26/05/2026
ON THIS DAY Gondolas intended replacement the Steam Yacht Lady Of The Lake was launched on Tuesday 26th May 1908. Due to the popularity of day excursions to the Lake District in the early part of the 20th Century, the Furness Railway Company (F.R.C.) commissioned the Southampton based shipbuilders of John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited at Woolston to construct S.Y. Lady of the Lake for Coniston water costing the F.R.C. £5,600!
Lady of the Lake was designed to be larger and carry more passengers than Gondola, Initially constructed in sections the vessel was transported by train from Southampton to Coniston for final assembly on the slipway at Pier Cottage! Once built she measured in at:
Length overall: 97ft 6 inches (29.7 metres)
Width/Beam: 15ft (4.5 meters)
Depth/Draught: 6ft 9 inches (2.1 meters)
The vessel's engines were mounted on either side of a locomotive-type boiler (potentially very similar to Gondolas’ engine rooms!) giving her a speed of 11.5 knots.
Unlike Gondola, Lady of the Lake had two decks! With a spacious saloon on the lower deck with large square windows for passengers to admire the views regardless of the weather conditions. Passengers could also enjoy the surrounding scenery when the weather was more pleasant! on the larger open decks. A lot of the design features of Lady of the Lake such as her canoe-shaped bow and clipper stern were inspired by another Lakeland steamer owned by the Furness Railway Company, the S.Y. Tern on Windermere! built 17 years earlier in 1891.
The Furness Railway Company had planned to remove S.Y. Gondola from service (when she reached 50 years of age!) it was intended to run Lady of the Lake and Gondola in tandem until S.Y. Lady of the Lake was fully operational!
However, due to the popularity from tourists and the local community, they didn’t want Gondola to be removed from service! So by popular demand The Furness Railway Company sailed both vessels, until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and recommencing there scheduled sailings in 1918.
When the Furness Railway Company was merged with the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company (L.M.S.) in 1923 both Gondola and Lady of the Lake maintained their regular sailings on Coniston Water until Gondola was finally retired in 1936 to start her new life as a houseboat!
The L.M.S. retained Lady of the Lake for sailings on Coniston water and even converted her to diesel power! Lady of the Lake commenced her last sailing season in 1939 and was laid up when the Second World War started in 1939, where she was kept at Pier Cottage. However, after many years of service and poor passenger traffic after World War Two the L.M.S. decided to scrap S.Y. Lady of the Lake at Pier Cottage on the same slipway she was constructed on in 1946! And in an unexpected twist of fate, it would be the S.Y. Gondola that would outlive her intended replacement!
Lady of the Lake today is now very much a forgotten Lakeland Steamer, but we still aim to keep the memory of this lost vessel alive! If you have any photos or memories you’d like to share, either comment below or email us at:
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