Barry and Bristol Channel Steamship Company
The railway which had played a major part in the development of the dock, did a great deal to make Barry Island a popular resort.
From the 1890s, the company persuaded P and A Campbell to run steamers from a pier built alongside the dock across the Bristol Channel, but in 1905 they started to build their own fleet of four ships. But as a railway company, parliamentary powers were required to operate steamships and the powers granted generally included provisions which limited operations to routes genuinely associated with the mother company's principal business (i.e. railway connections to non-accessible locations). The powers were also granted to take account of the legitimate interests of existing operators.
The company were limited to calls on the southern bank of the Channel between Weston super Mare and Ilfracombe, with additional summer excursion destinations allowed so long as the cruises started and finished at Barry. To circumvent these restrictions, the company resorted to the ploy of registering their vessels in the names of its directors and set up an operating company, the Barry and Bristol Channel Steamship Company. P and A Campbell resorted to successful legal action which ensured that by July 1907, the Barry Railway Company was required to abide by the terms of the original legislation.
Services were maintained despite deteriorating financial fortunes, but as a cost-saving measure, PS Gwalia was sold to the Furness Railway on 7 May 1910. Five days later the remaining three steamers were sold to Bristol Channel Passenger Boats Ltd. The latter company struggled to make the business pay and after two seasons, sold out to P and A Campbell.
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