Not Only The Titanic



The White Star Line was originally founded in 1845. In 1934, White Star and Cunard merged although both lines retained their identities until 1950.


As the media focuses on the Titanic sinking, it is easy to overlook the history of the company and the other disasters and losses that befell them during their 105 year history. The number of mishaps might suggest that White Star was ill fated.


Initially White Star chartered ships for the Australia run where there was a growing demand for emigre ships.


In 1854 four clippers were chartered. One of these R M S Tayleur was an early iron hulled craft and flagship of the line. She sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 19th January. The compass should have been adjusted to take account of the iron hull but this was overlooked and instead of heading south through the Irish sea, the Tayleur sailed westwards towards the Irish coast. Forty eight hours  later they hit the rocks of Lambay Island, fogbound and in a storm. The Tayleur sank and the survivors had to clamber up an 80 foot cliff to reach safety. Of 652 passengers on board, 380 lost their lives.




In 1863, White Star obtained their first steamship, the 2000 ton Royal Standard. Her maiden voyage was to Melbourne but the captain was to die during the passage. The return was by Cape Horn and in the South Atlantic she struck an iceberg. The damage was fortunately only to the spars and rigging and they were able to make Rio for repairs. The Royal Standard was underpowered and was slower than sailing ships.
Eventually she was converted back to sail.In 1869 she was wrecked off the coast of Brazil and scrapped.


The R M S Atlantic was one of four ships ordered from Harland and Wolff of Belfast for the North Atlantic route. In March 1873 she sailed from Liverpool with  835 passengers and 117 crew. The crossing was very stormy and with dwindling fuel stocks, the captain diverted towards Halifax. Battling another storm, the ship was 12 miles off course, hit a reef Marr's Head and started to sink. The lifeboats were swept away and 562 passengers lost their lives. The crew however, all survived.
 

The Adriatic, flagship of White Star sailed on her maiden voyage in 1872. She was said to be cursed !
In October of 1874 she scraped the side of the Cunard ship Parthia causing a large hole in her side requiring repairs.
In March 1875, again in New York, she rammed and sank the schooner Columbus.
In December she rammed and sank the Harvest Queen in the St Georges Channel. The crew of this sailing vessel were lost.
In 1878 sailing off the South Wales coast the brigantine G.A. Pike was struck, killing five crew.


Oceanic, built in 1871 was a very advanced ship for it's day being the first ship to have promenade decks and running water in it's bathrooms. In 1882 she collided with the City of Chester in San Fransisco causing her to sink.


The Blue Jacket was a clipper built in 1854. In 1883 she was wrecked in a storm on Tuskar Rock off of the Irish Coast


In May 1887 the Celtic with 870 passengers was heading for New York, The Britannic I with 450 passengers was two days out on her voyage to Liverpool. The two White Star liners collided. Celtic hit three times before scraping past. 12 passengers on board Britannic were killed and although lifeboats were launched Both ships remained afloat and eventually reached New York.




 Naronic was a cargo ship with limited passenger accommodation. She sailed from Liverpool in February 1893 bound for New York. After a brief call in Anglesey to drop off the pilot, she was never seen again. Her fate remains a mystery. 50 crew and 24 cattle men lost their lives.


The Baltic was a large, modern steamship which in 1898 struck a submerged wreck in the North Atlantic. Although the ship slowly sank, there were no casualties.


The Germanic, built in 1874 sailed for a total of 75 years. This was despite having sunk at her berth in 1899 from the weight of snow and ice on her decks.
Under new owners she was accidentally sunk by a British Submarine in 1915 and later salvaged.


The Teutonic ran into a tsunami in 1901 and two lookouts were swept out of the crows nest!


Oceanic II was built in 1899 and was capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. In1901 in fog, she rammed and sank the Waterford Steam Ship Company's Kincora killing 7 men. In 1905 there was a mutiny on board over working conditions and
35 stokers were later imprisoned. During the First World War she became an armed merchant ship. In September 1914 she was carried off course by strong  currents west of Shetland and ran aground. 400 men were transferred to other nearby ships. The wreck was not finally removed until 1979.




In 1906 Gothic caught fire and was beached. She was eventually transferred to the sister line Red Star and renamed Gothland. She was scrapped in 1926 having been stranded on rocks the previous year.


Suavic ran on to rocks off the Lizard in 1907. Her bow was dynamited away in order that she might be towed off.


R M S Republic was well equipped with the latest Marconi wireless and their distress signal saved many lives. She had sailed from New York in January 1909 for Gibraltar. They ran into thick fog, reduced speed and signalled their presence with regular whistles.  Hearing the whistles of another ship they were hit by the Florida and three other ships answered the distress calls. The Republic was towed back towards New York but sank during the voyage.  Six lives were lost in the collision.






R M S Olympic was the first of three ships of the "Olympic Class" ordered from Harland and Wolff's  shipyard. The others were Titanic and Britannic. Olympic was launched in 1910 and her maiden voyage was in June 1911 and on arrival in New York crushed the tug O. L. Halenbeck against the wharf nearly causing it to sink.
The next incident was in September 1911 when she collided with H M S Hawke off the Isle of Wight. Both ships were extensively damaged and the Olympic required repairs in dry dock.
In February 1912 a submerged object was hit off Newfoundland and a propeller
was lost. Again Olympic needed repairs at Harland and Wolff's yard.
Just a few weeks after the loss of Titanic, the Olympic almost struck rocks at Lands End; only reversal of the engines saved her. In 1926 a U S navy ship was struck in New York Harbour and in 1933 six men died when she sank the Nantucket lightship in thick fog on approach to New York.




Britannic II was the third of the trio and was launched in 1914. She immediately became a hospital ship. In November 1916 she struck a mine and sank killing 30 out of 1066 on board.



Bardic
ran aground in 1925 off the Isle of Wight. She was eventually sold and renamed Marathon, was sunk in 1941 by the battleship Scharnhorst.



In 1929 Homeric collided with a former White Star passenger tender the Traffic causing considerable damage




The Laurentic I; Arabic; Cymric; Delphic; Afric and Justica were all sunk by U boats in the First World War. Persic survived a torpedo attack. Celtic suffered
both mine and torpedo damage but on both occasions escaped and was repaired. She ran aground however in 1928 at Cobh, could not be salvaged and was broken up where she lay.


 Georgic II was sunk by a German raider the Moewe


The first Laurentic had the distinction of carrying Dr Crippen and his mistress across the Atlantic. In 1917 having just left Lough Swilly she struck two mines which had been laid by U-80. She sank with the loss of her crew and a cargo of gold.




In 1917 Cedric was serving as a troopship and rammed Canadian Pacific's Montreal off Morecambe Bay. The Montreal sank next day under tow.  Returning to passenger service after the war, she collided with Scythia off the Irish Coast in 1923.


Homeric ran aground in 1935 on Tenerife after which she was scrapped.


Doric was sailing as a cruise ship when in 1935 she collided with S S Formigny off Cape Finisterre. She returned to England and was scrapped due to the high cost of repairs.


The Second World War also brough casualties; The Medic, Athenic; Ceramic, Zealandic, Runic; Laurentic II were all sunk by U boats. Britannic III was sunk by a mine.




Three times during the First World War, Ceramic had been attacked by U boats and on each occasion outran them. In 1942 she was often involved in troop transport and in November sailed from Liverpool carrying 200 military personnel and 150 civilians. On December 6th near the Azores she was hit by three torpedoes which stopped her. She was sinking slowly and some hours later further
torpedoes broke her in two. Although lifeboats were launched, rough seas capsized them. Only one person survived having been taken prisoner on the U boat. It was only on his release after the war that the fate of Ceramic became known.


Laurentic II had had an eventful life. In 1932, off Newfoundland she collided with the Lurigethen and in 1935 with Blue Star Line's Napier with the loss of 6 lives. She was sunk by  a U Boat in 1940 when 49 died.


In 1939, after an air raid, Majestic II caught fire at her berth in Scotland and sank. Her predecessor Majestic I had caught fire in Liverpool in 1905 and three years before had narrowly missed an iceberg,


Georgic was serving as a troopship and in 1941 was at Port Tewfik in the Gulf of Suez. She was bombed by German aircraft and hit twice. The stern caught fire spreading to fuel and ammunition stored in the stern. She was abandoned, left to burn and sank at her berth. She was however raised, repaired in Bombay and re-fitted at Belfast and returned to service.

During their history, White Star had operated over 120 ships. This article covers some of the major incidents that occurred, no doubt there were many more lesser scrapes.