TSS St Julien (1925)

TSS St Julien was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1925.[1]

History
Name: 1925-1960: TSS St Julien
Operator:
Port of registry:
Route:
  • 1925-1939: Weymouth - Channel Isles
  • 1945-1960: Weymouth - Channel Isles
Builder: John Brown and Company, Clydebank
Yard number: 509
Launched: 23 February 1925
Out of service: 12 April 1961
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Tonnage: 1,885 gross register tons (GRT)
Length: 282.2 feet (86.0 m)
Beam: 40 feet (12 m)
Draught: 13 feet (4.0 m)
Propulsion: 4 parsons steam turbines
Speed: 18 kts

History

TSS St Julien was built by John Brown and Company as one of a pair of vessels, with TSS St Helier for the Weymouth to the Channel Islands service. She arrived in Weymouth from the Clyde on 4 May 1925.[2]

The captain, Charles Hamon Langdon, was found dead in his cabin during a voyage from the Channel Islands to Weymouth in September 1927.[3]

She had two funnels but one was a dummy and this was removed in 1928.

On 1 October 1937 she went to the assistance of the French steamer Briseis which had struck the rocks near Grand Roccque, Guernsey.[4]

When war broke out in 1939 she was put to use ferrying troops but very quickly converted into a hospital ship. She took part in the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk and Cherbourg in 1940. She spent the remainder of the war as a hospital ship, including a period operating in the Mediterranean and supporting the D Day landings. She was damaged by a mine on 7 June 1944 but repaired and resumed service on 24 June 1944.

Afterwards she returned to Weymouth for further railway service which lasted until 27 September 1960.[5] She was sent to Van Heyghen Freres, Ghent in March 1961 for scrapping.

References
  1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
  2. "New Great Western Steamer". Derby Daily Telegraph. Derby. 5 May 1925. Retrieved 15 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Captain dies on duty". Aberdeen Journal. Aberdeen. 24 September 1927. Retrieved 15 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "French Crew Escape in Own Boats". Western Daily Press. England. 2 October 1937. Retrieved 15 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. Lucking, J.H. (1971). The Great Western at Weymouth. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5135-4.
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