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.
Youngest British soldiers in World War I Youngest British soldiers in World War I The youngest authenticated British soldier in World War I was the twelve-year-old Sidney Lewis who fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Lewis's claim was not authenticated until 2013. In World War I, a number of young boys joined up to serve as soldiers before they were eighteen, the legal age to serve in the army. It was previously reported that the youngest British soldier was an unnamed boy, also twelve, sent home from France in 1917 with other underage boys from various regiments. George Maher (20 May 1903 – "c."1999)