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)

US model Kendall Jenner poses as she arrives on May 11, 2018 for the Secret Chopard Party on the sidelines of the 71 st Cannes film festival in Cannes, southeastern France. (Photo by James Gourley/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Ardent fisherman Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox appears to have hooked Frances Flajnik, Tempe queen of Anglers World Series, March 15, 1960. (Photo by AP Photo)

Flag bearers Bunpichmorakat Kheun and Sokong Pen of Team Cambodia during the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on July 23, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Nina Betschart of Team Switzerland dives against Germany during the Women's Preliminary - Pool F on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Shiokaze Park on July 24, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Boards stand lined up at the Rocinha Surf Association, ASR, headquarters at Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, July 2, 2015. ASR has given free lessons to over 2,000 children from Rio's shantytowns in the hopes of keeping the boys, who are mostly in their early teens and a few girls occupied by the sport and off the streets. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

Girls suffering from dwarfism take part in the disability pride parade in New York, July 12, 2015. The parade grand marshal was former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who 25 years ago sponsored the Americans With Disabilities Act. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Samba dancers outside Woolwich station celebrate the opening of the Elizabeth Line in London, England on May 23, 2022. Originally due to open in December 2018, the £18.8bn railway links Reading and Essex via central London. (Photo by Jill Mead/The Guardian)