Having been sunk as a block ship in the entrance to the harbour at Zeebrugge by the Germans in October 1918, the Brussels was re-floated by the Royal Navy in 1919 and refurbished to become the Lady Brussels, in which guise she served the route between Preston and Ireland as a cattle transport.

Her journey from Zeebrugge to Preston is illustrated and explained, as is her contribution to the Harwich & District Hospital.

The Lady Brussels, the sale of which contributed to the establishment of the Fryatt Memorial Wing of the Harwich & District Hospital - image from a commercial postcard courtesy of the collection of Mark P. Baker.