Cosens & Co Ltd

Cosens & Co Ltd
Industry shipping
Founded 1848
Founder Joseph Cosens
Headquarters Weymouth, United Kingdom
Area served
South Coast
Services Tourism, ship repair and marine engineering

Cosens & Co Ltd was a British excursion steamer and marine engineering company based in Weymouth.

History

Joseph Cosens, about 1870[1]

The company was founded in 1848 by Joseph Cosens and incorporated in 1876. It operated a fleet of paddle steamers on excursions along the south coast of England and on cross channel trips to Cherbourg and Alderney. Also it operated a number of launches offering "trips round the bay" as well as tugs serving ships using Weymouth harbour. Up to the end of World War 1 the company held the Admiralty contract to operate liberty boats for naval ships at Portland.[2] The engineering side of the company was a major ship repair and marine engineering facility. The company also had a cold storage and ice-making facility adjacent to the port.

In 1851 Joseph Cosens was operating the steamer Princess between Weymouth and Portland, when he found that a rival organisation, the Weymouth & Portland Steam Packet Company, owned by Philip Dodson, intended placing its own steamer Contractor on the same route. Cosens' response to this was to expand the company by going into partnership with wealthy local newspaper proprietor Joseph Drew, in order to have a new ship designed and built. The new ship, named Prince, was designed and built by John Scott Russell, famous later as the builder of the fated Great Eastern.[3]

Joseph Cosens died at the end of 1873 and Joseph Drew became chairman.[4]

In 1946 Cosens was taken over by its Southampton based rival Red Funnel which continued to operate the pleasure steamers, in conjunction with its own, until 1966 when the last surviving paddle steamer was withdrawn from service. The engineering division continued however, finally being sold in a management buy-out in 1990. Renamed Cosens Engineering Ltd it had a brief independent career that ended in receivership.[5]

Fleet

Emperor of India off Bournemouth Pier in 1908
Ship Service Notes
PS Highland Maid 1848
PS Princess 1848–1853
PS Prince 1852–1888
PS Contractor 1858–1863
PS Ocean Bride 1858–1865
PS Bannockburn 1860–1865
PS Premier 1852–1938
PS Commodore 1863–1890
PS Empress 1879–1958 Featured in the 1946 film adaptation of Great Expectations.[6]
PS Queen 1883–1920
PS Victoria 1884–1953
PS Monarch (I) 1888–1950
PS Albert Victor 1889–1928 ex Lass o' Gowrie. Tug.
PS Prince George 1898–1928
PS Majestic 1901–1916 Served as 0108 HMS Majestic II in World War I. Lost while minesweeping off Oran.
PS Brodick Castle 1901–1910 ex Clyde steamer. Sold and renamed Peca Nova. Sank under tow off Portland Bill en route to South America.
PS Helper 1910-1920 Ex GWR Sir Francis Drake. Purchased to replace Brodick Castle .[7]
PS Emperor of India 1908–1957 ex Princess Royal. Bought from Red Funnel. Served as HMS Mahratta in World War I. Served as J106 HMS Emperor of India in World War 2 and was present at Dunkirk.[8][9]
PS Melcombe Regis 1913–1920 ex Lune. Bought from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
PS Alexandra 1915–1931 ex Portsmouth & Ryde service. Sold to breakers then resold as Showboat. Scrapped 1934.
PS Embassy 1937–1967 ex Duchess of Norfolk. Bought from the Southern Railway. Served as J109 HMS Ambassador in World War II.[8] The last ship in company service.
PS Consul 1937–1963 ex Duke of Devonshire. Bought from Alexander Taylor of Torquay. Served as an examination vessel at Weymouth in World War II. Sold in 1963 for use along the Sussex coast. in 1965 she was adapted for use as an accommodation ship at Dartmouth and reverted to her original name.[10]
PS Monarch (II) 1951–1961 ex Shanklin. Bought from the British Transport Commission, Portsmouth

References

  1. Photograph courtesy of Richard Clammer, from Views & Reviews, Weymouth & Portland, 1895
  2. Gladwell, Andrew (2013). Cosens Pleasure Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4456-1450-2.
  3. Clammer, Cosens of Weymouth, 1848–1918, pp 30–33
  4. Clammer, Cosens of Weymouth, 1848–1918, p 72
  5. Adams, Keith (2010). Red Funnel 150. Richard Danielson. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-9513155-5-2.
  6. Gladwell, Andrew (2013). Cosens Pleasure Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4456-1450-2.
  7. Gladwell, Andrew (2013). Cosens Pleasure Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-4456-1450-2.
  8. 1 2 Lenton, HT; Colledge, JJ (1962). Warships of World War 2. Part 4 – Auxiliary Fighting Vessels. Ian Allan Publishing. p. 341.
  9. Divine, David (1959). The Nine Days of Dunkirk. Pan Books. p. 295.
  10. Gladwell, Andrew (2013). Cosens Pleasure Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4456-1450-2.

Bibliography

External links

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