paddlesteamers.info : The Internet's leading website for
Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Lincoln Castle
In British rail colours in the late 1960s. Photo
made available by kind courtesy of Mr D AndersonBuilt in 1940 by A&J
Inglis, Pointhouse, Glasgow, Scotland : yard no 1024
Engines : Triple Expansion Diagonal by Ailsa Shipbuilding
Co of Troon, Ayrshire : 16.5, 26 and 41 inch cylinders with 51" stroke
Dimensions : 199'7" long x 33'1" breadth
598 Gross Registered Tons (320 net) Operated on London & North
East Railway's Hull-New Holland ferry service on the Humber Estuary
in England, commencing on 4th August 1941,one month after a delayed delivery
from Scotland She had originally left the Clyde in October 1940, but rough
seas damaged her and she put in at Tobermory, before returning for repair. She
then lay at Craigendoran awaiting fine weather After railway mationalisation in 1948 she was owned by British
Transport Commission then British Railways and finaly Sealink
Similar to her quasi-sisters Tattershall and Wingfield Castle except
for the boiler being forward (ie the boiler placed ahead of the engines in the
hull)
With her funnel forward of the paddle wheels her looks were more
conventional than her sisters Enclosed wheelhouse and radar added in April
1948 Mainmast fitted in April 1954
Retained on the service after the withdrawal of her quasi-sisters,
running alongside the paddle car ferry Farringford
Withdrawn in February 1978 with a defective boiler, having remained coal-fired
to the end, the last such vessel of her type in the UK
Opened as a pub at Hessle close to the Humber Bridge which had, since
1981, rendered the ferries obsolete
Resold to Colin Johnson in 1986 and moved to Immingham for refurbishment in 1987
and boilers removed
Opened as a bar and restaurant on the River Freshney near the National Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby in 1989 Closed to the public since late 2006 for refurbishment,
Due to serious deterioration and holing of some hull plates he was moved along
the dock and "beached" on limestone tipped into the corner of the
dock to avoid sinking Work stalled on cost grounds and Lincoln Castle was offered for sale in 2009 In
the absence of private buyers by June 2010 (mostly put off by the high costs
of rectifying the hull plus the local council's demand for a GBP 60k bond) the
owner decided to scrap the ship The Lincoln Castle Preservation Society was
established at the end of May 2010 to buy the ship for restoration and eventual
return to service but failed in their attempt
Scrapped in situ in October 2010 .Above : Lincoln Castle at Hull in 1959. Photos by courtesy of Ian
Stenton Above and below : Lincoln Castle on the foreshore at Hessle in November 1984. Photos by kind courtesy of Chris Allen ..Lincoln Castle's Engines : Photos left courtesy of Lee Wheeler and centre, right courtesy of
David Ornsby
MORE PHOTOGRAPHS OF LINCOLN CASTLE
Above : At Grimsby in 2008 : Looking good but beached
on the slag pile at the corner of the dock which mean she rested
on the bottom at low tide - causing further damage to her hull plates.
It proved impossible to repair her at this location - and the cost
of removing her was prohibitive and led to her demise. Photo by kind courtesy of David Ornsby
In preservation : By
David Ornsby : Click on the links for more
Kirk Martin's book "Ferries Across the Humber"
(2014) is a comprehensively researched and
illustrated 176-page record of the Humber crossing, with particular
reference to Lincoln Castle by an author who worked aboard the ship.
This book makes for a definitive history of the subject. Details
can be found on the link
below. ISBN 9781783831029
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