SS Heroic (1906)

Heroic served the Belfast to Liverpool route as a Ferry from 1906 until she was requisitioned by the Admiralty as an Armed merchant cruiser on 18 November 1914 following the outbreak of World War I. Heroic was serving in this role for the Royal Navy, when on the morning of 21 November 1916, Heroic and several other Royal Navy ships received an SOS signal from the British Hospital ship HMHS Britannic which had struck a mine and was sinking near the Greek island of Kea. Heroic reached the wrecksite of Britannic at 10 am alongside HMS Foresight, HMS Foxhound, HMS Scourge and the French tug Goliath. Although the Britannic had already sunk an hour earlier, all her 1,066 occupants had taken to the lifeboats and safely evacuated save for two lifeboats which were drawn into the ship's still turning propellers, killing 30 people. Heroic took on 494 survivors and, having run out of deck space to take on more people, left the wrecksite for Piraeus alongside HMS Scourge, while the other rescue ships picked up the remaining survivors.^[4] Two of the survivors Heroic had picked up died from injuries sustained in the sinking before the ship reached Piraeus and both were buried with military honours in the Piraeus Naval and Consular Cemetery.^[5]

Heroic remained in service as an Armed merchant cruiser until July 1917, when she was instead used as a troop transport until she was reverted back to an Armed merchant cruiser in January 1918. Heroic remained with the Royal Navy until 6 July 1920 and was returned to her original owners so she could take up her former Ferry duties between Belfast and Liverpool again. Heroic was withdrawn from her Ferry service in 1930 and given an extensive overhaul in which her aft boat deck was extended and a second dummy funnel was added to make her look more modern. The ship was then sold to the British and Irish Steam Packet Company and renamed Lady Connaught before returning to her original Belfast to Liverpool ferry route again. Lady Connaught was retired from service yet again in 1938 and renamed to Longford the following year. Longford was laid up during the entirety of World War II before she took up her ferry service again, but on the Liverpool to Dublin route this time. Longford was withdrawn from service a final time in 1952 and scrapped that same year.^[6]

Chirnside, Mark (2011) [2004]. The Olympic-Class Ships. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2868-0.