Calédonia (ship, 1882)
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The Calédonien (II) was a passenger ship put into service in 1882 by the French shipping company Messageries Maritimes , which was used in the liner service from Marseille to Australia and later Madagascar . From 1914 she served the French Navy as an auxiliary cruiser until she ran north of Port Said into a minefield laid by a German submarine on June 30, 1917 and sank, killing 51 people.
The ship
The 4,248 GRT iron-built steamship Calédonien was built at the Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat shipyard in the southern French port city of La Ciotat and was launched on June 18, 1882. The 130.75 meter long and 12.57 meter wide passenger and cargo ship was powered by a three-cylinder composite steam engine that developed 3400 hp and could accelerate the ship to up to 15 knots. The Calédonia had a deadweight of 2,450 tons and a displacement of 6,900 tons. The passenger accommodations were designed for 90 passengers in the first, 44 passengers in the second and 75 passengers in the third class. On short routes, up to 1,200 additional deck passengers could be taken on board.
The Calédonia initially had a chimney, three masts and a single propeller . She was the third in a series of seven identical sister ships that Messageries Maritimes put into service between 1881 and 1884 for passenger and freight traffic from France to Australia and New Caledonia . The others were the Natal (1882), the Melbourne (1882), the Sydney (1883), the Salazie (1883), the Yarra (I) (1884) and the Océanien (I) (1884).
On December 21, 1882, the Calédonia ran out of Marseille on her maiden voyage to Australia and Nouméa via Aden , Mauritius and Réunion . From October 1888 the ship operated a new route and now went to the Far East . During this time, some prominent passengers were on board: on April 1, 1891, the French painter Paul Gauguin boarded the ship in Marseille to travel to Tahiti via Australia and on April 21, 1895, the pianist Camille Saint-Saëns came on board to reach Saigon via Australia . In the same year the steamer was completely renewed. The previous compound steam engine was replaced by a triple expansion steam engine with an output of 4,000 hp, increasing the top speed from 15 to 16.8 knots. In addition, a second chimney was added and the deck superstructure was extended aft .
In 1900 the Calédonien was used as a troop transport during the Boxer Rebellion . In October 1901 she had to be towed into the port of Marseille by the P&O steamer Himalaya after her propeller broke. From 1901 to 1914 the ship was used in the regular service to Madagascar .
Sinking
After the outbreak of war, the Calédonia was requested by the French Navy for military service in 1914 and from then on served as an auxiliary cruiser . On June 28, 1917, the Calédonien ran out of Marseille for another voyage to Madagascar. She drove with the troop carrier Général Gallieni in a convoy that was escorted by the French torpedo boat Lansquenet and the Greek destroyer Thyella . On board were 160 crew members and 269 passengers, including 33 civilians . On June 30 at 6:35 a.m., the ship ran 30 nautical miles north of Port Said on the Egyptian coast into a minefield that had been laid on May 28 by the German U- 34 submarine under the command of Lieutenant Robert Sprenger .
The ship bent, but remained buoyant. A second mine contact occurred 25 minutes after the first explosion. The Calédonien fell within four minutes on the position of 31 ° 45 ' N , 32 ° 23' O . 23 crew members, including the deputy master and the second engineer , as well as 28 passengers, including six civilians, were killed in the sinking. The survivors were taken in by the Lansquenet and the Thyella .