On Wednesday 20th January 1937 in the yard of Denny of Dumbarton on the Clyde the framing of the paddle steamer Ryde was nearing completion. That job would be finished two days later on the Friday. On the following Monday morning work would start to rivet the steel plates to the frames to start building the hull.

Duchess of Norfolk which would become Cosens’s Embassy.

This new paddle steamer, to replace the Duchess of Norfolk,  had been ordered by the Southern Railway on 15th October 1936 for their Portsmouth to Ryde year round ferry service on a Board of Trade Class IV Passenger Certificate and for excursions in the summer on a Class III PC for operation between April and October not more than seventy miles from the point of departure nor more than fifteen miles from the shore and in daylight hours only. Delivery under the terms of the contract was to be in time for the 1937 summer season.

HMS Ashanti.

Ryde was not the only ship being built in the yard by Denny at that time. The paddle steamer Sawbra was about to be shipped off to Burma six days later and in bits for reassembly there to join the Irrawaddy Flotilla. Also in the yard at the same time were the Royal Sovereign (initially to be named Continental Queen) for passenger excursion services on the Thames, Slieve Bawn a cattle and cargo steamer for the LMS railway service between Holyhead and Dublin, two Tribal class destroyers and one coastal minelayer Ashanti, Bedouin and Plover for the Royal Navy and the river towing vessel Katsena being built for the United Africa Company. She was to be fitted with the new fangled and state of the art Austrian manufactured Voith Schneider system of propulsion capable of pushing a ship in any direction. So Denny had a lot of work on at that time on a number of very diverse ships all being built to different standards and for very different commercial remits. The yard was really busy.

Ryde crossing between Portsmouth and Ryde.

Ryde was launched on Friday 23rd April 1937, left Dennys on Tuesday 1st June and arrived at the Southern Railway yard in Southampton on Friday 4th June for the finishing touches to be applied before she entered service from Portsmouth.

[signature]