Kittiwake | National Historic Ships

Registration number 37

Status Registered

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Details

Function Leisure Craft

Subfunction Launch

Location Windermere

Vessel type Saloon Launch

Current use Museum based

Available to hire Yes

Available for excursions Yes

Web address http://www.steamboats.org.uk

Construction

Builder Hayton, T W, Bowness-on-Windermere

Built in 1898

Hull material Wood

Rig None

Number of decks 1

Propulsion Steam

Number of engines 1

Primary engine type Steam

Boiler type Locomotive

Boilermaker Langley Engineering, Cowfold

Boiler year 1985

Boiler fuel coal

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam

6.98 feet (2.13m)

Depth

2.98 feet (0.91m)

Length: Overall

40.00 feet (12.20m)

History

KITTIWAKE was built for William Grimble Groves in 1898, a brewer from manchester who bought the Holehird estate in Troutbeck in 1897. KITTIWAKE was used in much the same way as other steam launches - by family and friends for elegant afternoon tea parties and also by charitable organisations, such as giving nurses a few hours of relaxation on Lake Windermere.

However, unlike other Windermere Steam Launches, KITTIWAKE has a counter stern, no awning aft of the cabin and she has port operated engine. She is fitted with her original Sissons triple expansion steam engine.

She was converted to petrol in 1944 but was then returned to steam by the Windermere Steamboat Museum in 1984.

Sources

Norman J Brouwer, International Register of Historic Ships (Edition 2, 1993, pp157) pub: Anthony Nelson
Steamboat Register: An illustrated Register of surviving steam vessels in the British Isles (May Edition 6, 1994) pub: Steam Boat Association of Great Britain
Windermere Steamboat Museum and Motorboat Collection (1988) pub: Windermere Nautical Trust Ltd