Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
Page 2: East Coast Services - Goole Shipping Co
This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the East Coast services of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR), run by the Goole Shipping Company. LYR West Coast services are shown on
LYR - Page 1
.
An alphabetical list of ships
shown on this page is shown below.
The Table
beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a
Fleet List
in chronological order.
The Goole Shipping Company was formed in 1864, and started carrying passengers in 1879. The first ships were named after directors of the company, of which only the
Robert Crake
of 1879 survived when they were taken over by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR) in 1905. The
Ouse
of 1884 initiated the use of northern river names, which were applied to most subsequent newbuildings. In 1895, the Humber SS Co and the Yorkshire Coal & Shipping Co were taken over, adding a total of eight ships to the Goole fleet.
Following the 1905 takeover, the LYR retained the Goole funnel colours of buff with a broad red band below a black top, and the Goole name was retained for use in publicity. Ownership passed to the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1922, and then the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. Humber shipping interests of the LMS and London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) were combined into the Associated Humber Lines (AHL) in 1935, although individual companies retained their titles. The Goole Shipping Company operated routes from the Humber ports of Goole, Hull and Grimsby to a wide range of European destinations including Amsterdam, Antwerp, Dunkirk, Gent, Zeebrugge, Vlissingen, Hamburg and Rotterdam. They mainly operated small cargo/passenger steamers, but in 1906, the LYR started a summer service from Hull to Zeebrugge with the Fleetwood steamer
Duke of Clarence
. The service resumed after WW1, again with
Duke of Clarence
, until she was sold for scrap in 1930. For the next four years her place was taken by
Duke of Connaught (2)
. After the formation of AHL in 1935, one of the Humber-based ex-Great Central ships such as
Dewsbury
operated the service. I also have a Hull-Zeebrugge postcard of
Duke of Cornwall
, although I have found no records of her sailing on the East Coast so far.
Ships on This Page:-
Alt
(1911-1954)
Berlin
(1891-1916)
- renamed River Ribble
Colne
(1903-1906)
Dearne (1)
(1909-1915)
Dearne (2)
(1924-1957)
Don (2)
(1924-1958)
Don (1)
(1892-1915)
Douglas
(1907-1937)
Duke of Clarence
(1892-1930)
- 1906-1930 on the East Coast
Duke of Connaught (2)
(1902-1934)
- 1930-1934 on the East Coast
Duke of Cornwall
(1898-1928)
- Hull-Zeebrugge postcard issued
Equity
(1906-1932)
Hebble (1)
(1891-1917)
Hebble (2)
(1924-1957)
Hodder
(1910-1956)
Humber
(1903-1912)
Irwell
(1906-1954)
Liberty
(1906-1932)
Mellifont
(1903-1933)
- 1906-1912 on the East Coast
Mersey
(1906-1940)
Nidd
(1900-1933)
Ouse (2)
(1911-1940)
Rawcliffe
(1906-1931)
River Ribble
(1916-1933)
- ex-Berlin
Rother
(1914-1956)
Rye (1)
(1914-1918)
Rye (2)
(1924-1941)
Spen
(1908-1933)
Unity
(1906-1918)
Associated Pages:-
British Railways
- Header page for all UK railway-owned services
Furness Railway
- Barrow-Fleetwood service with paddle steamers
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 1
- West Coast Services
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 2
- East Coast Services - this page!
London Midland & Scottish Railway
- Heysham-Belfast Services
Midland Railway
- Heysham-Belfast & Heysham-Douglas services
Ferry Postcards
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
References:-
Maritime Heritage
-
Barrow & Morecambe Bay
by Raymond Sankey (Silver Link, 1986)
Merchant Fleets No.25
-
Britain's Railway Steamers
by Duncan Haws (1993)
Railway & Other Steamers
-
by Duckworth & Langmuir
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Table of Ship Histories
Name
Other names
Built
Duke of Cornwall
Rushen Castle
1898
Goole Shipping Co Fleet List
Berlin (1895-1916)
River Ribble (1916-1933)
Berlin
was one of seven ships taken over with the Yorkshire Coal & SS Co in 1895. The others were
Altona
(1877),
Cuxhaven
(1882),
Dresden
(1884),
Emden
(1887), and
Frankfort
(1888).
Altona
,
Emden
and
Berlin
remained in the fleet at the time of the first war, and were renamed
River Crake
,
Wenning
and
River Ribble
respectively.
Official LYR postcard of
Berlin
, with acknowledgement overprint on the back.
Berlin
was renamed
River Ribble
during the war.
Hebble (1891-1917)
Don (1892-1915)
Hebble
was built in 1891, with sister
Don
in 1892, for the Ghent service. Both were lost in the war.
Official LYR postcard of
Hebble.
Photographic postcard of
Hebble.
Nidd (1900-1933)
Nidd
was built for the Goole Shipping Co in 1900, for the Antwerp service, Her sisters were
Humber
and
Colne
.
Nidd
was built by W.Dobson & Co, and remained in the fleet until 1933. She had been chartered to the GWR in 1932 for Weymouth-Jersey services.
Official LYR postcard of
Nidd
, with acknowledgement overprint on the back.
Humber (1903-1912)
Colne (1903-1906)
Humber
and
Colne
were sisters of the
Nidd
of 1900.
Colne
was built for the Copenhagen service, but was deputising for
Humber
when lost off Rotterdam.
Humber
was sunk in a collision in 1912.
Official LYR postcard of
Humber
, with French language overprint for 1913 on the front.
Humber
had been withdrawn in the previous year.
Duke of Clarence
(LYR/LNWR Joint: 1892-1906 - 1458 grt)
(LYR: 1906-1922)
(LNWR: 1922)
(LMS: 1923-1930)
The
Duke of Clarence
was the first of six similar Fleetwood "Dukes" built over a 15 year period. She operated on the Fleetwood-Belfast and Fleetwood-Londonderry routes until 1906.
Duke of Clarence
was then transferred to the East Coast for summer service between Hull and Zeebrugge, returning to the West Coast each winter. After war service,
Duke of Clarence
returned to the Hull-Zeebrugge route until 1930, when she was sold for scrap. She was replaced by one of the later Dukes, the
Duke of Connaught (2)
, which continued the service until 1934.
Official LNWR postcard, issued 1904, of
Duke of Clarence
on Fleetwood-Londonderry service, plus card back.
Official LYR postcard of
Duke of Clarence
on Hull-Zeebrugge summer service, plus card back.
Photographic postcard of
Duke of Clarence
in LYR service, plus a "straightened" version.
Official LYR postcard, issued 1907, of
Duke of Clarence
with yellow/red funnel on Hull-Zeebrugge summer service, plus card back.
Photographic postcard of
Duke of Clarence
in the Humber.
Photographic postcard of
Duke of Clarence
at Hull, with enlarged view of the ship.
Card was posted in 1924.
Photographic postcard of
Duke of Clarence
at Hull.
Card was posted in 1914.
Postcard of
Duke of Clarence
at Zeebrugge.
Postcard of
Duke of Clarence
at Zeebrugge.
Postcard of
Duke of Clarence
at Zeebrugge.
Mellifont
(LYR: 1903-1922 - 1204 grt)
(LNWR: 1922)
(LMS: 1923-1933)
In 1902, the LYR acquired the Drogheda SP Co which operated a passenger/cargo service between Drogheda and Liverpool with four elderly paddle steamers. In 1903, two new screw steamers
Mellifont
and
Colleen Bawn
were built for the service, replacing the two of the paddle steamers,
Tredagh
(1876) and
Kathleen Mavourneen
(1885), which were scrapped. The remaining two paddle steamers
Iverna
(1895) and
Norah Creina
(1878) were retained until 1912. In 1914, the Liverpool-Drogheda passenger service was discontinued, with
Mellifont
and
Colleen Bawn
continuing in freight mode only until 1928, when the route was passed to B&I as part of the major restructuring of LMS routes carried out that year.
Mellifont
and
Colleen Bawn
then worked as freight ships for the LMS out of Holyhead until scrapped in 1933/1931 respectively. Between 1906 and 1912,
Mellifont
had served on the East Coast between Hull and Zeebrugge/Antwerp.
Postcard of
Mellifont
or
Colleen Bawn
at Drogheda.
Official LYR postcard of
Mellifont
with yellow/red funnel on Hull-Zeebrugge/Antwerp service.
Irwell (1906-1954)
Mersey
and
Irwell
were the first ships ordered by the LYR, after they took over the Goole Shipping Co. They were used on the Goole-Rotterdam routes.
Irwell
was scrapped in 1954.
Official LYR postcard of
Irwell
, with French language overprint on the front.
Mersey (1906-1940)
Mersey
and
Irwell
were the first ships ordered by the LYR, after they took over the Goole Shipping Co. They were used on the Goole-Rotterdam routes.
Mersey
sank after hitting a mine in 1940.
Official LYR postcard of
Mersey
, with French language overprint on the front.
Official LYR postcard of
Mersey
.
Equity
(1906-1932)
Liberty
(1906-1932)
Unity
(1906-1918)
The three steamers
Equity, Liberty
and
Unity
were acquired from the Co-Operative Wholesale Society in 1906; they had been built in 1888, 1900 and 1902 respectively for Goole-Hamburg services.
Unity
was a war loss in 1918, the others survived until 1932, when they were sold to Italian owners.
Official LYR postcard of