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	Postcard depicting the SS Irwell
History
United Kingdom
Name	1906–1954: SS Irwell
Operator	1906–1922: Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; 1922–1923: London and North Western Railway; 1923–1935: London, Midland and Scottish Railway; 1935–1948: Associated Humber Lines; 1948–1954: British Transport Commission;
Port of registry
Builder	Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson
Yard number	758
Launched	10 May 1906
Completed	May 1906
Out of service	3 April 1954
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage	1,040 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	255 feet (78 m)
Beam	36 feet (11 m)
Draught	16.3 feet (5.0 m)

SS Irwell was a freight vessel built for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1906.^[2]

History

She was built in 1906 by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson as a sister ship to SS Mersey, and launched on 10 May 1906 for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to provide freight services from Goole to Rotterdam. She made her maiden voyage from the River Tyne to Goole on 13 June 1906.^[3]

In June 1907, two stowaways were discovered when she had departed Hamburg. Clowes Enoch of Schleswig Holstein, and Joseph Todhunter of Birkenhead were found among the sails in the after part between decks^[4]

In December 1913, she was returning to Goole from Ghent when she reversed forcefully into the north wall of the dock. A small boat was smashed and some pieces of the wall were dislodged.^[5]

In 1914, she was engaged in the potato trade from Jersey, bringing the produce directly into Kingston upon Hull.^[6] She was transferred to the London and North Western Railway in 1922 and to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

On 15 May 1929, she left Goole for Copenhagen, but became stuck in ice off the Danish Coast north of Sjaelland with a broken rudder and the steward was reported as dead.^[7] The mate of the ship fell overboard, striking his head against one of the anchor chains, and was killed.^[8] On 18 October 1934, she collided with the British sloop Edna in the Humber estuary at Whitton, Lincolnshire, England. Edna sank.^[9]

She was transferred to Associated Humber Lines in 1935. She was based in Icelandic waters as a naval supply ship during World War II. In 1946, she switched to Larne to Loch Ryan service.

On 28 December 1947, she was on a voyage from Rotterdam in heavy seas; the second officer reported seeing a yacht tossing helplessly flying distress signals. The American vessel, the Seafarer had set out from Cowes to sail to Norway. During the crossing, their engine failed, and the sail was blown away by the westerly gale. They had drifted for two days before being spotted by Irwell. The crew of Irwell managed to get a line aboard Seafarer, and they towed the yacht to Masslius.^[10]

In 1948, she was transferred to the British Transport Commission and she was scrapped in March 1954 at Gateshead.

References

^ "SS Irwell (1906)". www.tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
^ Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
^ "The new steamer Irwell". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 14 June 1906. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Enoch likes England. But Goole sends him away". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 21 June 1907. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Steamer runs into dock wall". Yorkshire Evening Post. Yorkshire. 5 December 1913. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "The steamer Irwell". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 24 June 1914. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Goole Ship's Plight". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 19 March 1929. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Mate killed at sea". Western Morning News. England. 21 March 1929. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 46889. London. 19 October 1934. col E, p. 24.
^ "Goole Ship in Dramatic Rescue". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. 30 December 1947. Retrieved 22 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.