Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard No 68 by Day, Summers & Co, Northam for some shareholders in Alderney and managed by T.N.Barbenson & Co.
May 1883 launched as the COURIER (II)
Tonnage 140 gross, 49 net, dim. 129.8 x 19.2 x 9.7ft.
Powered by one 2-cyl. compound steam engine, manufactured by the shipbuilder, 65 rhp.
28 June 1883 underwent trials in Southampton waters.
05 July 1883 she arrived at Guernsey, and then used in the service between Guernsey and Alderney. 16 November 1893 during thick mist inward bound to Guernsey she struck Flatt Rock off Herm Island, but managed to refloat herself and reached Guernsey
24 September 1897 the newly formed Alderney Steam Packet Company took over all privately owned shares, the company was still managed by T.N. Barbenson & Co.
26 August 1901 when taken the Perchee Passage off Herm, she struck rocks and had to be beached at Herm, and after temporary repairs and refloating she proceeded to Southampton on 06 September where she underwent repairs.
30 April 1906 off Herm she again struck rocks, where after she sank with the loss of one live. At that time the vessel was uninsured, but she was salvaged by her owners.
13 July 1906 she was raised and on 8 October towed to Southampton for repairs.
16 December 1906 she arrived back in Guernsey after her repair.
Kept in service during World War I and her service not changed until 06 October 1928 when her new managers were appointed Peter Thomas Mignot and Edward George Willis.
August 1929 Rev. P.T. Mignot bought the remaining shares in the company which he did not already own.
November 1929 the Alderney registered company was placed in liquidation and a new company under the same name was registered in Guernsey on 13 November 1929, with P.T. Mignot being named as manager.
02 February 1931 the company was sold to the St. Malo & Binic S.S. Co. this taken in effect after the COURIER’s overhaul in Dartmouth.
11 March returned in Guernsey and at that day her ownership was transferred to the new owner, and Piperell appointed as manager.
During her overhaul in Dartmouth her bridge was raised to full deck height.
29 April 1933 the company title was altered to the Guernsey, Alderney & Sark Steamship Co.
20 October 1938 the company was taken over by Capt. John Albert Leighton, who also became the manager of the company.
Before the Channel Islands were invaded in June 1940 by the German forces the COURIER left for the U.K. were most of her time during World War II she was working in the Clyde area as HMS CARACOLE. (Lloyds Register and Ships of the Royal Navy does not mention her under that name)
When Captain Leighton died in 1944 there was nobody to take over the company after the war, and the company came under the management of Mr. FarrarWolferstan Thomas.
06 June 1947 the company was sold to the Sark Projects Ltd, with Mr. Albert Edward Hussey of Sark as manager.
11 July 1947 she returned at Guernsey and put in the service to Sark and Alderney, but as a coal fired steamer she was not an economic venture against the more modern operators.
25 November 1947 she left St Peter Port never to return bound for Shoreham where she was laid up on arrival
14 January 1949 under tow of the Dutch tug HUMBER she left Shoreham bound for Nieuw Lekkerland in the Netherlands where she arrived on the 15th. whereafter she was broken up by Machine en Scheepswerf “De Koophandel” at Nieuw Lekkerland.
Alderney 2012 53p sg?, scott?
http://channelislandsshipping.je/page72.html#COURIER2
.