Six Thames steamers sailed via the Suez Canal for World War I service as minesweepers. The steamers were originally part of a 30-strong London County Council fleet built for an unsuccessful bid to launch a commuter service on the Thames through central London starting in 1905, but which closed after just two years. The steamers’ destination was Mesopotamia, where their shallow draught would be advantageous for operation in coastal waters and on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
After the LCC service failure, three of the 250-passenger vessels switched to London’s City Steamboat Company, with Christopher Wren, built by G. Rennie, and Edmund Ironside and Fitzailwin, from the Clyde yard of Napier and Miller, requisitioned, together with Thames Ironworks-built sisters Alleyn and Carlyle, which had gone to the Tay Steamboat Co at Dundee. The group was completed by another Thames Ironworks product, Brunel, then sailing for the Millbrook Company at Plymouth.
Powered by 350hp compound diagonal engines taking steam from a coal-fired boiler, they had a top speed of 12.5 knots and were employed from early 1916 along with the region’s many launches and stern wheel paddle vessels. The Thames exiles survived the war, several lying at Basra, but none of them returned to Britain when the land conflict came to an end.
Larger Thames vessels, including the General Steam Navigation Co’s Eagle Steamers pair, Eagle (1898) and Golden Eagle (1909), ran Thames trips into September 1914, with the former requisitioned for minesweeping as HMS Aiglon from November 1915. The far larger triple-expansion engined Golden Eagle became a transport vessel and carried 518,101 troops, mainly from Southampton to French ports, between January 1915 and November 1919, some of her crossings also seeing aircraft handled as deck cargo.
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Denne historien er fra January 2020-utgaven av Ships Monthly.
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PROPULSION REVOLUTION
Jim Shaw summarises the efforts being made by the world’s shipping industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, and how these efforts are reshaping marine propulsion and vessel design in light of new IMO 2020 regulations.
THE HISTORIC FERRY BORE
Thomas Rinaldi profiles the historic motor ship Bore, now a combination museum and hotel ship docked permanently in Turku, originally built in 1960 by Oskarshamn shipyard in Sweden as the car/passenger ferry Bore for the Steamship Company Bore.
On duty from the Thames to Mesopotamia
Russell Plummer recalls the contribution made by excursion ships and ferry paddle steamers, large and small, during the two World Wars.
Space Ships
Patrick Boniface describes the ocean ships that recovered the space ships involved in the Apollo and Skylab missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
Hebridean Isles West Coast Stalwart
Marking her 35th anniversary in 2020, Caledonian MacBrayne’s long-serving stalwart Hebridean Isles can be found as one of two regular vessels serving Islay on Scotland’s west coast. Mark Nicolson looks at a vessel which is a popular sight wherever she goes, with her name appropriately reflecting the areas served by CalMac.
Spirit Of Discovery
Saga Cruises’ first new cruise ship in its history, Spirit of Discovery, made her debut in July. William Mayes went on board to assess the facilities on the new ship, which is arguably the most significant new cruise ship for Britain since Oriana of 1995.
Bravo!
Memories of the decrepit-looking cargo ship Bravoaltona arriving at Avonmouth in September 1976, and an awareness of a fleet of former Dutch ships with names commencing Bravo, led Malcolm Cranfield to research two different Greek-owned fleets.
The World's Biggest Ships
A decade and a half ago Ships Monthly reported on the world’s biggest ships and most have continued to grow, as Jim Shaw reports.
ACL G4 Class Profile Of The New G4 Class Of Con-ros
Matt Davies goes behind the scenes on Atlantic Container Line’s new G4 ships, which are the largest con-ros in the world.
A Great British Ship
SS Great Britain is a ship worthy of the name ‘Great’. When launched in 1843, she was the biggest ship in the world, had an iron hull and was fitted with a steam-powered propeller. James Hendrie describes her career, which ended with her being placed on display in Bristol, the city where she was built.
