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La Marguerite
Above
: La Marguerite was the largest paddle steamer ever on coastal
excursions in the UK although she was initially designed for taking
passengers from the Thames across to France and Belgium. Shipbuilders
Fairfield Engineering & Shipbuilding of Govan found they had to use
her in one of their company-owned shipping lines after her first owners
defaulted so she was allocated to the Liverpool & Northwestern
Steamship Company. She ran for twenty years out of Liverpool to
Llandudno and piers in the Menai Straits. She was probably too large and
definitely too expensive but offered a great degree of luxury on this
popular tourist route. Picture - from a post-card view seen off Bangor
Built in 1894 by
Fairfield at Govan
Engines : Compound diagonal 56 and 110 in x 72 in
Dimensions : 350.2 ft x 40 ft
1554 Gross Registered
Tons
Considerably larger
than any previous vessel on the Thames service, La Marguerite was
mostly used on the Margate/Ramsgate run with extensions to France / Belgium
Owned by Palace Steamers and operated by the Victoria Steamboat Association but with the ship mortaged to the builders.
Fairfield
foreclosed in 1894 and ran the ship as part of the newly-formed New
Palace Steamers Ltd
She became an extremely popular vessel, but was expensive to run and
never consistently profitable.
Withdrawn after the 1903 season and transferred back to the builders, she was allocated to the Fairfield-owned
Liverpool & North Wales Steamship Co
Served Llandudno, Beaumaris, Bangor and the Menai Bridge from Liverpool, remaining on
station until 1925
Four
boiler-room crew were killed in an explosion aboard when the ship was
on Admiralty service in 1917 whilst serving as a cross-channel troop
ship
Spent 1919 on charter to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co for service between Liverpool and Douglas
Scrapped in 1925 at Briton Ferry
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to :
Victoria Steamboat
Association
New Palace Steamers
Liverpool & North Wales
Steamship Co
Isle of Man Steam Packet Co
British Paddle Steamer
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