"Windsor Castle", ex-"Fingal", a former Northern Lighthouse Board tender, laid up on the River Fal, Cornwall, England, UK, 2008
Image details
Contributor:
will Perrett / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2B7GEYDFile size:
36.4 MB (920.3 KB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4368 x 2912 px | 37 x 24.7 cm | 14.6 x 9.7 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
7 August 2008Location:
River Fal, Cornwall, England, UKMore information:
The Windsor Castle, former Northern Lighthouse Board tender, Fingal. Registered in Leith, Fingal was built in 1963, the last ship to be built by Blythswood Shipbuilding Company in Glasgow, and the last of the classic motor ship tenders within the lighthouse authorities. The steel twin screw motor ship is 238’9” long by 40’3” wide with a 18’5” draught and weight of 1, 342 gross tons. She had two 6 cylinder oil engines. She was launched on 8th August 1963, and spent most of her 30 years’ service as a lighthouse tender for the NLB based in Oban, relieving and supplying offshore lighthouses and maintaining buoys and navigation aids predominantly around the west coast of Scotland. During the latter half of her service a flight deck was added aft for helicopter operations. Fingal was also occasionally requested to accompany the Royal Yacht Britannia during official visits to Scotland. In April 1999 it was announced by the Northern Lighthouse Board that Fingal was to be sold out of service. She left the main NLB depot at Oban on 13th August 2000 for her southwards journey where her next destination was Falmouth in Cornwall. She was renamed the Windsor Castle, and would go on to spend 14 well maintained years in the River Fal. In December 2014 she was acquired by the operators of the Royal Yacht Britannia, who herself had come to the end of her royal duties and was relocated to the Leith waterfront as a tourist attraction. After heading for dry dock in Falmouth, Fingal was towed to Leith. She reverted to her original name, Fingal, and was converted as part of a £5 million investment into a 23 bedroom luxury ‘boatique’ hotel over a two year period. Fingal was opened officially in January 2019, and is now berthed close to the former Royal Yacht Britannia.