'I've loved being a ferry skipper for 21 years'

The captain of the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry has said he feels "proud and privileged" to have been part of the service for more than two decades, as he retires and hands over the wheel to his son.

For the last 21 years, Tony Cowell, from Fleetwood, has transported passengers across the Wyre Estuary and he is still involved with the town's RNLI.

The ferry takes up to 35 passengers, including locals and holidaymakers, on the five-minute journey, many of whom have now "become friends", he said.

He has also done 27 rescues, including five sea cadets who got into difficulties on an inflatable craft, and a young child who came off a water scooter.

Five generations of the 69-year-old's family have all gone to sea, as fishermen or in the Royal Navy, and his son Phil is taking over as skipper of the ferry.

Cowell said the manoeuvrability of the Knott End ferry, named Wyre Rose, is "second to none".

The vessel was purpose-built for the five-minute journey and crosses the River Wyre in about five minutes, compared to an hour-long journey by road across Shard Bridge to Fleetwood.

It provides a link between Fleetwood and the Over Wyre communities of Knott End, Preesall and Pilling and can carry up to 35 passengers.

"Handling her is second to none," Cowell said. "She can go sideways and the passengers all love her.

"You fall in love with her as a skipper."

Cowell first went to sea at the age of three on a 24-hour fishing trip to catch skate with his father, uncle and grandfather.

"I mainly remember seagulls and diesel smells," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"My grandfather woke me up just as it was coming dawn and got me on the deck and the sea was absolutely calm and the sun was just coming up, this golden ball coming out of the ocean.

"It was beautiful.

"But when we got back my grandmother and my mother were waiting for us - and they weren't very pleased.

"My grandmother didn't talk to my father for three months.

"But I loved it."

At the age of 15 Cowell went to the navigation school at Fleetwood where he learned how to mend nets and read charts.

He then went to Iceland where he worked 22 days, 18 hours on and only six hours rest "a big shock at 15", he said.

Cowell once rescued a man on a speedboat who went too quickly on a turn while his friend was water skiing and "flew out of his boat".

"Unfortunately as he was swung out of the boat, his shorts caught the handle and off they went, so he had nothing on," Cowell said.

There were "20-odd passengers on board at the time", so he was "very embarrassed but at least he was safe".

Cowell said his life on the water had been "fantastic".

"When I became a skipper and had my own command, I knew I could go wherever I wanted to go," he said.

"All I've ever wanted to do was go to sea."

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