A loverly article by Janis Blower of So Shields Gazette Copyright Janis Blower 2004 THERE used to be a time, you know, when it would have been sufficient to sit on the banks of the Tyne to see all the romance, drama and adventure you could ask for. What brings this up? Well, a good friend of the column, Mike Ennis at Seaburn, has lent me some papers which originally belonged to a chap called William Featherston who lived in Newcastle and who, 40 years or so ago, was a respected writer on subjects such as Tyne paddle tugs, keels and the like. His subjects were closely researched, and it's been fascinating to go through some of the original notes he made concerning events on the river going back to the 19th century. These illustrate not only the sheer density of traffic on the Tyne, but also its diversity. Hardly a day went by without some episode to capture the imagination. We find, for instance, a race between two paddle steamers, the Scottish Maid and the Harvest Home, for £50, from the Herd Sand buoy to the buoy at Sunderland and back, a distance of 12 miles. There was considerable interest in it, we're told, "for apart from the wager, it was a trial of the capabilities of different boiler and engine makers, and different boat builders." In the event, and after a 'gallant' race, the Scottish Maid won by half-a-mile in a time of 1hr 12 mins. There were numerous small disasters too, such as when a paddle steamer, William, was passing Jarrow, carrying passengers from Newcastle to Shields, when she was run down by the s.s. Sir John Easthope. All aboard were thrown into the water but survived, with the exception of the skipper, who broke his leg and later expired in Newcastle Infirmary. Then there was the crew man of the paddle tug Ann and Jane who went on board drunk, fell into the engine, and was killed; and the hulk Providence, carrying petroleum, which went on fire off the piers, and so we could go on... One incident which I particularly like, though, as no-one seems to have been hurt, involved the steam-wherry Perseverance. She was lying near the Swing Bridge at Newcastle when her boiler blew-up. A contemporary account recorded by William Featherston notes: "Pieces of the boiler were projected a considerable distance, parts falling in High Street, Gateshead, St Nicholas's church yard, Dean Street, and Lombard Street. "A very large piece was shot clean over the Exchange and Dean Street railway bridge." Janis Blower - 2004