The Ultonia steamship was built at Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd. built in the northern English town of Wallsend am Tyne and launched on June 4, 1898. It was 8,845 GRT when it was commissioned. The 152.4 meter long and 17.49 meter wide ship had four masts , a chimney and two propellers . It was built as a passenger and cargo ship and equipped with engines from Sir C. Furness, Westgarth & Co. of Middlesbrough . The test drives took place on October 28, 1898. The passenger accommodations were designed for 675 third-class people.
On February 28, 1899, ran Ultonia in Liverpool for their maiden voyage to Boston via Queenstown (now Cobh off). On February 4, 1904, she left for her last trip on this route. This was followed by conversions, as a result of which the ship was enlarged and given a volume of 10,402 GRT. The passenger capacity also changed to 120 passengers in the second and 2,100 in the third class.
Between April 29, 1904 and October 31, 1911, the Ultonia served the route Trieste - Fiume - Naples - New York . From April 23, 1912 to November 5, 1912, the ship was used on the Southampton - Quebec - Montreal route. Between December 7, 1912 and June 28, 1914 she drove again from Trieste to New York. In 1915 and 1916 the Ultonia made several trips from New York to Saint-Nazaire . In May 1912, the Ultonia with 1,200 people on board on a voyage from Southampton to Montreal ran on ice at the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River and lost one of its propellers. She headed for Halifax and brought her passengers ashore there.
On June 27, 1917 was Ultonia 190 nautical miles southwest of the Fastnet Rock (Southern Ireland) on a trip from New York to London (Captain J. Marshall) from the German submarine U 53 , commanded by Lieutenant Hans Rose to the position 48 ° 25 ' N , 11 ° 23' W sunk. A person was killed.
48.416666666667 -11.383333333333
