# Bellerophon



## Kaiser Bill (Jun 28, 2006)

Could anyone please tell me how to find out information regarding Alfred Holt's pre World War I ship Bellerophon. My grandfather was her Bosun when he was lost overboard some time between 1905 and 1910.


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Kaiser Bill said:


> Could anyone please tell me how to find out information regarding Alfred Holt's pre World War I ship Bellerophon. My grandfather was her Bosun when he was lost overboard some time between 1905 and 1910.


Built in 1906 She was scrapped in 1948


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## Bruce Carson (Jun 14, 2005)

BELLEROPHON (2) was built in 1906 by Workman Clark at Belfast with a tonnage of 8954grt, a length of 485ft 4in, a beam of 53ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. The first of a class of 6 vessels, the first to have 'goal post' masts and the largest to date. Built for the Ocean Steam Ship Company she entered service on the China Mutual service from Glasgow to Liverpool - Singapore - China - Japan - Vancouver and Seattle, a route acquired with the purchase of China Mutual in 1902. In August 1914 she was requisitioned as a British Expeditionary Force troopship and horse carrier operating out of Liverpool to France. She was requisitioned again for troop ship duties when , in February 1927, she loaded troops , horses and supplies at Birkenhead bound for Hong Kong and Shanghai during the 'China Affair'. She carried 750 horses and their troopers at full speed and only made one 12 hour stop for fuel at Suez. P&O's Karmala and Aberdeen Line's Herminius accompanied her on the voyage. On 18th April 1948 she arrived at Barrow - in - Furness where she was scrapped at the British Iron & Steel Corporation (BISCO) yard of Thos. W. Ward.

The above was formerly posted on the Red Duster website as part of a Blue Funnel company history. Unfortunately, although the site is still online, it is a shadow of its former self and the histories have disapeared.

There is also a small picture of the ship at the following URL:
http://www.merseysideviews.com/Merchant Vessels/Blue Funnel/pages/Bue-Fel 017.htm

Bruce C


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## KenLin39 (Apr 30, 2005)

*The Red-Duster site.*



Bruce Carson said:


> BELLEROPHON (2) was built in 1906 by Workman Clark at Belfast with a tonnage of 8954grt, a length of 485ft 4in, a beam of 53ft 4in and a service speed of 14 knots. The first of a class of 6 vessels, the first to have 'goal post' masts and the largest to date. Built for the Ocean Steam Ship Company she entered service on the China Mutual service from Glasgow to Liverpool - Singapore - China - Japan - Vancouver and Seattle, a route acquired with the purchase of China Mutual in 1902. In August 1914 she was requisitioned as a British Expeditionary Force troopship and horse carrier operating out of Liverpool to France. She was requisitioned again for troop ship duties when , in February 1927, she loaded troops , horses and supplies at Birkenhead bound for Hong Kong and Shanghai during the 'China Affair'. She carried 750 horses and their troopers at full speed and only made one 12 hour stop for fuel at Suez. P&O's Karmala and Aberdeen Line's Herminius accompanied her on the voyage. On 18th April 1948 she arrived at Barrow - in - Furness where she was scrapped at the British Iron & Steel Corporation (BISCO) yard of Thos. W. Ward.
> 
> The above was formerly posted on the Red Duster website as part of a Blue Funnel company history. Unfortunately, although the site is still online, it is a shadow of its former self and the histories have disapeared.
> 
> ...


 Hi Bruce, the Red-Duster site seems to have gone now, when I click on the link in my favs I'm taken to the MNA site as below. Ken @ Tilbury.
http://www.red-duster.co.uk/


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## Bruce Carson (Jun 14, 2005)

Ken, I noticed last year that the owner had put the site up for grabs.
It's really too bad---it had a helluva collection of shipping histories and there had obviously been a lot of effort put into the research.
The current owners promise to preserve the history and traditions of the BMN and perhaps they will bring the site back to its former glory as part of the Merchant Navy pages.
Here today, gone tomorrow: that's a real problem with the internet.
No matter how good a site may be, it can be wiped out in a second with not a trace left behind. 

Bruce C


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## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

There is a pretty decent picture here: http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/battleships/hms_bellerophon_1907.htm 
Stuggling to find more about this Bellerophon amongst the morass of information about Nelson's ship.

Brian


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## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

You might also want to take a look at this Wikipaedia site which is about HMS Dreadnaught - Bellerophon was built to a very close design - though the site says with some improvements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906)

Of course you can only take the information you find on websites as a starting point - unless you check the source information you can't be sure it is correct. Once a bit off duff information gets posted on one website it quickly gets propagated to other sites and assumes a ring of truth through consistency which is not substantiated.

Brian


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## Frank P (Mar 13, 2005)

Brian, I think that the ship "Bellerophon" that Kaiserbill is looking for, is a cargo ship not the War ship?

Frank


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

R651400 said:


> A gallery posting of a Blue Funnel "footballer" alongside in Seattle which just may be Bellerophon, by the number of letters on her bow.
> 
> http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1147/password/0/sort/1/cat/all/page/2


The caption says "Protesilaus mined off Swansea" 
Ron


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## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

Ooopppss! Thanks for pointing out my red herring postings Frank. I should have read the original more carefully.

I always thought that you could not have two major ships with the same name at the same time. I was clearly wrong about that - maybe it is only within the RN or a particular company.

Damn confusing though - it's bad enough pinning the pictures down when the same company reuses its ships names - P&O for example reused several of their M class names.

Brian


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## KenLin39 (Apr 30, 2005)

*The Red-Duster site.*



Bruce Carson said:


> Ken, I noticed last year that the owner had put the site up for grabs.
> It's really too bad---it had a helluva collection of shipping histories and there had obviously been a lot of effort put into the research.
> The current owners promise to preserve the history and traditions of the BMN and perhaps they will bring the site back to its former glory as part of the Merchant Navy pages.
> Here today, gone tomorrow: that's a real problem with the internet.
> ...


I make you right Bruce, it would be a shame if it all disappears. It had a good guestbook too. Ken.


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## Bruce Carson (Jun 14, 2005)

KenLin39 said:


> I make you right Bruce, it would be a shame if it all disappears. It had a good guestbook too. Ken.


Ken, I notice the MNA site is now republishing the old Red Duster company histories.
The Union-Castle, White Star, Andrew Weir, P&O, Blue Funnel and Glen Line pages are now up and running. A few more still to come. Great news, as they are invaluable.

http://www.red-duster.co.uk/
http://www.red-duster.co.uk/ships and shipping.htm

Bruce C


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## treeve (Nov 15, 2005)

*Red Duster Website*

Message received from Ted Finch
of Mariners-L

After being demolished by hackers, the Red Duster website is being rebuilt 
and is now back on line at http://www.red-duster.co.uk/


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