SS Mona's Queen (1852)

SS (RMS) Mona's Queen (I) No. 21930 – the first vessel in the Company's history to bear the name – was an iron paddle-steamer which was owned and operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

For other ships with the same name, see Mona's Queen.

Mona's Queen.
History
Name: Mona's Queen
Owner: 1853–1880: IOMSPCo
Operator: 1853–1880: IOMSPCo
Port of registry: Douglas, Isle of Man
Builder: J. and G. Thomson of Clydebank[1]
Cost: No official record, thought to be in the region of £14,000.
Yard number: 6[1]
Laid down: 1852
Launched: 27 November 1852
Completed: 1853
In service: February 1853
Out of service: 1880
Identification:
Fate: Scrapped 1880
General characteristics
Tonnage: 600 GT
Length: Initially 170 ft 0 in (51.8 m) lengthened to 186 ft 0 in (56.7 m) following refit.
Beam: 27 ft 0 in (8.2 m)
Depth: 13 ft (4.0 m)
Installed power: Not Recorded.
Propulsion: Side Lever Engine
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)

Construction and dimensions

Mona's Queen was built and engined by J. & G. Thomson of Govan, Glasgow and launched in 1852. She had a registered tonnage of 600 tons; length 186'; beam 27' and depth 13'. Her speed is recorded as 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), and her horsepower is not recorded.[1]

Mona's Queen carried a figurehead of Queen Victoria, and was the first vessel to break away from the Company's long association with Robert Napier & Co. The vessel's cost is not recorded, but a reference in the Company's old minute book suggests it was under £14,000. In 1855 she was lengthened (details not recorded) at a cost of £2,111.

Service life
An early photograph of Mona's Queen, alongside the Red Pier, Douglas.

Mona's Queen appears to have had a pretty uneventful career, with the exception of a collision with the steamer Sligo, which occurred in the River Mersey in January 1862. The official inquiry went against the Steam Packet Company who had to pay approximately £300 in damages and costs. The Captain was accordingly reduced from Second Class Master to Third, and his pay was cut from £275 to £250.

An 1856 image of King Orry, Mona's Queen & Tynwald.

Disposal

After ten years service the directors decided to sell the ship and offered it to Cunard, Wilson an Co. for £20,000.

The offer was declined, and negotiations started with a Whitehaven company for a sale at £14,000.

Midway through 1864 the directors admitted they could not sell the vessel. Mona's Queen therefore continued in the Company's service until she was broken up in 1880.

References
  1. J & G Thomson Ships.
Bibliography
  • Chappell, Connery (1980). Island Lifeline T.Stephenson & Sons Ltd ISBN 0-901314-20-X
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