PART of a historic ferry - which is currently undergoing extensive restoration - has been stolen.

The Severn Princess is located in Chepstow and is the only ferry remaining from a set of three – the other two being the Severn King and Queen.

These ferries carried vehicles and passengers across the river between Aust and Beachley before the M48 Severn Bridge was built.

Launched in 1959, she was then sold to a company in Ireland in 1966, when the Severn Bridge was completed.

There are many people still around who remember travelling on her.

The Princess was found years later in Kilkieran Connemara, washed up and in a dreadful state.

She was rescued and towed back to her home town of Chepstow in 1999.

Here she continued a chequered history, as various attempts have and continue to be made to preserve her, as an important part of local Welsh heritage.

However, the restoration has hit yet another setback.

The only remaining original section of the ferry's spray guard has gone missing during the winter maintenance shutdown.

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Not only that, a capstan and wheel, historically used for mooring up the ferries, has also gone missing, after being dug up during excavation works for a nearby housing development.

These items were destined to be reunited with the Princess as part of the attempts to restore her.

Trustees of the Severn Princess Preservation Trust are sending out an SOS after discovering that the irreplaceable parts were stolen.

The spray guard is a flat section of metal running around the entire ferry, to prevent passengers from being sprayed by water.

Dr Sue Kingdom, trustee of the Severn Princess Preservation Trust, said: "We are absolutely devastated at the loss.

"To the untrained eye, the spray guard looks like a large piece of twisted metal, but it is actually an important part of local history awaiting funds for restoration.

"It is very heavy and would have required machinery and a certain type of vehicle to have done this.

"The capstan and wheel were also very heavy.

"We are appealing to anyone who might have seen anything or knows where these items are. We are appealing to scrap metal merchants in particular.

"If you think that you know where these items are, please help us get them back to their rightful home.”