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"Mike: HMS Stephen Furness was an Armed Boarding Steamer, built at West Hartlepool in 1910 1,712 tons. Owned by the Tyne-Tees Shipping Co. Ltd, King Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. Ship No. 34 129,753. Seconded Dec 1914. Served until Mar 1916. Ex -squadron supply ship. Sunk by UB64 west of Isle of Man. 6 Officers & 95 men lost in sinking. H.M.S. Stephen Furnace was struck by a torpedo on the starboard side between the bridge and the funnel, she started dipping straight away and before the life boats could be lowered she suddenly went down with out lowering any of the boats. She sunk at 16.15 0n Thursday 13 December 1917 of the West Coast of the Isle of Man Latitude 54o 15? Longitude 5o 7?w. About 15? W. by N of Contrary Head Isle of Man. She was on her way to Liverpool for repairs. She had left Lerwick at 1400 on Tuesday 11 December 1917.This information is taken from the finding of the Court Martial which was held on the 1 February 1918 at Portsmouth. Armed Boarding Steamers were used to examine ships and thus enforce the blockade of Germany. They were used to search neutral ships. They usually worked with Cruiser Squadrons and because they were smaller they had the risky job of stopping while the inspections were conducted, something no Cruiser would do as they would be sitting ducks for UBoats. 13th December 1917 sunk by UB 64, a UB III class boat commisioned in August 1917 and commanded by CO of UB 64 during that patrol was Kapit?nleutnant Walter Gude. near Belfast Lough. Armed Boarding Steamers were armed merchantmen under Admiralty control, which were used to go along side foreign ships and check for contraband, in order to reinforce the Blockade. As stated by Malcom, they were more expendable than navy cruisers or Armed Merchant Cruisers They were used with the main blockade squadrons, Northern Patrol (North Sea), Lough Larne (North Channel) etc, and also acted alone in the North Sea, for example. In the 'German Submarine War 1914-1918' by Gibson and Prendergast it states ""Another of these boarding steamers, home from the Arctic, the Stephen Furness, waas torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Sea on the 13th, with heavy loss of life."" Not sure what she had been doing in the Arctic, but may have been patrolling around in the North Cape to Murmansk area. At the time of the sinking it was probably part of the North Channel blockading squadron. "