''Arpha'' was a passenger ferry built in 1900 as ''Canterbury'' for the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...

. She passed to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. She was sold to W E Guinness in 1926 and renamed ''Arpha''. In 1938 she was sold to Sark Motorships Ltd, only to be requisitioned by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in 1939. Postwar, she was sold to Compania Shell de Venezuela and renamed ''Coriano''. After a further change of ownership she was scrapped in 1955.

Description

The ship was built by W Denny & Bros, Dumbarton. She was yard number 640 and was launched on 6 December 1900 with completion in January 1901. As built, she had a GRT of 566 and a NRT of 144. She was powered by two

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 ...

s, which had cylinders of 13½ inches (34 cm), 20½ inches (52 cm) and bore by stroke. These could propel her at a speed of . ''Arpha'' was long, with a beam of and a depth of .

History

''Canterbury'' was built for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. She was used on their

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

route. Her port of registry was

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1926, ''Canterbury'' was sold to W E Guinness and was rednamed ''Arpha''. She was converted to a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

, with a GRT of 602 and a NRT of 233. Her port of registry was changed to

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. On 6 June 1930, she ran aground in

Moon Sound The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

(). She was refloated on 10 June. In 1938, Guinness sold her to the Crete Shipping Co Ltd,

, who sold her to Sark Motorships Ltd later that year. Her port of registry was changed to

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

. In 1939, ''Arpha'' was requisitioned by the

. She was used as an armed boarding vessel in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

as part of the Contraband Control Service. For the duration of the war, ''Arpha'' was shown on

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...

as still in the ownership of Sark Motorships Ltd. In 1946, ''Arpha'' was sold to W J Brown. She was operated under the management of Worms & Co Ltd. Later that year she was sold to the Shell Co of Venezuela Ltd London, operating under the management of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd. She was renamed ''Coriano''. In 1947, she was sold to the Caribbean Petroleum Co, Venezuela. ''Coriano'' was sold in 1949 to the Shell Caribbean Petroleum Co,

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

. She was used to carry passengers during the construction of a refinery. In 1955, ''Coriano'' was sold to J M Perez Hernandez. She was scrapped by North American Smelting Co,

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.IMO number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owner ...

s. ''Canterbury'' and ''Arpha'' had the United Kingdom

official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

112803 ''Canterbury''s

code letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

were SDVR. ''Arpha''s

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

was MFCF.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arpha 1900 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Ships of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Steamships of the United Kingdom Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the Southern Railway (UK) Maritime incidents in 1930 Steam yachts Ships of the Royal Navy Steamships of Venezuela Merchant ships of Venezuela