Castalia was a twin-hulled paddle steamer that was built in 1874 by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Leamouth, London for the English Channel Steamship Company. She was acquired by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in 1878 but had already been laid up by then and was not operated by the LCDR. In 1883, she was sold to the Metropolitan Asylums Board and converted to a hospital ship. She served until 1904 and was scrapped in 1905. Description Castalia was a twin-hulled paddle steamer, comprising two half-hulls with a length of and a beam of . The two half-hulls were apart internally. Her draught was . The ship was designed with bows forward and astern in order to avoid the need to turn round at Calais, France. She was propelled by two diagonal compound steam engines, of each. driving a single paddle wheel. The engines were built by J & A Blyth, London. The two paddle wheels were placed side by side between the twin hulls. These could propel her at . Following improvements in 1875, the boilers and paddle wheels were by Maudslay, Sons, & Field, Lambeth, Surrey. She had capacity to carry 700 passengers. History Construction as an unconventional cross-Channel ferry Castalia was built in 1874 by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Leamouth for the English Channel Steamship Company. Costing about £70,000 to build, she was designed by a Captain Dicey, who thought that she should be more stable therefore leading to less seasickness for her passengers. Castalia was launched on 2 June. She was named for Lady Granville, who launched her. Underpowered and uneconomically slow Completed in October, trials soon showed that she was too slow. Castalia was returned to her makers for new boilers and paddles to be fitted. A debenture of £16,000 being sought by the English Channel Steamship Company to finance the improvements. On her delivery voyage from Gravesend, Kent to Dover on 15 September 1874, trouble was experienced with priming of her boilers, necessitating a reduction to half-power, although a speed of was attained. On arrival at Dover, large crowds came to see the novel ship. Castalia made a trial run between Dover and Calais on 21 July 1875. The voyage had begun at Gravesend with the intention that she would sail to Calais, but the Board of Trade inspector on board ordered her into Dover as she approached the