U.S. Northland & Southland. WW11. Scotland.

[Walt Deas]

I am seeking any information and photographs of the following two Mississippi River Boats, or any of the others that made the crossing to the United Kingdom.

"Two Mississippi river boats, the US “Northland” and the U.S. “Southland” were stationed as a camp overflow, near Inveraray, Loch Fyne, Scotland during WW11. (Several of their sister ships were sunk crossing the Atlantic to Britain.)"

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Walter Deas.

[R. Dale Flick]

Hi, Walt:
Read your inquiry to the NORTHLAND/SOUTHLAND as posted and did some 'digging' around here with mixed results. There are others on this web with far keener memories than mine--especially when it comes to W.W. II LST craft built here on our inland waters for the war. I dug further and found two British JKN Class destroyers by the same names used in W.W. II. If you have/can find a copy of 'JANES' FIGHTING SHIPS' there may be a reference.

The other NORTHLAND/SOUTHLAND/EASTLAND sources I have here reference the Great Lakes and the tragic capsizing of the EASTLAND in the Chicago River, July 24, 1915 with the loss of some 835 deaths. It was a hot maritime case linked to the 'ballast' of the ship by crew and officers in addition to passenger over-load. The EASTLAND was later converted to the USS WILMETTE, U.S. Naval Reserve vessel.

Another NORTHLAND/EASTLAND reference mentioned two ships in Europe under the Dutch merchant marine flag as NORDLAND/SUDLAND. Many lines, and some navies, over the years christened vessels with the same names shown above. Well, what do I know?

Cheers and keep us posted on your discoveries,
R. Dale Flick

[Carmen]

Although I don´t have the slightest idea what we´re talking about I did some google research and came up with the following websites

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s15/southland.htm

SS Southland, small steamer for the Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Co. on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. Went to GB, later China, scrapped in 1955.

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/northland.htm

This is about a Northland but it was a Coast Guard cutter which never went to GB.

Here´s another website which sounds interesting

http://www.navsource.org/index.html

Our YFB-56 is listed :-).

Carmen

[R. Dale Flick]

Carmen:
Thanks for narrowing down the websites for Walt. I did some further GOOGLING here, too, and PRESTO! there they were. 'Takes a village.' Not "pure steamboats" but a way to help a researcher.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

[Walt Deas]

I am seeking any information and photographs of the following two Mississippi River Boats, or any of the others that made the crossing to the United Kingdom.

"Two Mississippi river boats, the US “Northland” and the U.S. “Southland” were stationed as a camp overflow, near Inveraray, Loch Fyne, Scotland during WW11. (Several of their sister ships were sunk crossing the Atlantic to Britain.)"

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Walter Deas.

Thanks folks, looks like one is the Southland. Both ships were used to accommodate troops in training along Loch Fyne, a beautiful part of Scotland.
If they were the large Mississippi vessels that I see in photographs it must have been a hazardous trip over to Scotland.

[Carmen]

Walt,

Obviously the Southland was never on the Mississippi river but in the East on the Potomac river.

Carmen

[Bill Judd]

Northland

I think the vessel Walt refers to is the Str. Northland, built 1926 for Clarke Steamship Co. A 300 Ft. vessel which ran on the St. Lawrence River. It was a ship not a Mississippi type riverboat. It was converted into a troop ship during WW II. There is a photo of it on Maritime Time Table images.

[Walt Deas]

Unable to locate the Str. Northland at that site. All I know is that the Scottish records state "Two Mississippi river boats, the U.S. “Northland” and the U.S. “Southland” were stationed as a camp overflow, near Inveraray, Loch Fyne, Scotland during WW11.

[Shelagh Boardman]

Unable to locate the Str. Northland at that site. All I know is that the Scottish records state "Two Mississippi river boats, the U.S. “Northland” and the U.S. “Southland” were stationed as a camp overflow, near Inveraray, Loch Fyne, Scotland during WW11.

Northland and Southland were not Mississippi river boats but built by Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Company. They made it across the North Atlantic together with Naushon, President Warfield and New Bedford. Three steamships that didn't make it were New York, Boston and Yorktown.
The convoy number was RB1. I have a lot of research about these steamers as my father was 1st Mate on Yorktown, but actually made it back to the UK.