TSS Manxman was a turbine steamship launched in 1904 for the Midland Railway and operated between Heysham and Douglas, Isle of Man. In 1916, she was commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Manxman and saw action as a seaplane carrier during the First World War, after which she was acquired by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. On the outbreak of the Second World War she was again requisitioned as a troop ship, until she was commissioned and her name changed to HMS Caduceus. She never returned to Manx waters, and was scrapped in August 1949.
Building and dimensions
Vickers, Sons & Maxim built Manxman at Barrow-in-Furness. Her keel was laid in 1903 and she was launched on 15 June 1904. She was a steel-hulled ship with a registered length of , beam of and depth of . As built, her tonnages were and . She had three screws, each driven by a steam turbine. Her boilers' working pressure was 200 psi and her turbines developed 10,000 indicated horsepower resulting in a service speed of . She was certificated to carry 2,020 passengers and had a crew of 80.
The Midland Railway registered her at Douglas. Her UK official number was 118603 and until 1933 her code letters were HMRS. By 1930 her call sign was GFPS.
Service
Midland Railway
Manxman was completed in September 1904 and entered Midland Railway service on the Heysham to Douglas run. The Admiralty requisitioned her in January 1915.
First World War: HMS Manxman
Manxman was converted for her wartime role at Chatham Dockyard. The conversion included two aircraft hangars and a flying-off deck. She was commissioned as HMS Manxman on 17 April 1916. Her operating aircraft included Sopwith Baby, Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel and Short Type 184. She served with the Grand Fleet until October 1917, and was then transferred to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Manxman lacked the speed of her fellow seaplane carriers and Viking, and she had lost her place in the entourage of the Grand Fleet because her conversion had made her just too slow. The C-in-C of the Fleet, Admiral Beatty, wrote a letter from on 11 January 1917, in which he said that the Manxman was unfit for service with the Battle Cruiser Fleet "owing to her lack of speed" - these last six words were added in Beatty's own handwriting.
However, Manxman made one contribution to aviation history. She had introduced the Sopwith Pup single-seat fighter, and this aircraft could take off from her launching platform in only 20 feet in a 20-knot wind.
The mathematics were in the fighter's favour; its wing loading was only five pounds per square foot and its power loading 16.4 pounds per horsepower; thus producing a significant power-to-weight ratio. This small machine had a Le Rhone engine of 80 hp, giving it a speed of 112 mph at sea level and 103 mph at 9,000 feet. Flotation bags were used to enable it to land alongside the Manxman, and it was then hoisted aboard. At the war's end she was sent down to East Africa, arriving in Zanzibar on 22 November, before returning to Britain, where she arrived at Plymouth on the same day as the Viking. HMS Manxman was paid off in May 1919, and released from requisition on Christmas Eve of that year.
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
Of eleven Steam Packet ships either bought or chartered by the Admiralty in the Great War, only four returned to service with the company after the cessation of hostilities, and consequently, new ships were going to be needed to handle the resumption of peacetime traffic. However, industry as a whole was in a disorganised and seriously run-down state after the challenges of the war years, and new ships could not possibly be built in time for the tourist influx of 1919.
The company compromised, and starting with the purchase of , they set about redressing their wartime losses.
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company bought Manxman from the Admiralty in March 1920, and she was the first ship in the line's history to be so named. She kept her original name. Upon her purchase, being the largest steamship in the fleet, Manxman became the Commodore Ship under Captain Cain, a position she retained until the introduction into service of the in 1927.
She was converted to burn oil in 1921, and was the first company ship to use oil fuel. Manxman and her sister , were at first the only two ships sailing in 1926, the year of the General Strike, when the miners' dispute made it nearly impossible for coal-fired ships to operate.
Manxman operated to every one of the numerous ports then served by the Steam Packet. Known as a reliable ship, she enjoyed a trouble free life until she once again found herself at war.