Paddle steamer purchase opportunity

A historic steamer that used to ferry people along the River Clyde in Scotland is to be sold at auction later this month, with the potential to be turned into a lucrative leisure attraction.

The Queen Mary, which first set sail in 1933, is to be sold later this month, although a guide price has yet to be set. The boat has been sitting in a dock at Tilbury, Essex since the early 1980s but Richard Lane, from Isle of Wight-based Capital Boats, which is marketing the Queen Mary, believes that the boat presents a number of very viable options.

Plans had been in the pipeline to turn the ship into a floating hotel, restaurant and gym in France when she was first brought down from Scotland. Those plans fell by the wayside, but the condition of the ship is still of a level that is very useable.

Mr Lane said that the boat was built by the William Denny shipyard at Dumbarton, in the early 1930s. The vessel was something of a workhorse after that, carrying 2,000 passengers from Glasgow's Bridge Wharf to Dunoon, Rothesay, Largs and Millport.

Mr Lane explained that the ship could prove to be an even greater opportunity with the London 2012 Olympics just around the corner. A development firm has not yet been set for the project.