RMS Alaunia (1913)

The RMS Alaunia was a passenger ship of the Cunard Line. It was built in 1913 at the shipyard Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock, near Glasgow, and had on 9 June 1913, and launching. Your maiden voyage began on 27 November 1913 in Liverpool and led over Queenstown ( Ireland) and Portland to Boston (USA), where she arrived on 6 December 1913. Her sister ships were essentially identical ships RMS Andania and the RMS Aurania. The series was created after the Curnard Line in 1911 decided to resume regular service to Canada.

The ship had a tonnage of 13,405 GRT and was a two-masted ship with three decks. It was powered by two propellers and could reach a top speed of 14.5 knots. Her length was 164.7 meters, its width is 19.5 meters; from keel to mast top, they measure around 74 meters. In the second class there were cabins for 520 passengers in third class passengers in 1620, with the usual dormitories had been replaced by four-or six -berth cabins. For regular service 289 crew members were provided.

First, the Alaunia was used in regular traffic to North America and transported emigrants to the New World, but in early August 1914, the Alaunia was used as a troop transport ship. Her last voyage began on September 19, 1916, when she sailed for New York City to accommodate U.S. and Canadian soldiers. This trip she made in the company of her sister ship, the RMS Andania.

On the way back to the UK she ran on 19 October 1916 at the English Channel, in Eastbourne (East Sussex ) on a sea mine. An emergency call was deposed and other vessels rushed to help. Due to their size, they sank immediately, but steadily increased water. An attempt to take it in tow and tow, but failed. Due to this development, the order to abandon ship was given and all the passengers on board and 163 crew members were rescued. However, two crew members were killed.

The wreck was not raised and is today at the bottom of the English Channel. Also the sister ship, the RMS Andania, did not survive the First World War; she was sunk in February 1918, as the island of Rathlin by a German U - boat.