Tod & Macgregor Shiplist
Yard No.: |
24 (estimated) |
Name: |
|
Year: |
1842 |
Description: |
Paddle Steamer |
Webpage: |
|
Picture: |
|
Tonnage: |
500 |
Length: |
166.6 |
Width: |
30.8 |
H.P.: |
250 |
Type: |
Iron |
Customer: |
|
Fate: |
1870 |
Points of Note: |
Built for Ardrossan & Belfast route |
Date of Launch: |
|
Notes:
The first steamship owned by the North Lancashire SN Co was the iron-hulled Prince of Wales. She was built in 1842 for the company's Fleetwood-Ardrossan service. In March 1843 she opened the Belfast-Fleetwood-Ardrossan service. In March 1843 she opened the Belfast-Fleetwood route and for the next seventeen years was regularly employed on it.
In the early 1860s she was chartered for a few weeks on both the Belfast-Liverpool and Belfast-Ardrossan routes and in 1863 was chartered by the Great Eastern Railway for the opening of the Harwich-Rotterdam service, fore-runner of today's Harwich-Hook route. After this she returned to Belfast and worked to Silloth until 1865. In her early days she was a popular excursion steamer.
In June 1849 she and the Adrossan steamer Fire Fly went on what must have been, with two steamers, a monster excursion to Rathlin. In July of the same year she acted as flag-ship for the Belfast Harbour Commissioners at the opening of the Victoria Channel.
[Irish Passenger Steamship Services, D.B. McNeill]