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 there were no relief crews. Capt Iliffe, Chief Officer Arthur Drage and Chief Engineer Cyril Julian did the lot. Their only respite came if sailings were cancelled due to the weather. It was not just wind but also rain that stopped Cosens’s paddle steamer trips from Weymouth. Management took the view that people wouldn’t want a paddle steamer ride when it was wet — just as well, as Consul had very limited undercover accommodation for her passenger capacity.
Saturday was change‑over day when the holiday-makers came and went, and therefore the least busy of the week at Weymouth, so on Saturday 28th July Consul was rostered for just two afternoon trips: the ubiquitous 2pm one‑hour “Cruise Round HM Ships and Merchant Shipping in Portland Harbour”, followed at 3pm by a “Cruise across Weymouth Bay, towards Osmington, Ringstead and Lulworth Cove, thence to Portland Harbour viewing HM Ships and merchant shipping, due back 4.45pm”. A nice easy‑ozy sort of day for the crew.
The following day, Sunday 29th, ended with a “Special Evening Jazz Cruise”. I could see Consul on her trips round Portland Harbour from my bedroom window, which looked out onto the harbour, but these Jazz Cruises were always a particular excitement. She came in much closer to the shore by Sandsfoot Castle, so I could see her better without needing my telescope. And she came so close that I could hear the jazz band playing as she went by. Sammy Pearce and his Jazzmen played on deck and had a piano which, that season, was usually kept on deck under a green piano‑shaped tarpaulin. How often it needed tuning in these less‑than‑ideal atmospheric conditions I don’t know.
Consul started and finished her days at her overnight berth just downstream of the Town Bridge. Each morning she backed down the harbour from this berth to the Pleasure Pier to pick up her passengers, and at the end of the day she steamed back up the harbour again. Paddle steamers vary in their ability to steam astern on the main rudder. Some, like Waverley with her small rudder, are very hit‑and‑miss. Others, like Consul and KC, are really rather good at it and will follow the rudder unless the wind is more than about force 6, in which case the stern seeks the wind.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2026 after the second part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for future rebuilds. You can read more and how you can possibly help here.
John Megoran
This article was first published on 28th July 2023.
