SS Lanthorn
{{Short description|Cargo ship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image = MagnusMail 1895 AntonioLuzzo.jpg |Ship caption = Ritratto della steam ship Magnus Mail in navigazione, 1895, by Antonio Luzzo }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header = |Ship country = United Kingdom |Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|UK|civil}} |Ship name =*Magnus Mail (1889–16); |Ship namesake =*Captain Magnus Mail;
|Ship owner =*James Westoll (majority shareholder) (1889–1916);
|Ship operator =*Westoll Line (1889–1916);
|Ship registry = |Ship route = |Ship ordered = |Ship builder = Short Brothers of Sunderland{{cite Uboat.net |id=3501 |name=Lanthorn |type=1ship |accessdate=29 June 2011 }} |Ship way number = |Ship laid down = |Ship acquired = |Ship maiden voyage = |Ship in service = |Ship identification = Official Number 95287 |Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header = |Header caption = |Ship type = Cargo ship |Ship class = |Ship displacement = |Ship length = {{convert|290|ft|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam = {{convert|39|ft|1|in|2|abbr=on}} |Ship draught = {{convert|21|ft|7|in|2|abbr=on}} |Ship depth = |Ship decks = |Ship deck clearance = |Ship power = 202 NHP three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine |Ship propulsion = Single screw |Ship sail plan= 2-masted schooner (1895) |Ship speed = |Ship capacity = |Ship crew = |Ship notes = |Ship armament = }} |
SS Lanthorn was a {{GRT|2299|link=off}} cargo ship built in 1889 as SS Magnus Mail, renamed in 1916 and sunk by enemy action in 1917. She was a combined steamship and two-masted sailing ship.
With Westoll Line 1889–1916
Short Brothers of Sunderland built her in 1889 for the Westoll Line, also of Sunderland. Her triple expansion steam engine and two boilers were built by Thomas Richardson and Son of Hartlepool. She was named after Captain Magnus Mail (1858–1916), a friend of James Westoll.
Magnus Mail was one of the last tramp steamers to be built with a clipper stem. A painting of her from 1895 by the Italian artist Antonio Luzzo (1855–1907) shows her under sail with her two masts under schooner rig.{{cite book |last=Harnack |first=Edwin P |title=All About Ships & Shipping |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |orig-year=1903 |year=1938 |edition=7th |pages=20 & 23}} Westoll Line ships exported coal and patent fuel to Italy and Egypt and imported grain from Black Sea ports to the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/sunderland131.html |title=Page 131 James Westoll & the Westoll Line of Sunderland (1868/1959) |last=Searle |first=Peter |work=The Sunderland Site |publisher=Peter Searle |access-date=29 June 2011}} In February 1908 Magnus Mail ran aground outside Garston Docks in Liverpool.
With the Gas Light and Coke Company 1916–17
The Gas Light and Coke Company of Westminster bought Magnus Mail in 1916 to carry coal from North East England to Beckton Gas Works. The GLCC renamed her SS Lanthorn and placed her under the management of Stephenson Clarke and Associated Companies.
On 21 May 1917 the German U-boat {{SMU|UB-41}} shelled her from astern in the North Sea off Whitby. Lanthorn was hit in her saloon amidships, twice in her port quarter and then in her stokehold and engine room, bursting her main steam pipe. All her crew survived the attack, abandoned ship, and rowed away. From their lifeboat they saw the U-boat come alongside her and assumed a German boarding party went aboard Lanthorn. The U-boat then left the area and half an hour later Lanthorn suffered an explosion amidships, which her crew assumed was caused by charges planted by the Germans to scuttle her.
Vessels from Whitby rescued the crew, found Lanthorn still afloat and took her in tow. However, before she could reach safety she sank about half a mile south of the Whitby Rock buoy.
References
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{{1908 shipwrecks}}
{{May 1917 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Ships built on the River Wear
Category:Sailing ships of the United Kingdom
Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom
Category:Maritime incidents in 1908
Category:Maritime incidents in 1917