SS Irwell
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = SS Irwell Postcard scan.jpg | Ship caption = Postcard depicting the SS Irwell }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship name = 1906–1954: SS Irwell | Ship country = United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} | Ship operator =
| Ship registry = {{flagicon|UK|civil}} | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson{{cite web|url=http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/I-Ships/irwell1906.html|title=SS Irwell (1906)|publisher=www.tynebuiltships.co.uk|accessdate=15 Jun 2017}} | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = 758 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 10 May 1906 | Ship completed = May 1906 | Ship christened = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = 3 April 1954 | Ship identification = | Ship fate = Scrapped | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = | Ship tonnage = {{GRT|1040|disp=long}} | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|255|ft|m}} | Ship beam = {{convert|36|ft|m}} | Ship draught = {{convert|16.3|ft|m}} | Ship depth = | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = | Ship speed = | Ship capacity = | Ship crew = | Ship notes = }} |
SS Irwell was a freight vessel built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1906.{{cite book |last1=Duckworth |first1=Christian Leslie Dyce |last2=Langmuir |first2=Graham Easton |date=1968 |title=Railway and other Steamers |language=English |location=Prescot, Lancashire |publisher= T. Stephenson and Sons }}
History
She was built in 1906 by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson as a sister ship to SS Mersey, and launched on 10 May 1906 for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to provide freight services from Goole to Rotterdam. She made her maiden voyage from the River Tyne to Goole on 13 June 1906.{{cite news |author= |title=The new steamer Irwell |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19060614/131/0007 |newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=14 June 1906 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
In June 1907, two stowaways were discovered when she had departed Hamburg. Clowes Enoch of Schleswig Holstein, and Joseph Todhunter of Birkenhead were found among the sails in the after part between decks{{cite news |author= |title=Enoch likes England. But Goole sends him away |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19070621/029/0003|newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=21 June 1907 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
In December 1913, she was returning to Goole from Ghent when she reversed forcefully into the north wall of the dock. A small boat was smashed and some pieces of the wall were dislodged.{{cite news |author= |title=Steamer runs into dock wall |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000273/19131205/141/0005 |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |location=Yorkshire |date=5 December 1913 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
In 1914, she was engaged in the potato trade from Jersey, bringing the produce directly into Kingston upon Hull.{{cite news |author= |title=The steamer Irwell |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19140624/076/0008 |newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=24 June 1914 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} She was transferred to the London and North Western Railway in 1922 and to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.
On 15 May 1929, she left Goole for Copenhagen, but became stuck in ice off the Danish Coast north of Sjaelland with a broken rudder and the steward was reported as dead.{{cite news |author= |title=Goole Ship's Plight |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19290319/052/0009 |newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=19 March 1929 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The mate of the ship fell overboard, striking his head against one of the anchor chains, and was killed.{{cite news |author= |title=Mate killed at sea |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000329/19290321/082/0009 |newspaper=Western Morning News |location=England |date=21 March 1929 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} On 18 October 1934, she collided with the British sloop Edna in the Humber estuary at Whitton, Lincolnshire, England. Edna sank.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Casualty reports |date=19 October 1934 |page=24 |issue=46889 |column=E }}
She was transferred to Associated Humber Lines in 1935. She was based in Icelandic waters as a naval supply ship during World War II. In 1946, she switched to Larne to Loch Ryan service.
On 28 December 1947, she was on a voyage from Rotterdam in heavy seas; the second officer reported seeing a yacht tossing helplessly flying distress signals. The American vessel, the Seafarer had set out from Cowes to sail to Norway. During the crossing, their engine failed, and the sail was blown away by the westerly gale. They had drifted for two days before being spotted by Irwell. The crew of Irwell managed to get a line aboard Seafarer, and they towed the yacht to Masslius.{{cite news |author= |title=Goole Ship in Dramatic Rescue |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19471230/036/0003 |newspaper=Hull Daily Mail |location=Hull |date=30 December 1947 |access-date=22 October 2015|via = British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
In 1948, she was transferred to the British Transport Commission and she was scrapped in March 1954 at Gateshead.
References
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{{LYR Ships}}
{{1929 shipwrecks}}
{{1934 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom
Category:Ships built on the River Tyne
Category:Ships of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Category:Ships of the London and North Western Railway
Category:Ships of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway