The Oceanic off Queenstown on her second homeward voyage from New York, 12 June 1871, by William Lionel Wyllie, 1895 | |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | Oceanic |
Owner | White Star Line |
Operator | White Star Line (1871–1875); chartered to Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company (1875–1895) |
Route | |
Builder | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
Yard number | 73 |
Launched | 27 August 1870 |
Completed | 24 February 1871 |
Maiden voyage | 2 March 1871 |
Out of service | 17 May 1895 |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Oceanic-class ocean liner |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | 3,707 GRT |
Displacement | 7,940 tons (loaded) |
Length | 420 ft 4 in (128.12 m) |
Beam | 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m) |
Depth | 31 ft 5 in (9.58 m) |
Installed power | Four-cylinder compound steam reciprocating engine, comprising two high-pressure and two low-pressure cylinders, generating 1,990 ihp (1,480 kW) |
Propulsion | Propeller, sails |
Sail plan | Barque |
Speed | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) (service speed) |
Capacity | 166 first class and 1,000 third class passengers |
Crew | 143 |
SS Oceanic was the White Star Line's first liner and first member of the Oceanic-class; she was an important turning point in passenger liner design. Entering service in 1871 for Atlantic crossings, she was later chartered to Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company (O&O) in 1875. The ship provided passenger service for O&O in the Pacific until 1895 when she was sold for scrap.
Oceanic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and was launched on 27 August 1870, arriving in Liverpool for her maiden voyage on 26 February 1871. Powered by a combination of steam and sail, she had twelve boilers generating steam at 65 pounds-force per square inch (450 kPa) powering a single four cylinder compound steam engine, 2 x 78 in (2.0 m) and 2 x 41 in (1.0 m), with a stroke of 60 in (1.5 m). A single funnel exhausted smoke. Four masts carried sail; square sails on the first three masts, and fore-and-aft sails on the mizzenmast, for a four-masted barque rig. [1] The hull was constructed of iron and divided into eleven watertight compartments. A crew of 143 operated the vessel.
The Oceanic had a capacity of approximately 1,000 third-class and 166 first-class passengers, known at the time as 'steerage' and 'saloon' class. The White Star Line was among only a handful of trans-Atlantic passenger lines to segregate their third-class accommodations; single men were berthed in the bow while berthing for single women and families was in the stern. First-class cabins were positioned amidship, away from ocean movements and the vibration of the engines.
The contemporary press described her "more an imperial yacht than a passenger liner".[ citation needed ]. Innovative features included running water and electric bells to summon stewards in the first-class cabins. Portholes in the ship were much larger than on contemporary liners, providing more light. The saloon dining room was large enough to seat all first-class passengers at once.
Oceanic was built at a cost of £120,000 (equivalent to £12,350,000in 2019) [2] She was the first White Star ship to use a name ending with ic, beginning a naming tradition which would last for the rest of the company's existence. [3] She was to be the first ship of the Oceanic-class; a series of six sister ships constructed in rapid succession: Atlantic, Baltic, Republic, Adriatic and Celtic. All were of the same approximate dimensions with differences in tonnage, with the exception of the Adriatic and the Celtic, the designs for which were later modified to slightly increase their sizes.
Oceanic left for her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 2 March 1871. This was the White Star Line's inaugural service on the North Atlantic run against established competitors, and it initially failed to generate much custom, as Oceanic carried only 64 passengers, whilst 300 sailed on the parallel departure of the Cunard Line's Calabria. Not long after departing, she had to return because of overheated bearings. Her voyage restarted on 16 March. When she reached New York, she was visited by 50,000 people. From that point onward, business picked up and Oceanic was a success for the White Star Line. [3]
In January 1872, Oceanic underwent a refit, during which a large forecastle was added to help prevent the bow being inundated during high seas. Two new boilers were added to increase steam pressure and thus engine power, and the four masts were shortened. [3]
Oceanic continued sailing with the White Star Line on the Liverpool to New York City route until 11 March 1875, when she became surplus to the company's needs on the North Atlantic when the larger Britannic entered service. Instead, Oceanic was chartered to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company (O&O) for service on the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco, Yokohama and Hong Kong. The White Star Line provided the officers, while the crew was Chinese. The ship itself remained in White Star Line colours, but flew the O&O flag. During the repositioning voyage from Liverpool to Hong Kong, Oceanic set a speed record for that route. Later, she also set a speed record for Yokohama to San Francisco in December 1876, of 14 days, 15 hours, and then broke her own record over that route in November 1889, with a time of 13 days, 14 hours and 5 minutes. [3]
During 1879-80 she returned to Liverpool for another major refit, which included new boilers. [3]
On 22 August 1888, Oceanic collided with the coastal liner SS City of Chester just outside the Golden Gate; the latter ship sank, killing 16 on board. [4] [ page needed ]
On 7 January 1890, Nellie Bly boarded Oceanic in Yokohama to cross the Pacific as part of her voyage Around the World in Seventy-Two Days . She arrived in San Francisco on 21 January 1890, which was a day behind schedule as a result of rough weather.
In 1895, Oceanic was returned to the White Star Line, which planned to modernise the ship, and put her back into service. She was sent back to Harland and Wolff for new engines to be installed, but when the ship was inspected closely, it was found not to be cost-effective to carry out the work. Instead, she was sold for scrap for £8,000, and left Belfast for the last time on 10 February 1896, under tow, for a scrapyard on the River Thames. [3]
The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between the British Empire and the United States. While many other shipping lines focused primarily on speed, White Star branded their services by focusing more on providing comfortable passages for both upper class travellers and immigrants.
SS Ceramic was an ocean liner built in Belfast for White Star Line in 1912–13 and operated on the Liverpool – Australia route. Ceramic was the largest ship serving the route until P&O introduced RMS Mooltan in 1923.
SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line, and second ship of the Oceanic-class. The ship operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people. It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of SS La Bourgogne on 2 July 1898 and the greatest disaster for the White Star Line prior to the loss of Titanic in April 1912.
SS Britannic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line. It was the first of three ships of the White Star Line to sail with the Britannic name.
RMS Celtic was an ocean liner owned by the White Star Line. The first ship larger than SS Great Eastern by gross register tonnage, Celtic was the first of a quartet of ships over 20,000 tons, the dubbed The Big Four. She was the last ship ordered by Thomas Henry Ismay before his death in 1899. The second liner of her name she was put into service in 1901. Her large size and her low but economical speed inaugurated a new company policy aiming to favour size, luxury and comfort, to the detriment of speed.
RMS Adriatic was a British ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships of more than 20,000 GRT, dubbed The Big Four. The ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship. However, she was the largest, the fastest, and the most luxurious of the Big Four, being the first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and Victorian Turkish baths.
SS Adriatic was the first of two White Star Line ocean liners to carry the name Adriatic. The White Star Line's first four steamships of the Oceanic-class, the met with great success in the trans-Atlantic market, and the line decided to build two more. The first of these was the SS Adriatic, which was built by Harland and Wolff and launched on 17 October 1871; the second was the SS Celtic.
Baltic was an Oceanic-class ocean liner that was built in 1871 for the White Star Line. She was one of the first four ships ordered by White Star from shipbuilders Harland & Wolff after Thomas Ismay bought the company, and the third ship of the Oceanic class to be delivered. In 1888 Holland America Line bought her, and renamed her Veendam. In 1898 she struck a submerged wreck and sank, but with no loss of life.
SS Celtic was an ocean liner built for the White Star Line by shipbuilders Harland and Wolff of Belfast.
SS Asiatic was a steamship operated by the White Star Line from 1871 to 1873, a sister ship to Tropic. Sold off after only two years, she was renamed SS Ambriz, and eventually was wrecked in 1903.
SS Republic was an ocean liner built in 1871 by Harland and Wolff for White Star Line. It was intended to be the last of four vessels forming the Oceanic-class, before two new ships were commissioned. After a rough maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City on 1 February 1872, the ship was chosen to be on White Star Line's first voyage on the South Atlantic and Pacific line with four other ships, destined for Chile. In 1874, the construction of modern ships SS Germanic and SS Britannic led to SS Republic's becoming the standby vessel of White Star Line. It occupied this position for 15 years, and attempts were made to modernise it in 1888. When RMS Teutonic and RMS Majestic entered service in the following year, the Republic became surplus to White Star's needs.
SS Cymric was a steamship of the White Star Line built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast and launched on 12 October 1897.
SS Lapland was a steam ocean liner built in Ireland for the Belgian Red Star Line, as Red Star's flagship, similar in appearance to the fellow liners SS Samland, SS Gothland and SS Poland, but far larger. She was a half sister to White Star Line's "Big Four." They were similar in many ways, such as the island bridge, 4 masts, 2 funnels. But Lapland had a less luxurious interior.
Coptic was a steamship built in 1881, which was successively owned by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Japanese Oriental Steam Ship Co. before being scrapped in 1926. She was filmed by Thomas Edison in 1897 in one of his early movies. The movie is currently stored in the Library of Congress, archive.org and other internet archives.
The SS Belgic was a steam ship built by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line for service in the Far East and across the Pacific. Sold to the Atlantic Transport Line in 1899 she was transferred to the North Atlantic. After service as a Boer War transport she was scrapped in 1903.
The Oceanic class were a group of six ocean liners built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, for the White Star Line, for the transatlantic service. They were the company's first generation of steamships to serve the North Atlantic passenger trade, entering service between 1871 and 1872.
SS Pennland was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched as Pittsburgh in Ireland in 1920 and renamed Pennland in 1926. She had a succession of UK, German and Dutch owners and operators. In 1940 she was converted into a troopship.
SS Westernland was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched as Regina in Scotland in 1917, renamed Westernland in 1929 and was scrapped in 1947. She began her career as a troop ship repatriating US troops after the Armistice of 11 November 1918. In the Second World War, Westernland served as a troop ship, repair ship and destroyer depot ship.
The Jubilee class were a group of five passenger and cargo ocean liners built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, for the White Star Line, specifically for the White Star Line's service from the UK to Australia on the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. The five ships in order of the dates they entered service were:
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