Worthing Belle
The Worthing Belle leaving Littlehampton, c.1905
This card was published by Frank Spry. Note the presence of a black wheelhouse before the funnel, This was later removed. Of the two copies in my collection, one has Spry's details on the back in italics with his address noted as 21, Surrey St., Littlehampton (1907 to 1909). The other, in upright printing, recorded as 25, Surrey St., Littlehampton. The first was posted in 1908 in London, the other was not posted.
P.S.S. Worthing Belle
This postcard is from the David Humphries of Littlehampton collection. There is no information about the publisher or date. Notice that the wheelhouse now absent, so the photograph was taken later than the above card. The funnel markings have also changed which probably indicates a different ownership.
S.S. Worthing Belle at Sea
This was sent to Miss D. Parker, 14 St. Mary's Street Cardiff, and posted in September 1910. The vessel appears relatively lightly loaded, so perhaps many passengers had retired to the closed saloons. The are no publisher details.
Worthing Belle loading at Littlehampton Harbour
This card was posted to Miss Hall in Derby, from Bognor, on 21st September 1916, although the picture would have been taken some years earlier. Note the large number of passengers (there was a limit of 360 on the vessel’s licence). On one occasion, in August 1913, the Captain was taken to court and fined for exceeding this by forty two people on a trip from Brighton. Although keeping count on multi-stop trips couldn't have been easy, with passengers coming and going in large numbers, there must have been a temptation to accept a few more to improve the economics of operation.
Published by local photographer, William Wareham, the photograph has had colour tinting added to the original black and white photograph. More information about William Wareham can be seen in the Characters section of this website.
This picture was printed upside down relative to the writing side. The card was postmarked Brighton at 3.45 am, 24th May, 1911, and was addressed to Mr W Gooch, 5 Graveney Road, Tooting, S.
“Dear Prince, This is the boat A & I went to Worthing & the Channel on. We had a very rough trip. Thought we should have been seasick. Were soaked through. Very near were the waves coming overboard. You ought to see me now my face is all peeling & I look as red as a turkey cock. In fact I look a perfect ruin. Fondest love [indecipherable]”
