SS Czar
- Estonia ( 1921)
- Pulaski (1930 )
- Empire Penryn (1946 )
The Czar (Russian Царь ) was a 1912 put into operation in trans-Atlantic passenger steamers of the Russian shipping company Russian American Line, which was built for passenger traffic from Russia to New York. After the February Revolution of 1917 the Czar came into British hands and the name changed several times and the operator. 1949, the ship was scrapped in Blyth.
Commissioning
The 6503 gross registered tons (GRT ) large steamship Czar was built on the Scottish shipyard Barclay, Curle and Company in Glasgow and launched on March 23, 1912 from the stack. The 129.54 meters long and 16.15 meters wide ship was powered by two quadruple expansion steam engines, which enabled a cruising speed of 15 knots. Passenger capacities were 30 passengers in first class, 260 in the second class and third class in 1086.
The Czar was bereedert of the Russian shipping company Russian American Line, a company founded in 1900 offshoot of the Danish trading company Det Østasiatiske Kompagni ( East Asiatic Company). It was built for the passenger and freight service from Libau via Copenhagen to New York and ran on 30 May 1912 on her maiden voyage on this route. On June 13 they reached New York. On August 5, 1913 went to Libau of the nearly decade-old Mark Rothko and his family aboard the Czar, to immigrate to the United States.
In October 1913, the Czar was among the ten ships that responded to distress calls of in flames passenger steamer Volturno and participated in the rescue of passengers. She took 102 people from the burning ship. For their efforts, 19 crew members of the Czar in March 1914, awarded on the recommendation of the Board of Trade of King George V with the Sea Gallantry Medal. On 17 July 1914 she started her last regular crossing on this route. As of September 13, 1914, she sailed from Arkhangelsk to New York.
Following the Russian Revolution
After the February Revolution of 1917, the Czar went over to Great Britain and registered in London. It was chartered in 1917 to the Cunard Line, they the United States Navy introduced the Cruiser and Transport Force available. Other ships of the Russian American Line as the Kursk and the czaritza fared well. On 16 April 1918 the Czar was in Hoboken as part of a convoy to their first troops ride. The escort ships included, among other things, the Pocahontas, the El Oriente and the czaritza. On October 7, 1918, she left Newport News with the Tenadores, the Susquehanna and the America. It was the last time that she brought American troops to France. Then they carried only British troops.
The end of 1920 they turned back to the Cunard Det Østasiatiske Kompagni. This gave them the following year in the service of one of its other divisions, the Baltic America Line, which they renamed in Estonia and sat back on the transatlantic route. On January 11, 1921, Estonia was in Glasgow for the first trip for the new owners to New York and back to Danzig and Libau. As of February 23, 1921 she was steaming from Danzig and Libau to Boston and New York. In February 1925, the passenger accommodation was altered so that from then on was space for 290 passengers in the cabin class and 500 in the third class. Changed as early as March 1926, the re (110 cabin class, 180 tourist class, 500 third class).
The last ride for the Baltic America Line led the Estonia on January 31, 1930 by Danzig via Copenhagen to Halifax and New York. Then it was sold to the Polish shipping company Gdynia America Line, which they renamed Pulaski and registered in Gdynia. On March 13, 1930, the first trip for the Gdynia America Line from Gdansk via Copenhagen to Halifax and New York on August 18, 1935, the last. On February 18, 1936, Pulaski was implemented on the route from Gdynia to Buenos Aires, where she stayed until April 24, 1939. On 24 August 1939, she ran out to Falmouth. During the Second World War the ship was first used as an Allied troop ship for the French and from 1940 for the British. To this end, they operated in the North Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and ran as African ports.
On April 16, 1946, the steamer was handed back to the British civil authorities. He walked over to the fleet of Lamport & Holt and was used with home port Liverpool under the name Empire Penryn again as a passenger ship. In 1948 the 36-year old ship was finally decommissioned and met on 19 February 1949 in the northern English port city of Blyth for scrapping a.