Isle of Man Steam Packet in the Second World War

by Matthew Richardson

A compelling account of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s heroic service during World War II.

Names like Ben-My-Chree, Tynwald and Lady of Mann are synonymous with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the world’s oldest shipping line that is still in existence. In its long history, there can have been no greater test of the company’s ships or its men than the Second World War. As well as maintaining a crucial link to the Isle of Man (in spite of U-boats and mines), the vessels and their compliments saw vital service as troop carriers at Dunkirk, on D-Day and elsewhere. For the first time, this book explores what it was really like to crew these ships, often under fire, and frequently in danger. Using previously unreleased archive material, and sometimes forgotten personal accounts, this book weaves a gripping narrative of what was arguably the Isle of Man’s greatest contribution to victory in the Second World War – its fleet.

200 pages, Hardcover

Published January 2, 2025

About the author

Matthew Richardson was born in 1990 and graduated with a First in English from Durham University in 2011. He then went on to postgraduate research at Merton College, Oxford, specialising in intellectual history. He was a freelance journalist, a speechwriter and a researcher in Westminster while also starting work on his debut novel, My Name is Nobody. In the summer of 2015, at the age of 24, Matthew Richardson was signed by Penguin in a six-figure pre-empt deal.

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