The Eppleton Hall is a paddlewheel

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

 tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

 built in England in 1914. The only remaining intact example of a River Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

 paddle tug, and one of only two surviving British-built paddle tugs (the other being the former Tees Conservancy Commissioners' vessel, John H Amos

John H Amos

John H Amos is a paddlewheel tugboat built in England in 1931. The last paddlewheel tug built for private owners, now owned by the Medway Maritime Trust...

), she is preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility...

 in San Francisco, California.

History

Eppleton Hall was built in 1914 by Hepple and Company of South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

, for the Lambton and Hetton Collieries, Ltd, and named after the Lambton family's ancestral home near Penshaw

Penshaw

The village of Penshaw , formerly known as Painshaw or Pensher, is an area of the metropolitan district of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England...

.

A once numerous type of steam powered side wheeler with surface condensing side-lever engines ( also known as Grasshopper engines ), she was designed to tow ocean-going coal-carrying ships to and from Tyne Dock

Tyne Dock

Tyne Dock is a neighbourhood within the town of South Shields, North East England, on the south bank of the River Tyne. It takes its name from the large dock on the river which was opened in 1859 by the Tyne Improvement Commission to handle Tyneside's coal exports...

, which served Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

. For sailing ships this saved time, while for larger motor vessels it saved navigation and pilotage

Pilotage

Pilotage is the use of fixed visual references on the ground or sea by means of sight or radar to guide oneself to a destination, sometimes with the help of a map or nautical chart. People use pilotage for activities such as guiding vessels and aircraft, hiking and Scuba diving...

 costs. She was also used to tow newly-built ships out to the North sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. Her designed speed was 12 Knots, and her engines could function independently of each other to aid manoeuvrability.

She was operated from 1914 to 1946 by Hepple and Company, who post World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 were nationalised as part of the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

. Being rather old now, rather that being transferred to the British Transport Commission

British Transport Commission

The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...

 like many of the former collieries transportation assets, she was sold to France Fenwick, Tyne and Wear Ltd., which after refurbishment operated her on the River Wear

River Wear

The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...

 until 1964. In 1952, the tug was modified slightly to obtain a Passenger Certificate, so that she could transport officials from newly-launched steamers, after the boats had completed their sea trials. In 1964 along with her near sisters Seaham

Seaham

Seaham, formerly Seaham Harbour, is a small town in County Durham, situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. It has a small parish church, St Mary the Virgin, with a late 7th century Anglo Saxon nave resembling the church at Escomb in many respects. St Mary the Virgin is regarded as one of...

 and Reliant

Reliant

Reliant was a British car manufacturer. The company was traditionally based at Tamworth in Staffordshire, England, but in 2001 it moved to nearby Cannock. It ceased manufacturing cars shortly afterwards.-History:...

, she was one of the last three steam paddle tugs decommissioned in the River Tyne, sold from Sunderland harbour to Seaham Harbour Dock Co. in November 1964.

Sold for scrap in 1967 to Clayton and Davie, she was left sitting on a mud bank in Dunston

Dunston, Tyne and Wear

Dunston was originally an independent village on the south bank of the River Tyne. It has now been absorbed into the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in the English county of Tyne and Wear...

. As part of the scrapping process her wooden afterdeck and interior were destroyed by fire prior to being broken up.

Preservation

The news of the fate of the last Tyne Paddle tugs reached Karl Kortum, then director of the San Francisco Maritime Museum. Kortum instructed associate Scott Newhall to proceed to the scrap yard and purchase a vessel, preferably the largely complete Reliant. The British National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

 had prior claim to the 1907 built Reliant, and so Scott Newhall was told to acquire the remains of the now derelict Eppleton Hall and then restore her for return to San Francisco.

Restored at Bill Quay, Sunderland, from 1969-1970, the tug was modified to enable her to cross the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 under her own steam, requiring the fitting of modern navigational aids, radio, an enclosed wheelhouse and conversion from coal to Diesel Oil firing. Thus Eppleton Hall served as the private yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

 of Kortum and was re-registered as such. She made the journey to San Francisco via the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, she passed under the Golden Gate bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...

 in March, 1970. Newhall subsequently wrote the book "The Eppleton Hall," which tells the story of the discovery and restoration of the ship, and the journey from the Tyne to San Francisco. (Howell-North Books, Berkeley, CA, 1971).

Donated by Kortum to the USA National Park Service in 1979, she is now berthed at Hyde Street Pier, San Francisco. She has currently been restored to resemble her condition post-War 1946, when refurbished for France Fenwick, Tyne and Wear Ltd.

Media

In the Hit Television South

Television South

Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...

 and Clearwater Features

Clearwater Features

Clearwater Features Ltd. was a British film production company that produced the first two seasons of the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends from 1984 to 1986, for The Britt Allcroft Company. Clearwater is also known for creating the hit children's TV show TUGS...

 T.V. Show TUGS

TUGS

TUGS is a British children's television series, first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. The series dealt with the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who...

, Stack #3 O.J. is based on "Eppie".

External links

• Tyne Tugs - details on Eppleton Hall

37.80932°N 122.422°W