SS Trent

Last updated

RMSTagus.jpg
Trent's sister ship Tagus
History
United Kingdom
NameTrent
Namesake River Trent
Owner Royal Mail Lines House Flag.svg RMSP Co
Operator1915: Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Navy
Port of registry Government Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg London
Builder Robert Napier and Sons, Govan
Yard number467
Launched19 September 1899
CompletedJanuary 1900
Identification
FateScrapped in 1922
General characteristics
Type ocean liner
Tonnage5,573  GRT, 3,085  NRT
Length410.0 ft (125.0 m)
Beam50.0 ft (15.2 m)
Draught23.3 ft (7.1 m)
Depth32.3 ft (9.8 m)
Decks3
Installed power1,050 NHP
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h)
Sensors and
processing systems
submarine signalling
Notes sister ship: Tagus

SS Trent was a British steamship that was built in 1899 as an ocean liner for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP) service between England and the Caribbean. In the First World War she was a Royal Navy depot ship. She was scrapped in 1922.

Contents

This was the last of three RMSP ships that were named after the English River Trent. RMSP's first Trent was built in 1841 and scrapped in 1867. The second was built as Vasco da Gama in 1873, renamed Trent in 1878 and scrapped in 1897.

Building

In 1899 Robert Napier and Sons in Govan built a pair of sister ships for RMSP. Tagus was launched on 27 June and completed that October. [1] Trent was launched on 19 September 1899 and completed in January 1900. [2] Trent was built as yard number 467. Her registered length was 410.0 ft (125.0 m), her beam was 50.0 ft (15.2 m), her depth was 32.3 ft (9.8 m) and her tonnages were 5,573  GRT and 3,085  NRT. [3]

Trent had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine. It was rated at 1,050 NHP [3] and gave her a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h).

Tagus and Trent had a straight stem, counter stern and twin funnels. [4] The two ships looked like RMSP's Nile and Danube of 1893 and 1894, but were slightly smaller, and had two masts instead of Nile and Danube's three. [5]

RMSP registered Trent at London. Her UK official number was 112664 and her code letters were RMGF. [3] [6]

Civilian liner

Passengers in deckchairs aboard Trent in 1902 SS Trent YORYM-TA0188.jpg
Passengers in deckchairs aboard Trent in 1902

On 6 June 1909 Trent ran aground on Semedine Bank, near Cartagena, Colombia. [2] Magdalena tried to tow her off, but without success. [7] Trent was refloated that May. [2]

By 1910 Trent was equipped for submarine signalling and wireless telegraphy. [8] The Marconi Company supplied and operated her wireless equipment, which had a range of about 160 nautical miles (300 kilometres). By 1913 her wireless call sign was UNR. [9]

America airship crew rescue

In October 1910 Trent rescued the six-man crew of the airship America , including its owner, Walter Wellman. They had been trying to make the first transatlantic crossing by air. America had left Bader Field, New Jersey on 15 October. Changes in wind direction had slowed the airship's progress and blown it off-course, and technical problems had caused it to lose height. [10] At 0507 hrs on the morning of 18 October, America's crew sighted Trent, which was also off her usual course. Trent's usual route had been changed to make a one-off call at Antilla, Cuba. She left Antilla on 14 October, making her two days late to reach her next call at Bermuda. The change in both her course and her schedule was what led Trent to be in the right position at the right time to sight and rescue America's crew. [11]

America seen from aboard Trent Walter Wellman's America.png
America seen from aboard Trent

America contacted Trent by signal lamp, and requested assistance. [10] The airship crew signalled to the steamship by Morse code, and also by displaying a signal of two red lights one below the other, meaning that America was not under control. [12] Trent changed course to reach America, which was struggling to maintain an altitude of 300 ft (91 m). [10] After establishing contact by signal lamp, America and Trent communicated almost entirely by wireless telegraph. Trent's Master, Captain CE Down, RNR, reported that "The wireless played a wonderful part in the rescue". [13]

America's crew lowered a line for Trent's crew to catch, but gusty conditions repeatedly prevented this. [10] America drifted with the wind at about 12 miles per hour (19 km/h), and Trent followed her for about three hours. [14] Eventually Trent's crew succeeded in catching the line and making it fast to the steamship, but another gust broke it and America was blown away. [10]

The airship crew then reduced America's altitude and launched her lifeboat. The airship struck the lifeboat and nearly capsized it, but the boat righted itself and the airship floated away. The airmen rowed toward Trent, whose crew lowered lines to bring them safely aboard the steamship. [10] Their position was now about 408 miles southeast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. [13]

Aerial view of SMS Konigsberg in the Rufiji Delta after her crew scuttled her SMS Konigsberg scuttled.png
Aerial view of SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji Delta after her crew scuttled her

On 6 March 1915 the Admiralty requisitioned Trent to serve as a depot ship. She was assigned to support the river monitors HMS Humber, Mersey and Severn in the Gallipoli campaign. Trent transported the monitors' crews to Malta, while the monitors themselves were towed there by tugs. Trent continued to support the monitors, accompanying Mersey and Severn to East Africa in July 1915, for their attack on SMS Königsberg on the Rufiji River. [2]

Trent later returned to home waters, and on 1 October 1917 became the depot ship for HMS Icarus, the Royal Naval Air Service base at Houton Bay, Scapa Flow. Here she supported the Orkney Air Service's anti-submarine patrols until March 1918. [2]

Disposal

The Admiralty returned Trent to her owners on 23 January 1919. She was scrapped at Rotterdam in February 1922. [2]

Related Research Articles

SS <i>Georgia</i> Oil tanker lost at Haisborough Sands off the coast of Norfolk, England

SS Georgia was an oil tanker that was built in the United States in 1908 as Texas and spent most of her career in the United States Merchant Marine. In 1917 she was renamed Georgia. In 1927 she was transferred to Dutch ownership, and shortly thereafter ran aground and was lost on Haisborough Sands off the coast of Norfolk, England.

SS <i>Potsdam</i> (1899) Steamship that was built as an ocean liner and later converted into a whaling factory ship

SS Potsdam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Germany in 1899 for Holland America Line. In 1915 Swedish American Line acquired her and renamed her Stockholm.

SS <i>Noordam</i> (1902) Dutch ocean liner built in Ireland & chartered to Sweden

SS Noordam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1901 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1928–29. Holland America Line owned her throughout her career. From 1923 to 1924 Swedish American Line chartered her and renamed her Kungsholm.

SS Montrose was a British merchant steamship that was built in 1897 and wrecked in 1914. She was built as a cargo liner for Elder, Dempster & Company. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway bought her and had her converted into a passenger liner.

USS <i>Zeelandia</i> Dutch-owned ocean liner that was a US Navy troopship in 1918 and 1919

USS Zeelandia was an ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1910 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1936. She was the largest ship in the Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd (KHL) fleet from 1910 until the liners Gelria and Tubantia were completed in 1913 and 1914. She was USS Zeelandia from April 1918 until October 1919, when she was a United States Navy troopship.

RMS <i>Atrato</i> (1888) British Royal Mail Ship that became an armed merchant cruiser and was lost with all hands

RMS Atrato was a UK steamship that was built in 1888 as a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. In 1912 she was sold and became the cruise ship The Viking. Late in 1914 she was requisitioned and converted into the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor. She sank in 1915 with all hands, a total of 295 Royal Navy officers and men.

SS <i>Statendam</i> (1898) Ocean liner operated by Holland America Line, Allan Line and Canadian Pacific

SS Statendam was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in Ireland in 1898 for Holland America Line. She was the first of several ships in the company's history to be called Statendam. She was NASM's first ship of more than 10,000 GRT, and she was the largest ship in the company's fleet until Potsdam was completed in 1900.

USS <i>Santa Rosalia</i> Cargo steamship that served in the US Navy in World War I

USS Santa Rosalia (ID-1503) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1910 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States and Greece. She served in the United States Navy in 1918–19. She was renamed Stefanos Costomenis in 1929 and sank in the North Atlantic in 1936.

RMS Magdalena was a British steamship that was built in 1889 as a Royal Mail Ship and ocean liner for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. In the First World War she served as the troop ship HMT Magdalena. After a long and successful civilian and military career she was scrapped in 1923.

Ramón Alonso R. was a merchant steamship that was built in Scotland in 1898 and scrapped in Spain in 1959. Her original name was Montclair. She was renamed José Gallart in 1901, Balmes in 1911 and Ramón Alonso R. in 1929. Her first owner was the British Elder Dempster Lines, but she spent most of her career with a succession of Spanish owners. She was built as a transatlantic ocean liner with some cargo capacity, but in 1927 she was refitted as a cargo ship. In 1913, when she was called Balmes, the ship survived a serious cargo fire in mid-Atlantic.

SS <i>Ophir</i> Dutch steamship that served in the US Navy and was gutted by fire

SS Ophir was a Dutch steamship that was built in 1904. She carried passengers, cargo and mail between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies until March 1918, when the United States seized her under angary and she became USS Ophir (ID-2800). In November 1918 a fire and explosion damaged her beyond economic repair. She was scrapped in 1922.

HMHS <i>Asturias</i>

RMS Asturias was a Royal Mail Steam Packet Company ocean liner that was built in Ireland in 1908 and scrapped in Japan in 1933. She was a Royal Mail Ship until 1914, when on the eve of the First World War the British Admiralty requisitioned her as a hospital ship.

RMS <i>Amazon</i> (1906) British passenger ship

RMS Amazon was a transatlantic Royal Mail Ship that the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company operated on scheduled services between Southampton and South American ports including Buenos Aires. She was the second of the RMSP's fleet of "A" series liners, and was launched in 1906.

SS <i>Jan Pieterszoon Coen</i> Dutch passenger ship named after a former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies

SS Jan Pieterszoon Coen was a Dutch passenger steamship that was launched in 1914. She was named after a former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. During the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 she was scuttled as a blockship in the port of IJmuiden, North Holland to prevent the Kriegsmarine from using the port.

SS <i>Grampian</i> British ocean liner, in service 1907–1921

SS Grampian was a transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Scotland in 1907 and scrapped in the Netherlands in 1925. She was operated originally by Allan Line, and later by Canadian Pacific Steamships. In the First World War she remained in commercial service but carried Canadian troops. In 1919 she survived a collision with an iceberg. In 1921 she was gutted by fire while being refitted. The refit was abandoned, and in 1925–26 she was scrapped.

SS Vandyck was a 1911 steam ocean liner operated by Lamport and Holt Line and used on its service between New York and the River Plate. The German cruiser Karlsruhe sank her in 1914.

SS Potaro was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Belfast in 1904, and captured and scuttled in the First World War in 1915.

RMS Orinoco was a British Royal Mail Ship that was built in Scotland in 1886 and scrapped, also in Scotland, in 1909. She spent her entire career with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP), mainly trading between England and the Caribbean.

SS <i>Goentoer</i> Dutch mail steamship that was a UK troopship in the First World War

SS Goentoer was a Dutch passenger and mail ship that was built for Rotterdamsche Lloyd in 1902 and scrapped in 1925. Her regular route was between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. She was a UK troop ship from 1918 to 1919, after being seized under angary in Singapore.

SS <i>Westerdijk</i> Dutch cargo ship that served in the United States Navy in 1918–19

SS Westerdijk was a Holland America Line cargo steamship that was completed in 1913 and scrapped in 1933. She served in the United States Navy, with the Naval Registry Identification Number ID–2514, from March 1918 until September 1919. Some sources anglicise her name as Westerdyk, but Lloyd's Register registered her with the Dutch spelling Westerdijk.

References

  1. "Tagus". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trent". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register 1900, TRE.
  4. Haws 1982, p. 58.
  5. Haws 1982, p. 56.
  6. Mercantile Navy List 1902, p. 1902.
  7. Nicol 2001b, pp. 92–93.
  8. Lloyd's Register 1910, TRE.
  9. The Marconi Press Agency Ltd 1913, p. 255.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wellman and crew rescued at sea, airship lost. Voyagers picked up by Trent, 400 miles off Hatteras. Leader sends story of daring trip to The Times" . The New York Times . 19 October 1910. p. 1. Retrieved 1 December 2022 via Times Machine.
  11. "Bermuda track is lonely" . The New York Times. 19 October 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 1 December 2022 via Times Machine.
  12. "Trent brings home the rescued airmen" . The New York Times. 20 October 1910. p. 5. Retrieved 1 December 2022 via Times Machine.
  13. 1 2 "Sighted America at 5 A. M." . The New York Times. 19 October 1910. p. 2. Retrieved 1 December 2022 via Times Machine.
  14. "Story of the rescue" . The New York Times. 19 October 1910. p. 2. Retrieved 1 December 2022 via Times Machine.

Bibliography