Lady Scott, later John Cadman and Harbour Queen, was a Sydney Harbour ferry built in 1914 for the Balmain New Ferry Company. She and four similar ferries, Lady Chelmsford (1910), Lady Denman (1912), Lady Edeline (1913), and Lady Ferguson (1914), were a new series of "Lady-class", designed by renowned naval architect, Walter Reeks.
Lady Scott and her four sisters survived the 1932 opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and were converted to diesel power that decade. They also survived the 1951 NSW State Government takeover of the ailing ferry fleet. Lady Scott was sold out of ferry service in 1969 for use as a cruise boat. A 1972 fire destroyed her superstructure and she was re-built and successfully run as the John Cadman cruising restaurant. She was sold to new owners, renamed Harbour Queen and enjoyed limited subsequent success. She sank in 2014 in Blackwattle Bay where she was broken up.
Design and construction
In common with most Sydney Harbour ferries at the time, Lady Scott and her four sisters were wooden double-ended screw steamers. The five ferries had only a single propeller at one end that pushed the vessels in one direction and pulled them in the other. This feature was introduced by the ferry's designer, Walter Reeks, on a previous Balmain company ferry, Lady Rawson of 1906. The configuration contrasted with the double-ended vessels of Sydney Ferries Limited (the K-class ferries) which had a continuous propeller shaft and a screw at each end. A single propeller and one shaft simplified the internal arrangements and put less stress on the timber hulls compared to shafts running a propeller at either end. Apart from some unusual handling characteristics, the single-propeller configuration was a success and Reeks unsuccessfully tried to patent it.
Along with Lady Denman (1912), Lady Scott hull was built by J Dent of Jervis Bay from local timbers. Lady Scott was launched on 4 November at Huskisson and christened by Miss Roderick, daughter of one of the Directors of the Balmain New Ferry Co. The vessel was towed to Sydney to receive her machinery supplied by McKie & Baxter of Glasgow. The engines were compound 2-cylinder (12" and 24" x 18"), 24 hp (nominal), 160 hp (indicated). She had one boiler of 12 lb pressure and a 7-ton bunker capacity. Her maximum speed was 11.5 knots. Other finishing works was also carried out in Sydney. Lady Chelmsford was built by Brisbane Waters shipbuilder Rock Davis, Lady Edeline by G A Washington of Annandale, and Lady Ferguson by David Drake of Balmain
With construction of a Sydney Harbour Bridge seeming likely, she and her four sisters were designed for a maximum of fifteen years of life. Instead, the five would serve on the harbour for at least 60 years, with Lady Scott operating as a ferry until 1969 then as a cruise boat being broken up in 2014. Because they were intended to have a limited life-span, they were lightly built and almost austere in their fittings, such as roofs of galvanised iron. The five were relatively small and had a veed shape and shallow draft to navigate the muddy and silted upper reaches of their upstream runs.
Service history
From 1900, the Balmain New Ferry Company began a period of expansion to keep up and compete with the tram network expanding into what is now referred to as Sydney's Inner West. Older ferries were sold off including several series of "Lady-class" class ferries were introduced.
Lady Scott was the fourth of five in the Balmain company's final series of "Lady-class" ferries, the others being Ladies Chelmsford (1910), Denman (1912), Edeline (1913), and Ferguson (1914). This series was introduced to replace the single-ended ferries on the Lane Cove River service. They also worked on the run from Balmain to Erskine Street wharf (at site of current Barangaroo).
Lady Scott, and the rest of the Balmain fleet, were bought by Sydney Ferries Limited as part of its take over of the Balmain company on 1 March 1918. The five operated the Lane Cove River services to Fig Tree until 12 November 1931 when weekday services were suspended. They ran weekend services to Fig Tree on weekends until 2 September 1945. Lane Cove River services were discontinued altogether on 10 November 1950, after which the five saw them work the Parramatta River and across other routes. Sydney Ferries ran a service to Balmain until it was taken over in 1939 by Nicholson Brothers Harbour Transport Company with their own ferries. The five "Lady class" ferries were run on other routes across the Harbour.