Print. A view of the Portsmouth-Gosport chain ferry, built by Lewis and Stockwell, London, in 1864 to the designs of F.H. Trevithick and with machinery by James Watt & Co., of Birmingham. The chain ferry had originally been established in 1840, crossing to Gosport from the end of Broad Street, Portsmouth. It continued to operate (with later vessels than this) as a 'roll-on-roll-off' service until December 1959.