TSS St Patrick (1947)

St Patrick at Weymouth
History
Name	1947–1972: TSS St Patrick 1972–1973: Thermopylae 1973–1980: Agapitos I
Operator	1948: Great Western Railway 1948–1972: British Railways 1972–1973: Gerasimos S. Fetouris 1973–1980: Agapitos Bros, Piraeus
Port of registry
Route	1948: Fishguard - Rosslare 1948–1963: Weymouth - Cherbourg 1963–1965: Southampton - Saint Malo & Le Havre 1965–1972: Folkestone - Boulogne
Builder	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Yard number	1183
Launched	May 1947
Completed	23 January 1948
Out of service	1980
Fate	Scrapped 1980
General characteristics
Tonnage	3,482  gross register tons  (GRT)
Length	97.9 metres (321 ft)
Beam	14.69 metres (48.2 ft)
Draught	4.02 metres (13.2 ft)
Installed power	8,500 bhp
Speed	19 knots
Capacity	1,200 passengers

TSS St Patrick (III) was a passenger vessel operated by the Great Western Railway from 1947 until 1948 and British Railways from 1948 until 1971. ^[1] She saw further service in Greece as the Thermopylae and Agapitos I until being scrapped in 1980.

History

St Patrick was built for the Great Western Railway in 1947 as one of a pair of new vessels for the Fishguard to Rosslare service, the other being the St David . She replaced a former ship of the same name which had been sunk by torpedo on 13 June 1941. ^{[2] [3] [4]} British Railways took ownership in 1948 and she was based in Weymouth. Typically running services to Cherbourg, she was also used in the summer for trips from Torquay to the Channel Islands. ^[5] In 1963 she was transferred to Southampton for services to Saint Malo and Le Havre, and in 1965 she moved to Folkestone for the service to Boulogne. She was retired in 1971. ^[6]

She was sold in 1972 to Gerasimos S. Fetouris, in Piraeus, and renamed Thermopylae. She was sold again in 1973 to Agapitos Bros, Piraeus and renamed Agapitos I. She was scrapped in 1980 in Greece. ^[7]

References

1. Railway and Other Steamers, Duckworth. 1962
2. "Naval Events, June 1941, Part 1 of 2, Sunday 1st – Saturday 14th". Naval History. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
3. Channel Steamer Sunk By Bombs The Times 17 June 1941 page 4
4. Railway Steamers Help In The War The Times 7 July 1944 page 8
5. "Customers blow for excurionists from Westcountry" . Western Morning News . England. 18 August 1949. Retrieved 8 October 2015– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. SS Patrick retired The Railway Magazine issue 847 November 1971 page 619
7. "T/S ST PATRICK" (in Swedish). Fakta om Fartyg. Retrieved 29 March 2011.