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)

In this image made from video, woman protesters march with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, January 10, 2019. Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee. (Photo by Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP Photo)

An Orthodox child is given an icy dip in a lake in celebration of Epiphan, near the village of Vorontsovka, some 20 km from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 19 January 2019. People believe that bathing in blessed waters during the holiday of Epiphany strengthens their spirit and body. (Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA/EFE)

A family take a souvenir picture next to giant male panda Xiao Liwu, who was born at the San Diego Zoo and will be repatriated to China with his mother Bai Yun, bringing an end to a 23-year-long panda research program in San Diego, California, U.S., April 18, 2019. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Buyan, a male Siberian brown bear, cools down under a stream of water sprayed by an employee in an enclosure on a hot summer day, at the Royev Ruchey zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 14, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A Pelican attempts to take a persons belongings while they are sat in St James' Park, London on Monday, August 11, 2025. Temperatures will soar above 30°C in parts of the UK in the coming days, with another heatwave possible in some areas. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

A mannequin depicting Superman is placed upside down next to the door of the parliament session hall hosting a no confidence vote agains Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu's government in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Romania's government fell after 281 lawmakers of the 234 required voted in favor of the no-confidence vote. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

People collect fish on the beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Da Nang, Vietnam on May 6, 2020. (Photo by Kham via Reuters)