Looks like it is end of the road for the Egremont.

https://www.nationalhistoricships.o...ruct-registered-historic-vessel-egremont

Sad to see the end of it, but nothing lasts forever; you'd need a fortune and a lot of love for it and what it represents, to convert it into anything usable. Without wishing to hijack the thread, I'm more upset about losing the Bar lightship to be honest - that should never have been taken away from Liverpool.

It would be interesting to know where all the memorabilia will have disappeared to. Ships clock, wheel, brass, etc. !

Could be re-purposed...? Hmmm ! Heard that before and I hope she doesn't end up as the Royal Iris did.

Crazy that they paid for the hull repairs and some other refurbshment, paid for the dock hire, then are just chucking it away.

I can't see the new ferries being the draw that these are for tourism, over half the world know about "Ferry Cross The Mersey"

Indeed Greenwood, the Bar Lightship the gateway to home, everyone excited with the "channels" after months away.

Interesting but always feel quite sad when i see these once vibrant places be it houses or ships/ ferries abandoned. It seems in quite good nick, wonder it hasn't been claimed by some squatters. At least it would be giving no shelter to someone...

Don't get these two vessels mixed up.

The Egremont is the registered Historic vessel whose immediate future looks like it may be heading for the scrap man.
This is the one that was built in 1951 and was a sister to 'Leasowe'. It was decommissioned years ago, engines removed and converted to a floating club ship and training vessel with accomodation for 93 people for use in in Salcombe harbour. It was moved to Sharpness Shipyard in late 2016 for repairs and conservation work as part of a long-term project. Substantial repairs were carried out before funding ceased. National Historic Ships UK, with whom it is registered, acknowledges the financial support of its sponsors, who are The Headley Trust, The National Lottery and The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Just after the original post was written, the situation changed when the ship was posted for Sale on a brokers site and The National Historic Ships UK added the following to their description -
"Update 26th February 2019: The ship is now liver* on the broker's site - https://www.boatshed.com/passenger_vessel_ferry-boat-257561.html."
On the brokers site it is priced as "£0.00" and towards the end of the blurb it says "Note: Offers on the asking price may be considered." (* I think it's a typo for 'live' - at least it's not 'toast'.)

Meanwhile, the video that Ste posted above is of the Royal Daffodil, which used to be the 1961 Lairds built Overchurch before its major overhaul and refit in 1998/99. This included fitting new engines, which proved to be troublesome. Shortly after the refit, the German manufacturers stopped making these engines and spares dried up, making it costly to maintain. Merseytravel mothballed the vessel, leaving it moored in Birkenhead's East Float, at the ferry berth, close to the Duke Street bridge. This was meant to be a far cheaper option than leaving it in service, as requirements indicated only two vessels were required. As such, it was supposed to have its engines turned over every few weeks and be in a state where it could be returned to service in about 6-8 weeks. Of course, all of this was before the last strategic review which indicated that the future of the ferry service could not be relied upon by using 60 year old vessels, hence the idea of ordering two new ones. Meanwhile, Mersey Ferries are keen to ensure that they don't end up looking like they are somehow responsible for another rusty wreck fiasco as has happened with the 'Royal Iris'.

So, while the topic is about the future of 'Egremont' and Ste's video is of 'Daffodil', it's easy to see how either or both could end up like the 'Royal Iris'.

In 2013 the Egremont Trust was awarded grants of £428,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This shows yet again how incompetently managed the Lottery Funds are. Its a nightmare creating a successful application and the process is intent on showing sustainability. But as with many European grants, there are a trail of failed projects that have had a lot of money awarded, their tests of sustainability are clearly flawed and large amounts of public funds are wasted.

The sellers was hoping for the Sale price to at least cover the money spent on refurbishment:- "price on application to reflect works carried out to date". If that had happened it would have mean that effectively somebody had managed to convert lottery grants into cash for their own pockets.

The one in the video has just been bought by someone...

Here