SS ''Nubia'' was a passenger steamer, built by John Laird Sons & Company in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

in 1854 for the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World ...

at a cost of £65,750. It was launched on 28 February 1854 and commenced formal service between

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and Alexandria on 4 September 1854. It was briefly used in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

later that year before continuing operations between

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

and Calcutta, passing through the port of

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

en route. On 5 October 1864, it encountered trouble during a cyclone in Calcutta and was driven ashore near King Oudh's palace and had to be refloated. In September 1867, ''Nubia'' rescued the passengers of , which had run aground on a reef in the

Gulf of Suez The Gulf of Suez (; formerly , ', "Sea of Calm") is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of Aqaba. The gulf was formed within a relative ...

. From 1870, it was used for delivering freight between Liverpool and Bombay, and then it entered mail service in Alexandria from October 1872–3. In 1873, the ship was deemed unfit for service during an inspection in

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

, but after two months of repairs in Bombay resumed service to Australia. In 1877, the steamer was sold for £8,250 to the London Schools Board. Renamed ''Shaftesbury'' she served as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

, moored initially at

Grays, Essex Grays (or Grays Thurrock) is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. The town, which is both a former civil parish and one of List of traditional (Church of England) par ...

. On 18 January 1881, she broke from her mooring in a storm and was driven upstream. She came ashore and all 376 people on board were rescued by two

tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

. She was refloated and taken to

Greenhithe Greenhithe may refer to: *Greenhithe, Kent Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Gree ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The London School Board was abolished in 1904, its responsibilities passing to

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

. ''Shaftesbury'' was discovere to require extensive repairs and it was decided to scrap her. She closed as a school ship in 1905, and was sold in 1906 to Dutch shipbreakers.

References

Ships of P&O 1854 ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in October 1864 Maritime incidents in January 1881 {{Ship-stub