The River Dart Steamboat Co Ltd (RDSC) and its predecessors, the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company and the Dartmouth and Torbay Steam Packet Company, were the major ferry and excursion boat operators on the River Dart in South Devon for 120 years, until the company's demise in 1976. The company was famous for its distinctive paddle steamers, which were a familiar sight on the river until the late 1960s.
Routes
The diagram on the right illustrates the network of routes operated by the company and its predecessors.
Dartmouth–Totnes
The premier route of the company, this route operated year-round until 1929, thereafter being a summer only service. This route was around 10 miles long, and the journey time was an average of 75 minutes, though journey times of less than an hour were possible before the introduction of a 6 knot speed limit. Calls were made en route at Dittisham Pier, and off Duncannon, where passengers for Stoke Gabriel and Cornworthy were embarked by small rowing boat. Totnes is tidal, and so the ferry could only run at high tide. In its early years the service was a true ferry, connecting Dartmouth with the markets and main line station at Totnes, and carried mail until 1929. As the years went by, it became more of a tourist cruise service
Other routes
From time to time the company experimented with operating other ferry services. These either closed, or were taken over by other operators
Dartmouth–Greenway
For the brief period between the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway reaching Brixham Road Station in 1861 and Kingswear in 1864, a regular connecting ferry service was run four times per day between Dartmouth and Greenway Quay, where the steamers were met with a horse-drawn omnibus to the station at Brixham Road.
Dartmouth–Kingswear
On 16 August 1864 the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway reached Kingswear, across the river from Dartmouth. The Act of Parliament incorporating the railway gave the railway company the right to operate the ferry to Dartmouth. The route was a short 5 minute crossing; from the pontoon adjacent to Kingswear station, to Dartmouth Pontoon, where an unusual station was built, with ticket office and porters, but no track. Initially the ferry was leased to the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company, who built the PS Newcomin and the doubled ended PS Dolphin for the route. In 1901, the Great Western Railway (GWR) took over the running of the Kingswear Ferry, and purchased the Dolphin. As the GWR only owned one passenger vessel on the Dart, relief steamers continued to be provided by the River Dart Steamboat Company until 1957
Dittisham–Greenway
This short route across the Dart was operated by local boatmen for most of it history, but the River Dart Steamboat Company operated it during the Second World War.
Coastal and cross-channel routes
In the early years of the company, attempts were made to run long distance excursions from Dartmouth, to the Channel Islands, St Malo, Weymouth, Plymouth and other ports of the south coast using the PS Pilot. On the arrival of the railway, the PS Eclair was purpose built for a weekly cross-channel service, departing from Dartmouth each Monday night, and calling at Guernsey and Jersey en route to St Malo, arriving on Tuesday. The following day she would return, again via Jersey and Guernsey, arriving at Dartmouth on Saturday. These sailings were unsuccessful and ended with the sale of the Eclair in 1868.
History
Dartmouth Steam Packet Co Ltd
In 1856 John Moody and Charles Seale Hayne established a Dartmouth–Totnes steamboat service. The first vessel in the fleet was the purpose-built PS Louisa, a 90-foot paddle steamer built at Deptford on the River Thames in 1856. Two years later, two additional paddle steamers were acquired second hand – the PS Mary for the Totnes run, and PS Pilot for towage work in Dartmouth harbour. In 1859 the company was incorporated under the name the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company. The new company bought all of the shares of the Louisa and a majority of the shares in the Pilot in 1859; with the Mary returning to South Shields. For the next few years, the Pilot, having been refitted as a full-time passenger boat, ran coastal and cross-channel trips, in addition to the normal services.