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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51 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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84 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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64 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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61 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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57 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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58 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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61 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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55 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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89 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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71 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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63 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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