Megoran’s Musings

Embassy made her first trips of the 1960 season on Saturday 2nd July running the Swanage service with departures from Bournemouth at 10.45am, 2.30pm, 4.15pm and 6pm and from Swanage

On Monday 1st July 1935 Crested Eagle (“The Greyhound of the River”) was rostered to run from Tower Pier to Clacton and return later the same day. Departure from Tower

Bought from Red Funnel into private ownership Princess Elizabeth (pictured here alongside at Weymouth June 1963) tried her hand at Torquay in 1960 and 1961, was then engaged on the

Although primarily engaged on the Hull/New Holland ferry service the three Humber paddle steamers Lincoln Caste, Tattershall Castle and Wingfield Castle also undertook some excursions. For example, on Sundays from

On Tuesday 28th June 1927 Brighton Belle was rostered for local trips along the Sussex Coast from the piers at Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton. Her first passenger pick that day

On Sunday 27th June 1965 Princess Elizabeth ran a cruise from Weymouth to Torquay on charter to the PSPS reviving a sailing which had not be undertaken since 1949. It

On Monday 26th June 1961 Medway Queen was scheduled to leave Strood Pier (9.15am) for Southend (10.55am) and Herne Bay (12.30pm). She then ran a round trip from Herne Bay

The Bournemouth Echo for Friday 27th June 1958 records that on the previous Wednesday 25th June Embassy was unable to bring her passengers back from their day trip on the

On Sunday 24th June 1962 Bristol Queen was scheduled to leave Barry at 9.20am (with rail connection from Cardiff) for Ilfracombe where she was due at 11.50am before sailing on

On Friday 24th June 1966 Cardiff Queen was in drydock at Cardiff after a leak had been found in one of her bottom plates the previous morning. This is something

On Tuesday 23rd June 1925 three P & A Campbell paddle steamers, Ravenswood, Devonia and Brighton Belle were scheduled to make calls at Eastbourne Pier with the first departure at

On Saturday 23rd June 1984 Kingswear Castle ran a single trip from Strood to Gravesend via Southend and Tilbury carrying 11 passengers. This was a sort of shake down season

Westward Ho made her first trip of the season from Plymouth on Wednesday 22nd June 1932 sailing on an excursion to Prawle Point with 98 passengers aboard. She had arrived

On Friday 22nd June 1951 the work to repair the damage to the stern of Empress Queen caused at Avonmouth on 14th June was nearing completion. She left the Cumberland

On 22nd June 1951 a fire broke out in the aft saloon of Red Funnel’s Solent Queen whilst on the slipway at Southampton causing considerable damage to the ship and

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

On Tuesday 21st June 1949 Emperor of India was scheduled for a two hour trip leaving Weymouth at 1.15pm to view HMS Anson leaving Portland with Princess Elizabeth and the

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

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),

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

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

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

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

Duke of Devonshire was scheduled to make her first trip of the 1937 season on Tuesday 15th June with a departure from Torquay at 10.30am for the three and a

On Sunday 14th June 1959 one of the three Humber paddle steamers Lincoln Castle, Tattershall Castle or Wingfield Castle was scheduled to extend the 2.30pm ferry departure from New Holland

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Tuesday 8th June 1954 was the last day in service of the paddle steamer Marchioness of Lorne. She had already been displaced the previous summer from her old run between

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