RMS Caronia (ship, 1905)
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The RMS Caronia (I) was a transatlantic liner put into service in 1905 by the British shipping company Cunard Line , which was used in passenger and freight traffic from Liverpool via Queenstown to New York . In the First World War the ship served as an auxiliary cruiser . In 1932 it was sold to Japan for demolition.
The ship
At the beginning of the 20th century, German shipping companies such as Norddeutsche Lloyd or HAPAG, with their ever larger and faster ships, took over the previous supremacy of the British on the Atlantic. Cunard wanted to hold out and ordered two new, identical sister ships , the RMS Caronia (I) (hull number 362) and the RMS Carmania (I) (hull number 366) from the shipyard John Brown & Company in the Scottish town of Clydebank on the Clyde . With a length of 198 meters, a width of 22 meters, eight decks and a volume of 19,524 GRT each, the Caronia and Carmania were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet to date and, since they had been designed for the competition for the Blue Ribbon , with one Speed of 18 knots (33.3 km / h) among the fastest ships in the world at the time. The Caronia's passenger accommodations were designed for 300 passengers in the first, 350 in the second and 2,000 in the third class.
First class passengers had access to a smoking salon on A-deck, paneled with oak wood and decorated with gold leaf , a reading and writing salon and a lounge in blue and gold. The centerpiece was the mahogany paneled dining room of the first class on the C deck, which stretched across the entire width of the ship and offered space for 300 guests. The ceiling of the room formed a decorative octagon and was supported by Ionic columns . The third class cabins and lounges were among the best of the time.
Conventional quadruple expansion steam engines with 22,000 PSi were installed on the Caronia , while the Carmania already had modern turbines with 21,000 PSi. In this way, Cunard wanted to see in direct comparison what was more profitable. The Carmania was able to reach a top speed of 20.4 knots, while the Caronia only managed 19.7 knots with the same coal consumption. As a result, only turbine systems were used on later Cunard ships. The Caronia could no longer be retrofitted because this would have been too complicated and expensive.
The early years
The Caronia was launched on July 13, 1904 and was christened by Caroline Sterling Choate, wife of Joseph Choate , then US Ambassador to the United Kingdom . On February 25, 1905, the Caronia ran with 1699 passengers on board under the command of Captain James Clayton Barr in Liverpool on her maiden voyage via Queenstown to New York , where she arrived on March 5. She covered the crossing in seven days and nine hours at an average speed of 16.33 knots. Passengers on the maiden voyage included then-Bishop of Buffalo , Rev. Charles H. Colton , fourth President of the National League , Abraham G. Mills, and William Winton Goodrich, a prominent judge, publicist, and President of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants .
The Caronia stayed on the Liverpool – Queenstown – New York route until May 2, 1914. On her third voyage, she ran aground near Sandy Hook shortly after leaving New York on May 16, 1905 , but did not suffer any major damage. American actress Ethel Barrymore and Cornelius Vanderbilt III were among the passengers on that trip . with wife Grace . In terms of speed, the ship fell short of the requirements of the Cunard Line and proved to be slower than other ocean liner of its time. In August 1905, however, the Caronia made headlines when she managed a crossing in six days, nine hours and ten minutes, making her fastest Atlantic crossing to date.
On March 30, 1912, the well-known conductor Arthur Nikisch boarded the Caronia in London to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra during a three-week series of concerts through the United States . From June 2, 1914 until the outbreak of World War I , she operated the Liverpool – Queenstown – Boston route. In the meantime Arthur Rostron was the captain of the Caronia , who in 1912 took on the survivors of the Titanic as captain of the RMS Carpathia . The Caronia was one of the ships that warned the Titanic by radio of high ice deposits during its maiden voyage in April 1912. The Caronia's warning was the only one posted in the Titanic's map room .
During and after the First World War
Immediately after the outbreak of war, the ship was converted into an auxiliary cruiser . On August 8, 1914, the corresponding conversion work was completed and the ship came into service with the Royal Navy . After only two days at sea, the Caronia brought up the German barque Odessa . For the next six months, the ship patrolled the Ambrose lightship in the waters off New York Harbor . During this time there was an accident when the Caronia collided on April 14, 1915 with the six-masted schooner Edward B. Winslow . There were no injuries and no major property damage. In May 1915 the steamer was overhauled in Liverpool.
On August 7, 1916, the Caronia was returned to the Cunard Line and renovated, but was requested again by the Admiralty after the repair was completed and served as a troop transport between Halifax and Liverpool. She also made two trips to Bombay . After the war ended, the ship brought home Canadian soldiers. From July 3, 1918, she went again as a passenger ship from Liverpool to New York. In 1920 there was a switch from coal combustion to oil.
The Caronia was used on the following routes after the First World War:
- from September 12, 1919: London - Halifax - New York
- from May 8, 1920: Liverpool – Halifax – New York
- from April 27, 1922: Hamburg - Southampton - Cherbourg - New York
- from November 18, 1922: Liverpool – Queenstown – New York
- from May 1, 1924: Liverpool– Quebec
- from November 20, 1924: Liverpool - Boston - New York
- from August 21, 1925: London – Southampton – Cherbourg – New York.
In 1926 conversions were carried out again, as a result of which the passenger capacity was reduced from 2650 to 1467. From then on she was used in addition to her Atlantic crossings as a cruise ship that drove from New York to Havana in the winter months and performed its usual transatlantic service on the New York – Southampton – Le Havre route in the summer .
Until 1931 she also drove in the summer season from London and in the winter season from Liverpool via Southampton and Cherbourg to New York. Her last trip from London to New York took place on September 12, 1932, after which she was scrapped. Together with her sister ship Carmania , which has now also been retired as obsolete, she was launched in Sheerness . After initially working for the Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company Ltd. in Blyth , it was resold to Japan and renamed Taiseiyo Maru . Under this name she drove to Osaka , where she arrived on August 28, 1933 and was scrapped shortly afterwards.
Web links
- Illustrated ship description with technical data and a summary of the service period
- The RMS Caronia in the Clydebuilt Ships Database (with picture)
- Detailed description of the ship (click on "Ship Histories" at the top left and then scroll down to Caronia )
- Report of the Caronia's maiden voyage in the New York Times, March 6, 1905
- Report of the stranding of the Caronia at Sandy Hook in the New York Times, May 17, 1905