MV ''Royal Daffodil II'' was a

Mersey ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in northwest England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12 ...

, built in 1958 to provide passenger ferry service across the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In 1972, she was sold to new owners and operated in the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

as the ''Ioulis Keas II'', ''Agia Kyriaki'' and ''Dolphin I'', before being lost at sea in 2007. ''Royal Daffodil II'' was constructed by James Lamont & Co at

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

and entered service in 1958. She was larger than the earlier and , as she had three decks and was designed for the dual role of ferry and cruise service. She was named after the , a previous Mersey ferry that had gained the "Royal" prefix for her service in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Roman "II" was added to her name because of a Thames estuary cruise ship also called ''Royal Daffodil'', which existed from 1939 until 1967. The gross register tonnage of ''Royal Daffodil II'' was 609. A gross error was the size of her engines, developing a piece she was underpowered and often struggled in strong tides. Aside from the engine order telegraphs, she also had helms in the side boxes meaning that the ship could be steered from them if required. The vessel ran aground on a sandbank in thick fog in September 1967 and was involved in a collision in January 1968. Taking on water from a hole near her

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

, she was beached near Seacombe. Repaired at

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

, she subsequently returned to service. ''Royal Daffodil II'' was sold to Greek owners and renamed ''Ioulis Keas II'' in 1977. It was converted into a

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

ferry in 1980, but still retained its forward section largely in its original condition. It was renamed ''Agia Kyriaki'' in 1992. Two years later the vessel was renamed again as ''Dolphin I'' and registered in the

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a '' de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all o ...

. The ferry sank in heavy seas on 7 November 2007, off the coast of

Cape Apostolos Andreas Cape Apostolos Andreas (, "Cape Saint Andrew"; , "Cape Victory") is the north-easternmost point (promontory) of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus (). It lies at the tip of the finger-like Karpass Peninsula. The Apostolos Andreas Monastery is ...

. The cause of the sinking was main engine and steering gear failure, and she claimed the lives of both her captain and mate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Daffodil Mersey Ferries Ships built on the River Clyde 1958 ships