Probably the most memorable of my 28 years at sea was spent working on what we fondly referred to as the “Summer Boats”. These were the elegant Pleasure Steamers owned by the General Steam Navigation Company (Est 1824) that plied the River Thames to Gravesend, Southend, Clacton, Ramsgate, Margate, Deal and across the channel to Calais and Boulogne.
The history and details of these beautiful little ships and their fascinating history is splendidly recorded on Tom Lee's site at Paddle Steamers for anyone who wants to delve into yet another part of our maritime history that has sailed away into the mist of time.
My first encounter with them was as Assistant Steward on the Royal Daffodil in 1957. The work was hard and anyone who has worked on them will tell you it took stamina to complete a season. But once you did you were hooked.
Carrying up to 1500 passengers on River Thames trips, trips round the Kent Coast or over to Calais and Boulogne you were kept busy from turn-to at 0600 until you got back to the first port of departure late in the evening. And then you cleaned the ship.
A crossing in rough weather could mean a lot of clearing up (as well as a strong stomach) both in France and England. In France it meant the loss of a valuable two-hour break as the contents of hundreds of queasy stomachs was absorbed by sand and then swept up for permanent disposal.
The decks would then be washed with a strong solution of disinfectant that permeated the ship and aggressively greeted the passengers as they trooped back on board for a second helping on the way back.
I still vividly remember a Lounge Steward going up to a dear little lady clinging desperately to her heavy duty sick- bag and the arm of a settee as the ship rolled and plunged her way back to England and safe harbour. Tears streamed down her face and the kindly Steward asked her what was the matter. Imploringly she looked up at him, pointed to the bag and said “I’ve lost my teeth”.
Our hero points to the bag and says “In there, are they ducks ?”.
“Yes” she nodded miserably.
“Not to worry darling “ he said, and promptly shoved his hand inside the bag, extracted the missing teeth, wiped them on his waiter’s cloth and handed them over to her.
Passengers either side of the little lady added their contribution to the deck.
As the old Royal Daffodil assisted in the rescue of our troops on the evacuation of Dunkirk I often wondered which relief for them was greater; getting off the beaches, or getting off the ship.
But this was the bad days. There were hundreds of good days when the sun shone brightly, a warm breeze added to the joys of a day at sea and the five bars and various catering outlets did a roaring trade.
The first month of the summer season for the Royal Daffodil and Royal Sovereign was allocated to various charters organised by companies as a treat for their employees.
There were the brewery staff outings that included in their itinerary a few hours ashore in Southend. An ever- popular seaside resort with its Curzal, candy floss, fish and chips and the Kiss Me Quick hats.
This picture of a staff brochure for a de la Rue charter shows the attractive prices for
Alcohol and cigarette plus giving an insight into the hard work demanded of the catering staff. The galley inparticular.
With a full capacity of 1500 passengers there was no hanging around over your meal in the saloon. Five sittings was commonplace with only 30 minutes allowed between sitting.
Twenty minutes after sitting down, the Head Waiter would walk around the Saloon ringing a large brass hand bell as once used by the old Town Criers.
No finesse displayed here. It was “Everybody out. Next sitting waiting” which gave a perspiring steward ten minutes to clear and lay the table. Fast-food outlets were still in the future shore-side. The Summer Boats stood alone to remain unequalled.
There were also the Jazz charters where stars of the day such as Acker Bilke and Chris Barber entertained their loyal fans.
I was told of one River cruise charter organised by some 400 city gents where the cloakroom steward was told there would be no charge for items left in his locker. So he naturally thinks no charge, no tickets. Fortunately being a warm summer day the only item they wanted to deposit was their bowler hats.
When it came time for them to disembark they clamoured at the cloakroom for their hats while a worried cloakroom steward asked what they looked like. It didn’t help when the immediate response was “Mine’s a Dunn’s”. As were they all.
In desperation he passed over the first to come to hand and hoped for the best.
Then there was another charter organised by a French concern who had pre-ordered 1000
Croissants. Somehow this was translated to the supplier as French Sticks. Large ones.
The storekeeper was not amused.
Working on those ships had the advantage you could get home to the family at least once a week so I returned to the Royal Daffodil the following season. My stay was brief because they discovered I could type and do accounts so I waas whisked away to the Queen Of The Channel operating from Ramsgate where a Ships Writer was very urgently required. . . . . . .to be continued.

Gordon Tumber

Paddle Steamers

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