Paddle Steamer Resources by
Tramscape
Cosens
& Co
Captain Joseph
Cosens, a newly established provider of coastal excursions, and
newspaper proprietor Mr J Drew established Cosens & Co in 1852 to
operate steamships between their home port of Weymouth and Portland.
Captain Cosens and his younger brother William were experienced
sailors having been engaged in the coastal trade and chartered their
first vessel, the tug Highland Maid, to capitalise on the need for a
good link to the new naval dockyard at Portland. As well as
carryinging goods and employees, Cosens also carried numerous
sightseers to the new facility, putting their new vessels Princess
and later Prince on the run. With the 120-ft Prince, excursions were
offered further afield along the Dorset coast and also across the
channel to France.
In 1858, the two vessels of their local competitor Philip Dodson were
taken over and two years later the interests of John Tizard were
incorporated into the Cosens concern.
Cosens went on to dominate the excursion scene at Weymouth and the
popular resort of Bournemouth, seeing off competition from the
Bournemouth, Swanage & Poole Steam Packet Co and taking over
their PS Brodick Castle. Cosens became a limited company in 1876,
soon after the deaths of Joseph Cozens and John Tizard, and continued
to expand its other interesta,of ship repair and general engineering,
coal trading, ice import and manufacturage and cold storage. Shipping
interests also included towage and salvage for which they owned
paddle tugs which could, if required, be used for passenger
services.
Cosens were not able to have everything their own way and the
Southampton-based Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England
Royal Mail Steam Packet Company increasingly placed vessels at
Bournemouth. In the 1930s there evolved some cooperation between the
two companies and in 1946, Cosens became a subsidiary of the
Southampton company. The two companies' services then operated under
separate flags although not in direct competition.
Cosens steamers continued to serve the existing trade with an
increasingly outdated fleet. The one post-war addition was Monarch in
1951, a former Solent ferry which was already 27 years old but became
Cosens' youngest vessel (the last ship ordered new by Cosens had been
the Majestic of 1901 which was lost in 1916). From 1964, the 53-year
old PS Embassy was the sole fleet survivor struggling on to make her
last sailing in September of 1966.
The company's other interests, including steel fabrication, continued
until Cosens Engineering Ltd went into receivership in 1999.
Vessels with dates of Cosens ownership:
Princess (1848-1853)
Prince (1852-1888)
Premier (1860-1938)
Bannockburn (1860-1869)
Empress (1879-1958)
Victoria (1884-1953)
Monarch (1888-1950)
Majestic (1901-1916)
Brodick Castle (1901-1910)
Emperor of India (1908-1957)
Alexandra (1915-1931)
Consul (1937-1963)
Embassy (1937-1967)
Monarch (1951-1961)
Wave Queen (on charter in 1852)
Audrey (on charter in 1911)
Lord Roberts (on charter in 1911)
Paddle Tug/Tenders
Highland Maid (on charter in 1848)
Tug/passenger vessels taken over from P Dodson in
1858:
Contractor (1858-1863)
Ocean Bride (1858-1865)
Commodore (1863-1890)
Queen (1883-1920)
Albert Victor (1889-1928)
Helper (1910-1920)
Melcombe Regis (1913-1923)
Return
to
South
Coast