On Saturday 25th July 1959 one of the three Humber paddle steamers Lincoln Castle, Tattershall Castle or Wingfield Castle sailed down from Hull to the Royal Dock Basin at Grimsby light ship in the morning for a departure from Grimsby at 10am for the one and a half hour run up back up river to take shoppers and those wishing to spend time ashore in other ways in Hull.
By this stage, the steamer did not return to Grimsby later in the day. To give greater flexibility to passengers to come back whenever they liked, and to save on the cost of a second round trip, the return route was by now on the normal paddle steamer ferry service to New Holland with a connection on the train back to Grimsby or beyond at any time to suit.
This trip was rostered every Saturday from 18th July to 5th September 1959.
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 5th July 2021.
