PADDLE STEAMERS
Paddle Steamers I World of Ships I 25
Arts Typographiques and towed to Rouen to
be refitted, before continuing to a River Seine
berth in Paris at Pont Mirabeau. Princess
Elizabeth remained there until 1999, when she
was moved to Dunkirk and first established as
a tourism and conference centre.ABOVE Princess Elizabeth’s former after saloon,
now in use as a gastronomic restaurant.ABOVE Astern for the turn: Princess Elizabeth backs
away from Weymouth Pier before an afternoon
cruise towards Lulworth Cove in the mid-1960s.
(Russell Plummer)
BELOW Princess Elizabeth serving as a restaurant in
her Dunkirk berth at the Estacade Quay close to the
Pole Marine Shopping Centre. (Nicholas Leach)landing a total of 1,673 men. Later service
as an auxiliary anti-aircraft vessel followed,
before she returned to Southampton to
resume service. She was withdrawn as Red
Funnel’s last paddle steamer in 1959.
There were six years of excursion work for
various owners at Torquay, Bournemouth
and Weymouth, but Princess Elizabeth was in
breakers’ hands before she was purchased and
moved to the Thames in central London. Here
she was opened as a pub/restaurant berthed
below Tower Bridge 1970, exactly 30 years to
the hour of her final departure from Dunkirk
in June 1940. During 1975 Princess Elizabeth
moved to Old Swan Pier below London Bridge,
where she remained until 1987. After plans
to use her as a yacht club headquarters at
Gravesend came to nothing, the veteran was
bought by the Association de Defense des01 Paddlers_Britain_NL.indd 25 17/04/2018 09:21