West Cornwall Steam Ship Company

The following year it took over the "Little Western" from the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company which had been operating on the route since 1858.

An advertisement in The Cornishman newspaper on 25 July 1878 gives the timetable for the Royal Mail Steamers Queen of the Bay and the Lady of the Isles.

He already operated two steam launches around the islands, Seagull and Siva, to which he added a 120-ton sailing ship, the Golden Light.

Steam services to the islands were hastily arranged by the Government chartering the Lapwing from a Clyde operator until a new Isles of Scilly Steamship Company could take over in 1920.

She was 140 feet long and displaced 148 gross registered tons and her rusting boilers can still be seen at low tide on the west shore of Nornour.

It was built in 1869 for the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company by John Henry Warren for Harvey & Co, Hayle.

In 1888 it was resold to John & David Morris, Pelaw Main and was reconstructed and converted to screw by Abbot & Co of Gateshead and renamed Jubilant.

On 7 June 1884, the Queen of the Bay had to return to Hugh Town with engine problems and transfer her passengers and mail to the Lady of the Isles.

Due to the growing trade between the mainland and the islands and the expection she would be replaced by a larger and more powerful vessel, she was sold to John Dutton, a merchant of Cardiff in 1885 for £2,250.

Engineer: Rankin & Blackmore in 1867 for the Campbeltown & Glasgow Steam Packet Joint Stock Company.

The Lady of the Isles was launched by Harvey's of Hayle in 1875 and worked on the West Cornwall service until 1904.

[14] On 1 September 1904, she struck the Heaver Rock and was beached in Lamorna Cove to stop her from sinking; the passengers had to walk the 4 miles (6.4 km) back to Penzance!.

[16] The Lyonesse was another vessel built by Harvey's of Hayle, this time in 1889 and making her first crossing from Penzance to St Mary's on 17 April 1889.