The West Cornwall Steam Ship Company was established in 1870 to operate ferry services between Penzance, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly.
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The company was formed on 5 February 1870, principally by the shareholders in the West Cornwall Railway. The following year it took over the "Little Western" from the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company which had been operating on the route since 1858. Following financial problems the company was acquired by John Banfield who set up the West Cornwall Steamship Company in 1907. He already operated two steam launches around the islands, Seagull and Siva, to which he added a 120 ton sailing ship, the Golden Light. The company sold the remaining ferry operating to Penzance and was wound up in 1917.
Steam services to the islands were hastily arranged by the Government chartering the Lapwing from a Clyde operator until a new Isles of Scilly Steamship Company could take over in 1920.
The Little Western had been launched in 1858, and transferred to the West Cornwall company in 1871 for the sum of £2,640. It was wrecked on 6 October 1872.
The Earl of Arran was a paddle steamer built by Blackwood & Gordon (Yard No. 37) in Paisley in 1860 for service at Ardrossan and the Isle of Arran in Scotland. She moved to Penzance in 1871 but was wrecked in July the following year on Nornour Rock. She was 140 feet long and displaced 148 gross tons.
Guide was a wooden-hulled paddle steamer leased following the loss of the West Cornwall's two ships in 1872. It was built in 1869 for the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company by John Henry Warren for Harvey & Co, Hayle. Length 97.7 feet; Beam 19.8 feet; Depth 9 feet. It has a single-cylinder engine by Harvey of Hayle.
It was kept in service by the West Cornwall Steam Ship Company until 1875.
It was sold to Jackson and Ford of London and Milford in 1877, then Joseph Lawson of South Shields in 1883. In 1888 it was resold to John & David Morris, Pelaw Main and was reconstructed and converted to screw by Abbot & Co of Gateshead and renamed Jubilant. On 27 Nov 1897 it sailed from Maldon for the Tyne and its fate is unknown.
The paddle steamer Queen of the Bay was built 1867 by Henderson, Colbourn and Company at Renfrew for William Alcock of Morecambe as an excursion paddle steamer with a passenger capacity of 195. She saw service in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire and then transferred to William Allsup of Preston for use at Blackpool in 1872, before being purchased in 1874 and transferred to Penzance in 1875 after being re-boilered by Harvey's of Hayle.
She was 131 feet 6 inches long and 136 tons. She had a single diagonal paddle.
She was sold to John Dutton of Cardiff in 1883 and until 1885 she was engaged on a number of charters in the Bristol Channel during the summer season. She was then obtained by John T Hutchins, 1885 in Cardiff, Jessie Laurie, 1886 in Ilfracombe and the Newport & Bristol Channel Excursion Co Ltd. 1889 in Cardiff.
She was damaged by fire on 22 May 1894 on the River Usk; sold for scrap.
The Gael was an Iron Paddle Steamer built by Robertson & Co. Engineer: Rankin & Blackmore in 1867 for the Campbeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company. She was the first ship built by this ship yard.
In 1884 she was sold to the Great Western Railway Company and based at Milford in Wales. She was chartered by the West Cornwall Steam Ship Company in 1888 and 1889 for the season.
She was 211ft long, 23.2ft beam and 10.6ft deep. She could achieve a speed of 16 knots.
She returned to Scotland in 1891, based at Oban under the ownership of MacBrayne. There she served Gairloch via Mull, Eigg, Mallaig and Skye until she was broken up in 1924.
The Lady of the Isles was launched by Harvey's of Hayle in 1875 and worked on the West Cornwall service until 1904.
On 1 September 1904, she struck the Heaver Rock. She was beached in Lamorna Cove to stop her from sinking. She was re-floated and repaired and with new boilers.
From 1905 she was a cable ship for the Royal Navy, and then from 1938 as the salvage vessel for the Western Marine Salvage Co of Penzance, until requisitioned by the Admiralty as an Auxiliary vessel.
She was sunk by a mine off Killigerran Head near Falmouth on 3 October 1940. She was 130 feet 6 inches long and 162 tons.
The Lyonesse was another vessel built by Harvey's of Hayle, this time in 1889. She had a 3 cylinder turbine engine and was 329 gross registered tonnes, 170ft long, 25ft 1in beam, 10ft 4in depth. She was sold in 1918 to Queenstown, as a salvage ship, and returned to Hayle in 1928 to be scrapped
Lyonesse is the area of land reputedly lying under the sea between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The Deerhound had worked on the Mersey since being built in 1901, when she was transferred to West Cornwall in 1905. She was sold on to Canada two years later, becoming the HMCS Lady Evelyn. She was 189 feet (58 m) long and 483 tons.
| Date | 1871-1872 | 1872-1875 | 1875-1889 | 1889-1905 | 1905-1918 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Western | — | ||||
| Earl of Arran | — | ||||
| Guide | — | ||||
| Queen of the Bay | — | ||||
| Lady of the Isles | — | — | |||
| Lyonesse | — | — | |||
| Deerhound | — |