SS Celtic (1872)
Celtic in the River Mersey
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | SS Celtic |
Namesake | Celtic Sea |
Owner | White Star Line |
Route | Liverpool - Queenstown (Cobh) - New York City |
Builder |
|
Yard number | 79 |
Laid down | as Arctic |
Launched | 18 June 1872 |
Completed | 17 October 1872 |
Maiden voyage | 24 October 1872 |
Fate | Sold to the Thingvalla Line of Copenhagen on 6 April 1893 |
Denmark | |
Name | SS Amerika |
Owner | Thingvalla Line of Copenhagen |
Route | Copenhagen - Christiania (Oslo) - Christiansand - New York City |
Acquired | 6 April 1893 |
In service | 27 May 1893 |
Out of service | September 1897 |
Fate | Scrapped at Brest in 1898 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Oceanic-class ocean liner |
Tonnage | 3,867 gross register tons |
Length | 437.2 ft (133.3 m) |
Beam | 40.9 ft (12.5 m) |
Installed power | Steam |
Propulsion | Single screw |
Sail plan | Four masts (rigged for sail) |
Speed | 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
Capacity | 166 1st- and 1,000 3rd-class passengers |
Notes | Iron construction, single funnel |
SS Celtic was an
The Celtic, the first of two White Star ships to bear the name, was the last of six Oceanic-class liner commissioned by White Star; she and her younger sister Adriatic were ordered following the success of what was originally a series of four.
Naming
The new ship was originally proposed to be named Arctic, but as the American Collins Line had a Paddle steamer with that name which sank in 1854, the White Star managers changed their minds, and settled on the name Celtic.[1][2]
Career
Early career
Celtic was one of six liners built for White Star to allow the line to operate a mail service across the Atlantic. (As the ships had a five week turnaround, five ships were needed to allow a weekly service, with the sixth ship acting as a spare). Celtic was a duplicate of Adriatic and like Adriatic, was larger than the first four ships.[3] Celtic was 437 ft 2 in (133.25 m) long, with a beam of 40 ft 9 in (12.42 m).[4] Twelve single-ended boilers fed steam at 70 psi (480 kPa) to a four-cylinder tandem steam engine, rated at 600 NHP.[4] The ship had a Gross register tonnage of 3867 tons and a Net register tonnage of 2439 tons.[5]
Celtic was built by
Celtic left
In 1880,
In November 1881, Celtic again rescued a shipwrecked crew, this time of the Brigantine Alice.[4]
Britannic collision
On 19 May 1887, at about 5:25 in the afternoon, the Celtic (commanded by Captain Peter John Irving) collided with the White Star liner
Six steerage passengers were killed outright on board Britannic, and another six were later found to be missing, having been washed overboard. There were no deaths on board Celtic. Both ships were badly damaged, but Britannic more so, having a large hole below her waterline. Fearing that she would founder, the passengers on board began to panic and rushed the lifeboats. Britannic's captain, pistol in hand, was able to restore some semblance of order, and the boats were filled with women and children, although a few men forced their way on board. After the lifeboats had launched, it was realized that Britannic would be able to stay afloat, and the lifeboats within hailing distance were recalled. The rest made their way over to the Celtic. The two ships remained together through the night, and the next morning were joined by the Wilson Line's Marengo and the British Queen of the Inman Line, and the four slowly made their way into New York Harbor.[7]
A subsequent Court of Enquiry held in New York in June 1887, found that the captains of both ships were guilty of 'not observing regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea'; the Celtic's captain Irvine was censured for failing to reduce speed whilst steaming through fog, whilst captain Perry of the Britannic was censured for failure to sound the ship's whistle before the collision. Another more far reaching recommendation was for the separate 'in' and 'out' shipping lanes be extended right across the Atlantic.[2][1]
Later career
In 1892 she was retired by White Star and put up for sale. In 1893, she was sold to the Danish Thingvalla Line, and renamed Amerika and put on the Copenhagen to New York route, however the ship was too large for the passenger loadings on that route, and the service was not a commercial success, as she was used for only eight peak season sailings. In 1898, she was sold for scrap.[2][1]
See also
- RMS Celtic (1901) - later namesake ship of the White Star Line
Citations
- ^ ISBN 0-946378-16-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7110-3366-5.
- ^ The Marine Engineer May 1893, pp. 62–63
- ^ a b c d e f The Marine Engineer May 1893, p. 63
- ^ Lloyd's Register 1880, p. 240
- ^ "Shipping Disasters". Liverpool Mercury. No. 8114. Liverpool. 21 January 1874.
- ^ "Collision of the Britannic and Celtic, 1887". The Ships List. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
References
- "The White Star Liner "Celtic"". The Marine Engineer. Vol. 15. May 1893. pp. 62–63.
- Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping: From 1st July 1880 to the 30th June 1881. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1880.
Further reading
- Anderson, Roy Anderson (1964). White Star. T. Stephenson & Sons Ltd.
- de Kerbrech, Richard (2009). Ships of the White Star Line. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3366-5.
- Eaton, John; Haas, Charles (1989). Falling Star, Misadventures of White Star Line Ships. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-084-5.
- Haws, Duncan (1990). Merchant Fleets. TCL Publications. ISBN 0-946378-16-9.