Megoran’s Musings

Princess Elizabeth’s sailings on the previous day, 14th September 1960, had been cancelled due to the weather but she was in steam and had shifted ship from her usual berth

Around 9am on Saturday 15th September 1934 whilst leaving Newhaven Harbour Brighton Belle’s high pressure cylinder cracked. In his excellent book “The Story of Campbell’s Steamers Volume 2” Chris Collard

Just as on every Wednesday from 20th July to 21st September 1932, on Wednesday 14th September 1932 the almost brand new luxury Southern Railway paddle steamers Southsea and Whippingham were

Sunday 13th September 1959 was Captain Phillip St Barbe Rawle’s last Sunday in command of a paddle steamer retiring as master of Embassy the following Friday according to the Bournemouth

On Friday 13th September 1963 Consul was on the way from the Sussex Coast to London to undertake a charter for “A Week’s Frolic” to the paddle steamer loving Don

On Saturday 12th September 1964 the large turbine steamer Duchess of Hamilton was on charter so her usual roster from Gourock (9.20am) Dunoon (9.40am), Rothesay (10.15am) and Largs (10.50am) to

On Sunday 11th September 1932 one or other of the Southsea or Whippingham was rostered to leave Portsmouth at 11am, Clarence Pier Southsea at 11.15am and South Parade Pier at

On Friday 10th September 1937 there were nine trip options offered from Eastbourne Pier by two paddle steamers. In 1936 P & A Campbell had based four paddle steamers on

Only a year or so after being formed the PSPS chartered Cosens’s Consul for a 2 hour “Special Steamboat Shuffle” departing Weymouth at 7.30pm on Saturday 10th September 1960 to

1962 was not a good summer for weather. Mr Lloyd-Worth, who had the contract for providing the catering aboard Consul alongside his other role as a publican in Easton on

Saturday 9th September 1950 was scheduled to be the penultimate day in service of the 1950 season for Royal Eagle with a roster to leave Tower Pier (8.30am) for Greenwich

Brian Waters has built a new model of the Consul a paddle steamer I remember very well as an ever present part of my childhood. There she was laid up

Sunday 8th September 1963 was Medway Queen’s last day in service. She left Strood Pier at 9.15am, sailed down the Medway and across the Thames Estuary to Southend for 11am

Wednesday 7th September 1960 was Monarch’s penultimate day in service. She was due away from Poole (9.15am) for Bournemouth (10.15am – 10.45am), Swanage (11.30am), Bournemouth (12.15pm – 2.30pm), Swanage (3.15pm),

On Monday 6th September 1937 Essex Queen (ex Walton Belle) was scheduled to leave Great Yarmouth at 9.40am for Gorleston (9.55am) and Lowestoft (10.45am) bound for Clacton where she was

On Saturday 5th September 1914 Monarch was advertised for a trip leaving Bournemouth at 10.25am, Boscombe 10.40am and Swanage 11.25am for Weymouth where three hours ashore were offered with a

On Friday 4th September 1953 both Consul and Empress were rostered to visit Lulworth Cove with the one bringing passengers from Bournemouth and Swanage and the other from Weymouth.. Both

Could it be that Waverley’s trip on Wednesday 4th September is the first excursion sailing from Portland around the Isle of Wight by paddle steamer ever. In the heyday of

On the first Sunday in September 2023 PS Waverley called at Swanage Pier at 12.30pm for a trip to view the Bournemouth Air Show and the steamship Shieldhall. Fifty seven

On Saturday 3rd September 1949 Ravenswood returned to service after her day off on the Friday with a largely new deck crew, two new fireman and a new deck chair

With war about to be declared P & A Campbell cancelled all further Sussex Coast sailings and ordered Brighton Queen, Glen Gower and Waverley to return to the Bristol Channel

On Wednesday 1st September 1937 Cosens’s Victoria (pictured with her bow on the beach at West Bay) was scheduled to run a day trip from Weymouth at 9am around Portland

After spending the afternoon of Sunday 31st August 1958 running on the Bournemouth/Swanage service with departures from Bournemouth at 2.30pm and 4pm and returns from Swanage at 3.15pm and 5pm

P & A Campbell got into bed with other organisations to sell tickets for them to help fill up spare capacity on their steamers. As in other years, in 1950

Thursday 29th August 1957 was the last day in service of Red Funnel’s paddle steamer Bournemouth Queen. Built in 1908 as a slightly smaller and not quite as fast, version

On Monday 28th August 1967 Kingswear Castle arrived under tow at Binfield on the Isle of Wight on charter to the Ridett brothers who then owned Medway Queen. She was

On Tuesday 28th August 1956 Monarch rescued two men from a small dinghy, called Dumbo, off the Old Harry Rocks in Poole Bay whilst on passage on her regular route

During the period from their development in the 1880s up to their almost complete demise by the late 1960s excursion and ferry paddle steamers in the UK enjoyed an enviable

On Thursday 26th August 1937 Duke of Devonshire was scheduled to leave Torquay (10.45am) for the 17 nautical mile run along the beautiful Devon Coast passing the Ore Stone, Babbacombe,

On Saturday 25th August 1928 the paddle steamer Royal Sovereign was scheduled to sail from Old Swan Pier at London Bridge to Ramsgate with London Belle shadowing her from Greenwich

On Wednesday 24th August 1960 Princess Elizabeth was scheduled to run from Haldon Pier Torquay on the following timetable: 11am MORNING CRUISE viewing Thatcher Rock, Babbacombe, Oddicombe, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Berry

In issue number 14 of Paddle Wheels ex army officer Captain L G A Thomas, then a stalwart of the Wessex Branch, recounted a day out he had almost forty

Prior to the Second World War it was the usual practice of Red Funnel to schedule two sailings a week, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays or sometimes Fridays, in the summer