The Steam Boat Association of Great Britain
The Steam Boat Association of Great Britain
| Owner: G.C. Desborough. (SBA member - Chiltern Region) Area: River Thames (UK). | |
| HULL | Open launch Built 1883 by Turks at Cookham. Fit-out by Ian MacDougal at Runnymede. LOA: 42', Beam: 7' 6", Draft: 2' 9". Carvel mahogany on oak. Fantail stern. Clipper bow. Teak deck. Barley twist supports to canopy. Wheel steering. |
| ENGINE | Twin, 3½" + 3½" x 4". Built 1905 by Davis Engineering Co. at Abingdon. Valve(s): sv, Gear: SLRG. On 4 columns, 250 rpm, Kcond, chain driven Stuart Turner fp. |
| BOILER | H Automatic Package Boiler. Built 1939-45. Fuel: oil, Output: 400 lbs/hr. Built during the war as part of a steam generating plant. |
| PROP | 3 blades, 18" dia.. |
| HISTORY | Although originally built as a steam launch, by the 1930s she had a Handy-Billy petrol engine and was operated on the Laleham reach of The Thames.
After the war she was owned by Hastings and operated as a trip boat in Kingston called Parmachene Belle. Information from the Hastings family. She is said to have once made the trip from Laleham to Letchlade and back over an Easter Weekend. (Source Mr Timms of Timms Boat Yard). Reg Jacobs, a boat builder from Devon, discovered her sunk and derelict on the Wey. He bought her for £50 in the 1960s and rebuilt her in a yard at Weybridge. Reg Jacobs made the Barley twists and the laminated roof canopy. Ian MacDougal, Runnymede, acquired her and converted her to steam in about 1975 and renamed her The Duchess of Argyll. She also has a Stuart Turner generator on board. She was out of the water at Hurley for a while in the late 1980s until Geoffrey and Joan Desborough acquired her in 1991. Over the last decade Geoffrey rebuilt the inside and completed the canopy to full length. The boiler was rebuilt in 1999. In 2003 The Duchess of Argyll was awarded ‘Boat of the Show’ at The Thames Traditional Boat Rally. (Parmachene Belle is an American fishing fly that was first tied in 1878 in Maine.) |
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| STEAMBOAT REGISTER © SBA 2012 | Click thumbnail for high-resolution image |