SS Laura (1885)

SS Laura was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1885.[1]

For other ships with the same name, see SS Laura.

History
Name:
  • 1885-1928:SS Laura
  • 1828-1937:SS City of Nassau
Operator:
Port of registry:
Builder: Aitken and Mansel, Whiteinch
Yard number: 132
Launched: 20 March 1885
Out of service: 1937
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage: 641 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 207 feet (63 m)
Beam: 26.8 feet (8.2 m)
Draught: 13.3 feet (4.1 m)
Installed power: 200 hp

History

The ship was built of Siemens Martin steel by the Aitken and Mansel of Whiteinch and launched on 20 March 1885[2] by Miss Alice Fleming of Eltham Kent. She had accommodation for about 150 passengers, exclusive of third class passengers.

On 27 January 1886 she was on a voyage from Southampton to St Malo when the bottom of her high-pressure cylinder blew out, scalding one of the firemen, and disabling the ship about 15 miles north of Guernsey. The tugs Rescue and Alert were sent from Guernsey to render her assistance.[3]

In 1910, 21 miles south of the Needle’s lighthouse, she collided with the Norwegian ship Sophie, of Lavinia, bound from Caleta Buena for Hamburg loaded with nitrate. The Sophie was struck on the starboard quarter and started to flood.[4]

In January 1911 she collided with her sister ship Lydia during a dense fog off the Needles[5] and on 14 January 1914 the Hamburg-Amerika Company’s tender Ariadne collided with her.[6]

She was taken over in 1923 by the Southern Railway. On 6 November 1925 she fractured her rudder on a trip from St Malo to Southampton. She was picked up by the steamer Magic Star and towed to the entrance of Southampton water. [7]

She was sold to the Bahamas Shipping Company in 1927 in Nassau, and the Florida Inter-Island Steam Ship Company, Nassau in 1928 when she was renamed City of Nassau. She was scrapped in 1937.

References
  1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
  2. "Launch of a new South-Western Steamer". The Star. England. 26 March 1885. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Fatal Explosion on a Steamer". Morning Post. England. 28 January 1886. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Collision at Sea. Help Summoned by Wireless". Shields Daily Gazette. England. 9 April 1910. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Railway Steamer Damaged". Portsmouth Evening News. England. 24 January 1911. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "Storm Accidents at Cherbourg". Coventry Evening Telegraph. England. 15 January 1914. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Crippled Steamer". Aberdeen Journal. Scotland. 9 November 1925. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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