Cobra was built for G & J Burns daylight Royal Mail service from Gourock to Belfast. She was not found acceptable by Burns and was sold back to Fairfields, who renamed her St Tudno and registered in the name of their managing director Richard Barnwell. She was run for excursion work in North Wales, in competition with the ships of The Liverpool & North Wales Steamship Co Ltd. Evidently she was not profitable in this guise for she was sold again, in the same year, for use between Hamburg and Heligoland, where she regained her original name. She was comandeered by the French after the Great War and was sold to German breakers in 1922. In this splendid picture, she is shown in service at Nice, towards the end of her career. As can be seen, Cobra was a good looking steamer with a full length promenade deck and elegant lines. The picture below shows a lively scene of her whilst in service for the Hamburg-America line in 1909. Thank you Maria for this nice old ship card.
