Jim Blazeby

Her hull was very thin in various places. There was no doubt about it, if she stayed where she was, uncared for, unpainted, not being husbanded,(and ship's need to be when they're alongside a dodgy key particularly in bad weather), she was going to sink and become a liability.

I served various notices on the owners to say she'd got to be made seaworthy because one of the harbour acts demanded that any vessel berthed in the harbour has to be seaworthy. I decided that because the vessel was in the harbour, but if the vessel had needed to go to sea she would then have been required to have a Certificate of Seaworthiness from an accredited surveyor and that certificate would have had to satisfy the Department of Trade and Industry. So there was a bit of a saga.

And of course there was then a campaign to keep Compton Castle in Kingsbridge. They all came in including the local MP and I was the bad guy. I'm afraid I just stuck to the rules. In the end the owner sold it because that was a quick way out.

Jan 7th 1978 Paddle steamer may again carry passengers

KINGSBRIDGE may lose one of its estuarine attractions-the former Dart paddle steamer Compton Castle.

She made her last voyage to the berth alongside Kingsbrige waterfront almost 14 years ago, and has been operated as a floating museum and restaurant. She is owned by Messrs Peter Duck, of Ferndown and Mr Peter Burt, of Poole, They say they intend to restore the ship and are considering using her as a tourist attraction at a South Coast resort.

The Compton Castle. was a Passenger steamer on the Dart until 1963; during the war she carried ammunition up and down the river.

At her moorings at the head of the Kingsbridge estuary she has attracted thousands of visitors.

Particular interest has been taken in her fine engine after it was used to illustrate the first days of steam in the television series The Onedin Line.

Several thousand pounds have been spent on renovating the steamer, but the local harbour committee demanded a survey in the winter of 1976 to check on the state of her hull.

Mr Duck said the survey had shown the Compton Castle would not sink.

He said he and his colleague would like to keep her in her home territory, but while there was full co-operation from the local harbourmaster there was a feeling that the local authority was not interested in the vessel remaining as a tourist attraction.

Mr Duck said the Compton Castle was the last vessel of her type in the United Kingdom capable of the renovation that would put her into use again as a passenger steamer.