AIA Arrival

Oh Ellan Vannin, of the Isle of Man Company

Oh Ellan Vannin, lost in the Irish Sea

On the morning of 3rd December 1909 the SS Ellan Vannin of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. left the Island at 01.13 bound for Liverpool. She was carrying 15 passengers, 21 crew plus mail and 60 tons of cargo. In command was Captain James Teare of Douglas with 18 years of experience. At departure the weather was not particularly rough, and though the barometric pressure was falling, the captain did not expect any trouble. As the passage progressed the weather rapidly deteriorated and by 06.35 when she arrived at the Mersey Bar the wind had increased to storm force 11 with 20 foot waves. She foundered between the Mersey Bar and the Q1 buoy on the Mersey approach channel. She filled with water and sank by the stern. All passengers and crew were lost. (more details here)

At lunchtime on 8th September 2006, Jonathan Briggs and Caroline Tandy set off in the other direction – the journey was calm to begin with, marred only by slow traffic admiring a central reservation collision on the M5. And it stayed calm, despite having to remove our belts at Birmingham Airport. Flight uneventful, beautiful weather, luvverly views of the southern section fo the Isle of Man as we came in to land – particularly of the Calf Of Man (see pic) and… the Railway…

By the time we get past baggage reclaim it becomes clear that most of the FlyBE plane we came in on was occupied by Industrial Archaeologists, off on their annual jaunt. Being keen transport buffs, we all spurn the taxis and queue for the bus, and are soon joined by colleagues from the London flight.

The ever-growing IA crowd dominates the bus too – fortunately it's a double-decker. All bags are piled up on the floor, and those sitting near them have to restack and/or hold the pile up everytime we go round a corner. But we see the railway again, several times, and a very interesting modern power station with unusual mesh-surrounded cooling tower, in Douglas.

And so the AIA returns to the Isle of Man...