Cosens last regular sailings from Weymouth ended forty years ago in September 1962 with the withdrawal and sale of their delightful paddle steamer Consul.
Consul landing passengers over the bow onto the beach at Lulworth Cove in 1962.
The last sailing bill states “End of Excursion Season” and this turned out to be rather more of an end than anticipated. Cosens’ remaining paddle steamer Embassy continued to operate each summer from Bournemouth until 1966 and did make one excursion from Weymouth on 5th June 1965 on a very foggy day on charter to the PSPS for a cruise around the Isle of Wight. But Thursday September 20th 1962 marked the end of Cosens’ regular excursions from the port where Capt Cosens had started the business more than one hundred years earlier.
Consul approaching Southend Pier in September 1963.
Consul was acquired for further service on the Sussex Coast in 1963 and in September of that year was chartered for a series of trips on the Thames. In 1964 she was back at Weymouth in private ownership for the season and, after a period as an accommodation ship at Dartmouth under her original name of Duke of Devonshire, was scrapped in 1968 at Southampton. Cosens withdrew from paddle steamer operation at Bournemouth after the 1966 season selling the Embassy for scrap in Belgium but they continued to run their engineering business at Weymouth until the 1990s.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran