In Coniston's Ruskin Museum there is a black and white post card of Gondola that Ransome sent to his illustrator, with changes to the outline in ink to show how he wanted the houseboat to look.

He had visited Venice in the early years of the decade, and it seems he encountered a style of Venetian boat called a Burchiello, as depicted in some of Canaletto's paintings.

These were large wooden barges which between the 16th and 18th centuries carried wealthy passengers along the Riviera del Brenta between Venice and Padua in elegant cabins, luxuriously upholstered and decorated with Corinthian columns and mirrors.

Emulating their flowing lines and level of comfort, he proposed an outline design and commissioned a steam yacht for Coniston Water from Jones, Quiggin & Co. of Liverpool.

At a cost of 1,000 guineas (£1,050 or equivalent to £133,000 in 2023), Steam Yacht Gondola was to have not only a state-of-the-art boiler and engine borrowed from railway locomotive technology but also an innovative mild steel hull, riveted to frames of Low Moor wrought iron, quite a special material which was also used for the gunwale, and one of the new screw propellers as adopted by Brunel for the SS Great Britain, not to mention the opulent internal finish.

The Illustrated London News of 7 July 1860 reported after her maiden voyage that the first class saloon was "beautifully finished in walnut wood and cushioned and decorated after the style of the royal carriages of our railways."

It continued: "The vessel… is a perfected combination of the Venetian gondola and the English steam yacht – having the elegance, comfort and speed of the latter, and the graceful lightness and quiet gliding motion of the former.

As Secretary and General Manager of the Furness Railway Company, Ramsden must have been aiming to expand the business from simply carrying freight and a modest number of locals.

Doubtless this was fuelled by the Romantic landscape paintings of Turner, Constable and Friedrich and by the works of the Lake District's very own poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey.

In time Gondola formed part of what came to be known as the Great Circle itinerary, introduced to boost flagging revenues by Sir Alfred Aslett, Ramsden's successor at the Furness Railway.

Gondola would return them in fitting style to the southern end of the lake, before continuing by road and rail to Barrow and so by paddle steamer back to Fleetwood.

From Brantwood, his home overlooking Coniston, John Ruskin, author of The Stones of Venice and critic of steam power, must have seen her passing back and forth each day.

In Coniston's Ruskin Museum there is a black and white post card of Gondola that Ransome sent to his illustrator, with changes to the outline in ink to show how he wanted the houseboat to look.

Gondola spent the next two decades moored off Water Park at the southern end of Coniston, near the outfall of the River Crake (Ransome's Amazon), and half a mile north of Allan Tarn (Octopus Lagoon), gradually deteriorating.

With support from the community, fund-raising by National Trust staff, donations from local benefactors and sponsorship from large companies, enough money was raised to acquire her and complete a hull survey to assess the damage caused by the storm and to establish whether a full restoration, preferably to a working passenger yacht, was feasible.

Over the next few months the shipyard's carpenters and shipwrights travelled to fit her out with boiler, engine, superstructure, decking and all the finery associated with a vessel of this size and pedigree, including a plush carpeted first class saloon complete with varnished walnut trim, gilded Corinthian columns and Puginesque, faux-vaulted ceiling.

The resplendent reincarnation floated a little below her intended lines, but sailed her inaugural voyage at 4pm on 8 June of that year, with the 12th Duke of Devonshire a guest of honour.

As a finishing touch and true to the style of the Venetian Burchiello as depicted by Canaletto, the original twin-tailed serpent and boards carved with the Duke of Devonshire's arms again adorned her prow.

Today she is powered by a twin cylinder 90 degree "V" steam engine, with a slip eccentric reverse system and a double-acting slide valve arrangement.

It develops a maximum torque of about 8,000 N·m (5,900 lb·ft) at the prop shaft, turning the 36" diameter propeller at some 150-160 rpm to give a hull cruising speed of about 8 knots (9 mph or 15 km/h).

For today's tourists, from beginning of March to the end of October Gondola plies Coniston Water once more, operated as a thriving enterprise by the National Trust.