SS or RMS ''The Ramsey'' was a passenger steamer 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 1912 to 1914. She had been built in 1895 as ''Duke of Lancaster'' for the joint service to Belfast of the London and North Western Railway and

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

companies. The steamer was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1914 as the armed boarding vessel HMS ''Ramsey'' and sunk the following year.

Construction

''Duke of Lancaster'' was launched on 9 May 1895 at the

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of B ...

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

of the

Naval Construction & Armaments Co Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construct ...

, who also constructed the

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...

and boilers. The vessel initially had a tonnage of 1,520 grt and 467 nrt; length ; beam ; depth . ''Duke of Lancaster'' had an operating speed of .

Service life

London & North Western Railway Company

''Duke of Lancaster'' entered service with the

Company who operated her with the London & North Western Railway Company on the

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 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...

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 Kingdom ...

service. In March 1911, ''Duke of Lancaster'' was sold to an organisation named the ''Turkish Patriotic Committee'', who had the

and boilers renovated at Cammell Laird. However, the outbreak of the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

in September 1911, prevented the purchasers from taking delivery, and the vessel was sold in 1912 to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

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 ...

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company took delivery of the vessel in July 1912, and immediately changed the vessel's name to ''The Ramsey''. She had an uneventful career with the company as she established herself within the Steam Packet fleet. SS The Ramsey

''The Ramseys service with the company was one of the shortest of any ship in its history, and concluded at the end of the 1914 season.

War service and loss

''The Ramsey'' was the third of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's ships to be called up for service in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On 28 October 1914 she was requisitioned and fitted out as an Armed Boarding Vessel by Cammell Laird with two 12-pounder guns and a ship's company of 98, and renamed simply HMS ''Ramsey''. ''Ramsey'' was based at Scapa Flow under the command of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Harry Raby.''Isle of Man Examiner.'' Saturday 14 August 1915. Her work consisted of night patrols during the course of which she was usually accompanying two destroyers. It was dangerous work, directed by radio from headquarters, carried out without

navigation light A navigation light, also known as a running or position light, is a source of illumination on a watercraft, aircraft or spacecraft, meant to give information on the craft's position, heading, or status. Some navigation lights are colour-coded ...

s, and with manned guns throughout. In the course of a few months ''Ramsey'' intercepted and challenged many ships, sometimes putting a

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 suffici ...

aboard and taking the suspect into port. On her last patrol she had steamed for 12 hours when, after dawn on 8 August 1915, smoke was seen from over the horizon. ''Ramsey'' gave chase and came upon a steamer flying the Russian flag. ''Ramsey'' proceeded alongside the vessel, which had duly stopped. The suspect, which was the German auxiliary minelayer SMS ''Meteor'', then hoisted the German flag and fired at what amounted to

point-blank range Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel para ...

, killing the commander and crew members on the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

of ''Ramsey''. At the same time the

raider Raider(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Paul Revere & the Raiders, an American rock band * "Raider", a track from the 1969 album '' Farewell Aldebaran'', by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester * "Raiders", a track from the 1987 album '' Young a ...

fired a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

, shattering ''Ramsey''″s stern. Fifty five of the crew were killed; ''Meteor'' picked up 43 after ''Ramsey'' went down in five minutes. Her wreck position is given as . The next day British forces overwhelmed ''Meteor'', whose prisoners were transferred to neutral ships before she was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

Notes

References

;Bibliography * Chappell, Connery (1980). ''Island Lifeline'' T.Stephenson & Sons Ltd

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:The Ramsey 1895 ships Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ferries of the United Kingdom Ferries of the Isle of Man Armed boarding steamers of the Royal Navy Steamships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1915 World War I shipwrecks in the North Sea