Builders: Blackwood & Gordon, Port Glasgow 1871
Propulsion type: Paddle, 2 cylinder single diagonal
Owner: Port of Portsmouth & Ryde Utd Steam Packet Co, London & South Western & London, Brighton & South Coast Railway Companies, South Coast and Continental Steamers, Edwin Hunt
Service dates: 1871 - 1903
Tonnage: Gross 271
Comments:
This little iron hulled steamer was built for the Duke of Hamilton's Commissioners for service on the Ardrossan Arran route. Whilst she is said to have been fast, she was uneconomical owing to her heavy coal consumption and she was sold for use on the South Coast after five seasons, although reference sources are confused on this. At one time it seems there were two Heather Bells on the South Coast, probably between 1876-79. In 1886 during a particularly foggy spell, PS Heather Bell almost wrecked herself off the Isle of Wight when rounding the Needles rocks. She had misjudged her position and nearly went through the Needles, but was saved by a fisherman in a small boat who shouted a warning to her crew! She changed hands a number of times and ended her career on charter work on the Clyde.