Megoran’s Musings

On Monday 9th August 1965 Waverley ran aground in Ardrossan Harbour while covering the 07.05 ferry service inward bound from Brodick. This trip was included in Waverley’s weekly roster from

What was Balmoral — by then the only ship left in the P & A Campbell fleet — doing in August 1976, and how did the weather affect her sailings?

On Monday 8th August 1955 Cardiff Queen ran a super long day trip away from Swansea at 8.30am for Ilfracombe 10.30am and then back across the Bristol Channel to Milford

On Friday 8th August 1952 Cosens’ Victoria was due away from Weymouth (9.30am) for Swanage (12.05pm) and Totland Bay, Isle of Wight (2pm – 4pm) and then back to Swanage

On Wednesday 7th August 1963 Embassy ran a day trip from Poole via Bournemouth to Yarmouth and Cowes, Isle of Wight. By this stage in her career Embassy had largely

On Thursday 6th August 1914 Majestic — described by Cosens as “Second to none on the South Coast” — was re‑scheduled to run a day trip from Bournemouth, Boscombe and

On Monday 5th August Consul was scheduled to run one hour Coastal Cruises from Brighton’s Palace Pier at 11.30am and 2.15pm and a two hour Channel Cruise at 3.30pm before

Let’s take a snapshot of a week in the life of Cosens’s Monarch running from Bournemouth in August 1960 and see what she was rostered to be up to: Friday

On Saturday 4th August 1962 Medway Queen was scheduled to run two round trips between Strood and Southend. She was due away from Strood (9.30am) for Southend (11.10am – 11.30am)

Unlike her two quasi-sisters Tattershall Castle and Wingfield Castle, which were built fairly locally to Hull at Hartlepool by William Gray & Co, the London and North Eastern Railway ordered

Balmoral spent the night of Tuesday 3rd and into the early morning of Wednesday 4th August 1937 at anchor in thick fog off the Needles with 125 passengers aboard. She

On Saturday 2nd August 1924 the huge excursion paddle steamer La Marguerite was scheduled to run a day trip leaving Prince’s Landing Stage Liverpool (10.45am) for Llandudno (1.05pm – 1.15pm),

On Saturday 1st August 1936 the Southern Railway and P & A Campbell offered a joint cheap afternoon excursion from London to the Isle of Wight by fast electric train

In 1966 we see a changed scene with Red Funnel’s excursion trade in serious decline. The paddle steamer Bournemouth Queen had gone in 1957, Princess Elizabeth in 1959, Medina in

For any who loved paddle steamers, or getting afloat, Bournemouth offered a feast of paddle steamer activity in 1939. On this day Monday 31st July the original schedule was for

On Wednesday 31st July 1963 Embassy left her overnight berth at Poole at 8.40am for Bournemouth Pier where she arrived at 9.40am in good time to load for her 10.30am

On Monday 30th July 1962 my ten year old self took my Auntie Mary, my Dad’s sister, for the morning cruise on Consul leaving Weymouth at 10.30am due back 12.30pm.

On Tuesday 29th July 2008 Kingswear Castle ran afternoon cruises and an early evening charter on the River Medway from her base at the Historic Dockyard at Chatham and from

On Thursday 28th July 1960 Princess Elizabeth was scheduled to leave Torquay at 10am for a day trip to Plymouth due back at 8pm. I have her engine room log

Consul’s crew had Saturdays off in the early part of the 1962 season, but in the peak weeks from mid‑July they were rostered to run seven days a week. And

On Thursday 27th July 1899 Brodick Castle was scheduled to sail from Swanage (9.30am), Bournemouth (10.30am) and Boscombe (10.40am) for Totland Bay, Isle of Wight, (11.45am), Cowes (12.45pm) and Portsmouth

On Thursday 26th July 1934 Lorna Doone was scheduled to run a day trip from Southampton at 9am around the Isle of Wight. She then called at Ryde (10.15am) before

On Saturday 25th July 1959 one of the three Humber paddle steamers Lincoln Castle, Tattershall Castle or Wingfield Castle sailed down from Hull to the Royal Dock Basin at Grimsby

Looking back through the history of excursion paddle steamers we find that some summers were really good with endless sunshine and light airs. Others were terrible with loads of wind

On Thursday 24th July 1958 Cardiff Queen was scheduled to run a full Lundy day trip: Swansea at 8.45am, Mumbles at 9.05am, Ilfracombe at 10.50am and Clovelly at 12.10pm, landing

On Friday 24th July 1964 the Clyde turbine steamer Queen Mary II was taken out of service with boiler trouble so her sailing “Down the River”, or as it was

On Tuesday 23rd July 1935 Killingholme was scheduled to run a two hour afternoon cruise at 3pm from the Royal Dock Basin at Grimsby on the Humber to view the

The Humber Bridge opened on 24th June 1981, after which Farringford, the last paddler to run on the Hull – New Holland Ferry service, was withdrawn. However, although some of

On Monday 22nd July 1912 Killingholme was on charter to take King George V, Queen Mary and the rest of the royal party to open Immingham Dock. Killingholme and her

Balmoral was Red Funnel’s largest, fastest and most commodious excursion paddle steamer. Built to counter competition from P & A Campbell at the turn of the century she was in

Some paddle steamers ran exciting long day trips to far flung and distant destinations many miles away. Some didn’t. One of the the latter was Ryde. So how did she

Although returned to Red Funnel in 1945 after war service it was not until July 1947 that Bournemouth Queen’s major rebuild was complete and she was ready to be returned

On Sunday 20th July 1997 Kingswear Castle ran one of our annual Teddy Bear Cruises to try to encourage a new generation to come aboard and fall in love with