Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2013 17:55:27 GMT -5
The "Butterfly Boats", so called as they only came out in summer:
These vessels often appeared only in the summer, hence the term 'butterfly boats' to describe them, our Capital’s history of these graceful old ladies that came out in the summer and flitted about, led to their nickname of ‘Thames butterfly boats’.
The long tradition of cruising for pleasure in the Bristol Channel began as a necessary means of transport until the advent of the railways. The magnificent paddle steamer fleets maintained the tradition until recent years, and the P.S. Waverley continues to do so.
Although paddlers were built for pleasure and excursion, when her country called she was not just entirely a summer butterfly:
The paddle steamer, Waverly was built in 1899 and served in both WWI and WWII. She was requisitioned as a minesweeper in 1915 and returned to service at the end of the war. She was again requisitioned in September 1939 and used as a minesweeper. She was bombed and sunk at the evacuation of Dunkirque in May 1940.
Moth balled for a while between wars her role was filled by the paddle steamer Barry. Barry carried her name: Waverley until both again were called to war duty. HMS Waverley retaining her original name and lost as said above, while Barry under her guise as HMS Snaefell survived the evacuations and was sadly lost in 1941. Hopefully her home town may remember her own Butterfly.
Old Paddlers Remembered.
These vessels often appeared only in the summer, hence the term 'butterfly boats' to describe them, our Capital’s history of these graceful old ladies that came out in the summer and flitted about, led to their nickname of ‘Thames butterfly boats’.
The long tradition of cruising for pleasure in the Bristol Channel began as a necessary means of transport until the advent of the railways. The magnificent paddle steamer fleets maintained the tradition until recent years, and the P.S. Waverley continues to do so.
Although paddlers were built for pleasure and excursion, when her country called she was not just entirely a summer butterfly:
The paddle steamer, Waverly was built in 1899 and served in both WWI and WWII. She was requisitioned as a minesweeper in 1915 and returned to service at the end of the war. She was again requisitioned in September 1939 and used as a minesweeper. She was bombed and sunk at the evacuation of Dunkirque in May 1940.
Moth balled for a while between wars her role was filled by the paddle steamer Barry. Barry carried her name: Waverley until both again were called to war duty. HMS Waverley retaining her original name and lost as said above, while Barry under her guise as HMS Snaefell survived the evacuations and was sadly lost in 1941. Hopefully her home town may remember her own Butterfly.
Old Paddlers Remembered.