160 years ago this week the Citizens' River Steamers' Company in Cork Ireland resolved to acquire 3 vessels, The Prince of Wales, Arthur and Alice.

From 1815, the towns and villages of Cork Harbour in Ireland were linked by a river transport system which carried passengers and goods between Cork City, Passage West, Glenbrook, Monkstown, Ringaskiddy, Crosshaven, Cobh (later Queenstown), Aghada and Ballinacurra.

This was a service of small paddle steamers owned by the ‘City of Cork Proprietors’. By 1836 there were five boats operating and many thousands of passengers were conveyed. The journey of twelve miles from St. Patrick's Bridge, Cork, to Cove (Cobh) lasted one and a half hours and the fares were nine pence cabin and sixpence deck. All vessels (listed below) called both ways at Passage and Monkstown piers.

‘City of Cork’  1815-1850, 50 gross tons 18 h.p.

‘Waterloo’        1816-1850, 50 gross tons  50 h.p.

‘Lee’                   1830-1840, 87 gross tons  40 h.p.

‘Air’                    1836-1840, 70 gross tons  60 h.p.

‘Eagle’                1838-1851, 120 gross tons 60 h.p.

The ‘City of Cork’ was launched at Passage on 10th September 1815, being the first steam driven vessel built in Ireland. She was single-masted and 86 feet long, with a square stern. Her speed was 6 knots and she had salt-water baths and carried London newspapers for patrons. The ‘Waterloo’ was also built locally. Her one-cylinder engine was made by Hive Iron Works in Cork and was almost certainly Ireland's first marine engine.

Following the opening of the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway (CB&PR) in 1850, the service initially enjoyed great success. However, because of the distance from the city centre to the terminus at Victoria Quay many potential passengers continued to avail of the traditional steamer service provided by the River Steamers Company (RSC) which could be boarded at Merchant's Quay in the heart of the city.

Relocating the city railway terminus became a priority and plans to extend the line further downriver were shelved because the future of the railway depended on providing a ready access from the city. The directors were fully aware that the viability of their company depended on its ability to provide a full service. Faced with this reality, a new river steamer was ordered to ply the river between Cork and the harbour towns.

On Sunday 13 July 1851 the CB&PR's first steamer, Queenstown, went into service, linking Cork with Passage, Monkstown and Queenstown. The introduction of the ‘Queenstown’ saw the beginning of serious rivalry between the competing companies. There were three different steamboat companies now operating in the harbour. This led to open 'warfare' on the water as steamers raced each other to arrive first at the various piers. Several accidents occurred, including quite a few collisions. During the next few years the company purchased three more steamers - the Victoria, the Fairy and the Albert. These steamers came to be known as the 'Green Boats'.

In 1860 the CB&PR was unable to reach full potential because of competition with the steamers and its passenger charges were 30 per cent below corresponding English lines in the mid 1850s. The RSC, operating from Merchants' Quay in the City Centre, escalated the fares war by introducing further reductions. The CB&PR responded by reducing the Cork to Queenstown return fare by a third and introduced a 2d. third class, fare to Queenstown. Although there was an appreciable increase in passenger numbers, financial returns decreased and the railway company was making just 2 d. per mile.

This sort of competition could not continue so CB&PR and RSC representatives met in May 1856 and came to a private "arrangement". By 1860 this amounted to a monopoly on the river. The situation changed again within a few months when it was publicly announced that a new steamer company was to be established. Although the CB&PR and RSC reacted swiftly to this threat by reducing fares, interest in the new Citizens River Steamers Company Limited', (CRSCo.) grew rapidly.

By mid- September 1860 it was agreed to regularly establish the company on a capital of ￡20,000 but ￡8,000 would permit the commencement of operations by chartering vessels while new ones were being built. The CRSCo was officially registered at the beginning of October 1860, with a capital of ￡5,372, invested by 264 shareholders. By mid-November shareholders had increased to 520 and capital to ￡11,782. At the end of the month the company had seven directors with John Francis Maguire, MP, as chairman.

Utilising the chartered Prince of Wales the CRSCo., commenced operating on I February 1861. Fares were considered extremely reasonable -the Ist class fares between Cork and Queenstown was 6d, a 2nd class ticket cost 4d, and return tickets were, 9d. and 6d. respectively. The business was extremely successful.

Maguire presided at a special general meeting of the Citizens' River Steamers' Company, held in the Imperial Hotel in Cork Ireland in April 1861, to consider an important motion.

The RSC, admitting they could not meet the challenge from the new CRSCo, had decided to withdraw from the market and proposed to sell their boats, goodwill and interest to the CRSCo, for ￡7,225. The proposed transaction included the acquisition of three vessels, The Prince of Wales, Arthur and Alice, as well as offices, equipment and plant and, in Mr Maguire's estima-tion, a most valuable asset, a private pier at Queenstown (Cobh).

Mr Maguire pointed out that the company had been formed to serve the citizens of Cork 'who live on the banks of this beautiful and lovely river ... to keep it in our own hands, for our own enjoyment, for the purpose of business, of convenience, or of pleasure'.

Despite the previous opposition from the RSC and the Queenstown branch of the Cork/Youghal Railway Line, the Citizens' River Steamers' Company had also contracted for the construction of two vessels at a Clyde shipyard. The addition of these vessels to the fleet would enable the company to retain the contract for the transport of troops on the river.

The Chairman, in assuring the shareholders that the primary function of the company was to serve the citizens, formally proposed that the sharehold-ers sanction the directors' decision to purchase the River Steamers' Company. That motion was unanimously adopted 160 years ago this week on 2 April 1861. A new ￡2,600 cargo vessel was ordered a short time later .

The first of the company's new vessels the Citizen, arrived in Cork on 17 May. On Sunday 19 May she left Cork for Queenstown at 9.03 a.m. and returned at 10.50 a.m. -the return journey alone took just 47 minutes. She carried capacity loads with up to 600 passengers crowded on board.

Four weeks later, a sister vessel, the Lee, arrived in Cork and made her first visit to Queenstown on 22 June.

On 26 September a screw steamer Erin, intended for the luggage trade arrived; but when the venture into goods traffic failed, she was sold off.

During 1862 the ageing Prince of Wales and Alice were also disposed of for a combined sum of ￡3,200.

Receipts for the Citizen's River Steamer Co., in 1861 amounted to ￡8,540 -about 20 per cent above the former company's 1859 figure of ￡6,635. The CRSCo carried 306,520 passengers in 1861 -an increase of 31,520 over the 1859 figure. The unusually bad summer and the company's low fares policy caused disappointing returns. The CB&PR too had a disappointing season with a ￡1,387 shortfall on the previous returns. A fares reduction took the blame and subsequently rates were revised. Competition continued and the CB&PR half yearly report for May 1862 showed that even though 22,846 extra passengers were carried, receipts were down ￡421. The next report showed a similar reduction in receipts. Rivalry between the two companies occupied much valuable thought and time during the next 30 years. The final respite came in 1890 when the CRSCo, was wound up and purchased for ￡1,465 by the CB&PR which set about redeveloping and extending its river services. Although the CB&PR 's steamer service was the weakest part of the company's system, boats had to be available during the summer to cater for traffic increases.

By the mid-1920s, the steamer department of the CB&PR, with the inevitable maintenance and renewal of vessels, began to prove a financial millstone around the company's neck. The river services finally ended in 1927. The CB&PR steamers were disposed of at intervals from 1925, the first to go being the SS Queenstown, which was sold in July of that year.

• From the Cork Examiner - 25 Feb. 1925.

Next year saw the sale of the SS Rostellan to Joseph McSwiney of Passage, and finally, in 1927, the veteran paddle steamer Albert was towed to England for breaking up.