Daily service, every 20 minutes, until 22:00 in the summer and until 19:20 in the winter

Established in 1888, it connects St Mawes and the Roseland Peninsula with Feock, Truro and Falmouth by avoiding the alternative 27 mile route through Truro & Tresillian. Each year the King Harry Ferry saves 5 million car miles, 1.7 million kg of CO2 and ¾ of a million litres of fuel. It carries 300,000 cars every single year. One of only five chain ferries in England, it departs every 20 minutes from each side, 7 days a week from early in the morning until late, the ferry is a key transport link for visitors and locals alike.

The King Harry Ferry offers its passengers the chance to avoid miles of congested roads and once aboard you can get out and enjoy the slow river crossing which takes in one of Cornwall’s deepest and most beautiful rivers – the Fal River. The iconic ferry with its glass side, chain viewing windows and touch screen information display is combining state of the art technology with a traditional friendly service.

 The chains take the strain...

In order to guide the 350 tonne ferry back and forth in all weather conditions, the ferries 270m long chains have to be incredibly strong and tough. With up to 90 crossings a day, 364 days a year, the chains undergo a huge amount of wear and have to be replaced regularly. Each chain weighs the same as a humpback whale and their combined strength is enough to lift ten double-decker buses. After entering the ferry over small ‘jockey wheels' at each end the chain is fed onto the main ‘drive wheels' which pull the ferry across the river. These large wheels are over 2m in diameter and are driven by hydraulic motors, which in turn are powered by one of the ferries three diesel engines.