The paddle steamer Manx Queen, 989 gross tons, began her life as the cross-channel ferry Duchess of Edinburgh. Ordered by the South Eastern Railway and built for them by Thomsons of Greenock, she was launched on 21 July 1880 and entered service in May 1881. From the start however, her speed was disappointing and after only a very few trips, she was withdrawn and laid up pending sale. In the autumn of 1882 she was purchased by J Little & Co of Barrow-in-Furness who ran her (from there) to the Isle of Man, renaming her Manx Queen in 1883. Apart from a brief charter to the Belgian government as a stand-in on their Ostend to Dover route in 1888, she remained on the Barrow to Douglas service for the rest of her career and was finally broken up in 1908.