SS Kinfauns Castle
First Kinfauns Castle
1879 Description of the Kinfauns Castle, the first ocean mail steamship built entirely of steel, built by John Elder and Co for Donald Currie and Co. The bulk of the steel was supplied by the Steel Company of Scotland. [1]
3507 grt, length 360 ft 4in, beam 43ft. Constructed for potential conversion into an Armed Merchant Cruiser. In 1883 she was sold to the Russian Volunteer Fleet at Odessa and renamed Moscva (Moskva) and in 1895 became the Russian training ship Proot (Prut), also based in Odessa. In 1909 she was converted into an mine-laying training ship. On 29th October 1914 she was hit by gunfire from the German battlecruiser Goeben which had been temporarily renamed Sultan Selim, and was scuttled to avoid capture.[2]
1880 Thomas Boulton, son of Isaac Watt Boulton died on board Kinfauns Castle.
Second Kinfauns Castle
1899 The Kinfauns Castle, and her sister ship the Kildonan Castle, were built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co at the Fairfield Yard - they were the largest steamers constructed to then for the Castle Mail Packets Company.
9664 grt, length 533ft, beam of 59 ft 2 in. On 4th August 1914 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser for service in South African waters, and renamed HMS Kinfauns Castle. built in 1899 by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 9664grt, a length of 533ft, a beam of 59ft 2in. On 4th August 1914 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser for service in South African waters, she became HMS Kinfauns Castle. In 1919 she returned to commercial service on the mail service. She was scrapped in Holland in September 1927.[3]