About the steam yacht Venetia

How one ship and her Colnesider crew joined the Royal Navy to serve in WW1

John Collins (Nottage Maritime Institute)

The forward gun platform can be seen but the gun itself is hard to spot against the background.
Nottage Maritime Institute 00108
Venetia in camouflage 1917-1918. The forward gun platform can be seen but the gun itself is hard to spot against the background.
Nottage Maritime Institute 00109

The steam yacht Venetia had been built in 1905 and measured 577 gross tons.   In peacetime she had many Colnesiders in her crew with several Wivenhoe men amongst them.

Served in WW1

She was soon requisitioned for war service, on 7th  August 1914, just three days after Britain declared War on Germany.  She was hired by the Royal Navy, initially as a headquarters ship for auxiliary patrol vessels, but later she became a patrol vessel herself and was armed with a 12 pounder gun forward and a 6 pounder aft.

The Crew signed up as well

The whole of her crew volunteered to serve with her and it is very likely that most would have done, as those who were not ineligible to serve in H.M. ships, and could have performed a useful role in a warship, would have  stayed on one of the special terms of engagement devised for the purpose.  Those men who were not already in the Royal Naval Reserve would probably have wanted to stay, both from patriotism and because of the chance for continued employment.  Being familiar with any idiosyncrasies of the ship and her engines, they would have greatly speeded up the ability of the new “warship” to reach maximum efficiency.

In 1917 she was renamed Venetia II so her name could be given to a new destroyer, and about that time she was repainted in a disruptive “dazzle” pattern.

Also served in WWII

She was returned to her owner in February 1919, but served again in World War 2 under her new name, Altair.

This page was added on 27/03/2015.

Comments about this page

  • The Venetia seen by Albert in Canada was the first Venetia built for F W Sykes in 1903 and not this one – the second one from 1905. there is a model of the second Venetia in the Tolson Museum Huddersfield, presented by Mrs sykes.

    By Graham Wadley (23/01/2021)
  • The last I saw of the Venetia was in Port Maitland, Ontario being scrapped. The keel may still be there buried in mud. Was the last owner Captain Scott Misner?? of Colonial…Sarnia Steamship Line.

    By Albert (04/04/2018)
  • Just found in some old papers a black and white photo of some of the crew outside the Grosvenor Hotel during a fund raiser for the Titanic survivors

    By steve hayward (30/10/2017)
  • Hello Steve. Is this picture the same one as here:
    http://www.wivenhoehistory.org.uk/content/topics/maritime/mariners/titanic-disaster
    Cheers
    Peter

    By Peter Hill (03/11/2017)

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