Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

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Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - Built with Pride at the Penarth Shipbuilding Company - s.s. 'Aira Force' - 1890 . . .

The second vessel to be built at the Penarth Shipbuilding & Ship Repairing Company, Limited, Yard No. 2, was the s.s. 'Aira Force' for Messrs. W. S. Kennaugh & Company, of Whitehaven, Cumbria. (She was renamed s.s. 'Seaforth' in 1905.)

Further investigation into the owners' history revealed a 2" thick folder of documents held at the Cumbria Archives and with assistance from the kind staff of the Whitehaven Archive Centre, I am able to add much to the record of shipbuilding and ship-repair at Penarth Dock. Many thanks for their assistance in this research. I will commence with a duplication of the information already published within the Chapter upon the history of the Penarth builders.

The steamship 'Aira Force' launched late in 1890 at the shipyard of the Penarth Shipbuilding & Ship Repairing Co., Limited.

The launch of the steamship 'Aira Force' was reported in the Barry Dock News:-

"On Monday last the Penarth Shipbuilding and Ship Repairing Company, Limited, launched from their yard at Penarth Dock the screw steamer 'Aira Force', built to the order of Messrs. W. S. Kennaugh and Company, Whitehaven. Her dimensions are:- Length overall 148 ft.; breath, extreme, 23 ft. 2in.; depth, 11ft. 4½in. She is fitted with compound service condensing engines, also constructed by the Penarth shipbuilding Company, having cylinders 18in. and 36in., by 24in. stroke, and a multi-tubular boiler, 11ft. diameter, by 9ft. long, having two furnaces, and working at a pressure of 100lbs. per square inch. Her rig is that of a three-masted fore-and-aft schooner.

The vessel is also fitted with donkey-boiler, two steam winches, and patent windlass, and all the most modern improvements have been carried out in her construction. She has been built in accordance with Lloyd's highest class, namely, 100 A1. The vessel was christened by Miss Jennie Illingworth, of Penarth, and after entering the water she was towed to the company's wharf to complete and receive her outfit. This vessel is the second built by the above company for the same owners." Barry Dock News [140] [361] 19th December 1890.

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