My family moved in 1948 from South Wales to the banks of the River Medway at Lower Upnor. So a new ship came into my life, the Training Ship 'Arethusa 'on which my father had become a teacher. I didn't lose sight of paddle steamers either. The 'Medway Queen' ran trips too Southend from Chatham and the ' Queen of Kent' and the 'Queen of Thanet' ran down to Margate and over to the continent. My personal sailing needs were cared for with an ex navy 'Julia' dinghy which I bought a couple of days after moving to Upnor. The 'Julia' dinghy was 16ft long, clinker built. She was double ended, not unlike a ships lifeboat of that period, but fuller and more like the Norwegian style. She was very much like the old naval 27ft sailing whaler, but of course, shorter. I half decked her, fitted a false keel, then rigged her as a gaff sloop with boomless mainsail. I bought a barge's mizzen sprit for a mast. She was a nice comfortable cruising dinghy and I had a lot of fun in her, not only on the Medway, but cruising the Essex rivers too. She was moored in the river near the hard and I could see her from my bedroom window.

Cheers, Nerys

I should have checked my last post for autocorrect errors. My post should have started with “Nerys,” not “Beets.”

I first saw the Mt Washington in John Fryant’s Paddlewheels and Propellers catalog. Somewhere along the line I searched for John Braeynart, who drew the plan, and found a Steamboat Bill issue with his model of Mt Washington in it. After corresponding with John, I found out he would be coming to San Diego, so we arranged to meet.

Later, while at Naval War College in Newport, RI., we were off for the Martin Luther King holiday, so I had a chance to chase down the Maritime Museums and found John’s model.

A couple of years later, when Dumas came out with the kit, I was able to buy it. However, life has gotten in the way, in more ways than one. It does give me something to look forward to, and I have followed some on-line builds and gotten a few tips as well.

OK, I have probably drifted too far from “real boats,” so I am closing this up.9

Hi Peejay
O I envy you have looked at the Mt. Washington kit for a number of years. The other was the Graupner Glasgow side wheeler. The cost was one draw back for the Dumas kit and the Glasgow no longer sold. When you start please keep us(Me LOL) updated.
Rick

Beets: I can only imagine the sound of those paddle wheels from a few times having rented a paddle wheeler at a recreational lake, and from films, so I envy that experience. I am still tied to a walker - working toward using a cane with a physical therapist. In the meantime, I need to clear a work area in my garage, so I can still work while using the walker. And I need to send someone up to the rafters of my garage to recover my Dumas Mt Washington kit, so I can hear those paddle wheels again.

Thank you. Hope to keep the career going through getting my modeling going with my grandsons when they can come to visit.

Hi Peejay.
Great career.
Well done.
Keep it up.
Regards Bill.👍

There were other ships in my early life besides the tramp ships my father served on. We lived in Barry and I had an Aunt and Uncle who doted on me and in the summer used to take me on trips on the paddle steamers that plied the Bristol Channel. Starting from Barry PierHead, they ran to Weston Super Mare, Ilfracombe and Minehead. I suppose we would do about three trips to Weston in the course of the summer and one or two to Ilfracombe. My sister still has a photo of me, sitting in my pushchair at the end of Birkbeck pier in Weston, I was probably about three. In those days, very few people had cameras and there used to be men taking photos of everybody coming off the steamers, then when they came for the return journey, you found your own photos on the board and bought them as a souvenir of your trip.
Post war, P & A Campbells still operated paddlers in the Bristol Channel, and I had many an enjoyable trip on the Ravenswood and I think the GlenUsk, to Weston and either the Cardiff Queen or the Bristol Queen down to Ilfracombe.

Cheers, Nerys

Hi Tony,

I'm sorry to hear that you had so many problems with your eyes, I had visions of the Ary presenting you with a sword at quite an early stage in your career. However, your life post RN sounds as if it has been kind to you.
I was probably the youngest barge skipper at that time, but Les, the Ary boy who was my mate in Centaur went on to become skipper of one of Paul's sailormen whilst still only 20. He gave it up when his barge was put on lighterage duties instead of proper cargo carrying. Pleased you still get pleasure from your modelling, I'm most interested to see how you get on with putting RC in your Dragon. My model of my father's LST is all but finished, I'm just waiting for Alice to do some soldering for me. In the meantime, I'm getting on with a generic auxiliary barge.

All the best, Nerys
.

Hi Nerys,
Not far is the short answer. I got top grades on finishing education on the Ary and the plan was to go into the Port Line and train as a deck officer, but for some reason I can no longer articulate -decided at the last moment to join the Royal Navy lower deck. Seaman specialising in Radar first ship was the Belfast, second was the Bermuda. Whether due to a love affair in Bermuda I can't say, but I contracted severe conjunctivitis -so bad I couldn't operate anything and was transferred to Haslar after docking back in the UK. The doc on my case was a Queens consultant surgeon -so I guess he was well qualified to diagnose and treat me. After x number of weeks he prescribed specs, which then meant I couldn't continue in my branch. As the offer was only either writer or cook, I decided to take discharge. Otherwise I'd been doing quite well and an SD officer pathway had been mooted. Now for the mysterious bit -I hadn't been ashore more than two months when my eyes starting hurting again and I was diagnosed as having specs when I didn't need them!
After a variety of job adventures I ended up working for IBM -and of course outside of work, boating and modelling.
You must have been the youngest skipper of a Thames Barge back then all those years ago. Understand your passion for these craft -not made a model of one yet. The Kitty was here in Portsmouth for a while and we have the Alice at Gunwharf.
Re modelling I'm making progress on the Dragon -not yet at the planking stage. Will likely blog it in time to come -headed 'How to build a model with throwaway wood'. Should amuse members, especially the scratch builders!

That is for sure!!! Especially if you look at my unbuilt kits and plans!!! 😉😊