PS Tattershall Castle facts for kids
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Quick facts for kids History |
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 United Kingdom |
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| Name | The Tattershall Castle |
| Namesake | Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire |
| Owner |
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| Ordered | 1934 |
| Builder | William Gray & Company, Hartlepool, England |
| Launched | 24 September 1934 |
| Commissioned | 24 September 1934 |
| Decommissioned | 1974 |
| Identification | IMO number: 5353804 |
| Status | Restaurant and bar moored on the River Thames |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Paddle steamer |
| Tonnage | 556 GT |
| Length | 209 ft (64 m) |
| Beam | 56 ft (17 m) (including paddle box) |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion, diagonal stroke, reciprocating steam engine, 1200 ihp. |
| Speed | 12.0 knots (22.2 km/h; 13.8 mph) |
The PS Tattershall Castle is a floating pub and restaurant moored on the River Thames at Victoria Embankment. It served as a passenger ferry across the Humber estuary from 1934 to 1973, before being towed to London in 1976.
History
The steamer was built by William Gray & Company in 1934 as a passenger ferry on the Humber for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). She plied the Humber Ferry route between Corporation Pier in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, and New Holland Pier in New Holland, Lincolnshire.
During the Second World War she found service as a tether for barrage balloons and to ferry troops and supplies along the River Humber to wherever they were required. Due to the heavy fogs often encountered on this river, she was fitted with radar becoming one of the first civilian ships to have this facility. After the war, with the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, she became part of British Rail's Sealink service.
In 1973, after long service as a passenger and goods ferry, she was retired and laid up. In 1976 the ship was towed to London. Repairs on the ship were deemed too costly and she was retired from service. The opening of the Humber Bridge made the ferry service, known to have existed since at least Roman times, redundant.
PS Tattershall Castle was first opened on the River Thames as a floating art gallery until her eventual disposal to the Chef & Brewer group. Before opening in 1982 as a restaurant, she was sent to the River Medway for further repairs. Tattershall Castle returned temporarily to Hull for a refit at MMS Ship Repair in 2015, at a cost of several million pounds.
A sister ship also launched in 1934, the PS Wingfield Castle, is preserved at Hartlepool's Maritime Experience.
A third similar Humber ferry, the PS Lincoln Castle, built in 1940, was scrapped in Autumn 2010.
