There are in Great Britain, as well as in the United States of America, many steamship lines which are either owned or controlled by railway corporations. On the south coast of England, from Harwich to Falmouth inclusive, almost the whole of the Anglo-continental passenger traffic is held by the great railway companies, who have made the various ports along that stretch of coast their termini. In the North Country, both on the east and west coasts, with a few important exceptions, the cross-channel and over-sea traffic is operated by steamship companies, which, while running in connection with the railway systems of their respective ports, are entirely separate and independent undertakings.
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Co. has now running between Dover and Calais, the new turbine steamer The Queen, and the fast and large paddle steamers Empress, Victoria, Dover, Calais, Lord Warden, Le Nord, and Le pas de Calais.
In connection with the same Company’s service via Folkestone and Boulogne, the fast and powerful steamers Mabel Grace, Princess of Wales, and Duchess of York are employed.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Co. has also added this year (1903) a turbine steamer to its fleet of fast steamers plying between Newhaven and Dieppe. In addition to the turbine steamer referred to, the fleet at present includes the following powerful 21-knot vessels:—Arundel, Calvados, Paris, Rouen, and Trouville.
| Royal Mail S. S. Co. | T. B. Royden. |
| Alfred Rowlands & Co. | J. S. Sellers. |
| Sligo S. N. Co., Ltd. | Henry Tyrer & Co. |
| Waterford S. S. Co., Ltd. | White Star Line. |
| Thos. Wilson, Sons & Co., Ltd. | Yeoward Bros. |
| Stott & Co. | J. & P. Hutchinson. |
| Leyland Line. | Orient-Pacific Line. |
| Palgrave, Murphy & Co. | P. Henderson & Co. |
| N. B. Ry. Co. | Turbine Steamers Ltd. |
| Warren & Co. | J. H. Welsford & Co. |
The London and South Western Railway Co. has a large fleet of about twenty powerful steamers, with which it maintains daily services between Southampton and Havre and tri-weekly services between Southampton and Cherbourg, and Southampton and the Channel Islands.
The Great Western Railway Co. from its southern terminus, Weymouth, runs the Mail Steamers Antelope, Gazelle, Ibex, Lynx, Reindeer, and Roebuck, to the Channel Islands and Brittany; and from its western terminus, Milford, the Mail Steamers Great Western, Limerick, and Waterford, to Waterford.