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The 'Castalia'.
The ‘Castalia’ was named after Lady Granville
who launched the ship in June 1874. It was designed by Captain
Dicey who was convinced of the trustworthiness and stability
of the catamaran design, based on his observations of native
canoes and catamarans while he was Harbour Master in Calcutta.
The ship was in effect two half hulls joined
together by girders and with paddle wheels between the hulls.
She was the largest ship yet built for the Channel service,
measuring some 290ft by 60ft with a gross tonnage of 1,553.
It was her unusually wide beam that Captain Dicey hoped would
be the answer to the problems of seasickness that plagued
cross-Channel passengers. The ‘Castalia’ was designed to carry
700 passengers and, because manoeuvring in Calais harbour
was so difficult, the ship was double ended so that it would
be unnecessary to turn round.
Although the ‘Castalia’ was owned by the
English Channel Steamship Company, the London,
Chatham and Dover Railway encouraged them and were keen
to monitor performance. She arrived in Dover in October 1874
but had to return to London the following month to have new
boilers and paddles fitted as her speeds on trial were nothing
like as high as were expected.
In June 1875 she returned to Dover and her
first crossing to Calais was encouraging enough for her to
start a regular service in August. Her crossing speeds were
still far too slow, which meant that she had to leave Dover
or Calais before the arrival of the mail train, causing passengers
wishing to travel on the ship considerable inconvenience.
She thus carried fewer passengers than she might otherwise
have done and was not a financial success. After a short working
life she was withdrawn at the end of October 1876 and, after
a few years lying idle, she was sold in 1883 and ended her
days as a hospital for infectious diseases on the Thames.
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