![]() RMS Mona | |
History | |
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Name |
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Owner |
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Operator |
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Port of registry | ![]() |
Builder | Fairfield's & Co., Govan |
Yard number | 340 |
Launched | 13 April 1889 |
Completed | May 1889 |
In service | 1889 |
Out of service | 1909 |
Identification |
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Fate | Scrapped 1909 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Paddle Steamer |
Tonnage | 1,212 gross register tons (GRT) |
Length | 342 ft 5 in (104.4 m) |
Beam | 35 ft 9 in (10.9 m) |
Depth | 13 ft 5 in (4.1 m) |
Installed power | 5400 indicated horsepower |
Propulsion | Paddlewheels |
Speed | According to Steam Packet Documents 18 knots (21 mph) |
Capacity | 1212 passengers |
Crew | 59 |
SS (RMS) Mona (III), the third ship of the Company to bear the name, was a steel paddle-steamer which was originally owned and operated by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, who then sold her to the Liverpool and Douglas Steamship Company, from whose liquidators she was acquired by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1903.
Constructed in the yards of Faifields of Govan in 1889 she was originally named Calais Douvres. Length 324 feet 5 inches; beam 35 feet 9 inches; depth 13 feet 5 inches. She was certified to carry 1212 passengers, and had a crew complement of 59.
Her engines produced an indicated horsepower of 5,400, but the vessel's speed is open to question. No speed is entered in the Register of Shipping, but her best run during her sea trials averaged 18.86 knots. The Steam Packet give it as 18 knots, but she is said to have steamed from Dover to Calais in three minutes under the hour at an average speed of 22.6 knots.
On completion, Calais Douvres entered service with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, plying between Calais and Dover - the two ports after which she was named. During her channel service she was the vessel on which Queen Victoria made her last trip to the continent of Europe. [1]
From the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, she was acquired by Higginbottom's Liverpool and Douglas Steamers Ltd, and entered service on the Irish Sea in competition with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1901.
Upon the death of Mr Higginbottom in December 1902, the Liverpool and Douglas Steamship Company ceased to exist, and the vessel was then bought from the liquidators by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in July 1903. The consideration was £6,000; and upon her purchase she was renamed Mona.
Mona entered service for the Steam Packet Company on Thursday 23 July 1903, when under the command of Captain Hill she sailed from Liverpool to Douglas making passage in 3hrs 45mins. [2] She then made passage to Ramsey taking a sailing back to Liverpool. She also transported members of the Herefordshire Volunteers from Ramsey to Birkenhead on 9 August.
On Thursday 16 June 1904, a passenger on board the Mona died whilst she was en route from Liverpool to Douglas. [3] The passenger, Henry Leyland, was a surveyor and employed by Prescott District Council. [3] An Inquest was held at Douglas the following day, before High Bailiff, Samuel Harris. [3] Present for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company was Mr Corkill and evidence was given by the deceased's wife and Dr Davies of Liscard, Cheshire. [3] During the course of Mrs Harris' evidence, she stated that she and her 37-year-old husband had departed Liverpool on board the Mona on the 10:30hrs sailing the previous morning, at which time her husband appeared well. [3] However, he soon became unwell and an appeal was made on board for a Doctor. [3] Dr Davies attended Mr Leyland at 13:00hrs, by which time Mr Leyland was in a state of unconsciousness and expired shortly after, the result of heart failure. [3]
Mona was the last paddle-ship bought for the Steam Packet fleet. After six years of service with the line, Mona was sold for scrap in 1909.
Official numbers are issued by individual flag states. They should not be confused with IMO ship identification numbers. Nona had the UK Official Number 96575 and originally used the Code Letters L J R V
.
SS (RMS) Ellan Vannin was built as an iron paddle steamer in 1860 at Meadowside, Glasgow for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was originally named Mona's Isle - the second ship in the company's history to be so named. She served for 23 years under that name before being rebuilt, re-engined and renamed in 1883. As Ellan Vannin she served for a further 26 years before being lost in a storm on 3 December 1909 in Liverpool Bay.
TSS (RMS) King Orry (IV) - the fourth vessel in the line's history to be so named - was the lead ship of the King Orry Class of passenger ferries and packet ships. More commonly referred to as the six sisters, they were built for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1946 & 1955 primarily to replace war-time losses. The company's previous King Orry was one of three company losses during Operation Dynamo - the evacuation of British and French troops from the port of Dunkirk during May 1940.
TSS (RMS) Lady of Mann, was a passenger ship, built by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company at Barrow-in-Furness in 1930, at a cost of £249,073. Certificated to carry 2,873 passengers and 81 crew, she was commissioned to operate on the Island's busy Douglas–Liverpool and Douglas–Fleetwood routes, and had a maximum speed of 23 knots. Her hull was at first the company's conventional black, but was changed to white and green in 1933, only to revert to black after her war service.
SS (RMS) Fenella (I), No.76303, was an Iron twin-screw steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the first ship in the company's history to bear the name.
SS (RMS) Tynwald (I), No. 21921, 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.
SS (RMS) Tynwald (III), No. 95755, was an iron passenger steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the third vessel in the Company to bear the name.
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (I) was the first vessel ordered for service with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company when it began its operation in 1830. No Official number is recorded for the vessel, as formal registration was not introduced until the Merchant Shipping Act 1854.
SS (RMS) Mona's Queen (II) No. 76308, was an iron-built paddle steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was the second vessel in the Company's history to be so named. Mona's Queen served from 1885 until 1929. In 1917, during the Great War, she collided with a German submarine.
TSS (RMS) King Orry (III) – the third ship in the history of the Company to bear the name – was a passenger steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, until she was sunk in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
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) King Orry (II) No. 45479 – the second vessel in the company's history to bear the name – was an iron paddle-steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
SS (RMS) Mona (I) - the first vessel in the Company's history to be so named - was a wooden paddle steamer which was operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. No Official number is recorded for the vessel, as formal registration was not introduced until the Merchant Shipping Act 1854.
SS (RMS) Victoria was a packet steamer originally owned and operated by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company, who sold her to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1928 for the sum of £25,000.
PS (RMS) Prince of Wales No. 93381 was a steel built paddle steamer which was purchased together with her sister PS Queen Victoria, by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from the Isle of Man, Liverpool and Manchester Steamship Company in 1888 - referred to as The Manx Line.
PS (RMS) Queen Victoria No. 93379 was a steel built paddle steamer which was purchased together with her sister PS Prince of Wales, by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from the Isle of Man, Liverpool and Manchester Steamship Company in 1888 - referred to as The Manx Line.
The passenger steamer SS Peel Castle was operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from her purchase in 1912 until she was sold for breaking in 1939.
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (IV) was a steel, triple-screw turbine driven packet steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1920 and 1948. Built in 1905 for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company, she operated as Onward between Folkestone and Boulogne. In 1918 a fire was only controlled by scuttling the ship. She was righted and in 1920, the hull was purchased by IOMSPCo to replace tonnage lost during the war. She was the first ship to complete a round trip during the evacuation of Dunkirk, rescuing a total of 2,634 troops.
SS (RMS) Mona's Isle (III), No. 76304, the third ship in the company's history to be so named, was a paddle steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company until she was purchased by The Admiralty in 1915.
William Gill was a Manx merchant navy officer who served as commanding officer of numerous Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessels. Gill was the first recognised captain of the line, retiring with the rank of Commodore.
SS (RMS) Ellan Vannin was an iron-built packet steamer which was operated out of Castletown, Isle of Man for the Castletown Steam Navigation Company to Liverpool and Whitehaven. Her name, Ellan Vannin, came from the Gaelic term by which the Isle of Man is known.