SS Mersey
SS Mersey was a freight vessel built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1906.[2]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | 1906-1940:SS Mersey |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | |
| Builder | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson[1] |
| Yard number | 752 |
| Launched | 23 February 1906 |
| Completed | April 1906 |
| Fate | Sunk by a mine 20 April 1940 near Midrake Buoy. 51°17′N 01°28′E |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 1,087 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length | 255 feet (78 m) |
| Beam | 36 feet (11 m) |
| Draught | 16.3 feet (5.0 m) |
History
She was built in 1906 by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson as a sister ship to SS Irwell, and launched on 23 February 1906 for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to provide freight services from Goole to Rotterdam.
In 1915 she was switched to the Great Western Railway's Weymouth to the Channel Isles service. In 1917 she was converted with to a cable layer in 1917. In 1920 she was released back to her owners.
She transferred to the London and North Western Railway in 1922, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 and Associated Humber Lines in 1935.
She was sunk after being mined on 20 April 1940. Nine men were rescued, two of whom since died. Eleven men were reported missing[3] People from the shore saw a great column of water thrown into the air, and the vessel sank in three minutes.
References
- "SS Mersey (1906)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
- "British Steamers Sunk". Western Daily Press. England. 22 April 1940. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.