A DAY IN THE LIFE
NIGEL THOMAS A day in the life of.
Paddle steamer Kingswear Castle engineer
Nigel Thomas is the engineer for the last remaining coal fired paddle steamer in the UK, the Kingswear Castle. Nigel has worked on the vessel since 2007 – he first joined as a volunteer and embarked on a more involved position in 2008. He talks about his day on Wednesday 2nd July 2014:-
Q: What time did your day start today Nigel? A: I got up around 6am for a 7am start. Our schedule today started with a trip to Totnes and then we had two 1¼hr Dartmouth River Cruises. Finally, in the evening we ran one of our popular evening picnic cruises. A packed day!
Q: So with four scheduled trips, how did your day develop? A: 07:00: The crew arrived at 7am to prep the vessel for the 10:30 Totnes trip. Among other things, this includes clearing the fire grate of around eight buckets of ash and clinker (solidified residue from burnt coal) and running safety checks before lighting the fresh fire. The next task is to inspect, oil and grease the machinery and carry out a further safety inspection. More coal
is laid to build up the fire, followed by general cleaning of the engine room. When I’m happy that enough boiler pressure has built, I let the skipper know and we’re ready to go.
10:30: We embarked well over 100 passengers and sail for Totnes on time. The work is pretty constant to keep the vessel running smoothly. This trip to Totnes required a faster running engine than usual as we were sailing on an unfavourable tide, meaning plenty of coal shovelling to keep up! I usually shovel around ½ ton each day. Essentially, I am the equivalent of the fireman, driver and engineer on a steam train but doing all the tasks on my own! A telegraph (a device for the skipper to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain speed) and a voice pipe maintain
communication so that I’m aware of our location and can manage the boiler accordingly. At Totnes we disembarked the passengers and loaded another 130 to return. There’s little chance for a break with a 15 minute turnaround. This job is thirsty work and I drink around 10 pints of liquid in an average day.
13:45 Once back in Dartmouth, we prepare for the Dartmouth River Cruise departure at 14:00. The engine is a bit like a Meccano Kit! – there are lots of interlocking pieces that need to be kept tight. Even with these shorter cruises there’s no time for relaxing as I have to be aware of instructions from the skipper re the movement of ferries and other vessels (pleasure cruisers, small dinghies and even military vessels!).
The ship did have a Class 6 ticket
(allowing voyage at sea) so we may renew that certificate at some point. The boat is probably more robust than the crew and could easily take a sea journey on a beautiful day. Perhaps something for the future?
16:45 At the end of the day cruises, we break before the evening picnic cruise at 18:15. However, this doesn’t mean we have our feet up! I carry out the “blowing down” (blowing water intentionally to avoid concentration of impurities during continuing evaporation of steam).
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