Lot Essay
The iron screw steamer Seaham Harbour was built for her owner the Marquess of Londonderry by E. Withy & Co. of Hartlepool in 1880. Registered in her home port of Sunderland at 1,904 tons gross (1,242 net), she measured 275½ feet in length with a 38 foot beam and was engined by T. Richardson & Sons of Hartlepool. After a busy but relatively uneventful life, she was one of those unfortunate vessels which found itself in a German port when War was declared in August 1914, with the result that she was seized and held in Hamburg until finally released after the Armistice. Returned to her owners, she resumed her commercial career for a few more years before being scrapped in 1927.