SS Robin
SS Robin September 2010, ready to leave Lowestoft
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 United Kingdom
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| Builder: | Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co, then Robert Thomson, Orchard House Yard, Blackwall, London |
| Yard number: | 26 |
| Launched: | 16 September 1890 |
| Completed: | November 1890 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 5222287 |
| Status: | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 366 GRT (later 342 GRT) 550 DWT |
| Length: | 143 ft (44 m) loa |
| Beam: | 22.9 ft (7.0 m) |
| Depth: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Installed power: | Triple expansion steam engine 152 ihp (113 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Single screw |
| Speed: | 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
SS Robin is a 350 gross registered ton (GRT) steam coaster, a class of steamship designed for carrying bulk and general cargoes in coastal waters, and the oldest complete example in the world. One of a pair of coasters built in Bow Creek, London] in 1890, the ship was built for British owners, but spent most of her long working life on the Spanish coast as Maria.
In 1974 she was purchased for restoration as Robin and is listed by National Historic Ships as part of the National Historic Fleet (the nautical equivalent of a Grade 1 Listed Building). She is situated in the Royal Docks in east London, in the final stages of preparation before opening as the SS Robin museum, theatre and educational centre in 2014.
As built, Robin was 143 feet (44 m) long, her beam is 23 feet (7.0 m), her depth is 12.2 feet (3.7 m) and her tonnage is 366 GRT. She carried about 450 tons of cargo.
The engine is a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, developing 152 indicated horsepower (113 kW), and made in 1890 by Gourlay Brothers & Co of Dundee, Scotland. Her maximum speed was 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).
In Lloyd's Register she was described as a "steel screw 3-masted schooner", and had indeed been provided with sails for all three masts when first built.
Robin was ordered from Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co of Orchard House Yard, Hercules Wharf, Blackwall, London, situated in Bow Creek at the mouth of the River Lea, by London shipowner Robert Thomson, and launched on 16 September 1890. However, she and her sister Rook were completed by Thomson himself, though the reason is unknown. After fitting out in the East India Dock, Robin was towed to Dundee to have her engine, boiler and auxiliary machinery installed by Gourlay Brothers & Co. When completed she was registered in London with Official number 98185 and in the ownership of Arthur Ponsonby of Newport, then in Monmouthshire.
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Wikipedia