TSS Manx Maid (1962)

Career
Name:	Manx Maid
Owner:	1962–1984: IOMSPCo.
Operator:	1962–1984: IOMSPCo.
Port of registry:	Douglas, Isle of Man
Builder:	Cammell Laird
Cost:	£1,087,000
Yard number:	186352
Launched:	January 1962
Maiden voyage:	23 May 1962
Out of service:	September 1984
Fate:	Scrapped 1986
General characteristics
Type:	Car Ferry
Tonnage:	2,724 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	325'
Beam:	50'
Draught:	18'
Installed power:	9,500 horsepower
Speed:	21 knots (24 mph)
Capacity:	1400 passengers 90 cars and light commercial vans.
Crew:	60

Manx Maid (II). No. 186352. Steel; twin-screw geared turbine. Manx Maid was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in 1962, and was the second ship in the Company's history to bear the name.

Dimensions

Tonnage 2724; length 325'; beam 50'; depth 18'; speed 21 knots; bhp 9,500. Construction costs were £1,087,000 and she was the first vessel of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company to cost over one million pounds.

Service life

Manx Maid was certified for 1400 passengers and a crew of 60. In engineering terms she was very similar to her predecessor Manxman (II) except for Babcock and Wilcox integral furnace boilers, installed instead of the sectional header type. Manx Maid was a great success and was of major importance in the history of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, as she was the first vessel to be designed as a car ferry; she had the capacity for up to 90 cars and light commercial vans. The design principle for vehicle loading was simple. A spiral set of ramps at the stern linked with the car deck, so that vehicles could be driven on or off from the appropriate level on departure or arrival. This patented system of ramps facilitated loading and unloading at any state of the tide, at any of the ports served by the company.

Cars had been carried to the Isle of Man for many years prior to Manx Maid's arrival, but with the tidal range at Douglas being considerable, it necessitated taking the vehicle on and off by crane, a slow and irksome process.

The decision to construct a new generation of car-ferrying vessels was taken by the company in 1959, and Manx Maid was launched in January 1962. The design of the 'side-loader' with a spiral ramp at the stern was a unique feature of the Steam Packet Company's car ferries (Manx Maid, Ben-my-Chree, Mona's Queen'' and Lady of Mann).

Manx Maid was the thirteenth vessel built for the Steam Packet by Cammell Laird; since the first was delivered by the yard in 1910. In 1979, Manx Maid was fitted with a 500 horsepower bow thruster mechanism, similar to that fitted to her younger sister Ben-my-Chree the previous winter.

Disposal

With the introduction of Manxline's RO-RO service between Douglas and Heysham, the inefficiency of the Steam Packet's side-loading car ferries became increasingly apparent. The decision was made to retire both the Manx Maid and her sister 'Ben-my-Chree'. After over 20 years of reliable service, Manx Maid (II) made her final sailing from Douglas on Sunday, September 9, 1984, ten days before her younger sister.