page_title: William Gill (sea captain)
section_title: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
hierarchical_section_title: William Gill (sea captain) / Career / Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement for passage between the Isle of Man and Liverpool
context_page_description: William Gill was a Manx merchant navy officer who served as commanding officer of numerous Isle of Man Steam Packet Company vessels. Gill was the first recognised captain of the line, retiring with the rank of Commodore.
  He is also known as the captain who first charted an approach to the treacherous River Mersey, which subsequently became known as the Victoria Channel.
context_section_description: Captain Gill's reputation led to his appointment as Master of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's new steamer Mona's Isle when service commenced in August 1830.
  At that time the St George Steam Packet Company were the primary operators on the route with their vessel the Sophia Jane under the command of Lieutenant Tudor, RN, but the ship was very unpopular in terms of comfort and reliability. 
  The onus therefore fell upon Capt. Gill and the Mona's Isle to operate an efficient and reliable service, with comfort of the passengers also to be of a high priority. Unlike the Sophia Jane the Mona's Isle had been designed primarily to shelter passengers and had spacious and comfortable cabins.
  On Monday, 16 August 1830, Mona's Isle sailed for Liverpool. The Sophia Jane sailed at the same time and reached Liverpool one and a half minutes ahead.
  On Wednesday, 18 August, a similar race took place back to Douglas with a similar result. But on Friday, 20 August, returning from Liverpool, Mona's Isle came in 40 minutes ahead. The pattern was established and Sophia Jane was regularly beaten, on one occasion in a gale, by over three hours. 
  The early defeats were probably caused by the fact that Mona's Isle's new engine took time to run in and full speed was not attainable at first. Mona's Isle, however, had proved herself capable of travelling between Liverpool and Douglas in eight hours at a speed of  8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph).
  The St George Company engaged in a price-cutting war, and in September withdrew the Sophia Jane and replaced her with their largest and fastest steamer, the St. George. However, Mona's Isle won the first race largely because of the astuteness of Capt. Gill.
  Seeing a south-westerly gale developing, he had the coal and cargo moved to the windward side of the vessel, to prevent the windward paddle lifting out of the water.
  By October 1830, Mona's Isle had established herself as the principle steamer between Liverpool and Douglas.
  On Friday 19 November 1830, under the command of Lieutenant John Tudor RN, the St George arrived in Douglas from Liverpool with mail and passengers.
  Once her passengers and mail were unloaded, the St George proceeded to take her anchorage in the vicinity of Conister Rock using the fixed chain cable which had been secured for the task.
  The night was stormy, with strong gusts of wind from the southwest which increased in ferocity as the wind veered to the southeast on the morning of 20 November. At 05:00hrs the chain cable holding the St George began to give way and she began to drive in between the Pollock and Conister rocks.
  Through the efforts of Sir William Hillary, founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the crew of the St. George were saved.
  Capt. Gill on seeing the predicament of the St George was able to break away from his mooring and put to sea, thus avoiding a similar fate.
  By 1832 the Directors of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company were becoming increasingly concerned about using the Mona's Isle in winter weather. A second vessel, the Mona, was ordered to meet this task and entered service initially serving Whitehaven before replacing the Mona's Isle on the main Liverpool service in October of that year.
  By this time, after seeing off the competition of the St. George Company, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company had achieved the first reliable steamship service between the Isle of Man and Liverpool and consequently further ships were ordered for service with the line, with Capt. Gill raising to the rank of Commodore and taking initial command of each new vessel in turn.
  The Mona was followed by the much larger and more powerful Queen of the Isle in 1834, the King Orry in 1842, the Ben-my-Chree in 1845 and the Tynwald in 1846 which was to be Capt. Gill's final command.
  Captain Gill's understanding of the winds, currents and tides between the Isle of Man and Liverpool was of particular renown and he gained a reputation as a fearless and daring commander and ultimately one of the most successful, rarely known to turn back in heavy weather.
  It was said that he 
caption: Advert for passage between the Isle of Man and Liverpool on board the Queen of the Isle
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