EARLY NEWHAVEN - DIEPPE SHIPS

Part II - Screw Propulsion Vessels

By Derek Longly

The ship photo collection of Del White, as mentioned in the first part of this article, was a source of fascination to me as a youngster when he allowed me to delve into his albums.  Although the number of paddle steamer pictures he had was relatively limited (Part I) he had a far larger collection of photos of screw propelled steamers dating from the turn of the 19th Century into the early years of the 20th Century. 

Once again Del kindly let me borrow his albums so that I could take copies of many of his photos and I attach a number of these which I believe have not previously appeared on this site - starting with vessels run by the French railways company Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest.

These are followed by pictures of the steamers on the service run by the British company London Brighton and South Coast Railway.  

At a later date and from a different source I was lucky enough to come across a number of photos showing some interior views of these ships and I have included these as, again, I don't think they have been shown on the site before and are of some historical interest.

The last two photos are from my own collection and are included as they are of ships that are relevant, being that they were in service at the same period of time as the others depicted and both were involved in accidents at sea.

For those who would like a few details about these ships I will provide a couple of examples:

SS Tamise was built by Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee, she was of 965 gross tons and had a speed of 19 knots. She remained on the service until 1913.

SS France was also built by the same company and was of 1,059 gross tons with a speed slightly in excess of 21 knots. Her period of service on the route lasted until 1922.

SS Sussex was built by Messrs Denny of Dumbarton she had a gross tonnage of 1,117 tons and a speed of 20 knots. 

SS Arundel was also built by Denny of Dumbarton was of 1,067 gross tons and also had a speed of 20 knots. Her service continued right through until 1934.

The unfortunately ill-fated SS Seaford, another Denny product with a tonnage of 996 gross tons, was sunk by collision in the Channel on 22nd August 1895.

The SS Brighton also was involved in a collision, on that occasion with the large sailing vessel Preussen, but in that instance the Brighton survived whilst the larger ship became a total loss.