It is likely that there has been a ferry of some description at the King Harry Passage for centuries, but there are conflicting stories about the origins of the name. One such story is that
King Henry VIII spent his
honeymoon with
Anne Boleyn at
St Mawes, and signed a
charter for the ferry on this site. A more likely origin lies in the fact that a small
chapel formerly stood on the Philleigh side of the passage. All that remains of this today is a small pile of stones, but is mentioned in 1528 as "The Chapel of St. Mary and King Henry", commemorating
King Henry VI, murdered in 1471. In the 19th century, the ferry was operated by broad beamed rowing boats which had planks laid sideways across them to take to or three wheeled vehicles. The King Harry Steam Ferry was initiated in 1888 as a submerged chain ferry Bridge, using a
steam engine to pull the ferry along the chains, and replacing a manually propelled
barge that was previously used on the route. As its name suggests, the current ferry bridge is the seventh vessel to be used since 1888. Although the owning company has retained the words
Steam Ferry in its name, all ferries since 1956 have used
diesel-electric propulsion. The company is now owned by a
syndicate of five local families. ==Description==