RMS Atlantic

Wood engraving from the newspaper Harper's Weekly, April 1873

Company registration number: 65851

The RMS Atlantic was a 1871 put into service passenger ship in the British shipping company White Star Line, which was used for the transatlantic passenger service between Liverpool and New York. She was the second ship of the then young White Star Line and the first one that they lost.

On April 1, 1873, the Atlantic had a regular crossing to New York shorten due to coal shortage and contributed Halifax, Nova Scotia ( Canada). On the rocky coast of Iceland Meagher 's the ship hit a submerged rocks and sank, drowning 545 passengers, including hundreds of women and children. The sinking of the Atlantic was the heaviest so far Shipwreck on the North Atlantic and was only 31 years later by the Danish steamer Norge exceeded (625 deaths). It is the second largest loss of life on a ship of the White Star Line after Titanic.

The ship

The Atlantic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the White Star Line gave their all passenger ships in order. She was the sister ship of the Oceanic (I), the Baltic ( I) and the Republic (I). This four ships were the first ships of the fledgling White Star Line, which opened the passenger and mail traffic between the UK and North America and established. Since these ships proved to be very profitable and successful, came as a supplement shortly after that the Adriatic ( I) and the Celtic ( I) added.

The 3,707 -ton steamship ran on 1 December 1870 by the stack and was completed on June 3, 1871. Five days later, the Atlantic ran in Liverpool on her maiden voyage on Queenstown to New York. It was after 1871 in particular service Oceanic ( also 3707 GRT) only the second ship of the very young White Star Line, which had been founded in 1869 by shipping magnate and former director of the National Line, Thomas Ismay, Liverpool. It was built of steel and had three decks and four equipped with sails masts. The Atlantic was equipped with ten lifeboats and six watertight doors. The four-cylinder steam engines contributed 600 hp and accelerated the steamer to a maximum speed of up to 14.5 knots ( 26.9 km / h ).

The Atlantic and her sister ships were the company's maxim of the White Star Line equipped accordingly very comfortable and were more luxurious than most other steamers of their time. The dining room of the First Class, the chairs were covered in velvet, was 24 meters long and 12 meters wide. The walls of the cabins and lounges were covered with damask and decorated with gold leaf, also a lot of teak paneling was used. The Atlantic could accommodate 166 passengers, First Class and 1,000 third-class passengers.

The last ride

Departure in Liverpool

On Thursday, March 20, 1873, the RMS Atlantic was under the command of Captain James Agnew Williams in Liverpool to their 19th Atlantic crossing to New York. On board were 143 crew members in addition to over 1000 passengers. The following day, the Atlantic went to Queenstown on the south coast of Ireland at anchor, where 250 passengers left the ship. The cargo had on this trip a former monetary value of 50,000 pounds sterling. The value of the ship itself was about 500,000 pounds sterling. When the ocean liner then was heading the open Atlantic, were 833 passengers ( a total of 957 persons with crew ) on board. Among the passengers to 156 women and 189 children were (including two infants who were born during the journey ).

On 26 March, the ocean liner came before Terence Bay on the peninsula Chebucto ( Nova Scotia ) in an Atlantic storm, which lasted for several days. On 31 March, Captain Williams decided to insert an intermediate stop in Halifax to fill the coal reserves. Was by heavy seas and strong winds violent the ship without the crew or the passengers knew about it, pushed about 12 nautical miles off course and thus missed the entrance to the harbor of Halifax.

The visibility was very limited, so the speed was reduced to 12 knots, while the Atlantic crossed the coast of Nova Scotia. Around midnight we went on the navigating bridge from achieving the Sambro lightship shortly. The Atlantic was at this time about 460 miles from Sandy Hook, the entrance to the Lower New York Bay, away.

Collision before Meagher 's Iceland

Around 2:00 clock in the morning on Tuesday, April 1 rammed the Atlantic on the rocky coast of Meagher 's Iceland near Cape Prospect the underwater reef Marr 's skirt. Most of the passengers were asleep at this time in their cabins, dozens drowned still below deck. Many died when the completely overcrowded main staircase was flooded. It lifeboats were immediately lowered into the water, most of which were washed away but due to the heavy seas or smashed on the rocks. The ship has been raised several times and again spun against the cliffs by the violence of the high waves. Panicked passengers and crew members crowded the boat deck, many climbed the rigging of the ship up. Scores of people were washed ashore by the waves of board. At intervals of 60 seconds signal flares were fired.

The ship sat just 50 meters from the shore on the rocks securely so that the third party officers of the Atlantic, Cornelius L. Brady, could make use of other team members a cable connection to the land. In this way, dozens of people were rescued. Fishermen from nearby villages quickly took notice of the disaster and came to the aid of the shipwrecked. From the land of three rescue boats came to the scene of the accident and took on survivors. After the fifth crash on the rocks the Atlantic capsized and sank.

A total of 545 people died in the sinking of the Atlantic killed, including all the women on board and all children up to one. 412 people survived, including almost all crew members. Only twelve of the 31 first - class passengers were rescued. Among the casualties were about 200 British and 70 Irish, the other passengers were mostly emigrants from other European countries.

Injury

336 of the survivors were taken to Halifax. On April 3, she was taken by train to Portland in the U.S. state of Maine and then to Boston, where the city's mayor, Henry L. Pierce, in Faneuil Hall gave a banquet in honor of the survivors in the presence of many prominent persons of the town.

The accident followed the recommendation of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Maritime an official inquiry, chaired by Edward M. Macdonald, the former head of the customs authority of the city of Halifax. In the final report of the Commission of Inquiry, the debt of the accident Captain Williams and his officers was laid to loads. It was mainly criticized the Atlantic Liverpool seemed to have left with too little coal. Williams claimed that at the exit 996 tons of coal on board had to have what was 260 tons more than was needed for the trip to New York. On March 31, a supply of 127 tons was only been available, which is why Williams chose a stop in Halifax to reload. Also errors in the navigation of the ship were placed under the occupation. Captain Williams had Sambro Light confused with Devils Light, which was significantly further west, and thus set his ship on a wrong course. It was further objected that despite darkness and poor visibility no additional lookouts were used.

Much of the recovered bodies were buried in mass graves in the nearby community of Lower Prospect. 277 more were buried in the cemetery of the Church of Sandy Cove, where today a memorial stone at her. As the wreck of the Atlantic is located in very shallow water, many objects were recovered from him in the course of time. Many of them are on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. In Lower Prospect, the memorial SS Atlantic Heritage Park was built and Interpretation Center, where many artefacts can also be seen from the wreck.