Mona's Queen was built and engined by J. & G. Thomson of Govan, Glasgow and launched in 1852. She had a registered tonnage of 600 tons; length 186'; beam 27' and depth 13'. Her speed is recorded as 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), and her horsepower is not recorded.[1]
Mona's Queen carried a figurehead of Queen Victoria, and was the first vessel to break away from the Company's long association with Robert Napier & Co. The vessel's cost is not recorded, but a reference in the Company's old minute book suggests it was under £14,000. In 1855 she was lengthened (details not recorded) at a cost of £2,111.
Service life
An early photograph of Mona's Queen, alongside the Red Pier, Douglas.
Mona's Queen appears to have had a pretty uneventful career, with the exception of a collision with the steamer Sligo, which occurred in the River Mersey in January 1862. The official inquiry went against the Steam Packet Company who had to pay approximately £300 in damages and costs. The Captain was accordingly reduced from Second Class Master to Third, and his pay was cut from £275 to £250.
After ten years service the directors decided to sell the ship and offered it to Cunard, Wilson and Co. for £20,000.
The offer was declined, and negotiations started with a Whitehaven company for a sale at £14,000.
Midway through 1864 the directors admitted they could not sell the vessel. Mona's Queen therefore continued in the Company's service until she was broken up in 1880.
