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Official Number:                     135918

Laid down:                              

Builder:                                  Societe Anon. John Cockerill, Hoboken

Launched:                              1901

Pennant No:                           Y 3.947

Into Service:                            27 November 1915

Out of service:                         22 December 1917

Fate:                                      Torpedoed and sunk

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

Background Data:  One of several ships requisitioned by the Admiralty for service during WW1 to augment the ships of the RFA

Career Data:

1901 launched by Societe Anon. John Cockerill, Hoboken as Yard Nr: 407 named Cockerill for their own account

June 1901 completed

17 October 1909 passed St Catherines Point

17 September 1910 the Scotsman newspaper reported ,,,

1910 purchased by Armement Adolf Deppe, Antwerp – name unchanged

1915 purchased by John W Baird & Co., West Hartlepool and renamed Mabel Baird

3 July 1915 in the Commercial Dry Dock at Barry

8 July 1915 the Newcastle Daily Chronicle newspaper reported …

2 September 1915 stopped and boarded by the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS CHANGUINOLA at 58°09N 10°09W – allowed to proceed

HMS CHANGUINOLA

3 September 1915 stopped by the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS VICTORIAN at 60°03N 13°00W checked – allowed to proceed

6 November 1915 berthed at Liverpool from Archangel

27 November 1915 requisitioned for Admiralty service as a collier – name unchanged – until 28 December 1915

29 December 1915 re-deployed on French Government Service as a Transport until 26 June 1916

24 May 1916 at Salonika Seaman A Thompson discharged dead having drowned

22 July 1916 arrived and berthed at Mercantile Dock, River Tyne from Middlesborough and re-deployed as a collier until 8 September 1916

27 July 1916 still berthed at Mercantile Dock, River Tyne

9 September 1916 re-deployed as a collier to Northern Russia for Russian Government a/c

23 September 1916 stopped and boarded by the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS ALSATIAN at 62°08N 10°17W when on passage from Cardiff to Archangel – allowed to proceed

HMS ALSATION

23 December 1916 off pay voyage until 14 January 1917

January 1917 re-deployed again as a collier until 3 May 1917

11 March 1917 sailed in an escorted convoy from St Helens Bay to Caen Roads with ten other colliers. Escort HMS SAPPER

31 March 1917 sailed in an escorted convoy with ten other colliers from St Helens Fort to Caen Roads. Escort HMS’s SAPPER, ROSE IV, GOZO and PUFFIN

22 April 1917 sailed in an escorted convoy with eleven other colliers from St Helens Fort to Caen Roads. Escort HMS’s SAPPER, PUFFIN, LUCKNOW and MERLIN

4 July 1917 re-deployed as an Expeditionary Force Transport carrying ammunition empties from Le Havre to Blyth until 20 May 1917

21 May 1917 re-deployed again as a collier until 31 August 1917

1 September 1917 re-deployed again as a collier to Northern Russia for the Russian Government a/c until 17 December 1917

18 December 1917 re-deployed as a collier yet again until …

22 December 1917 torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB-57 (Otto Steinbrinck) in the English Channel 4 miles WSW Lizard in position 49.54N 05.17W while outbound from Penarth with a cargo of coal with the loss of five lives