City of Waterford
Originally called the Skerries II she was
built in 1921 at the Caldon Ship & Engineering works in Dundee, the Skerries II was 270ft long with a beam of 37ft, driven by three-cylinder triple-expansion engines with two boilers giving her 196hp. She went to work on the Liverpool to Waterford route, carrying general cargo and 40 passengers to and from Ireland with no problems. In 1946 Skerries II was bought by Dublin ship-owner Palgrave, Murphy & Co, which had owned and lost several "City of"ships, and was given her new name. She was kept on the Ireland run, but spread her range to many European ports under Captain Donald MacLean.
On 14 April, 1949, the City of Waterford was heading from Antwerp to Cork with 1000 tons of general cargo when she ran into thick fog about 12 miles west of Beachy Head.
Unfortunately, in that same fog bank but going the other way was a much bigger ship, the Marpessa, a 5500 ton Greek steamer. After the collision, the City of Waterford took very little time to sink, but her crew were all picked up safely.
Once again the weather beat us. After a fantastically hot week it turned nasty just in time for the Bank Holiday
We will get to dive again this year !!!
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