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The collective recollection of childhood summers bathed in fine weather, when the paddle steamers always ran to time and never ever had any problems with angry passengers left stranded on

Exactly fifty years ago, September 1963 was a bittersweet month for UK paddle steamer lovers. On the one hand, the Medway Queen (pictured above) was withdrawn, making her last sailing

The Balmoral came to Cosens’s yard in Weymouth for her annual maintenance and refit each winter from 1964 for the remainder of her career with Red Funnel and again in

After the Second World War only two paddle steamers were ever based at Torquay: the Pride of Devon, seen here alongside Haldon Pier, in 1946,1947 and 1948 and the Princess

The last Devon based paddle steamer to operate an excursion from Torquay to Plymouth was the Princess Elizabeth seen in this picture alongside Haldon Pier, Torquay. Built in 1927 for

The last four paddle steamers regularly to serve the Mersey, La Marguerite, Mona’s Queen, St Elvies and Snowdon were all withdrawn in the six year period between 1925 and 1931.

The UK excursion paddle steamer industry reached its apotheosis from the 1890s through to the First World War. The newer steamers, of which P & A Campbell’s Britannia, built 1896,

Ventnor was the Isle of Wight’s most exposed pier sticking right out into the English Channel with no shelter from winds from the east through to the west. Imagine yourself

These two paddle steamer sister ships were built during the first World in 1916 as HMS Atherstone and HMS Melton as part of the Royal Navy’s Ascot (sometimes called Racecourse)

What is this mysterious four decked paddle steamer out on a seemingly open sea somewhere on a grey November day last year with flags fluttering in the chill air and

The paddle steamer Cygnus (pictured above) and her sister Aquila were built of iron on the Clyde in 1854 for the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company’s link between Harwich

Fifty years ago in the “Deep Freeze” winter of 1962/63, Cosens & Co of Weymouth boosted their refit work by securing contracts to do major overhauls on two paddle steamers

Providing food and drink for the passengers was ever a part of paddle steamer operations although what was provided and how it was done naturally varied according to the route

1949 was the apotheosis of post-war paddle steamer excursions from Weymouth with no less than four steamers based at the port in the peak weeks (from left to right in

In September 1959 Capt Philip St Barbe Rawle, seen here wearing his Cosens’s hat with its distinctive badge with the house flag above the anchor, retired after a long career

Good news from Lake Geneva. Funding has now been raised to rebuild the Diesel electric paddler Vevey (pictured here a couple of years ago) and return her to service by

Many paddle steamer masters stayed with their ships for very many years. For example, the Medway Queen had only two peace time masters, Capt Bob Hayman before the Second World

Good news of sort from Lake Geneva. The Helvetie, which was withdrawn after the 2001 season and has since lain in a gradually deteriorating state in the harbour at Lausanne

Today the ferry from Southampton to the Isle of Wight takes us only to Cowes. In the 1930s, when these pictures were taken, and indeed right up to 1968, there

PS Emperor of India in September 1950 laid up in the Backwater. On the promenade deck the varnished seats have been piled up and packed away under a tarpaulin to