Steamships have a long history on the River Thames. England, being the birth place of the steam engine, was quick to put the engine to use by and on the river; a land-based Newcomen pumping engine was located at Pimlico in 1726. Other pumps soon followed. With the perfection of the steam engine by James Watt by 1776, William Symington's Charlotte Dundas in 1803 and the building of the PS Comet steamship by Henry Bell in 1811 to service the Clyde, steamships were soon sailing the Thames.
One of the earliest records is of a vessel Margary in 1815 and others were soon put to work as coasters and tugs, to tow the larger sailing merchant and war vessels into the river and estuary. Other vessels of this time were the SS Thames, Majestic and Defiance
Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a vessel, the Regent, in 1816 and it was built by Henry Maudsley. The Hero of 1821 was built locally and put to work. The Thames has been a working river since Roman times and the use of the steamer as a tug to augment the tub fleet was important against both tide and current. One steam tug survives at St Katharine Docks, the ST Challenge.
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The Port of London was dependent on steamers from the nineteenth century on. Previously, gangs of men in rowboats drew the sailing vessels to port against wind and tide. Timber and wheat came from Russia, tea from China to Butler's wharf, Sugar to Tate and Lyle, and refuse was taken downriver. Fish was hauled by trawler to Billingsgate Market; wine came from France and Portugal. Millions of tons of coal were hauled annually to London from the North East to provide electricity and town gas from plants at Deptford and Battersea. Vessels servicing the upper plants had to have tilting funnels to clear London Bridge and other crossings farther upriver. Parts and raw materials were hauled to the Ford Factory at Dagenham; beer was exported from Aldgate.
Steam ferries crossed the tidal Thames in the early 1900s at Woolwich using Squires, Gordon, Benn and Will Crooks. Another at Tilbury used Catherine, Edith, Gertrude and Rose. Dartford had a car ferry serviced by Mimmie and Tessa.
Summer cruising round the estuary became popular, and the Woolwich Steam Packet Company provided vessels dating to 1834. SS Princess Alice sank in 1878 with the loss of over 650 lives. The New Medway Steam Packet Company was a later arrival in 1924 and used the PS Medway Queen. The non-tidal upper Thames was served by among others, the Thames Steam Packet Boat Company and Salter Brothers and down the estuary Clacton, Margate and Southend became popular steamer outing locations. Humber Ferries have been used as restaurants on the river.