White Star steamship Adriatic, North Atlantic
Adriatic (I)
1872 - 1899
In 1871, the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or - the White Star Line
- had started business with their first steamer on the oceans. She was
the Oceanic, and soon she was known as the best liner on the North
Atlantic. Along with the Oceanic, three sisters to her were also
ordered. The first of them - the Atlantic - emerged three months after
the Oceanic and was followed by the Baltic and Republic. Just as the
Oceanic, these ships became successes on the North Atlantic. In order
to maintain a fleet that stood up to the requirements by the
passengers, another two vessels with a slightly higher gross tonnage
were ordered. Already on June 8, 1871, the first of these two sisters
was launched. Her intended name was Arctic, but as the American
Collins Line had a paddle steamer with that name that sunk in 1854,
White Star reconsidered the name and came up with the perhaps better
Celtic. The second sister was also launched in 1871, on October
17. She was called Adriatic, named after the sea in between Italy and
former Yugoslavia. During the Adriatic's fitting out in late 1871 and
early 1872, a novelty was tested upon before the maiden
voyage. Earlier, ships had had oil lamps, but on the Adriatic gas
lamps were now installed. A machine in the engine room produced the
gas from coal. The Adriatic was the first ship with such a thing. The
famous Great Eastern had used gas, but she did not have a machine to
manufacture the gas on board, and had to be filled up when at
port. However, when the Adriatic was exposed to bad weather the gas
started to leak. This was considered too big a problem, so the idea of
gas was abandoned before the maiden voyage, when the Adriatic had
conventional oil lamps and candle lights. On April 11, 1872, the
Adriatic went out on her maiden voyage between Liverpool and New
York. She was under the command of Captain Digby Murray, the same man
that had been the master on board the Oceanic on her maiden voyage the
previous year. The Adriatic was a fine sight, of the conventional
style, rather similar to the Oceanic-class. She sported a long black
hull, a single funnel and four masts of which three were rigged. The
masts stretched some 150 feet up in the air, so the Adriatic sure made
quite an impression. There were many reasons to celebrate the
Adriatic's maiden voyage, but the most prestigious thing happened a
month later when she reached New York and had taken the Blue Riband
from the Cunard Line's paddle steamer Scotia, who had held the prize
in her grasp since 1866 when she received it. The Adriatic had managed
to maintain a good 14.52 knots as service speed during the Atlantic
crossing. After all the glory and celebration had calmed itself down,
what was left for the Adriatic was a distinguished career in the White
Star Line. As she was the largest ship in their fleet, she received
the rank of flagship. She held that title until June 1874, when the
brand new 5,000-ton Britannic entered service. In October the same
year, the Adriatic suffered her first noteworthy accident. When
leaving New York she steamed parallel with the Cunarder
Parthia. Suddenly, the two ships were sucked towards each other due to
the forces of nature. Fortunately, the damages to the two ships were
not too extensive - only some paint was scratched off from the side
hull-plates. But if the lifeboats had been swinged out - as customary
on a crossing in those days - the consequences could have been much
worse. In May the following year two other more severe accidents
including the Adriatic occurred. In March she accidentally rammed and
sank the American steamer Columbus in New York waters. Seven moths
later, in December, the Adriatic ran down and sank the sailing vessel
Harvest Queen in St. George's Channel. The collision happened so
quickly and as there were no survivors from the sailing ship, no one
knew what vessel they had sunk. Records later showed that the Harvest
Queen was missing and that was how the identification was made. The
Adriatic continued the next three years without major flaws until July
19, 1878, when she cut into the brigantine G. A. Pike just off Tuscar
Rock in South Wales. Five men of the latter vessel lost their
lives. Later, the Adriatic was blamed for having had travelled at a
speed too high for the circumstances. The Adriatic continued on her
successful North Atlantic service in the same appearance as she had
sported at the time of her maiden voyage. However, in 1884, she went
through a minor refit that included the adding of accommodation for 50
second class passengers. Earlier, there had only been two classes -
first and steerage. Another spotless fourteen years went on until the
Adriatic was considered too old for a passenger service on the North
Atlantic. She was laid up as a reserve ship at Birkenhead. Two years
later - 1899, the same year the White Star Line's first real
'superliner', the second Oceanic entered service - the Adriatic was
sold for scrap. On February 12, she arrived at the scrapyards of
Thomas W. Ward in Preston. Of the original six main White Star liners
only the Republic remained. She would be scrapped in 1910 as the
Italian ship Citta di Napoli.
Here are 2 associated individuals:
|
|
