Cosens & Co Ltd

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

Cosens & Co Ltd
Industryshipping
Founded1848
FounderJoseph Cosens
HeadquartersWeymouth, United Kingdom
Area served
South Coast
ServicesTourism, ship repair and marine engineering

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. It also 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 I 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 obtain a new ship. The new ship, named Prince, was designed and built by John Scott Russell, famous later as the builder of the ill-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to operate the pleasure steamers, in conjunction with its own, until 1966 when the last surviving paddle steamer was withdrawn from service.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 On charter
PS Princess 1848–1853
PS Prince 1852–1888
PS Contractor 1858–1863 Taken over from P Dodson
PS Ocean Bride 1858–1865 Taken over from P Dodson
PS Bannockburn 1860–1865
PS Premier 1852–1938
PS Wave Queen 1852 On charter
PS Commodore 1863–1890
PS Empress 1879–1955 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 Buchanan Clyde steamer. Sold and renamed Paca Nova. Sank under tow off Portland Bill en route to Argentina.[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 Helper 1910-1920 Ex GWR Sir Francis Drake. Purchased to replace Brodick Castle .[10]
PS Audrey 1911 On charter
PS Lord Roberts 1911 On charter
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.[11] Scrapped in 1968.
PS Monarch (II) 1951–1961 ex Shanklin. Bought from the British Transport Commission, Portsmouth

Cosens' archive collection is extensive, and available to view at the Dorset history Centre, Dorchester https://archive-catalogue.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/

References
  1. Photograph courtesy of Richard Clammer, from Views & Reviews, Weymouth & Portland, 1895
  2. Gladwell 2013, p. 32.
  3. Clammer 2005, pp. 30–33.
  4. Clammer 2005, p. 72.
  5. Adams 2010, p. 163.
  6. Gladwell 2013, p. 68.
  7. "Paca Nova barge". Wrecksite. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  8. Lenton & Colledge 1962, p. 341
  9. Divine 1959, p. 295.
  10. Gladwell 2013, p. 15.
  11. Gladwell 2013, p. 125.

Bibliography
  • Adams, Keith (2010). Red Funnel 150. Richard Danielson. ISBN 978-0-9513155-5-2.
  • Clammer, Richard (2005). Cosens of Weymouth, 1848–1918. Witney: Black Dwarf Publications. ISBN 1-903599-14-8.
  • Clammer, Richard (2001). Cosens of Weymouth, 1918–1996. Truro: Twelveheads Press. ISBN 9780906294482.
  • Divine, David (1959). The Nine Days of Dunkirk. Pan Books. p. 295.
  • Gladwell, Andrew (2013). Cosens Pleasure Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-1450-2.
  • Lenton, HT; Colledge, JJ (1962). Warships of World War 2. Vol. Part 4 – Auxiliary Fighting Vessels. Ian Allan Publishing. p. 341.
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