Kingswear Castle

 

The coal-fired paddle steamer Kingswear Castle was built in 1924 by Philip & Son of Dartmouth and sailed up and down the River Dart with her virtually identical sister ships Totnes Castle and Compton Castle until the 1960s. When built, her steam engine, built by Cox and Co of Falmouth, and many fixtures and fitting were taken from her predecessor of the same name.

During the Second World War, Kingswear Castle was chartered to the American Navy for use carrying stores and personnel at Dartmouth and was one of the few British ships to retain her bright peacetime colour scheme amongst the drab uniformity of wartime grey.

Withdrawn from service in 1965, Kingswear Castle was laid up in Old Mill Creek at Dartmouth until bought by the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society in 1967. She was moved to Binfield on the Isle of Wight where she steamed on a couple of occasions for a BBC film with John Betjeman and then, in 1971, was towed to the River Medway in Kent where restoration commenced. Many companies, individuals and other organisations donated money, equipment and expertise until finally, in 1985, she was returned to service on the River Medway with full Department of Transport (later MCA) Passenger Certificates. 

The coal-fired engine of the paddle-steamer

The paddles! The yellow bits in the bottom right corner of the picture are the ends of paddles

The sponsors that helped to restore the Kingswear Castle