History | |
---|---|
Name | PS Admiral Moorsom |
Namesake | Admiral Robert Moorsom (1760-1835), Royal Navy officer |
Owner | London and North Western Railway |
Operator | London and North Western Railway |
Port of registry | |
Route | Holyhead, Wales - Dublin, Ireland |
Builder | Barclay Curle, Glasgow, Scotland |
Yard number | 83 |
Launched | September 1860 |
Fate | Sunk in collision 15 January 1885 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 794 gross register tons (GRT) |
Length | 219.3 ft (66.8 m) |
Beam | 30.2 ft (9.2 m) |
Draught | 15.1 ft (4.6 m) |
PS Admiral Moorsom was a passenger paddle steamer operated by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) from 1860 to 1885. [1]
Admiral Moorsom was built by Barclay Curle of Glasgow, Scotland, and launched in 1860. She may have been named after Vice-Admiral Constantine Moorsom, who was the LNWR director responsible for steamships, or after his father Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom (1760-1835), an officer of the Royal Navy who served in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
On 15 November 1862, she collided with RMS Ulster in the Irish Sea off Holyhead, Anglesey and was severely damaged. RMS Ulster towed her in to Holyhead. [2] She was run into by the American sailing ship Santa Clara in the Irish Sea off Arklow, County Wicklow, on 15 January 1885 and sank. Twenty-five people were rescued by Santa Clara and five by the steamship Falcon, but five people were lost. Admiral Moorsom was on a voyage from Dublin to Holyhead, Anglesey. [3] [4]
Holyhead is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is separated from Anglesey island by the narrow Cymyran Strait and was originally connected to Anglesey via the Four Mile Bridge.
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. In 1923, it became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway, and, in 1948, the London Midland Region of British Railways. The LNWR's main line remains today as the English and Welsh portions of the West Coast Main Line.
The Chester and Holyhead Railway was an early railway company conceived to improve transmission of Government dispatches between London and Ireland, as well as ordinary railway objectives. Its construction was hugely expensive, chiefly due to the cost of building the Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait. The company had relied on Government support in facilitating the ferry service, and this proved to be uncertain. The company opened its main line throughout in 1850. It relied on the co-operation of other railways to reach London, and in 1859 it was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway.
The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was a shipping line established in 1823. It served cross-channel routes between Britain and Ireland for over a century. For 70 of those years it transported the mail. It was 'wound-up' by a select committee of the House of Lords in 1922 and finally liquidated in 1930.
The Vale of Clwyd Railway (VoCR) was a standard-gauge line which connected the towns of Rhyl and Denbigh via St Asaph in North Wales.
Vice-Admiral Constantine Richard Moorsom was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy. He commanded HMS Fury a Hecla-class bomb vessel which saw wartime service in the Bombardment of Algiers, an attack on Barbary pirates at Algiers in HMS Fury in August, 1816. Moorsom was the son of Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom, a veteran of Trafalgar. Moorsom was on the roster of HMS Revenge, his father's ship, when it was at the Battle of Trafalgar. However records show that Constantine was actually at school at the time of the battle. Moorsom rose to be chairman of the London & North Western Railway.
City of Paris was a British passenger liner operated by the Inman Line that established that a ship driven by a screw could match the speed of the paddlers on the Atlantic crossing. Built by Tod and Macgregor, she served the Inman Line until 1884 when she was converted to a cargo ship.
TSS Mellifont was a twin screw passenger steamship operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from 1903 to 1928.
TSS North Wall was a twin screw steamer cargo vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) from 1883 to 1904.
PS Sea Nymph was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1856 to 1876.
PS Telegraph was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1859 to 1874.
PS Cambria was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the Chester and Holyhead Railway from 1848 to 1859 and the London and North Western Railway from 1859 to 1861.
PS Hibernia was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the Chester and Holyhead Railway from 1847 to 1859 and the London and North Western Railway from 1859 to 1877.
PS Countess of Erne was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1868 to 1889.
PS Shamrock was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1876 to 1898.
PS Earl Spencer was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1874 to 1896.
PS Banshee was a passenger paddle steamer owned and operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1884 to 1906.
TSS Irene was a steam turbine cargo vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1885 to 1906.
PS Ocean was a paddle steamer built for and operated by the St. George Steam Packet Company from 1836, then the Cork Steamship Company and then the Chester and Holyhead Railway from 1853 to 1859 and the London and North Western Railway from 1859 to 1862.
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) 7 ft 6 in Single 2-2-2 class was a type of express passenger locomotive designed by John Ramsbottom. The class is better known as the Problem class for the first locomotive built, or the Lady of the Lake class for the example that was displayed at the International Exhibition of 1862.