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Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Thames
Estuary, River Medway, Kent, Essex and East Anglia Coast, England,
U.K.
Victoria Steamboat
Association / Palace Steamers
Ltd
Established
in
February 1888 to take over the assets of the failed River Thames
Steamboat Company (including its fleet of smaller paddle steamers for
services in London and upstream on the river to Hampton Court Palace)
as a loose association of business interests
operating its vessels as separate subsidiaries, most likely in an
attempt to avoid the financial problems of its predecessors. Palace
Steamers Ltd was the best known of these subsidiaries.
The Association set about modernising the fleet and scrapped a number
of older vessels. Their first move was to purchase the paddler Lord
of the Isles followed by the smaller new-build The Mermaid for up-river
services. Although 12 years old, Lord of the Isles, which had
been operated on
the prestige Glasgow - Inveraray route in Scotland, was extremely
well appointed, with spacious fore and aft saloons on the main deck.
It set new standards for the Thames and set the Association and its
competitor on the Clacton route into an intense frenzy of vessel
purchasing.
In
an arrangement with the Govan-based Fairfield Shipbuilding and
Engineering Ltd and the establishment of a subsidiary company, Palace
Steamers Ltd, the Association introduced the enormous PS Koh-in-Noor in
1892 and a sister ship, PS Royal Sovereign a year later. In 1894 PS
La Marguerite, the largest coastal excursion paddler ever operated in
the UK and a great favourite on the Kent coast and cross-channel
routes to France, joined the fleet.
The cost of these vessels and their enormous appetite for coal,
especially in the case of La Marguerite, led inevitably to financial
problems and the three newer vessels which had been supplied under mortgage reverted to their
builders after the 1894 season. The three large ships were operated by Fairfields as New Palace Steamers
Ltd, whilst the Association struggled on with a limited service
undertaken by its remaining older vessels until they were sold
at the end of 1896.
The Association was left with a small fleet of
smaller vessels used on up-river services in
London including Cardinal Wolsey and the Mermaid, which were, in 1897, vested in the Thames Steamboat Company (1897) Ltd
Above
: The Mermaid was built locally in 1891 by Samuda Bros. at Poplar and
ran on river services in and around London until 1916 when it was sold
for use on the River Ouse in Yorkshire. Smaller river vessels were the
only ships purchased as new-builds except for the three palatial
estuary paddlers from Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering which
were quickly returned to the builders due to the cost of operating
them.
The Mermaid was 160 ft long with a GRT of 194. It was fitted with an oscillating engine 30 and 30 in x 33 in
Vessels taken over from the River
Thames Steamboat
Co
Scrapped on takeover
Queen of the Thames
Duke of Connaught
Duke of Cambridge
Duke of Teck
Albert Edward
Vale of Clwyd
Retained until 1896. Some found further use. Cleopatra was used on the River Tay until 1931 after a short spell on the Ouse in Yorkshire.
The Mermaid spent her final year (1923) on the west coast of Ireland at Limerick
Duke of Edinburgh
Glen
Rosa
Retained until 1898
Queen
of the Orwell (Fairy Queen from 1890)
Smaller vessels for up-river services
Retained
River Queen
Primrose
Rifleman
Redfern
Snowdrop
Carnation
Prince Arthur
Fuchsia
Prince of Wales
Princess Mary
Thistle
Shamrock
Lotus
Vesta
Cupid
Azalea
Lily
Ceres
Osprey
Rose
New
Build
Retained smaller vessels for up-river services
H M Stanley (later Portia)
Kaiser
The Shah (later Penelope)
Bismarck (later Phyllis)
Empress Frederick
Cardinal Wolsey
The Mermaid
Orchid
Palm
Returned to Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering and vested in New Palace Steamers Ltd in 1894
Koh-i-Noor
Royal Sovereign
La
Marguerite
Vessels
Purchased
Resold in 1896
Lord
of the Isles
Victoria
Return
to
New Palace Steamers
Thames Steamboat Company (1897) Ltd
River
Thames Historical