River Dart Steamboat Co

The River Dart Steamboat Co Ltd (RDSC) and its predecessors, the Dartmouth Steam Packet Company and the Dartmouth and Torbay Steam Packet Company, were the major ferry and excursion boat operators on the River Dart in South Devon for 120 years, until the company’s demise in 1976. The company was famous for its distinctive paddle steamers, which were a familiar sight on the river until the late 1960s.

The diagram on the right illustrates the network of routes operated by the company and its predecessors.

The premier route of the company, this route operated year-round until 1929, thereafter being a summer only service. This route was around 10 miles long, and the journey time was an average of 75 minutes, though journey times of less than an hour were possible before the introduction of a 6 knot speed limit.

Calls were made en route at Dittisham Pier, and off Duncannon, where passengers for Stoke Gabriel and Cornworthy were embarked by small rowing boat. Totnes is tidal, and so the ferry could only run at high tide.

In its early years the service was a true ferry, connecting Dartmouth with the markets and main line station at Totnes, and carried mail until 1929. As the years went by, it became more of a tourist cruise service.

From time to time the company experimented with operating other ferry services. These either closed, or were taken over by other operators

For the brief period between the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway reaching Brixham Road Station in 1861 and Kingswear in 1864, a regular connecting ferry service was run four times per day between Dartmouth and Greenway Quay, where the steamers were met with a horse-drawn omnibus to the station at Brixham Road.