Paddle Steamer Resources by
Tramscape
Thames
Estuary, River Medway, Kent, Essex and East Anglia Coast, England,
U.K.
Woolwich Steam Packet
Co / London Steamboat Co / River Thames Steamboat
Co
Thames & Channel
Steamship Co
Established
in 1834 to provide services from central London to Woolwich, which
were later extended to the Kent and southern Essex coasts along the
Thames Estuary. A London to Ipswich packet service was operated and
it was this service which inaugurated calls at Clacton in 1871.
The company amalgamated with several smaller concerns, including the
Watermen's Steam Packet Company, in 1876 to form the London Steamboat
Company, which was the dominant force in the Thames estuary excursion
business at that time. 1878 saw the greatest disaster in the history
of British coastal cruising when PS Princess Alice sank after a
collision near Woolwich with the loss of almost 700 lives.
The Thames and Channel Steamship Co are understood to have been a
closely associated company who sold their two steamers Vale of Clwyd
and Glen Rosa to the London Steamboat Co in 1883.
The company struggled financially and was put up for sale at the end
of 1884, becoming the River Thames Steamboat Company, which operated
for three years. Their vessels were taken over by the Victoria
Steamboat Association in time for the 1888
season.
Main Excursion
Vessels
Queen
of the Orwell
Queen of the Thames
Duke of Connaught
Duke of Cambridge
Duke of Teck
Duke of Edinburgh
Alexandra
Princess Alice
Albert Edward
Vale of Clwyd
Glen
Rosa
Return
to:
River Thames
Historical