Peter Burt

I bought the Compton Castle in 1976 from a young farmer I think, trying to break into something else. I can't remember his name and in the confusion of time I have dumped all the records.

I owned a boatyard and an aquarium in Poole, and I saw the Compton Castle on holiday.

For some reason or another, I'd always been keen on vintage cars and steam and that sort of thing.

I called in a friend of mine who was helping me in the aquarium and he ran it and continued to run it for two summers as the tea room it was. We steamed it a couple of times sitting on its moorings, and had a very jolly time. But it didn't take me long to realise that it was constantly a sort of open wound leaking money.

So I eventually came to the moment when I said, Look we have to do something with it, my intention originally being to bring it back to Poole, to put it ashore and rebuild it and use it as a steamer in the harbour, for which it would have been pretty much ideally suited. It didn't draw a lot and was a great character.

But like all these things, youthful enthusiasm, how old was I, 33 ish, I decided we could move it to Poole. But when it came to talking to the harbour master at Salcombe he was having none of it, so the £15,000 I paid for it, (which was far too much), disappeared and I took just £2000 off somebody, was that Clayton, to be rid of it.

So yes I lost £13,000. In 1976 that was a lot of money. I wrote it off as a salutary experience.

And Harry Woods who I got to know was a huge character. Compton and the others should never have come out of Dartmouth. Harry showed me where one of the other steamers had been built into a quay.

Harry was a larger-than-life Yorkshire man who knew all about steam and old cars. We got on like a house on fire.

Harry Woods was introduced to me because he was living locally, having sold the boat to this chap whose name I forget. I do remember though that he was a very clever young man and he very gently ripped me off for too much money. I've never been excited again about a purchase thanks to him.

But back to Compton. I had extended it hugely with wonderful white and blue striped canvas awnings both over the aft deck and the fore deck.

I think it's a shame I didn't have the wit to do what I should have done. I was refusing to do what Blazeby wanted which was concrete the bottom and then float it out and then along came Clayton who thought he'd get away with it in some way. How he came to get in touch I don't remember. I do know now though I could easily have got it to Poole. But I would have needed a very deep pocket. I suppose if I'd spend 100,000 quid it might have been saveable. So Mr Clayton gave me £2000 and it was his, and that was that.

So ended just an extraordinary and weird bit of my past being involved with the Compton Castle.