Tod & Macgregor Shiplist

 

Yard No.:

 121

Name:

 BRITON

Year:

 1862

Description:

 Paddle Steamer

Webpage:

 

Picture:

 Yes

Tonnage:

 487

Length:

 175.7

Width:

 24.1

H.P.:

 150

Type:

 

Customer:

 Bristol General Steam Navigation Co. later Portpatrick and the Carrickfergus & Larne Railway Companies

Fate:

 Broken up 1892

Points of Note:

 

Date of Launch:

 

Notes:

          This was the first steamer regularly employed between Larne and Stranraer. She made her first crossing from Stranraer in the morning of 2nd October 1862 when the weather was so bad that she took about four hours to get across. She was employed for fourteen months on the North Channel during which time she left Stranraer in the morning and returned from Larne in the evening; her passage was advertised to ‘take under three hours’. In December 1863 she was acquired by the Bristol SN Co. which used her on the Bristol Channel-South of Ireland service until 1890.

 

          The Briton worked the Bristol to Waterford route between 1864-1869, but took the Bristol to Ilfracombe route in 1866, the Bristol to Cork route in 1867 and worked the Bristol to Wexford route between 1867 and 1890. The main work was Bristol to Waterford between 1864-1866 and Bristol to Wexford between 1867 and 1890

 

          She was lengthened in 1876.

 

          The Briton was involved in a melee, in the circumstances not uncommon, when entering the Avon on the early tide of 24th November 1886. The Comeragh had a crew of 22, no passengers, and a number of cattle; she had left Waterford at 2pm on the 23rd and arrived at Kingsroad at 10.40am on the following day.

 

          When captain Coffey judged the tide saved, at about 2.15pm, he moved into the river, but soon grounded. The Cork Company's Cormorant was close astern and also grounded. The Briton, of shallower draught, then passed and the wash of her paddles lifted the Comeragh clear, but the small Turner, Edwards Bordeaux packet Ossian, coming up fast with the tide, could not keep clear and was driven athwart the Comeragh's stern, With so many packets competing to be first in the locks, river navigation must indeed have needed strong nerves. The Comeragh was repaired and continued serving.

 

          She was purchased by the Waterford SS Co in September 1890 who continued to use her in the same trade for just over a year; she was sold for breaking up in 1892, after the introduction of the Menapia.

[Irish Passenger Steamship Services, D.B. McNeill] [West Country Passenger Steamers, Farr]