The 3,707 GRT steamship Baltic was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast , Northern Ireland , and was launched as the Pacific on March 8, 1871 . The 128.01 meter long and 12.46 meter wide, iron- built passenger and mail ship was the third of four sister ships with which the White Star Line, founded by Thomas Ismay in 1869 , opened its passenger and mail service between Great Britain and North America . The Baltic was driven as her sister ships of a combination of steam and sail power. It had a chimney, a single screw, and four masts with full rigging . The top speed was 14 knots.
The sister ships of the Baltic were the Oceanic (I) (1871), the Atlantic (1871) and the Republic (I) (1872). All four ships were built by Harland & Wolff and were put into service between June 1871 and February 1872. All of them were able to carry 166 first class passengers and 1,000 third class passengers in spacious and comfortable cabins.
On September 2, 1871, the ship was completed and on September 14, 1871, it cast under the name Baltic in Liverpool on its maiden voyage via Queenstown to New York. In January 1873, the Baltic set a record on the route from New York to Queenstown by completing the crossing in 7 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes at an average speed of 15.09 knots. Until 1883 the Baltic was on the North Atlantic route for the White Star Line. She was chartered to the Inman Line from 1885 to 1887 .
On May 5, 1888, she ran on her last trip from Liverpool to New York route. It was then sold to Holland-America Line and renamed Veendam (II). The steamer was equipped with new passenger accommodations for 150 first-class and 800 third-class passengers. On November 3, 1888, the Veendam set out on her first voyage from Rotterdam to New York.
On February 6, 1898, the ship (Captain Stenger) with 85 crew members and 732 passengers on board rammed a shipwreck. Passengers and crew were transferred to the 11,629 GRT steamer St. Louis (Captain William Randle) of the American Line . After this was completed, the Veendam was set on fire by Captain Stenger to ensure that she would sink and not be an obstacle to other ships. It sank on February 7th. There were no fatalities to mourn.
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