TSS Ben-my-Chree (V) No.186355, was the second in a line of four car ferries ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and the fifth vessel in the Company's history to bear the name.

Dimensions

Launched on December 10th, 1965, and constructed at a cost of £1,400,000, Ben-my-Chree (V) was virtually identical to her sister Manx Maid (II), which was built four years earlier.
Length 325'; beam 50'; and a depth of 18'; with accommodation for 1400 passengers and a crew of 60.
Ben-my-Chree had a Gross tonnage of 2762 and had a designed service speed of 21 knots.
The machinery lay-out was similar to Manx Maid (II), developing 9,500 brake horse power.
Service life=
Ben-my-Chree (V) is of interest as it was the last of the Company's ships to be designed for two class passenger accommodation. She started her run in May 1966 and at the beginning of 1967 all of the Company's ships, including Ben-my-Chree, were converted to single class, the two class system having been employed for 136 years.

The Ben as she was always known, entered service having gone through her trials and been accepted, with Capt J.E. Quirk in command and J.S.Kennaugh as Chief Officer.

The year 1966 when she started operations was the year of the seaman's strike, which resulted in her being laid up for the first part of the summer. She made up for this to an extent by holding the main Douglas-Liverpool route on her own for part of April 1975 when the Mona's Queen (V) was having her annual overhaul, and Manx Maid (II) was enforced to be idle through an industrial dispute.
During her annual overhaul in 1978, Ben-my-Chree was fitted with a bow thruster, driven by a steam turbine of 500 brake horse power. Also at this time, she was fitted with the ship's whistle from the scrapped Tynwald (V), a traditional organ type whistle, who's mighty reverberation was very much appreciated by lovers of Manx ships.
Disposal
During the early 1980's, as a result of the formation of Manxline with its RO-RO vessel Manx Viking, the side-loading car ferries of the Steam Packet were seen as becoming increasingly inefficient, and the decision was made to retire both the Manx Maid and the Ben-my-Chree. Whilst their higher fuel consumption would initially be seen as the cost to dispose, the reality was the steam plants were very expensive to maintain, and just not as efficient. The Steamers averaged 9 tons of fuel on a Douglas / Liverpool trip whilst the motor ships (Mona's Queen and Lady of Mann less than 4).

The IoM SPCoLtd's attitude and relationship with the Iom Harbour Board bore significantly in the construction of the Manx Maid (her earlier sister 1962) and Ben My Chree, as they were unable to agree to the building of, and who would pay the costs of linkspans required for a new RO/RO. However, it did result in a unique design that served the Isle Of Man very successfully till the demise of the Lady of Mann II in 2005. Ultimately what scrapped these beautiful stream lined, whilst archaic ships, was not their inability, more their lack of efficiency as the economy of operating turbine steamers was eclipsed by motor vessels.

Their nicknames by Steam Packet staff (both the Maid and the Ben) in the 60s and 70s were the money boxes. As they gained the Steam Packet all its profits via the carriage of cars and vans. She was generally the winter boat i.e. out of Douglas at nine, and back at 1030 from liverpool the following day until the Lady of Mann (1976) entered service.The winter job, and the boat that did it was sort after by the ratings, as you earn't more sailing than when laid up.

The Ben-my-Chree therefore made her final voyage Steam Packet ownership on the 19th September 1984, ten days after her older sister.

However, this wasn't quite the end for her, and in June 1985 she was chartered back from her new owners to cover the shortfall in capacity for the busy TT motorcycle races.
Ben-my-Chree was finally laid by Capt Hall in Vittoria Dock, Birkenhead, on 10th June 1985.
In August 1989 she was sold to Spanish breakers Cantabra Metalurgica S.A.

Santander broke her up still under the name Ben-my-Chree, and demolition work commenced 18th September, 1989.

Work was completed on 4th December 1989, almost twenty four years to the day, after this fine and reliable ship was launched.