A Vessel
TSS
Manxman
was a turbine steamship launched in 1904 for the
Midland Railway
and operated between
Heysham
and
Douglas, Isle of Man
. In 1916, she was
commissioned
by the
Royal Navy
as HMS
Manxman
and saw action as a
seaplane carrier
during the
First World War
, after which she was acquired by the
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
. On the outbreak of the
Second World War
she was again requisitioned as a troop ship, until she was commissioned and her name changed to
HMS
Caduceus
. She never returned to Manx waters, and was scrapped in August 1949.
Building and dimensions
[
edit
]
Vickers, Sons & Maxim
built
Manxman
at
Barrow-in-Furness
. Her
keel
was laid in 1903
[
citation needed
]
and she was launched on 15 June 1904.
[1]
She was a steel-hulled ship with a registered length of 334.0 ft (101.8 m), beam of 43.1 ft (13.1 m) and depth of 17.3 ft (5.3 m). As built, her
tonnages
were 2,174
GRT
and 629
NRT
. She had three
screws
, each driven by a
steam turbine
.
[2]
Her boilers' working pressure was 200
psi
and her turbines developed 10,000
indicated horsepower
resulting in a service speed of 22 knots (41 km/h). She was certificated to carry 2,020 passengers and had a crew of 80.
[
citation needed
]
The Midland Railway
registered
her at Douglas. Her UK
official number
was 118603 and until 1933 her
code letters
were HMRS.
[2]
By 1930 her
call sign
was GFPS.
[3]
Service
[
edit
]
Midland Railway
[
edit
]
Manxman
was completed in September 1904 and entered Midland Railway service on the Heysham to Douglas run. The
Admiralty
requisitioned her in January 1915.
First World War: HMS
Manxman
[
edit
]
Manxman
was converted for her
wartime
role at
Chatham Dockyard
. The conversion included two aircraft hangars and a flying-off deck. She was commissioned as HMS
Manxman
on 17 April 1916. Her operating aircraft included
Sopwith Baby
,
Sopwith Pup
,
Sopwith Camel
and
Short Type 184
. She served with the
Grand Fleet
until October 1917, and was then transferred to the
Eastern Mediterranean
.
Manxman
lacked the speed of her fellow seaplane carriers
Ben-my-Chree
and
Viking
, and she had lost her place in the entourage of the
Grand Fleet
because her conversion had made her just too slow. The
C-in-C
of the Fleet,
Admiral Beatty
, wrote a letter from
HMS
Iron Duke
on 11 January 1917, in which he said that the
Manxman
was unfit for service with the
Battle Cruiser Fleet
"owing to her lack of speed"
- these last six words were added in Beatty's own handwriting.
However,
Manxman
made one contribution to aviation history. She had introduced the
Sopwith Pup
single-seat fighter, and this aircraft could take off from her launching platform in only 20 feet in a 20-knot wind.
The mathematics were in the fighter's favour; its
wing loading
was only five pounds per square foot and its
power loading
16.4 pounds per horsepower; thus producing a significant
power-to-weight ratio
. This small machine had a
Le Rhone
engine of 80 hp, giving it a speed of 112 mph at sea level and 103 mph at 9,000 feet. Flotation bags were used to enable it to land alongside the
Manxman
, and it was then hoisted aboard. At the war's end she was sent down to East Africa, arriving in Zanzibar on 22 November, before returning to Britain, where she arrived at
Plymouth
on the same day as the
Viking
. HMS
Manxman
was
paid off
in May 1919, and released from requisition on
Christmas Eve
of that year.
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
[
edit
]
Of eleven Steam Packet ships either bought or chartered by the Admiralty in the
Great War
, only four returned to service with the company after the cessation of hostilities, and consequently, new ships were going to be needed to handle the resumption of peacetime traffic.
However, industry as a whole was in a disorganised and seriously run-down state after the challenges of the war years, and new ships could not possibly be built in time for the tourist influx of 1919.
The company compromised, and starting with the purchase of
Mona
, they set about redressing their wartime losses.
The
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
bought
Manxman
from the Admiralty in March 1920, and she was the first ship in the line's history to be so named. She kept her original name. Upon her purchase, being the largest steamship in the fleet,
Manxman
became the Commodore Ship under
Captain
Cain, a position she retained until the introduction into service of the
Ben-my-Chree
in 1927.
She was converted to burn oil in 1921, and was the first company ship to use oil fuel.
Manxman
and her sister
Manx Maid
, were at first the only two ships sailing in 1926, the year of the
General Strike
, when the
miners' dispute
made it nearly impossible for coal-fired ships to operate.
Manxman
operated to every one of the numerous ports then served by the Steam Packet. Known as a reliable ship, she enjoyed a trouble free life until she once again found herself at war.
Second World War: HMS
Caduceus
[
edit
]
The
Manxman
had started the
Great War
in the colours of the Midland Railway, and had been converted to a seaplane carrier. During the Second World War, however, she was requisitioned by the
Ministry of War Transport
as a personnel ship.
Manxman
served alongside seven of her Steam Packet sisters during
Operation Dynamo
. On 29 May, she was one of ten personnel ships which together took off 14,760 troops from the East Pier. She returned to
Dunkirk
on the morning of 2 June, when the operation was getting near its close, and embarked 177 troops.
In all,
Manxman
evacuated 2,394 men.
No sooner had she returned from her final journey to Dunkirk, she was ordered west to
Dartmouth
, where she had the ironical experience of being fired on by a small guard boat that had obviously not been alerted to her arrival. Within a few hours she was redirected to
Southampton
, and this was to be the start of the most active phase of
Manxman
'
s war.
The evacuation of the ports of north-west France was beginning, and
Manxman
'
s crew knew the coast well, having spent some months before Dunkirk carrying troops to
Le Havre
and
Cherbourg
. Within what seemed a few days she made a succession of trips to the French ports under the command of Captain P. B. Cowley. At Cherbourg she embarked retreating
Allied troops
as the enemy approached the port, and returned to Southampton, often under air attack. Once back on the South Coast of England she disembarked the men she had brought back, refuelled, and was off again almost at once. It was dangerous and sleepless work well remembered by
veterans
from the
Manxman'
s officers and crew, among whom were Chief Officer Lyndhurst Callow, and Second Officer A. W. G. Kissack, who later became the company's Marine Superintendent. As the days advanced the
shelling
came nearer, the raids more frequent, and the Cherbourg harbour area necessarily more congested with survival boats,
wrecks
and the debris of battle. It was
"
Dunkirk
"
again, but on a smaller scale. Meanwhile the
Manxman
, with no protective armament of her own, continued to venture in and out of the firing.
As conditions became desperate and further Allied evacuation became impossible, the
destroyer
L.11. was specifically sent at full speed of 36 knots from
Portsmouth
to help cover the
Manxman
'
s escape. Chief Officer Callow, who survived to become
Commodore
of the Steam Packet Company fleet, vividly recalled how the ship eventually pulled out from Cherbourg:
"The large cranes along the dockside had been blasted and broken, and were one of the many hazards to shipping.
Tanks
were approaching the harbour area; the remnants of the Allied armies were fighting them off as best they could. The
Manxman
herself was laden with troops and with stacked ammunition, small arms and even field weapons saved from the catastrophe ? one hit from an enemy aircraft could have blown up the entire ship."
Despite the odds,
Manxman
escaped, with her crew having been forced to cut her mooring ropes with axes. The
Manxman
then pulled out, thanks to fire cover from a
Royal Navy
destroyer, which had turned her forward guns on to the German tank column as it advanced down the quayside.
Rommel
is even said to have referred to her in his papers, describing her as a "cheeky two-funnel steamer". When
Manxman
pulled out for the last time, Rommel's main army was only a few miles away.
[6]
The
Manxman
'
s main duties were at Cherbourg, but she was also deeply involved at the small port of
St Malo
, to the east, where she was the last ship to leave the shattered harbour.
In October 1941, she was fitted out as an RDF ?
Radio Direction Finding
Vessel ? and having been taken over for the second time by the Admiralty, she was commissioned as HMS
Caduceus
. She was then ordered to her former home port of Douglas, where on
Douglas Head
there was situated one of the early
radar
training stations -
HMS
Valkyrie
.
From Douglas she spent some time on patrol in the
Irish Sea
, while naval personnel were initiated into the workings of radio direction finding. Her work was not without its mishaps, and
Caduceus
was twice damaged when colliding with the Victoria Pier, Douglas, and was sent to
Belfast
for repairs.
After her repairs, the Admiralty removed her from the station as it was decreed that
Douglas Harbour
was not suitable for a ship of her size ? a strange finding, bearing in mind that Douglas had for so many years been her home port.
Caduceus
made passage to the
River Clyde
and continued her radar training duties, only to be driven ashore near
Greenock
in a fierce gale in February 1943.
She was reconditioned with her own name restored, and
Manxman
then returned to personnel vessel duties.
She acted as a troop carrier and eventually moved to the traffic between
Harwich
and
Tilbury
and the Belgian and Dutch ports, bringing over service personnel, civilians and
displaced persons
.
Disposal
[
edit
]
Transferred to
Ministry of War Transport
in 1945, she worked as a troop carrier in the English Channel. Transferred to
British Army of the Rhine
(B.A.O.R.) military service as
"Manxman"
, troop carrying on the Harwich-Hook of Holland service. She was never to return home to Manx waters, and after a somewhat punishing but nonetheless adventurous life, she was withdrawn in February 1949, no longer fit for use, and was subsequently laid up at
Barrow-in-Furness
.
Manxman
was scrapped in August 1949 at
Preston, Lancashire
.
Popular culture
[
edit
]
Life buoys
displaying the name "
SS Manxman
" are featured in the 1935 film
No Limit
, starring
George Formby
. In the film the main character is sailing to participate in the
Isle of Man TT
. As Formby's character approaches the Prince's Landing Stage at
Liverpool
, the ship seen at the berth is not
Manxman
, but
Mona's Queen
adorned in the Steam Packet's summer livery of white and green ? this livery was only ever applied to
Mona's Queen
,
Lady of Mann
and
Ben-my-Chree
.
During a following scene, Formby is required to retrieve the hat of a lady, which he had inadvertently knocked over the ship's side.
In his attempt to return the hat, Formby falls into the water and people on board the ship throw
life buoys
to him with "
SS Manxman
" clearly visible. As this scene was shot in a studio, the conclusion must be that the life buoys were made specifically for the scene, and are merely
theatrical props
.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"Manxman"
.
Shipping and Shipbuilding
. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust
. Retrieved
27 September
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Mercantile Navy List
. London. 1906. p. 280
. Retrieved
27 September
2022
– via Crew List Index Project.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Mercantile Navy List
. London. 1930. p. 349
. Retrieved
27 September
2022
– via Crew List Index Project.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Isle of Man Times
, Saturday, 30 May 1953, Page 3
References
[
edit
]
- Chappell, Connery (1980).
Island Lifeline
. Prescot: T Stephenson & Sons Ltd.
ISBN
0-901314-20-X
.
- Dittmar, FJ & Colledge, JJ (1972)
British Warships 1914?1919
London, Ian Allan.
ISBN
0-7110-0380-7
- Gray, Randal (ed) (1985).
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906?1921
. London, Conway Maritime Press.
ISBN
0-85177-245-5
- Haws, Duncan (1993).
Britain's railway steamers: north western & eastern companies + Zeeland and Stena
. Hereford: TCL Publications.
ISBN
0-946378-22-3
.
OCLC
29846418
.
- Henry, Fred (1962).
Ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
. Glasgow: Brown & Ferguson.
- Lenton, HT & Colledge, JJ (1973).
Warships of World War II
. London, Ian Allan.
ISBN
0-7110-0403-X
- Young, John (1975).
A Dictionary of Ships of the Royal Navy of the Second World War
. Cambridge, Patrick Stephens Ltd.
ISBN
0-85059-332-8
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Current fleet
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Former vessels (1830-99)
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Former vessels (1900-98)
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1
= New as
Mona's Isle
,
2
= Chartered
|