An immaculate lakeland steam launch kept
over decades by one man and his dog
WORDS AND PHOTOS PHIL BROWNLUCKY
SHAMROCK
T
o see Shamrock gliding gracefully, and silently,
across Lake Windermere is to enjoy a glimpse
into how the elegant Edwardians enjoyed their
pastimes. What is not so obvious, at least to
the uninitiated, is the enormous amount of effort and
skill entailed in keeping such a beautiful, 46ft, 112-year-
old lady in peak condition over four decades.
Ask Roger Mallinson. Since he bought Shamrock
40 years ago, to prevent her being broken up for
firewood, he has poured his life and his considerable
engineering skills into every bit of her. Shamrock was
built for a Lancashire cotton magnate, WH Birtwistle, in
1906 by Shepherd boat builders in Bowness. After 20
years Birtwistle sold her to his boatman. By 1948 the
steam engine and boiler had been replaced by a
“modern” diesel engine and she was being worked hard
as a trip boat. She was laid up in 1974 and in 1976
Roger bought her for £350. For three years Roger
worked to restore Shamrock to her former beauty. The
hull and cabin were rebuilt and Roger built the new
steam engine himself to replace the noisy and smelly
diesel.
He was working as a submersible pilot and engineer
and had hit world headlines in 1973 when he and
colleague Roger Chapman were trapped in their VickersOceanics’ small submersible, Pisces III, on the seabed at
a depth of 1,575 ft (480 m), 150 miles (240 km) off
Ireland in the Irish Sea. The 76-hour multinational rescue
effort resulted in the deepest sub rescue in history. But
that is quite another story.
Three years later, during his hours off-duty he used
the engineering facilities on the mother-ship to build the
new engine from scratch. “Others would drink and
gamble and then go ashore being worse-off than when
they went on board. I came home with a new engine.”
Roger has since built another new engine, in 2001,
with many modifications that he had been dreaming up.
This engine powers Shamrock peacefully about
Windermere today. He sold the other engine to another
steam-boat enthusiast. The new engine is the 32nd one
he has built – the others all went to fellow steam-boat
builders.
The boiler that raises steam for the engine was
originally a steam locomotive boiler. It was built in 1927
for one of the small trains on the Ravenglass and
Eskdale railway so was an ideal size to fit into a steam
launch. Roger made many modifications to suit its use
on the boat.
The propeller fitted when the boat was diesel-powered
was quite unsuitable. Windermere Steamboat MuseumAbove l-r: the
engine built by
Roger; Roger and
Whappet the
Third; a cup of
tea is only
seconds away