PS Lily (1880)

History
Name	1880-1904: PS Lily
Owner	1880-1904 London and North Western Railway
Operator	1880-1904 London and North Western Railway
Port of registry
Route	1880-1904: Holyhead - Dublin
Builder	Cammell Laird
Yard number	470
Launched	1880
Out of service	April 1900
General characteristics
Tonnage	1,035 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	300 ft (91 m)
Beam	33.1 ft (10.1 m)
Draught	14.4 ft (4.4 m)
Speed	17¾ knots

PS Lily was a paddle steamer passenger vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1880 to 1900.^[1]

History[]

She was built by Cammell Laird for the London and North Western Railway in 1880. She was a sister ship to Violet and built to the same specification. They were intended to operate a new overnight service between Holyhead and Dublin. The service previously had only been during the day time.

The ship had new boilers and engines fitted in 1890-91 to increase the speed from 17¾ knots to 19½ knots. In 1892 she suffered a failure in a piston rod when between Dublin and Holyhead.^[2] She was towed for a time by the Irene but after three hours the hawser parted. The Cambrian was sent out to rescue her, but when she was found, the Lily was making slow progress under her own steam. She took 10 hours to reach Holyhead.

She was sold in 1900 to Ltd.

Specification[]

In 1883 The Engineer published specifications for SS Violet and sister ship SS Lily as follows:^[3]

Dimensions : 310 feet long overall, 300 feet 6 inches between perpendiculars, 33 feet beam, drawing 14ft 4inches.

Passengers : Certified by Board of Trade to carry 475 deck passengers and 415 saloon passengers.

Engines : Twin cylinder oscillating engines with jet condensers. Cylinder bore 78 inches, stroke 7 feet with double piston rods and crossheads. Crankshaft 18inch diameter. Each cylinder had two slide-valves operated by link motion. Mean indicated horsepower over 3 hours is 3220 and propellor speed is 30 revolutions per minute.

Boilers : Eight rectangular boilers supplying steam at 30 psi. The boilers contained a total of 2152 tubes, total heating surface of 12215 square feet, and total grate area of 470 square feet.

Paddle Wheels : 27 feet 8 inches diameter, with floats 11 feet wide, and 4 feet 6 inches deep.

It was stated in the article in The Engineer regarding the sister ships that "the Violet is a little the faster of the two", but it did not elaborate on how this conclusion was reached.

References[]