History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Montrose |
Owner |
|
Operator |
|
Port of registry | London |
Route | |
Builder | Sir Raylton Dixon & Co, Middlesbrough |
Yard number | 441 |
Launched | 17 June 1897 |
Completed | September 1897 |
Maiden voyage | September 1897, Middlesbrough – Quebec – Montreal |
Refit | 1903 |
Identification |
|
Fate | Wrecked, 28 December 1914 |
General characteristics | |
Type |
|
Tonnage | |
Length | 444.3 ft (135.4 m) |
Beam | 52.0 ft (15.8 m) |
Depth | 27.5 ft (8.4 m) |
Decks | 2 |
Installed power | 632 NHP |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h) |
Capacity |
|
Sensors and processing systems | By 1911: Submarine signalling |
Notes | Sister ships: Montcalm , Monteagle, Montfort |
SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.
Montrose is notable for being the ship on which Hawley Harvey Crippen and his lover Ethel Le Neve fled Britain after Crippen murdered his wife in 1910. Montrose was wrecked in the early months of the First World War after she broke her moorings.
In 1897 the African Steamship Company, part of Elder, Dempster and Company, had a pair of steamships built. Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company in Jarrow built Montcalm , launching her on 17 May 1897 and completing her that August. [1] Sir Raylton Dixon and Company in Middlesbrough built her sister ship Montrose, launching her on 17 June 1897 and completing her that September. [2]
The dimensions of the two ships were almost identical. Montrose's registered length was 444.3 ft (135.4 m), her beam was 52.0 ft (15.8 m) and her depth was 27.5 ft (8.4 m). As built, her tonnages were 5,431 GRT and 3,457 NRT. [3] 25,063 cubic feet (710 m3) of her cargo space was refrigerated. [4] She was primarily a cargo ship, but she had berths for 12 passengers. [5]
Montrose was a coal-burner. [5] She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine built by T Richardson and Sons of Hartlepool. It was rated at 632 NHP [3] and gave her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h). [5]
The African Steamship Co registered Montrose in London. Her UK official number was 108251 and her code letters were PTWV. [3]
Elder, Dempster & Co ordered a second pair of ships from Palmers, built to the same design. Monteagle was launched on 13 December 1898 and completed in March 1899. [6] Montfort was launched on 13 February 1899 and completed that April. [7]
In September 1897 Montrose began her maiden voyage from Middlesbrough to Quebec and Montreal. On 29 October she began a regular service between Avonmouth and Montreal. In 1900 her ownership was transferred to the African Steamship Co's parent company, Elder Dempster. [8] On 14 March that year Montrose began the first of eight voyages from Liverpool to Cape Town as a troop ship for the Second Boer War. [5]
In 1901 Montreal's tonnages were revised to 7,094 GRT and 5,349 NRT. [9] That year Elder, Dempster formed a new subsidiary, the Imperial Direct West India Mail Service Company, to run services to the Caribbean. [10] By 1902 Elder, Dempster had transferred Montrose to this new subsidiary. [2] [11]
In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought Elder, Dempster's shipping service to and from Canada, with 14 ships including Montrose [11] [12] and her three sisters. [10] Canadian Pacific had Montrose refitted with berths for 70 Second Class and 1,800 Third Class passengers. [5]
Canadian Pacific changed Montrose's route a number of times. On 20 April 1903 she left Liverpool for Quebec and Montreal. On 7 April 1904 she left London for Antwerp, Southampton and Saint John, New Brunswick. On 28 May 1904 she left London for Antwerp, Quebec and Montreal. [5]
In 1905 Montrose's tonnages were revised to 6,278 GRT and 3,968 NRT. [13] By 1911 they had been revised again to 7,207 GRT and 5,402 NRT. [14]
By 1910 Montrose was equipped for wireless telegraphy, [15] which the Marconi Company supplied and operated under contract. [16] By 1911 she was equipped for submarine signalling. [14] By 1913 her wireless call sign was MLJ. [17]
In 1910 the US homeopath Hawley Harvey Crippen and his lover, Ethel Le Neve, fled England shortly after the suspicious disappearance of his wife. After a body was found in the basement of their London home, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Walter Dew sought Crippen and Le Neve on suspicion of murder. [15]
Travelling in disguise and under false names, the couple had left Antwerp aboard Montrose on 20 July. [15] Montrose's wireless telegraph equipment had a normal range of only 150 nautical miles (270 km). [17] A wireless signal about Crippen and Le Neve reached Montrose while she was still just within range to reply. Her master, Captain H G Kendall, identified the disguised Crippen and Le Neve, and got his wireless operator to reply to this effect. Dew sailed west on the White Star liner Laurentic, which was quicker and overtook Montrose. When Montrose reached Quebec, Dew arrested the couple and brought them back to England to stand trial. [15]
In August 1914 Montrose and another Canadian Pacific ship, Montreal, were in Antwerp as the German army was advancing into Belgium. Montreal's engine was under repair, and Montrose had been waiting to bunker. Captain Kendall, who was now working at Antwerp as Canadian Pacific's marine superintendent, arranged for Montreal to bunker Montrose. He filled both ships with Belgian refugees, and Montrose towed Montreal to England. [5] [18]
On 28 October 1914 the Admiralty requisitioned Montrose to use as a reserve blockship at Dover. [2] [5] On either 20 [19] or 28 [2] [5] [20] December she broke her moorings in a gale, and drifted onto the Goodwin Sands, where she was wrecked.
HMS Montclare (F85) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939, converted into a destroyer depot ship in 1944 and a submarine depot ship in 1946. She was decommissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1958.
SS Chenab was a steamship that was built in England in 1911 and scrapped in Scotland in 1953. For nearly two decades she was part of Nourse Line, which carried Girmityas from India to colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In 1914 she was requisitioned for service in the First World War.
Megantic was a British transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Ireland and launched in 1908. She was one of a pair of sister ships that were ordered in 1907 by Dominion Line but completed for White Star Line.
HMS Forfar (F30) was a British ocean liner that was commissioned into the Royal Navy as an armed merchant cruiser in 1939 and sunk by enemy action in 1940. She was launched in Scotland in 1920 as a transatlantic liner for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company as Montrose. She was one of three sister ships. The others were Montcalm, also launched in 1920, and Montclare, launched in 1921.
Alexander Sibiryakov was a steamship that was built in Scotland in 1909 as Bellaventure, and was originally a seal hunting ship in Newfoundland. In 1917 the Russian government bought her to be an icebreaker. She served the RSFSR and Soviet Union until 1942, when she was sunk by enemy action. The ship gave notable service in the Russian Arctic during the 1930s.
Belgenland was an iron-hulled sail-steamer that was launched in England in 1878 and spent most of her career as a Belgian transatlantic ocean liner. She was renamed Venere in 1904 and scrapped in Italy in 1905.
Komagata Maru was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1890, was in German ownership until 1913, and then had a succession of Japanese owners until she was wrecked in 1926. She was launched as Stubbenhuk, renamed Sicilia in 1894, Komagata Maru in 1913 and Heian Maru in 1924.
SS Statendam was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1898 for Holland America Line. She was the first of several ships in the company's history to be called Statendam. She was NASM's first ship of more than 10,000 GRT, and she was the largest ship in the company's fleet until Potsdam was completed in 1900.
USS Craster Hall (ID-1486) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1909 and served in the merchant fleets of first the United Kingdom and then the United States. From 1918 to 1919, she served in the United States Navy. In 1927, she was damaged in a collision off the coast of Peru, was beached to prevent her sinking, but was wrecked.
USS Munwood (ID-4460) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1914 and was part of the United States Merchant Marine until 1928. From 1918 to 1919 she served in the United States Navy. In 1928 Yugoslav interests bought her and renamed her Vila. In 1935 she sank as the result of a collision in the Adriatic Sea.
SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.
Ramón Alonso R. was a merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in 1898 and scrapped in Spain in 1959. Her original name was Montclair. She was renamed José Gallart in 1901, Balmes in 1911 and Ramón Alonso R. in 1929. Her first owner was the British Elder Dempster Lines, but she spent most of her career with a succession of Spanish owners. She was built as a transatlantic ocean liner with some cargo capacity, but in 1927 she was refitted as a cargo ship. In 1913, when she was called Balmes, the ship survived a serious cargo fire in mid-Atlantic.
HMAS Grantala was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1903 as a coastal interstate liner for the Adelaide Steamship Company. In 1914 the Commonwealth government requisitioned her as a Royal Australian Navy hospital ship.
City of Belfast was a passenger steamship that was built in England in 1893, renamed Nicolaos Togias in 1925, renamed Kephallinia in 1933 and sank in 1941. She was owned and registered in Britain until 1925, when she passed to Greek owners.
City of Bradford was a British passenger and cargo steamship that was built in Yorkshire in 1903, renamed Donau in 1916, reverted to City of Bradford in 1919 and became Hanne in 1936.
SS City of Leeds was a British North Sea passenger and cargo steamship that was built in Yorkshire in 1903 and scrapped in Northumberland 1937. In the First World War the Imperial German Navy captured her and used her as a depot ship.
SS Jebba was a steamship that was built in Middlesbrough in 1896 and wrecked on the south coast of Devon in 1907. She was launched as Albertville for the Compagnie Belge-Maritime du Congo (CBMC), and was renamed Jebba when Elder, Dempster & Co acquired her in 1898. She was the first of four CBMC ships to be called Albertville, and the first of two Elder, Dempster ships to be called Jebba.
SS Grampian was a transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1907 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1925. She was operated originally by Allan Line, and later by Canadian Pacific Steamships. In the First World War she remained in commercial service but carried Canadian troops. In 1919 she survived a collision with an iceberg. In 1921 she was gutted by fire while being refitted. The refit was abandoned, and in 1925–26 she was scrapped.
SS Metagama was a transatlantic ocean liner That was launched in 1914 and scrapped in 1934. The Canadian Pacific Railway Co owned her and the Canadian Pacific Steamship Co operated her. She was a pioneering example of a "cabin class" passenger ship.
SS Rio Tercero was a cargo steamship that was launched in England in 1912 as Eboe. She was renamed Fortunstella in 1938, and Rio Tercero in 1941. A U-boat sank her in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942.