TS Sarnia (I)
Roy Thornton Collection
Steel triple screw turbine vessel, built in 1910 by Cammell, Laird & Co. Ltd., Birkenhead (Yard No. 335) as a mail/passenger ship.
Technical Data
- Length: 90.83 m (overall) 86.7 m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth: 11.89 m
- Depth: 4.8 m
- Draught: m
- Tonnage: 1498 gross/598 net/990 t deadweight
- Engines: 1 x High Pressure and 2 Low Pressure Parsons wing steam turbines
- Power: 4800 kW/6350 shp
- Speed: 20.5 knots
- Capacity: 980 – 1474 passengers
- Call Sign: RJQV, HSLT
- ID Number: 558 (LR 1939)
- Official Number: 131771 (LR 1912)
- Port of Registry: Southampton/UK 🇬🇧
- Sister-ships: Caesarea (II) (223/761)
History
March 30th1910: Due to be delivered but, due to strikes at the yard, her entry into service was delayed by a full year.
July 9th 1910: Launched.
December 23rd1910: Initial Sea trials on the River Mersey. The troubles experienced by her sister CAESAREA (II) led to modifications.
April 1st 1911: Final trials on the Mersey.
Roy Thornton Collection
April 13th 1911: Delivered to London & South Western Railway Co and made her maiden voyage between Southampton – Channel Islands. She spent very little time on the route as, due to their heavy fuel consumption, she and her sister usually spent the winter laid up off Netley in Southampton Water. The SARNIA would be overhauled in time to operate to the Channel Islands in April and May each year before taking up the St Malo route for the summer, at the end of which she was again laid up.
May 1912: Extra lifesaving equipment was added to the ship, and this included two lifeboats on the bridge deck, but this caused the ship to roll even more than before.
Roy Thornton Collection
November 20th1914: Made her last trip from the Channel Islands before the war.
November 1914: Commandeered by the Admiralty and converted at Southampton to an Armed Boarding Vessel by Harland & Wolff at Southampton, being fitted with two 12-pounder guns. Based at Plymouth.
1915: Armed Boarding Vessel duties ceased and converted into a transport.
February 1915: Sent to the Mediterranean for the Dardenelles campaign.
October 28th – 29th 1915: Collided with and sank the Dover-based railway cargo steamer HYTHE (I) off Cape Helles. The bows of the SARNIA were badly damaged.
May 1916: Mentioned in dispatches for her work as a ferry plying between Mudros and the Peninsular carrying troops and military stores.
September 12th 1918: Torpedoed and sunk off Alexandria.
All information is believed to be correct, and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
