TSS (RMS)TynwaldNo. 165281 was a passenger vessel which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1937 until she was requisitioned for war service at the end of 1940. She was the fourth ship in the line's history to bear the name. Tynwald was sunk in November 1942 off the coast of French North Africa.
Tynwald had a gross registered tonnage of 2376t, a beam of 46', a length of 314'6", a draught of 18' and a design speed of 21 knots. Both Tynwald and Fenella, had crew accommodation for 68, and a capacity for 1968 passengers.
Whilst the twins were identical in almost every facet, there were two subtle differences incorporated into their external appearance so as to be able to differentiate between the two. The Fenella had a yard running out from her foremast which had been installed specifically so as she could be identified from a distance. The strake, or gunwale, around the main deck was black on the Fenella whilst it was white on the Tynwald. The bows on both ships bore not only their names but the Three Legs of Man symbol.
There were also some quite distinctive differences in the internal decor of the twins. In the first class dining saloon of the Tynwald the woodwork was Queensland walnut, whilst on the Fenella it consisted of Englishchestnut. In the first class lounge of the Tynwald, figured chestnut provided the setting for a colour scheme in green and gold whereas the Fenalla's first class lounge was panelled in Australian walnut, the general colour scheme being in blue and fawn.
The smoke room panelling was oak in the Tynwald and walnut in the Fenella. In addition the third class ladies lounge the walls were panelled with white sycamore in the Tynwald and weathered sycamore in the Fenella.[1]
Steam Packet Company service
Tynwald in pre-war passenger service, pictured leaving Belfast.
Like her sister ship Fenella, Tynwald was intended primarily to be used on the winter service between Liverpool and Douglas.
They were virtually identical apart from slight decorative differences, the noticeable external difference being Tynwald had her upper strake painted white, whereas on Fenella it was black. Spacious lounges were a feature of both ships which were furnished to a high standard.
On 17 November 1937, during a storm with associated south-easterly gales, Tynwald sustained damage whilst attempting to berth at Douglas. Earlier that day, her sister Fenella had fouled a mooring rope whilst also attempting to berth at Douglas, which prior to the construction of the Princess Alexandra Pier in 1984, was a notoriously hazardous port due to its exposure during periods of strong easterly wind. Taking that morning's sailing from Liverpool to Douglas, Tynwald experienced great difficulty trying to berth at the King Edward VIII Pier, and suffered damage to the belting on her starboard side, over a distance of approximately five metres, as well as suffering damage to her plating.[3] Finally she secured alongside and having discharged her passengers and mail, Tynwald departed for Liverpool at 15:50hrs taking the passengers and mail which should have left on Fenella's morning sailing, which had been cancelled due to her incident with the mooring rope.[3]
War service
Along with Fenella, Tynwald was requisitioned as a personnel vessel in the first week of the war. Her log was largely uneventful until with the German onslaught on Belgium and France during the spring of 1940, the plight of the British Expeditionary Force became apparent, and she was dispatched to assist with the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk.
Tynwald edges past the wreck of her Steam Packet sister King Orry, as she approaches Dunkirk.
During the course of Operation Dynamo, Tynwald, initially under the command of Captain J H Whiteway, and then under Captain W A Qualtrough, had the distinction of embarking more troops that any other company vessel.[4]
She made her first mission to the shattered port on 28 May, and was one of ten personnel ships that lifted a total of 14,760 troops from the eastern mole the following day. The same day, her sister Fenella was lost.
In the late evening of 30 May, she was one of four personnel vessels back at the mole and withdrew 1,153 troops. On 2 June, she made her third trip and embarked 1,200 troops, leaving for Dover in the early morning of 3 June.
The last day of the operation was 4 June; shortly after 14:00hrs, the Admiralty announced that Operation Dynamo was over. By then Tynwald had already left the eastern mole after her fourth trip. She was the last ship to leave, landing 3,000 French troops in England later that day. Her total in the operation is officially given as 8,953 troops.
Royal Navy service - HMS Tynwald
HMS Tynwald in naval service
At the end of 1940, she was compulsorily acquired, fitted out as an auxiliary anti-aircraft ship and commissioned as HMS Tynwald on 1 October 1941. Armed with 6 4-inch AA guns (3x2), and eight 2-pdr (40mm) AA guns (2x4). After a year on convoy escort duties around Britain she was assigned to Operation Torch, the Allied landing in North Africa, and was involved in the amphibious assault on Algiers on 8 November 1942.
Three days later the ship was part of a task force sent to capture an airfield near Bougie (modern Béjaïa) 100 miles east of Algiers. At the centre of the force were infantry landing craft, and the covering force included the cruiser HMSSheffield, the monitorHMSRoberts, Tynwald and fourteen other supporting vessels. The first landing met with little or no opposition, and the Bougie harbour was occupied. However, it proved impossible to capture the airfield from the sea owing to adverse weather conditions. Instead, the attacking force that was still at sea came under heavy enemy air attack in the Battle of Béjaïa.
Fate
On 12 November 1942, Tynwald was hit by a torpedo fired by the Italian submarine Argo.[5] She had been standing by the monitor Roberts, which was on fire and badly damaged. Tynwald went down in 7 fathoms (13m) of water,[6] her wreck position is given as LAT:36°51'N LON:005°04'E.[7]
Survivors were rescued by Roberts and the corvette HMS Samphire. Three officers and seven ratings were listed as casualties.
The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th century, and continue to be popular for both local people and visitors.
The first USS Gettysburg was a steamer in the United States Navy. The ship was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1858, named RMS Douglas, and operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in the United Kingdom between Liverpool, England, and Douglas on the Isle of Man until November 1862. She was then sold to Cunard, Wilson & Company on behalf of the Confederate agents Fraser, Trenholm & Company for use by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Renamed Margaret and Jessie, she operated as a blockade runner until her capture by the Union on 5 November 1863. The ship then was commissioned into the Union Navy on 2 May 1864 as USS Gettysburg.
Isle of Man Airport is the main civilian airport on the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island at Ronaldsway near Castletown, 6 nautical miles southwest of Douglas, the island's capital. Along with the Isle of Man Sea Terminal, it is one of the two main gateways to the island. The airport has scheduled services to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Limited is the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world, having been founded in 1830.
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 Manxman was a passenger ferry launched from the Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, on 8 February 1955. She was the final vessel in a class of six similar ships, the Six Sisters, ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the second of the Company's ships to carry this name. She was withdrawn from service in 1982. Following a failed preservation attempt, and featuring in a music video in the process, the ship was broken up at Sunderland in 2012.
MV Ben-my-Chree is a Ro-Pax vessel which was launched and entered service in 1998. The flagship of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, she primarily operates on the Douglas to Heysham route until replaced by MV Manxman in Late 2023.
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) Ben-my-Chree (IV) No. 145304 – the fourth vessel in the company's history to be so named – was a passenger ferry operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1927 and 1965.
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.
TSS (RMS) Mona's Queen (III) No. 145308, was a ship built for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1934. The steamer, which was the third vessel in the company's history to bear the name, was one of five ships to be specially commissioned by the company between 1927 and 1937. They were replacements for the various second-hand steamers that had been purchased to replace the company's losses during the First World War. However, the life of the Mona's Queen proved to be short: six years after being launched she was sunk by a sea mine during the Dunkirk evacuation on 29 May 1940.
TSS (RMS) Fenella (II) No. 145310 was a pre-Second World War passenger steamer built by Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness in 1936, for service with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. She was sunk by air attack during the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940.
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 (II), No. 45474, was an iron paddle-steamer which served with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and was the second 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 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.
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) 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 (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.
HMS Crested Eagle was a paddle steamer sunk in the Dunkirk evacuation. J. Samuel White built her in 1925 for the General Steam Navigation Company, and was requisitioned by the Admiralty during the World War II for anti-aircraft duties as part of the Thames Special Service Flotilla.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Isle of Man
Douglas, Isle of Man 
United Kingdom
