SS Alma (1894)

SS Alma was a passenger vessel built for the London and South Western Railway in 1894.^[1]

History
Name	1894–1917: SS Alma 1917–1922: SS Shokiku Maru No. 2 1922–1924: SS Shogiku Maru
Operator	1894–1912: London and South Western Railway 1912–1916: Eastern Shipping Company, Penang 1916–1917: P N Heath, Shanghai 1917–1920: M Matsou and U Matsumoto, Japan 1920–1924: Hongo Ikichiro, Amiro
Port of registry
Builder	J and G Thomson, Clydebank
Yard number	275
Launched	4 October 1894
Fate	Wrecked 17 June 1924
General characteristics
Tonnage	1,145 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	270.7 feet (82.5 m)
Beam	34 feet (10 m)
Draught	14.6 feet (4.5 m)

History

The ship was built by J and G Thomson of Clydebank and launched on 4 October 1894^[2] by Evelyn Donaldson, Cochno House, Duntocher. She was provided with accommodation for 100 first-class passengers in two-berth rooms and 50 second-class passengers at the after end of the vessel in large cabins. The first-class cabins were located near the centre of the vessel where the pitching motion is least. Bilge keels were also fitted to dispense with rolling motion. She was one of an order for two ships, the other being Columbia.

In 1899 she picked up Thomas Slattery and James Montague, seamen from the Boadicea of Bridgwater which had foundered off Lundy on 13 January 1899. With two others they had built a raft, and spent three hours in the stormy sea, but the two others were washed off.^[3]

In she was sold to the Eastern Shipping Company, Penang. In 1916 she was purchased by P N Heath, Shanghai who sold her in 1917 to M Matsou and U Matsumoto, Japan who renamed her Shokiku Maru No. 2. In 1920 she was sold to Hongo Ikichiro, Amiro and she was renamed Shogiku Maru in 1922. She was wrecked on 17 June 1924 on the west coast of Sakhalin.

References

1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
2. "Launches and Trial Trips". Glasgow Herald. Scotland. 6 October 1894. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "The Disaster off Lundy". North Devon Journal. England. 19 January 1899. Retrieved 14 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.