[1][2] Returned to the ferry company in 1946, Vadne plied Portsmouth Harbour until 1965, when an attempt to increase her internal capacity by removing a bulkhead severely weakened her structural integrity and she was taken out of service.

[3] On the night of 12 July 1957, a collision between Vadne and the Black Swan-class sloop HMS Redpole resulted in the death of one of the 40 passengers.

[4][5] This was the first collision and first fatal accident in the 74-year history of the Portsmouth Steam Launch and Towing Company.

A restoration project took place from 1981, but Vadne sank once more in 1983, and at this point was taken to the Maritime Workshop, by Forton Lake.

Although Vadne's stay at the Maritime Workshop was initially intended only to be short-term, she remained berthed there for seventeen years until, in 2000, the decision was taken to beach her several hundred metres along the shore at Forton Lake.