Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Sea Breezes Article 1989 - 'Boyhood Days on the Bristol Channel' . . .

An image from the 'Sea Breezes' [290] article - Clive adds the handwritten caption '* No it wasn't" - Campbell's always had an open bridge policy on its paddle steamers.

With the cruise completed, our former contingent of passengers would re-embark. doubtless with pockets full of Barry Island rock and faces flecked with candyfloss. The return crossing to Weston could then begin and the final sea passage of the day would be back to Cardiff via Penarth, arriving alongside at, maybe, 2100. It was a longish day and in spite of our noisy berths I can't remember either of the ordinary seamen needing rocking to sleep.

Occasionally the ship wouldn't leave the landing stage until mid-afternoon and on such days the forenoon would be spent bunkering. A right mucky job that was! There was not so much as a lick or a promise for the brass on these mornings because all hands would have been on the go since first light, rigging the canvas screens that were supposed to give some protection to the vast areas of Campbell's lovely, salmon-coloured paintwork.