TSS (RMS) Ben-my-Chree (III) No. 118605 – the third vessel in the company's history to be so named – was a passenger steamer operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between 1908 and 1915. Ben-my-Chree was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915 and converted to a seaplane carrier; commissioned as HMS Ben-my-Chree, she was sunk by Turkish batteries on 11 January 1917.
Ben-my-Chree was built in 1908 at the Vickers Sons and Maxim shipyard, Barrow in Furness. She was the fifth ship built in the Barrow yard for the Isle of Man Steam Packet, and was launched by Mrs. J. T. Cowell at 13:45hrs on Monday 23 March 1908.
Ben-my-Chree is regarded as amongst the finest and certainly the fastest of vessels ever to serve the line.
In appearance she was said to resemble a mini Cunarder rather than a conventional cross-channel steamer, proudly being described by the Company as: "the fastest and most luxuriously appointed channel steamer afloat."
During the early part of the 20th century, speed of service was very much at the fore for shipping companies plying the Irish Sea routes to the Isle of Man; an article in the Daily Mail of July 1908 stated:
Background
Ben-my-Chree resulted from the great success of the Viking, which was built three years earlier and employed on the Steam Packet's Douglas - Fleetwood schedule. The company quickly decided that a larger and more powerful turbine ship should be ordered for the Douglas–Liverpool service and in 1907 invited tenders for another fast turbine steamer in order to cement its place as the primary carrier to the Isle of Man. The requirements of the tender included:
Length : Breadth : Depth : .
In addition the vessel was to be able to undertake a continuous six hour passage at a speed of and be capable of accommodating 2,500 passengers on a No.2 Board of Trade Certificate, conforming to a Lloyd's A1 Certificate.
The Ben, as she became affectionately known, was to be longer, broader and carry 550 more passengers than her older sister.
Dimensions and layout
Ben-my-Chree was built under special survey from Lloyd's of London and also in accordance with the Board of Trade for their passenger certificates.Ben-my-Chree had a tonnage of 2,651 GRT; length 390 feet (375 feet between the perpendiculars); beam 46 feet; depth 18 feet 6 inches. Ben-my-Chrees overall length was longer than the later Lady of Mann and her engines developed more than those of The Lady. This continued engine development resulted from ever-improving engineering and material standards, thereby in turn securing greater thermal efficiency.
Features
Power
Ben-my-Chree was driven by three Parsons steam turbines which were built under licence by Vickers Sons and Maxim, the turbines developing 14,000 shaft horsepower, thereby resulting in a designed service speed of 24.5 knots. The turbines were so arranged so as to work in series, with one high-pressure ahead turbine driving the centre shaft, and two low-pressure ahead turbines driving their respective wing shaft. Astern turbines were incorporated in the casing, with each low-pressure turbine fitted with valves to control the admission of steam for ahead and astern working. These manoeuvring valves were independent of the high-pressure turbine which would run idle when the ship was manoeuvring. The valve gear was arranged for easy operation and was placed at the forward end of the high-pressure turbine. The main valves were of the vertical equilibrium type operated by large handwheels. Two condensers were fitted, one on each side of the turbine run, and were supplied with circulating water by two large centrifugal pumps. The air pumps were direct acting twin-type pumps, fitted in duplicate for each condenser and independently driven. Steam was supplied at a pressure of 170 lb per square inch by four double-ended cylindrical boilers, arranged to work under forced draught with closed stokeholds. Each of the boilers was fitted with eight furnaces of the suspension type. There were four combustion chambers, each common to two furnaces, the shell plates and stays being manufactured from high-tensile steel. The boilers were arranged in two boiler rooms with separate uptakes and funnel for each room. They were equipped with four steam-driven fans fitted for supplying air under pressure to the boilers. The boilers were long with a diameter of . The working pressure was .
In addition to the usual feed and bilge pumping engines, the machinery department was fitted with oil lubricating pumps which serviced the turbine bearings, sanitary pumps, water heater, ash hoist and fresh water pumps.