SS Little Western (1858)

SS Little Western was a passenger vessel operated by the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company from 1858 to 1871 and the West Cornwall Steam Ship Company from 1871 to 1872.[3]

History
Name1858–1872: S.S. Little Western
Operator
Port of registryUnited Kingdom
Route
BuilderJames Henderson & Sons
Yard number25
Launched4 November 1858[1]
Out of service6 October 1872[2]
FateWrecked on Southward Wells Reef
General characteristics
Tonnage105 gross register tons (GRT)
Length115 ft (35 m)
Beam18 ft (5.5 m)

History

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The Little Western was built by James Henderson and Son at Renfrew as a two cylinder iron screw steam schooner and launched on 4 November 1858.

She was operated from operated by the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company from 1858 to 1871. Captain Tregarthen was captain of the Little Western from 1859 to 1870. She transferred from the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company to the West Cornwall company in 1871 for the sum of £2,640 (equivalent to £310,000 in 2023).[4]

Only a few weeks after the loss of the company’s other ship, the Paddle Steamer Earl of Arran, she was wrecked on Southward Wells Reef, off Samson on 6 October 1872 while attempting to give assistance to a disabled brigantine ship, Due Fratelli.[5]

 
 
Approximate position of Little Western's wreck

References

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  1. ^ "Launch at Renfrew". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow. 5 November 1858. Retrieved 10 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ McFarland, F (1927). "Shipwrecks of Scilly 1841 to 1880". Scillonian. 11.
  3. ^ Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
  4. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Total Loss of the Little Western". Cornubian and Redruth Times. Cornwall. 11 October 1872. Retrieved 10 October 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.