Builders: Napier, Shanks & Bell 1882
Propulsion type: Paddle compound diagonal
Owners: Glasgow & South Western Railway
Service dates: 1892 - 1917
Tonnage: ????
Comments:
Neptune was launched om 10 March 1892 after achieving 18 knots on trials, exceeding her contract speed by a quarter of one knot. At that time her owners boasted she was the fastest ship of her size afloat. She was fitted out to a high standard and was an immediate success. She was placed on the Ardrossan to Arran route, where she soon became involved in unofficial racing with the Caledonian Steam Packet Co's crack steamer Duchess of Hamilton. Neptune was later replaced by Glen Sannox and she moved to the Rothesay and Kyles of Bute service from Greenock to Princes Pier. In 1898 she was replaced on the Ayr station (where this picture was taken) by the new steamer Juno, who was much faster at over 19 knots. On excursion work she went as far as Stranraer but with the advent of the Great War she was requistioned by the Admiralty with her sister Mercury. Neptune was lost in April 1917 after she struck a mine and sank off the Dyck Light Vessel.