Name 1906-1940SS Mersey Out of service 20 April 1940 Length 78 m Beam 11 m | Yard number 752 Launched 23 February 1906 Draft 4.97 m Builder Swan Hunter | |
Operator 1906-1922Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway1922-1923London and North Western Railway1923-1935London, Midland and Scottish Railway1935-1940Associated Humber Lines, Goole Fate Sunk by a mine near Midrake Buoy. Tonnage 1,087 gross register tons (GRT) | ||
SS Mersey was a freight vessel built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1906.
History
She was built in 1906 by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson as a sister ship to SS Irwell, and launched on 23 February 1906 for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to provide freight services from Goole to Rotterdam.
In 1915 she was switched to the Great Western Railway's Weymouth to the Channel Isles service. In 1917 she was converted with to a cable layer in 1917. In 1920 she was released back to her owners.
She transferred to the London and North Western Railway in 1922, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 and Associated Humber Lines in 1935.
She was sunk after being mined on 20 April 1940. Nine men were rescued, two of whom since died. Eleven men were reported missing People from the shore saw a great column of water thrown into the air, and the vessel sank in three minutes.