RMS Etruria
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The RMS Etruria was an ocean liner put into service in 1885 by the British shipping company Cunard Line , which was used for passenger and freight traffic on the Liverpool - Queenstown - New York route. She was a bearer of the Blue Ribbon and when it was commissioned one of the largest ships of her time. The Etruria was decommissioned in 1908 and scrapped in 1910.
The ship
In 1883, the Cunard Line ordered two new identical sister ships from the John Elder & Company shipyard in Govan near Glasgow , which will be used in passenger traffic on the North Atlantic route and will also be competitive in the battle for the Blue Ribbon, the coveted award for the fastest Atlantic crossing by a passenger steamer should. The construction was financed by the two older Cunard ships Parthia and Batavia (both from 1870) were traded in with John Elder & Company.
The first of these two ships to be completed was the Umbria (hull number 285) launched in June 1884 , which was followed a few weeks later by the Etruria (hull number 286). Both ships were 158.2 meters long, 17.43 meters wide and had a volume of 7,718 GRT. This made them the largest ships of the Cunard Line up to that point and one of the largest ships in the world. They were the last Cunard ships to be equipped with sails and also the last two to be propelled by a single propeller and compound steam engines.
The two relatively wide chimneys were noticeable. The ship also had three fully rigged steel masts . An innovation on the Etruria as well as on its sister ship were cooling devices for the transport of perishable food. The ship was powered by composite steam engines and nine double-ended boilers , which consumed a total of 320 tons of coal per day and allowed a speed of 19 knots (33.3 km / h). The hull was divided into ten watertight compartments.
The furnishing of the cabins and salons represented the epitome of the Victorian era . The first class lounges were furnished with carved and decorated furniture and heavy velvet curtains and in the bric-à-brac design, which was very popular at the time . The first-class rooms, including the dining room, smoking room and music room, were located on the promenade, upper, saloon and main deck. The second class was comfortable and spacious for the standard of the time and stood out from many competitors. Initially, 550 first class and 800 second class passengers could be taken on board. Later, the space was designed for 500 passengers in the first, 160 in the second and 800 in the third class.
Both ships made a name for themselves due to their size, speed and luxurious equipment and were long among the highlights of the North Atlantic passenger traffic.
history
Record breaker
The Etruria was launched on September 20, 1884 and was completed in March 1885. On March 26, 1885, she arrived in Liverpool. On the same day she and the Umbria were drafted by the British Admiralty to use them as an auxiliary cruiser due to a political crisis between Russia and Afghanistan . After an agreement, the Etruria was quickly released and was able to sail on April 25, 1885 under the command of Captain William McMickan on her maiden voyage to New York. The Umbria , however, was withheld for a further six months before it was returned to Cunard in September 1885.
In early August 1885, the Etruria set a new speed record when it made the journey east in six days and nine hours. She covered the 2,822 nautical miles from Sandy Hook to Queenstown at an average cruising speed of 18.44 knots (34.15 km / h). On the way back she also set a new standard when she made the journey from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in six days, five hours and 31 minutes. This made her the fastest ship in the world and was awarded the coveted Blue Ribbon for the fastest passenger ship to cross the Atlantic. The ship also received a lot of media attention.
On the eastbound route, the Etruria was not defeated until 1889 by the Inman Line's new City of Paris . In 1887 her sister ship Umbria took the Blue Ribbon from her on the westbound route. The Etruria was the Umbria surpass shortly thereafter once again, but in 1889 it took again the City of Paris permanently the Blue Riband on the west-bound route from.
On October 20, 1885, after leaving New York , the Etruria anchored in the Lower New York Bay due to thick fog . The freight steamer Canada (4,276 GRT) of the National Steamship Company from Limerick did not see the Etruria in time and rammed her on the starboard side . There was no personal injury and the damage to property was so minor that both ships were able to continue their voyage.
On October 29, 1898, the American opera actress Maude Roudez , who was mainly engaged in Paris , arrived on board the Etruria in New York. Roudez had survived the sinking of the Atlantic Transport Line's passenger liner Mohegan off the coast of Cornwall two weeks earlier and lost her mother in the process. While the Umbria was used as a transport ship in the Second Boer War in 1899 and 1900 , the Etruria remained in regular passenger service.
On January 13, 1900, the Etruria arrived in New York after another Atlantic crossing and was inspected on the same day. Cracks were discovered in the propeller shaft that had not been there when it left Liverpool. On board the Umbria , the wave broke in the middle of the North Atlantic in December 1892, which resulted in lengthy repairs. The ship entered New York seven days late. To prevent this from happening to the Etruria as well, she stayed at her pier in New York until a new wave was procured from Great Britain. It was not until February 17, 1900 that the Etruria was able to return to Liverpool.
Winston Churchill
In November 1895, the 21-year-old Winston Churchill , then a lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars cavalry regiment, took a break of several weeks from his military service to visit the island of Cuba . He wanted to follow the Cuban War of Independence there . To get from Great Britain to Cuba, Churchill traveled on board the Etruria to New York, where he arrived on November 9, 1895.
It was his first visit to the country and city where his mother, the American millionaire daughter Jennie Jerome , was born and raised. Three days later he went on to Cuba. In early 1896 he returned to Great Britain on board the Etruria .
Special occurrences
In 1901 the Etruria and Umbria were equipped with wireless telecommunication devices invented by Guglielmo Marconi . On February 22, 1902, the Etruria left New York and was supposed to arrive in Queenstown on March 1. On February 26, the propeller shaft finally broke on the high seas, so that the Etruria was unable to maneuver at sea. In the time before the Titanic disaster, the radio stations on steamships were not manned around the clock. The Etruria's radio operator tried in vain to notify Umbria of the emergency by radio.
The Etruria was finally able to attract the attention of the William Cliff , a ship of the Leyland Line , by firing emergency missiles . The William Cliff stayed alongside during the night while repairs were in progress on board the Etruria . The William Cliff finally towed the Etruria to Horta in the Azores , which was about 500 nautical miles southeast of the accident site. The Etruria arrived in the Azores on March 9th. Your passengers and the mail were transferred to the Elbe of North German Lloyd on March 15 , which had been parked specifically for this task. After extensive repairs, the ship was not operational again until the summer of 1902, but by October the wave showed cracks again after a particularly rough crossing. Again the steamer stayed in New York until a new shaft was shipped over and installed. On November 1, 1902, she ran back to Great Britain.
The following year there were further negative events. On February 28, 1903, the Etruria ran aground after leaving New York at the entrance to the Gedney Channel. After she was made afloat again and examined for damage, she was able to continue her journey. On October 10, 1903, a few hours after leaving New York , the Etruria was hit on port side by a monster wave that was described as being at least 15 meters high. The wave tore parts of the bridge and railing away. Several first class passengers were sitting on deck chairs near the bridge at the time and were carried away. One passenger was killed and several others were injured.
In October 1906 she collided with the Minnehaha of the Atlantic Transport Line while leaving New York Harbor in the fog . In January 1907, two sailors died on board the Etruria when they tried to secure the rope of the starboard anchor in very heavy seas.
The end
When Cunard had the Mauretania and the Lusitania built, the more than 20-year-old sister ships Etruria and Umbria were long out of date. On August 26, 1908 was Etruria with the rear forward maneuvered from its dock in Liverpool to apply Landing Stage opposite the Prince's where passengers should go for the upcoming crossing on board. A dredger barge that wanted to cross the River Mersey came too close to the ship and collided violently with the Etruria . The much smaller ship was almost cut in half, but did not sink because it was wedged in the Etruria's propeller .
Both ships floated helplessly on the Mersey and the dredging barge was forcibly pushed against the pier. This marked the end not only for the little barge, but also for the ocean liner. The propeller, rudder and steering gear were so damaged that continuing to New York was out of the question. The passengers were accommodated in hotels and took the Umbria to New York. Another trip would not follow.
The Etruria was towed into the dock for makeshift repairs to be carried out. After being laid up for a while at Birkenhead , the ship was sold to Thomas Ward's demolition yard in October 1909 for £ 16,750. On October 10, 1910, the Etruria was towed by the tug Black Cock to Preston ( Lancashire ), where it was subsequently scrapped.