On Tuesday 26th April 1927 P & A Campbell’s paddle steamer Waverley was scheduled to start the day at Newhaven before picking up at Brighton at 9.20am, Eastbourne at 10.50am and Hastings at 12 noon for the run along the Kent Coast to Folkestone where she was due to arrive at 2pm.
She was then advertised for an afternoon cruise before setting off to retrace her route from Folkestone at 4pm, Hastings at 6pm, Eastbourne at 7pm and with a return to Brighton at 8.30pm. After that she would have returned to overnight at Newhaven.
This was of course not our Waverley. This one was built as Barry in 1907 for the Barry Railway Company’s services and passed to P & A Campbell in 1911. They renamed her Waverley in 1925 and sent her to operate the summer seasonal services on the Sussex Coast that year and, apart from 1934 and 1935, right up to the War.
In 1939 she was converted into a minesweeper and renamed HMS Snaefell and in that guise took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. She had the misfortune to be attacked and sunk by German bombers off Sunderland on Saturday 5th July 1941.
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 26th April 2021.
