SS ''Lanthorn'' was a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

built in 1889 as SS ''Magnus Mail'', renamed in 1916 and sunk by enemy action in 1917. She was a combined

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

and two-masted

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships c ...

With Westoll Line 1889–1916

Short Brothers of Sunderland Short Brothers Limited was a British shipbuilding company formed in 1850 and based at Pallion, Sunderland since 1869. The company closed in 1964 when it failed to invest to build bigger ships. 19th century In 1850 George Short founded a shipyar ...

built her in 1889 for the Westoll Line, also of Sunderland. Her

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

and two boilers were built by Thomas Richardson and Son of

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

. She was named after

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Magnus Mail (1858–1916), a friend of James Westoll. ''Magnus Mail'' was one of the last tramp steamers to be built with a

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

. A painting of her from 1895 by the Italian artist

Antonio Luzzo Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

(1855–1907) shows her under sail with her two masts under

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

rig. Westoll Line ships exported coal and patent fuel to Italy and Egypt and imported grain from

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

ports to the United Kingdom. In February 1908 ''Magnus Mail'' ran aground outside Garston Docks in Liverpool.

With the Gas Light and Coke Company 1916–17

The Gas Light and Coke Company of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

bought ''Magnus Mail'' in 1916 to carry coal from

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

Beckton Gas Works Beckton Gasworks was a major London gasworks built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as 'the largest such plant in the world' Winchester C (Ed), ''Handling 2,000,000 tons of coal ...

. The GLCC renamed her SS ''Lanthorn'' and placed her under the management of Stephenson Clarke and Associated Companies. On 21 May 1917 the German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

shelled her from astern in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

off

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

. ''Lanthorn'' was hit in her saloon amidships, twice in her port quarter and then in her stokehold and engine room, bursting her main steam pipe. All her crew survived the attack, abandoned ship, and rowed away. From their lifeboat they saw the U-boat come alongside her and assumed a German boarding party went aboard ''Lanthorn''. The U-boat then left the area and half an hour later ''Lanthorn'' suffered an explosion amidships, which her crew assumed was caused by charges planted by the Germans to scuttle her. Vessels from Whitby rescued the crew, found ''Lanthorn'' still afloat and took her in tow. However, before she could reach safety she sank about half a mile south of the Whitby Rock buoy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanthorn 1889 ships Ships built on the River Wear Sailing ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1908 Maritime incidents in 1917 Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea