TSS ''Chelmsford'' was a passenger vessel built for the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

in 1893.

History

She was built by Earle's in Hull for the

. She was launched on 21 February 1893 and launched by the Mayoress of Chelmsford. She was intended for the new route from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. She was described as

having an awning deck extending almost the entire length of the ship and a complete lower deck all fore and aft. The first class dining saloon is forward of the boilers on the main deck, and extends from side to side. It is 32ft long, and is entered through a spacious lobby formed in the large deck-house on the awning deck, the illumination being mainly got by means of a handsome painted glass dome. The remainder of this house is occupied by state rooms, the captain’s room, and a large ventilating truck for affording light and air to the dining room below. Forward of the saloon is a cabin and state-rooms specially arranged for ladies, and abaft the saloon on each side of the engines and boilers are other state-rooms, pantries, bar, lavatories, and officer’s accommodation. Abaft the engines and boilers on this deck are also further state rooms for first-class passengers with a separate entrance lobby from a deck-house in which is a spacious smoke-room.

In 1910 she was purchased by the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

for the route from

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

to Brest and renamed ''Bretonne''. She was sold in the following year to the National Steam Navigation Company of Greece when she was renamed ''Esperia''. For a short time in the early 1920s she was renamed ''Syros'', but was renamed ''Esperia'' again until she was scrapped in 1934.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelmsford 1893 ships Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships built on the Humber Ships of the Great Western Railway Ships of the Great Eastern Railway