Builders: Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd Glasgow 1896
Propulsion type: Paddle compound diagonal
Owner: Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd
Service dates: 1896 - 1949
Tonnage: Gross 302
Comments:
This picture shows Duchess of York during Cowes week and in her original condition, with her bridge aft of her funnel. This arrangement was altered after a fatal accident in November 1914, when she ran down a fishing vessel, killing one of the fishermen. The resulting inquest decided that the view ahead from the bridge had been obscured by her funnel. She was sold for minesweeping duties in 1916 and repurchased in 1921. Her name was changed in 1928 after a request from the Canadian Pacific Line that they be able to use the title Duchess of York. She was then renamed Duchess of Cornwall. She was unfit for service in the Second World War and whilst she was dispatched with the intention of assisting in the Dunkirk evacuation she did not complete the trip owing to fuel problems. In 1940 she was sunk during an air raid but was raised and repaired. She performed the first excursion to Ryde after the war, although was withdrawn from excursion duties the following season. She was scrapped in the winter of 1949/50 at Southampton.