One of the largest paddle steamers afloat in Britain is the H.M.S. Royal Eagle, former peacetime excursion boat which carried passengers on pleasure jaunts from Tower Bridge to Southend, Ramscate and Margate. Commissioned two years ago as a warship of the Royal Navy, the craft has been in action 52 times against enemy aircraft. The Eagle took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk where she was dive-bombed 48 times and brought home nearly 3,000 British troops. Members of the crew cleaning the paddle boxes of H.M.S. Royal Eagle in London on January 18, 1943. (Photo by AP Photo)

Former Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin performs a flip while throwing the ceremonial first pitch during a baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, July 14, 2017, in Anaheim, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Eight-year-old Lactatia a.k.a. Nemis Quinn Mélançon Golden gets a makeover by Ginger Minj during RuPaul's DragCon NYC 2017 at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on September 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

A model wears a creation for the Thom Browne ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2023 fashion collection presented Monday, October 3, 2022 in Paris. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Photo)

A pilgrim enters the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on their hands and knees to honour the Virgin Mary in Mexico City, Mexico on December 11, 2022. (Photo by Jorge Nunez/Zuma Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People move on a tractor through a flooded street amid severe flooding in Feni, Bangladesh, on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Participants react as they try to reach the top of a greased pole to collect the prizes, during a “Panjat Pinang” competition, that is held to celebrate Indonesia's 79th Independence Day at Ancol in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)

N.C. Dezendorf, wife of the general manager of the Electro-Motive division of General Motors, christens the new lightweight “Aerotrain” at the company's locomotive works in La Grange, Ill. on August 22, 1955. (Photo by Edward Kitch/AP Photo)