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Scarborough
Page 2: Diesel Excursion Ships
This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the diesel excursion ships of Scarborough. Earlier steam vessels are covered on
Scarborough Excursion Vessels - Page 1
.
An alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below.
The Table
beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a
Fleet List
in chronological order.
Contact Tom Machin, at 01723 363605 / 07855 381139 for details of the cruises currently run from Scarborough.
Website:-
scarboroughpleasuresteamers.co.uk
The first major diesel excursion ship at Scarborough was the
Royal Lady
of 1934. She was built by John Crown & Sons at Sunderland, for Thomas Round & Sons of Scarborough.
Royal Lady
was the first large "off-shore" diesel excursion ship to enter service in the UK. She was propelled by two 125hp Crossley engines, which gave her a speed of 9.5 knots. These engines required far less space than previous steam installations, allowing a far greater area to be devoted to passenger accommodation.
Royal Lady
was fitted out in a far more luxurious manner than such ships had been previously. Her forward funnel was a dummy. Her first season was very successful, although the faster
Coronia (1)
arrived in 1935. In September 1937
Royal Lady
was sold for a good price for service between Malta and Gozo with Captain Orazio Mizzi, to be replaced at Scarborough by the larger and faster
New Royal Lady
. In 1938 she was transferred to the Gozo Mail Service, remaining on a route between Mgarr (Gozo) and Marfa (Malta). She was sunk on 7th May 1942 by Luftwaffe bombs, whilst alongside the quay at Mgarr, still carrying the name
Royal Lady
.
In 1935, a formidable competitor to
Royal Lady
arrived in the form of the
Coronia (1)
, built by Warren's New Holland Shipyard on the Humber Estuary. Although of similar layout to the 1934
Royal Lady
, she only had one funnel, which was positioned too far aft for symmetry.
Coronia (1)
was owned by Jack Ellis, and her original livery was a yacht-like white, later with a pale yellow funnel. She had a gross tonnage of 227 and an overall length of 130 ft, and carried 475 passengers on a Class 3 Certificate. Her engines were supplied by the National Gas & Oil Company of Ashton-under-Lyme, a company not normally associated with marine installations. The engines are now in the Science Museum in London. She was capable of 13.5 knots, a lot faster than her initial competitor
Royal Lady
. In 1937,
Coronia (1)
reappeared with two funnels like her competitor. These were initially pale (yellow?) in colour, but later became red with a black top. In 1938 she had a more equal competitor in the
New Royal Lady
, which matched her is size and speed. However, in pre-war years there was more than enough custom for two such fine vessels.
New Royal Lady
was delivered in 1938 to replace the
Royal Lady
. She came from the same builders, Thomas Crown & Sons, Sunderland, but was larger and faster. Thomas Round died during her construction, and she was delivered to his son, John C.Round. Like her predecessor
Royal Lady
, her forward funnel was a dummy.
New Royal Lady
was used for morning, afternoon and evening trips from Scarborough, and her higher speed of 14 knots also allowed occasional longer cruises to Bridlington and Whitby. Her funnels were yellow, with rather gaudy red, white and blue bands.
New Royal Lady
only had two seasons at Scarborough before the war, and was sold to new owners afterwards, becoming the
Crested Eagle (2)
of the
General Steam Navigation Co
before use in Malta.
During the war
Coronia (1)
served as
HMS Coronia
, in the Humber, Scotland and on the South Coast, latterly as part of Force Pluto which laid and maintained the cross-channel oil pipelines. She was refitted in 1945, returning to Scarborough in July of that year. The dummy funnel had been removed during the war.
Coronia's
colours were now modelled on the Union-Castle Line, with a lavender hull and retaining the red and black funnel (although I do not have a card in this condition). The funnel later became a paler colour (yellow?). Her first post-war competition did not arrive until 1951, when the
Yorkshire Lady
arrived, the latest acquisition of John Round. The same year saw the death of Jack Ellis, and the sale of
Coronia (1)
to Jack Johnson, who owned her with his son Martin until 1966. She was given an attractive new colour scheme with a pale blue funnel and black top, separated by a broad white band. The hull was white with red boot topping. Further competition arrived in 1952, in the form of the
Regency Belle
, which had run at Brighton in 1951. In 1954 the
Regal Lady
had joined the Round's fleet at Scarborough, the port having four excursion ships for this season only.
Regency Belle
moved to Torquay for the 1955 season, leaving three ships
Coronia (1)
,
Yorkshire Lady
and
Regal Lady
.
Coronia (1)
was placed on the sales list in 1966, and was sold to
Croson Ltd
of Bournemouth. She left Scarborough in May 1968, becoming the
Bournemouth Queen
.
J.W.Johnston replaced
Coronia (1)
with the
Yorkshire Lady
, renamed
Coronia (2)
. He also chartered the
Regal Lady
for the 1968 season.
Regal Lady
was returned to her owners Scarborough Cruises at the end of the season and placed on the sales list. She ran with them for two more seasons before being sold in 1970, leaving
Coronia (2)
to continue alone at Scarborough. She ran successfully through the 1970s, but was sold to Don Robinson in in time for the 1980 season. In 1985 she was sold to Don Robinson's manager Tommy Hanson, but not for use in Scarborough. Instead, she headed south to Gibraltar where she ran for six years, on short cruises around the rock and to see the dolphins. There was no excursion vessel in Scarborough in 1985 and 1986, but for 1987 the
Regal Lady
returned under the ownership of North Sea Leisure. They bought the
Coronia (2)
in 1991 and brought her back from Gibraltar to join her previous fleet mate. The
Coronia (2)
and
Regal Lady
have remained in service since.
Ships on This Page:-
Royal Lady
(1934-1937)
Coronia (1)
(1935-1968)
Coronia (2)
(1968-1985, 1991- )
New Royal Lady
(1937-1946)
White Lady
(19??-19??)
White Lady II
(19??-19??)
Regal Lady
(1954-1970, 1987- )
Yorkshire Lady
(1951-1968)
Regency Belle
(1952-1954)
Associated Pages:-
Scarborough Excursion Vessels - Page 1 Steam Vessels
Scarborough Excursion Vessels - Page 2 Diesel Vessels
Scarborough Excursion Vessels - Page 3 Publicity
Bridlington Excursion Vessels
Croson Ltd
UK Excursion Ships
Ferry Postcards
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards
-
Recent Updates
Simplon Postcards
-
Home Page
References:-
Pleasure Steamers of Old Yorkshire
by Arthur Godfrey - c.1975
British Pleasure Steamers 1920-1939
by Geoffrey Grimshaw - Richard Tilling 1945
MV Coronia 1935-1995
by Tom Machin - Carrick Publications, Scarborough 1995
60 Years A Lady 1930-1990
by Tom Machin - Carrick Publications, Scarborough 1990
The Gozo-Malta Ferry Service
by Joseph Bezzina - Bugelli Publications, Valletta 1991
Ferry Malta
by Graeme Somner - World Ship Society 1982
Search This Website:-
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other names
Built
Coronia (1)
Bournemouth Queen, Queen of Scots, Rochester Queen
1935
Coronia (2)
Brit, Watchful, Brit, Yorkshire Lady
1935
New Royal Lady
Crested Eagle, Imperial Eagle
1937
Regal Lady
Oulton Belle
1930
Yorkshire Lady
Brit, Watchful, Brit, Coronia (2)
1935
Fleet List
White Lady
(Round: 192?-193?)
White Lady II
(Round: 192?-193?)
White Lady
was the first of Thomas Round's fleet of
'Ladies'.
I am not sure whether they were steamboats or internal combustion, but they are shown on the 'diesel' page to complete the Round fleet. She appears to have a steam whistle in the postcard below.
Postcard of
White Lady
in 1928.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Royal Lady
(Thomas Round: 1934-1937)
The first major diesel excursion ship at Scarborough was the
Royal Lady
of 1934. She was built by John Crown & Sons at Sunderland, for Thomas Round & Sons of Scarborough.
Royal Lady
was the first large "off-shore" diesel excursion ship to enter service in the UK. She was propelled by two 125hp Crossley engines, which gave her a speed of 9.5 knots. These engines required far less space than previous steam installations, allowing a far greater area to be devoted to passenger accommodation.
Royal Lady
was fitted out in a far more luxurious manner than such ships had been previously. Her forward funnel was a dummy, and they later received two coloured bands. Her first season was very successful, although she was competing with the last of the paddle steamers, the
Bilsdale
. The faster
Coronia (1)
arrived in 1935. In September 1937
Royal Lady
was sold for a good price for service between Malta and Gozo with Captain Orazio Mizzi, to be replaced at Scarborough by the larger and faster
New Royal Lady
. In 1938 she was transferred to the Gozo Mail Service, remaining on a route between Mgarr (Gozo) and Marfa (Malta). She was sunk on 7th May 1942 by Luftwaffe bombs, whilst alongside the quay at Mgarr, still carrying the name
Royal Lady
. By coincidence, her replacement, the
New Royal Lady
, also followed her out to Malta, operating on the same routes under the name
Imperial Eagle
.
Postcard of
Royal Lady.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Postcard of
Royal Lady
.
Card posted 1938
Click to open large image in new window
Postcard of
Bilsdale.
and
Royal Lady
in 1934, the last season for the
Bilsdale
.
Click to open large image in new window
Photo alongside
Royal Lady
in 1937 with later funnel colours.
Coronia
is moored ahead.
Coronia (1)
(J.Ellis/J.W.Johnston: 1935-68)
In 1935, a formidable competitor to
Royal Lady
arrived in the form of the
Coronia (1)
, built by Warren's New Holland Shipyard on the Humber Estuary. Although of similar layout to the 1934
Royal Lady
, she only had one funnel, which was positioned too far aft for symmetry.
Coronia (1)
was owned by Jack Ellis, and her original livery was a yacht-like white, later with a pale yellow funnel. She had a gross tonnage of 227 and an overall length of 130 ft, and carried 475 passengers on a Class 3 Certificate. Her engines were supplied by the National Gas & Oil Company of Ashton-under-Lyme, a company not normally associated with marine installations. She was capable of 13.5 knots, a lot faster than her initial competitor
Royal Lady
. These are now in the Science Museum in London. In 1937,
Coronia (1)
reappeared with two funnels like her competitor. These were initially pale (yellow?) in colour, but later became red with a black top. In 1938 she had a more equal competitor in the
New Royal Lady
, which matched her is size and speed. However, in pre-war years there was more than enough custom for two such fine vessels.
During the war she served as
HMS Coronia
, in the Humber, Scotland and on the South Coast, latterly as part of Force Pluto which laid and maintained the cross-channel oil pipelines. She was refitted in 1945, returning to Scarborough in July of that year. The dummy funnel had been removed during the war.
Coronia's
colours were now modelled on the Union-Castle Line, with a lavender hull and retaining the red and black funnel (although I do not have a card in this condition). The funnel later became a paler colour (yellow?). Her first post-war competition did not arrive until 1951, when the
Yorkshire Lady
arrived. The same year saw the death of Jack Ellis, and the sale of
Coronia (1)
to Jack Johnson, who owned her with his son Martin until 1966. She was given an attractive new colour scheme with a pale blue funnel and black top, separated by a broad white band. The hull was white with red boot topping. Further competition arrived in 1952, in the form of the
Regency Belle
, which had run at Brighton in 1951, and moved to Torquay for the 1955 season. In 1954 the
Regal Lady
had joined the others at Scarborough, which had four excursion ships for this season only.
Coronia
was placed on the sales list in 1966, and was sold to
Croson Ltd
of Bournemouth. She left Scarborough in May 1968, becoming the
Bournemouth Queen
. Her subsequent history is shown on the link below.
Complete history of
Coronia (1)
Postcard of
Coronia (1)
as delivered with one funnel and white hull.
Postcard of
Coronia (1)
as rebuilt with two funnels in 1937.
The forward funnel was a dummy.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Gray postcard of
Coronia (1)
as rebuilt with two funnels in red and black.
Click to open larger image in new window
Postcard of
Coronia (1)
as rebuilt with two funnels in red and black.
Photo: Scarborough Corporation.
Post war card of
Coronia (1)
with one funnel again after the war.
The hull is lavender-coloured (like Union-Castle).
Click to open larger image in new window
Post war card of
Coronia (1)
with one funnel again after the war.
The hull is lavender-coloured.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Post war card of
Coronia (1)
with one funnel again after the war.
The hull is lavender-coloured.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Postcard of
Coronia (1)
in final Johnston colours.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Postcard of
Coronia (1)
in final Johnston colours.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Photo Precision Colourmaster postcard PT19932 of
Coronia (1)
in final Johnston colours.
Regal Lady
and
Yorkshire Lady
berthed ahead of Coronia
Click to open larger image in new widow
Greaves Gravure postcard of
Coronia (1)
in final Scarborough colours.
Click to open larger image in new widow
J.Arthur Dixon postcard (Yorks 2358) of
Coronia (1)
in final Scarborough colours, with
Regal Lady
.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Postcard of
Regal Lady
,
Yorkshire Lady
and
Coronia (1)
.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Photograph of
Yorkshire Lady
,
Regal Lady
and
Coronia (1)
.
Photo: © Terry Boyle, c.1962
Click to open larger image in new widow
New Royal Lady
(John C.Round: 1938-1946)
New
Royal Lady
was delivered in 1938 to replace the
Royal Lady
. She came from the same builders, Thomas Crown & Sons, Sunderland, but was larger and faster. Thomas Round died during her construction, and she was delivered to his son, John C.Round. Like her predecessor
Royal Lady
, her forward funnel was a dummy. She was used for morning, afternoon and evening trips from Scarborough, and her higher speed of 14 knots also allowed occasional longer cruises to Bridlington and Whitby. Her funnels were yellow, with rather gaudy red, white and blue bands.
New Royal Lady
only had two seasons at Scarborough before the start of the Second World War, and she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in 1940 for transport duties. She was purchased by the MOWT in 1942, managed by Fraser & Wright. In 1944 she was attached to the US Navy.
New Royal Lady
was resold to her owners in 1946, who sold her the following year to John Hall of Kirkaldy, for service on the Firth of Forth. Later the same year she passed to the General Steam Navigation Co as the
Crested Eagle (2)
, for cruises on the Thames from London to Gravesend and Southend, plus PLA Docks cruises. From 1952 she was taken off the PLA cruises and based in Ramsgate for local trips. In 1956,
Crested Eagle (2)
became a regular service vessel, running from Gravesend to to Southend and Clacton daily except Mondays. P&A Campbell chartered
Crested Eagle (2)
in 1957 for services on the South Coast. She ran short trips from Eastbourne to Hastings, except Fridays when she ran from Brighton to Shanklin.
Crested Eagle (2)
did not sail for the GSN again, and was bought by E Zammit & Co Malta and renamed
Imperial Eagle
for service between Malta and her small sister island Gozo through until March 1968. She also did occasional trips to Sicily and on these was held locally in ill-repute as a bad sailer. She was subsequently bought by Sunny & Mary Pisani from Gozo and was used to transport cargo and animals from Gozo to the Malta capital Valletta. For at least 10 years she then lay rotting in Imgarr harbour (Gozo) and was eventually towed to Valletta harbour where she was badly vandalised and half sunk at her moorings.
In November 1995 she was bought by the local Diving community to be sunk as the centrepiece attraction of an underwater marine park. On 19 July 1999, after years fighting bureaucracy and red tape, she was finally scuttled off Qawra point on the north of the island, and sitting upright at 40 metres gives divers from all over the world an excellent wreck dive and, as a new "reef", encourages marine life in the area.
Complete history of
New
Royal Lady
Postcard of
New
Royal Lady.
Postcard of
New
Royal Lady.
Yorkshire Lady
(Built: 1935 - George Round: 1951-1968)
Coronia (2)
(At Scarborough: 1968-1985, 1991- )
Yorkshire Lady
was built as the
Brit
in 1935 by Fellows & Co in Great Yarmouth. She was owned by Longfield Brothers for use from the same port, and was a revolution in the design of the Yarmouth's excursion boats - being a low draft manoeuvrable boat powered by twin Crossley diesels. As late as 1930, the Yarmouth & Gorleston Steamboat Company had built their double-ended steamboat
Oulton Belle
, essentially to a design dating back to 1895.
Brit
was very successful in the 1930s, generally making two 2-hour trips from the Town Hall Quay out to sea, embarking more passengers at the Britannia Pier. Evening trips were also run.
Brit
was taken over by the Admiralty on September 16th, 1939 and used as the tender
Watchful
, and she attended the Dunkirk evacuation. In the years following the war,
Brit
again operated successfully from the Britannia Pier. The rival Yarmouth & Gorleston Company paid the ultimate compliment of rebuilding three of their boats,
Norwich Belle, Hotspur
and
Oulton Belle
, to a similar design as
Brit
. At the end of the 1949 season, Longfield Brothers were approached by Thames Launches to acquire
Brit
and use her on the Thames for the Festival of Britain. She was not totally suited to Thames river operation, being designed as an open sea vessel, and was sold again in the spring of 1951 to D.Dalton and G.Round for use at Scarborough.
Brit
was renamed
Yorkshire Lady
, becoming their fifth 'Lady' after
White Lady
,
White Lady II
,
Royal Lady
and
New Royal Lady
. She was painted white with a yellow funnel, which later received a house flag emblem. In 1954 she was joined in the fleet by her old rival the
Oulton Belle
, now the
Regal Lady
. The company was renamed Scarborough Cruises Ltd in the same year. The two vessels worked successfully during this boom era for UK holidays - at this time there were three boats working from Scarborough,
Yorkshire Lady
,
Regal Lady
and the larger
Coronia (1)
. In 1961,
Yorkshire Lady
's original Crossley engines were replaced with new Gardner 6LX diesels, increasing her speed from 10 to 12 knots. She received a new wheelhouse at the same time, all undertaken at Eyemouth in Scotland. Foreign package holidays began to hit visitor numbers in the 1960s, and in the spring of 1968 Scarborough's largest cruise boat, the
Coronia (1)
, left for Bournemouth. J.W.Johnston replaced her with the
Yorkshire Lady
, renamed
Coronia (2)
. He also chartered the
Regal Lady
.
Regal Lady
was returned to her owners Scarborough Cruises at the end of the season and placed on the sales list. She ran with them for two more seasons before being sold, leaving
Coronia (2)
to continue alone at Scarborough. She ran successfully through the 1970s, but was sold to Don Robinson in in time for the 1980 season. In 1985 she was sold to Don Robinson's manager Tommy Hanson, but not for use in Scarborough. Instead, she headed south to Gibraltar where she ran for six years, on short cruises around the rock and to see dolphins. There was no excursion vessel in Scarborough in 1985 and 1986, but for 1987 the
Regal Lady
returned under the ownership of North Sea Leisure. They bought the
Coronia (2)
in 1991 and brought her back from Gibraltar to join her previous fleet mate. The two vessels have remained in service since.
Contacts:-
Tom Machin (owner):-
01723 363605 / 07855 381139
Website:-
mvcoronia.co.uk
Email:-
mvcoronia@me.com
Complete history of
Yorkshire Lady/Coronia (2)
Postcard of
Yorkshire Lady.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Postcard of
Yorkshire Lady.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Webster postcard SK75 of
Yorkshire Lady.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Salmon postcard 1561c of
Yorkshire Lady.
Click to open larger image in new widow
Photo Precision Colourmaster postcard PT19924 of
Yorkshire Lady.
Posted 1978.
Click to open larger image in new widow