SS Ramsey Town

Last updated

SS Ramsey Town (formerly SS Antrim).JPG
Ramsey Town
History
Civil Ensign of the Isle of Man.svg
Name
  • Ramsey Town
  • TSS Antrim
Owner1904–1928: Midland Railway Company. 1928-1936: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
Operator1904–1928: Midland Railway Company. 1928-1936: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
Port of registry Civil Ensign of the Isle of Man.svg Douglas, Isle of Man
BuilderJohn Brown & Co.
CostNot Recorded. Purchased by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for an initial sum of £14,612 in 1928.
Yard number116015.
Launched22 March 1904
In service1904.
Out of service1936.
FateScrapped April, 1937.
General characteristics
Type Packet Steamer
Tonnage1,954  gross register tons  (GRT)
Length330'9"
Beam42'2"
Depth17'2"
Installed power7,870 horsepower.
Speed21 knots (24 mph)

The SS Ramsey Town was a packet steamer which was initially ordered and operated by the Midland Railway Company under the name Antrim until it was acquired by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1928.

Contents

Construction & dimensions

Ramsey Town was built at the Clydeside yards of John Brown & Co. in 1904, registered at Belfast and named Antrim. The vessel had a registered tonnage of 1,954  GRT; length 330'9"; beam 42'2"; depth 17'2". Ramsey Town had an operating speed of 21 knots.

The launch of the vessel on 22 March 1904 was a near disaster. On reaching the fairway, the steamer was swept aside by the combined force of wind and tide towards a Cunarder on the adjoining stocks. Several of the uprights at the stern of the Cunarder were knocked down by the Antrim, and disaster was narrowly averted by the assistance of the tugs in attendance. The Antrim sustained no damage beyond having her paint badly scratched [1]

Service life

On entering service with the Midland Railway Company she operated on the Belfast-Heysham service, and was purchased by the Steam Packet from the London Midland and Scottish Railway group of which the Midland Railway had become part, in 1928. The cost of the purchase, including alterations to the vessel, was £14,612 (equivalent to £936,620in 2021). [2]

Ramsey Town on Steam Packet service. SS Ramsey Town (formerly SS Antrim)..JPG
Ramsey Town on Steam Packet service.

On 6 September 1935 she rescued the flier Alex Henshaw when his aircraft came down in the Irish Sea while competing in the King's Cup air race. Henshaw presented her commanding officer, Captain Archibald Holkham, with a barometer bearing an inscription which acknowledged that his skill and seamanship had probably saved the airman's life. [3]

Disposal

Ramsey Town had one of the shortest records of service in the Steam Packet Fleet. She was withdrawn from service in 1936, and eventually scrapped at Preston in 1937.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Man Steam Packet Company</span> Manx shipping company

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world, having been founded in 1830.

The West Cornwall Steam Ship Company was established in 1870 to operate ferry services between Penzance, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly. It became the West Cornwall Steamship Company in 1907 and was wound up in 1917.

TSS <i>Manxman</i> (1904) A Vessel

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Wight ferry services</span> Ferry services connecting the Isle of Wight to mainland England

There are currently three different ferry companies that operate vessels carrying passengers and, on certain routes, vehicles across the Solent, the stretch of sea that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. These are Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel.

Manx Line was a ferry operator which operated roll-on/roll-off ferry services between Great Britain and the Isle of Man between 1978 and 1985. An earlier, unrelated, company had used the "Manx Line" name in the late 19th century.

TSS <i>Duke of Clarence</i> British passenger ship

TSS Duke of Clarence was a passenger vessel operated jointly by the London and North Western Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) from 1892 between Fleetwood and northern Irish ports. In 1906 the LYR bought her outright and transferred her to their summer service from Hull to Zeebrugge, returning to the Irish Sea in winter. During the First World War Duke of Clarence served as an armed boarding steamer. She resumed passenger service in 1920, passing through changes of ownership in the reorganisations of Britain's railway companies in the 1920s, until she was scrapped in 1930.

TSS Colleen Bawn was a twin screw passenger steamship operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway from 1903 to 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heysham Port</span> Port

Heysham Port is situated by the village of Heysham, Lancashire, England. The harbour ships mainly roll-on/roll-off freight with one passenger service run by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which operates a twice daily sailing to Isle of Man. There are three freight routes run by Seatruck Ferries and Stena Line which all sail to Ireland daily. The passenger terminal has a rail service which links to Lancaster via Morecambe. Also adjacent to the dock site is a Heysham nuclear power station which was built between 1970 and 1988.

MV <i>Peveril</i> (1963)

MV Peveril was a coastal cargo vessel operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Peveril, the third ship in the company's history to bear the name, was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company at Troon, Scotland, in 1964.

SS <i>Tynwald</i> (1891)

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.

TSS <i>Manx Maid</i> (1910)

TSS (RMS) Manx Maid (I) No. 131765 - the first ship in the Company's history to be so named - was a packet steamer which was bought by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from the London and Southwestern Railway Company, and commenced service with the Steam Packet in 1923.

SS <i>Victoria</i> (1907)

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.

SS <i>Mona</i> (1878)

SS (RMS) Mona (II) No. 76302 was a packet steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Mona was the first screw-driven ship in the company's history.

MV <i>Conister</i>

MV Conister (II) No. 187114 was a cargo vessel operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the second vessel in the Company's history to bear the name.

SS <i>Mona</i> (1889)

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.

SS <i>Peel Castle</i>

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 <i>Snaefell</i> (1906)

SS Snaefell (IV), the fourth ship in the company's history to be so named, was a packet steamer originally owned and operated by G. and J. Burns, who sold her to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1920.

SS <i>Rushen Castle</i>

The packet steamer SS Rushen Castle was operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from its purchase in 1928 until it was sold for breaking in 1947.

SS <i>The Ramsey</i>

SS or RMS The Ramsey was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1912 to 1914. She had been built in 1895 as Duke of Lancaster for the joint service to Belfast of the London and North Western Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway companies. The steamer was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 as the armed boarding vessel HMS Ramsey and sunk the following year.

SS <i>Viking</i> (1905)

SS (RMS) Viking was a steel, triple-screw turbine-driven passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1905 and 1954.

References

  1. "Exciting scene at a launch" . Nottingham Evening Post. Nottingham. 23 March 1904. Retrieved 17 October 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. Isle of Man Weekly Times, 8 June 1940
Bibliography