SY Liberty
{{Short description|Steam yacht (1908–1938)}}
{{Other ships|Liberty (ship)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = | Ship caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = | Ship flag = | Ship name = *Liberty (1908-1912)
| Ship namesake = | Ship owner = *Joseph Pulitzer (1908-1911)
| Ship registry = *Leith (1908){{flag|United Kingdom|civil}}
| Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = Ramage & Ferguson Ltd, Leith | Ship original cost = US$1.5 million | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 5 December 1907 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship out of service = 1938 | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship homeport = | Ship identification = *1908, 1912-1938: British O.N. 125480 {{cite web |last1=Owens |first1=Peter |title=Liberty |url=http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnum/125480 |website=Crew List Information Project |accessdate=26 February 2019}} | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship fate = Scrapped | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship type = Steam Yacht | Ship tonnage = 1,607grt, 887nrt | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|268.6|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|35.6|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship height = | Ship draft = | Ship hold depth = {{convert|17.9|ft|abbr=on}} | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = Twin screw | Ship speed = | Ship range = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = | Ship complement = | Ship crew = | Ship time to activate = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
SY Liberty was a steam yacht built in 1908 at Leith, Scotland, for Joseph Pulitzer and one of the largest private yachts of its day. She served as a Royal Navy hospital ship during World War I.
Description
The steam yacht Liberty was designed by G L Watson & Co and launched by Ramage & Ferguson Ltd at Leith on 5 December 1907.{{cite web|title=Liberty|url=https://www.miramarshipindex.nz/ship/31899|work=Miramar Ship Index (subscription)|publisher=R B Haworth, Wellington NZ|accessdate=17 June 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.newportpast.com/gallery/photos/php/photo_page.php?search=Liberty&search2=yyyyyy&pos=2|title=Steam Yacht Liberty|publisher=Newport Past|accessdate=19 May 2013}} With a tonnage of 1,607grt, length of {{convert|268.6|ft|m}} and beam of {{convert|35.6|ft|m}}, she was a large yacht by the standards of the day.{{cite book|title=Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory|year=1913|publisher=Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co|location=London|page=221}} She had twin screws, powered by two triple expansion steam engines made by the shipbuilder.
In addition to the expected high level of luxury, Liberty was especially fitted with ramps and soundproofing due to Pulitzer's blindness and extreme sensitivity to noise, and was nicknamed "The Tower of Silence".{{cite web|last=Topping|first=Seymour|title=Pulitzer biography|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/biography|publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes|accessdate=19 May 2013}}{{cite web|title=Steam Yacht "Liberty"|url=https://exhibitions.cul.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/pulitzer/pulitzer-family/homes|publisher=Columbia University, New York|accessdate=20 May 2013}}
History
Liberty was built in 1908 at a cost of US$1.5 million for newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who died on board at Charleston, South Carolina on 29 October 1911. She was sold to Scottish-Canadian businessman James Ross, renamed Glencairn and registered in Portsmouth, England.{{cite web|last=Regehr|first=Theodore D|title=James Ross|url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=7681|work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online|publisher=University of Toronto|accessdate=19 May 2013}} Ross sailed around the world in her in 1912, hoping to improve his health, but died the following year. In 1914 she was purchased by Lord Tredegar, who reverted her name to the original Liberty.
File:SY Liberty as a hospital ship in WWI.jpg
In September 1915 she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for the duration of World War I, initially as an auxiliary patrol yacht Liberty IV, though soon transformed at Lord Tredegar's expense to a hospital ship, No. 10, HMHS Liberty,{{cite book|last=Colledge|first=J J|title=Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index, Vol 2|year=1970|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|page=210}}{{cite news |title=A Well-known Yacht becomes a Red Cross ship: H.M.H.S. "Liberty" of the Royal Yacht Squadron. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001861/19161223/019/0014 |accessdate=26 February 2019 |work=The Sphere |volume=LXVII|issue=883 |publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) |date=23 December 1916 |pages=14–15}} first operating within the North Sea and for much of the time under the command of her owner.{{cite web|title=The Right Hon. Lord Tredegar|url=http://www.newportpast.com/gallery/photos/php/photo_page.php?search=royal%20gwent&search2=yyyyyy&pos=17|work=Newport Past|accessdate=19 May 2013}} She was returned to Lord Tredegar in January 1919.{{Cite web|url=http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMHSLiberty.html|title=Roll of Honour - Ships - HMHS Liberty|website=www.roll-of-honour.com|access-date=2019-02-25}}
After completion in December 1919 of a refit at Cowes as a yacht, Lord Tredegar embarked on Liberty for a six-month cruise in the Mediterranean and Red Seas.{{cite news |title=Social and Personal |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000104/19191204/110/0006 |accessdate=26 February 2019 |work=Western Mail |issue=15766 |publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) |date=4 December 1919 |location=Cardiff |page=6}}{{cite news |title=Cowes, Yachting Items |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19200522/286/0008 |accessdate=26 February 2019 |work=Evening News |issue=12299 |publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) |date=22 May 1920 |location=Portsmouth |page=8}} After further summer cruising, he sold her to the shipping magnate Sir Robert Houston in September 1920.{{cite news |title=Yachting Items |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19200925/126/0006 |accessdate=25 February 2019 |work=Evening News |issue=12406 |publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required) |date=25 September 1920 |location=Portsmouth |page=6}} Following his marriage in 1924, Houston moved his residence to Jersey for tax reasons and also re-registered his yacht there.{{cite news|title=Lady Houston - Philanthropist|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11953028|accessdate=19 May 2013|newspaper=The Argus|date=21 December 1936|location=Melbourne|page=5}}{{cite book|title=Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory|year=1925|publisher=Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co|location=London|page=313}} Like Pulitzer, he died on board the yacht, on 14 April 1926.
Left in his will to his wife Lucy, Lady Houston,{{cite web|title=Testament of Robert Houston 1926|url=http://search.jerseyheritage.org/Details/archive/110086738|publisher=Jersey Heritage|accessdate=19 May 2013}} Her nickname was "Poppy". she lived aboard Liberty much of the time.{{cite news|title=Why England's Wealthiest Woman Has Become a Hermit of the Sea|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19281110&id=1GJQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FA8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7108,1679925|newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel|date=10 November 1928|page=20}}
In the 1930s, to express her hatred for former prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, she hung a huge electric sign "Down with MacDonald the Traitor" in the rigging and sailed round the British Isles in her.{{cite news|title=Astonishing Exploits of England's Lady Bountiful|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19370207&id=0RhQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ywwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3607,1098045|accessdate=19 May 2013|newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel|date=7 February 1937}}
After the death of Lady Houston in 1936, Liberty was sold to John Cashmore Ltd for scrap and towed to Newport, Monmouthshire to be dismantled in January 1938.{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758839,00.html#ixzz1IRmvyLzH|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826075932/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758839,00.html#ixzz1IRmvyLzH|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 26, 2010|title=Names make news|publisher=CNN/Time Magazine (subscription required)|date=January 10, 1938|accessdate=2011-04-03}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMHSLiberty.html HMHS Liberty]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty}}
Category:Hospital ships in World War I