TSS Waterford (1912)

History
Name	1912–1924: TSS Waterford 1924–1941: SS Panay
Operator	1912–1924: Great Western Railway 1924–1941: Fernández Hermanos, Cia Maritima, Manila
Port of registry
Route	Fishguard - Waterford
Builder	Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Limited, Neptune Yard
Yard number	880
Launched	20 February 1912
Completed	April 1912
Fate	Sunk March 1942 by Japanese aircraft at Campomanes Bay, Negros
General characteristics
Type	Ferry
Tonnage	1,204 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	275.2 ft (83.9 m)
Beam	38.2 ft (11.6 m)
Draught	16.5 ft (5.0 m)
Propulsion	Quadruple expansion engines

class=notpageimage|

Location of the wreck of the Panay

TSS Waterford was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1912.^[1] The ship was sold in 1924 and became the Philippine merchant ship Panay which was sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1942.

Design

The ship was 83.9 meters (275 ft 3 in) long and had a beam of 11.6 meters (38 ft 1 in). She was assessed at 1,204 GRT and had 2 x 3 cyl Quadruple expansion engines driving two screw propellers. The ship achieve a speed of 10 knots.^[2]

History

She was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited in Neptune Yard, Low Walker on the River Tyne for the Great Western Railway. She was launched on 20 February 1912, and later that year started work on the Fishguard to Waterford service.

In 1924 she was sold to Fernández Hermanos, Cia Maritime, Manila and renamed Panay.^[3]

Panay, being used after the Japanese landings in the Philippines to transport arms and ammunition from Luzon to the west coast of Negros, was sunk by Japanese aircraft at Campomanes Bay in March 1942. Arms and ammunition were salvaged by divers in order to arm the guerilla forces forming on the island. The wreck is now a dive site attraction near the city of Sipalay.^[4][5][6]

References

1. Duckworth, Christian Leslie Dyce; Langmuir, Graham Easton (1968). Railway and other Steamers. Prescot, Lancashire: T. Stephenson and Sons.
2. "SS Panay (+1942)". wrecksite.eu. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
3. Lucking, J.H. (1971). The Great Western at Weymouth. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5135-4.
4. Sturma, Michael (2008). The USS Flier — Death and Survival on a World Wat II Submarine. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. p. 70. ISBN 9780813124810. LCCN 2007046559. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
5. Bennett, Tom (2010). Shipwrecks of the Philippines. Milford Haven, Wales, U.K.: Happy Fish. ISBN 9780951211489. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
6. "Dive the Wreck of SS Panay". Dumaguete (city) info. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

9.819562°N 122.365294°E / 9.819562; 122.365294