HMS ''Princess Irene'' was a

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

which was built in 1914 by William Denny and Brothers Ltd,

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 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. She was 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 ...

on completion and converted to an auxiliary

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...

. On 27 May 1915, she exploded and sank off

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

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 ...

, while being loaded with

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

s prior to a deployment mission, with the loss of 352 lives.

Description

''Princess Irene'' was long, had a beam of , and a draught of . Her four

steam turbines A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

were built by Denny's, and could give the ship a service speed of .

History

''Princess Irene'' was built by William Denny and Brothers Ltd,

, for the

Princess fleet The Princess fleet is an eponym for the coastal vessels of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the first half of the 20th century. The names of these small ocean liners began with the title "Princess." The ships of the British Columbia Coast ...

of the

Canadian Pacific Railway Coast Service The Canadian Pacific Railway Coast Service, also known as the British Columbia Coast Steamships (BCCS), was a division of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which began operating Pacific coastal shipping routes in the late 19th century. The develop ...

. Her hull was launched on 20 October 1914. With her sister ship , she was built to serve on the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

–

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

–

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

route. Her port of registry was Victoria. ''Princess Irene'' was requisitioned by the

on her completion in 1915 and converted to an auxiliary

. She had a complement of 225 officers and men. On 8 May 1915, ''Princess Irene'' and ''Princess Margaret'' laid a minefield northwest of

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

, with ''Princess Irene'' laying 472 mines.

Loss

In May 1915, ''Princess Irene'' was moored in Saltpan Reach, on the Medway Estuary in

between Port Victoria and

, being loaded with mines in preparation for deployment on a minelaying mission. At 11:14

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 27 May, she exploded and disintegrated. A column of flame high was followed a few seconds later by another of similar height and a pall of smoke hung over the spot where she had been, reaching to . Two barges lying alongside her were also destroyed. The explosion was larger than that which had destroyed in the Medway six months earlier, although the loss of life was less. A total of 352 people were killed, including 273 officers and men, and 76 dockyard workers who were on board ''Princess Irene''. On the

Isle of Grain Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area is ...

a girl of nine was killed by flying débris, and a farmhand died of

shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...

. A collier half a mile (800 m) away had its crane blown off its mountings. A part of one of ''Princess Irenes boilers landed on the ship; a man working on the ship died from injuries sustained when he was struck by a piece of metal weighing . Wreckage was flung up to away, with people near

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

being injured by flying débris, some of which landed in

Bredhurst Bredhurst is a village and civil parish in Kent, that forms part of the Borough of Maidstone. Its population was 330 (1990), increasing to 397 at the 2011 Census. There has been a settlement on the site of the present day Bredhurst since neolith ...

. Severed heads were found at

Hartlip Hartlip is a village and civil parish in the borough of Swale, in the county of Kent, England. The population estimate was 680 in 1991, and in 2001 there were 566 registered voters. At the 2011 Census the population was 746. The village covers 14 ...

and on the Isle of Grain. A case of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

landed at Rainham, away. A 10-ton (10,160 kg) section of the ship landed on the Isle of Grain. The Admiralty's oil storage tanks there were damaged. The sole survivor from ''Princess Irene'' was a stoker, who suffered severe burns. Three of her crew had a lucky escape as they were ashore at the time. The victims whose bodies were recovered were buried at Woodlands Road Cemetery, Gillingham. A memorial service for the victims was held at the Dockyard Church, Sheerness on 1 June 1915. It was led by

Randall Davidson Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, (7 April 1848 – 25 May 1930) was an Anglican priest who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the English Reformation, Re ...

, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

s were held on two victims of the disaster. The

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

stated that he did not intend to hold an inquest for any other victim unless there were exceptional circumstances that warranted it. A Court of Inquiry was held into the loss of ''Princess Irene''. Evidence was given that priming of the mines was being carried out hurriedly and by untrained personnel. A faulty primer was blamed for the explosion. Following the loss of on 30 December 1915 and on 9 July 1917, both caused by internal explosions, suspicion was raised at the inquiry into the loss of ''Natal'' that

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

was to blame for the loss of all four ships. A worker at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

was named as a suspect, but a thorough investigation by

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

cleared him of any blame.

Memorials

A memorial to those lost on ''Bulwark'' and ''Princess Irene'' was erected at the Dockyard Church, Sheerness in 1921. It was dedicated by

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Charles Ingles, the

Chaplain of the Fleet The Royal Navy Chaplaincy Service provides chaplains to the Royal Navy. The chaplains are commissioned by the Sovereign but do not hold military rank other than that of "Chaplain Royal Navy". They are usually addressed as Padre, Reverend or more ...

. It was unveiled by

Hugh Evan-Thomas Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas, (27 October 1862 – 30 August 1928) was a British Royal Navy officer. During World War I he commanded the 5th Battle Squadron (United Kingdom), 5th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, fly ...

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Th ...

. Victims of both ships are also commemorated on the Naval War Memorial at

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

. Another memorial was placed in Woodlands Road Cemetery, Gillingham, as part of the Naval Burial Ground.

Media coverage

On 19 November 2002, the story of ''Princess Irene'' was covered by

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Making History'' programme. The remains of ''Princess Irene'' at are marked as an hazard to ships using

Thamesport London Thamesport (formerly just "Thamesport") is a small container seaport on the River Medway, serving the North Sea. It is located on the Isle of Grain, in the Medway unitary authority district of the English county of Kent. The area was form ...

, but it is not planned to raise her.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

BBC Radio Four ''Making History'' programme covering the loss of ''Princess Irene''
(UK only) {{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Irene 1914 ships Ships built on the River Clyde World War I merchant ships of Canada Steamships of Canada Minelayers of the Royal Navy Steamships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1915 Maritime disasters in Kent Borough of Swale 1915 in England Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea Auxiliary ships of Canada 1915 disasters in the United Kingdom