Hi Dave:
It's a good idea to keep asking this question as we've never been
able to come up with a satisfactory answer for you and now maybe one
of our newer Paddleducks could have a lead on this one. It's
undeniably a fascinating modeling subject and area of research.
You'd think there HAD to have been something like this in some of the
great ports of the world during the mid to latter 19th Cent. I'm
wondering if any of the steam paddle tugs of the era were fitted with
fire monitors. I've checked again through P N Thomas and I can't see
one in the UK with visible firefighting equipment (other than their
own fire buckets) which seems very strange.
Your question begs another question..IF there were no actual Paddle
fireboats, then WHICH paddlewheelers fought fires in harbours or at
sea? Certainly the "Directors" of the RMAS in the UK were fitted with
2 good size fire monitors which Bill Annan writes "were equipped for
fire-fighting" but that wasn't until the late 1950's. I checked
pictures of all the previous Royal Navy paddle tugs and none of them
seem to have been equipped with monitors or visible fire fighting
apparatus
So the mystery lingers on. Can anyone help Dave as it's a subject
worth following and wouldn't a bright red fireboat with paddlewheels
be the coolest thing?
PJ
Victoria, BC, Canada
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