Builders: J Scott & Company Kinghorn 1887
Propulsion type: Paddle, compound diagonal
Owners: General Steam Navigation Co Ltd, Hastings St Leonards & Eastbourne Steamship Co, Hamburg-Stade-Atlanta Line (renamed Cuxhaven)
Service dates: 1887 - 1906
Tonnage: Gross 458
Comments:
Halcyon was the first of the GSN Co "Classical Birds" (Halcyon being Greek for Kingfisher). She was the first paddle steamer to be commissioned by the GSN Co since Hoboken, whom she replaced on the London to Kent Coast service, running to "Margate, Ramsgate and the Continent". Originally fitted with two masts, her main mast was later removed. Her funnel, was originally black (as shown here) and was changed to buff, later with a narrow black band after the rival Belle Steamers came into service. The above picture comes from a card posted on 29 August 1905, although the picture was taken much earlier. Note the shoeshine boy in the foreground, left.
PS Halcyon was not always reliable and she was not without the odd mishap. In August 1889 she collided with a tug called Sunbeam near Wapping. Sunbeam sank, fortunately with no loss of life, but Halcyon was apparantly unscathed. Later, in August 1903, her steering gear broke in heavy seas and her passengers had to be taken off at sea by Southwold Belle. After the 1904 season she was withdrawn and sold to the South of England Steamboat Company ( the reconstituted Hastings St Leonards & Eastbourne Steamship Co), although she was taken back after just one season when the Hastings Company went out of business in 1905. Whether she was re purchased, taken back due to a clause in the sale agreement or whether she had simply not been paid for is unclear. In any event she was sold in 1906 for use as a river boat on the Elbe. Her final fate is not recorded.