Builders: R Craggs & Sons Middlesborough 1896
Propulsion type: Paddle, Compound Diagonal
Owners: Medway Steam Packet Co Ltd, New Medway Steam Packet Co Ltd, The Stanley Butler Steamship Co Ltd
Service dates: 1896 - 1928
Tonnage: Gross 163
Comments:
Princess of Wales route was from Strood to Southend and she is shown here on the River Medway in a card purchased on board and posted at Southend on 1 August 1912. In June 1917 she was acquired by the Admiralty, renamed Padua, and used as a ferry on the Medway until her release in 1920. After the introduction of Queen of the South in 1925, Princess of Wales was used as a reserve steamer and in 1926 she was transferred to the Firth of Forth. She did not have a happy time there and was not financially viable due to the coal strike that year. In March 1927 she sank at her moorings but was raised, reconditioned and put back into service the following year. This was again financially poor and as her owners could not keep up the payments she was repossessed by the New Medway Company. She was sold in October 1928 for breaking up at TW Wards.