August 2021:
Bournemouth Queen August 1956
Built in 1908 for what became Red Funnel, Bournemouth Queen spent most of her peacetime summers running excursions from Bournemouth and Swanage up to 1950. After that she spent the
24th July 2021:
Fund Raising Trip
At 6.15pm on Saturday 24th July Kingswear Castle set off from the pontoon at Dartmouth for an evening cruise to help raise funds for the proposed rebuild of the ship
July 2021:
Brighton Sailings 1948
Before the Second World War P & A Campbell had generally provided three, and occasionally four, paddle steamers to run their services on the Sussex Coast from the piers at
June 2021:
Paddle Steamer Crested Eagle
Founded in the 18th century White’s Shipyard at Cowes on the Isle of Wight expanded substantially under the management of John Samuel White in the 19th century and in the
18th May 2021:
KC Returns to Service
Kingswear Castle returned to service on Tuesday 18th May 2021 taking the 12.15pm harbour cruise from Dartmouth on which she carried almost 80 passengers. The first steam train of the
11th May 2021:
KC Passenger Certificates Renewed
The MCA attended Kingswear Castle on Tuesday 12th May 2021 for her running trials and examined and monitored the testing of everything on the ship for the renewal of her
9th May 2021:
PSPS Wessex Branch Charter of KC
The Wessex Branch are organising an up river fund raising evening cruise in association with the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust in aid of Kingswear Castle’s Rebuild Appeal on the
May 2021:
Captain Albert Robson Symes
In late May 1901 there was a little bit of a kerfuffle in the offing in Weymouth with the focus falling on Cosens’s Albert Victor. Some money had been stolen
30th April 2021:
DSRRB Co. Wins Heritage Railway Award
The Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat (DSRRB) Company, which operates Kingswear Castle on our behalf, have won the 2021 Heritage Railway Association award for the outstanding visitor attraction. Awards
30th April 2021:
KC Back in the Water
Kingswear Castle came off the slipway and was pushed back to the Dartmouth Pontoon by the Kingswear Princess, moored alongside, where she is pictured on Monday 26th April. Water was taken
18th April 2021:
The DSRRB Co. Re-Opens After a Long Winter
The Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat (DSRRB) Company re-opened after a long winter on Tuesday 13th April. Currently, and until 17th May, the steam train with ferry connections from
April 2021:
Paddle Steamer Kenilworth
At her annual dry-docking in the run up to the 1936 season the Board of Trade started to make noises about the amount of work which would be needed to
March 2021:
Winston Megoran 1913 – 1971
1st March 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the death of marine artist, yachtsman, PSPS member and my Dad Winston Megoran. Of the several thousand water colours, oil paintings, etchings,
February 2021:
Paddle Steamer Captain John Hayward
Captain John Hayward on the bridge of the Princess Elizabeth arriving at Millbay Plymouth for the first time at 2.50pm on Thursday 16th June 1960 on a day excursion which
January 2021:
Paddle Steamer Consul at Cowes
Consul approaching Cowes. She was never a regular visitor to Cowes. Indeed I can’t, so far anyway, find any record of her running into or out from this Isle of
December 2020:
Cosens’s Captain Haines
Captain Haines aboard Embassy cutting the cake with Mrs Mary Cox, wife of Bernard Cox one of the founding members of the PSPS, to celebrate the ship’s Golden Jubilee in
November 2020:
Paddle Steamer Jeanie Deans November 1965
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
October 2020:
Last Trips of the Season from Bournemouth October 1947
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
September 2020:
Paddle Steamer Royal Eagle 1950
On Sunday 10th September 1950 Royal Eagle had originally been scheduled to make the last trip of the season from Tower Pier (8.30am) to Greenwich (9am), Southend (11.30am) and Clacton
August 2020:
Paddle Steamer Consul 1962
1962 was the last season that Cosens based a paddle steamer at Weymouth and, as usual, this was their Consul. I was eleven in 1962 and pretty much obsessed by
