PS Mona's Isle
1830 Built by John Wood and Co. 116 ft. 200 tons. Engines by Robert Napier and Sons. Owned by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co
‘Cross-Channel and Coastal Paddle Steamers’ by George Frank Burtt
The company’s first steamer was named MONA’S ISLE and was a wooden vessel, built by John Wood of Glasgow and engined by Robert Napier, It was launched on June 30th, 1830, and was 116 feet long between perpendiculars, had 19 feet breadth of beam and a moulded depth of 10 feet; the gross tonnage was 200 and the n.h.p. 100.
The MONA’S ISLE was one of the most efficient steamers of her day and with a speed of 8.5 knots was comparatively fast, averaging about eight hours for the passage between Liverpool and Douglas. She was fitted with two side lever engines, this type of engine being at this period the most popular design with marine engine builders. In fact, it was generally adopted for use in ocean-going boats until the year 1850. Instead of being amidships, the paddle boxes were well forward and she had one very tall funnel behind the paddles, a clipper bow and sprit, two masts, a square stern and square portholes.
She arrived at Douglas on 14th August, 183O, and on the following day made a trip to the Menai Bridge with her owners aboard. The next day, the 16th, she made her first passage from Douglas to Liverpool: her rival, the SOPHIA JANE, of the St. George Company, started at the same time and defeated her by one and a half minutes. This was, however, the SOPHIA JANE'S first and last victory. As is often the case with new steamers, the MONA'S ISLE did not attain her full speed during her early passages, since she afterwards proved herself about forty minutes faster than her rival, and on one occasion, in a gale, she beat her by as much as three hours and twenty-four minutes.
The St. George Company, not relishing these defeats, withdrew their largest and fastest steamer, ST. GEORGE, from the Irish station, and put her on the Douglas-Liverpool station. She was, however, almost invariably beaten by the MONA'S ISLE.
After three months of racing came a catastrophe, which practically put an end to any further competition between the two companies. On the 20th November, 1830, both vessels arrived from Liverpool; the captain of the MONA'S ISLE, foreseeing a south-easterly gale, which is “inshore” at Douglas, put to sea again. The ST. GEORGE did not follow her example, but anchored in the bay. During the night, the ST. GEORGE parted her cable, struck upon Conister and went to pieces.
The St. George Steam Packet Company (which ultimately merged into the City of Cork Steam Packet Company) determined to continue the struggle, but they did so in a very half-hearted way, putting on the PRINCE LLEWELLYN and the ORINOCO, and in July, 1831, they retired from the station.
The MONA'S ISLE, however, still had a competitor, though not a formidable one, in the shape of a steamer named the WILLIAM THE FOURTH, which disappeared in the following year.
THE MONA'S ISLE originally cost £7,052; in 1837 she was put up for sale but no purchaser was forthcoming. About 1846 Napier’s re-boilered her at a cost of £500 and five years later she was sold for £580. This old pioneer’s bell is now to be seen in the Manx Museum at Douglas.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 'British Paddle Steamers’ by George Body