RMS Oceanic (1870)
Company registration number: 63332
The RMS Oceanic (I) was put into service in 1871, the first passenger ship of the British shipping company White Star Line. The Oceanic was built for the transatlantic passenger service between Liverpool and New York, and set new standards in the North Atlantic passenger traffic.
The ship
The 3707 -ton steamship RMS Oceanic was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland and ran on 27 August 1870 by the stack. The 128.01 meters long and 12.46 meters wide, built of iron passenger and mail ship was the first of four sister ships, with which the young White Star Line opened her passenger and mail traffic between the UK and North America. The Oceanic was driven by a combination of steam and sail power. It had twelve boilers and a four-cylinder compound steam engine that worked together on a single screw and could allow a maximum speed of 14.5 knots. In addition, the ship with four masts equipped with full rigging. The modern passenger accommodations could accommodate 166 passengers, First Class and 1,000 Third Class passengers.
Among the innovations was one that the premises of the First Class were placed amidships to bring up as far away from the machine noise and vibration screws. The 24 meter long and 12 meter wide dining room first class was large enough to accommodate all travelers of the first class at the same time. The portholes were much larger than on other ships and then let more natural light into the rooms. Almost all the first-class cabins were supplied with running water. There were also electrically operated bells to call the steward.
The sister ships of the Oceanic were the RMS Atlantic (1871 ), the RMS Baltic ( I) ( 1871) and the RMS Republic (I) (1872 ), all the exact measurements around the 3700 GRT and all had the same design characteristics. With the construction of four ships, the shipyard Harland & Wolff has been committed, without ever a contract between two parties has been completed. The only condition of the White Star Line was that the ships should always be comfortable and luxurious. This was the approach taken by the shipping company pursued in the following decades. The White Star Line began the construction of the Oceanic no cost limit. The ship was described by the contemporary press as fast " royal yacht" because she resembled her long, elegant hull rather an ocean-going yacht, as an ocean liner. In place of a high bulwark a railing was entered, the passengers allowed unobstructed view of the ocean. The hull was subdivided by bulkheads ten in eleven watertight compartments.
Office hours
The RMS Oceanic was the first completed of the four ships. They met on 26 February 1871, after its completion in Liverpool, from where they started with only 64 passengers on board under the command of Sir Digby Murray expired on March 2, 1871 on her maiden voyage on Queenstown to New York. Because superheated boilers the ship had run into Holyhead and shortly after returning to Liverpool. On March 14, the journey was resumed. On March 28, 1871, the Oceanic first met in New York. In January 1872, the ship underwent an overhaul, the front cover has been enlarged so that the bow in heavy seas could not so easily submerge. In addition, two additional boiler have been installed, in order to increase the propulsion and the engine power. Furthermore, the masts were cut.
On March 11, 1875, the Oceanic sailed on her last voyage from Liverpool to New York. After that, she was chartered to the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company. The White Star Line continued to provide the officers, while the crew now Chinese were used. The ship still wore the colors of the White Star Line, but the flag of Occidental. Henceforth, the ship sailed from San Francisco to Yokohama and Hong Kong and back. On the first trip to Hong Kong introduced the Oceanic set a new speed record for this route. In December 1876 there was another new record added to the route from Yokohama to San Francisco, she with a time of 13 days, 14 hours and 5 minutes struck again in November 1889.
On August 22, 1888, the Oceanic collided just past the Golden Gate to the coastal city of Chester, which sank with the loss of 16 lives. In 1895 she was again the White Star Line passed, she wanted to ask for in service again. She was sent to modernize to Belfast at the Harland and Wolff, but the necessary inspections revealed that an overhaul was not worthwhile. Therefore, it was sold for demolition and left Belfast on 10 February 1896 in the tow. Shortly afterwards, the Oceanic was scrapped in a demolition yard on the Thames.