot of Eels and Crabs. Care free ways to spend your day and fond memories to look back on.
Fishing was a popular activity with most of us, so playing around the river was second nature. One glorious day in the school holidays a couple of us had scrambled aboard an old disused and run-down houseboat. One end embedded in the mud bank, the other protuding up in the air, the perfect playground. We sat replaying yesterday evenings adventure at the main docks in Southampton. This was the real deal – Massive ships and machinery, lights from the ships dancing in the evening sky.
Our friends father, a rotund figure involved in the frozen food business I think, had arranged for us to use the dock for an evenings fishing. There was a group of five or six, and once we arrived we were all roped together and tied to the nearest structure, to keep us from falling in the dark and deadly dock!
Even in the summer the breeze was cool, but then I caught my first fish. The flat fish was flapping and floundering across the dock, and I was desperate to take a closer look.
Then Dixon of Dock green Arrived, a tall intimidating fellow who demanded immediate respect. I remember him bending down and asking if he could assist, I didn’t say anything, I just stared as he reached for his wooden truncheon and promptly smacked the fish firmly on it’s head. Thwack! No more flapping fish 
It was our first ever experience at the Docks and our first encounter with ‘The Law’
We talked for hours that day on the houseboat, never caught a thing, got covered in mud, and went home happy. Life was just so simple!
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.
I’m sure that I’ve seen “The Pink Ferry” you describe. Isn’t there a lovely walk along the shoreline at the spot it leaves from? Loads of huge houses on the shoreline too, from what I can remember!! There’s a great pub in that general area somewhere, overlooking the river, called “The Jolly Sailor”, or am I in completely the wrong place?