THE complete company records of Cosens & Co Ltd, the famous Weymouth paddle steamer operators and marine engineers, are now safely housed in the County Archives at the Dorset History Centre.

They have been placed on permanent loan there by maritime historian and author Richard Clammer, who has written two widely acclaimed books on the company's history - Cosens of Weymouth, 1848-1918 and Cosens of Weymouth 1918-1996.

Richard grew up in Weymouth during the 1950s and 60s when Cosens' activities still dominated the scene in Weymouth Harbour.

In addition to their buff-funnelled paddle steamers which ran summer excursions from Weymouth, Swanage and Bournemouth, the company owned a head office at 10 Custom House Quay, two slipways on the site of the present Weymouth Sailing Club, together with extensive workshops, ship-repairing facilities and even an ice factory adjoining Weymouth Backwater.

His childhood interest in the paddle steamers turned into serious research when Richard decided to write a full history of the company. "Initially I was told that most of the records had been destroyed during the bombing of Weymouth during the war" said Richard, "but in 1987 they were located in an archive in Southampton and returned to the company. Through the kindness of David Willshire and Michael Hughes, the managers at that time, I was allowed full access. They were wonderful! With minute and order books, correspondence, financial and shareholder records dating right back to the 1850s, the archive provided a unique window on one of the key players in Weymouth's maritime and commercial history and enabled me to write in real detail."

Richard's research was almost completed when, in 1999, the company - then operating as Cosens Engineering Ltd from Perryfield Works on Portland - finally closed down.

"The records passed to the receivers and for a few tense months it looked as though, having survived 120 years and two world wars, they would be destroyed."

However, Richard was finally able to persuade the receivers to hand the entire archive over to him for safe keeping.

With his books completed and published Richard, who currently lives in Chepstow, felt strongly that the archive should be returned to Dorset.

"Having had the privilege of looking after and using these unique records for a few years, it is a real pleasure to know that they are finally in the safe keeping of the Dorset History Centre where they can be professionally conserved and made available to anyone who is interested to read them."