Megoran’s Musings

On Thursday 22nd November 1962 Mrs Cecile Becket, one of the most regular passengers on the Bournemouth paddle steamers after the Second World War, was ensconced as a lodger with

With the introduction of the paddle steamer Cleddau Queen in 1956 for the short Pembroke/Neyland ferry service, the paddle steamer Alumchine, of 1923, became second vessel on the route spending much of her subsequent

Around lunchtime on Wednesday 20th November 1903 the paddle steamer Cleethorpes left the yard of her builder, Gourlay Brothers, in Dundee for the 241 nautical mile run down the east coast in

On Wednesday 19th November 1969 Eppleton Hall was alongside at Mindello in the Cape verde islands. Her master Captain Scott Newhall recounted in his excellent book about the voyage from the Tyne

On Tuesday 18th November 1969 Eppleton Hall was alongside at Mindello in the Cape Verde Islands on her voyage from Newcastle, which she had left in September, to San Francisco. She had

Talisman’s last day in passenger carrying service was Thursday 17th November 1966 when she relieved the Maid of Skelmorlie on the Holy Loch run. By 1966 the large numbers of holiday making passengers

On Wednesday 16th November 1898 Captain William Cosens, brother of Captain Joseph Cosens who had founded Cosens & Co, was buried in Melcombe Regis cemetery having died three days earlier

On Thursday 15th November 1962 Sandown left Weymouth for Portsmouth under her own steam after completion of overhaul work on her engine and boiler by Cosens & Co. She had

After a fast run along the South Coast, Jeanie Deans reached the Medway and eventually tied up on the buoys off Thunderbolt Pier at Chatham on Sunday 14th November 1965. She had

Bristol Queen arrived in Weymouth around 8am on Tuesday 13th November 1962 in calm conditions for attention to her engine and boiler by Cosens & Co. having left Barry around

Having already topped up her bunkers at Holyhead and Falmouth on her way from the Clyde to Chatham, Jeanie Deans made a call at Southampton on Friday 12th November 1965 to fill

On Monday 11th November 1963 Caledonia came close to being blown ashore on the rocks in Millport Bay. She had spent the previous night stormbound at Millport. The weather moderated

With bunkers, fresh water and food topped up Jeanie Deans set off from Holyhead on the morning of 10th November 1965 on her voyage from the Clyde to the Medway with the

The 9th November dawned with Jeanie Deans still sheltering in the lee of the NE corner of the Isle of Man in Ramsey Bay on her voyage from the Clyde to the

Jeanie Deans spent Monday 8th November continuing to shelter from the storm in the lee of the Isle of Man. Today ships have a plethora of weather forecasting and significant wave

I had left the Jeanie Deans the previous day to return to school but of course Captain Woods, Ken Moore and Alfie Le Page were still aboard and they updated me on

Having come to anchor off Stranraer at the end of the previous day the crew were up at first light to steam Jeanie Deans into Stranraer on Saturday 6th November 1965 to

So we were ready to go. About 4pm the pilot came aboard and by 5pm we were off and sailing down the Clyde into the gathering darkness and out towards

The original plan of campaign was to set off south on Thursday 4th November 1965 but this was not to be as there were still things to do to prepare

By Wednesday 3rd November 1965 Jeanie Deans was ready to run trials. Alongside in the fitting out basin at Lamont’s Shipyard, Port Glasgow, steam was raised. The engine was warmed through. And

Having arrived aboard the previous night we were all up at the crack of dawn to shift ship from the outside berth on the pier by the side of the

Don Rose had bought the Jeanie Deans. He had persuaded Captain Stanley Woods, master of Princess Elizabeth in the 1965 season, to take command. He had asked two of the Lizzie’s seamen Ken Moore and

On Sunday 31st October 1948 Red Funnel’s Solent Queen arrived under tow in the scrapyard of T W Ward on the Thames at Grays in Essex. She was a ship

On Wednesday 30th October 1957 the Bournemouth Echo ran an article expanding on its announcement the previous day that Red Funnel’s Bournemouth Queen was to be withdrawn. The article makes

On Monday 29th October 2018 Stadt Luzern’s outgoing Captain Kuno Stein and her new master Roger Maurer, who will take command on completion of her rebuild, spent the day clearing

On 28th October 1897 whilst collecting the mail at the Jersey Dock in Southampton to take out to the North German Lloyd ship Trave, Princess Beatrice was rammed by the

Bournemouth manager Captain Baker left Cosens’s employment at the end of the 1955 season. It had been an odd sort of summer not only in the way that the paddle

On Tuesday 26th October 1965 Jeanie Deans was up on the slipway at Lamont’s Shipyard at Port Glasgow with work continuing to prepare her for the voyage south to the Medway for her

On 25th October 1895 Belle Steamers Ltd placed an order with Denny of Dumbarton to build a new paddle steamer to be called Southend Belle to be ready for the

On Tuesday 24th October 1967 Princess Elizabeth arrived at the scrapyard in Southampton. She was towed from her layup berth in the Backwater, through the Town Bridge and on down

Thursday 23rd October was the last day of the season at Bournemouth in 1947 and was operated by Red Funnel’s Bournemouth Queen which had run the services for this last

On Sunday 22nd October 1922 there were five round trips offered between Portsmouth and Ryde with each of the sailings inward and outward bound also calling at Southsea’s Clarence Pier..

On 21st October 1969 Eppleton Hall was at sea and making her approach to put into Madeira the following day on her voyage from the UK to San Francisco. The