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 2017:
While Away a Few Moments on the Old Woolwich Paddle Ferries
Between 1922 and 1930 four coal-fired paddle steamers Squires, Gordon, Will Crooks and John Benn were built by J Samuel White of Cowes for the short Woolwich free ferry crossing
November 2017:
Brush Up on your Bournemouth Pier Paddle Steamer Byelaws
On the 18th June 1936 Bournemouth Corporation introduced a new set of byelaws, sanctioned by the Minister of Transport, to regulate the use of Bournemouth Pier to replace an earlier
October 2017:
Three Paddle Steamer Captains’ Working Days
The steaming time from Hastings to Shanklin was scheduled as five and a quarter hours each way, although adverse tides could extend this, so if you add that on to
September 2017:
A Little Bit of the Paddle Steamer Jeanie Deans Lives On
Enthusiast and business man Don Rose tried hard to save and operate the former Clyde paddle steamer Jeanie Deans. Here she is alongside Tower Pier on 28th May 1966 with
August 2017:
Paddle Steamer Trips from Eastbourne August 6th – 12th, 1927
On Saturday 6th August Devonia ran between Brighton and Eastbourne with an afternoon cruise round the Sovereign Lightship. She took the cross channel sailings to Boulogne, giving about 3 hours
June 2017:
Paddle Steamer Consul 1960
Consul’s 1960 season based at Weymouth started on Saturday 4th June with a shuttle service for Portland Dockyard Navy Days leaving Weymouth Pleasure Pier on the hour every hour from
July 2017:
P & A Campbell’s Paddle Steamers 1957
By 1957 the finances of P & A Campbell, paddle steamer operators, were becoming seriously troubled and economies had to be made to stay in business. One time flagship of
May 2017:
Paddle Steamers at Bournemouth 1957
Despite the weather in 1955 being described in the accounts of Cosens & Co as ‘the best experienced for several years’ the financial results for the season were not great
April 2017:
Paddle Steamer Spot the Difference at Portsmouth
From 1897 onwards for over thirty years the Joint Railway service run by the London and South Western Railway and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway and their successor
March 2017:
Paddle Steamers on the River Orwell
After the development of the docks at Ipswich in 1842 the Eastern Counties Railway and its successor, the Great Eastern Railway, built several paddle steamers to sail up and down
February 2017:
Paddle Steamer Glen Gower’s International Voyages 1954-56
Try travelling on international journeys without a passport today in the modern world and just see how far you get. In 1955 the winds of change were blowing in the
January 2017:
Paddle Steamer Excursions on the Humber in 1959
The three sisters Tattershall Castle (pictured), Wingfield Castle and Lincoln Castle spent their operational careers from the 1930s through to the 1970s primarily paddling backwards and forwards with passengers and
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