She was built in 1935 by Scott & Sons for John Campbell Blair of Glasgow , Scotland. She was 134' long and had steam reciprocating propulsion machinery, a rarity this late in the game. Sappho was acquired by the Royal Navy and was lost Sept. 30, 1940 after hitting a German-laid mine near Falmouth. Thirty-three men were lost.
SY Sappho was owned by my grandfather, who had her built on the Clyde as reported. He also leased her sister vessel SY Scotia. The build was commissioned partly to ease the unemployment in that area at the time. I have some documents and photos of Sappho if anyone is interested, but too large to upload to this site.
Very interested ,indeed, RodUK! Can you send me some images individually via e-mail? my e-mail is maunsel dot white at mchsi dot com Notice I actually spelled out the dots and @ and added spaces so bots won't pick it up. use the correct characters and spacing to send. Thanks in advance! Can't wait to see them. Maunsel (not really Manusel)
Thanks for posting the pictures we just discovered that our relative died on board this vessel - Leslie House. We think she sank off Falmouth because of a mine or possibly torpedo. Is there any more information that anyone has about her? What might the navy have been using her for? What was her intended peace time use? Why was anyone still building steam ships in 1935? We’d love to know anything at all - or any suggestions where we could find any more information. Thanks Mark
My father gave these to my mother as a gift last year. My mother is from London originally but she lives here in the states now. My father passed away on November 23rd and for some reason the subject of these salt and pepper shakers came up. My sister had done some searching for the history of this ship and came across this website and the above post. These came from an antique store in St. Louis that specializes in importing items from England and other parts of Europe. The owner is an old friend who grew up with my father. He has not been able to travel back over there for many months due to Covid19 and has decided to retire and close his store on December 31st. I imagine these were removed from the ship when the Royal Navy took over the vessel at the start of the war.