SS Snaefell (1948)

TSS Snaefell V - the fifth ship in the Company's history to bear the name - was a passenger vessel operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company from 1948 to 1978. Her purchase cost was £504,448.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see Snaefell (ship).

Snaefell pictured departing Douglas, Isle of Man
History
Name: Snaefell
Owner: 1948–1978: IOMSPCo.
Operator: 1948–1978: IOMSPCo
Port of registry: Douglas, Isle of Man
Builder: Cammell Laird
Cost: £504,448
Yard number: 1192
Launched: 11 March 1948
Maiden voyage: 24 July 1948
In service: July 1948
Out of service: August 1978
Identification:
Fate: Acquired by the Rochadale Metal Recovery Company, and scrapped at Blyth, 1978.
General characteristics
Tonnage: 2,489 GRT
Propulsion: Steam turbine driven screw-propellers
Speed: 21.5 knots (24.7 mph)

Dimensions

Snaefell had a registered tonnage of 2489 GRT, but otherwise her dimensions, speed, horsepower and crew accommodation were similar to her three predecessors; Tynwald, Mona's Queen and King Orry.

History
Snaefell is launched at Birkenhead 11 March 1948.

She was built at Cammell Laird, as the fourth of six ships - the six sisters - delivered by the company between 1946 and 1955 at a cost of £504,448 (equivalent to £18,478,162 as of 2019),[3]. Snaefell was launched by Mrs J. R. Quayle on Thursday, 11 March 1948. Upon her completion she underwent her sea trials on 19 & 20 July of that year, and made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Douglas on 24 July.

Service life

Snaefell and her younger sister Mona's Isle were the last ships on the Company's Heysham-Douglas service when it closed towards the end of August 1974.

Apart from an accident when she fouled her anchor off Llandudno in July 1976 and consequently missed a sailing, Snaefell enjoyed an efficient and uneventful career.

However, the predominance built up by the Steam Packet's car ferries in the 1970s, made it sensible to withdraw another traditionally designed ship.

Disposal

Snaefell made her final sailing from Douglas on August Bank Holiday Monday, 1977, and was then laid up in Bidston Dock, Birkenhead. Following her withdrawal from service, she was sold to the Rochdale Metal Recovery Co. for scrap in 1978, and in November of that year, she was taken under tow to Blyth for breaking up.

Trivia

The ship's bell from the Snaefell was salvaged by a former member of her ship's company upon whose death it was passed down to his son who retains it as part of a private collection in St John's, Isle of Man.

RMS Snaefell
  • Snaefell pictured berthed at the King Edward VIII Pier, Douglas
  • Snaefell in Steam Packet service

References
  1. Ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (Fred Henry) p.66
  2. Shipping world & shipbuilder: Volume 165. 1972
  3. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
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