Monthly paddle steamer articles written by John Megoran, author, manager and principal captain of Kingswear Castle for nearly 30 years on the Medway and the Thames as well as the River Dart.
You can read more of John’s paddle steamer reminiscences in his regular Megoran’s Musings features on the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society website here.
Choose a year to see more Pictures of the Month:
December 2008:
Paddle Steamer Ariadne
What could this paddle steamer Ariadne be? And why isn’t this magnificent steamship listed in any of the books about European paddle steamers? Clearly she looks a fine, if slightly
November 2008:
Capt Shippick Suggests
Capt Shippick (pictured on the extreme left in the front row) wrote the letter below to the Bournemouth Times in 1948. I have re-produced it in easier to read type
October 2008:
UK Paddle Steamers Withdrawn 1948, 1958, 1968 & 1978
The immediate post Second World War period was quite a buoyant time for UK paddle steamer operations with services being re-introduced around the country and passengers teeming up the gangways
September 2008:
Paddle Steamer Oddities
At first glance this paddle steamer looks as if it has been attacked by a swarm of gigantic bees which have gone to work transforming it into a floating honeycomb.
August 2008:
Paddle Steamer Sailings from Bournemouth, Swanage and Weymouth August 1960
August 1960 would have provided quite a feast for anyone wishing to take a paddle steamer trip from Bournemouth, Swanage or Weymouth. Cosens and Company was still very much in
July 2008:
Paddle Steamer Entrepreneur Tony McGinnity
It is with great sadness that I report the death of Tony McGinnity, pictured above on the bridge of the Consul in February 1965 with Capt Harry Defrates. Tony went
June 2008:
Swiss Paddle Steamer Stadt Zurich
The Lake Zurich paddle steamer Stadt Zurich arriving at Insel Ufenau. “Full astern!” Who says paddle steamers need big piers to call at? The lovely Escher Wyss engine dating from
May 2008:
My Favourite Thames Captains by John Richardson
Capt R “Bob” Hayman My father was given an introduction to Bob Hayman (as he was known to nearly everyone) and in the early 1930s took me to meet him
April 2008:
Paddle Tug John H Amos Takes to the Air
The paddle tug John H Amos sitting on the number 7 slip at Chatham on the morning of Thursday 27th March 2008 awaiting her big lift onto a barge. Paddle
March 2008:
Paddle Steamer Apprentice and Mate Moran Caplat
A question: What have Herne Bay, Sheerness, Dunkirk, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the paddle steamers Golden Eagle and Freshwater, all got in common? The answer: Moran Caplat, pictured above pointing
February 2008:
Paddle Steamer Shipyards Then and Now
Shipyards have been in great decline in the UK in the last twenty or so years with cheaper labour rates in places like Poland and elsewhere in the world taking
January 2008:
Lake Lucerne Paddle Steamer Uri
The beautiful paddle steamers (left to right) Schiller, Stadt Luzern, Unterwalden and Gallia slumber in their winter lay up in the shipyard at Lucerne on Sunday 30th December 2007. Their
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