paddlesteamers.info : The Internet's leading website for
Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Paddle Steamers of the Past
: vessels and paddle steamer operators Note
: This database covers primarily passenger excursion paddle steamers.
It is important to recognise that all steam powered vessels in all
roles worldwide were paddle steamers until the middle of the 19th
century, when screw steamers and later screw-propelled motor vessels
increasingly took over most roles
Above
: A replica of Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat was built to
celebrate the centenary of the world's first commercially successful
steamship which sailed on the Hudson River at New York City from 1807.
Detroit Publishing Co photo at the Library of Congress - in the public
domain Above
: A replica of PS Comet, built in
1962, to celebrate 150 years since the inauguration of a service
between Glasgow and Helensburgh promoted by
Henry Bell to bring customers to his shoreside hotel and is regarded as
the first commercial use of a steamship in Europe. This replica,
owned by the local authority (Inverclyde Council), was located
alongside
the
main road through Port Glasgow on the Clyde estuary. The
wooden-hulled ship deteriorated badly and was beyond economic
repair by the time she was dismantled in April 2023. Photo by Gordon
Stewart Click
below to see brief historical notes of
inland and inshore passenger steamer operators and vessels in many of the major operating areas in
Europe, with very limited coverage of other parts of the world.
These
areas are not the only ones where paddle steamers operated. Many ferry
and coastal services were operated by paddle steamers before replacement
by motor vessels. Most of the areas covered are rivers and lakes with a
significant element of tourist excursion traffic as well as ferry services.
You can return to this page (Paddle
Steamers of the Past), or follow onward links (e.g to existing vessels / services) from
the individual area historical pages Vessel dates are first and last years in the fleet.
Vessels may or may not have sailed for the company in the year of
purchase / disposal
Links are provided to vessel profiles from the pages covering the
paddle steamer operating companies in each geographical area.
Illustrations :
Whilst it would be possible to illustrate almost all vessels with
images available on the internet which are out of copyright and in the
public domain by virtue of age, most will not be used and readers are encouraged to do
their own research for photos. A limited number will be used,
especially to illustrate the final paddle steamer designs for areas
(particularly mainland Europe) where such vessels no longer operate.
Others will be used for special reports eg : the paddle steamers
owned
and operated by the travel company Thomas Cook on the river Nile in
Egypt whose photos were used with the agreement of Thomas Cook Travel
and supplied from their archive. Other illustrated reports include
paddle steamers in areas outside Europe for the benefit of
European-based researchers looking to get a basic understanding of
overseas fleets. I give my thanks to anyone who has made public domain photos available on the internet
This website is for educational purposes only
It
is very rare for paddle steamers to have been scrapped in the 21st
century but a few have : Click here for details
These notes on selected operating areas of interest are illustrated with photos
which I believe to be out of copyright and in the public domain. It
should be noted that paddle steamers provided lifeline ferry services
and carried cargo to the main ports as well as passengers Egypt was
an interesting exception where British tour operator Thomas Cook owned
a fleet of ships which catered for tourists to the River Nile Photos of Thomas Cook vessels kindly supplied by that organisation for publication
The
history of steamships in the USA & Canada is a long and large one. The the
world's largest side-wheel paddle steamers could be found in large
fleets serving in particular the eastern seaboard around New York City
and up the Hudson River, the St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.
Paddle steamers were widely used elsewhere around the world and no attempt has been made to cover these areas. Egypt
River Nile Illustrated with the kind help of Paul Cook, archivist at Thomas Cook Travel
Trade
around the coast of the UK and including Ireland had been conducted by
sailing vessels but paddle steamers sound found a big market here.
Numerous businessmen set up companies to conduct the trade, often
between two ports with the company name reflecting this. Early steamers
were generally used for cargo and a limited but growing number of
passengers. Once regular postal services were established in the 1840s,
contracts to handle mails became important. The advent of the railways
gave a great impetus to passenger traffic between Great Britain
and Ireland and continental Europe and companies associated with the
railways and later the railway companies themselves began to dominate
passenger traffic almost completely. These services were fast,
point-to-point services, usually linking with railway services at the
destination for onward travellers.
On
short-sea ferry connections paddle steamers quickly lost prominence to
screw
steamers after the advent of turbine power at the beginning of the
20th century and turbines were specified for new-build steamers. Speed
was of the essence for cross-channel work and turbines proved to be
considerably more economical when achieving over 20 knots. Few vessels
survived into the Edwardian era (from 1910) and no British paddlers on
the English Channel ferry routes survived until World War I. Only eight
emerged
after World War I in 1918, with French, Dutch and Belgian ferry
operators. The last survivor, Belgian paddler Princesse Clementine, was
demolished in 1928. The very last paddler on any UK short sea crossing
was the
Isle of Man steamer Mona's Queen of 1885 which was withdrawn in
1929.
Some
pleasure steamer operators provided day excursion services to France. P
& A Campbell, for example, operated passenger excursions to
French ports from Sussex piers and local operators were also active in
this business. These were possible when
"no-passport" trips
were allowed, in the 1930s and again after 1955). They were not ferry
services and not associated with railway connections for onward travel.
The
General Steam Navigation Company was perhaps unique in that it was a
major shipping company combining its main cargo and passenger services
with its own dedicated Thames Estuary excursion business. Although much
of the business of the latter was in taking Londoners to the resorts in
north and eastern Kent, many of these services were extended for day
trips to France and Belgium.
Not
all companies, ships or services are listed, especially in the early
period (1814-1860) when numerous shipping companies were involved in
cargo transport but also carried passengers For a comprehensive annotated photographic record through
historical postcards : go to Ian Boyle's Simplon Post Cards Website : http://www.simplonpc.co.uk
The
accolade of the last paddle steamer built in the UK for cross-channel
services
goes to Mabel Grace (above) ordered by the South Eastern Railway from
Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and put into service in 1899 after the
company had merged its business with the London, Chatham & Dover
Railway to form the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Her regular
route was from Folkestone to Boulogne in France. The turbine revolution
which began in 1902 was so complete that Mabel Grace only had a very
short life - ten years. Her French contemporaries, the giant
twins Le Nord and Pas de Calais, which ran between Calais and Dover,
survived until 1923. Photo
in public domain. originally issued by J Adamson of Rothesay,the well
known ship photographer and card publisher. Photo taken during her
speed trials on the Clyde. Later in her life an enclosed wheelhouse was
added on a bridge moved to in front of the forward funnel. Note
: The longest paddle steamer built for short-sea service in UK waters
was Ireland of 1885 (366.3 ft) and the last in service was Mona's Queen
of 1885 (1929) Great Britain to the Isle of Man
Longest paddle steamer : Ireland (1885) of the City of Dublin SP Co Last paddle steamer built : Iverna (1895) of the Drogheda SP Co Last paddle steamer in service : Earl of Erne of the Dundalk & Newry SP Co (1918)
PADDLE MINESWEEPERS BUILT FOR THE ROYAL NAVY IN WORLD WAR I
The
Royal Navy, finding that paddle steamers were ideal for use as
minesweepers having requisitioned passenger ferries for such work in
World War I ordered thirty-two such purpose built vessels. Two of
these found use in
passenger fleets following their purchase from shipbreakers in 1927 (including Atherstone, seen in a RN photo above) and
are featured in this database. For more about the Navy paddlers click
on the link below.
Paddle
steamers were deemed to be unsuitable for use in direct battles as
"ships of the line" primarily because their paddle wheels were exposed
to enemy fire but also because the wheels took up space which otherwise
would be used for cannons. Paddle-driven frigates and sloops were
common in the 1840s but screw steamships usurped paddles quickly.
Several navies did continue to build paddle steamers, but mainly as
Avisos, out of range of battles but in support of the fighting forces,
particularly with regard to transporting messages before the inception
of telegraphy. The high speed of paddle steamers made them particularly
useful for this role. Click here
for details of paddle Avisos in the service of the Ottoman Navy. Navies
also built paddle steamers for support roles : harbour tugs and survey
vessels in particular. ROYAL YACHTS Royal
Yachts became popular status symbols and important instrument of state
for several monarchs in the 19th century, most notably Queen Victoria
of the United Kingdom in whose long reign three paddle steaming yachts
were commissioned. However, it was Denmark which can claim to have had
the last such vessel built for a European monarch and also the longest
surviving.
Denmark can claim the most modern paddle steamer built in Europe for royal use and the last such vessel to be decommissioned Dannebrog
entered royal service in 1880. She is seen above in 1913 after a major
reconstruction in 1907 when she was lengthened, re-engined and received
a second funnel. She was replaced in 1932 by a diesel-engined screw
ship of the same name and was scrapped during 1934 Photo by kind courtesy of Nationalmuseet Kobenhavn : Creative Commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Paddle tugs were built in enormous numbers for hauling barges,
especially along major continental rivers, and for harbour work,
manoevring larger sea-going vessels into position. Navies also built
their own tugs for attending tio their military vessels. Some harbour tugs also acted as
tenders, having some capacity for passengers for short transfers from
shore to larger vessels which moored away from any quayside. Particularly in the UK, some of
these vessels were used to provide short passenger excursions when available
No history of paddle tugs is attempted in this database
Above : A
typical example of a major river barge-hauling tug is Adolf Linden IV, seen
near Koln on the Rhein in 1958 in a photo kindly supplied by Alan
Murray-Rust.
