June 6, 1924
In southeastern England’s ceremonial county of Hampshire, a paddle steamer constructed for the Southern Railway by John I. Thornycroft & Company was launched. This event was held at the company’s shipyard in Woolston, a suburb of the town (now city) of Southampton.
The christening duties for the Friday launch of the newly built passenger vessel were carried out by Cynthia Szlumper. She was the young daughter and only child of Gilber Savil Szlumper, the Southern Railway’s docks and marine manager.
The next day’s edition of the Southampton Times and Hampshire Express described this ceremony and the important role played by Miss Szlumper. The newspaper reported, “The sun shone brightly as the little maiden released the bottle of champagne, and the vessel took the waters perfectly.” As the Southampton Times and Hampshire Express likewise confirmed, the paddle steamer was formally named Shanklin.
PS (paddle steamer) Shanklin was eventually used for transporting passengers on the Southern Railway’s maritime route between Portsmouth Harbour in Hampshire and — on the Isle of Wight off England’s southern coast — Ryde Pier. The vessel’s first trip in this regard took place on October 3, 1924.
The final trip of PS Shanklin on that route was made on November 30, 1950. The following year, she was sold to the British excursion steamer and marine engineering company Cosens & Co Ltd. This company renamed the vessel “Monarch.” PS Monarch remained in Cosens’ service until being scrapped in 1961. (The accompanying photo of this vessel during her time as PS Monarch was taken in August 1960.)
Photo Credit: Andy Parrett (https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/36406) / Paddle steamer moored at Swanage pier / Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
For more information on PS Shanklin (ultimately renamed PS Monarch), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Shanklin_(1924)
Transportation History 
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