Megoran’s Musings

John Megoran recalls the heyday and decline paddle steamers, particularly the Weymouth based paddle steamers that he grew up with. He did not know then that he would go on to help restore, manage and be principal captain of Kingswear Castle for nearly 30 years.
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66 years ago

21st June 1957:
Crested Eagle

On charter to P & A Campbell for the season, the General Steam Navigation Co’s diesel powered Crested Eagle was scheduled to run a day trip leaving Brighton at 10am

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68 years ago

20th June 1955:
Glen Gower

On Monday 20th June 1955 Glen Gower set off from Cardiff (9.45am) for Penarth (9.55am), Barry (10.35am) and Ilfracombe (2pm), where she picked up connections from Bristol (8.45am), Clevedon (9.45am),

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61 years ago

20th June 1962:
Consul

On Wednesday 20th June 1962 Consul (ex Duke of Devonshire) was scheduled to leave Weymouth at 10am for a day trip to Swanage and Bournemouth due back at 8.15pm under

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88 years ago

19th June 1935:
Royal Eagle

On Wednesday 19th June 1935 Royal Eagle was scheduled to sail from London Tower Pier at 9.20am down the Thames with calls at Greenwich, North Woolwich, Tilbury, Southend and Margate

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63 years ago

18th June 1960:
Monarch

On Saturday 18th June 1960 Monarch departed from her usual Saturday schedule in June on the Swanage service to run a special trip to view the Royal Yacht Britannia with

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67 years ago

17th June 1956:
Bournemouth Queen

On Sunday 17th June 1956 Red Funnel’s paddle steamer Bournemouth Queen ran down and sliced in half a sailing dinghy off Fawley in Southampton Water on her scheduled run on

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70 years ago

16th June 1953:
Bristol Queen

Bristol Queen arrived back in Southampton at 1.10am on Tuesday 16th June 1953 after spending the previous day on charter for the Spithead Naval Review to Thomas Cook which included

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72 years ago

13th June 1951:
Empress Queen

On Wednesday 13th June 1951 the finishing touches were being applied to P & A Campbell’s Empress Queen in readiness for her departure from the Bristol Channel to try her

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75 years ago

12th June 1948:
Cardiff Queen

Saturday 12th June was the first day of the 1948 season for Cardiff Queen, her second year in service. She set off from Bristol at 9.30am under the command of

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76 years ago

11th June 1947:
Empress Queen

Empress Queen was the first twin screw turbine steamer built for the otherwise paddle steamer loving P & A Campbell. And I think that it is fair to say that

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87 years ago

10th June 1936:
Gracie Fields

On Wednesday 10th June 1936 Gracie Fields offered her first public excursion taking passengers on a trip from Southampton to view the liners Normandie and Queen Mary. Ordered in 1935

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70 years ago

9th June 1953:
Emperor of India

The first trips of the 1953 season for Cosens’s largest paddle steamer and flagship of the fleet Emperor of India were scheduled for Tuesday 9th June, under the command of

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63 years ago

9th June 1960:
South Coast Snapshot

In 1960 there were still eleven paddle steamers operating on the South Coast; Compton Castle, Consul, Embassy, Kingswear Castle, Monarch, Princess Elizabeth, Ryde, Sandown, Totnes Castle, Sussex Queen and Whippingham.

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112 years ago

7th June 1911:
Princess Mary

On Tuesday 7th June 1911 work was continuing on putting the finishing touches to the Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company’s (later rebranded

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63 years ago

6th June 1960:
Sussex Queen

Whit Monday June 6th 1960 was scheduled to be the Sussex Queen’s second operating day of her first season sailing on the Sussex Coast. Steamer notices had been produced and

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50 years ago

3rd June 1973:
Waverley

On Sunday 3rd June 1973 Waverley was taken out of service in order to undertake a repair to her boiler. She made her first trip of the 1973 season, her

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83 years ago

2nd June 1940:
Freshwater

On Sunday 2nd June 1940 Freshwater left Sheerness at 12 noon for Dunkirk under the command of Lt Church RN (Retired). The previous Sunday 26th May 1940 marked the start

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63 years ago

31st May 1960:
Monarch

Tuesday 31st May was the first scheduled day of the season for Cosens’s Monarch in 1960 on which she was timetabled to run the Swanage service leaving Bournemouth Pier at

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60 years ago

30th May 1963:
Medway Queen

On Thursday 30th May 1963 Medway Queen was on charter at Herne Bay Pier to take part in filming a sequence for the movie “French Dressing” starring James Booth, Roy

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56 years ago

29th May 1967:
Embassy

On Monday 29th May 1967 Embassy was tied up at the shipyard of the Van Heyghen Brothers’s scrapyard in Ghent. 1966 had not been a good season for Embassy running

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57 years ago

28th May 1966:
Queen of the South

On Saturday 28th May 1966 Queen of the South ex-Jeanie Deans made her first public sailing from Tower Pier to Greenwich, Gravesend, Southend and Herne Bay. Her master was Captain

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60 years ago

25th May 1963:
Waverley

On Saturday 25th May 1963 Waverley, under the command of Capt Hector Connell, took a group of protesters from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) from Glasgow to Hunters Quay at

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54 years ago

24th May 1969:
Caledonia

On Saturday 24th May 1969 Caledonia ran a “Kirk Cruise” from Gourock to Tarbet on charter to Rutherglen West Parish Church. She had been slipped at Lamonts at Port Glasgow

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88 years ago

23rd May 1935:
Royal Eagle

Thursday 23rd May was the second day of the 1935 season for he General Steam Navigation Company’s paddle steamer Royal Eagle for which she was scheduled for a departure from

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70 years ago

22nd May 1953:
Maid of the Loch

On Friday 22nd May 1953 Maid of the Loch was named alongside at Balloch Pier by Lady Watson, wife of one of the senior members of the Railway Executive, before the

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62 years ago

21st May 1961:
Consul

Whit Sunday 21st May 1961 was Consul’s second day in service of the 1961 season and the second day running a shuttle between the Pleasure Pier at Weymouth and the

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