 The company was established in 1834 with services from central London to Woolwich and along the coasts along the Thames Estuary.These were later extended to Kent and southern Essex; subsequently a London to Ipswich packet service which inaugurated calls at Clacton in 1871.The company amalgamated with several smaller concerns, including the Watermen's Steam Packet Company, in 1876 to form the London Steamboat Company, which was the dominant force in the Thames estuary excursion business at that time.