London and South-Western Rly. Co., etc.
Farther westward on the south coast, an equally important line of communication between England and France is maintained by the steamboat service now carried on by the London and South-Western Railway Company from Southampton to Havre and Honfleur, St. Malo and the Channel Islands. The early boats employed in the cross-channel traffic were all of much the same type and size on whatever line they were engaged, and as the same limitations of ports applied to those run by the South-Western Railway Company as to the steamers of other companies, there was little to choose between them in regard to speed, seaworthiness, or accommodation.
During the early years of the past century the mail and passenger service between England and the Channel Islands was performed by cutters similar to those employed in the French mail service between Dover and Calais. Later the mails were conveyed under the auspices of the Admiralty from Weymouth to Guernsey and Jersey by the ships of H.M. Navy, Meteor, Dasher, Wildfire, and Cuckoo. The Dasher was employed until very recent years in guarding the fisheries off Jersey.
The first records of the steam-packet services from Southampton are dated 1835, and mention a service between Southampton and Havre twice a week in each direction by the Camilla, of 186 tons; and between Southampton and the Channel Islands by the Ariadne, 218 tons, these vessels being the property of the South of England Steam Navigation Company, who appear to have been the pioneers of these services. Even at that time there was opposition on the Channel Islands Station by the Lord Beresford and on the Havre station by the Apollo, both vessels belonging to the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company. About one hundred passengers were carried to the Channel Islands on each trip during the summer season of 1835.
One of the earliest steamers employed in the Channel Islands service was the Lady de Saumarez (January 1836) of 350 tons, belonging to the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, with two 40-horse-power engines and fitted with Seaward’s improved vibrating paddles.
In May 1836 the Monarch was launched from the shipyard of Rubie and Blaker, Northam, and was the largest steam vessel which had been constructed on the Itchen. Her dimensions were 140 feet long, 23 feet beam, 360 tons, and she was built in four months. Her engines, of 120 horse-power, were supplied by Horseley and Co. of Tipton, near Birmingham, and the vessel was sent to London to receive them. The Monarch was placed on the Havre station by her owners, the South of England Steam Navigation Company. On June 2, 1836, the Atalanta, of 400 tons and 120 horse-power, was launched from the yard of Mr. Thomas White, West Cowes. She began running on the Channel Islands station for the South of England Steam Navigation Company during the month of July. The Atalanta was lengthened by Mr. White some years later, her bows being cut off and up-ended in his yard for a workmen’s shelter. She ended her days as a coal-hulk in Jersey.
In July 1836 the Watersprite, a vessel of 200 horse-power, was put on the Channel Islands station by the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, which two years later became the Commercial Steam Packet Company. This company owned also the Grand Turk, a vessel of 500 tons and 300 horse-power, and she was reputed to be the fastest and most handsomely furnished ship of her day. Her saloon was 50 feet in length by 30 feet wide. She ran both to Havre and the Channel Islands, and in 1841-1842 had opposed to her the steamer Robert Burns.
The Grand Turk was chartered in 1848 for two years to run between Alexandria, Beyrout, Tripoli, and other Mediterranean ports with passengers and mails. On her return she plied between Southampton and Morlaix for the South-Western Steam Packet Company.
The Transit, another of the old steamers of the South-Western Steam Packet Company, was running in 1836 under the ownership of the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, between Southampton and Spanish ports, carrying cattle and general cargo. She is recorded to have made the passage from Lisbon to Falmouth in three and a half days during the winter of 1836. When withdrawn from this trade she was run to the Channel Islands by the South-Western Steam Packet Company, and she, too, ended her days as a coal-hulk.
Between 1838 and 1845 the mail service between England and the Channel Islands appears to have been performed by a steam-packet service from Weymouth, of which no reliable records can be discovered. The transfer of this mail service to the steamers of the South-Western Steam Packet Company from Southampton took place on April 1, 1845. But in October 1899, when the steamers of the London and South-Western Railway Company from Southampton and the Great Western Railway Company from Weymouth were joined in the Channel Islands service the mails were once more carried via Weymouth three days a week during the winter months.
The advertisement columns of the Hampshire Advertiser of 1845 refer to the “South-Western Steam Packet Company” as the owners of the cross-channel steamers, and they seemed to have remained so until 1860, when their steamers were taken over by the London and South-Western Railway Company.
The merchants of the Channel Islands started an opposition company, called the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company, with the steamers Aguila, Cygnus, and Brighton. This opposition continued until 1888, when the service was taken up by the Great Western Railway Company. After keeping up a keen opposition to the London and South-Western Railway Company for eleven years an amicable arrangement was entered into for a joint service, which still continues.
In consequence of the opposition of the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company a South-Western Railway Company’s steamer, the Wonder, was sent to Weymouth. This ran until 1860, when the Weymouth service was given up by the London and South-Western Railway and all their energies were concentrated upon the Southampton route.
Although steamers ran from Southampton to Jersey and thence to St. Malo from 1845, the regular connection between Jersey and France was by a French company’s steamer called the Comet. This company was bought out by the London and South-Western Railway Company in 1867. The latter company then commenced running their steamer Dumfries regularly from Jersey to Granville and St. Malo in connection with the Southampton and Channel Islands service.
In 1860 a direct service was opened between Southampton and St. Malo by the new iron screw steamer St. Malo, the first of this type built for the London and South-Western Railway.
The paddle-steamer South-Western, the first iron steamer employed in the Channel Islands service, had a speed of about 12 knots. She was 131 tons net and was sold in 1863. Her floats were taken off and after being rigged for the purpose she was sailed out to Japan.
After the South-Western came the Wonder, Express, Courier, and Dispatch. They each had a speed of thirteen to fourteen knots. The Express was built and launched in six weeks. At the time she was laid down the engines put into her were in the yard ready for a Government steamer, but were used for the Express instead. This same Express was the steamer which brought Louis Philippe a fugitive from France in 1848, her commander on that occasion being Fred Paul, R.N., who had been lent by the Government to the company for that purpose. Louis Philippe, disguised as a fisherman, crossed from Honfleur to Havre in a fishing smack and was put on board the Express lying in the avant-port of Havre. As soon as his feet touched her deck, Commander Paul, who was lying under a full head of steam, slipped her moorings, steamed away and landed the fugitive at Littlehampton. A brass plate stating the facts was fastened to the sofa in the saloon, on which Louis Philippe slept. The Express was lost on September 20, 1859, on the passage from Jersey to Southampton in the Jailer Passage off the Corbière Lighthouse, Jersey.
The next steamers acquired by the company were the Alliance in 1855, Havre, Normandy, and Southampton in 1860, and Brittany in 1864. Until she was outclassed by larger and faster ships the Alliance was on the Havre route. She was afterwards transferred to the service between Jersey and St. Malo, and was sold in 1900.
The Havre ran alternately to her name-port and the Channel Islands until her career was ended on February 16, 1875, by the Platte Boue, a sunken rock in the Russel Passage near Guernsey. There was no loss of life and the mails were also saved.
Equal ill-fortune attended the Normandy. This boat, which was employed almost exclusively on the Channel Islands service, was sunk on March 17, 1870, in collision with the screw steamer Mary while on the outward passage, some twenty-five of the passengers and crew being drowned. The Southampton, built by Palmer in 1860, was reckoned the strongest vessel of her tonnage at that time. In 1880 she was lengthened and given new engines and boilers by Day, Summers and Co., and was engaged in the Channel Islands trade until 1880, when the service was entirely performed by screw steamers. She was then transferred to the Havre route and continued running there until the present twin-screw steamers, Columbia and Alma, came out and superseded her. Her last piece of active service was to make a trip round the fleet at Spithead on the occasion of the Jubilee Naval Review in 1897. The Brittany, built at Cubitt Town in 1864, was also employed in the Channel Islands trade until 1880, when, like the Southampton, she was transferred to the Havre route until 1894. Her last appearance was at the same review. She was lengthened thirty feet and given new engines and boilers in 1883. The company in 1868 purchased for their Channel Islands service the Waverley, a paddle-steamer of about fifteen knots, which had been employed running from Silloth to Dublin. She was the finest ship which had yet been employed on that service. She came to grief on June 5, 1873, when she struck upon the Platte Boue rock. The whole of the passengers, mails, and baggage were brought off in safety.
The Turbine Steamer “St. Patrick” (G.W. Railway).
The outbreak of hostilities between France and Germany in 1870 brought about the purchase by the company of the paddle-steamers Alice and Fannie. These each had a speed of fifteen knots, and were placed on the Southampton-St. Malo route and conveyed horses and provisions for the French. Both ships ran backwards and forwards for some months at their highest possible speed, only remaining at the quay side just long enough to load and discharge cargo.
The Waverley was also employed during that period running to and from Havre taking British provisions for the French, and conveying to England fugitive French families and all the valuables they could bring with them. These valuables were transhipped in Southampton Water to a steamer of the French Transatlantique Company, which was moored there for that purpose.
The Fannie and Alice ran alternately upon the Havre and Channel Islands stations until 1887, when they were sold out of commission. They were always favourites owing to their speed and spacious deck and cabin accommodation.
In 1871 the company purchased the paddle-steamer Wolf, which had been sunk for some time in Belfast Lough. She was employed, until sold in 1900, on the Havre route.
The first screw steamer to be employed in the Channel Islands mail and passenger service was the steam yacht Griffin, purchased in 1865 from a Mr. Beard, a Scotch iron-master.
The Diana was the first of the new screw boats built for the company and was launched in 1877, and in 1881 was supplemented by the Ella and in 1882 by the Hilda. Nine years later these vessels, together with the paddle-steamers Brittany and Southampton, were in their turn superseded by the twin-screw steamers Lydia and Stella. The latter had a very successful career until March 30, 1899, when she foundered on the Casquets, her sailings being taken by the Alberta. A further change was made in 1894, the Southampton, Brittany, and Wolf being replaced by the Columbia and Alma, which were faster and more up-to-date boats. In 1896 the Princess Ena, a twin-screw vessel, was launched to replace the Hilda, and the Vera was also purchased as an auxiliary boat for the Channel Islands and Havre routes. Numerous additions have since been made by the company to their fleet, which now numbers twenty-six vessels. These are the Ada, Alberta, Alexandra, Alma, Atalanta, Bertha, Cherbourg, Columbia, Duchess of Albany, Duchess of Connaught, Duchess of Edinburgh, Duchess of Fife, Duchess of Kent, Ella, Frederica, Guernsey, Honfleur, Laura, Lydia, Lymington, Princess Ena, Princess Margaret, Solent, South-Western, Vera, and Victoria. These steamers all carry sufficient coal for the out and home trip, with an additional quantity to meet any contingency that may arise.