SS Abyssinia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

SS Abyssinia at Vancouver, June 1887
History
NameAbyssinia
Namesake
Abyssinia
Owner
Route
Builder
J & G Thomson, Govan
Yard number110[1]
Launched3 March 1870[1]
CompletedMay 1870[1]
FateCaught fire and sank, 18 December 1891 in the North Atlantic off Nova Scotia.
General characteristics
Typeiron-hulled steamship[1]
Tonnage3,253 GRT
Length364 ft (111 m)
Beam42 ft (13 m)
Propulsionsteam engine
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)

SS Abyssinia was a British mail liner built in 1870, and originally operated by the Cunard Line on the Liverpool–New York route. She later served the Guion Line on the same route and the Canadian Pacific Line in the Pacific. In December 1891, Abyssinia was destroyed mid-Atlantic without loss of life by a fire that started in her cargo of cotton, further highlighting the danger in carrying both cotton and passengers on the same ship.[2]

Development and design

With the success of

SS Russia, Cunard ordered a new fleet of iron express liners for the New York mail route. Abyssinia was the fourth of the five liners required for a weekly service. Abyssinia and her sister, Algeria were the first Cunard express steamers built to carry steerage passengers, a concept that was proved profitable four years earlier by the Inman Line. As completed in 1870, Abyssinia carried 200 first class passengers and 1050 steerage. She had a service speed of 12.5 knots and was a full knot slower than Russia.[2] Both Abyssinia and Algeria were larger than their near sister, Parthia. Unlike Abyssinia and Algeria which were built in Glasgow, Parthia had been constructed in Dumbarton.[3]

Service history

Cunard employed Abyssinia on the Liverpool, Queenstown, New York service. All five of the new Cunarders on this route were quickly rendered out of date by

Oceanic of 1871. For example, Abyssinia and her sister burned 90 tons of coal per day as compared to 58 tons for Oceanic. While Inman and other rivals quickly installed compound machinery and modified passenger quarters to match White Star's new fleet, Cunard did not.[2] On the other hand, Abyssinia's near sister, Parthia did utilise compound machinery.[3] Due to such, Parthia only burned 47 tons of coal per day.[4]

In November 1873, Abyssinia discovered the American ship R. Robinson abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of her crew were put aboard and R. Robinson was taken in to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.[5] Finally, in 1879 the privately owned Cunard line was reorganised as a public stock corporation to raise the capital needed to rebuild the fleet.[2]

In 1880, Cunard sold Abyssinia to the

John Elder shipyard to partly finance Guion's new Blue Riband winner, the Oregon. Unable to make the payments, Guion returned its new record breaker to Elders and continued to operate Abyssinia. At the same time, Elders also acquired the former Cunarders Batavia and Parthia, Abyssinia's near sister,[3] as trade ins for the sale of Oregon to Cunard.[2]
In 1885, Stephen Guion himself died and his firm was reorganised with Sir William Pierce of Elders as the new chairman.

In 1887, Pierce chartered Guion's Abyssinia along with Elder's two other former Cunarders to Sir

Yokohama, arriving there on 13 June 1887, establishing a new trans-Pacific record. Abyssinia's freight shipment of silk and tea was transferred to rail, arriving in New York (via Montreal) on 21 June, and loaded onto another ship arriving in London on 29 June. Abyssinia was returned to Guion when Canadian Pacific took delivery on the three new "Empress" liners.[6]

Guion placed Abyssinia back on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. Her first eastbound return trip cleared New York on 13 December with 57 passengers and 88 crew with various cargo including cotton. At 12:40 pm on 18 December 1891 off the coast of

Spree spotted the smoke from Abyssinia and removed all passengers and crew by 4:15 pm. Abyssinia sank shortly after. Spree made port with the survivors in Southampton on 21 December.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Abyssinia (1063765)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gibbs, Charles Robert Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff. pp. 52–92.
  3. ^ a b c Ljungstrom, Henrik. "Parthia (I)/Victoria". Original. The Great Ocean Liners. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  4. ^ Hopkins, Edward C.D. "Parthia I (UK)". Original. Ships Named Parthia or Parthian. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 15377. London. 10 November 1873.
  6. ^ "Pacific Air Routes Replace Ship Line; Canadian Company Abandons Pre-War Service of Fleet, Maps Overseas Flights," New York Times. 10 April 1949.

Other sources