Search Results

The last excursions of the summer season 1932 for the Southern Railway Portsmouth based paddlers Whippingham (pictured) and Southsea were on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th September. On the Sunday

Italie being restored in the shipyard at Ouchy in 2015. For a video of Italie leaving the shipyard for its first test run click here.

Under the leadership of Capt Stanley Woods, seen here on the bridge of the Princess Elizabeth in 1965, the former Clyde paddle steamer Jeanie Deans was transformed into the Queen

Half a century ago, 1966 was the Embassy’s last season in service. Cosens had a busy winter in 1965/66 re-fitting not only the railway ships at Weymouth but also converting

After two poor seasons running from Torquay, which culminated in her being banned by the Local Authority, Princess Elizabeth retreated to Weymouth Harbour in September 1961 to lay up for

Built in 1914 Kingswear Castle’s sister Compton Castle ran up and down the Dart until 1962. For some years after that she was a static tea-shop at Kingsbridge during which

Cosens & Co was a dominant force in Weymouth from the middle of the nineteenth century for a hundred years. The business is remembered largely as the operators of elderly

In December 1958 Charles Henry James Kaile (left) retired as secretary and general manager of Cosens after a career of 56 years with the company and was presented with an

The paddle steamer Monarch, seen here approaching Bournemouth Pier on the 28th August 1954, spent most of her decade in Cosens’s fleet from 1951 to 1960 running backwards and forwards

Before the advent of Twitter, Facebook and TripAdvisor gave everyone an instant platform on which to express their views, paddle steamer passengers of an earlier age had only the humble

After his brave but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to run the paddle steamer Consul on the Sussex Coast and Thames in 1963 and from Weymouth in 1964 the young Mr A

In October 1965, half a century ago, there were twenty two paddle steamers left in the UK. Let’s have a look at where they all were that month and what

There was a lot going in paddle steamer circles in September 1965. Some of the news was good. Some was less good and, with the wind blowing the way that

Weymouth Harbour in an aerial shot taken in April 1965 with, in the Backwater on the left, the Princess Elizabeth, with her red funnel, getting ready to go to Southampton

The day after her return from slipping at Southampton and the day after the Embassy had had her close encounter with Ballard Point, the Princess Elizabeth (pictured above backing out

Fifty years ago, 1965 was a landmark year for paddle steamers with a Weymouth connection. It was the last year in which a paddle steamer was based at Weymouth with

On 1st January 1973 the Caledonian Steam Packet Company, owners of the Waverley, acquired most of the vessels in the fleet of MacBraynes and emerged newly constituted as Caledonian MacBrayne.

In response to a suggestion that Zostera green weed should be re-introduced to Poole Harbour to help stop the channels from silting up, The Bournemouth Evening Echo, for 3rd March

On 5th August 1937 Red Funnel’s Bournemouth Queen (pictured above) rescued two teenage girls from Walthamstow who got lost in fog in a rowing boat off the east coast of

The Golden Eagle was built in 1909 by John Brown & Co on the Clyde for the General Steam Navigation Company’s services on the Thames from Fresh Wharf, next to