61 By Ginny Farrell


Duncan Burford


D


uring a career spanning four decades on Dartmouth’s Lower Ferry, former Tugmaster Duncan Burford appeared in a blockbuster


movie, rescued the driver of a sinking car, bore a fire engine up river to reports of a boat blaze, and was constantly entertained by some of the questions visitors asked. “They come on at Kingswear and ask “how long till


we get to the island?” he chuckled. “Or they say “Oh I love your Cornish accent” because they don’t know they’re in Devon. “It’s just silly things – some ask if the naval college is the prison. They get Dartmouth confused with Dartmoor. “One regatta we had a big


Argentinian sail ship in the river, it was amazing, they were all up the mast messing around, and this woman said to me “that’s lovely, is it the Mary Rose? [the 16th century shipwreck now on display in Portsmouth] “We also get quite a few cars


driving the tug. “It was alright, it was nice,” he said. “I liked being out in the fresh air. First thing in the


morning was the best time, the town was peaceful and quiet. “It’s weird, I’ve done millions of trips but there are


never two the same, it’s always a bit different. “The tides do funny things sometimes and you’ve


got your wind. If it’s windy and you’ve got a lorry on there, that’s like having a sail, so off you go! You end up in funny places sometimes. You’ve got to think ahead; like if I do get stuck here, how do I get out?” Dartmouth has attracted more and


“It’s weird, I’ve done millions of trips but there are never two the same”


parking on the slipway. We had one there a few years ago on the Dartmouth side. We went up to it but there was nobody in there. They’d locked it up and gone shopping.” Some of the locals were equally as entertaining,


remembers Duncan. “We used to get a young lady coming over from


Kingswear, I shan’t tell you her name, but if it was your birthday or something she would always ‘exhibit’ herself. “Dave Griffiths was going past in the Castle Ferry one time and he didn’t know where to look!” Duncan was only meant to spent six months


working on the Lower Ferry but the poorly ferryman he was covering never returned and he stayed put for the next 41 years. After two years collecting fares he progressed to


more visitors since 61-year-old Duncan joined the ferry at the age of 20, and never more so than last year. “When it was lockdown it was dead,


we were still running but just taking the nurses and the like across, but as soon as as he [Boris Johnson] said everybody can go out it was just chaos – Christmas was like summer, there


were thousands of people around.” One of Duncan’s most memorable episodes on the


ferry was the time he yanked two people out of a sinking van. “I was washing my hands in the ferry office


in Kingswear and the next minute I hear all this commotion.


“I looked out and there was this van just bobbing


around in the water. I ran down and saw two men inside. Luckily they had a sunroof so I could pull them out through that. “Then down the van went. “Apparently they later found out the bloke had it


in reverse and when he was on the ferry and looking around he let his foot off and went back into the drink.” Another time Duncan was tasked with taking the Dartmouth Fire Service crew up the river on an


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