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- The estimated cost of the new Balmoral in 1947 was £154,750.
Of this, £79,480 was for the hull, machinery £37,100, overheads £27,970
and the builders profit £10,200.
- After the launch of Balmoral
by Mrs Pinnock, over 200 guests gathered at the Polygon Hotel in Southampton to
see her presented with a platinum wrist watch, set with diamonds. Toasts were
proposed to 'The Ship and her Sponsor', The Builders' and 'The Company'.
- The corporate logo of Red Funnel Ferries today still depicts Balmoral's
flat-topped funnel as its central image.
- Over
£300,000 was required to refit and renovate the Balmoral to service
in 1985.
- At
the 1953 Coronation Fleet Review at Spithead, Balmoral was accompanied
by large number of famous pleasure steamers including; Royal Daffodil,
Royal Sovereign, Cardiff Queen, Bristol Queen, Medway
Queen, Glen Gower, Consul, Embassy, Monarch and
Emperor of India.
- Balmoral
originally had a car deck to convey around 12 cars to the Isle of Wight. When
free of cars this became a much-sought after sun deck for deckchairs. The car
deck now forms the space occupied by the Dining Saloon.
- When
Balmoral acted as a tender to the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1995, both vessels
required bunkering of gas oil. Unfortunately, the supplier got the invoices mixed
up and the QE2 got a bill for £2,000 whilst the Balmoral received
one for £120,000!
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