eight guiding pulleys per chain and rubbing plates where the chains enter and leave the hull. The chains are replaced every three years. Unlike most chain ferries with the chain ends attached directly to the shores, the chains of the Torpoint ferries are attached with a system of falling weights and pulleys on each shore and for each ferry. This keeps a minimum tension of 3 tonnes force on each chain, but also a maximum tension of this amount, plus some friction, as long as the weights are free to fall and rise in their pits. History A ferry route between Torpoint and Plymouth Dock (now called Devonport) was created by an Act of Parliament in 1790 and the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe began to run ferries the following year. In 1826 the ferry operations were taken over by the Torpoint Steamboat Company, which built landing piers on both sides of the Tamar. The company also built the steam ferry Jemima which entered service in 1831. The steamer was unable to hold a course in the strong tidal flow of the Hamoaze, so it was soon withdrawn and the older ferryboats returned to service. The steamboat company approached James Meadows Rendel in 1832 and asked him to design a steam-powered floating bridge for the route. Two ferries were built in 1834 and 1835 and provided a continuous service, operating in alternate months. The tolls varied between 2d for a horse and 5s for a coach with 4 horses, with a double fare charged on Sundays. The original ferries were replaced by two new ferries built in 1871 and 1878. As a result of increasing traffic, the ferry company investigated twin ferry operations in 1905. Both the Admiralty and Devonport Corporation opposed this as the company would need to expand the landing beach in Devonport. An experimental two ferry service with the existing shore installations had to be abandoned due to the strain on the equipment. A supplementary steamer service was also introduced in 1902, with the Volta and Lady Beatrice linking Torpoint to two locations in Devonport on a triangular route. Cornwall County Council acquired both the ferry and the steamers in 1922 for £42,000. The Volta was immediately sold for breaking and two new ferries were ordered, which entered service in 1925 and 1926. These were the first ferries on the route designed to carry motor vehicles and could