The ''Duke of York'' was a steamer

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

initially operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway which saw service from 1935 to 1964. She was renamed HMS ''Duke of Wellington'' for the duration of World War II.

In service

Built at Harland & Wolff, Belfast and completed in 1935, she was designed to operate as a passenger ferry on the

Heysham Heysham ( ) is a coastal town in Lancashire, England, overlooking Morecambe Bay. It is a Heysham Port, ferry port, with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland, and the site of two Heysham nuclear power station, nuclear power stations. Demogra ...

to Belfast, alongside the existing 1928 ships on that route, RMS ''Duke of Lancaster'', the RMS ''Duke of Rothesay'' and the RMS ''Duke of Argyll'', She introduced a new principle into the cross-channel trade, the ''tourist class'', which had been in use on the Atlantic lines since 1928. The ''Duke of York'' had one of the earliest automatic fire extinguishers, by Grinnell. Small glass tubes contained a liquid which expanded on a given temperature being reached, and burst the containers, opening water valves above.

HMS ''Duke of Wellington''

The ''Duke of York'' was requisitioned in 1942 for war service. She was renamed as HMS ''Duke of Wellington'' as there was a

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

with the name "Duke of York". She was converted to a " Landing Ship, Infantry (Hand-Hoisting)"; the latter part referred to her hand-operated davits; abbreviated to LSI(H). The conversions allowed her to carry 250 troops and ten Landing Craft Assault to carry the troops to shore. She also received a

12-pounder gun 12-pounder gun or 12-pdr, usually denotes a gun which fired a projectile of approximately 12 pounds. Guns of this type include: *12-pounder long gun, the naval muzzle-loader of the Age of Sail *Canon de 12 de Vallière, French cannon of 1732 *Cano ...

and eight 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons. She took part in Operation Jubilee, the raid on Dieppe on 19 August 1942, carrying The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. She took part in the Normandy landings in 1944. At the end of the war, she transported troops between Tilbury and Ostend.

Post-World War II

She reverted to her original name after the war, and in May 1948 she was transferred to the

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

to Hook of Holland service, alongside the ''Arnhem''. Originally a twin-funnel vessel, she was rebuilt in 1950 with a single funnel. She was upgraded from coal to oil firing and received cabin accommodation for 520 passengers. On 6 May 1953, she collided in fog with the American freighter USNS ''Haiti Victory''. Six passengers were killed and the bow was completely sheared off just in front of the bridge. The ship's Bosun,

William Albert Warner William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

, was subsequently awarded the Order of Industrial Heroism for rescuing three people after the collision. Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Company of

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

completely rebuilt her with a more modern-shaped bow, and they lengthened her by about 7 ft. She rejoined the

fleet in 1954. After operating its last voyage from Hook of Holland on 20 July 1963, ''Duke of York'' was sold in August 1963.

''Fantasia''

''Dike of York'' was sold to

Chandris Lines Chandris Line was a Greece-based shipping company founded in 1960 by Anthony Chandris to operate ocean liners between Greece and Australia.#Plowman, Plowman (2006–1). pp. 5–6. Initially the company also traded under the names ''Greek Australia ...

in 1963 and renamed ''York'', she was sent to Smiths Dock Company for conversion work which was completed after transfer to the Chandris Company's own shipyard at Ambelaki. She entered service in 1964 as ''Fantasia''. She ran mainly on cruises in the

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...

, with some winter charters to religious tour groups. She was withdrawn in December 1975 and was broken up in 1976 in Spain.Haws, Duncan (1993) ; Merchant Fleets – Britain's Railway Steamers – Eastern & North Western Companies + Zeeland and Stena ; Hereford, TCL Publications ; Page 182 ;

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120324013446/benjidog.co.uk/MiscShips/index_files/Page1608.htm Ship history details *https://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ChandrisFantasia.html Ship history photos {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke Of York Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ferries of the United Kingdom 1935 ships Ferries of Wales Ships of British Rail Ships of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom Operation Overlord Ships built in Belfast Cruise ships of Greece Ships built by Harland and Wolff Maritime incidents in 1953