run for six hours and operate at an average speed of 8 miles per hour. Moritz Immisch established his company in 1882 in partnership with William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, specializing in the application of electric motors to transportation. The company employed Magnus Volk as a manager in the development of their electric launch department. After 12 months of experimental work starting in 1888 with a randan skiff, the firm commissioned the construction of hulls which they equipped with electrical apparatus. The world's first fleet of electric launches for hire, with a chain of electrical charging stations, was established along the River Thames in the 1880s. An 1893 pleasure map of the Thames shows eight "charging stations for electric launches" between Kew (Strand-on-the-Green) and Reading (Caversham). The company built its headquarters on the island called Platt's Eyot. From 1889 until just before the First World War the boating season and regattas saw the silent electric boats plying their way up and downstream. The company's electric launches were widely used by the rich as a conveyance along the river. Grand ships were constructed of teak or mahogany and furnished luxuriously, with stained glass windows, silk curtains and velvet cushions. William Sargeant was commissioned by Immisch's company to build the Mary Gordon in 1898 for Leeds City Council for use on the Roundhay Park Lake - the boat still survives and is currently being restored. This 70-foot long luxury pleasure craft could carry up to 75 passengers in comfort. Launches were exported elsewhere - they were used in the Lake District and all over the world. In the 1893 Chicago World Fair 55 launches developed from Anthony Reckenzaun's work carried more than a million passengers. Electric boats had an early period of popularity between around 1890 and 1920, before the emergence of the internal combustion engine drove them out of most applications. Most of the electric boats of this era were small passenger boats on non-tidal waters at a time when the only power alternative was steam. Decline With the advent of the gasoline-powered outboard motor, the use of electric power on boats declined from the 1920s. However, in a few situations, the use of electric boats has persisted from the early 20th century to the present day. One of these is on the Königssee lake, near Berchtesgaden in south-eastern Germany. Here the lake is considered so environmentally sensitive that steam