From its inception, P&A Campbell dominated steamer travel on the Bristol Channel, both for tourism and trade between Bristol and South Wales. The steamers of Campbell's were a regular sight as they were down to the north Devon coast, Lundy Island, and the Somerset piers. This book presents the history of the early P&A Campbell years.

The steamers of P&A Campbell were a memorable sight for hundreds of thousands who lived in the Bristol Channel area, Brighton and the South Coast and Southampton. For many, a trip down the water on a White Funnel paddler was their solitary holiday each year. The ships themselves were well travelled, with many making excursions to France or to islands like Lundy. In A White Funnel Album Chris Collard, acknowledged expert on the fleet and its history, brings together 200 images of the ships in the heyday of the excursion steamer.

Chris Collard takes us on a trip down the Bristol Channel, looking at the varied shipping found in the bottom reaches of the Severn. From P&A Campbell paddle steamers to the shipping going in and out of Bristol and Avonmouth Docks, all aspects of Bristol Channel shipping are covered from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

The White Funnel Fleet of P&A Campbell had a long and successful association with England's south coast, with the company's Bristol Channel steamer excursions perhaps being their best-known operation. Covering the period from the 1880s to the 1950s, from the tentative beginnings when brothers Alexander and Peter Campbell took up the challenge of the busy and tempestuous Bristol Channel, this beautifully illustrated history - using many rare and previously unpublished images from the archives of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society - takes the reader through the golden years of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the difficult years of the 1920s and 1930s, and the resurgence of the late 1940s before the harsh economic pressures of the 1950s led to the company's decline. Including heart-warming stories from the two world wars, when the ships donned warship grey and swept the sea lanes for mines, as well as fascinating 'White Funnel Trivia', this book evokes the hey-day of the White Funnel Steamers and their enduring appeal.