14th June 1959:
Humber Paddle Steamers

On Sunday 14th June 1959 one of the three Humber paddle steamers Lincoln Castle, Tattershall Castle or Wingfield Castle was scheduled to extend the 2.30pm ferry departure from New Holland to Hull at 3pm into a “One hour cruise down river with view of docks” returning to Hull at 4pm and New Holland at 4.30pm. It was a nice opportunity for those who wanted to blow the cobwebs away with a short cruise on the river perhaps after a heavy Sunday lunch at home or in the pub.

This trip ran every Sunday from 17th May, and Mondays to Fridays from 29th June, until 6th September.

Tiny point of Detail: In 1954 the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea made a change to the steaming light rules set out in the regulations. Hitherto vessels of the size of the Humber ferries had only been required to carry one steaming light plus the port and starboard and stern lights. The new 1954 provisions required vessels of this size to carry a second steaming light aft of, and higher than, the forward one. The exact distances between and the respective heights of these lights were set out in the regulations.

Different operators around the country complied with this new requirement in different ways. For vessels which already had a second, main, mast the second steaming light was fitted to that. Some operators fitted a second mast specially for this light. Others fitted a crane like structure to take the second light above the funnel.

Here on the Humber the second light was fitted to Lincoln Castle’s main mast. Neither Tattershall Castle nor Wingfield Castle had a main mast so in 1954 they were each fitted with a tripod mast mounted on the top of their funnels to take the second light.

This article was first published on 14th June 2021.