Author: Richard Clammer

For over one hundred years, the paddle steamers belonging to Cosens & Co of Weymouth were a familiar and much-loved part of the scenery along the coasts of Devon, Dorset and Hampshire. Operating from their home port and seasonal bases at Swanage and Bournemouth, the steamers offered an extensive range of summer excursions: westwards to Torquay and Dartmouth, calling at the open beaches of Lyme Bay en route; eastwards to the Solent, Isle of Wight and beyond; and even across the English Channel to Cherbourg and Alderney.

The company was originally formed in 1848, to provide an efficient transport link to Portland in connection with the building of the great breakwaters and prison there but its subsequent growth was intimately linked with the development of the seaside resorts and piers which it served.

In the years before the First World War, the company was locked in spirited competition with rival steamer operators, its tugs involved in numerous dramatic rescues and salvage jobs, and the smaller vessels kept busy day and night ferrying liberty men ashore from the naval Fleet in Portland Harbour or carrying supplies to the breakwater forts.

In addition, Cosens operated a major engineering and ship repairing business and were involved in the diving, coal and block-ice trades. The absorbing story of this quintessentially Victorian company and its ships is told in this comprehensive and entertaining history, which draws on a remarkable range of contemporary sources and is illustrated by a superb selection of rare photographs, paintings, plans, sailing bills and other ephemera. It will delight all maritime historians, paddle steamer, tug and wreck enthusiasts, ship modellers and students of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, as well as local historians right along the South coast.