Paddle Steamers AQUILA and GAUL

[treeve]

I am a retired Architectural Consultant,
with family history in the Isles of Scilly.
Besides the Cornish History I have placed
on the Internet, I am in the process of
forming pages on Mail Packets between
Penzance and the Scillies, as well as
a history of WH Podd Lowestoft trawlers;
my major opus is underway, being a
list of Merchant and small vessels lost
during WWII.
I am looking for the Paddle Steamers
GAUL and AQUILA, I have found a steamer
AQUILA ( 1857; 264 tons; Weymouth and
Channel Islands Steam Packet Co.) which was
on the Weymouth Cross Channel Ferry
[ April 17th 1857 Weymouth and Channel Islands
Steamboat Company opened;
running the SSs Aquila and Cygnus ]
and then on the Plymouth Channel Islands
route, 1889 - 1894. This must be the same
paddle steamer that ran from the
Scillies 1875 with the GAUL, in the mackerel seasons.
Please can anyone help me with details
of the vessels and where the GAUL was used.
Best Wishes
Raymond

[Waverley]

 This must be the same
paddle steamer that ran from the
Scillies 1875 with the GAUL, in the mackerel seasons.
Please can anyone help me with details
of the vessels and where the GAUL was used.
Best Wishes
Raymond

Hello Raymond

When you say "seasons" do you mean that these vessels were used each mackerel season for several years?

This is probably a total red herring on my behalf, but in 1888 and 1889 the Great Western Railway's PS GAEL was chartered "for the seasons" by the West Cornwall SSC which ran the packet service Penzance - Scilly. Information is from "West Country Passenger Steamers" 2nd edition by Grahame Farr p 154. GAEL had been acquired by the GWR in 1884 and was a large passenger paddle steamer - I can give more detail if you wish, but if your GAUL had been in use since 1875 I am definitely barking up the wrong tree.

I have no references AFAIK to any vessel named GAUL in this time period and wondered if their has been a transcription error.  

On the Clyde, some of the herring-buyers had their own steamers, which followed the fishing fleet and purchased the fish as they were netted.  Could GAUL have been used in a similar fashion?  In this case, she would most likely be a smallish, screw propelled cargo only vessel.

There is a photograph of AQUILLA in "South Coast Pleasure Steamers" by ECB Thornton 2nd edition plate 23.   It shows her in 1896 by which time she was based is Sussex and had been renamed RUBY.

Hope the above helps - or at least opens up some new avenues of inquiry.

Regards

David Milne

[treeve]

Hello David, and thank you for your reply ...
The names were taken from notes my grandfather made,
listing the ships used for Packet Service. It may well be the
GAEL, as you suggest, and the other could possibly be
AQUILLA. He said they were used from 1875 on, for how
long, I don't know, but certainly, since you say the GAEL
was used by the Scillies, I am more than interested if
I could add the information. Please post any information
you can offer.
With Best Wishes
Raymond

[Eddy Matthews]

There are numerous references to the GAEL and the AQUILLA in "The Victorian Summer of the Clyde Steamers 1864 - 1888 " written by Alan J. S. Paterson ISBN 0-85976-550-4

Apparently the Aquilla was originally called Emperor....

Maybe worth a trip to your local library?

[treeve]

Many thanks for the information, Eddy,
I have now identified the GAEL,
which was bought by The Great Western Railway Co
and based in Milford Haven ...
Clearly a misread by my mother
of her father's notes ...
I have found a web site which may prove useful to others ...

http://82.113.137.137/Museum_Gallery/index.php?module=article&view=126&page_num=1

Best Wishes
Raymond

[Eddy Matthews]

Clearly a misread by my mother of her father's notes ...

Very easily done Raymond! I know from researching my family tree just how easy it is to get wrong spellings, especially when you go back a few years when the majority of the population were illiterate.

[Waverley]

Hi Eddy, Raymond and all

The AQUILLA ex EMPEROR in Paterson's book is not the AQUILLA under discusssion.   In those days, there could be several vessels with the same name - most confusing.

Regards

David

[Waverley]

Many thanks for the information, Eddy,
I have now identified the GAEL,
which was bought by The Great Western Railway Co
and based in Milford Haven ...
Clearly a misread by my mother
of her father's notes ...
I have found a web site which may prove useful to others ...

http://82.113.137.137/Museum_Gallery/index.php?module=article&view=126&page_num=1

Best Wishes
Raymond

Hi Raymond and all.

The trouble with websites like this is that they are inclined to be rather superficial as, aimed at the general public, they cannot really be anything else  without getting bogged down in detail.

This is a case in point - as GAEL was owned by the Great Western Railway from 1884, she was registered like all their fleet at that time (including those which worked exclusively from Weymouth) at Milford Haven.  However, the services she operated were

Weymouth - Cherbourg 1884 - June 1885
Portishead - Ilfracombe 1885 - 1886


After 1886, she sometimes sailed from Weymouth to the Channel Islands, but she was basically a spare vessel and hence available for charter.

She was sold by the GWR to David MacBrayne in 1891.

AQUILLA's history is summarised in Grahame Farr's "West Country Passenger Steamers" 2nd edition.

Built 1854 Henderson & Sons, Renfrew for the North of Europe SNC Harwich - Antwerp service (the railway to Harwich opened in 1854)

1857 chartered, then sold to the Weymouth & Channel Islands SPC.
(As this company owned three vessels, one would have normally been available for charter.   However, the only charter recorded was a single trip to Ostend in 1870 - that does not mean there were not others)

1889 sold, via a dealer to The Plymouth, Channel Islands & Britanny SSC.

1895 sold, via dealers to James Jones, Swansea for excursion work on the Bristol Channel (presumably largely Swansea - Ilfracombe). Renamed ALEXANDRA.

1896 sold to the Hastings, St Leonards & Eastbourne SBC for excursion work from Hastings, including to Boulogne. renamed RUBY. "Only lasted 7 weeks".

1897 reported sailing Dover - Diamond Jubilee naval review at Spithead, and possibly based at Dover that season.    Sold end of year to William T Simmonds Boston.

1898 reported running from Brighton, possibly in charter.

1899 broken up Calais.

Like so many elderly ships, AQUILLA's final years were somewhat nomadic, but she must have been well built, as she lasted 45 years.


Information above came from the following books

Duckworth & Langmuir      Railway & Other Steam
                                      West Highland Steamers

ECB Thornton                   South Coast Pleasure Steamers

Grahame Farr                   West Country Passenger Steamers.

For ISBN's see my "must have" books thread.

There are four books which may give more on AQUILLA

Brian L Jackson                         Weymouth to the Channel Islands
Kevin La Scelleur                       Channel Islands railway steamers
J H Lucking.                              The Great Western at Weymouth
Richard Mayne                          Mail ships of the Channel Islands 1771 –
                                               1971

As I do not posess any of these (yet) I can not comment upon their content.

Hope this helps

Regards

David Milne

PS Frank Burtt's "Cross Channel & Coastal Paddle Steamers" also refers to both Aquilla & GAEL with nice photographs of GAEL and AQUILLA's sister ship CYGNUS, as built with two funnels, and a press quote regarding AQUILLA's initial service at Harwich.    However, much of the historical information is in disagreement with all other references (that is a polite way of saying he got it wrong - I am afraid his work contains a number of inaccuracies, including some of his comments on both GAEL and AQUILLA)

PPS - sorry about the formatting of the book titles - it looks all nicely lined up when I type it in, but the intervening spaces are stripped out when I post it (and the spell check tries to give me American spellings).

[Waverley]

Many thanks for the information, Eddy,
I have found a web site which may prove useful to others ...

http://82.113.137.137/Museum_Gallery/index.php?module=article&view=126&page_num=1

Best Wishes
Raymond

Eddy - if you look at the "Paterson 2" choice on this site you will find they have over 20 photos of GLEN SANNOX - preumably for sale.

David

[Eddy Matthews]

Eddy - if you look at the "Paterson 2" choice on this site you will find they have over 20 photos of GLEN SANNOX - preumably for sale.

David

Thanks for that David - I hadn't looked at the site, so I would have missed those if you hadn't mentioned it!

[Walter Snowdon]

Duckworth and Langmuir in WEST COAST STEAMERS give the following: ...Aquila built1854, and previously engaged in the Weymouth and Channel Islands service. To this ship the name ALEXANDRA was given (this is Alexandra "2" as she replaced a previous Alexandra of 1863, Walter). Fleet notes: built 1854 by Henderson and sons, 180.4 foot long,21 foot beam 270 tons 2 cylinder steam oscilator. Reboilered 1873.
 They also mention PS GAEL as follows:  Mr John Daniel of the Bristol andPortishead Pier and railway service, the company passed under the control of GWR in1884 and the latter from1885 operated the GAEL from Portishead to Bristol channel ports. She is not listed or described in the fleet lists in the above book. A bit of juggling with all the dates and companies might put them into context. ! All the best. I am joining WAVERLEY for a couple of weeks this weekend , living on board. (Isnt life Hard). If any Paddle duck member is on board in the Bristol Channel or the Clyde make yourself known to me, I can be found in the souvenir shop or the gangway! Regards, Walter.

[Waverley]

Hi Walter, Raymond and all

First - apologies for mis-spelling AQUILA throughout my previous posts on this matter - for some reason, the spell checker didn't notice

Secondly - re Walter's comments from Duckworth & Langmuir's West Coast Steamers (page 78 in my (3rd) edition).  As far as GAEL is concerned, there is no discrepancy with my earlier posting - once the GWR acquired the Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway Co, they used their own steamer - GAEL (replacing the paddler LYN they had acquired with the absorbed company). D & L doesn't say when that service stopped - but Farr gives the end of sailings as September 1886.

As far as the reference to AQUILA is concerned, and the renaming as ALEXANDRA, this refers to her time with James Jones of Swansea.  D & L appear to be a year out here by the way, as Thornton (South Coast Pleasure Steamers) explicitly states that RUBY ex ALEXANDRA ex AQUILA made her first sailing from Hastings on 27 June 1896. (D & L say 1897, see edit below). Thornton appears to have researched in contemporary local newspapers and I am inclined to take his dates here as correct.

Prior to acquiring AQUILA, James Jones had owned another steamer named ALEXANDRA (built 1863, ex London Brighton and South Coast Railway Newhaven - Dieppe service). This ALEXANDRA was sold to the Hastings & St Leonards Co in 1895. Jones obviously liked the name as he renamed AQUILA on purchase.  When he sold his "new" ALEXANDRA to the Hastings Co they had to rename her again (RUBY) as they couldn't have two ships in their small fleet with the same name. D & L say she was transferred to Newhaven "about 1896" (actually 1895 - see edit, below)) - I believe most Sussex based vessels used Newhaven as their overnight berth.

Incidentally, the section Walter quoted from in West Coast Steamers is a part of a necessarily brief summary of Bristol Channel operators and probably the weakest portion of the book. They cover in 3 pages material which Farr covers in 200.


Have fun on WAVERLEY, Walter - lets hope for good weather and large crowds.

Regards

David Milne

Edited to add postscript 15/6/2005

The Duckworth & Langmuir quoted dates for the transfers of ALEXANDRA and RUBY (ex ALEXANDRA) to Hastings appear to have been copied from Burtt's "Cross Channel & Coastal Paddle Steamers", which give the same dates. Dates in this book are not as reliable as a pedant like me would like (but given the scope of the work and its ground-breaking nature this is not surprising) but I think we can safely assume inaccurate information has been incorporated in "West Coast Steamers" as a result (again, not really surprising given the summary nature of the chapter).

[Waverley]

Hi all, again

While I am here, I'll say a bit more about GAEL.

She was built in 1867 for the long named "Campbeltown & Glasgow joint stock steam packet company" as result of competition on the route (normally a monopoly in those days) by PS HERALD. As built, she was flush decked and, till the end, carried passengers and cargo.  She is credited with 16 knots on trials - fast for her day. After a short price war, HERALD was beaten off : I believe that at this time, GAEL and her consort KINTYRE (1868)  normally made a single journey each - one from Glasgow, and one from Campbeltown and calling at a number of intermediate piers an ferries on the west coast of Arran and the east coast of Kilbrannan Sound.

When the Campbeltown Company acquired KINLOCH (launched December 1877) GAEL was available for a summer only day return service from Greenock to Campbeltown.  After one year on this run (1878) she was given a major overhaul which included fitting a deck saloon aft, the decor much improved and new boilers supplied.  These changes had an unfortunate effect on her speed and coal consumption and she was sold to the GWR at the end of the 1883 season.

She was acquired by David MacBrayne in May 1891 and that winter was again provided with a major refit.   New boilers were again installed, and the aft saloon widened to the full breadth of the ship and extended aft over what had been the after hold.

Her normal route must have provided one of the most spectacular sails in Britain.  She left Oban at 07:00 Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for the Sound of Mull, Tobermory,  round Ardnamurchan Point to the Isle of Eigg, Mallaig, Sound of Sleat, Kyle of Lochalsh, Portree (Skye) and back to the mainland at Gairloch  (and other intermediate calls) - a long day's sail with superb scenery. She returned on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - naturally she did not sail on the Scottish Sabbath. In winter she was spare, and available for relief work if required.

In 1903 (only) she was on the prestige Oban - Staffa - Iona service as GRENADIER was based on the Clyde that year.

She was not called up for war service and spent part of the war laid up, but was later used providing railway connections on the Clyde under charter to the Caledonian Steam Packet Co (and I think, also to the Glasgow & South Western Railway) as these companies had had almost their entire fleets called up by the Navy for use as minesweepers.

The Gairloch service was not resumed after World War 1 and GAEL was effectively redundant.  She was used as a relief vessel and also as the Directors' yacht, but it is not really surprising that she was sold for breaking in May 1924.

GAEL must have been a strongly built vessel - "she looked more like a cross channel steamer". Many of the routes she sailed were renowned for their turbulence - but she lasted 57 years.

Builder - Robertson & Co, Greenock
Engines - Rankin and Blackmore (same as WAVERLEY), simple oscillating, 2 cylinders.

Length 211'
Breadth 21' 4"
Depth 10'6"
Gross tonnage 419 / 361 (these 2 figures in MacBrayne fleet list)



The majority of this information is from "West Highland Steamers" by Duckworth & Langmuir.

Regards

David Milne