Official Number: 99970
Class: Stores Carrier
Laid down:
Builder: Harland & Woolff Ltd, Belfast
Launched: 20 January 1894
Into Service: 15 August 1914
Out of service: 14 September 1914
Fate: 20 April 1917 sunk
Items of historic interest involving this ship: -
Background Data: One of an additional group of ships requisitioned by the Admiralty in WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA
20 January 1894 Launched by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast as Yard Nr 274 named TORR HEAD for Ulster Steamship Co Ltd (G. Heyn & Sons Ltd, Managers) Belfast
7 April 1894 completed
12 April 1894 sailed Cardiff for Bombay arriving on 7 May 1894
15 June 1894 passed Gibraltar while on passage from Bombay to Antwerp
21 June 1894 passed Dungeness
24 July 1894 passed Malta while on passage from Cardiff to Singapore
8 October 1894 arrived Suez while on passage from Singapore to Marseilles
9 March 1895 passed Gibraltar while on passage from Singapore to Amsterdam and Hamburg
11 February 1899 hit an iceberg a glancing blow while underway, dead slow, in heavy snow at 46°07'N 47°09'W while on passage from New Orleans to Belfast - suffered minor damage
31 January 1902 A special meeting of the Local Marine Board at Belfast was held in the Custom House for the purpose of presenting awards for gallantry by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sir Daniel Dixon and the German Consul Herr A M Ferrar, to Captain Thompson, Sub-Lieutenant H. L. Butt, second officer; Mr. J. G. Brew, third officer; and several of the crew of the steamship Torr Head for gallantry in saving life at sea, on the 1st February last, when, in very heavy weather, the crew of the German sailing ship Helene were rescued in mid-Atlantic. The presentations were a magnificent gold watch, suitably inscribed, and bearing a portrait of H.I.M. the German Emperor to Captain Thompson; each of the officers received a pair of handsome and good binocular glasses in a suitable case; Quarter-masters James Morgan and Thomas Hughes each received £6; and three seamen named Thomas Lavery, Andrew McKay, and William Laverty were given £5 each - all the gifts being from the German Emperor.
3rd Officer Brew's medal
31 August 1912 Seaman Alexander Picken allegedly discharged dead at New Orleans. His death is recorded on a grave stone in Ballykeel graveyard, County Antrim, N. Ireland. The ships articles show that in fact he deserted from this ship on 1 November 1912 at New Orleans.
15 August 1914 requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Stores Carrier
14 September 1914 returned to her owners
11 October 1915 in collision with the Norwegian barque Seileren. The barque sank but all her crew were rescued
20 April 1917 torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by U-60 (Kapitänleutnant Karl Georg Schuster) in position 52.10 N 14.00 W some 160 miles NW x W from the Fastnet Rock.while on passage from St John (N.B.) to Dublin
requisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Stores
>Carrierrequisitioned by the Admiralty for service as a Stores >Carrier
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