The passenger steamer SS ''Peel Castle'' was operated by the

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

from her purchase in 1912 until she was sold for breaking in 1939.

Construction and dimensions

Peel Castle was built as ''Duke of York'' at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

William Denny and Brothers William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built ...

, who also supplied her engines and boilers. She had a registered tonnage of ; length 310 feet;

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

37 feet; draught 16 feet and a design speed of 17 knots. Peel Castle had accommodation for 1,162 passengers, and a crew of 42.

Pre-war service

As ''Duke of York'' she entered service in 1894 on the joint

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

service of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and the London & North Western Railway. In 1911, she was sold to the "Turkish Patriotic Committee". In 1912 the

purchased her and renamed her ''

Peel Castle Peel Castle (''Cashtal Phurt ny h-Inshey'' in Manx Gaelic) is a castle in Peel, Isle of Man, Peel on the Isle of Man, originally constructed by Vikings. The castle stands on St Patrick's Isle which is connected to the town by a causeway. It is ...

''; the company also purchased ''Duke of Lancaster'', renamed ''The Ramsey''."Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Services from Fleetwood and Belfast," http://simplonpc.co.uk/LMS-LYR1.html

War service

She was requisitioned by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

at the outbreak of war in 1914. She was fitted out as an Armed Boarding Vessel (ABV) by

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

in late November 1914. She was to have 100 officers and crew and was fitted out as an

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, capable of carrying boarding parties and

prize crew A prize crew is the selected members of a ship chosen to take over the operations of a captured ship. Prize crews were required to take their prize to appropriate prize courts, which would determine whether the ship's officers and crew had sufficie ...

s, and was put under the command of Lieutenant-Commander P. E. Haynes

RNR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

''Peel Castle'' sailed under the

White Ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...

in January 1915, her engine room manned mostly by Steam Packet Company personnel, and became part of the Downs Boarding Flotilla, a section of the

Dover Patrol The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dove ...

. She remained with the Patrol for three years and one month. She would spend ten days at sea and four days in port at

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 ...

. She was mainly tasked with regulating the large amount of maritime traffic between the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

coast and the

Goodwin Sands Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Upper Chalk platform belonging to the same geologi ...

and to act as one of the guard ships that would stop and examine all neutral shipping proceeding to Continental ports. For the duration of the war the

Dover Strait The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait (french: Pas de Calais - ''Strait of Calais''), is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, separating Great Britain from continen ...

was closed by anti-submarine nets and

minefield A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s. No ship could pass except through the Patrol, and at one stage British warships were intercepting, searching and marshalling up to 115 vessels a day. In this strenuous work, ''Peel Castle'' played a busy and successful part. She was first fired upon by a retreating merchantman, and then at least once by British shore batteries. She endured many air raids and sent boarding parties onto many ships. Her crew captured a number of enemy personnel who were trying to get back to Europe hidden in neutral ships, including

Franz von Rintelen Captain Franz Dagobert Johannes von Rintelen (19 August 1878 – 30 May 1949) was a member of the German nobility and a veteran field agent in the intelligence wing of the German Imperial Navy, who operated covertly in the still neutral United ...

, an infamous agent of

Admiral Tirpitz Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia n ...

In 1916 she was badly damaged by fire and had to be refitted at

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. Later she transferred to the

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. After having been fitted with

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

throwers and paravanes and with her

boat deck A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary or upper deck is the horizontal structure that forms the "roof" of the hull, strengthening it and serving as the primary working surface. V ...

extended as a landing for

kite balloon A kite balloon is a tethered balloon which is shaped to help make it stable in low and moderate winds and to increase its lift. It typically comprises a streamlined envelope with stabilising features and a harness or yoke connecting it to the main ...

s, she patrolled north of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

. ''Peel Castle'' was next moved to the Humber-Tyne Patrol, an area where shipping was very concentrated and where losses had been heavy. With her observer aloft in the

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

she would cruise up and down the

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s, looking for enemy

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s. The war over, ''Peel Castle'' was refitted once more, this time as a troop carrier, work she continued until May 1919, after which she returned to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and resumed her peacetime Steam Packet Company duties.

Post-war service

Upon returning to the Steam Packet fleet, ''Peel Castle'' was mainly used for subsidiary winter services. She undertook the direct Friday sailing from

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...

, and also excursion trips and cargo duties. On the morning of Saturday 7 June 1924, ''Peel Castle'' went aground in Douglas Bay.''The Isle of Man Examiner.'' Friday, 13 June 1924 She had left

operating the

midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

sailing, and had approximately 550 passengers embarked. As she approached

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

, ''Peel Castle'' encountered a bank of

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

which forced her to slow her speed. Steaming at minimal speed, ''Peel Castle'' continued inbound to

, sounding her

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

continuously, but ran

aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

on a bank of sand in the middle of Douglas foreshore. The impact was reported to be so slight that passengers were unaware of the situation until members of the ship's company informed them of the development. As the tide receded and the fog began to lift, a large crowd gathered on the shore. Passengers remained on board ''Peel Castle'' until she refloated. Shortly after 13:00hrs the vessel was refloated, aided by the ''Fenella'', and then proceeded to

Douglas Harbour Douglas Harbour ( gv, Purt Varrey Ghoolish) is located near Douglas Head at the southern end of Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man. It is the island's main commercial shipping port. The Port of Douglas was the first in the world to be equ ...

under her own power. No apparent damage could be seen so ''Peel Castle'' left

the following day, bound for the

Graving Dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

at Cammell Laird's in order to be inspected by representatives of

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

. No damage was found on the subsequent inspection, and ''Peel Castle'' returned to service.

Disposal

''Peel Castle'' was retired after a service life of 45 years. She was broken up at

Dalmuir Dalmuir (; gd, Dail Mhoire) is an area northwest of Glasgow, Scotland, on the western side of Clydebank, and part of West Dunbartonshire Council Area. The name is a lowland Scots derivation of the Gaelic meaning Big Field. The area was ori ...

on the

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

in February 1939.

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peel Castle, SS Ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company 1894 ships Steamships of the United Kingdom