Laxey Mine ton, and this would be used to glaze lower end earthenware. During the height of prosperity of the Great Laxey Mine, the Laxey Wheel was erected. The wheel was named the Lady Isabella, after the wife of Sir Charles Hope, who at the time was the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. During its working life the wheel was capable of pumping 250 gallons of water a minute from a depth of 200 fathoms. By the beginning of the 20th Century the yield from the mine had begun to decline dramatically. During the first six months of 1900 the
SS Ellan Vannin (1854) the result being a dead heat. Subsequently the "Ellan Vannin" sailed down the channel as far as the Bell Buoy and back, during the course of which her speed was gauged by Captain Ponsonby on board the "Mobile". A two knot tide was running against her, however the "Ellan Vannin" covered the distance from the Northwest Lightship to the Rock Lighthouse in 1 hour 12 minutes. Luncheon was then served, the directors being joined by John Laird who had been on deck observing the trial. The "Ellan Vannin" made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Castletown on Tuesday 1 August,