Registration number 21
Status Archived
a12admin

Previous names

  • Wayfarer
  • 1969 Parmachene Belle

Details

Function Leisure Craft
Subfunction Launch
Location Unknown
Vessel type Open Launch
Archive reason Overseas Watch List
Current use Unknown
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No
Info required Yes

Construction

Built in 1883
Hull material Wood
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Steam
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Steam compound
Boiler fuel oil

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
8.00 feet (2.44m)
Depth
2.75 feet (0.84m)
Length: Overall
41.97 feet (12.80m)

History

DUCHESS OF ARGYLL was built in 1883 by Turks of Cookham as a steam passenger launch and was made of mahogany with a carvel construction. By the 1930s, she was operating on the Laleham reach of the Thames with a Handy-Billy petrol engine. Later she was owned by Hastings, renamed PARMACHENE BELLE and operated as a trip boat at Kingston. She is believed to have been known as WAYFARER at some time in her past.

Reg Jacobs, a boatbuilder, found her sunk and derelict on the River Wey in the late 1960s, bought her for £50 and rebuilt her in a yard in Weybridge. She was acquired by Ian MacDougall in 1975, who renamed her DUCHESS OF ARGYLL and converted her to steam. She was out of the water at Hurley in the late 1980’s until being bought by her present owners in 1991. She has been lovingly restored over the years and most recently, the canvas canopy at the rear was replaced with an extension to the laminated canopy supported on additional barley twists.

She is currently moored on the Thames.

We are lacking information on this particular vessel. If you have any information, past or present, please contact us.

Sources

Steamboat Register: An illustrated Register of surviving steam vessels in the British Isles, Steam Boat Association of Great Britain, Edition 6, May 1994   

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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