Waverley bumped.
 

A little bump for the Waverley. What a fine looking ship, the old Railway liveries were a model of colour matching and elegance. Bit of cement?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-west-41055879

...... and some video footage here.

I don't know anything about paddle steamers, but I imagine they are quite tricky to manoeuvre .. :eek:

With a side paddler I thought it was a matter of how independently each could be driven. Doesn't help that the need to manoeuvre carefully must be heightened by a paddlebox twixt hull and berth.

I assume that with steam paddlers both wheels can only go in the same direction and at the same speed as they are on the same shaft.

I have read somewhere that with at least one of the diesel electric paddlers on Lake Geneva that each paddle wheel is powered by a separate electric motor which might allow theoretically, if not practically, one wheel to go ahead and the other astern or some variation thereof.

I can't find the reference now but some good person here on SN might be able to confirm this (or alternatively hit me with spread of torpedoes). :curtain_call:

Not all steam Paddlers were built with just the one engine powering both paddles, a fair number were built with two diagonal compounds powering separate paddles with a large Dog Clutch between them, they could turn on a sixpence with one going ahead and one going astern, separate engined versions were usually in the Tug version for manoeuvring but some Tugs also had passenger carrying licenses.
The Admiralty had diesel electric powered Tugs where each paddle was controlled separately.
Paddle Tugs were usually used as Stern Tugs because the paddles when stopped 'dug in'.

Thanks Chadburn.
Something else that I have learned for the day.
Geoff (YM) :wave:

I was a part time skipper on the Kingswear Castle when it was on the Medway. As a Medway Pilot it was a culture shock going on a paddler for the first time. Different concept to berthing a ship completely, more of a controlled collision was the best way to describe it. Speed must be kept up to maintain steerage. Really enjoyed the challenge after a while though. Sad she went back to the Dart, I was looking forward to spending more of my retirement days on her here. I did hear that independent paddle drives caused a loss of stability if in opposite directions ?

Wouldn't it just screw itself into or out of the water?

Since she seems to have caught a mooring in her port paddle, perhaps the deck party had better use that rope to make up a nice fat bow fender so that the stem doesn't get bent next time.