The passenger ferry Ben My Chree (meaning "girl of my heart) is shown arriving at Douglas, Isle of Man, in mid 1965 shortly before withdrawal in this Wallace Trickett painting.
The ship was built in 1927 at the Cammell Laird shipyard, Birkenhead, the first steamer built post-World War I for the Steam Packet Co and averaged over 20 knots on the Liverpool-Douglas run. She was painted white and green for the 1932 season and was popular with passengers because of her luxurious interior.
Requisitioned at the beginning of WW2, she attended the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940 and saved over 4,000 troops before a collision caused her to withdraw. She sailed on transport duties between Iceland and Britain until 1944 when she was converted to a landing ship for the forthcoming invasion of occupied France. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, she and her landing craft saw action off Omaha Beach, landing American troops of the Ranger Assault Group at Pointe du Hoc. She continued as a transport until 1946 when she returned to service with the Steam Packet Fleet until disposed of in 1965 after 38 years service.
Specifications:
Tonnage: 2,586 GRTLength: 111.56 metres (366.0 ft)
Beam: 14.02 metres (46.0 ft)
Propulsion: 2 × steam turbines
Speed: 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h)
Capacity: 1st class passengers: 1642
2nd class passengers: 853
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