Looking through copies of the Dorset Echo from days gone by provides a fascinating insight into the ups, downs and other titbits about Weymouth and its nautical community. Take the example of the funeral of retired Cosens’ Captain William Edward Leddy, late master of Empress, at Holy Trinity Cemetery on the afternoon of Saturday 6th May 1939. This was attended by a huge gathering including the masters, in full uniform, of Cosens paddle steamers Capt W J S Carter of Emperor of India and commodore of the fleet, Capt P St B Rawle of Monarch, Capt R Bowering of Embassy, Capt A R Moore of Consul, Capt J Knight of Victoria and Capt E Cook of Empress. Senior and more junior staff of Cosens were well represented including Messrs Mark Frowde Managing Director, C H J Kaille, Company Secretary, J M Ward, Marine Superintendent, G F Pearce Assistant Secretary, S S T Davis, Chief Clerk and Percy Boyle Lloyds Agent. The Echo also lists engineers, mates and other crew members from the fleet present and of course members of the family including Capt Leddy’s widow, his two daughters, his brother and sister and a vast array of friends and extended family as well.
Capt Leddy’s father had been an AB with Cosens so going afloat was in his blood. He was there growing up in Weymouth as a child watching the expansion of the Cosens’ paddle steamer fleet with the arrival of the brand new Empress in 1879 when he was 8, Queen when he was 12, Victoria when he was 13 and Monarch in 1888 when he had just turned 17. He signed on as a deck boy on one of the sailing ships which visited Weymouth as soon as he could.
Like his father before him he joined Cosens as an AB in 1898 and gradually worked his way up to be promoted master of Helper in 1912 three years before going off to war.
He returned to Cosens in 1927 as master of Premier and then finally moved to Empress. He retired in 1937 owing to ill heath and bought one of the brand new bungalows just outside town in Lanehouse Rocks Road. These had been designed for owner occupancy and were targeted particularly at railway employees. In a tribute at the funeral Mark Frowde described Capt Leddy in his address as “A fine and fearless seaman, small of stature but big of heart, who commanded respect from all his brother officers and those who served under him.”
Another example: On Saturday 18th July 1953 the Echo recorded that five Weymouth born master mariners met aboard the Channel Islands cargo ship Sambur, then under the command of one of their number Capt Gerry Cartwright, for a cocktail party the previous day. The others included Capt Eric Kaille of the Prince Line, Capt C Palmer of the Bank Line, Capt B Jackson of the British India Line and Capt Tom Holleyoak, then Harbourmaster at Weymouth. All had grown up in Weymouth. All had gained their first experiences of being afloat aboard Cosens’s paddle steamers as children. Capt Kaille was the son of Mr C H J Kaille who was at Capt Leddy’s funeral as Cosens’ Secretary and by 1953 was General Manager.
These four Weymouth born master mariners, three of whom were at school together, turned 50 that year. This was their first meeting for many years. Now each had command of their own ship. This was their celebration.
Born in 1904 Capt Cartwright joined the Great Western Railway Channel Island ships at Weymouth in the early 1930s as second mate of Sambur. After serving as chief officer on the mailboats he was promoted master of Sambur in 1952, relief master of St Julien in 1954 and permanent master of St Helier in1956. After serving as master of St Patrick in 1959 he became the first captain of Sarnia in 1961. Unfortunately whilst berthing her in St Helier in difficult weather conditions around Christmas 1966 he had a heart attack on the bridge wing. That must have been a difficult moment not only for him but also for the mate, who I believe was Bobby Rymill, having to take over the berthing and, with the quartermaster on the wheel, also get assistance for the captain. Capt Cartwright was taken to hospital and I am pleased to say that he made a complete recovery. He died in 1987 aged 83.
Capt Cartwright lived in Weymouth Bay Avenue, part of an estate of mostly semi-detached houses off the Dorchester Road built in the 1930s for Weymouth’s expanding middle classes. This seems to have been a popular location for Weymouth mariners with one of his neighbours being Alf Pover last Chief Engineer of the Embassy.
Alf was another Weymouth born lad. He joined Cosens from school and served as an apprentice with them for five years before signing on with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1935. After the war he returned to Cosens, now with a Chief Engineer’s ticket, and sailed as Chief on Embassy, Emperor of India, Monarch and in her final years from 1961 to 1966 Embassy.
He kept an immaculate engine room. I remember my first trip on Embassy in 1960 her engine room looked a tip, dirty, greasy and quite unlike the immaculate and sparkling engine rooms I knew on Consul and Monarch. After Monarch was scrapped after the 1960 season Alf moved to Embassy, got his hands dirty and transformed her engine room into a palace. It gleamed after that just like the others.
After Embassy was sold for scrap Alf was retained by Cosens as General Foreman and supervised refit work undertaken by the company including on the Channel Island Mailboats and cargo ships. He became Works Manager in 1975 and retired in 1979.
Another resident of Weymouth Bay Avenue was Eric Plater last mate of Embassy. The Echo contains a fascinating news story on Wednesday 8th May 1946 about a “Reinstatement Decision in London” concerning a Mr E S Plater of Weymouth Bay Avenue. Before the war he had been supervisor for Bladen Dairies. They had been taken over by Lovells Creameries who were serving the same customer base so now he wanted his old job back. Lovells didn’t want that as they had their own supervisor but had offered him a job as a roundsman instead. Described in the Echo as “recently invalided out of the Navy as a Lieut Cdr”, Eric didn’t want that either. The Weymouth tribunal ruled that he should have his old job so it was referred to higher authority. The London umpire overruled the previous Weymouth based decision so Eric did not return to the world of milk after all.
Instead he saw an advert for Cosens looking for mates. He applied, got it and was variously mate of Embassy, Emperor of India and after she was scrapped in 1956, was back on Embassy once again until she too was scrapped after the 1966 season. He was a very good mate. HIs ships were always immaculately turned out. Having served as a paddle minesweeper steamer captain during the war he had a good understanding of paddle steamer handling. Victor Gray tells me that Eric had told him that he was captain of P & A Campbells’ Glen Usk when she was a minesweeper and returned her to Bristol at the end of the war. And sailing after that as mate with the highly experienced Capt Rawle with Cosens he would also have seen a master excursion ship handler at close quarters. I remember Capt Iliffe, Embassy’s last master, telling me how helpful Eric had been in giving advice to him. Sadly he had a heart attack and died during the summer of 1967 only a couple of months after taking Embassy from her berth in the Backwater through the Town Bridge to await the tug which would tow her to the scrapyard in Belgium.
And as an another example of what a small world it is, Eric Plater was a cousin of Harry Defrates. He too had been in the Navy in the war after which he set up in business with his wife as a hairdresser called Maison Francis (Francis was his middle name) in Seaview on the Isle of Wight. That didn’t work out. Cosens were still recruiting. Eric advised him of this. He applied and so he came to Weymouth. I remember him telling me that in his first season as mate of the twin funnelled Monarch he was still living on the Isle of Wight so didn’t get home very much that summer and had to stay aboard which he didn’t much like as the accommodation on Monarch was pretty basic. Sometimes if he had a Saturday off to go home he was picked up on a Sunday by the first Cosens steamer to call at Yarmouth to start his working week back on Monarch.
Tiny Point of Detail 1: In those days former naval officers who had served in the rank of Lieut Cdr were permitted to sail as mate on domestic passenger vessels without needing a Home Trade Mate’s ticket. But this did not allow them to sail as master. For that they needed the Home Trade Master’s ticket. So Eric, being a retired Lieut Cdr, could sail as mate with Cosens. I remember Capt Defrates telling me that Eric was thinking of taking his master’s ticket in the 1950s. Capt Defrates lent him some books and offered help and advice. But Cosens wouldn’t give him paid leave to take the exams or pay the cost of taking them. Eric was pressed for cash, Cosens not being great payers anyway, so he never did take them. If he had then almost certainly he would have been Cosens’ last master. He was senior mate in the pecking order to John Iliffe so he would likely have been given Consul in 1960 and Embassy in 1962 where he might well have had John Iliffe as his mate. How fickle life can be sometimes.
Tiny Point of Detail 2: Cosens’ paddle steamers were on the small side when compared with the railway paddlers at Portsmouth and on the Clyde. They had smaller engines and smaller engines require lesser certificates of competency to run them. Consul, Victoria and Empress were all under the size requiring BOT certificated engineers. Cosens could use trusted and experienced fitters from their works instead. Embassy and Monarch were of a size which did require some certification but someone with a second engineer’s ticket could sail as chief on them. And as the paddlers sailed only in a defined area the BOT could, and on occasion did, approve senior fitters recommended by Cosens to sail as Chiefs on them too. Only the Emperor of India required a fully certificated chief. That is why Alf Pover was so useful to them. That is why he sailed as chief on Emperor.
Tiny Point of Detail 3: Eric Plater wrote a letter to the Dorset Echo which they published on Saturday 22nd November 1947. It said “Why no flags at Weymouth on the day of the Royal wedding? Apparently we must have the American fleet here before the Corporation allow the town to be decorated. Or was it really too wet? Flags or no flags good luck to E and P. Signed Eric S Plater, Lieut Cdr RNR 11, Weymouth Bay Avenue, Weymouth.
Tiny Point of Detail 4: I was not expecting to discover a relationship between Eric Plater and milk deliveries. Did he go to sea and come ashore later to work for Bladen Dairy before the war? Or had he no sea going experience at all until he joined the navy on the outbreak of war? In this case he must have had an aptitude for it to do so well and become a Lieut Cdr and paddle steamer captain all in the space of five years. But wars are strange times. People are needed. People who show they can do it can be brought on fast. The father of a school friend of mine was made up to full colonel at the age of only 28 in the war. That wouldn’t happen in peace time.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran
