Registration number 401
Status Archived
a12admin

Details

Function Passenger Vessel
Subfunction Ferry
Location Truro
Vessel type Paddle Ferry
Archive reason More information required
Current use Unknown
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No

Construction

Builder Cox & Company, Falmouth
Built in 1914
Hull material Steel
Rig None
Number of decks 1
Propulsion Steam

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
27.97 feet (8.53m)
Depth
2.98 feet (0.91m)
Length: Overall
107.93 feet (32.92m)
Tonnage: Gross
97.00

History

COMPTON CASTLE was built in 1914 by Cox & Co. of Falmouth, and completed in 1914 for the River Dart Steamboat Co. She was the first Dart steamer to have wide, extended decks over the elongated sponsons and an elevated deck over the aft well deck, and had an open navigating platform, which was enclosed as a wheelhouse in the 1920s. In the Second World War, she was requisitioned as a naval ammunition carrier on the River Dart. Her peacetime sailings on the Dart resumed in 1947 and continued until 1962. In 1964 she was sold to Baume & Woods of Kingsbridge and restored for use as a teashop and museum. Later, after a change in ownership, she was moved to Truro for use as a floating restaurant. Source: Paul Brown, Historic Ships The Survivors (Amberley, 2010), updated March 2011.

Update March 2024: The vessel is likely to be disposed after sinking at its moorings in May 2023. 

Sources

Brouwer, Norman J, International Register of Historic Ships, Anthony Nelson, pp144, Edition 2, 1993
Langley, E, M and Small, Lost Ships of the West Country, Stanford Maritime, 1988

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

More like this

Tattershall Castle - stern view, Thames embankment

Registered, built 1934 by Gray, W & Co Ltd, Hartlepool

Wingfield Castle - port view, with Spider T in the forefront

National Historic Fleet, built 1934 by Gray, W & Co Ltd, Hartlepool