RMS Ultonia

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Ultonia 1898 At Anchor.jpg
Ultonia at anchor in 1899
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameRMS Ultonia
Namesake Latin name for Ulster
Owner Cunard Line
Operator House flag of the Cunard Line.svg Cunard Line
Port of registry Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Liverpool, United Kingdom
Builder C S Swan & Hunter, Wallsend, England
Yard number228 [1]
Launched4 June 1898
Maiden voyage26 October 1898 [2]
Identification
FateSunk on 27 June 1917
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length
Beam57.4 ft (17 m) [3]
Height44.96 ft (14 m) [6]
Draught20.6 ft (6 m) [3]
Depth33.9 ft (10 m) [3]
Capacity
  • At launch
  • 800 cattle
  • 1899 passenger refit
  • 675 third class [7]
  • 1904 refit
  • 120 second class [7]
  • 2,100 third class [7]

RMS Ultonia was a British passenger-cargo vessel built by C. S. Swan & Hunter of Wallsend, England, and bought by the Cunard Line prior to launch in 1898. Ultonia saw military service during World War I and was sunk by a German torpedo in 1917.

Contents

Background

In the late 1890s Cunard had only a small number of vessels running on the transatlantic trade, with Catalonia, Cephalonia and Pavonia operating the passenger service on the Boston route. These were introduced in the early 1880s and were around 5,000  GRT each. [8]

In 1893 Cunard had also introduced RMS Lucania and RMS Campania as fast express liners between Liverpool and New York, with these winning the Blue Riband speed record, but this was later won by Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line in 1897. [8]

White Star Line had also recently introduced the liners Georgic and Cymric. These were known as 'intermediate' liners, and were economical and did not consume much fuel for their speed, but they were not as luxurious or as speedy as the German record-holders or British express liners. Instead they focused on increased cargo space where the express liners would have had additional engine machinery and boilers. [9]

Cunard decided to follow White Star Line in producing smaller, more profitable liners of more moderate speed, oriented at the Liverpool–Boston service, to replace Catalonia, Cephalonia, and Pavonia. Ultonia was the first of these, built as a cargo liner but adapted to carry passengers, and was soon followed by the Ivernia-class: Ivernia, Saxonia and the later, smaller Carpathia. [8] [10]

Design and construction

Deck plan

From top to bottom: [6] [11]

The lower portion of the ship had eight watertight bulkheads extending up to the Upper Deck, and dividing Ultonia into nine watertight compartments. [11]

Ultonia General Arrangement at Launch.png
A longitudinal section plan of the Ultonia at launch in 1898, showing deck and bulkhead layout

Rigging

Four staysails and two jibs were included in the rigging plan for Ultonia, [11] described as a "four masted four and aft schooner". [6]

History

Ultonia was launched on 4 June 1898, measuring 500 feet (150 m) by 57.4 feet (17.5 m) by 33.9 feet (10.3 m), and assessed at 8,845  gross register tons  (GRT) with engines by Sir C. Furness, Westgarth & Co, Middlesbrough. Originally designed for cargo and cattle, third-class accommodation for 675 passengers was fitted in 1899. [12] Ultonia left Liverpool carrying passengers for the first time on 28 February 1899, with 102 passengers at departure [13] and an additional 27 picked up at Queenstown, Ireland, before proceeding to Boston. [14]

Departing Boston on one of these voyages on 5 August 1899, Ultonia hit a ledge just outside the main channel of Boston Harbor at Nantasket Roads, which was the typical route at the time. This area is now called the Ultonia Ledge, located one and a half miles (2.4 km) southeast of Boston Light, and is as shallow as 21 feet (6.4 m) at mean lower low water according to modern nautical charts. This event spurred the alteration of ships' courses in the area to avoid the ledge, the dredging of Nantasket Roads to a depth of 35 feet (11 m) to be safe for large steamships, and also the later dredging of the wider northern approach via President Roads, which is now the main channel for large ships entering or exiting Boston Harbor. [15]

In 1904, the ship was refitted to accommodate 120 second-class passengers, and 2,100 third-class passengers, increasing the tonnage to 10,402 gross register tons. [5] In 1915, further refits were made to carry up to 2,000 horses for the war effort. [12]

On 27 March 1917, Ultonia collided with the British collier Don Benito in the Atlantic Ocean ( 49°35′N6°44′W / 49.583°N 6.733°W / 49.583; -6.733 ). Don Benito sank. [16]

Sinking

During World War I, Ultonia was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 190 miles (310 km) from Fastnet, Ireland, on 27 June 1917 by the Imperial German Navy submarine U-53 under Captain Hans Rose. One life was lost in the attack. [17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Record Yard no. 228, Ultonia". Tyne and Wear Archives Catalogue. Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  2. ↑ "Ultonia" . Liverpool Journal of Commerce. 5 November 1898. Retrieved 23 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ultonia (109478)", Lloyd's Register of Steamers, Lloyd's Register, 1901
  4. ↑ "Vessels Equipped Subject to the Act and Inspected by the Radio Inspectors", Annual report of the Commissioner of Navigation yr.1911/12
  5. 1 2 "Ultonia (109478)", Lloyd's Register of Steamers, Lloyd's Register, 1904
  6. 1 2 3 4 "The Largest Cargo Vessel Built In Great Britain". Newcastle Journal. 7 June 1898. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 Roussel, Mike; Warwick, Sam (2012). Shipwrecks of the Cunard Line. Cornwall, UK: The History Press. p. 142. ISBN   978 0 7509 8538 3.
  8. 1 2 3 Bonsor, N. R. P (1955). North Atlantic Seaway. Prescot, Lancashire, United Kingdom: T. Stephenson & Sons. pp. 20–22. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Recent Developments In Cargo and Intermediate Steamers". The Marine Review. 29 (22): 25–30. 2 June 1904. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  10. ↑ Rowen, Frank C (1930). A Century of Atlantic Travel. Little, Brown, & Company. p. 256. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 "S.S. No 228 - General Arrangement", Tyne and Wear Archives, C. S. Swan & Hunter, Ltd., 1898, DS.SWH/4/5/2/228/2/11
  12. 1 2 Bonsor, N. R. P (1975). North Atlantic Seaway. Prescot, Lancashire, United Kingdom: T. Stephenson & Sons. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  13. ↑ "BT27/288/9 - Ultonia, Liverpool to Boston", UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, The National Archives, Kew, 28 February 1899
  14. ↑ "BT27/305/1 - Ultonia, Liverpool to Boston", UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, The National Archives, Kew, 1 March 1899
  15. ↑ "Ultonia Ledge, Thieves Ledge and the Dredging of Nantasket Roads".
  16. ↑ "SS Don Benito (+1917)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  17. ↑ Gibson, R.H. (22 November 2002). The German Submarine War 1914-1918. Periscope Publishing Ltd. p. 186. ISBN   1904381081.

48°25′00″N11°23′00″W / 48.4167°N 11.3833°W / 48.4167; -11.3833

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