Builders: R & H Green, Blackwall 1888
Propulsion type: Paddle non compound diagonal
Owner: Cosens & Co Ltd
Service dates: 1888 - 1950
Tonnage: Net 130 Gross 315
Comments:
This picture of Monarch comes from an early glass plate negative from circa 1900 and is from the authors collection. It shows PS Monarch at Swanage, immediately after berthing and she is in the process of disembarking passengers.
PS Monarch was designed and built for the cross channel service from Bournemouth to Alderney & Cherbourg, a trip of some 5.5 hours. She was unusual in that her engines were of the non compound diagonal type and this was the first and last time that Cosens used such machinery. She sailed to the Channel Isles until the First World War, when she saw service as a minesweeper; HMS Monarchy. After the war she sailed to Swanage and Bournemouth, and my father took pictures of her at Lulworth Cove before the Second World War. She was reboilered and overhauled in 1930, when she was remodelled to give a slightly more balanced profile. After the Second World War, during which she served as HMS Exway as an examination vessel, she was reconditioned again although she sailed for only four more years until she was withdrawn in 1950. Her record of sailing for 62 years from the station for which she was built is believed to be unequalled in pleasure steamer history.
A passenger group picture from 1920 showing the paternal grandparents of vistor Martin Roberts can be seen by clicking here.