SS Oldham (1888)

History
Name| SS Oldham
Operator|

* 1888–1897: Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
* 1897–1913: Great Central Railway

Port of registry|
Builder| Earle's Shipbuilding, Hull
Launched| 1 November 1888
Fate| Sold 1913, sunk 17 October 1941
General characteristics
Tonnage| 846 gross register tons (GRT)
Length| 240 feet (73 m)
Beam| 30 feet (9.1 m)
Depth| 14.6 feet (4.5 m)

SS Oldham was a passenger and cargo vessel built for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1888.[1]

## History

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The ship was built by Earle's Shipbuilding in Hull and launched on 1 November 1888[2] by Miss Evelyn Button (aged 6).[3] She was fitted with water ballast in a double bottom on the cellular system, and arranged with poop, bridge, and top-gallant forecastle. Accommodation was provided in the poop for forty first-class passengers, with dining saloon in polished hardwoods. The officers and engineers were berthed under the bridge, and the crew in the forecastle. She was also fitted with portable berths for emigrants. She was schooner rigged, and equipped with three steam winches and two steam cranes for handling cargo.

She was acquired by the Great Central Railway in 1897.

She was sold in 1913 to Greek owners and renamed Eleftheria.

## References

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1. ^ Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
2. ^ "Hull v. Grimsby". Hull Daily Mail. England. 5 November 1888. Retrieved 11 November 2015 - via British Newspaper Archive.
3. ^ "Launch at Messrs. Earle's Shipbuilding Yard". Hull Daily Mail. England. 2 November 1888. Retrieved 11 November 2015 - via British Newspaper Archive.