RMS Fort Victoria
- Fort Victoria (1919)
Registration Number: 122744
The Willochra was a 1913 put into service passenger ship in the Australian shipping company Adelaide Steamship Company, which after the sale in 1919 to the Furness, Withy & Co. Empire under the name RMS Fort Victoria was on duty. The ship sank in 1929 after a ship collision shortly after leaving the port of New York.
The ship
The 7784 -ton steamship Willochra was built at the shipyard William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir in Scotland. The 125.36 meters long and 17.28 meters wide ship was built for the Adelaide Steamship Company, which had its headquarters in Adelaide. She was equipped with two quadruple expansion steam engines, which contributed 1374 nominal horsepower and with which a top speed of 16 knots ( 29.6 km / h ) enabled.
The Willochra had two sister ships, which emerged at the same yard: The Warilda (built in 1912), which was sunk on August 3, 1918 in the English Channel by a German U - boat and the Wandilla (built in 1912), the September 10, 1942 was sunk off Libya during a British air raid. The three built of steel ships had each a chimney, two masts, twin propellers and were fitted with passenger accommodation for 231 passengers of the First, 120 Second and 72 Third Class.
The Willochra ran on August 14, 1912 by the stack and was completed on February 7, 1913. In the same year she was chartered by the New Zealand shipping company temporarily Union Steam Ship Company (USS Co.). As of 1914, the ship served as a troop transport for the Royal Australian Navy in World War II.
1919 the ship was sold to the Quebec Steamship Company, which was part of the British shipping company Furness, Withy & Co.. Based in Montreal. The steamer was named RMS Fort Victoria, before he went in 1921 to Bermuda & West Indies Steamship Company, which also belonged to Furness, Withy & Co. and headquartered in Hamilton had in Bermuda. The ship was equipped with accommodations for 400 first class passengers and used in the New York - Bermuda service.
On December 18, 1929 put the Fort Victoria with 255 passengers on board under the command of Captain Albert R. Francis to a further drive from New York to Hamilton. Since dense fog prevailed, the ship stopped in the straits Ambrose Channel to await an improvement in the weather. She was rammed by the Algonquin, a passenger steamer of the American shipping company Clyde - Mallory Line. The Algonquin wanted to shrink from Galveston Coming in New York. Your bow slammed into the port side of Fort Victoria.
Both ships then translated from emergency calls received by the United States Coast Guard and other vessels in the vicinity. All passengers and crew were rescued before the Fort Victoria sank. The Boatyard Vickers-Armstrong was the construction of a replacement, the Monarch of Bermuda, commissioned, which was put into service in 1933. The wreck lies at the position 40 ° 28 ' 36 "N, 73 ° 53 ' 6" W40.476666666667 - 73 885.