Tuesday 26th May 1953 was the second day of her first season for the newly built Maid of the Loch. The previous day she had made her first public passenger sailing leaving Balloch at 11.25am for Balmaha, Rowardennan, Tarbet, Inversnaid and Ardui.
She was though a big ship for what became an increasingly declining market as the 1950s wore on. She was assisted by the old Prince Edward, which had sailed the loch since 1912, in 1953 and 1954 but there was insufficient business for two paddle steamers so one of them had to go.
After that Maid of the Loch reigned alone. Within a decade things were not looking good but more about that tomorrow.
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 May 2021.
