MV Lady Wakefield

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Career (UK) Red Ensign (UK)
Name:
  • MV Berry Castle
  • MV Golden Cormorant
  • MV Totnes Castle
  • MV Lady Wakefield
Namesake: Berry Pomeroy Castle
Owner:
Route:
  • River Dart (1949)
  • Various (1972)
  • River Dart (1977)
  • Plymouth (1985)
  • Ullswater (2006)
  • Builder: Philip & Son, Dartmouth, Devon
    Launched: 1949
    Status: Operating on Ullswater
    General characteristics
    Type: Twin-Screw Motor Vessel
    Tonnage: 50 GT
    Length: 67 feet (20 m) LOA
    Beam: 16.5 feet (5.0 m)
    Depth: 5.5 feet (1.7 m)
    Decks: 2
    Propulsion: Diesel
    Capacity: 150 Passengers.[1]

    The MV Lady Wakefield is a twin screw passenger vessel, operating between Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge on Ullswater in the Lake District for Ullswater Navigation and Transit Co, marketed as Ullswater 'Steamers'.[2]

    History

    It was built in 1949 by Philip and Son of Dartmouth, Devon, UK as the MV Berry Castle for the River Dart Steamboat Co Ltd (RDSC). She was named after Berry Pomeroy Castle, which is located a few miles from the River Dart and was the third vessel in the fleet to bear the name. MV Berry Castle was used on the company's River Dart services from Dartmouth and Totnes in South Devon. In 1972 she was sold to Discover Galapagos Ltd, to be fitted out for diving in Honduras. This project failed and she was sold several times, and operated in Fareham and on the Medway as the MV Golden Cormorant. In 1977 she returned to the Dart, owned by the RDSC's successor: Dart Pleasure Craft Ltd, and was renamed MV Totnes Castle. [3].

    In 1985 Dart Pleasure Craft, which had previously bought the Millbrook Steamboat & Trading Co Ltd of Plymouth, withdrew its services from the Plymouth area, and in the process, MV Totnes Castle was sold to Plymouth Boat Cruises. She operated cruises from Plymouth. During her time in Plymouth she gained additional enclosed accommodation in the form of a large deckhouse on the former open deck behind her wheelhouse. In 2006 she was sold to Ullswater Navigation and Transit Co, and moved to Ullswater, involving an overland journey to this land-locked lake. She was re-named MV Lady Wakefield.[2]

    External links

    References

    1. Hammar GP. Trip Out 2005/06, Self-Published, 2005
    2. 2.0 2.1 Boyle, I, http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PlymouthBoatCruises.html, Referred 2009
    3. Clammer, R & Kittridge,A. Passenger Steamers of the River Dart & Kingsbridge Estuary, The Paddle Steamer Preservation Society &Twelveheads Press, 1987