Builders: J I Thorneycroft & Co Southampton
Propulsion type: Paddle, compound diagonal by the builders
Service dates: 1906 - 1957
Tonnage: Net 206 Gross 428
Comments:
Built originally as Princess Royal, for the Southampton, Isle of Wight & South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. Ltd, she was recorded as being rejected after trials, after achieving speeds averaging 14.75 knots. R B Adams book "Red Funnel and Before" states that she was accepted and ran for two or three weeks. After complaints by shareholders she was laid up and then sold in 1908 to Cosens & Co who changed her name to Emperor of India. She spent the greater part of her life at Bournemouth, undertaking the longer excursions. She saw service in both wars, serving in the eastern Mediterranean as a transport, hospital ship and minesweeper in the Great War, and as a flak ship in the Thames and training vessel in the Second World War. Upon return from WW2, she was extensively modernised, but to my mind lost some of her elegance. Her coal fired furnaces were converted to oil burning with a larger funnel fitted and she was in service again in time for the 1948 season. Her tonnage rose to 534 gross and she was the largest paddler to serve regularly from Bournemouth. In 1955 she was relegated to the Swanage service and was broken up in Belgium in 1957. For an onboard picture of Emperor of India at Totland Bay, please click here.