HMS Ben-my-Chree was a packet steamer and a Royal Navy (RN) seaplane carrier of the First World War. She was originally built in 1907 by Vickers for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was intended for use on the England–Isle of Man route. She was the third vessel to bear her name. To this day Ben-my-Chree holds the crossing speed record from Liverpool to Douglas for a steamship at under three hours.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world, having been founded in 1830.
MV Ben-my-Chree is a Ro-Pax vessel which was launched and entered service in 1998. The flagship of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, she primarily operates on the Douglas to Heysham route until replaced by MV Manxman in Late 2023.
HSC Hellenic Highspeed is a high-speed craft owned by Hellenic Seaways, having previously being owned by Sea Containers.
HMS Anne was a seaplane carrier of the Royal Navy used during the First World War. Converted from the captured German freighter Aenne Rickmers, the ship's two aircraft conducted aerial reconnaissance, observation and bombing missions in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea during 1915–17 even though the ship was not commissioned into the Royal Navy until mid-1915. She was decommissioned in late 1917 and became a Merchant Navy collier for the last year of the war. Anne was sold off in 1922 and had a succession of owners and names until she was scrapped in 1958.
HMS Raven II was a seaplane carrier of the Royal Navy used during the First World War. Converted from the captured German freighter Rabenfels, the ship's aircraft conducted aerial reconnaissance, observation and bombing missions in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea during 1915–17 even though the ship was not commissioned into the Royal Navy until mid-1915. She fruitlessly searched the Indian Ocean for the German commerce raider Wolf in mid-1917. Raven II was decommissioned in late 1917 and became a Merchant Navy collier for the last year of the war. She was sold off in 1923 and had a succession of owners and names until she was sunk during the Second World War while under Japanese ownership.
TSS Manxman was a turbine steamship launched in 1904 for the Midland Railway and operated between Heysham and Douglas, Isle of Man. In 1916, she was commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Manxman and saw action as a seaplane carrier during the First World War, after which she was acquired by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. On the outbreak of the Second World War she was again requisitioned as a troop ship, until she was commissioned and her name changed to HMS Caduceus. She never returned to Manx waters, and was scrapped in August 1949.
MS Lady of Mann (II) was a side-loading car ferry built in 1976 for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and operated on the Douglas–Liverpool crossing. She served the company for 29 years. In 2005, she was converted to a Roll-on/roll-off ferry and was operated by SAOS Ferries in Greece under the name MS Panagia Soumela until she was scrapped in August 2011.
SS Vaderland was an ocean liner launched in July 1900 for the Red Star Line service between Antwerp and New York. During her passenger career, the ship initially sailed under British registry, but was re-registered in Antwerp in 1903. Vaderland was a sister ship to Zeeland and a near sister ship to Kroonland and Finland.
MS Arrow is a 7,606 GT Ro-Ro ferry built by Astilleros de Huelva SA, Huelva, Spain in 1998 as Varbola for the Estonian Shipping Company, Tallinn. During a charter to Dart Line she was renamed Dart 6, reverting to Varbola when the charter ended. In 2005, she was sold to Malta and renamed RR Arrow. In 2007, she was sold to Seatruck Ferries, Heysham and renamed Arrow. In September 2022, it was revealed that she had been bought by Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for an estimated €9 million.
TSS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (III) No. 118605 – the third vessel in the company's history to be so named – was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1908 and 1915. Ben-my-Chree was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915 and converted to a seaplane carrier; commissioned as HMS Ben-my-Chree, she was sunk by Turkish batteries on 11 January 1917.
TSS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (IV) No. 145304 – the fourth vessel in the company's history to be so named – was a passenger ferry operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1927 and 1965.
TSS (RMS) Manx Maid (II) was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in 1962, and was the second ship in the Company's history to bear the name.
TSS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (V) was the second of four side-loading car ferries ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Built in 1965, she was the last of their vessels designed with two classes of passenger accommodation and the fifth company vessel to bear the name. She operated until 1984 and was broken up in 1989.
SS Ben-my-Chree was an iron paddle-steamer of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was the second vessel of the company to bear the name.
SS (RMS) Queen of the Isle was a paddle steamer which was constructed by Robert Napier & Co. Glasgow. No Official number is recorded for the vessel, as formal registration was not introduced until the Merchant Shipping Act 1854.
SS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (I) No. 21922 was an iron paddle-steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the first vessel in the company to bear the name.
Ben-My-Chree is a famous former hunting and fishing lodge, steamboat landing and small resort in Northern British Columbia, Canada. It is located at the southwest end of Taku Arm, Tagish Lake in the Atlin District in the extreme northwest of the province, and is closer to the Yukon than the rest of the province. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression began the resort's decline and it closed in 1956. The site is now a private residence being reclaimed by wilderness.
RMS Ben-my-Chree may refer to the following six ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company:
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