HMS Stephen Furness
Construction and commercial service
Ordered for the Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company to provide a larger replacement for the New Londoner as a comparable vessel to the Richard Welford which partnered the New Londoner on the Newcastle-London passenger route. Tenders invited October 1909 and an order placed with Irvines Shipbuilding at West Hartlepool for £43,500. Named after company chairman Sir Stephen Furness, 1st Baronet. Launched 10 May 1910 by Furness' wife. Built with a shelter deck, unlike her predecessors which had a forcasltle. 290ft length, 37ft breadth, depth to the main deck 16f. 1712 gross tonnage, 745 net. Had a fore and aft cargo hold with a central engine room and four watertiught bulkheads. Accomodation was of a high standard foir the time and allowed for 250 first class and 120 second class passengers. A singing saloon was at the front of the bridge deck. Also had a moking toom and a bar. Equipped with electric lights and fans. Served remporarily on a route to Hamburg before replacing the NEw Londoner, which was sold, in January 1911.[1]
Royal Navy service
Converted to an armed boarding steamer. In RN service carried the pendant number M(I)23.[2] SHe carried a part navy and part merchant marine crew.[3]
In Mid April 1916 was deployed, with HMS Carron, on the route to Murmansk, the only available ice-free port for supplies to Russia.[4]
13 December 1917 torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Channel , 6 officers and 95 men lost[5]
Sunk by German U-boat UB-64 off the west coast of the Isle of Man. Sank quickly and before her lifeboats could be launched. Five of the dead were from the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve and are commemmorated on the Halifax Memorial.[6]
Struck between the bridge and funnel. Had been proceeding from Lerwick to Liverpool for repairs.[7]
References
- ^ Robins, Nick (12 September 2011). Coastal Passenger Liners of the British Isles. Seaforth Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-84832-112-0.
- ^ Warlow, Ben; Bush, Steve (31 July 2021). Pendant Numbers of the Royal Navy: A Complete History of the Allocation of Pendant Numbers to Royal Navy Warships and Auxiliaries. Seaforth Publishing. p. 1969. ISBN 978-1-5267-9379-9.
- ^ "Armed Ship Lost". The North Star. 24 December 1917. p. 1.
- ^ Robins, Nick (12 September 2011). Coastal Passenger Liners of the British Isles. Seaforth Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-84832-112-0.
- ^ Annual Register. 1918. p. 23.
- ^ "HMS Stephen Furness". The Vimy Foundation. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Arthur Leslie Rhodes". Roll of Honour. Nottinghamshire County Council. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
