The Mohegan Letter
S.S.Mohegan
Dover.
Oct 13th 1898
Dear Sir,
We left Gravesend at 2.30 P.M. & arrived at Dover
at 7.30. The firemen are not quite up to the mark just
yet so that we have been kept for steam. I am pleased
to say that there is no sign of leaks in the ?????? but
there are a few rivets & parts of the shell leaking
and 1 check valve slightly.
We have been making 62 revolutions on 175lbs steam. The
HP crank pin has been working warm & has had water
on but getting her away again now. I have just come off
the boiler tops & find all right except Port main
stop valve has a pump on the spindle. I hope this will
disappear on a full head of steam. We have three
engineers on watch in the channel keeping 14 hour
watches.
Just as the dinner was about to be served all the
lights went out owing to a fuse burning out. On the
whole I think they are satisfactory.
I sent the drawings you wired me on by Mr.Melvin.
Trusting that this will find you better & that we
shall have a good voyage.
I am Dear Sir
Yours most respectfully
W.Kinley
This letter was written by W Kinley,
the Mohegan's assistant engineer, from the Mohegan
the day before the vessel's loss on the Manacles.
It was sent to the engineering superintendent of the
Atlantic Transport Line. The letter was kept in a desk
virtually undisturbed until the 1970s and its
significance has only just been appreciated.
Jonathan Kinghorn of Lexington, Massachussetts, is the
great grandson of the engineering superintendent for
the ATL and he read about the Mohegan on our website.
He kindly sent me a copy of the letter which I have
transcribed above as well as a scanned copy of the
original.
W.Kinley was drowned in the Mohegan disaster and his
body was taken from St Keverne church to London for
burial.
Terry Moyle
27 March 2006
