Didam (ship)
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The Didam was a passenger ship put into service in 1891 by the Dutch shipping company Holland-America Line , which was used as a transatlantic liner on the North Atlantic and carried passengers , freight and mail from Rotterdam to Baltimore . In 1895 the ship was sold to the British Red Cross Line and renamed Santarense . It sank in the Atlantic on June 17, 1896 after colliding with the British four-masted barque Dundonald .
The ship
In 1888 the Holland-America Line opened a new line service from Rotterdam to Brazil and to the Río de la Plata and for this reason ordered two new ships intended to cover this route, the Didam (2,751 GRT) and the Dubbeldam ( 2,760 GRT). Until the completion of the two ships, older ships of the shipping company operated the route. However, since the Baring Crisis of 1890 severely affected trade and immigration to South America , the HAL deviated from its original plan and only put the Didam on the South America route. The Dubbeldam instead sailed the traditional North Atlantic route.
The steel- built steamship Didam was built at the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (NSM) shipyard in Rotterdam and was launched on February 9, 1891. The Didam was a 101.25 meter long and 12.16 meter wide passenger and cargo ship, which was provided with two decks , two masts and a funnel.
The three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine drove a single propeller and was able to ensure a speed of 12 knots. The machine output was 2100 PSi . The ship could carry 40 travelers in first and 464 in third class. The Didam left on May 20, 1891 on her maiden voyage to South America. When the HAL ceased its South American service due to the local financial crisis in October 1892, the Didam was set on the route to Baltimore like her sister ship .
Both ships were sold in September 1895 for £ 58,000 to the Red Cross Line (Robert Singlehurst & Company) in Liverpool , founded in 1869 . The Didam became the Santarense and the Dubbeldam was named Madeirense . This sale financed the construction of the new Rotterdam (III) from 1897. In 1901 there was another change of ownership when the Red Cross Line merged with the Booth Line .
On June 13, 1896, the Santarense ran with 47 passengers and 51 crew members on board under the command of Captain WG Murray in Madeira for a crossing to Para (Brazil). Four days later she collided with the British four-masted barque Dundonald (2,205 GRT, Bj. 1891) in the Atlantic Ocean west of Cape Verde , which was under the command of Captain Robert Girvan with a cargo of wheat and 29 crew members from San Francisco to Hull in England . The Santarense sank as a result of the collision at position 15 ° N 33 ° W without loss of life. Passengers and crew were first taken on board by the Dundonald and transferred the next morning to the Norwegian ship Hirotha , which took them to Para.