175-573: HMHS Britannic (originally to be the RMS Britannic ) ( / b r ɪ ˈ t æ n ɪ k / ) was the third and final vessel of the White Star Line 's Olympic class of steamships and the second White Star ship to bear the name Britannic . She was the youngest sister of the RMS ; Olympic and the RMS Titanic and was intended to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner . She
350-473: A British Board of Trade investigation cleared the company of all extreme wrongdoing. Although Atlantic was quickly erased from the advertisements of the White Star Line, it was not forgotten. With a personal contribution from Ismay, the company financed the maintenance of the graves of the victims and, in 1915, it contributed to the construction of a monument dedicated to the victims. In order to preserve
525-600: A beam of 65 ft (20 m), assessed at 15,801 gross register tons with quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screws capable of a service speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). She was fitted with fairly modest accommodations for 1,400 passengers: 200 in First Class, 200 in Second Class and 1,000 in Third Class. She sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 26 June 1903. In 1902, White Star Line
700-564: A boiler room crew consisting of fewer men than her specifications called for. Thus, during her maiden voyage, she maintained an average speed of just under 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Thomas Ismay was unable to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Just a few weeks after Oceanic was launched, he began complaining of pains in his chest, from whence his health steadily began to decline. In fact, his health began to deteriorate so rapidly that managers of both White Star and Harland & Wolff decided to cancel plans to construct Olympic . The name
875-499: A clear advantage over Liverpool in reducing travelling time, while by creating a terminal at Cherbourg White Star had established a route which allowed passengers to embark or disembark at either a British or Continental port. Another subsidiary of IMM, the American Line , had moved their operations to Southampton in 1893 and established an express service via Cherbourg which had proved very successful, thus prompting White Star to make
1050-586: A common theme for the names of their ships, and White Star gave their ships names ending in -ic . The line also adopted a buff-coloured funnel with a black top as a distinguishing feature for their ships, as well as a distinctive house flag , a red broad pennant with a swallowtail bearing a white five-pointed star. In the initial designs for this first fleet of liners, each ship was to measure 420 ft (130 m) in length, 40 ft (12 m) in width and approximately 3,707 gross register tons (GRT), equipped with compound expansion engines powering
1225-592: A considerable expansion of their passenger services on the North Atlantic. In 1903 alone they came to obtain five new liners, beginning with Arabic . Originally laid down as Minnewaska for the Atlantic Transport Line, she was transferred to White Star prior to completion and was launched under her new name on 18 December 1902. Similar in size and appearance to Cymric with a single funnel and four masts, she measured 600 ft (180 m) in length with
1400-450: A considerable reputation for her interiors, enough for the British tabloid The Bystander to dub her 'The Liner Luxurious'. One of her most notable innovations was that she was the first liner to have an onboard Victorian Turkish bath and swimming pool. As White Star gradually brought the 'Big Four' into service, they also acquired several smaller 'intermediate' liners in preparation for
1575-556: A crew of 675 people. On 23 December, she left Liverpool to join the port of Mudros on the island of Lemnos on the Aegean Sea to bring back sick and wounded soldiers. She joined with several ships on the same route, including Mauretania , Aquitania , and her sister ship Olympic . The four ships were joined a little later by Statendam . She made a stopover at Naples before continuing to Mudros, in order for her stock of coal to be replenished. After she returned, she spent four weeks as
1750-614: A double-plated hull and turrets on her upper decks which could be quickly mounted with guns. She was also built with triple expansion engines geared to twin screws capable of achieving a respectable, if not record breaking, service speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Additionally, she had a considerably larger passenger capacity of just over 1,700, providing for 410 First Class, 300 Second Class and 1,000 Third Class passengers. Oceanic sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 6 September 1899, arriving in New York to much fanfare on
1925-584: A floating hospital off the Isle of Wight . The third voyage was from 20 March 1916 to 4 April. The Dardanelles was evacuated in January. At the end of her military service on 6 June 1916, Britannic returned to Belfast to undergo the necessary modifications for transforming her into a transatlantic passenger liner. The British government paid the White Star Line £75,000 to compensate for the conversion. The transformation took place for several months before being interrupted by
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#17331046575202100-743: A gross tonnage of just under 10,000 tons, the new liners would be nearly twice the size of Britannic and Germanic . Additionally, owing to the arrangement with the British Government, Teutonic and Majestic were the first White Star liners to be built with twin screws, powered by triple expansion engines capable of driving the ships at speeds of up to 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Teutonic and Majestic were designed with accommodations for 1,490 passengers in three classes across four decks, titled 'Promenade', 'Upper', 'Saloon' and 'Main'; with 300 in First Class, 190 in Second Class and 1,000 in Third Class. Accommodations for passengers were based on
2275-435: A gross tonnage of roughly 5,000 tons and with engines of similar design as seen in the earlier ships, with the exception of greater horsepower , capable of driving their single screws at speeds of up to 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Passenger capacity was also increased, with the two vessels able to carry 200 Saloon passengers and 1,500 Steerage passengers. The first of the pair, which had initially been named Hellenic ,
2450-427: A heart attack on 14 September. He lingered in worsening agony for another ten weeks until his death on 23 November 1899 at the age of 62. In the immediate aftermath, control of the company was passed to Thomas' son Bruce, who was named chairman of the line. With the death of Thomas Ismay, his eldest son, Bruce, took over. He was joined at the helm of Ismay, Imrie & Co. by his friend Harold Sanderson in addition to
2625-479: A large number of ships as armed merchant cruisers or for troop transport. The Admiralty paid the companies for the use of their ships but the risk of losing a ship in naval operations was high. The larger ocean liners were not initially taken for naval use, because smaller ships were easier to operate. Olympic returned to Belfast on 3 November 1914, while work on Britannic continued slowly. The need for increased tonnage grew critical as naval operations extended to
2800-470: A maximum speed of 23 knots. Britannic had a similar layout to her sister ships. Following the Titanic disaster and the subsequent inquiries, several design changes were made to the remaining Olympic -class liners . With Britannic , these changes made before launch included increasing the ship's beam to 94 feet (29 m) to allow for a double hull along the engine and boiler rooms and raising six out of
2975-634: A month in service, became the first White Star ship to capture the Blue Riband , having completed a record westbound crossing in 7 days, 23 hours and 17 minutes at an average speed of 14.53 knots (26.91 km/h; 16.72 mph). In January 1873, Baltic became the first of the line to capture the Blue Riband for an eastbound crossing, having completed a return trip to Liverpool in 7 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes at an average speed of 15.09 knots (27.95 km/h; 17.37 mph). The company did not focus only on
3150-437: A new addition to the North Atlantic fleet was needed, as White Star's fleet was starting to lag behind those of their competitors, such as Cunard and North German Lloyd . By this point, the only remaining ship of the original Oceanic class of liners was Adriatic , which had been in service for 25 years and was starting to show her age. Britannic and Germanic were equally outdated, and with advancements in shipbuilding during
3325-476: A recall of the ship back into military service. The Admiralty recalled Britannic back into service as a hospital ship on 26 August 1916, and the ship returned to the Mediterranean Sea for a fourth voyage on 24 September of that year. On 29 September on her way to Naples, she encountered a violent storm from which she emerged unscathed. She left on 9 October for Southampton. Then, she made a fifth trip, which
3500-492: A similar move. Celtic embarked on two experimental crossings from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown, first on 20 April and then again on 18 May, which proved successful and set the way for the establishment of the route, which was to be maintained by Teutonic , Majestic , Oceanic and the newly completed Adriatic . Celtic was returned to the Liverpool service after the second crossing, and her place taken on
3675-428: A single funnel and four masts contrasted against her four running mates considerably. Due to this design, she was considered the first of White Star's 'intermediate' liners. However, as a result of this partial transition from livestock carrier to passenger liner, Cymric came to attain several noteworthy advantages which White Star would employ on several other liners. While her passenger accommodations had been modified,
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#17331046575203850-489: A single funnel with two or four masts, with engines geared to twin screws capable of service speeds between 14 and 16 knots (26 and 30 km/h; 16 and 18 mph). They all also fell within the same range in terms of dimensions, with lengths between 550 and 582 ft (168 and 177 m), beams between 59 and 67 ft (18 and 20 m), and similar gross tonnage. There was, however, considerable variances in passenger capacities. Republic , which in time would come to obtain
4025-437: A single screw, and capable of speeds of up to 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). They were also identical in passenger accommodations based on a two-class system, providing accommodations for 166 first class passengers amidships, which at the time was commonly referred to as 'Saloon Class' and 1,000 steerage passengers. It was within the circles of the massive tides of immigrants flowing from Europe to North America that
4200-433: A strategic placement in her design as that cargo was to serve as ballast, keeping her steady in even the roughest seas. Additionally, Celtic was to be designed with far greater capacities for both passengers and cargo. Her plans called for accommodations for a staggering 2,859 passengers: 347 in First Class, 160 in Second Class, and a total of 2,352 in Third Class, the latter being the largest capacity seen on any liner on
4375-469: A third slip similar in size to those used for the two previous vessels. In August 1914, before Britannic could commence transatlantic service between New York and Southampton , the First World War began. Immediately, all shipyards with Admiralty contracts were given priority to use available raw materials. All civil contracts including Britannic were slowed. The naval authorities requisitioned
4550-481: A total of 2,600 passengers, with a slightly increased number of First Class passengers at 350, her Second Class capacity was increased to 250 and Third Class was scaled back to approximately 2,000. Cedric entered service later that winter, departing Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 11 February 1903. The keel of the third ship, Baltic , had been laid down at Harland & Wolff in June 1902, while construction on Cedric
4725-514: A walk could do so. At 8:30 PM, the patients went to bed and the captain made another inspection tour. There were medical classes available for training the nurses. After completing five successful voyages to the Middle Eastern theatre and back to the United Kingdom transporting the sick and wounded, Britannic departed Southampton for Lemnos at 14:23 on 12 November 1916, her sixth voyage to
4900-614: A weapons designer for Thorsten Nordenfelt in London . In 1889 he started his own engineering firm, the Welin Davit & Engineering Company Ltd. He soon designed the famed Welin Breech . However, his main interest was davits . He invented a new and improved davit for lowering boats on board ship, a quadrant davit for double-banked boats which simply became known as the Welin davit . The RMS Titanic
5075-412: A year after its maiden voyage, it mysteriously disappeared with everyone aboard. Two other cattle carriers, Cevic and Georgic , were built in 1894 and 1895 respectively, before the company abandoned this type of business. Over the next 12 years, White Star focused their attention on other matters of business, expanding their services with the introduction of several cargo and livestock carriers on
5250-412: Is remembered for its innovative vessel Oceanic and for the losses of some of its best passenger liners, including the wrecking of Atlantic in 1873, the sinking of Republic in 1909, the loss of Titanic in 1912, and the wartime sinking of Britannic in 1916. Despite its casualties, the company retained a prominent hold on shipping markets around the globe before falling into decline during
5425-449: Is the largest intact passenger ship on the seabed in the world. It was bought in 1996 and is currently owned by Simon Mills, a maritime historian. The original dimensions of Britannic were similar to those of her older sisters, but her dimensions were altered whilst still on the building stocks after the loss of Titanic . With a gross tonnage of 48,158, she surpassed her older sisters in terms of internal volume, but this did not make her
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5600-510: The Arrol Gantry to shelter them, wide enough to span the two new building slips and allow two ships to be built at a time. The three ships were designed to be 270 metres long and to have a gross tonnage of over 45,000. Their designed speed was approximately 22 knots, well below that of the Lusitania and Mauretania , but still allowing for a transatlantic crossing of less than one week. Although
5775-559: The Britannic came to rest, she became the largest ship lost in the First World War and the world's largest sunken passenger ship. Compared to Titanic , the rescue of Britannic was facilitated by three factors: The water temperature was higher (20 °C (68 °F) compared to −2 °C (28 °F) for Titanic ), more lifeboats were available (35 were successfully launched and stayed afloat compared to Titanic ' s 20), and help
5950-629: The Eastern Mediterranean . In May 1915, Britannic completed mooring trials of her engines, and was prepared for emergency entrance into service with as little as four weeks' notice. The same month also saw the first major loss of a civilian ocean liner when Cunard's RMS Lusitania was torpedoed near the Irish coast by SM U-20 . The following month, the Admiralty decided to use recently requisitioned passenger liners as troop transports in
6125-754: The Gallipoli Campaign (also called the Dardanelles service). The first to sail were Cunard's RMS Mauretania and RMS Aquitania . As the Gallipoli landings proved to be disastrous and the casualties mounted, the need for large hospital ships for treatment and evacuation of wounded became evident. Aquitania was diverted to hospital ship duties in August (her place as a troop transport would be taken by Olympic in September). Then on 13 November 1915, Britannic
6300-549: The Grand Staircase , but Britannic ' s amenities were more sumptuous, with worked balustrades, decorative panels and a pipe organ. The A Deck of the ship was devoted in its entirety to the First Class, being fitted with a salon, two veranda cafes, a smoking room and a reading room. The B Deck included a hair salon, post office, and redesigned deluxe Parlour Suites, dubbed Saloons in the Builder's Plans. The most important addition
6475-530: The Great Depression . White Star merged in 1934 with its chief rival, the Cunard Line , operating as Cunard-White Star Line until Cunard purchased White Star's share in the joint company in 1950. Cunard then operated as a single company until 2005 and is now part of Carnival Corporation & plc . As a lasting reminder of the White Star Line, modern Cunard ships use the term White Star Service to describe
6650-538: The Mediterranean Sea . The ship passed Gibraltar around midnight on 15 November and arrived at Naples on the morning of 17 November, for her usual coaling and water-refuelling stop, completing the first stage of her mission. A storm kept the ship at Naples until Sunday afternoon when Captain Bartlett decided to take advantage of a brief break in the weather and continue. The seas rose once again as Britannic left
6825-481: The Olympic collided with HMS Hawke ) described the last seconds: She dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower. All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child's toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths, the noise of her going resounding through the water with undreamt-of violence.... When
7000-489: The Titanic ' s disaster, Britannic was not launched until 26 February 1914, which was filmed along with the fitting of a funnel. Several speeches were given in front of the press, and a dinner was organised in honour of the launching. Fitting out began subsequently. The ship entered dry dock in September and her propellers were installed. Reusing Olympic ' s space saved the shipyard time and money by not clearing out
7175-586: The Titanic . She was laid up at her builders, Harland and Wolff , in Belfast for many months before being requisitioned as a hospital ship . In 1915 and 1916 she served between the United Kingdom and the Dardanelles . On the morning of 21 November 1916 she hit a naval mine of the Imperial German Navy near the Greek island of Kea and sank 55 minutes later, killing 30 people. There were 1,066 people on board;
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7350-494: The boiler-man 's tunnel connecting the firemen's quarters in the bow with boiler room six was seriously damaged, and water was flowing into that boiler room. Bartlett ordered the watertight doors closed, sent a distress signal , and ordered the crew to prepare the lifeboats. An SOS signal was immediately sent out and was received by several other ships in the area, among them HMS Scourge and HMS Heroic , but Britannic heard nothing in reply. Unknown to either Bartlett or
7525-403: The 1,036 survivors were rescued from the water and lifeboats . Britannic was the largest ship lost in the First World War. After the First World War, the White Star Line was compensated for the loss of Britannic by the award of SS Bismarck as part of postwar reparations ; she entered service as RMS Majestic . The wreck was located and explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1975. The vessel
7700-405: The 15 watertight bulkheads up to B Deck. Additionally, a larger 18,000 horsepower (13,000 kW) turbine was added instead of the 16,000 horsepower (12,000 kW) units installed on the earlier vessels to make up for the increase in hull width. The central watertight compartments were enhanced, allowing the ship to stay afloat with six compartments flooded. Externally the largest visual change
7875-483: The 1890s, Teutonic and Majestic had been eclipsed by several newer vessels, most recently by North German Lloyd's Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse . In response, Ismay and his partners at Harland & Wolff set out to design two new liners for the North Atlantic run which would, in a fashion similar to how Teutonic and Majestic had done, go down in shipbuilding history. The new steamers, which were intended to be named Oceanic and Olympic , were designed to be both
8050-476: The Blue Riband in the summer of 1891 within two weeks of each other. Majestic beat the westbound record on 5 August 1891, arriving in New York in 5 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes after keeping an average speed of 20.1 knots (37.2 km/h; 23.1 mph). This record was beaten by Teutonic , which arrived in New York on 19 August and beat the previous record by 1 hour and 37 minutes, maintaining an average speed of 20.35 knots (37.69 km/h; 23.42 mph). With
8225-472: The Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania not in terms of speed but in terms of luxury and safety. The names of the three vessels were decided at a later date and they showed the intention of the designers regarding their size: Olympic , Titanic and Britannic . Construction of the Olympic and the Titanic began in 1908 and 1909 respectively. Their sizes were so large that it was necessary to build
8400-479: The Danish Thingvalla Line , who renamed her Amerika and attempted to use her for their own emigrant service from Copenhagen to New York. This, however, failed to prove profitable for the line and she was sold for scrap at Brest in 1898. Beginning in the late 1890s, White Star experienced an explosion of rapid growth and expansion of its services, highlighted by a dramatic shift in focus from building
8575-528: The Dominion Line was also absorbed into IMM and the four ships were transferred to White Star. In addition to the acquisition of these ships, White Star also acquired control of the routes as well. Upon their acquisition by White Star, the four liners were respectively renamed Republic , Cretic , Romanic and Canopic . These four ships were greatly similar in appearance to the Cymric and Arabic , all with
8750-638: The Inman Line ordered City of Brussels and Montana and Dakota entered service with the Guion Line. All were built in response to White Star's ground breaking liners and were thus larger. In response, White Star ordered two new steamers from Harland & Wolff, both of which were designed as considerably larger, two-funnelled versions of the Oceanic -class steamers. These two ships measured 455 ft (139 m) in length and 45 ft (14 m) in width, with
8925-517: The Liverpool and Mediterranean services to Boston, Cymric was transferred to the Liverpool-Boston route, departing Liverpool for her first trip to Boston on 10 December, while Republic entered service to Boston on 17 December. Canopic completed the service upon her departure from Liverpool on 14 January 1904. Upon their arrivals in Boston, Romanic and Canopic were both immediately transferred to
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#17331046575209100-481: The Liverpool-Boston service until winter, a pattern she would follow for the remainder of her career. Cretic remained on the Liverpool-Boston service running opposite Cymric for a full year until November 1904, when alongside Republic she began sailing on the secondary service to the Mediterranean from New York. In the early months of 1907, White Star began preparations for another extension of their services on
9275-504: The Mediterranean services formerly upheld by the Dominion Line. This route followed a line which first made port at Sao Miguel in the Azores before passing through the straits of Gibraltar and making port in Naples and Genoa. Republic was also put into service on the Mediterranean route following her first crossing to Boston, but only for the first half of the 1904 season, and was switched back to
9450-563: The North Atlantic as well as establishing a small but lucrative passenger and cargo service to New Zealand. By 1887 however, Britannic and Germanic and the four remaining Oceanic -class liners had aged significantly and were now being outpaced in speed and comfort by newer ships brought into service by White Star's competitors, in particular City of New York and City of Paris . In an effort to outdo their competitors, White Star began making plans to put two new liners into service which would prove to be exceptionally innovative in design for
9625-463: The North Atlantic at the time. Passenger accommodations were spread across six decks, titled from top to bottom: Boat Deck (A Deck), Upper Promenade (B Deck), Promenade (C Deck), Saloon (D Deck), Upper (E Deck) and Lower (F Deck). First Class accommodations were located amidships on the uppermost four decks and included a lounge and smoke room on the Boat Deck, as well as a grand and spacious dining room on
9800-629: The North Atlantic by establishing an 'Express' service to New York. The new service would depart Southampton every Wednesday, first heading south across the English Channel to the French port of Cherbourg that evening, then sailing back across the channel to Queenstown the following morning before proceeding to New York. On eastbound crossings, ships would forego calling at Queenstown and make port at Plymouth , before proceeding to Cherbourg and Southampton. Due to its proximity to London , Southampton had
9975-505: The North Atlantic. In 1871, it bought two ships under construction, which became Asiatic and Tropic . They were initially placed on the route to India via the Suez Canal , but this route proved to be unprofitable. Once the six Oceanic -class ships were in service, and five sufficient for a weekly service, Ismay decided to move Republic , accompanied by Asiatic , Tropic and two recently purchased liners, Gaelic and Belgic , onto
10150-570: The North Western Shipping Company. The first substantial loss for the company came only four years after its founding, with the sinking of the RMS Atlantic and the loss of 535 lives near Halifax, Nova Scotia on 31 March 1873. While en route to New York from Liverpool amidst a vicious storm, Atlantic attempted to make port at Halifax when a concern arose that the ship would run out of coal before reaching New York. However, when attempting to enter Halifax, she ran aground on
10325-493: The Occidental & Oriental Shipping company, under which she operated their trans-Pacific route between San Francisco, Yokohama and Hong Kong until her retirement in 1895. The two new steamers proved immensely popular on the North Atlantic run, and both would end up capturing the Blue Riband on two eastbound and three westbound crossings within a two-year period. Germanic captured the westbound record in August 1875, then captured
10500-718: The Pacific route. The Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company disappeared two years later in the face of competition from the new ships of the Pacific Mail Company. In 1882, the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line was founded, and it decided to open a route to New Zealand, but lacked experience. The White Star Line therefore proposed to provide a joint service, which started in 1884 with Coptic , Doric and Ionic (1883) supplied by White Star, with Shaw, Savill & Albion providing Arawa and Tainui . The ships called at Australia on
10675-533: The Saloon Deck, in addition to baths and lavatories both forward and aft, were two large dining rooms at the far after end of the deck, situated side by side, which when not in use functioned as smoke and general rooms. An additional, fairly larger dining room was located directly beneath these on the Upper Deck, while a fourth dining room was located forward where single men were to be berthed, for which this dining room
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#173310465752010850-469: The Saloon Deck. Second Class accommodations were allocated to the starboard sides of the Saloon and Upper Decks. As seen aboard Teutonic , Majestic , and Oceanic , Second Class passengers were provided with their own smoke room and library, housed within a separate deckhouse situated just aft of the main superstructure, directly above their dining room on the Saloon deck. What made Celtic rather exceptional
11025-540: The White Star Line aimed to be revered by, as throughout the company's full history they regularly strived to provide passage for steerage passengers which greatly exceeded that seen with other shipping lines. With the Oceanic class, one of the most notable developments in steerage accommodations was the division of steerage at opposite ends of the vessels, with single men being berthed forward, and single women and families berthed aft, with later developments allowing married couples berths aft as well. White Star's entry into
11200-546: The White Star Line and the Harland and Wolff shipyard always denied it, some sources claim that Britannic was to be named Gigantic , but her name was changed so as not to compete with Titanic or create comparisons. One source is a poster of the ship with the name Gigantic at the top. Other sources are November 1911 American newspapers stating the White Star order for Gigantic being placed, as well as other newspapers from around
11375-439: The accommodations planned for 258 First Class passengers, her designs were altered to include berthing for 1,160 Third Class passengers. Cymric was an example a new golden age of ocean liners that focused on a more luxurious experience. A typical ocean liner during the golden age was a microcosmic city. Inhabitants hailed from all levels and areas of various social spectra. Regardless of class or wealth, each passenger received
11550-493: The actual review due to scheduling commitments, she briefly anchored amidst a line of merchant ships awaiting review, complete with four guns mounted, during which time she was toured by the Prince of Wales and Kaiser Wilhelm II . The Kaiser, impressed by what he saw, is rumored to have mentioned to others in his party that "We must have one of these!". They would be White Star's last speed record breakers, as both ships would capture
11725-442: The back of the A deck and inspected the cabins to ensure no one was left behind. While Bartlett continued his desperate manoeuvre, Britannic's list steadily increased. Fearing that the list would become too large to launch, some crew decided to launch lifeboats without waiting for the order to do so. Two lifeboats were put onto the water on the port side without permission by Third Officer Francis Laws. These boats were drawn towards
11900-441: The boat deck. The ship carried 48 lifeboats, capable of carrying at least 75 people each. Thus, at least 3,600 people could be carried by the lifeboats, which was well above the ship's maximum capacity of 3,309. In 1907, J. Bruce Ismay , director general of the White Star Line , and Lord Pirrie , chairman of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast had decided to build a trio of ocean liners of unmatched size to compete with
12075-463: The captain. At 08:12 am European Eastern Time Britannic was rocked by an explosion after hitting a mine. The mines had been planted in the Kea Channel on 21 October 1916 by SM U-73 under the command of Gustav Sieß [ de ] . The reaction in the dining room was immediate; doctors and nurses left instantly for their posts but not everybody reacted the same way, as further aft ,
12250-404: The coast of Newfoundland in September 1854 after colliding with another ship, resulting in the loss of over 300 lives, while Pacific vanished with 186 people on board in January 1856. As a result, White Star made arrangements to change the names of these two ships. The third ship, which had been launched as Pacific on 8 March 1871 was renamed Baltic prior to its completion and the keel of
12425-588: The company acquired its first steamship, Royal Standard . The original White Star Line merged with two other small lines in 1864, its competitors the Black Ball Line and the Eagle Line, to form a conglomerate, the Liverpool, Melbourne and Oriental Steam Navigation Company Limited. Meanwhile, under Wilson's leadership, the company continued to borrow large amounts of money to finance new construction, including its second steamer, Sirius . Worried, Chambers left
12600-626: The company also ran voyages from Liverpool to Victoria, British Columbia , which it promoted in Welsh newspapers as being the gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush . One of the ships on this route was Silistria . Travelling around Cape Horn and stopping in Valparaiso and San Francisco , she reached Victoria after a voyage lasting four months. In 1856, however, the company lost postal contracts, while Wilson persisted in wanting ever larger ships to keep
12775-597: The company and was replaced by John Cunningham, but business did not improve. Sirius had to be sold before it could enter service. The merger did not prosper and White Star broke away to concentrate on Liverpool to New York City services. Heavy investment in new ships was financed by borrowing, but the company's bank, the Royal Bank of Liverpool, failed in October 1867. White Star was left with an incredible debt of £527,000 (approximately equivalent to £69,002,000 in 2023), and
12950-554: The company at this time, and Ismay and Harold Sanderson were quickly joined by William James Pirrie , the director of Harland & Wolff. Pirrie and Ismay were also among the thirteen directors of IMM. Despite the good fortunes of its main subsidiary, the IMM was experiencing great difficulties and was struggling in particular to repay its debts to shipyards. Much effort was needed to get IMM on its feet, efforts that its aging president, Clement Griscom , did not believe he could do. In 1904, it
13125-672: The company into the Canadian route. These two ships also served as a testing ground for the propulsion method of the Olympic -class liners. Axel Welin Ernst Martin Axel Welin (10 November 1862 – 27 July 1951), was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. He was married to Agnes Welin from 1889. Axel Welin studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm from 1879 to 1884. Between 1886 and 1888, Welin worked as
13300-433: The company's activities also required an evolution of its equipment. While the sailing ships gradually disappeared, the company acquired a new type of cargo ship, intended for the transport of live cattle. The first of these was Cufic , which entered service in 1888, followed a year later by Runic . Others followed in the 1890s, notably the sister ships Bovic and Naronic . The latter became famous when, less than
13475-412: The conclusion of their service under Dominion in late 1903, the four liners were briefly withdrawn from service. Their names were changed, their funnels were repainted into White Star colors and they were made ready for their new services. Romanic was the first to enter service under White Star, sailing for Boston on 19 November, followed by Cretic on 26 November. In order to balance the schedule between
13650-499: The davits on the deckhouse roof, and the gantry davits could reach lifeboats on the other side of the ship, providing that none of the funnels was obstructing the way. This design enabled all the lifeboats to be launched, even if the ship developed a list that would normally prevent lifeboats from being launched on the side opposite to the list. Several of these davits were placed abreast of funnels, defeating that purpose. The elevators, which previously stopped at A deck, could now reach
13825-659: The eastbound record in February 1876, while Britannic captured both records within less than two months of each other, beating the westbound record in November and the eastbound record in December. Germanic captured the westbound record for the last time in April 1877. During that same year, the company began sharing a postal agreement with the Cunard Line, allowing its ships' names to be prefixed with 'RMS' (' Royal Mail Ship '). The arrival of
14000-404: The express service maintained by Britannic , Germanic , Teutonic and Majestic . However, while she was under construction at Harland & Wolff, a decision was made to convert spaces aboard her designated for cattle into Third Class accommodations after it was deemed that carrying passengers and livestock aboard the same vessel would likely not prove a popular venture. Therefore, in addition to
14175-447: The fastest ships on the North Atlantic to building the most comfortable and luxurious. Their first step in this direction came in 1897 during the construction of a new ship, Cymric . Initially designed as an enlarged version of the livestock carrier Georgic , which had entered service in 1895, Cymric had been planned as a combination passenger and livestock carrier, and thus was not designed with engines necessary to qualify her for
14350-399: The final order to stop the engines and sounded two final long blasts of the whistle, the signal to abandon ship. As water reached the bridge, he and Assistant Commander Dyke walked off onto the deck and entered the water, swimming to a collapsible boat from which they continued to coordinate the rescue operations. Britannic gradually capsized to starboard, and the funnels collapsed one after
14525-451: The financial health of the company, Asiatic and Tropic were immediately sold. In the wake of the Atlantic disaster, the White Star Line continued to expand across the North Atlantic. Gaelic and Belgic joined the five Oceanic -class liners, and the company's success continued to grow. However, rival companies quickly caught up: Cunard placed Botnia and Scythia into service, while
14700-447: The following September. Construction on the two liners progressed in roughly six-month intervals, with Teutonic being launched in January 1889 and sailing on her maiden voyage to New York the following August; while Majestic was launched in June 1889 and entered service in April 1890. Prior to her entry into service, Teutonic made a rather noteworthy appearance at the 1889 Naval Review at Spithead . Although she could not take part in
14875-514: The hull for passenger and crew accommodations. At the same time, this also meant she consumed much less coal than steamers designed with larger engines, making her more economical. Cymric was launched at Harland & Wolff in October 1897 and entered service in February 1898, and in time proved a popular and profitable addition to the fleet. In the early months of 1897, while Cymric was still under construction at Harland & Wolff, it became clear to Thomas Ismay and other company officials that
15050-425: The injured, using aprons and pieces of lifebelts to make dressings. A little barren quayside served as their operating room. Scourge and Heroic had no deck space for more survivors, and they left for Piraeus signalling the presence of those remaining at Korissia. HMS Foxhound arrived at 11:45 and, after sweeping the area, anchored in the small port at 13:00 to offer medical assistance and take on board
15225-479: The introduction of Teutonic and Majestic , White Star disposed of some of their aging fleet to make room for the new ships. Prior to the completion of the two new ships, Baltic and Republic were both sold to the Holland America Line and respectively renamed Veendam and Maasdam , after which they were put into service on the company's main trans-Atlantic route between Rotterdam and New York. Veendam
15400-419: The island of Kea in an attempt to beach her. The effect of Britannic's starboard list and the weight of the rudder made attempts to navigate the ship under her own power difficult, and the steering gear had been knocked out by the explosion, which eliminated steering by the rudder. The captain ordered the port shaft driven at a higher speed than the starboard side, which helped the ship move towards Kea. At
15575-437: The largest and most luxurious the world had ever seen. In March 1897, the first keel plates for Oceanic were laid at Harland & Wolff, but almost immediately problems arose. Due to the fact that a vessel of this size had never been built, work on the ship was delayed until an overhead gantry crane could be built. Her launch on 14 January 1899 drew an immense crowd of spectators numbering more than 50,000, as Oceanic would be
15750-496: The largest passenger ship in service at that time; the German SS ; Vaterland held this title with a significantly higher tonnage. The Olympic -class ships were propelled by a combined system of two triple-expansion steam engines which powered the three-bladed outboard wing propellers whilst a low-pressure steam turbine used steam exhausted from the two reciprocating engines to power the central four-bladed propeller giving
15925-479: The largest ship in the world. Baltic was launched on 12 November 1903, subsequently fitted out and delivered to White Star on 23 June 1904, sailing on her maiden voyage on 29 June. While the first three members of the highly regarded quartet of liners were built and put into service with little problem, the fourth and final ship, Adriatic , experienced a considerable delay in her construction. Initially, her construction had commenced in November 1902 while Baltic
16100-457: The largest ship of its day, was the one on which high hope was placed. These hopes were quickly dashed. Departing on its maiden voyage on 19 January 1854, Tayleur proved difficult to handle, and its crew inexperienced. When it struck rocks in very rough seas at Lambay Island , near Ireland, the ship sank, with only 290 of the 650 people on board surviving. Subsequent inquiry placed the blame on its owners, Charles Moore & Co., who did not take
16275-604: The last British transatlantic liner to be launched in the 19th century, as well as the first to exceed the Great Eastern in length. She measured 704 ft (215 m) in length, with a beam of 68 ft (21 m) and had a gross register tonnage of 17,254, making her a full 42% larger than North German Lloyd's Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse . Like Teutonic and Majestic , Oceanic was designed with capabilities to be converted to an armed merchant cruiser in time of war if needed, specifications for which included her to be built with
16450-459: The latter being slower but able to carry many more passengers. A ferry, the Gallic , was also purchased to help board passengers and luggage during the French stopover. This solution was only temporary, however, and the company was already planning the arrival of much larger and faster vessels in order to establish a regular and more efficient service. While Harland & Wolff started construction of
16625-404: The level of comfort on these sections of a ship. Those closer to the center axis of motion on a vessel felt little to no discomfort in rough seas. However those located near the bow and stern would experience every swell, wave and motion in addition to the noise of the engines in steerage. First Class accommodations were located amidships on all four decks, with Second Class located abaft of first on
16800-667: The level of customer service expected of the company. The first company bearing the name White Star Line was founded in Liverpool , England, by John Pilkington and Henry Wilson in 1845. It focused on the UK–Australia trade, which increased following the discovery of gold in Australia in 1851. Because of this, many wished to emigrate to Australia, and the population of Australia increased from 430,000 to 1.7 million inhabitants in three years. From this time on, Pilkington and Wilson emphasized
16975-464: The line. Of the six ships, the names originally selected for the third and sixth ships of the class had initially been Pacific and Arctic , which when mentioned in the press appeared alongside references to two ships of the same names which had belonged to the now defunct Collins Line , both of which were lost at sea with large losses of life. In the cases of those ships, both of which had been wooden-hulled paddle steamers , Arctic had foundered off
17150-444: The market for Second Class passengers on the North Atlantic by adding limited spaces for Second Class passengers on their older liners. Spaces for Second Class were added to Adriatic in 1884, Celtic in 1887 and Republic in 1888, often occupying one or two compartments formerly occupied by Steerage berths. In March 1887, the first keel plates of Teutonic were laid at Harland & Wolff, while construction on Majestic commenced
17325-486: The members already present, notably the now elderly William Imrie and his brother, James Ismay. The company was very quickly involved in the Second Boer War , with several of its ships being requisitioned, starting with the cargo ship Nomadic in October 1899. Several ships quickly followed, notably Britannic , which had become surplus to requirements on the North Atlantic route. A total of ten ships were assisting in
17500-469: The more modest Gaelic and Belgic . This charter initiative proved profitable, with Oceanic remaining on the San Francisco – Hong Kong route for twenty years. New ships were gradually assigned to this contract in the 1880s, such as Arabic in 1881, and the new Belgic (1885) and Gaelic (1885) in 1885. The partnership continued until 1906, when White Star withdrew Coptic from
17675-444: The morning of 13 September with 1,456 passengers aboard, many of whom were satisfied with how the crossing had gone. Among those travelling aboard in First Class were Harland & Wolff's managing director, Lord Pirrie, and Thomas Andrews, who had designed Oceanic under Thomas Ismay's direction. At the same time Oceanic had departed from Liverpool, a fireman's strike had been ensuing at the docks, which in turn meant she sailed with
17850-557: The necessary safety precautions when the ship was put into service. This exonerated the White Star Line and the ship's captain of any blame. In order to compensate for the loss of Tayleur , the company ordered several clippers of its own, the first of which was Red Jacket . The ship proved to be sufficiently efficient on the Australian route to ensure a certain success for the company, which could thus own new, faster ships such as Shalimar , Sultana , Emma and White Star . In addition,
18025-745: The new Olympic class , White Star continued to diversify its activities. Its establishment in Southampton led to a price war between companies, which drastically reduced its third-class fares. It was at this point that the North Atlantic Conference was created to regulate fares and crossings according to demand. In 1909, White Star took over part of the activities of the Dominion Line , another IMM company serving Canada. Two of this company's ships, then under construction, were transferred to White Star and became Laurentic and Megantic , bringing
18200-516: The new run by Adriatic , which sailed from Southampton for the first time on 5 June, followed by Teutonic on 12 June, Oceanic on 19 June and Majestic on 26 June. White Star moved their express service from Liverpool to Southampton in 1907, providing them with the advantage of a continental stopover in Cherbourg that allowed the vessel to take on more passengers. This service was initially provided by Teutonic , Majestic , Oceanic and Adriatic ,
18375-621: The nickname 'The Millionaires' Ship', had the largest capacity with accommodations for 2,400 passengers (200 First Class, 200 Second Class, 2,000 Third Class). The three remaining ships had considerably smaller capacities, with the Cretic designed with accommodations for 1,510 passengers (260 First Class, 250 Second Class, 1,000 Third Class), Romanic with accommodations for 1,200 passengers (200 First Class, 200 Second Class, 800 Third Class) and Canopic with accommodations for 1,277 passengers (275 First Class, 232 Second Class, 770 Third Class). Following
18550-433: The orders for the last passenger liner he would ever order for the line he had built. This time, plans were essentially the same as they had been with Oceanic , only taking considerably more steps in innovation. While staying with the trend in focusing more on comfort than speed as had been set with Cymric and Oceanic , Ismay's plans called for a new passenger liner of dimensions the world had never seen, and her chosen name
18725-428: The other as the ship rapidly sank. By the time the stern was out of the water, the bow had already slammed into the seabed. As Britannic' s length was greater than the depth of the water, the impact caused major structural damage to the bow before she slipped completely beneath the waves at 09:07, 55 minutes after the explosion. Violet Jessop (who was one of the survivors of the Titanic , and had also been on board when
18900-607: The outward journey, and through the Panama Canal on the return trip. From 1902, this joint service saw its ships renewed, with the arrival of Athenic , Corinthic and the second Ionic (1902) , which were operated until the 1930s. The link between the two companies persisted even after the disappearance of the White Star Line, with the Shaw Savill & Albion Line continuing to use White Star's nomenclature and giving its ships names ending in -ic . The diversification of
19075-433: The planned facilities were either cancelled, destroyed, reused on other vessels, like the Olympic or Majestic , or just never used. Of these accessories, only a large staircase and a children's playroom remained installed. Under the glass dome was a white wall above the first-class staircase instead of a clock and a large painting. White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line . Founded out of
19250-570: The port. By the next morning, the storms died and the ship passed the Strait of Messina without problems. Cape Matapan was rounded in the first hours of 21 November. By morning, Britannic was steaming at full speed into the Kea Channel , between Cape Sounion (the southernmost point of Attica , the prefecture that includes Athens ) and the island of Kea . There were 1,066 people on board: 673 crew, 315 Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), 77 nurses, and
19425-457: The power of the explosion was less felt, and many thought the ship had hit a smaller boat. Captain Bartlett and Chief Officer Hume were on the bridge at the time and the gravity of the situation was soon evident. The explosion was on the starboard side, between holds two and three. The force of the explosion damaged the watertight bulkhead between hold one and the forepeak . The first four watertight compartments were filling rapidly with water,
19600-585: The public's attention. Pilkington, dubious, then left the company. Wilson replaced him with his brother-in-law, James Chambers, and the company continued its activities, betting everything on sailing ships while its most direct rivals, the Black Ball Line and the Eagle Line merged in 1858 after the difficulties engendered by the establishment of their service using steamships . During these years, Wilson paid attention to migration flows, directing his services to Canada or New Zealand according to trends. In 1863,
19775-432: The quality of the Second Class increased. In addition, the number of crew planned was increased from about 860 – 880 onboard Olympic and Titanic to 950 aboard Britannic . The quality of the First Class was also improved. Children began to appear as part of the clientele that needed to be satisfied, and thus a playroom for them was built on the boat deck. Similar to her two sister ships, the first class amenities included
19950-406: The rate at which Britannic was sinking had slowed so he called a halt to the evacuation and ordered the engines restarted in the hope that he might still be able to beach the ship. At 09:00 Bartlett was informed that the rate of flooding had increased due to the ship's forward motion and that the flooding had reached D-deck. Realising that there was now no hope of reaching land in time, Bartlett gave
20125-535: The remaining survivors. At 14:00 the light cruiser HMS Foresight arrived. Foxhound departed for Piraeus at 14:15 while Foresight remained to arrange the burial on Kea of RAMC Sergeant William Sharpe, who had died of his injuries. Another two survivors died on the Heroic and one on the French tug Goliath . The three were buried with military honours in the Piraeus Naval and Consular Cemetery. The last fatality
20300-545: The remains of a defunct packet company , it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between the British Empire and the United States. While many other shipping lines focused primarily on speed, White Star branded their services by focusing more on providing comfortable passages for both upper class travellers and immigrants. Today, White Star
20475-560: The remains were moved to the new cemetery at Syros in June 1921, it was found that there was no record relating this name with the loss of the ship, and the grave was registered as unidentified. Mills provided evidence that this man could be Sergeant Sharpe and the case was considered by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency . A new headstone for Sharpe was erected and the CWGC has updated its database. The plan of Britannic showed that she
20650-459: The rocks and sank in shallow waters. Despite being so close to shore, a majority of those onboard drowned, with 585 of the 952 onboard perishing. White Star found itself being accused of not having supplied enough coal to the ship, while the captain was sanctioned for having acted in an irresponsible manner. The crew were blamed for serious navigational errors by the Canadian Inquiry, although
20825-478: The route to South America, in order to compete with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company . Although Republic was successful in its only crossing on this route, it was quickly withdrawn, and its fellow liners gradually suffered the same fate. The route remained however, serviced by the company's sailboats, whose management returned to William Imrie, and was quickly dedicated to a separate company,
21000-463: The safety of their ships when addressing the press. In order to make the crossings more pleasant aboard these austere wooden sailboats, musician groups were hired to allow the passengers to dance to popular tunes. In this trade, speed and size became important assets. The fleet initially consisted of the chartered sailing ships RMS Tayleur , Blue Jacket , White Star , Red Jacket , Ellen , Ben Nevis , Emma , Mermaid and Iowa . Tayleur ,
21175-439: The same core service: passage to the destination. Overall, her modest layout and design placed her between the elderly but well reputable Britannic and Germanic and the more modern Teutonic and Majestic . Measuring just over 13,000 tons and with a length of 585 ft (178 m) and a beam of 64 ft (20 m), she was to be the largest liner in the White Star fleet. Additionally, her more utilitarian appearance with
21350-495: The same time, the hospital staff prepared to evacuate. Bartlett had given the order to prepare the lifeboats, but he did not allow them to be lowered into the water. Everyone took their most valuable belongings with them before they evacuated. The chaplain of the ship recovered his Bible. The few patients and nurses on board were assembled. Major Harold Priestley gathered his detachments from the Royal Army Medical Corps to
21525-427: The shareholders of the company ten times the value of the profits generated in 1900, which was a very good year for the company. The Ismay family were initially reluctant to accept, knowing that Thomas Ismay would have radically opposed the idea if he were still alive. However, J. Bruce Ismay ultimately agreed with the shareholders. His brother, as well as two of the five other directors of Ismay, Imrie & Company left
21700-459: The ship's moulded width, not her name. Britannic ' s keel was laid on 30 November 1911 at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, on the gantry slip previously occupied by Olympic , 13 months after the launch of that ship, and Arlanza , launched seven days before. The acquisition of the ship was planned to be at the beginning of 1914. Due to improvements introduced as a consequence of
21875-622: The ship's wireless operator, the force of the first explosion had caused the antenna wires slung between the ship's masts to snap. This meant that although the ship could still send out transmissions by radio, she could no longer receive them. Along with the damaged watertight door of the firemen's tunnel, the watertight door between boiler rooms six and five failed to close properly. Water was flowing further aft into boiler room five. Britannic had reached her flooding limit. She could stay afloat (motionless) with her first six watertight compartments flooded. There were five watertight bulkheads rising all
22050-523: The shipping company was known publicly throughout its existence as the White Star Line. A debate reigned as to which route Ismay expected to dominate when the company was launched. In 1870, four companies were firmly established on the route between Liverpool and New York: the Cunard Line , the Guion Line , the Inman Line and the more modest National Line, in which Ismay once had shares. The characteristics of
22225-436: The ships ordered from Harland and Wolff, however, tended to prove that Ismay aimed at the North Atlantic from the outset. White Star began its North Atlantic run between Liverpool and New York with six nearly identical ships, known as the Oceanic class: Oceanic , Atlantic , Baltic and Republic , followed by the slightly larger Celtic and Adriatic . It had long been customary for many shipping lines to have
22400-659: The sixth vessel, which had just been laid down at Harland & Wolff and dubbed Arctic , was renamed Celtic prior to her launch . The fourth vessel of the Oceanic class, Republic , sailed on her maiden voyage on 1 February 1872, around which time modifications were being made to the last two ships still under construction. Alterations in their designs called for their hulls to be extended in length by 17 ft (5.2 m), which also increased their tonnage . Adriatic entered service on 11 April 1872, followed by Celtic six months later on 24 October. These ships began their careers with notable success. Adriatic , after barely
22575-508: The specifications of her machinery and engines were left in place. Like Teutonic and Majestic , Cymric was fitted with twin screws, but was instead powered by quadruple expansion engines capable of achieving a modest speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) commonly seen in cargo and livestock carriers of that time. The major difference was that because these engines were designed for more modest speeds, they were considerably smaller and required only seven boilers, leaving more space within
22750-414: The still-turning, partly surfaced propellers. Bartlett ordered the engines to stop but before this could take effect, the two boats were drawn into the propellers, completely destroying both and killing 30 people. Bartlett was able to stop the engines before any more boats were lost. By 08:50, most of those on board had escaped in the 35 successfully launched lifeboats. At this point, Bartlett concluded that
22925-414: The three uppermost decks on Teutonic and all four decks on Majestic , with Third Class located at the far forward and aft ends of the vessel on the Saloon and Main decks. One notable development associated with the introduction of these two new ships was that they were the first White Star liners to incorporate the three-class passenger system. Prior to this, White Star had made smaller attempts to enter
23100-518: The time of her completion, as her 24,451 gross register tonnage was just barely outmatched by Hamburg Amerika's Kaiserin Auguste Victoria , which measured 24,581 tons and entered service four months prior to the launch of Adriatic . She would, however, rank briefly as the largest British-built ship until Cunard's Lusitania entered service the following year. She sailed on her maiden voyage to New York on 8 May 1907, and not long afterwards gained
23275-522: The time, Teutonic and Majestic . In order to build these new ships, Thomas Ismay made arrangements with the British Government under which in exchange for financial support from the British government, the two new ships would be designed not only as passenger liners, but also as armed merchant cruisers which could be requisitioned by the Royal Navy in times of war. Measuring 565 ft (172 m) in length and 57 ft (17 m) in width and with
23450-503: The town of Hermoupolis on the island of Syros contained the remains of a soldier collected from the church of Ag. Trias at Livadi (the former name of Korissia). Maritime historian Simon Mills contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission . Further research established that this soldier was a Britannic casualty and his remains had been registered in October 1919 as belonging to a certain "Corporal Stevens". When
23625-422: The trans-Atlantic passenger market in the spring of 1871 got off to a rocky start. When Oceanic sailed on her maiden voyage on 2 March, she departed Liverpool with only 64 passengers aboard, from whence she was expected to make port at Queenstown the following day to pick up more passengers before proceeding to New York. However, before she had cleared the Welsh coast her bearings overheated off Holyhead and she
23800-584: The two new liners created a surplus of ships on the North Atlantic route for the White Star Line. At the same time, George Bradbury, president of the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company , a company formed in 1874 to compete with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company , enlisted the help of Thomas Ismay in setting up his new service. The White Star Line responded by lending the new company Oceanic , which had become surplus to requirements, as well as
23975-404: The upper two classes while still maintaining the high standard for Third Class. Her overall passenger capacity was also identical to that of Baltic at 2,850, but with differences in capacities for each class, with First Class increased to 450, Second Class increased to 500 and Third Class scaled back to 1,900. Unlike her sisters however, she was unable to attain the title of world's largest ship at
24150-598: The usage of two and four berth cabins had been introduced, but only for married couples and families with children, a policy which also held with Cymric and Oceanic . Celtic broke that mould. At the forward end of the vessel, located in two compartments on the Lower Deck were accommodations of the older style of sleeping arrangements, each compartment providing for 300 single men. The remaining 1,752 berths were located aft, all of which consisted of two, four and six berth cabins. On 22 March 1899, just two months after Oceanic
24325-399: The war effort, six of them as part of their regular service. 17,000 men and 4,000 animals were transported to the conflict by White Star vessels in just over two years. Even before Oceanic had been completed, White Star had already started making plans for a considerably larger addition to their fleet. In September 1898, before his health began failing, Thomas Ismay negotiated the terms for
24500-452: The wards, against standing orders. As the ship's angle of list increased, water reached this level and began entering aft from the bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four. With more than six compartments flooded, Britannic could not stay afloat. On the bridge, Captain Bartlett was already considering efforts to save the ship. Only two minutes after the blast, boiler rooms five and six had to be evacuated. In about ten minutes, Britannic
24675-471: The warships that were anchored at the port of Piraeus while nurses and officers were hosted in separate hotels at Phaleron . Many Greek citizens and officials attended the funerals. Survivors were sent home and few arrived in the United Kingdom before Christmas. In November 2006, Britannic researcher Michail Michailakis discovered that one of the 45 unidentified graves in the New British Cemetery in
24850-472: The way up to B Deck. Those measures had been taken after the Titanic disaster ( Titanic could float with only her first four compartments flooded). The next crucial bulkhead between boiler rooms five and four and its door were undamaged and should have guaranteed the ship's survival. However, there were open portholes along the front lower decks, which tilted underwater within minutes of the explosion. The nurses had opened most of those portholes to ventilate
25025-416: The world both during construction and immediately after the sinking of the Titanic . Tom McCluskie stated that in his capacity as archive manager and historian at Harland and Wolff, he "never saw any official reference to the name Gigantic being used or proposed for the third of the Olympic -class vessels". Some hand-written changes were added to the order book and dated January 1912. These only dealt with
25200-494: The wounded. The cabins of B Deck were used to house doctors. The first-class dining room and the first-class reception room on D Deck were transformed into operating rooms. The lower bridge was used to accommodate the lightly wounded. The medical equipment was installed on 12 December 1915. When declared fit for service on 12 December 1915 at Liverpool, Britannic was assigned a medical team consisting of 101 nurses, 336 non-commissioned officers and 52 commissioned officers as well as
25375-597: Was G. Honeycott, who died at the Russian Hospital at Piraeus shortly after the funerals. In total, out of the 1,066 people on board, 1,036 people survived the sinking. Thirty people lost their lives in the disaster but only five were buried; others were not recovered and are honoured on memorials in Thessaloniki (the Mikra Memorial ) and London. Another 38 were injured (18 crew, 20 RAMC). Survivors were accommodated in
25550-422: Was approached by Gustav Christian Schwabe , a prominent Liverpool merchant, and his nephew, the shipbuilder Gustav Wilhelm Wolff , during a game of billiards . Schwabe offered to finance the new line if Ismay had his ships built by Wolff's company, Harland and Wolff . Ismay agreed, and a partnership with Harland and Wolff was established. The shipbuilders received their first orders on 30 July 1869. The agreement
25725-658: Was bought by the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM), owned by the American banker John Pierpont Morgan . He hoped to obtain a monopoly of the North Atlantic route by buying several shipping companies, and by entering into agreements with others such as the German HAPAG and the Norddeutscher Lloyd . The acquisition of the White Star Line was its main take. In order to close the deal, Morgan offered
25900-559: Was closer (it arrived less than two hours after first distress call compared to three and a half hours for Titanic ). The first to arrive on the scene were fishermen from Kea on their caïque , who picked many survivors from the water. At 10:00, HMS Scourge sighted the first lifeboats and 10 minutes later stopped and picked up 339 survivors. Armed boarding steamer HMS Heroic had arrived some minutes earlier and picked up 494. Some 150 had made it to Korissia, Kea , where surviving doctors and nurses from Britannic were trying to save
26075-440: Was designed with the same layout for Third Class passengers as Cedric , with a capacity of 2,000, her First and Second Class capacities were significantly greater. First Class was increased to a capacity of 425 passengers, while capacity for Second Class was extended to 450 passengers, almost twice that of Cedric and three times that of Celtic . Simultaneously, the added length also increased her gross tonnage to 23,884, making her
26250-460: Was equipped with a service bar. Aside from this, the biggest change brought by Celtic for Third Class passengers was in sleeping quarters. Open berths were still fairly common on the North Atlantic, which White Star had from the start gradually shied away from. Aboard the Oceanic -class liners, Britannic and Germanic , steerage passengers had been provided with large rooms which generally slept around 20 people, while aboard Teutonic and Majestic
26425-490: Was forced into bankruptcy. On 18 January 1868, Thomas Ismay , a director of the National Line , purchased the house flag, trade name and goodwill of the bankrupt company for £1,000 (approximately equivalent to £124,400 in 2023), with the intention of operating large steamships on the North Atlantic service between Liverpool and New York. Ismay established the company's headquarters at Albion House, Liverpool . Ismay
26600-443: Was forced to return for repairs. She resumed her crossing on 17 March and ended up not completing the crossing to New York until 28 March. However, upon her arrival in New York, she drew considerable attention, as by the time she departed on her return crossing to Liverpool on 15 April, some 50,000 spectators had looked her over. White Star's troubles with their first ship were short lived and Oceanic ' s second crossing to New York
26775-471: Was her Third Class accommodations, which in addition to ample open deck space on the Promenade Deck, were located on the Saloon, Upper and Lower Decks at both the forward and aft ends of the vessel, with a vast majority being located aft. The pattern followed that seen on all White Star vessels on the North Atlantic, with single men berthed forward and single women, married couples and families berthed aft. On
26950-452: Was in regard to her engines. A comparison was made between the machinery installed aboard Cymric and that placed in Oceanic . Due to Cymric initially being designed as a livestock carrier, she was built with smaller engines capable of modest speeds which both consumed less coal and occupied less space within the hull. As a result, there was an astonishing difference which gave Cymric a considerable advantage over Oceanic . Although Cymric
27125-419: Was intended to be more luxurious than her sister ships in order to compete with SS Imperator , SS Vaterland and RMS Aquitania . Enough cabins were provided for passengers divided into three classes. The White Star Line anticipated a considerable change in its customer base. Thus, the quality of the Third Class (intended for migrants) was lowered when compared to that of her sisters, while
27300-418: Was launched as Britannic on 3 February 1874 and departed on her maiden voyage to New York on 25 June. Her sister, Germanic (1874) was launched on 15 July 1874, but due to complications in her construction, she did not enter service until 20 May 1875. With the introduction of these new vessels, Oceanic was declared surplus and in the spring of 1875 was chartered to one of White Star's subsidiaries,
27475-454: Was launched on 21 August 1902. Although she was of exactly the same dimensions as Celtic in length and width, she outweighed her twin by a mere 155 tons, making her the largest ship in the world. Despite their similarities, the two had distinct differences. First Class accommodations aboard Cedric included more private bathrooms, as well as more suites consisting of interconnecting cabins provided with sitting rooms. She had accommodations for
27650-410: Was launched, the first keel plates of Celtic were laid at Harland & Wolff. Construction progressed rapidly, and as White Star had planned, the new fleet of liners would be constructed in overlapping succession. In October 1900, while Celtic ' s hull was nearing completion, construction began on the second ship, Cedric . When Celtic was launched in April 1901, there was much fanfare, as she
27825-438: Was lost at sea without loss of life after striking a submerged object in 1898, while Maasdam was again sold in 1902 to La Veloce Navigazione Italiana and renamed Citta di Napoli , after which she was used as an emigrant ship for an additional eight years before being sold for scrap at Genoa in 1910. In 1893, by which time Teutonic and Majestic had established themselves on the North Atlantic run, White Star sold Celtic to
28000-440: Was marked by a quarantining of the crew when the ship arrived at Mudros (now Moudros) because of food-borne illness. Life aboard the ship followed a routine. At six o'clock, the patients were awakened and the premises were cleaned up. Breakfast was served at 6:30 AM, then the captain toured the ship for an inspection. Lunch was served at 12:30 PM and tea at 4:30 PM. Patients were treated between meals and those who wished to go for
28175-423: Was more successful. She departed Liverpool on 11 May and arrived in New York on 23 May with 407 passengers aboard. In the eighteen months to follow, the five remaining ships were completed, and one by one, joined her on the North Atlantic run. Atlantic sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 8 June without incident. However, later that summer another problem surfaced which posed a threat to public opinion of
28350-421: Was only about two-thirds of the size of Oceanic in terms of gross tonnage (12,552 to 17,274), her net tonnage, a unit of measurement used to account for space aboard a ship usable for passengers and cargo was actually greater than that of the larger vessel (8,123 net tons aboard Cymric compared to only 6,996 with the Oceanic ). Builders and designers used this as a baseline for engine designs for Celtic . She
28525-409: Was operated as a hospital ship from 1915 until her sinking near the Greek island of Kea , in the Aegean Sea , in November 1916. At the time she was the largest hospital ship in the world. Britannic was launched just before the start of the First World War . She was designed to be the safest of the three ships with design changes made during construction due to lessons learned from the sinking of
28700-512: Was proposed that Ismay replace him, which he reluctantly accepted on condition of having Morgan's full support. Meanwhile, as a result of the IMM takeover, White Star obtained four newly completed liners in the last months of 1903, Columbus , Commonwealth , New England and Mayflower . These four liners had been owned and operated by the Dominion Line for their services between Liverpool and Boston as well as their Mediterranean cruising and emigrant route, which also connected to Boston. However,
28875-482: Was requisitioned as a hospital ship from her storage location at Belfast. Repainted white with large red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, she was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic and placed under the command of Captain Charles Alfred Bartlett . In the interior, 3,309 beds and several operating rooms were installed. The common areas of the upper decks were transformed into rooms for
29050-399: Was roughly in the same condition Titanic had been in one hour after the collision with the iceberg . Fifteen minutes after the ship was struck, the open portholes on E Deck were underwater. With water also entering her aft section from the bulkhead between boiler rooms four and five, Britannic quickly developed a serious list to starboard. Bartlett gave the order to turn starboard towards
29225-480: Was shelved, only to be reused 12 years later . His health improved for a brief time, allowing him to visit Oceanic upon her completion in Belfast that July. During his visit, Belfast officials awarded him with a key to the city, citing his contributions to the local economy and to British merchant shipping. Unfortunately, in late August he took a turn for the worse and he underwent two operations to alleviate his ailment, both of which proved unsuccessful, and he suffered
29400-444: Was still being built, but a series of delays slowed her construction to a snail's pace compared to that of her sisters. Baltic was launched after roughly 17 months, but by the time Adriatic was finally launched in September 1906, she had been under construction for almost 46 months, more than twice the time needed to construct her sisters. Her passenger accommodations followed the same trend as seen with Baltic , with added focus on
29575-416: Was still underway. One notable instance in her construction was once her keel was fitted in place, White Star gave orders for her length to be extended by 28 ft (8.5 m). This change in plans required builders to cut her keel in two to install the added length. The reason for this addition was likely to provide more space for passenger accommodations, which added up to 2,850 passengers. Although Baltic
29750-430: Was that Harland and Wolff would build the ships at cost plus a fixed percentage and would not build any vessels for White Star's rivals. In 1870, William Imrie joined the managing company. As the first ship was being commissioned, Ismay formed the White Star Line, with a capital of £400,000, divided into shares of £1,000. The company was managed by a new firm: Ismay, Imrie and Company. Despite this complex organization,
29925-402: Was that of individual bathrooms in almost every First Class cabin, which would have been a first on an ocean liner. Aboard the Olympic and Titanic , most passengers had to use public bathrooms. These facilities were installed but were soon removed because the ship was converted to a hospital ship and were never re-installed because the ship sank before she could enter transatlantic service, so
30100-468: Was the fitting of large crane -like gantry davits , each powered by an electric motor and capable of launching six lifeboats which were stored on gantries; the ship was designed to have eight sets of gantry davits but only five were installed before Britannic entered war service, with the difference being made up with boats launched by manually operated Welin -type davits as on Titanic and Olympic . Additional lifeboats could be stored within reach of
30275-541: Was the largest ship in the world in terms of tonnage, as well as being the first to exceed the tonnage of the infamous Great Eastern . She took a mere four additional months for fitting out before sailing on her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 26 July of that year. Upon her entry into service, one of her most attractive features was her seaworthiness. It was noted that she was "as steady as the Rock of Gibraltar." Meanwhile, construction on Cedric had proceeded as planned and she
30450-434: Was to be Celtic (1901) , a name taken and reused from the original Oceanic class. The initial designs for Celtic had her at 680 ft (210 m) in length, slightly shorter than Oceanic , but with a greater breadth of 75 ft (23 m). Additionally, while Oceanic had set the record for length, Celtic would triumph in tonnage, measuring just over 20,000 tons. One point of interest about this new ship
30625-485: Was to be equipped with quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screws capable of modest speeds of just over 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). As she was geared to lower service speeds, her coal consumption was far less at only 260 tons per day, which compared to the 400 tons per day needed to power Oceanic , made her much more economical. At the same time, owing to her broad hull, she was designed with cargo holds capable of storing up to 18,500 tons of commercial cargo,
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