PS Eagle (1898)
1898 Built. 647 gross tons. 316 N.H.P.
The G.S.N. Co had for many years practically a monopoly of the pleasure boat traffic between London and the Kentish Coast Resorts; their boats were fast and commodious, and the captains in command of them were all men of experience. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, however, several competitors appeared to challenge the G.S.N. Company’s monopoly: so it was decided to build a larger and faster vessel which perpetuated the well-known name EAGLE.
The new steamer was a handsome 18-knot saloon vessel, built by Gourlay Brothers and Co at Dundee in 1898. She commenced running in that season and continued to do so until she made her last trip to Margate on 26th August, 1928. On 5th July, 1909, she inaugurated a service from Tilbury calling at Southend, Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover.
Like her immediate predecessors, the EAGLE originally carried two masts, but the main mast was afterwards removed.
During the 1914-1918 War, the EAGLE was taken over by the Admiralty for use as a mine-sweeper and re-named AIGLON, commencing her war service on 22nd November, 1915, she remained under Admiralty control until 23rd July, 1920.
In 1929, she was sold to a firm of shipbreakers in Holland and subsequently her hull was converted into a landing-stage on the river Maas, above Dordrecht.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 'Steamers of the Thames and Medway' by Frank Burtt