Memorial service for Ellan Vannin
REMEMBERING THE LOST: The service at the quayside taking place on Monday evening. PHOTO: John Maddrell JM121203 (71).
A MEMORIAL service to the 35 passengers and crew who lost their lives when the SS Ellan Vannin sank more than a century ago was held at Ramsey quayside on Monday.
The evening service had been organised by the ManxAid charity timed for 6.30pm in tribute of the Steam Packet vessel, which – after setting off from her home port of Ramsey – succumbed to stormy conditions near Liverpool and sank at 6.30am, December 3, 1909, claiming the lives of all on board.
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the people of the Isle of Man by Chief Minister Allan Bell (and Ramsey MHK), on behalf of the passengers by Geoff Corkish MHK, and on behalf of the crew by the Steam Packet Company’s John Watt.
‘We want to try and do this every year because it is part of the history of the Isle of Man,’ explained ManxAid’s Jim Douglas.
The quayside inter-denominational service was followed by a further 45-minute service in Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Maughold Church in Ramsey.
There, Speaker of the House of Keys Steve Rodan played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.
David Cretney MHK read a list of the names, and some details of the lives, of the passengers who lost their lives, and the Steam Packet’s John Watt read a list of the Ellan Vannin’s crew members.
Following all this, a special presentation was made at the Ramsey Park Hotel, to Harry Edmondson, the Liverpool man who is the former custodian of the Ellan Vannin Memorial. He also laid a wreath at the quayside.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 18 May 2013
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