Builders: Charles Hill of Bristol 1946
Propulsion type: Paddle triple diagonal
Owners: P & A Campbell Ltd
Service dates: 1946 - 1968
Tonnage: Gross 961
Comments:
Probably the most famous of Bristol Channel paddlers of recent years, Bristol Queen was launched on 4 April 1946 using a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Milk sherry. She was the largest of all Campbell's paddle steamers and boasted a set of triple expansion engines that were almost identical to the still sailing Waverley. Bristol Queen had a relatively short working life. Being a large ship, she was hungry on fuel and difficult to fill as the excursion trade began to diminish in popularity. When the Severn Bridge opened in 1966 her fate and that of her sister, the Cardiff Queen, was sealed. In service she was a fast ship with a speed of over 20 knots. She was well built structurally, being of high quality steel (something of an acomplishment immediately after the Second World War) and was a magnificent sea boat, stable in rough seas. She suffered, however, from persistent mechanical problems after a major refit in the winter of 1966/67 and was scrapped in March 1968 in Antwerp.
This splendid picture is previously unpublished and was taken by Arthur Webster (1918-1977). It shows Bristol Queen in 1965 in the Camel Estuary approaching Padstow and was taken on the first visit by a paddle steamer to Padstow since 1938. The picture is displayed here by courtesy of Arthur's son John, who has kindly agreed to share it with us. John went on a lot of summer trips as a lad, as he grew up in Cardiff. The things that stick in John's memory relate to the "rough" trips, like being soaked by the spray coming up from the bows or when the old ship rolled so much the paddles raced as they came clear of the water, and the inevitable rush of passengers as they ran down the pier at Ilfracombe in a mad dash to catch the boat before it left! For other previously unpublished pictures by Ray Morris, Cyril Perrier and John Sanders please click here.