SS The Ramsey

TSS The Ramsey was a passenger steamer operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1895 to 1911 as the Duke of Lancaster. The vessel was then acquired by an organisation referred to as the "Turkish Patriotic Committee". However the acquisition was not completed, and she was subsequently sold to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

Construction & dimensions
Duke of Lancaster was built at the Barrow-in-Furness yards of the Naval Construction and Armament Company Ltd, in 1895, who also constructed the engines and boilers.

The vessel had a registered tonnage of 1,443 GRT; length 310'2"; beam 37'1"; depth 16'4". Duke of Lancaster had an operating speed of 19 knots.

London & North Western Railway Company
Duke of Lancaster entered service with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who operated her with the London & North Western Railway Company on the Fleetwood - Belfast service.



In March 1911, Duke of Lancaster was sold to an organisation called the Turkish Patriotic Committee, who renovated the engines and boilers.

However, the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, prevented the purchasers from taking delivery, and subsequently the vessel was sold to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
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 was eventually known simply as Ramsey, and had an uneventful career with the company as she established herself within the Steam Packet fleet.



Ramsey's 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 & 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. Having finished her 1914 season from Douglas - Liverpool, she was fitted out as an Armed Boarding Vessel by Cammell Larid's with two 12-pounder guns and a ship's company of 98.

The Ramsey was based at Scapa Flow and her work consisted of night patrols. She was usually accompanying two destroyers, but not always. It was dangerous work, directed by radio from headquarters, carried out without navigation lights and with manned guns throughout.

In the course of a few months The Ramsey intercepted and challenged many ships, sometimes putting a prize crew aboard and taking the suspect into port.

On her last patrol she had steamed for 12 hours when, after dawn on August 8, 1915, she saw smoke over the horizon, gave chase, and came upon a large tramp steamer flying the Russian flag.

The Ramsey proceeded alongside the vessel, which had duly stopped. The suspect then hoisted the German flag, and fired at what amounted to pointblank range. The broadside killed the Commander and the officers on the bridge of The Ramsey.

At the same time the raider, the German auxiliary minelayer SMS Meteor, fired a torpedo shattering The Ramsey's Stern.

Fifty two of The Ramsey's crew were killed; 46 were picked up by the Meteor, which in peacetime had been the Vienna, trading between Hamburg and Leith.

The Ramsey went down in four minutes. The Ramsey's wreck position is given as LAT:59°36'N. LON:001°25'W.

The next day British Forces overwhelmed the Meteor, who transferred her prisoners to neutral ships then scuttled herself.