SS Equity

History
Name	1903-1933:SS Equity
Operator	1888-1905:Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited 1905-1922:Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 1922-1923:London and North Western Railway 1923-1931:London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Port of registry
Builder	Earle's Shipbuilding
Launched	7 July 1888
Out of service	December 1931
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage	1888-1900:837  gross register tons  (GRT) 1900-1931:924  gross register tons  (GRT)
Length	1888-1900:220 feet (67 m) 1900-1931:247.4 feet (75.4 m)
Beam	32.3 feet (9.8 m)
Draught	13.6 feet (4.1 m)

SS Equity was a freight vessel built for the Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited in 1888. ^[1]

History

She was built by Earle's Shipbuilding ^[2] for the Co-operative Wholesale Society for their special trade between Hamburg and Goole and launched on 7 July 1888. ^[3]

On 19 November 1890 she collided with the steamer Cuxhaven from Hamburg in the Goole channel. The Cuxhaven received severe damage and was beached to prevent sinking. ^[4] She grounded on sand at Goole in July 1891, but floated free on the next high tide. ^[5] In March 1896 the ship fireman, William Costello, was admitted to a charge of smuggling in 61 pounds (28 kg) of compressed tobacco and 14 pounds (6.4 kg) of cavendish, with an estimated duty of £24, 7s 6d. He was remanded for 8 days. ^[6] She was badly damaged in a collision with the Goole Steam Shipping Company vessel Aire on 14 December 1896 in the River Humber. ^[7]

She was lengthened in 1900 with a revised tonnage of 924, and obtained in 1905 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to be employed on the Goole – Hamburg service. She was captured in Hamburg in 1914 and was returned to her owners in 1918 having spent the war period mainly serving traffic to Finland from Germany. On 25 May 1920 she ran aground in fog on Alderney in the Channel Islands carrying a cargo of potatoes from Jersey; ^[8] she was refloated on 15 June 1920. ^[9] In 1921 whilst on passage from Jersey to Goole on the 'potato trade' she grounded and sank but was later raised.

In 1922 she was taken over by the London and North Western Railway, and in 1923 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. On 12 June 1925, she collided with the British steamer Rena in the North Sea off the Would Lightship and was beached at Horsey, Norfolk. ^[10] On 16 December 1927 she collided with the British cargo ship Eden Force at Antwerp, Belgium; Eden Force was beached, ^[11] but later was patched and towed to Terneuzen, Zeeland, in the Netherlands. Equity again grounded at Alderney in June 1930, but despite being partially swamped she was salved again. She was eventually scrapped in December 1931 at Greenock, Scotland. ^{[2] [12]}

References

1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
2. "1091317" . Miramar Ship Index . Retrieved 15 December 2009.
3. "Society's Steamer at Hull" . Sheffield Independent. England. 10 July 1888. Retrieved 24 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Disasters to Shipping" . Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. England. 19 November 1890. Retrieved 24 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "The British Steamer Equity" . Shields Daily Gazette. England. 15 July 1891. Retrieved 24 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Smuggling on the Equity" . Hull Daily Mail. England. 30 March 1896. Retrieved 24 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Goole "Mail" Mems" . Hull Daily Mail. England. 15 December 1896. Retrieved 24 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 42421. London. 27 May 1920. col C, p. 21.
9. "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 42439. London. 17 June 1920. col C, p. 21.
10. "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 43987. London. 13 June 1925. col E, p. 23.
11. "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 44767. London. 17 December 1927. col D, p. 20.
12. Haws 1993 , p. 70

Bibliography

• Haws, Duncan (1993). Merchant Fleets - Britain's Railway Steamers - Eastern & North Western Companies + Zeeland and Stena. Hereford: TCL Publications. ISBN   0-946378-22-3.