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)

A man dives into a canal during a hot day in Larkana district of Sind province on July 20, 2023. (Photo by Ahmed Raza Soomro/AFP Photo)

A man shows his tattoos at the 7th Hong Kong China International Tattoo Convention in Hong Kong on August 25, 2023. (Photo by Isaac Lawrence/AFP Photo)

A woman cries as she watches the coffin containing the body of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez be taken from the hospital, where he died on Tuesday, to a military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Seven days of mourning were declared, all schools were suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected for an elaborate funeral on Friday. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Blankets cover the bodies of a woman (right) and a man (left background) hit by a northbound Penn Central train (background) as they waited with a crowd at Pennsylvania Railroad station in Elizabeth, N.J. on June 8, 1968 to view the southbound train carrying the body of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy to Washington. The woman was identified as Mrs. Antoinette Severini, 54, and the man, John Curia (age unavailable), both of Elizabeth. (Photo by AP Photo)

Technical staff take shelter as a helicopter takes off prior to the Nendaz Freeride skiing and snowboard competition, a Freeride World Tour Qualifier (FWQ) event, on the Mont Gond in Nendaz, Switzerland on March 21, 2018. (Photo by Valentin Flauraud/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A herd of wild monkeys ask for food from passing vehicles along a mountain road after a snowfall on October 20, 2020 in Luhuo County, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Jin Shujie/VCG via Getty Images)

The main feature of the Mitsuyama Taisai Festival, three 18 meters tall “mountains”. are displayed at the Itate Hyozu Shrine on March 31, 2013 in Himeji, Japan. The festival is held once in 20 years since 1593, Priests of Itate Hyozu Shrine welcome to all the gods across the country for top of the three mountains and treat with food seven days from today as to pray for peace and prosperity. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe)