SS Coptic

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SS Coptic
History
United Kingdom
NameCoptic
OwnerOceanic Steam Navigation Co.
Operator
Port of registryLondon
Route
  • Liverpool–New York (1881)
  • San Francisco–Hong Kong (1882–1883)
  • Outbound: London–Plymouth–Tenerife–Cape Town–Hobart–New Zealand (Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Wellington and/or Auckland; Napier occasionally); Inbound: Cape Horn–Montevideo–Rio de Janeiro–Tenerife–Plymouth–London (1884–1895).[1]
BuilderHarland & Wolff, Belfast
Yard number142
Launched10 August 1881
Acquired9 November 1881
Maiden voyage16 November 1881
Out of service30 October 1906
FateSold December 1906
United States
NamePersia
OwnerPacific Mail Steamship Company
Port of registryLondon
RouteSan Francisco-Hong Kong
AcquiredDecember 1906
HomeportSan Francisco
FateSold 1915
Japan
NamePersia Maru
Owner
  • Oriental Steam Ship Co.
  • (Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha)
Port of registryYokohama
Route
  • Yokohama–San Francisco–Hong Kong (1915–1922)
  • Yokohama-Netherlands East Indies (1922–1924)
Acquired1915
In service1915
Out of serviceDecember 1924
FateScrapped at Osaka 1926
General characteristics
Tonnage
Length430 ft 2 in (131.11 m)[1][4]
Beam42 ft 2 in (12.85 m)[1]
Depth31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)[4]
Propulsion
Speed13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) (as built)

SS 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. (Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha) 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.

Ship history

A sister ship to

San Francisco, California, and China. As O&O already had numerous vessels on that run, she was briefly chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company
while the latter′s own ships were under construction.

In 1884, Coptic was chartered by

mutton.[1][2] From 8 October 1884, a regular service was established; fares ranged from 70 guineas
in first class to 16 in steerage.

On 12 October 1889, Coptic struck a rock off Mai Island, Brazil. when on a voyage from

triple expansion engine and new boilers;[3] her accommodations were modernised and her funnel lengthened. In early 1895 she was chartered to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company again to serve between San Francisco, California, and the Far East.[4] In September 1897, she collided in Kobe harbour with Minatogawa Maru, which buckled several of her hull plates and twisted her stem. In February 1898 she suffered considerable damage after being caught in a typhoon. After temporary repairs at Yokohama, Japan, she sailed to Hong Kong, where several decks were removed and rebuilt.[4]

On 5 June 1898,

Captain Charles V. Gridley, died of natural causes aboard Coptic while in Kobe, Japan. He had recently been relieved of command of the Asiatic Squadron flagship, the protected cruiser USS Olympia, following the American victory in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898 during the Spanish–American War; the heat and stress of the battle had exacerbated an existing medical condition, and Gridley′s health deteriorated quickly afterward. His body was brought home to the United States and buried in his home town of Erie, Pennsylvania
.

On 12 September 1900, Coptic ran aground again, this time at

Netherlands East Indies route. She was laid up in Yokohama in December 1924 and her fittings were auctioned off.[1] In 1926, the Japanese Steam Ship Co. merged with the Japan Mail Shipping Line (NYK), and after a 44-year career, Persia Maru was scrapped in Osaka, Japan, in 1926.[4]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7110-3366-5
  2. ^ a b c d e "Shaw, Savill & Albion: SS Coptic". merchantnavyofficers.com. 2006. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1908. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Solem, Borge (2012). "Coptic, White Star Line". norwayheritage.com. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  5. ^ "The Mails". The Times. No. 32862. London. 21 November 1889. p. 10.
  6. ^ "Latest Shipping News". Western Daily Mercury. No. 9671, Vol.LVIII. Plymouth. 21 November 1889. p. 7. Retrieved 31 August 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "The Damage to the Coptic (Report of the Investigation)". Lloyd's List. London. 3 January 1890. p. 2. Retrieved 31 August 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "The R.M.S.S. Coptic - Nautical Enquiry". Lyttelton Times. No. 9020, Vol.LXXIII. Christchurch, New Zealand. 5 February 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 31 August 2022 – via Papers Past.

External links


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