Builder David J Dunlop Out of service 1947 Launched 26 May 1892 Draft 3.7 m | Yard number 214 Fate Unknown Length 48 m | |
Name 1892-1917 SS Melmore1917-1936 SS Santa Elena1936-1947 SS Condestable Celendon Operator 1892-1904 Lord Leitrim1904-1905 West Cornwall Steam Ship Company1905-1912 Great Western Railway1912-1914 Charles Forbes1914-1916 Union Steamship Company of British Columbia1916-1917 Milne and Company of Vancouver1917-1920s Tampion W.B. London of Vancouver1920s-1936 German E. Leith in Callao1936-1947 Ministry of Marine in Peru | ||
SS Melmore was a passenger cargo vessel operated by the Great Western Railway from 1905 to 1912
History
SS Melmore was built by David Dunlop in Port Glasgow and launched on 26 May 1892. She was built for Robert Bermingham Clements, 4th Earl of Leitrim, intended to run between Glasgow, Portrush, Derry and Milford. She started service on 1 July 1892. She took her name from Melmore Head which is at the head of Melmore Bay in County Donegal.
In 1904 she was put up for sale and bought by the West Cornwall Steam Ship Company. She arrived in Penzance on 12 November 1904 and was put to work on her first service two days later. They kept her until 1905 when she was then sold to the Great Western Railway, and employed on cargo services between Weymouth and the Channel Islands, and also on the route from Plymouth to Nantes.
In 1912 she was sold to Charles Forbes who intended to use her for a treasure seeking expedition in Cocos Island Mrs Barry Till and Miss Genevieve Davis visited Cocos Island in 1911 and convinced themselves they had discovered a cave containing part of the treasure hidden by either Tom Tiddler or Benito Bonito. Despite the failure of earlier expeditions in 1903 by Admiral St Leger Palliser, and 1904 by William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam and Admiral Palliser, they returned with maps and outfitted the Melmore in 1912. They obtained permission from the Costa Rican Government for the expedition. Melmore was sent to Panama where they joined her in December 1913 for the expedition. They arrived back in Panama on 24 February 1913 empty handed.
In 1914 she was purchased by the Melmore Steam Ship Company under the control of the Union Steamship Company of British Columbia in Vancouver. In 1916 she was sold to Milne and Company of Vancouver, and in 1917 to Tampion W.B. London of Vancouver who named her the Santa Elena. In 1920s she was sold to German E. Leith in Callao. Lastly she was sold to the Ministry of Marine in Peru in 1936 as a lighthouse tender and named Condestable Celendon. She was reported as out of use in 1947 when she was deleted from the Lloyds Register of Shipping.