Malines, by A. J. Jansen
History
Name
  • 1921-1940: TSS Malines
  • 1940-1948: HMS Malines
Operator
BuilderArmstrong, Whitworth and Company
Yard number972
Launched6 January 1921
Maiden voyage21 March 1922
Out of serviceApril 1948
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage2,969 gross register tons (GRT)
Length320.7 feet (97.7 m)
Beam43.2 feet (13.2 m)
Depth25.7 feet (7.8 m)
Installed power1525 nhp
Propulsion4 Brown-Curtis steam turbines
Speed21 knots
Capacity360 passengers

TSS Malines was a passenger vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1921.[1]

History

The ship was built by Armstrong Whitworth and Company in High Walker and launched on 6 January 1921[2] by Mrs. John Kenneth Foster. She was a sister ship for the Antwerp and Bruges which were introduced on the Harwich to Antwerp service in 1920. She made her maiden voyage to Antwerp on 21 March 1922.[3] The Great Eastern Railway was taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway company in 1923.

In 1932 she was in collision with the tanker Hanseat, and was run on to a sandbank in the River Scheldt. She was refloated by six tugs and towed up the river to be docked in Antwerp.[4] On 7 May 1933 she was in collision in the fairway off Flushing with the Swedish steamer Jamaica (945 tons), and the collision resulted in the sinking of the Jamaica.[5] In 1936 she was in collision with the Dutch vessel Almkirk (6,810 tons), but there were no casualties.[6]

In 1940 she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Malines. She was used as an auxiliary Convoy Escort Vessel. On 19 July 1942 she was torpedoed by German aircraft and beached near Port Said, Egypt. She was refloated in January 1943 and used as a training hulk through the end of the War.[7] In June 1945 she was towed by Empire tug Susan from Port Said to Falmouth, but the journey was delayed when the hold filled with water between Gibraltar and Lisbon.[8] She eventually returned to the Tyne on 8 November 1945.

References

  1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
  2. "New Railway Steamer". Gloucester Chronicle. England. 15 January 1921. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Coaled by a special process…". Tamworth Herald. England. 25 March 1922. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Off sandbank". Western Morning News. England. 11 July 1932. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "British Ship in Collision". Dundee Courier. Scotland. 8 May 1933. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "The L.N.E.R. steamer Malines…". Gloucestershire Echo. England. 20 March 1936. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Malines". Iner.info. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  8. "Wrecks, casualties etc". Western Morning News. England. 14 June 1945. Retrieved 4 November 2015 via British Newspaper Archive.
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