paddlesteamers.info : The Internet's leading website for
Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Channel Islands
Alderney Steam Packet Co
Helper (1919-1927) Built in 1873 by W Allsup at Preston 131.3 ft : 173 GT Engines : 2 x 1 cylinder 38 in x 40 in Built for the West Cornwall Railway & Dock Co and based at Plymouth and named Sir Francis Drake, passing to the Great Western Railway Co in 11880 Renamed Helper in 1908 Sold in 1910 through a brokerage to Cosens & Co at Weymouth Taken over by the Admiralty during World War I and used as a tug and later a minesweeper Soon after the end of the war she was sold by Cosens to the Alderney Steam Packet Co Was generally used in summer only on a ferry run to Sark In May 1927 she was taken to Appledore, Devon, and exchanged for a new vessel and subsequently scrapped