From the mid 1890's up until the outbreak of the First World
War two main paddle steamer companies and two railway companies competed to
transport people in their thousands to Margate . One of the companies New
Palace Steamers even produced their own souvenirs for the trip. I have now
accumulated a few postcards they produced.
On another point two years ago I found a piece of broken
plate on the main sands that has part of the same address seen on the bottom of
the postcards.
On some areas of the Margate main sands near the low water
mark I am now coming to the conclusion that most of the shards excluding
mineral water bottles that have been found are actually gash thrown over the
side by the Paddle Steamers that visited the jetty during that era. Also the
amount of finds that date after the time the paddle steamers stopped operating
the routes does decline significantly.