Built as a passenger ship under yard No 243 by Naval Construction & Armament Comp., Barrow-in-Furness, U.K. for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway & London & North Western Railway Cos., Fleetwood.
9 May 1895 launched as the DUKE OF LANCASTER.
Tonnage 1,520 gross, dim. 94.5 x 11.3 x 4.9m.
Powered by two triple expansion 6-cyl. steam engines, 5,300 shp, twin screws, speed 19 knots.
Capacity for 1162 day passengers.
August 1995 in service, homeport Fleetwood.
TSS THE RAMSEY was a passenger steamer operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1895 to 1911 as the DUKE OF LANCASTER. The vessel was then acquired by an organisation referred to as the "Turkish Patriotic Committee". However the acquisition was not completed, and she was subsequently sold to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
Construction
DUKE OF LANCASTER was launched on 9 May 1895 at the Barrow-in-Furness yard of the Naval Construction and Armament Company Ltd, who also constructed the engines and boilers. The vessel initially had a tonnage of 1,546 grt; length 310'2"; beam 37'1"; depth 16'4". DUKE OF LANCASTER had an operating speed of 19 knots.
Service life
DUKE OF LANCASTER entered service with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company who operated her with the London & North Western Railway Company on the Fleetwood - Belfast service.
In March 1911, DUKE OF LANCASTER was sold to Abrihim & Edhen, Istanbul an organisation called the Turkish Patriotic Committee, who had the engines and boilers renovated at Cammell Laird.
However, the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, prevented the purchasers from taking delivery, and the vessel was sold in 1912 to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company took delivery of the vessel in July 1912, and immediately changed the vessel's name to THE RAMSEY. She had an uneventful career with the company as she established herself within the Steam Packet fleet.
RAMSEY 's service with the company was one of the shortest of any ship in its history, and concluded at the end of the 1914 season.
War Service & loss
The RAMSEY was the third of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's ships to be called up for service in the Great War. On 28 October 1914 she was requisitioned and fitted out as an Armed Boarding Vessel by Cammell Larid's with two 12-pounder guns and a ship's company of 98, and renamed simply HMS RAMSEY.
Ramsey was based at Scapa Flow and her work consisted of night patrols. She was usually accompanying two destroyers. It was dangerous work, directed by radio from headquarters, carried out without navigation lights and with manned guns throughout. In the course of a few months RAMSEY intercepted and challenged many ships, sometimes putting a prize crew aboard and taking the suspect into port.
On her last patrol she had steamed for 12 hours when, after dawn on 8 August 1915, smoke was seen from over the horizon. RAMSEY gave chase and came upon a steamer flying the Russian flag. RAMSEY proceeded alongside the vessel, which had duly stopped. The suspect, which was the German auxiliary minelayer SMS METEOR then hoisted the German flag and fired at what amounted to point-blank range, killing the Commander and crew members on the bridge of RAMSEY.
At the same time the raider, fired a torpedo, shattering RAMSEY’s stern. Fifty five of the crew were killed; 43 were picked up by the METEOR after RAMSEY went down in five minutes. Her wreck position is given as lat:59°36'N. long:001°25'W.
The next day British Forces overwhelmed the METEOR, whose prisoners were transferred to neutral ships before she was scuttled.
Isle of Man 2015 75p sg?, scott?
Source: Register of Merchants Ships completed in 1896. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_The_Ramsey