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)

“Kilauea Rules”. The most extreme place we put ours kayakers to paddle till now. Photo location: Big Island, Hawaii. (Photo and caption by Alexandre Socci/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A man walks his dog as the sun sets in a park in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, September 18, 2017. Cool damp weather is set to continue in this part of Germany for the next few days with temperatures in the mid teens Celsius. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

People protest getting evicted from land designated for a Petrobras refinery, at a settlement coined the “First of May Refugee Camp”, referring to the date people moved here and set up tents and shacks to live in during the new coronavirus pandemic in Itaguai, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

Civil security aircrafts parade during the inauguration of the Nimes-Garons civil security air force base on March 10, 2017 in Nimes, southern France. (Photo by Pascal Guyot/AFP Photo)

Couples take part in a Valentine's Day attempt to break the record for the world's largest simultaneous gay kiss on February 14, 2004 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo on a flooded street during a southwest monsoon that battered Manila August 8, 2012. The newly-wed couple pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of the capital and nearby nine provinces. (Photo by Reuters/Courtesy of Ramoncito Campo)