PS Ripon

The PS Ripon was a paddlesteamer built at Money Wigram's Blackwall Yard[1] in 1846 for P&O.

For other uses, see Ripon (disambiguation).

History
United Kingdom
Name: PS Ripon
Namesake: Ripon, a city in Yorkshire, England
Owner:
  • 1846-1870: P&O [1][2]
  • 1870: Caird & Co[2]
  • 1870-1871: Matthew Wilson and Joesph McLay
  • 1871-1880: George Turnbull and J. R. Greig[2]
  • 1880: Gregory Turnbull[2]
Route: Mediterranean Sea to the UK
Builder: Money Wigram and Sons, Blackwall[1]
Cost: £66,000[2]
Launched: 27 June 1846[1][2]
Homeport: London[2]
Fate: Scuttled at sea off Port of Spain in 1880.[2]
General characteristics
Type: Paddlesteamer
Tonnage: 1,508 GT[1][2]
Length:
  • 1846-1861: 217.3 ft (66.2 m)[2]
  • 1861-1870: 276.75 ft (84.35 m)[2]
Beam: 33.9 ft (10.3 m)[2]
Depth: 28.4 ft (8.7 m)[2]
Decks: 4[2]
Installed power:
  • 1846-1861: 900 horsepower (670 kW)[2]
  • 1861-1870: 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW)[2]
  • 1870-1880: engines removed[2]
Complement:
  • 1st class passengers: 22[2]
  • 2nd class passengers: 109[2]
  • Troops: 1,000 on deck[2]
Crew: 60[2]

Operational history

On 12 October 1847, the maiden voyage of the Ripon to Malta and Alexandria was abandoned due to gale force winds. The ship put into Torbay in order to repair damage it had sustained.[2]

In 1850, Ripon brought Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal and his entourage to the UK, docking at the port of Southampton on 25 May 1850.[3] A large collection of wild animals was also carried aboard the Ripon including the first hippopotamus[2] seen in England since Roman times, which became known as the Regent's Park Hippo.[4]

The Ripon was requisitioned in 1854 for use in the Crimean War[5] along with 11 other Peninsular and Oriental ships. In 1857, it was reported in Scientific American that the Ripon was to be fitted with a propeller.[6] In 1864 the PS Ripon brought Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi to the United Kingdom for a meeting with Prime Minister Henry Palmerston.[2] Three years later in 1870 the engines of the Ripon were sold and the vessel was converted into a brig for Caird & Co in Greenock.[7][2]

In 1880, after serving as a hulk in Trinidad and Tobago, the Ripon was scuttled at sea near Port of Spain.[2]

References
  1. "The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's ships, Indus and Ripon". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  2. "Ripon - Money & H. L. Wigram". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. Rana, Subodh. "A tale of two cities in Jung Bahadur's life and times". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  4. "Regent's Park hippo". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  5. "The Old Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company: On Their Majesty's Service". Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  6. Lunn, O. D. J; Wales, S. H.; Beach, A. E. (9 May 1857). "Screw versus Paddle" (PDF). Scientific American. 12 (35): 278. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican05091857-278k. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  7. Robins, Nick (2012). The Coming of the Comet: The Rise and Fall of the Paddle Steamer. p. 27. ISBN 978 1-84832-134-2.
Includes an excerpt from a medic, Dr. W. Home, Staff Surgeon, 2nd Class, from 1848-1849 on the PS Ripon.
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