Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - The White Funnel Fleet - P & A Campbell Limited

Such was the standard make-up of one of the most familiar and graceful details of any steamer, and I may add, one of the most awkward problems that face the model maker, for usually ventilators are too small to allow of being built up of four plates, and if they are cast solid, and the hole is then drilled out to represent the mouth, a hard-edged shoulder is left around the latter - an ugly defect to be seen on many otherwise beautifully-finished models.

The hull of the 'Brighton Queen' had a fine entrance and considerable flare, which could be well seen by the curve of the frames when viewed from the main deck. One obtained an excellent impression of her fine entry at the stem through the portholes over the sponsons. She threw a lovely and impressive bow wave, which curled away from the ship's side in great swirling masses, leaving a remarkably flat and calm surface (oft-times dotted with little pieces of seaweed busily engaged in turning head over heals) for the entry of the throbbing floats of the paddles.

On deck one could often see a miniature rainbow caused by the fine spray from the paddlebox, which daintily kept pace with the great rushing steamer, and another familiar touch was the quiet and monotonous song of the port paddle eccentric, which had composed a theme - but without variations - and which it hummed very gently to itself with each revolution of the paddle wheel. On some of the Belle steamers a large porthole allowed one to peep right through into the paddlebox itself, and a wonderful thing it was to see the giant red arms thrashing the sea about in their mighty strength. The 'Brighton Queen' in lieu of this porthole, had an electric light encased in a spherical globe, so that by day one only gained a very confused version of the fracas going on inside the merry-go-round, but by night from the shore she appeared to be sending out a continuous series of Morse code E's when passing broadside on, due to the paddle arms flicking by this innocent corridor light.