The Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay Steam Packet Company

Operated from 1853 to 1867

The company was formed to purchase a powerful paddle steamer primarily to tow vessels in and out of Whitby Harbour, but also for towing/salvage work and pleasure trips. Two larger and more powerful vessels were added later to the company’s fleet.

A manager and seven committee members ran the company, operating from Golden Lion Bank, Whitby. The vessels were registered in the names of the trustees :

A passenger service was operated to Hartlepool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and occasional trips to Sunderland and Scarborough. "Goliah" was sold in December 1858 and reregistered at Shield, she was still worked out of Whitby and on the 8^th August 1866 broke from her mooring in the harbour, drifted out to sea and was wrecked.

In 1860 the first competition arrived in the form of "The Whitby New Steamboat Co." with the "Night Watch". The "Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay Steam Packet Company" increased it’s Hartlepool service to once a day at a cheaper rate to beat their opposition. The year 1866 saw the opening of the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway, with its efficient service. The Steam Packet Company profits were always distributed as they were made, with no reserves, so after a loss in the first year of the railway operating, the company began wind up. In February 1867 "Hilda" was sold to James Swallow, an innkeeper from Scarborough and reregistered in Grimsby. The "Esk" was sold to "The Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay Steam Packet Company Limited" which eventually when into voluntary liquidation. William Parkinson of Middlesborough purchased the "Esk" on the 14^th March 1872. Then in 1879 she was broken for scrap.

January 1857 the "Goliah" was towing three Lancashire boilers to the Victoria Iron and Cement Works at Wreckhills, Runswick Bay. Two of the boilers sank and the remaining one was delivered in a sinking condition. In August 1857 a diver from Hartlepool raised one of the boilers. The mine and iron works seem to have been ill-fated as in 1858 a landslide severely damaged the site.

10^th February 1858 the brigg "Advance" of South Shields in distress four miles east of Saltwick. The crew who had abandoned ship and were found drifting in a small boat.

12^th January 1860 "Robert James Hyns" of Wisbech in trouble off Robin Hood’s Bay after ballast had shifted and was taken in tow.