PS Eclipse
By 1830 a packet of this name was in use between London and Margate by the Old Margate Company
A later vessel (presumably) of 140 tons burden also carried this name; she had a Napier engine of sixty horse-power. The Eclipse was said to have a speed of about sixteen miles an hour, and the report that she was the fastest steamer in Britain appears to have gained a wide currency
In 1839 and 1840 David Napier built these three steamers fitted with high pressure engines specially for the traffic to Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover. The general public considered them highly dangerous boats, the ECLIPSE which like the ISLE OF THANET was double funnelled being called the “ Death and Glory boat.” This was the steamer immortalised in “ the Ingoldsby Legends,” published in 1840. “If in one of the trips of the steamboat Eclipse You should go down to Margate to look at the ships”. Also the FAWN.[1]
N.B. there was also an "above bridge" steamboat, PS Eclipse, which we assume was not the same as this Eclipse.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 'Steamers of the Thames and Medway' by Frank Burtt