Bronze Age Gold from Wales
Paddlesteamers at Ilfracombe, photograph
Britannia, Westward Ho, Devonia, Glen Gower and Cambria, docked at Ilfracombe, 1922.
P.S. BRITANNIA. Built in 1896 by S. McKnight & Co., Aire. She was renamed HMS Briton during World War I and HMS Skiddaw during World War 2. (1896-1956).
Paddle steamer, P.S. WESTWARD HO (weight 438 tons) was built by S. Mc Knight & Co., Ayr, in 1894 and owned by P & A Campbell Co. Ltd. P.S. WESTWARD HO was renamed HMS WESTERN QUEEN and served as a minesweeper on the River Tyne at Grimsby during World War I. Re-fitted in 1920 the paddle steamer worked on services in South Devon in the 1930s. The paddle steamer returned to the Tyne in World War II, and assisted in the Dunkirk evacuation before becoming an accommodation ship on the River Dart at the end of the war. The WESTWARD HO was not re-conditioned after the war and was scrapped at Newport, in 1946.
The P.S. DEVONIA was launched on 22 March 1905 by John Brown at Clydebank. Engines - Compound diagonal 34.5 and 71 in x 60 in. Dimensions : 245 ft x 29 ft. Gross Registered Tonnes 641. She was built for the Barry Railway Co. Ltd. She was bought by P. & A. Campbell in 1911, after they had succeeded in forcing the rival Barry company out of business. During the First World War she became H.M.S. DEVONIA and served as a minesweeper on the East Coast. She was assigned to the South Coast when Campbells returned to that station in 1923, remaining there until 1932. She then served on the Bristol Channel until being laid up in 1939, when she was reconditioned for use as a minesweeper and sent to eastern Scotland. Attended the Dunkirk evacuation, but was abandoned on the French coast on 31 May 1940 under heavy fire from enemy aircraft, though unfounded rumours persisted for many years that she had been salvaged and put into service on the River Elbe.
1922-1960. Glen Gower was renamed HMS Glenmore in June 1941 and taken into service for World War II.
P.S. CAMBRIA was renamed HMS Cambridge during the course of World War I and HMS Plinlimmon during World War II. (1895-1946).