Sad really but exactly as has been said, by the time these things are almost gone, only then is there enough interest to attempt preservation. She deserved as much recognition as "The Little Ships" of Dunkirk fame (Note A) with such a wonderful wartime record but, when put back on her original service, time caught up with her. No doubt maintenance costs featured heavily too.
Retired by British Rail in 1969 only a year after that she was sold off to a pair of Isle of Wight entrepreneurs and effectively beached (Note B) her in the River Medina on the Isle of Wight given that the small sum of money they paid for her meant they got a cheap tourist venue. Indeed her fate was sealed when, as part of their "tourism refit", her boilers and much of her maritime gear was stripped out and scrapped.
Like so many similar vessels who find themselves used as a temporary pontoon theirs is then a finite life and PS Ryde may of lasted less than many wooden craft similarly beached. Rust is the ultimate killer. With the business gone so not even the smallest of maintenance was made she was already a virtual wreck just after the Millennium. Oh yes, there followed several grandiose plans to restore her to sailing condition but all the while that rust kept working away so that by 2012 she was now well beyond any help. To be fair, once demolition had commenced, it would have been better for posterity that the job was done. Instead her remains still sit in the mud like the bones of her carcass.
For the record I used to live on the Island and had visited her many times though never with a camera, nevertheless I'm able to vouch for so many of the pix taken by others from personnel memory.
NOTE A : It's amazing how one word can make a difference with preservation, that word being Dunkirk. For sometime as PS Ryde sat in the mud on the River Medina she had for company the PS Medway Queen also stuck in the mud and reckoned to be heading for the same fate but she, as she was one of "The Little Ships", had all the money and energy thrown at her to keep her going and is presently undergoing major refit to keep her afloat and working.
NOTE B : The section of the River Medina the PS Ryde was beached on was really only tidal on spring tides, the river there is very silty and the adjacent land almost a marsh. Over the years the action of the water would have sucked her down ever lower and that would have contributed so much to her deterioration. When originally beached there at Binfield the modern yacht haven that sits there now wasn't even thought of but you can be sure that the owners of that private land know just how much it could bring in as mooring fees. I don't think her skeletal remains will be there long.
There are lots of images of her on the web but I thought I would add some pertinent ones here to save readers time. Almost all of the few attached are in public circulation and the original copyright has not been shown so sorry not to be entirely PC and have an accurate list.
