Maiden voyage 9 April 1897 Fate Scrapped Length 91 m Beam 11 m | Out of service 1949 Launched 21 January 1897 Draft 4.79 m | |
Name 1897-1928TSS Duchess of Devonshire1928-1949Gibel Dersa Operator 1897-1907Barrow Steam Navigation Company1907-1923Midland Railway1923-1928London, Midland and Scottish Railway1928-1943Bland Line, Gibraltar1943-1947Dalhousie Steam and Motor Ship Company1947-1949A Benjamin and Company, Gibraltar Builder Naval and Armament Construction Company, Barrow | ||
The TSS Duchess of Devonshire was a passenger vessel built for the Barrow Steam Navigation Company in 1897.
History
The TSS Duchess of Devonshire was built by Naval and Armament Construction Company of Barrow for the Barrow Steam Navigation Company. She was launched on 21 January 1897 by Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.
She contained four decks - lower, main, promenade and shade. First class accommodation was amidships, with sleeping accommodation for 124 passengers. The promenade deck had fourteen staterooms, a smokeroom and bar, and first-class entrance, with staircase descending to the dining saloon on the main deck. The ladies’ saloon and staterooms were on the lower deck.
Her maiden voyage from Barrow to Belfast was on 9 April 1897 under the command of Captain Myerscough, in a journey time of just under six hours.
She was sold to the Midland Railway in 1907
In 1914 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and used as an armed boarding vessel. In 1919 she suffered a boiler explosion which killed three people. On 25 September 1922 she was involved in a minor collision with the coasting steamer Trevor which was between Laxey and Douglas.
In 1923 she was acquired by the London Midland and Scottish Railway, but in 1928 they sold her to Bland Line in Gibraltar who renamed her Gibel Dersa. She was requisitioned in 1941. In 1943 she was sold to the Dalhousie Steam and Motor Ship Company in London, and in 1947 sold again to A Benjamin and Company of Gibraltar, and scrapped in 1949 at Malaga.