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SS Robin
SS Robin is a 350 gross registered ton (GRT) steam coaster, a class of steamship designed for carrying bulk and general cargoes in coastal waters, and the oldest complete example in the world. One of a pair of coasters built in Bow Creek, London in 1890, the ship was built for British owners, but spent most of her long working life on the Spanish coast as Maria.
In 1974, she was purchased for restoration as Robin and is listed by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building). She is situated at Trinity Buoy Wharf in east London, opening as the SS Robin museum, theatre and educational centre in 2014.
As built, Robin was 143 feet (44 m) long, her beam is 23 feet (7.0 m), her depth is 12.2 feet (3.7 m) and her tonnage is 366 GRT. She carried about 450 tons of cargo.[citation needed]
The engine is a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, developing 152 indicated horsepower (113 kW), and made in 1890 by Gourlay Brothers & Co of Dundee, Scotland. Her maximum speed was 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).
In Lloyd's Register she was described as a "steel screw 3-masted schooner", and had indeed been provided with sails for all three masts when first built.
Robin was ordered from Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co of Orchard House Yard, Hercules Wharf, Blackwall, London, situated in Bow Creek at the mouth of the River Lea, by London shipowner Robert Thomson, and launched on 16 September 1890. However, she and her sister Rook were completed by Thomson himself, though the reason is unknown. After fitting out in the East India Dock, Robin was towed to Dundee to have her engine, boiler and auxiliary machinery installed by Gourlay Brothers & Co. When completed she was registered in London with Official number 98185 and in the ownership of Arthur Ponsonby of Newport, then in Monmouthshire.
On 20 December 1890, Robin commenced her career in the British coastal service at Liverpool, with a crew of 12 signing the Articles for her maiden voyage. As a coaster her range was normally limited to the Home Trade limits (broadly from the Elbe to Brest). However, on her first voyage she went 400 miles (640 km) further, to Bayonne; the owners had to replace the Master's mate with another, who held the correct certificate, until the ship returned to Swansea on 10 January. Her second voyage began at Swansea on 14 January 1891, visiting Rouen, Northfleet on the River Thames, Eastham and Garston on the River Mersey, Plymouth, Deauville, Guernsey, London, Rochester, Newport, Swansea, Cherbourg arriving in Northfleet by 5 April 1891. This would be typical of her trading under the Red Ensign, carrying bulk cargoes of grain, iron ore, scrap steel, pit props, china clay, railway steel, general cargoes of casked and baled goods such as herring barrels, and even granite blocks for the Caledonian Canal. In 1892, Robin was sold to Andrew Forrester Blackater of Glasgow, where she was re-registered.
In 1900 Robin was sold and renamed Maria; for the next 74 years she had three different Spanish owners:
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SS Robin AI simulator
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SS Robin
SS Robin is a 350 gross registered ton (GRT) steam coaster, a class of steamship designed for carrying bulk and general cargoes in coastal waters, and the oldest complete example in the world. One of a pair of coasters built in Bow Creek, London in 1890, the ship was built for British owners, but spent most of her long working life on the Spanish coast as Maria.
In 1974, she was purchased for restoration as Robin and is listed by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building). She is situated at Trinity Buoy Wharf in east London, opening as the SS Robin museum, theatre and educational centre in 2014.
As built, Robin was 143 feet (44 m) long, her beam is 23 feet (7.0 m), her depth is 12.2 feet (3.7 m) and her tonnage is 366 GRT. She carried about 450 tons of cargo.[citation needed]
The engine is a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, developing 152 indicated horsepower (113 kW), and made in 1890 by Gourlay Brothers & Co of Dundee, Scotland. Her maximum speed was 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).
In Lloyd's Register she was described as a "steel screw 3-masted schooner", and had indeed been provided with sails for all three masts when first built.
Robin was ordered from Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co of Orchard House Yard, Hercules Wharf, Blackwall, London, situated in Bow Creek at the mouth of the River Lea, by London shipowner Robert Thomson, and launched on 16 September 1890. However, she and her sister Rook were completed by Thomson himself, though the reason is unknown. After fitting out in the East India Dock, Robin was towed to Dundee to have her engine, boiler and auxiliary machinery installed by Gourlay Brothers & Co. When completed she was registered in London with Official number 98185 and in the ownership of Arthur Ponsonby of Newport, then in Monmouthshire.
On 20 December 1890, Robin commenced her career in the British coastal service at Liverpool, with a crew of 12 signing the Articles for her maiden voyage. As a coaster her range was normally limited to the Home Trade limits (broadly from the Elbe to Brest). However, on her first voyage she went 400 miles (640 km) further, to Bayonne; the owners had to replace the Master's mate with another, who held the correct certificate, until the ship returned to Swansea on 10 January. Her second voyage began at Swansea on 14 January 1891, visiting Rouen, Northfleet on the River Thames, Eastham and Garston on the River Mersey, Plymouth, Deauville, Guernsey, London, Rochester, Newport, Swansea, Cherbourg arriving in Northfleet by 5 April 1891. This would be typical of her trading under the Red Ensign, carrying bulk cargoes of grain, iron ore, scrap steel, pit props, china clay, railway steel, general cargoes of casked and baled goods such as herring barrels, and even granite blocks for the Caledonian Canal. In 1892, Robin was sold to Andrew Forrester Blackater of Glasgow, where she was re-registered.
In 1900 Robin was sold and renamed Maria; for the next 74 years she had three different Spanish owners: