An original, souvenir photo. No photographer named.
The Hoverlink service between Grimsby’s Royal Dock and Hull started in 1969 but was short-lived. The lightweight hovercraft were not up to rough weather and strong currents.
The two hovercraft were named ‘Mercury’ and ‘Minerva’. ‘Mercury’ is shown in the photo. Humber Hovercraft Services Ltd. was run by Hover Marine.
An Imagined Blue Plaque for Fred Bacon (1874–1966), Founder of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District YMCA
Grimsby
“I wrote about this being my grandfather's boat - he was the engineer. It was first registered as INS 11 and is pronounced Pit-gay-vnay not Pit-gav-enny.”
Libby Lamb, 21 October 2026
“My grandfather was the engineer on this drifter when she was fishing out of Lossiemouth and then working as a minesweeper at Scapa Flow from 1915.”
Libby Lamb, 20 October 2026
“Stuart sent me a framed photo of the above photo. He was a dear friend of many years through first knowing his dear wife and lovely son.It is with great saddnessto learn of Stuarts death we emailed regularly ,he was a humble lovely person.I am chronically sick and bedbound ,Stuart's emails were always a pleasure to read and reply to.He was a nan of great integrity and humilityand the world has been better for him being part of itHow lovely ifa BleuePlaque could be erected fir himit is richly deserved.A lovely man who will be n greatly missed”
Cathy James, 19 October 2026
Bob9 November 2022
HM2 008 Mercury returned to Hovermarine’s Southampton factory where she was upgraded & eventually sold to Sociede Turistica Pontado Adoxe in Setubal, Portugal as “Soltroia” in 1971. Her sister HM2 002 Minerva eventually went to Ital Hover S.p.A Venice as “Mare 3” in 1972.
Admin10 November 2022
Many thanks indeed for the update Bob.
