In 1869 Thomas Ismay , the former director of the British shipping company National Line , founded the new shipping company White Star Line in Liverpool . The aim was to make a profit in the area of transatlantic shipping between Great Britain and North America . For this reason, the four ships Oceanic (I), Baltic (I), Atlantic (1871) and Republic (I) were built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland , and put into service between June 1871 and February 1872.
They were the thriving shipping company's first ships and turned out to be so profitable that two additions were ordered. These two new ships were the Adriatic (I) and the Celtic (I). These two ocean liners were also built by Harland & Wolff. The Celtic was a 3,867 GRT steamship that was 133.26 meters long and 12.46 meters wide. It had a chimney , four masts , a screw and, like its predecessors, could reach a speed of 14 knots. In the passenger quarters were 166 passengers First Class passengers and 1000 third class are transported.
The ship was under the name Arctic on keel laid, but on 18 June 1872 as Celtic from the stack left. On October 24, 1872, she ran from Liverpool on her maiden voyage via Queenstown to New York. On May 19, 1887, she collided with the Britannic at Sandy Hook ; both ships were damaged. In 1891 the second class was introduced. On February 4, 1891, the Celtic set out on its last voyage from Liverpool via Queenstown to New York. On April 6, 1893, the ship was sold to the Danish Thingvalla Line and renamed America . On May 27, 1893, she left for her first trip on the route Copenhagen - Christiania - Kristiansand - New York.
On September 7, 1897, the ship laid out for the last time on this route. Then the former Celtic was scrapped in Brest (France).
literature
Robert D. Ballard , Ken Marschall : Lost Liners - From the Titanic to Andrea Doria - the glory and decline of the great luxury liners . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co., Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-12905-9 (English: Lost Liners: From the Titanic to the Andrea Doria. The ocean floor reveals its greatest lost ships. Translated by Helmut Gerstberger).