On Sunday 24th June 1962 Bristol Queen was scheduled to leave Barry at 9.20am (with rail connection from Cardiff) for Ilfracombe where she was due at 11.50am before sailing on to Milford Haven where she was scheduled to arrive at 3.40pm.
The day was billed as the “Trip of the Season” and was in fact the first such sailing to this timetable since before the Second World War.
It was sunny but the wind was fresh and from the NW, a difficult angle for the Channel, so delays crept in with Bristol Queen not getting away from Ilfracombe until 12.40pm with 218 passengers aboard and arriving just over one hour late at Milford at 4,45pm where she picked up a further 165 for the one hour trip.
Departure from Milford was scheduled for 5.05pm for Ilfracombe at 8.50pm with the arrival time back at Barry advertised as 11.05pm. However she was running seriously late that day and it was well past midnight before she got back to Barry.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran
This article was first published on 24th June 2021.
