PADDLE STEAMER PRINCESS ELIZABETH
Princess Elizabeth complete with a cargo of cars and a caravan on the foredeck steaming up Southampton Water
The Paddle Steamer Princess Elizabeth is one of very few traditional British paddle steamers in existence. In 1987 she left Britain to become a museum ship at Paris and, after more than a decade there, is now about to start a new life as a conference centre at Dunkirk.
Princess Elizabeth alongside at Dunkirk 5th April 2000
At Dunkirk April 2000
Looking up at the replacement steel wheelhouse April 2000 - 5 windows instead of 3!
Princess Elizabeth was built by Day Summers at Southampton in 1927 for the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Ltd (later Red Funnel Steamers) as a multi purpose ship capable of running excursions in the summer, tendering liners and operating the Southampton to Cowes passenger and car ferry year round for which her foredeck was specially strengthened for the carriage of vehicles. Much used on the Cowes service her excursion work usually involved the more local trips from Southampton although she did run from Bournemouth from time to time.
Princess Elizabeth after an extension was added to her funnel in 1936.
HMS Princess Elizabeth
During the Second World War Princess Elizabeth was a minesweeper and an anti-aircraft ship and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation during which she was said to have rescued 1,763 troops from the beaches including 500 French soldiers.
Displaced in 1959 by the new purpose built car ferry Carisbrooke Castle, Princess Elizabeth was bought by Torbay Steamers who ran her from Torquay on excursions to Lyme Regis, the River Dart, Sidmouth and initially to Plymouth in 1960 and 1961 against much local opposition. In 1962, now under the banner of Coastal Steamers and Marine Services, she sailed from Bournemouth to Swanage as an indirect replacement for Cosens' Monarch and from 1963 to 1965 she took over from Consul at Weymouth running around Portland Harbour, to the Shambles Lightship, to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight and to Lulworth Cove, although, unlike Consul and her Cosens' predecessors she did not land passengers at the Cove. In her last season she was run by Coastal Steamers (Weymouth) Ltd whose principal director, Cdr Edmund Rhodes, had been principal of all three private companies which says something about the economics of running paddle steamers in the 1960s.
In 1961 Princess Elizabeth took part in the making of the Walt Disney film The Castaways starring Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills and George Sanders and in 1965 played the part of a cross channel packet steamer in the film Gordon of Khartoum.
In 1968 Princess Elizabeth was sold for scrap and her engines, boiler and other equipment were taken out at Southampton. Fortunately she was saved and towed to Hayling Island for static use but nothing came of this and she was then towed to London in June 1970 to become a restaurant and bar near London Bridge where she remained until 1987 and her move to France.
Looking down from the bridge onto the promenade deck alongside the Pleasure Pier at Weymouth in 1965
The same view April 2000
Looking up at the red funnel. The large tank abaft the funnel is a sort of giant fire-extinguisher to provide foam to put out fires in the boiler room.
Princess Elizabeth laid up in the Weymouth Backwater 1965. The gates for loading cars onto the foredeck are just visible in the black foredeck bulwark.
A similar view April 2000
The capstan in 1965. The anchor was stowed on the deck and, if needed, had to be lifted over the side using a derrick which can be seen beyond the capstan on the port side.
April 2000
The engines of Princess Elizabeth were beautifully maintained right up until the end of her service. The gauges to the right of the engine room telegraph show the boiler pressure, the compound pressure in the low pressure cylinder and the vacuum respectively.
Ahead of the main engine on the starboard side is the steering steam engine and on the port side is the boiler room fan steam engine.
The steam electricty generator located on the control platform. In the foreground are the tops of the cylinder drain levers.
The engine laid up and greased alongside at Weymouth 1965
The same view taken in April 2000 looking at where the engine was.
The engine and boiler were removed at Southampton in 1968. The whole area is now decked over, the companionway to the promenade deck has been rotated through 180' and we are looking towards what was the aft saloon although this whole deck area is now open plan as can be seen.
A picture of the aft saloon taken in 1965 looking aft towards the ladies lavatory door.
A similar view in April 2000 looking aft into what was the aft saloon. The ladies lavatory has moved elsewhere.
Postcard signed by Capt Harry Defrates, Princess Elizabeth's captain in 1961, 62 and 64 and a former Cosens captain.
There was something of a merry-go-round of captains on the paddle steamers Consul, Embassy, Monarch and Princess Elizabeth in the early 1960s which may say something about the difficulty of recruiting and retaining good paddle steamer captains. After the 1959 season Capt Rawle, who had been introduced to the steamers as a boy by his father, also a Cosens' captain, retired and without him and Capt Cooke, another long serving master who had also left, the situation in 1960 was that only Capt Haines on Embassy and Capt Defrates on Monarch had any real paddle steamer handling experience.
That season Capt Iliffe was promoted from Chief Officer to be master of Consul and an inexperienced paddle steamer captain, whose name I have fogotten, had Princess Elizabeth. In 1961 Monarch was sold for scrap, so Capt Iliffe was made redundant and Capt Defrates put back on Consul but shortly before the season Cdr Rhodes poached him to take over Princess Elizabeth much to the displeasure of Cosens who were left a captain short as Capt Iliffe had already found himself another job by that stage.
Fortunately Capt Hollyoake, brother of the then Weymouth Harbour Master and a former captain of the paddle steamers Victoria and Empress was found and appointed to Consul. In 1962 Capt Haines left Embassy to take up more lucrative work as a Poole Harbour pilot and he was replaced by Capt Hollyoake with Capt Iliffe being lured back to Consul. After the 1962 season Consul was sold so Capt Hollyoake was made redundant and Capt Iliffe promoted onto Embassy where he stayed for the rest of her service up to 1966. For 1963 Consul was bought by South Coast and Continental Steamers and they recruited Capt Defrates from Princess Elizabeth leaving Capt Holyoake to be snapped up by the latter. At the end of that season Capt Defrates refused to steam Consul back from her ill-fated charter on the Thames as he thought she would't make it under her own steam, (as it turned out she did catch fire briefly off Dover on the homeward journey!) so he was replaced by Capt Hollyoake snapped up from Princess Elizabeth. This left Princess Elizabeth without a captain so Capt Defrates returned to her for 1964. Clearly there was some insecurity amongst both paddle steamer captains and owners in the 1960s.
Certainly the officers were not well paid. Cosens tended to keep their captains on throughout the year but usually on a reduced two thirds rate in winter which, around 1960, provided £12 a week in the summer and £8 a week out of season. Being on a fixed rate the Cosens' captains did not receive any overtime however many hours they worked which was a source of some irritation when they discovered that casually employed seamen being paid for every hour they worked sometimes earned more than they did during the peak weeks.
Capt Stanley Woods
As both Capts Defrates and Hollyoake had retired after the 1964 season Capt Woods (pictured), a former occasional mate of Consul and Princess Elizabeth, was enaged for the Princess Elizabeth for the 1965 season. In October of that year he was recruited by Don Rose to bring the Clyde paddle steamer Jeanie Deans round from the Clyde to the Medway and to run her the following season on the Thames as the Queen of the South. This project was beset by difficulties on all sides and Queen of the South ran on only a handful of days in 1966 and 1967 before being towed away for scrap leaving behind a mountain of debts.
The wheelhouse of Princess Elizabeth in 1965.
The bridges of most paddle steamers, even in the 1960s, were simplicity itself without modern high-tech equipment and navigational aids. Here there is a wheel, mechanical rudder indicator, binnacle containing the compass, fire extinguisher, table for the coffee cups, wooden stool for extra comfort, first aid cabinet and a box for the binoculars. At the aft end of the wheelhouse there was a radio-telephone which was rarely used as port control radio channels had yet to be invented and I daresay that the captain possessed a sextant although I never saw one used.
The brass wheel was bought by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society and is now on loan to the Southampton Maritime Museum where it is on display.
The radio-telehone on the bridge sheltering under a tarpaulin to deflect the drips from a leaky deckhead in 1965. You can also see four brass buttons which provided emergency communication with the engineer in case of an engine room telegraph failure. Princess Elizabeth had no other bridge/engine room communication except by sending a deck-boy to and fro with a message.
A Paddle Steamer Preservation Society meeting aboard Princess Elizabeth at Weymouth in the 1960s. Pictured left to right Mrs Barclay-Bishop, (PE backer and friend of Cdr Rhodes), Victor Gray, Richard Green, Mrs Eileen Pritchard (founder member of PSPS with membership number 1), Cdr Edmund Rhodes (Managing Director of PE companies 1960 -1965), Lionel Poole, Richard Clammer, Geoffrey Pritchard, Eric Daniel and Peter Lamb.
The outside of the 1960 leaflet
The inside of the 1961 leaflet
Princess Elizabeth aground at Lyme Regis August 1961
Princess Elizabeth visited Lyme Regis on most Thursdays during the summer of 1961. There was not a lot of water in the harbour at low tide and on these occasions arrangements had been made with the local boatmen to ferry passengers ashore. Sadly this agreement broke down and on two Thursdays Princess Elizabeth ran out of water and grounded as is shown in this crumpled photograph rescued from a waste-paper basket aboard the steamer. If you look closely you can see how the water has fallen away uncovering an ever increasing amount of anti-fouling paint. Princess Elizabeth refloated a few hours later on each occasion and sailed back to Torquay.
The timetable for 1962 showing the Bournemouth to Swanage service
Part of the hanging card for Weymouth for 1963
How evidence can mislead! This sailing bill was produced prior to the 1963 season when the intention was to run Princess Elizabeth from Weymouth to Lyme Regis on Tuesdays. In fact these trips never happened and the ship's only appearances at this delightful Devon port were on sailings from Torquay in 1960 and 1961.
The leaflet for the peak weeks of the 1964 season
An adult ticket for Lulworth Cove
The 1965 timetable
During 1965 Princess Elizabeth was chartered by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society for a day trip from Weymouth to Torquay on 27th June, the first such excursion by paddle steamer for many years.
A child ticket for the PSPS sailing from Weymouth to Torquay
Princess Elizabeth off Cowes in the late 1950s
Princess Elizabeth off Weymouth in 1964
Princess Elizabeth approaching Ryde Pier in September 1958 towards the end of her career with Red Funnel Steamers
JM