Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - The Missions to Seamen at Penarth . . .

The offertories of sailors and their families in seamens churches and institutes were ; Cardiff, £48 7s 2d ; Newport, £54 0s 4d ; Penarth, £44 15s 6d ; Port Talbot, £15 ; Swansea, £13 18s 10d. The Chairman having commended the work of the society, the Archbishop of Melbourne moved the adoption of the report. Vice-Admiral Durnford seconded, and said he was glad the mission had undertaken the teaching of ambulance work. The report was agreed to.' - Cardiff Times [019] [361] 23rd May 1908.

	1898 - The launch of the 'Eirene' (the second ship of the Missions to Seamen at Penarth to bear this name) from the yard of the Penarth Ship Building & Ship Repairing Company, Limited into the River Ely.

On the 7th May 1898 “amid the acclamation of more than a thousand spectators” the “Eirene” was launched for the Missions to Seamen. She was a small single screw steamer 75’ - 6” (23m) long x 15’ - 3” beam (4.6m) beam, with holds 8’ - 6” (2.6m) deep and was built by the Penarth Ship Building & Ship Repairing Co. Limited at their shipyard and slipway on the banks of the River Ely.

The 1898 report of the Seaman's Mission [038] described the first months of service of ‘S.S. Eirene’:

“Services have been held in lighthouses, on the decks of light-vessels, and on the decks of fishing smacks, coasting vessels, steamers, and sailing vessels in Carmarthen Bay, Swansea Bay, and in all the roadsteads between Newport Roads and Lundy Island; scores of letters have been brought ashore and posted . . . already the ‘Eirene’ has had a sharp taste of heavy gales and dense fogs, and her skipper and his crew, five all told, an experience of anxious hours and weary long night watches. Since the ‘Eirene’ commenced her work, and in the waters over which she travels, six pilots, one apprentice and six boatmen have been drowned; three pilot boats lost, five vessels wrecked, and one abandoned.”