MacKay-Bennett (1884)

Builder:
John Elder & Company
Govan, Scotland
Ordered:
N/A
Keel Laid:
N/A
Year Built:
1884
Launched:
September 18, 1884
Type:
Cable Layer
Fate:
Scrapped in 1965 at Ghent, Belgium.


Owners:
Commercial Cable Company
(John W. MacKay & William G. Bennett Jr.)
New York, New York


Dimensions, machinery and performance

Length:
270'
Engines:
2 compound inverted two cylinder
Beam:
40' 1"
Boilers:
2 cylindrical single ended multibular 100 psi.
Depth:
21' 8"
Shafts:
2
Gross Tons:
1,731
HP:
N/A
Displacement:
N/A
Speed:
Crew:
N/A
Funnels:
1
Passengers:
N/A
Masts:
2


Timeline
Sept. 18, 1884:
Launched, christened by Mrs. John MacKay.
Oct. 21, 1884:
Trials, during the six hour trial run she made 12.4 knots.
Apr. 1912:
Contracted by White Star Line at $550.00 per day to recover bodies from the sinking of
the Titanic. Recovered 306 bodies between Apr. 17-30, 1912.

May 1922:
Converted into a storage hulk at Plymouth, England.
Sept. 22, 1965:
Departed for the scrappers yard in Belgium.


Notes:
John Elder & Company was reorganized and renamed in 1885 as Fairfield Shipbuilding &
Engineering Company Ltd.
As a hulk she was sunk at Plymouth, England during a German air raid. She was refloated
and repaired.

Builder's Data
Page published Dec. 2, 2007