Maritime

This 1906 Govan-built ship was operated between Scotland and Ireland as Screw Steamer Viper until 1920, when it was bought by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and renamed Snaefell. She replaced an earlier vessel of the same name - first Snaefell, taken up by the Admiralty, was sunk in the Mediterranean during World War One. The second Snaefell had a speed of 21 knots and continued to serve the company until 1945.

This 1960 image captures the last Orient liner, just 'squeezing' through Ramsden Dock entrance. By 1973, the passages to Australia and New Zealand became unprofitable and she was then operated as a cruise ship until 1986. Subsequently, she became a hotel and tourist attraction in Japan and then China. After damage in a storm, she was scrapped in 2005.

This was the first launch at which Raymond, eldest son of Edward Sankey, was an official photographer. Apparently, he was very close to the shoreline and narrowly avoided being soaked by the waves from the launch. Was this the lack of experience or was he just determined to get a good image?

She was the third of three R-Class submarines launched on the same day at the Vickers shipyard. During World War Two, she initially served in East Asia (the Far East), before moving to the Mediterranean, and then returning again to East Asia late in the war. The spray from the side of the boat is the water cooled diesel exhaust that was used during surface running.

Soulby’s Ulverston Advertiser and General Intelligencer on Thursday 22 April 1909 reported: “The three-masted steel schooner, the Creek Fisher, owned by Messrs James Fisher and Sons, of Barrow, which went ashore near the south end of Biggar Bank, Walney, early in the morning of March 25th, was re-floated with the tide about 10.30 o’clock on Monday morning. The operations were witnessed by large number of people'.

A C-Class submarine is passing under the first High-Level Bridge (on Michaelson Road) from Buccleuch Dock into Devonshire dock. A mixed crew of submariners and shipyard workers is aboard, with a civilian standing on the fore plane. In the background, the Brazilian battleship the Sao Paulo is being outfitted beneath the shipyard crane.

Dredgers and their accompanying hoppers were needed to maintain the channel depth for shipping. The Premier was built on the Clyde, Glasgow, by William Simmons & Co for The British Dredging Co Ltd and was about five years old in the image. The background contains some interesting details including the moored schooner in front of the airship shed on Cavendish Dock.

The pilots and their boats were an essential part of the Port of Barrow. The boats feature an extra tall mast to fly the red and white Pilot Flag to enable their visibility to approaching ships from a distance. They were designed to be easily handled by one to two people. The image captures a second pilot boat, probably B1 “Argus”, anchored off Piel Island. Albacore was built in 1880 by Gibson of Fleetwood, and broken up 26 Feb 1924.

There are many images like this in the Sanky collection, where a negative is retained from photographing an earlier print. In this case the acetate negative was created over twenty years later than the original print. The latter may well be a Vickers 1904 print, as the paint work suggests the boat is on sea trials before handover to the Royal Navy.

The apparently relaxed crew who are visible, is nearly half the full complement of fifteen. The image is believed to be Walney Channel with Westfield and Beacon Hill on the right. She was one of 11 B Class submarines built at Barrow between 1904 and 1906 and she survived World War One. They provided a useful profit for the yard in a period when there were limited Royal Navy orders for guns and ships.

The Finnish barque Favell, 1,106 tons, arriving with grain from Australia. She was the second vessel in the grain race of 1930. She had left Adelaide on January 26, and arrived at Falmouth on May 21st. She sailed on 17 July 1930 with coal for Helsingfors in Finland. The image also shows the open bridge, where the deck is raised and rolled back to create the opening. Pedestrians and buses await - with no apparent safety barriers.

A lady appears to be capturing a photo of the Twin Scew Steamship, the Strathnaver, as she leaves Barrow on a fine day. These Peninsular and Orient liners had steam driven generators, with electric motors turning the shafts; this was quite a novel but also efficient propulsion system. The fore and aft funnels were largely for show and were removed in 1946, when she underwent a refit.

This launch of the minelaying “Porpoise” Class submarine from the covered slipways will have allowed only a limited view for the waiting crowds. It appears that many of the workers on the submarine have one hand on a rail and the other on their caps! The stiff breeze does not look like an August summer day.

This captures the formal handover of the second of three destroyers from the shipbuilder to the Argentinian navy. The Argentinian flag is about to be raised, as it is on the inboard ship ARA Corrientes. The ships are displaced from each other to allow the guests on Devonshire Dock Quay to witness the event. All three destroyers had been launched on the same day.

View of the port forward quarter of the ship unloading sawn timber at the western end of Devonshire Dock. The ship's derricks and manual labour were used to unload the cargo. The ship was moved along the quay when the adjacent wharf was full.

Paddle Steamer Lady Moyra steams past the salt works at the south end of Walney Island. Furness Railway bought the ship Gwalia, then lengthened and renamed her Lady Moyra. She served as a minesweeper in World War One and then was sold and renamed Brighton Belle. She was sunk on her second trip to Dunkirk.