[1] She was the second of four car ferries ordered by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was virtually identical to her sister Manx Maid, built four years earlier.

This was a happy occasion for the Steam Packet, for as the "Ben" slipped away from the Prince's Landing Stage and proceeded downstream towards the sea, she received a rousing salute from her sister Manx Maid, lying alongside the Liverpool terminal.

The IOMSPCo Ltd's attitude and relationship with the Isle of Man Harbour Board bore significantly in the construction of the Manx Maid and Ben-My-Chree, as they were unable to agree to the building of, and who would pay the costs of linkspans required for a new RO-RO.

Ultimately what scrapped these beautiful streamlined, whilst archaic ships, was not their inability, more their lack of efficiency as the economy of operating turbine steamers was eclipsed by motor vessels.

She serviced the main Douglas-Liverpool route on her own for part of April 1975 while Mona's Queen was having her annual overhaul, and Manx Maid was forced to be idle through an industrial dispute.

The Steamers averaged 9 tons of fuel on a Douglas - Liverpool trip whilst the motor ships Mona's Queen and Lady of Mann less than 4.

However, this wasn't quite the end for her, and in June 1985 she was chartered back from her new owners to cover the shortfall in capacity for the busy TT motorcycle races.