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Lot Essay
The Prince Line was formed by the amalgamation of the Prince Steam Shipping Company Ltd. And the Steamship Welsh Prince Company Ltd. in 1895, the two constituent companies having both been founded by James Knott in 1884. In 1888 Knott had ordered his first bulk oil carrier from Armstrong's at Newcastle, calling her Russian Prince as she was destined for the Black Sea trade; in so doing, Knott had shown himself a pioneer in the expanding oil business which hitherto had transported oil and petroleum in cases or barrels before the concept of the tanker had been developed. Innovative as she had been, this first Russian Prince was showing her age after twenty-three years of service and, in 1911, the company took the decision to dispose of her and replace her with a much larger vessel of the same name.
The second Russian Prince was ordered from the Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company at Newcastle and laid down on their Willington Quay during the winter of 1911-12. Completed the following September (1912), she was registered at 4,158 tons gross (3,723 under-deck and 2,584 net) and measured 357 feet in length with a 48 foot beam. Built of steel throughout, with longitudinal framing, and designed with her machinery aft, her single screw was powered by a triple-expansion 3-cylinder 362nhp. engine manufactured by the Wallsend Slipway Company of Newcastle and she had a cruising speed of 10 knots. After two years in service, the outbreak of the Great War thrust her and all other British tankers into a position of vital importance to the war effort. Despite the continual dangers from enemy submarines however, she survived her hectic schedule for almost three years until, on 8th June 1917, she was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the south-west coast of Ireland. Although suffering significant damage, she remained afloat and her master managed to coax her into Castletown, Co. Cork, for temporary repairs. Subsequent permanent repairs allowed her to return to sea under Prince colours until 6th March 1918 when she was sold to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and renamed British Marshal. Eleven years later, on 4th November 1929, she was resold to Societa Italiana Transporti Petroliferi of Genoa and renamed once again, this time Tritone. Her career under the Italian flag was brief however and on 7th March 1933, whilst on passage from Algiers to Constanta (Roumania), she grounded on the island of Tenedos, at the entrance to the Hellespont, and was declared a total loss; her wreck was then purchased by Italian shipbreakers and she was scrapped in Italy soon afterwards.
The second Russian Prince was ordered from the Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Company at Newcastle and laid down on their Willington Quay during the winter of 1911-12. Completed the following September (1912), she was registered at 4,158 tons gross (3,723 under-deck and 2,584 net) and measured 357 feet in length with a 48 foot beam. Built of steel throughout, with longitudinal framing, and designed with her machinery aft, her single screw was powered by a triple-expansion 3-cylinder 362nhp. engine manufactured by the Wallsend Slipway Company of Newcastle and she had a cruising speed of 10 knots. After two years in service, the outbreak of the Great War thrust her and all other British tankers into a position of vital importance to the war effort. Despite the continual dangers from enemy submarines however, she survived her hectic schedule for almost three years until, on 8