Work to preserve a section of a World War Two Mulberry Harbour floating roadway has saved one of the few remaining examples of its kind and secured a public display close to Southampton's docks. The 28-tonne steel span, known in wartime jargon as a "whale", was lifted from Town Quay last year by Associated British Ports (ABP) and will be installed outside the Solent Gateway site at Marchwood.
A visible reminder of wartime ingenuity
Mulberry Harbours were improvised portable harbours built in Britain and taken to the Normandy beaches in 1944 to enable the rapid discharge of men and materiel where axis-held ports were unusable. The flexible roadways – or whales – formed the bridge spans between the floating harbour units and the shore.
ABP said the Southampton whale had spent decades partly submerged after serving as a loading ramp for Isle of Wight ferries until the 1960s. It is one of only two known surviving examples in England that are not submerged, the other being at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
Local display and practical warnings
The whale will be placed at Solent Gateway, in Marchwood, where ABP believes it was originally constructed. The relic is to be displayed as a "passing monument" visible to people travelling past on the public road, accompanied by information boards explaining its history.
ABP has issued a practical warning alongside the announcement. The site sits within a busy freight complex and there are no public pedestrian facilities at the entrance. The port operator has asked people not to stop, park or gather at the site entrance for safety reasons.
"The whales were essentially the bridge spans that joined the floating harbour to the shore,"
The quotation comes from Richard Parkinson, ABP's port director for Solent Gateway, who described the whale as a "unique piece of history" and said this particular example was not thought to have been used during the Normandy landings but had been held in reserve.
What the relic tells us about Southampton's maritime past
Southampton's waterfront and its surrounding docks have long been the site of naval and commercial innovation. The lifting and preservation of the whale underline the city's role in wartime production and logistics. After the war, elements of naval infrastructure were repurposed for peacetime uses; in this case the whale later served as a ferry loading ramp.
For residents and visitors the installation will provide a tangible link to that history without requiring entry to a museum site. ABP plans to complement the display with explanatory panels that set the whale in the wider story of Mulberry Harbours and the Solent's industrial contribution to the D-Day effort.
- Item: WWII Mulberry Harbour section known as a "whale"
- Weight: 28 tonnes
- Previous use: Isle of Wight ferry loading ramp until the 1960s
- Planned display: Outside Solent Gateway, Marchwood
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Survival status | One of two known non-submerged examples in England |
| Other known example | Imperial War Museum, Duxford |
Although ABP has said the whale is not believed to have been used during D-Day operations, keeping such pieces in reserve during wartime was essential to the logistical flexibility the Allies needed. Making the object accessible in situ aims to broaden public appreciation of how local shipyards and dockside workers contributed to that effort.
The display should appeal to local history groups, visitors with an interest in military engineering and passengers who remember the whale as part of the ferry landscape. The port's request to avoid stopping at the site entrance is a reminder that the Solent Gateway remains an active freight hub; those wishing to view the exhibit will need to do so only from the public highway and to respect traffic and safety restrictions.
Further details on the installation date and the content of the information boards will be released by ABP ahead of the whale's formal placement in Marchwood.
