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 Nine years later these vessels, together with the paddle-steamers Brittany and Southampton, were in their turn superseded by the twin-screw steamers Lydia and Stella.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.
Great Western Rly. Co.
Another important south-coast mail and passenger service is carried on by the Great Western Railway Company from its southern terminus at Weymouth to the Channel Islands and Brittany. Formerly this company also conveyed mails and passengers between England and Ireland by their line of steamers from Milford to Rosslare. This has since been discontinued in favour of the Fishguard-Rosslare route.
Great Eastern Rly. Co.
Working arrangements exist between certain of the railway companies and the steam-ship lines, one of the most important being the joint service maintained by the Great Eastern Railway Company and the General Steam Navigation Company from London to Hamburg, via Harwich. The steamers on this route sail twice weekly. There is also an agreement between the Great Eastern Railway Company and Danish Royal Mail steamers of the Forenade Line of Copenhagen by which these vessels convey passengers three times per week between Harwich and Esbjerg. The Great Eastern Railway Company also maintains a fleet of fast and powerful steamers for their Anglo-Continental mail and passenger business. This was started in 1863, when the company chartered two steamers for carrying goods between Harwich and Rotterdam. This service was made a biweekly one in 1864, and a similar service was also run to and from Antwerp. The company then introduced four new steamers specially built for the trade and conveying both passengers and cargo. In 1882, owing to the development of the traffic, the Harwich services to and from Rotterdam and Antwerp were extended to every week day.
The R.M. Turbine Steamer “Copenhagen” (G.E. Railway).
The Hook of Holland quay at the mouth of the River Maas was finished in June 1893 and the company’s steamers began to call there. This greatly accelerated the service to Berlin and other parts of North Germany and a daily service was then started. In the same year the company acquired larger steamers for this service. A new railway line round Rotterdam was opened in May 1899 which shortened the journey to Berlin; and in May 1903 an express train was run between the Hook of Holland and Berlin in connection with the steamers. Since the opening of this route the passenger traffic has trebled.
The company now have a fleet of eleven fast and powerful turbine and twin-screw steamers, all of which are fitted with apparatus for wireless telegraphy and submarine signalling. The latest addition is the Royal Mail turbine steamer Copenhagen, with a speed of 20 knots, on the Harwich-Hook of Holland route. In her passenger accommodation she has many features of the latest type of Atlantic liner.