PS LINCOLN CASTLE

[Walter Snowdon]

I understand that the LINCOLN CASTLE has been moved from its moorings at the Grimsby fisheries museum to an underwater platform at Alexandre Dock for essential work to her hull and a general refurbishment. Anyone cast any light on this move?. is she still there, and what work is being carried out?
Lincoln Castle has been a private pub and restaurant for the past 16years and on my last visit (2 years ago) she was in excellent condition. I do hope that the owners arent going to chop her about like her sister ship Tattershall Castle! Please post any news. Regards, Walter.

[Channel]

Does anyone know the current status of the Lincoln Castle ? Is she still being used as a pub ? I understand she was moved as walter said to a berth she grounds on at low water.

Cheers
Chris

[Channel]

Pic taken in Feb 08 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/riffraff1/2304372562/

And another from June 07 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/grimsby/537529395/

Seems to be a very long refurbishment . . . hope all's well. Don't want another Ryde story . .

[mjt60a]

Looks very good there, would've been nice to do a restoration to operational condition!
Just look what they've done to Tattershall Castle, used to look like this ;-

[mjt60a]

...but now  sure it's in 'good condition' but where are the paddleboxes? (now extra interior space) the boiler room vents? (replaced by square intakes for the air conditioning) and what the heck is that monstrosity where the bridge used to be!
The mast has been moved right up to the bows 'out of the way' and the skylight replaced with a floor level glass one like you see outside buildings and take a look at those windows in the main saloon!!! ...gone are the lifeboats and their davits...the engine, though still there, is almost obscured by racks of electrical and computer-type stuff....the more I look, the more I see has changed, it's almost like being inside a building now 

[Channel]

Its a shame but she still survives . . . As a commercial venture they have to do whats right for them and its not really up to us how the ship looks sadly.  Commercially I can understand their reasoning behind making use of the paddle boxes - that said it would have been nice had they retained the external appearence.

I am always nervous seeing a paddler in private hands . . look whats happened to the Ryde, Tattershall Castle and Comton Castle.

Not a paddler but a former fleetmate of them is the Queen Mary II on the Thames is currently for sale . . . wonder what will happen to her.

Chris

[Dickie735]

I saw her yesterday (27.08.08). No one appeared to be working on the vessel but some work was being undertaken on the dockside. I've not seen her for a year or two before yesterday but all in all she did not appear to be too bad. The gangways serving her as a pub/restaurant are not evident and she has been moved further up the dock and grounded on a gravel bank.

[Dickie735]

I saw "Lincoln Castle " again today. Sad to say she looks much about the same as she did a couple of months ago, possibly a little shabbier and more unloved. The pub doors are wide open allowing the weather in and nothing seems to be being done to her. It seems that she might just be being allowed to slowly rot away. I hope not.

[Channel]

I think she is the next paddler to join the endangered list . . . .

. . . . so does everyone wait until she's like Ryde or act now ??

[Dickie735]

I saw her again today. She looks a little more cared for, the doors are closed and the windows covered over. Enquiries at the Fishing Heritage Centre reveal that she is still in private ownership. It is intended to restore her as a restaurant and bar. Work was carried out to repair damage to the hull, however this was unsatisfactory and has to be done again. Best of all there is a caretaking living aboard the vessel and it is well protected against vandals.

[Channel]

Thats good to hear.

Chris

[Dickie735]

I had another look at the old lady a couple of days ago. She certainly looks no worse and if anything a bit has been by way of preservation. Some of the more vulnerable fittings have been covered in grease.

[Ian Ingles]

The Lincoln Castle is being cut up for scrap.We of the Lincoln Castle Preservation Society are trying to stop that,and to buy her,but the owner seems not to want it saving.What a great loss it is.The last coal fired paddle steamer opperating in Britain is being scrapped.

[lanterntower]

It would seem that all things end, but this ship is ending because a problem can be made worse with just a little effort. Mr Johnson is probably trying to get off the uncomfortable cake-walk he created by whatever means that he can still have any control over; if he can't sell the 'Castle', he can at least give it a decent burial.

When all is said and done, the National Maritime Museum did a similar trick with the Paddle tug 'Reliant,' except in their case they cut it up for scrap and then lied about it, telling curious members of the public that it had been placed in storage. Mr Johnson is at least being open and honest in washing his laundry in public.

Not that he has any choice...

The advert for the ship on Apollo Duck was sadly lacking in critical details; as Mr Shore admitted, as of December 2009 he had received 42 enquiries, of which all but four had run and hid as soon as they had found out the true state of the ship.
The hull is pinholed, not seriously, but bad enough, requiring replating or concrete lining,
( a repair method I cannot recommend, just go on the internet and look up 'SS Cape Fear' to find out why). It has been afloat for a long time, and connected to shoreside mains electric for most of it's time as a diner; any leakage of electricity to earth just eats the plates by electrolosis. And the requirement of a Council bond of £60,000 to be met by any purchaser has scared off all comers crazy enough to persue the ship ( I was one; if I was to have a model steamer I would have prefered 12 inches to the foot, but to be fair my own financial situation finished my own interest). I was not put off by the challange of cutting bits off just to get it back out of the dock, but then I am crazier than I look.

The papers still say all is not yet lost. I hope that they are right, for if not, then Paddle Steamers in Grimsby will soon be an extinct species.

A

[Ian Ingles]

Sad to say the Lincoln Castle is being scrapped.We ,the Lincoln Castle Preservation Society have raised the asking price,yet the owner still will not sell it to us.We have a dock waiting to do repairs in.Of course it is in a poor state,but so were many old steam trains that are now in steam again.We have the support of many people and publicity in national steam mags.We know what can be done ,and we know we could have repaired and saved her.In only eight weeks,we have raised,or got promises of funding of over £100,000.That shows how many care to try and save her.But the owner still will not sell it to us,or the others that have ofered the asking price.