SS Mona's Queen (1853)

For other ships of the same name, see Mona's Queen.
Mona's Queen.
Career
Name: Mona's Queen
Owner: 1853–1880: IOMSPCo
Operator: 1853–1880: IOMSPCo
Port of registry: Douglas, Isle of Man
Builder: J. and G. Thomson of Clydebank[1]
Cost: No official record, thought to be in the region of £14,000 (£1,236,133 in 2015).[2]
Yard number: 6[1]
Way number: 21930
Launched: 27 November 1852
Completed: 1853
In service: 1853
Out of service: 1880
Identification: Official Number 21930
Code Letters N J H W
Fate: Scrapped 1880
Status: Scrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage:600 GT
Length:186 ft 0 in (56.7 m)
Beam:27 ft 0 in (8.2 m)
Depth:13 ft (4.0 m)
Installed power:Not Recorded.
Propulsion:Side Lever Engine
Speed:13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)

PS (RMS) Mona's Queen (I) No. 21930 – the first vessel in the Company's history to bear the name – was an iron paddle-steamer which was owned and operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

Construction and dimensions

Mona's Queen was built and engined by J. & G. Thomson of Govan (werf was replaced at Clydebank in 1872), Glasgow, and launched in 1853. She had a registered tonnage of 600 tons; length 186'; beam 27' and depth 13'. Her speed is recorded as 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), and her horsepower is not recorded.[1]

Mona's Queen carried a figurehead of Queen Victoria, and was the first vessel to break away from the Company's long association with Robert Napier & Co. The vessel's cost is not recorded, but a reference in the Company's old minute book suggests it was under £14,000 (£1,236,133 in 2015).[2] In 1855 she was lengthened (details not recorded) at a cost of £2,111(£172,127 in 2015).[2]

Service life

An early photograph of Mona's Queen, alongside the Red Pier, Douglas.

Mona's Queen appears to have had a pretty uneventful career, with the exception of a collision with the steamer Sligo, which occurred in the River Mersey in January 1862. The official inquiry went against the Steam Packet Company who had to pay approximately £300 (£24,426 in 2015).[2] in damages and costs. The Captain was accordingly reduced from Second Class Master to Third, and his pay was cut from £275 to £250 (£20,355 in 2015)[2]

An 1856 image of King Orry, Mona's Queen & Tynwald.

Disposal

After ten years service the directors decided to sell the ship and offered it to Cunard, Wilson an Co. for £20,000 (£1,669,701 in 2015).[2]

The offer was declined, and negotiations started with a Whitehaven company for a sale at £14,000 (£1,168,791 in 2015).[2]

Midway through 1864 the directors admitted they could not sell the vessel. Mona's Queen therefore continued in the Company's service until she was broken up in 1880.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 J & G Thomson Ships.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2014), "What Were the British Earnings and Prices Then? (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
Bibliography
  • Chappell, Connery (1980). Island Lifeline T.Stephenson & Sons Ltd ISBN 0-901314-20-X