Name Tattershall Castle

Built in 1934 by William Gray & Co.,West Hartlepool for London & North Eastern Railway Company, TATTERSHALL CASTLE is a paddle steamer with a steel hull and a triple expansion steam reciprocating engine built by Central Marine Engines Works, Hartlepool. She was a passenger ferry on the River Humber between Hull and New Holland with a passenger capacity of 1050. She sailed on this route up to eight times a day until her retirement in 1973. TATTERSHALL CASTLE was used briefly during the Second World War as a tethering vessel for barage balloons in the Humber estuary before returning to duty ferrying troops and munitions, and she was one of the first civilian vessels to be equipped with radar. Her postwar service on the Humber ferry continued until 1973 when she was laid up. In 1976, she was sold to become a floating art centre and conference centre on the Thames. In 1981, she was sold to the Chef & Brewer Group, and repairs and a refit were carried out by Acorn Ship Repairs on the River Medway. She reopened as a pub and restaurant on London's Victoria Embankment in 1982. A further refit was carried out by Crescent Marine Services on the Medway in 1991, and another costing £4.75m in 2003-04 at Great Yarmouth. Her appearance progressively changed to incorporate an enclosed main deck aft, a new bridge structure with large windows replacing the wheelhouse. Larger windows were cut into the forward lounge on the port side, and the paddle wheels were removed (and the ship lost her distinctive fan-shaped paddle-box vents). She is thus much more substantially altered than her two sister ships. Her original engines are still in place and can be viewed behind glass by visitors. Source: Paul Brown, Historic Ships The Survivors (Amberley, 2010), updated Mar 2011.