Isle of Man Steam Packet Company England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Ports served included Liverpool, Silloth, Whitehaven, Holyhead, Ardrossan, Blackpool, Belfast and Dublin. Vessels and crews of the company were actively involved in both the First and Second World Wars. One vessel, , was attached to the British Grand Fleet and led the German High Seas Fleet into Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands at the end of the First World War. Another vessel, "Viking", was converted to become a seaplane carrier, serving as . During the First World War, eleven out of a total fleet of fifteen Steam Packet ships were requisitioned by the Admiralty.
Convoys in World War I those between Britain and its European allies, and between Britain and neutral countries. The commercial convoys between England and the Netherlands or Norway are examples, as are the coal convoys between England and France. The second category consists of the escorts of warships, usually troopships, such as those from the Dominions in the early stages of the war. These formed the earliest convoys, but "probably the most overlooked category". The British Grand Fleet itself could be included in this category, since it was always escorted by a destroyer screen in the North Sea and frequently by long-range "Coastal" and "North