CHAPTER XX

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WHITE STAR LINE.

The White Star Line was founded about the middle of the last century by the owners of a line of smart clippers sailing between England and Australia. The great rush of adventurers to the Australian gold diggings in the “fifties” gave a great impetus to the trade between Great Britain and the Colonies. In the course of seven years the White Star, Black Ball and other lines carried about half a million passengers to the Antipodes. The “White Star” boats, even in those days, were the largest of their class, and amongst them were the famous wooden clippers GOLDEN ERA, CHAMPION OF THE SEAS, BLUE JACKET, and WHITE STAR, vessels of from 3,000 to 4,500 tons gross. An important change took place in the destinies of the line in 1867, when the managing owner retired, and the late Thomas Henry Ismay took over the flag. Two years later came the great event in the history of the White Star Line, when Mr. Ismay induced some friends to join him in the formation of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company. It was an enterprise boldly conceived, and carried out with great judgment. Boldly conceived, for there were already four companies each maintaining a regular weekly service between Liverpool and New York. Nor were these small companies, or of indifferent reputation. There was the Cunard Company, established about thirty years previously; the Inman Line, with a fine fleet of clipper passenger steamers; the Guion Line, with its large American connections; and the National Line, with its fleet of huge cargo carriers. In spite of this, Mr. Ismay was confident that there was room for a high-class Trans-Atlantic passenger service, and the shares in the new company (£1,000 each fully paid) were at once privately taken up by the firm of T. H. Ismay & Co. and their friends, amongst whom were some of the most substantial names in England. The following year Mr. Imrie (of the late firm of Imrie, Tomlinson & Co.) joined Mr. Ismay, and the style of the firm was altered to Ismay, Imrie & Co.

The first step taken by the managers of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company was to arrange with the celebrated shipbuilders, Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast, for the construction of a fleet of high-class steamships, expressly for the American passenger trade. The pioneer vessel of the line (the OCEANIC) was launched on the 27th August, 1870, and started on her maiden voyage under the White Star flag on the 2nd March, 1871. After running for several years between Liverpool and New York, this steamer (OCEANIC, the first), along with her sister ships, GAELIC and BELGIC, were chartered to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company, of San Francisco, to maintain a mail service between that port and the Orient. The OCEANIC was quickly followed on the Liverpool-New York service by the BALTIC, REPUBLIC, ADRIATIC and CELTIC, and weekly sailings from both ports were instituted. These steamers were all of the one type, straight stems, four masts, single funnel, and saloon amidships. They proved themselves to be equal in speed and superior in accommodation to any ships then afloat. Four more steamers were added to the fleet in 1873, viz., the ASIATIC, TROPIC, GAELIC and BELGIC. A great advance on the earlier steamships was made in 1874, when the BRITANNIC was launched, followed by her sister ship, the GERMANIC, in 1875. Prior to the formation of the White Star Atlantic Fleet, the passage between Liverpool and New York had averaged 9½ or 10 days, the OCEANIC and her consorts reduced it to about 8½ days, whilst the BRITANNIC and GERMANIC brought the time down to about 7½ days.

These vessels, with the exception of the two last named which were larger and faster, were almost uniform in size and speed. These, and the later vessels of the fleet, were designed and built to attain the three-fold purpose of safety, speed and comfort, and their performances have certainly realised the expectations of their owners. Speed has been an important, but a secondary, consideration, as is shewn by the following extract from the “Book of Regulations” of the White Star Line of steamers:—

“The commanders must distinctly understand that the issue of the following instructions does not, in any way, relieve them from entire responsibility for the safe and efficient navigation of their respective vessels; and they are also enjoined to remember that, whilst they are expected to use every diligence to secure a speedy voyage, they must run no risk which might by any possibility result in accident to their ships. It is to be hoped that they will ever bear in mind that the safety of the lives and property entrusted to their care is the ruling principle that should govern them in the navigation of their ships, and no supposed gain in expedition or saving of time on the voyage is to be purchased at the risk of accident. The company desires to establish and maintain for its vessels a reputation for safety, and only looks for such speed on the various voyages as is consistent with safe and prudent navigation.”

Not content with giving this general regulation, the managers have issued to the commanders of the respective ships of the fleet a special autograph letter, laying special emphasis on the supreme importance of extreme and unvarying caution and prudence in the navigation of the company’s vessels. The concluding paragraph of this letter is as follows:—

“Under all these circumstances of paramount and engrossing interest to the company, whose property is under your charge, we invite you to dismiss from your mind all idea of competitive passages with other vessels, the advantage of success in which is merely transient, concentrating your whole attention upon a cautious, prudent, and ever-watchful system of navigation which shall lose time, or suffer any other temporary inconvenience, rather than run the slightest risk which can be avoided.”

The BRITANNIC when she first came out was fitted with a novelty in the shape of a “lifting propeller.” This propeller was a patent of the late Sir Edward Harland, senior partner of the firm by whom the BRITANNIC was built. In long ships the pitching in a heavy sea, and the vertical motion of the waves, tend to expose the upper portion of the propeller, the evil effects arising from this being the “racing” of the engines and its attendant dangers, together with a diminished speed. Sir Edward Harland believed that a propeller which could be worked at any depth, and which did not require the stoppage of the vessel whilst it was being raised or lowered, would reduce these risks to a minimum, if it did not entirely remove them. In actual practice, however, it was found that the advantages of the new principle did not compensate for its disadvantages, and, after a fair trial had been given to it, it was abandoned in favour of the old style of screw. In a letter, dated 3rd December, 1874, addressed to the late Mr. W. S. Lindsay, Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co. state:—“The average speed of the BRITANNIC is fifteen knots per hour on a consumption of 75 to 80 tons of coal per day, and her approximate cost, built without contract, is £200,000.”

From 1873 until 1884 the White Star Line maintained its position as the fastest fleet on the Atlantic, a result to which the BRITANNIC and GERMANIC contributed in no small degree. In September, 1890, the BRITANNIC eclipsed her own previous record of 7 days 9½ hours, by crossing from New York to Queenstown in 7 days 6 hours 55 minutes, at an average speed of 16·80 knots. The following year (September, 1891) she surpassed even this rapid passage, by making the run from New York to Queenstown in 7 days 6 hours 52 minutes. While employed by H.M. Government to convey troops during the late war in South Africa, she made the run from Queenstown to the Cape in 19 days, a speed surpassed by few of the transports engaged. In August, 1891, the GERMANIC following in the track of her sister ship, travelled from New York to Queenstown in 7 days 7 hours 37 minutes, at an average speed of 16·10 knots per hour. When it is remembered that this high speed (nearly nineteen statute miles per hour) was attained by vessels over 20 years old, with their original compound engines and boilers, it will be acknowledged that, having regard to their small coal consumption and large carrying capacity, the BRITANNIC and GERMANIC have given results unattainable with the fastest ships of the present day.

The GERMANIC in 1895 received new engines and boilers, and had her passenger quarters entirely remodelled on the plan of the MAJESTIC and TEUTONIC. In July of that year she crossed from Queenstown to New York in 6 days 23 hours 45 minutes, and in August of the year following in 6 days 21 hours and 38 minutes, thus showing a substantial increase of speed.

After the launch of these two famous steamers, there was an interval of six years during which no new vessels were added to the fleet. The next additions were the ARABIC and COPTIC, for the Trans-Pacific trade, in 1881. In the same year Mr. W. S. Graves, son of a well-known former M.P. for Liverpool, became a partner.

[Illustration: OCEANIC (1870). White Star Line.]

In 1883 the IONIC and DORIC were built for the New Zealand trade—the Shaw, Savill and Albion Line from London. In 1885 the GAELIC and BELGIC—replacing the two older ships of the same names—were built for the Trans-Pacific trade. A new type of steamer for the cargo and cattle trade between Liverpool and New York was introduced in 1888, the two first steamers of the new type being the CUFIC and RUNIC. These vessels were the last single screw ships ordered for the White Star Line, all the succeeding vessels being of the twin-screw type. The CUFIC and RUNIC proved successful enough to warrant the company in forming a complete service of cargo and cattle steamers. After doing very efficient service as cattle carriers, the CUFIC was sold to a Liverpool firm, who changed her name to the MANXMAN, and the RUNIC, also sold to a Liverpool firm, is engaged in the West Indian trade under the name of the TAMPICAN.

In January, 1889, was launched the TEUTONIC, the first of the celebrated pair of twin-screw mercantile armed cruisers (TEUTONIC and MAJESTIC), each 10,000 tons, which have since made for themselves a great reputation in the New York mail and passenger service. The keel of the TEUTONIC was laid in March, 1887. The vessel was launched 22 months later, and she left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on the 7th August, 1889. Prior to going on to her regular station, she was present, armed with eight quick-firing guns, at the naval inspection by the German Emperor at Spithead in the beginning of August, 1889. On that occasion she astonished nautical critics with her splendid proportions, and was honoured by a special visit from H.I.M. the Kaiser, and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (now H.M. King Edward VII.). She was again present with a large party of guests at the Diamond Jubilee Naval Review in June, 1897, when she carried an armament of 16 guns. Her sister ship, the MAJESTIC, was launched on the 29th June, 1889, but did not start on her first voyage until the 2nd April, 1890.

The length of time occupied in the building of these great ships is sufficient evidence, if any were needed, of the great care bestowed on their construction, and the builders, Messrs. Harland & Wolff, have their reward in witnessing the successful work which is being performed by two of the finest vessels the world has ever seen. These two beautiful vessels quickly lowered the record on the Atlantic. In July, 1891, the MAJESTIC steamed from Queenstown to New York in 5 days 18 hours and 8 minutes, the fastest passage then on record, but even this was eclipsed by the TEUTONIC the succeeding month by a passage of 5 days 16½ hours duration.

[Illustration: R.M.S. TEUTONIC. White Star Line.]

On January 1st, 1891, Mr. Ismay’s two elder sons, Mr. J. Bruce Ismay (previously the company’s agent in New York) and Mr. James H. Ismay, were admitted members of the firm. After 40 years’ business life Mr. T. H. Ismay, on the 31st December, 1891, retired from the firm of Ismay, Imrie & Co., but he continued to fill the position of chairman of the White Star Line until his decease in November, 1899.

A large and handsome twin-screw passenger and mail steamer, the GOTHIC, of 7,755 tons, was added to the company’s New Zealand fleet in 1893, and four years later (1897) the DELPHIC, 8,273 tons, a twin-screw cargo steamer, with accommodation for one class of passengers only, was placed in the New Zealand service.

Recognising that very considerable numbers of passengers are willing to sacrifice speed to comfort and safety, the managers of the White Star Line determined to make an innovation by building a twin-screw cargo steamer of exceptional size and power, fitted with accommodation for a limited number of saloon and third-class passengers. The new steamer which was called the CYMRIC, commenced work in the Liverpool and New York trade in 1898. Her tonnage is 13,096 tons gross. Her passenger accommodation in both classes is excellent, and she has proved a very attractive ship.

The autumn of 1899 was the most eventful period in the history of the White Star Line. The Company, having sold all its sailing ships formerly employed between England and Australia, determined upon replacing them by a line of high-class steamships, and the first steamer of the new line—the Medic, 11,984 tons—sailed from Liverpool for Australian ports on the 3rd August. She was followed by the AFRIC, PERSIC, RUNIC and SUEVIC. All these five vessels are approximately of the same size, propelled by twin screws, and maintain a regular monthly service between Liverpool and Australia, via the Cape. The first return voyage of the MEDIC was taken advantage of by the Australian Government for the conveyance of the first contingent of Colonial troops and horses to the Cape. Intense public interest was excited by the arrival, in the Mersey from Belfast of the OCEANIC, the second, on Saturday, 27th August, 1899, but almost at the moment of their greatest triumph the White Star Line suffered the irreparable loss of the founder of the Company. Mr. T. H. Ismay passed away, after a severe illness lasting three months, on the 23rd November, 1899. The extent of the loss caused by his death to the community at large, was very feelingly expressed by the “Times,” in its issue of the following day.

The second OCEANIC sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on the 6th September, 1899. The following description of her appeared in the “Liverpool Daily Post” of 31st August, 1899:—

“Big as she is, the OCEANIC appeared nothing remarkable as she lay yesterday in the Canada Dock, while coal was being poured into her bunkers from eight grimy barges lying alongside. This was because the Liverpool docks are themselves gigantic. It was only when, from the bridge of the OCEANIC, 66 feet above the water-line, one looked down upon the whole length of the vessel and upon the expanse of docks and sheds, that her size was realised. On the opposite side of the dock was the CYMRIC, from the depths of which a horde of labourers were discharging cargo. Now the CYMRIC is the largest cargo steamer in the world, 2,500 tons larger than either the MAJESTIC or TEUTONIC. But from the OCEANIC’S bridge she looked positively like a coaster. One looked down upon her busy decks as one might look from the roof of a house into a street. Why the bulk of the OCEANIC is not the first thing that strikes the attention, is because her lines are graceful. She is huge, but she is not elephantine. Her masts, even at the point where they enter the top mast or spar deck, are nearly three feet in diameter, that is, they are as high and as thick as patriarchal oak; but from a near distance they look slim and tapering. The same may be said of the ship’s boats which are as big as barges. The fact is, that everything about this latest creation of shipping enterprise is proportioned so beautifully that the mere hugeness of it all is only apprehended by remembering such facts as, that her rudder and stern frame weigh 150 tons; that 100 tons of cable lie coiled on her foc’sle deck; that she is composed of 17,000 steel plates, many weighing from two to three and a quarter tons; that her promenade deck is 400 feet long; and that her monster engines can move with the power of 28,000 horses. To look down into the engine room from the big sky-light on the top deck is to have a glimpse into a world that to people not used to shipping is one of strange activity; a world where diminutive human ants are moving in a tropical atmosphere across narrow bridges, busy preparing this Brobdignagian apparatus for its first struggle with the forces of the wide Atlantic, which the OCEANIC is to cross with the speed and certainty of an express train—the conquest of the mighty force of matter by the mighty force of mind....

“But much has been written already of the ship as a triumph of science; the more immediate purpose here is to speak of her as a triumph of art, as the last thing, so far, in the way of floating hotels.... State rooms in scores to the right and to the left; now mahogany, now oak; now satinwood; now a mixture of any two or three of them, until the lavishness of everything became surfeiting, notwithstanding that the Louis Quinze style succeeded the Queen Anne, and the Queen Anne gave place to something ‘too utter’ in decadent sumptuousness. Three decks of these apartments, with lavatories of costly marble, suites of baths, and every other appurtenance of physical comfort placed conveniently here and there. It is the literal truth to say that the OCEANIC is a Hotel Cecil afloat.”

It would serve no purpose to weary the reader with a decorator’s specification, but the following are the dimensions of the OCEANIC, and of the principal apartments on board:—

The library, on the promenade deck, has a length of 53 feet and a width of 40 feet.

The saloon is 80 feet by 64 feet. The central glass dome is 21 feet square, and is divided up by golden ribs and filled in with white ground glass of a pearly appearance.

[Illustration: R.M.S. OCEANIC (1899). White Star Line.]

The length of the ship over all is 705½ feet; the length between perpendiculars, 685 feet; breadth, 68 feet; depth, 44 feet; gross tonnage, 17,274 tons; load displacement, 28,000 tons; engines, 28,000 I.H.P.

[Illustration: R.M.S. CELTIC. White Star Line.]

Mr. Harold Arthur Sanderson, who had occupied the position of general manager to Ismay, Imrie & Co. for five years, was admitted a partner on the 1st January, 1900. The CELTIC, a monster steamer of 20,904 tons gross, was added to the fleet in 1901. A sister ship to the CELTIC was launched at Belfast on the 21st August, 1902. The new vessel is named the CEDRIC, and has the distinction of exceeding in size anything afloat, British or foreign. Like the CELTIC, she is classed as an intermediate ship, not so fast as the OCEANIC, but yet speedy. Her length is 700 feet and her beam 75 feet, with a gross tonnage of 21,000 tons. She sailed on her first voyage from Liverpool on the 11th February, 1903.

[Illustration: R.M.S. CYMRIC. White Star Line.]

In 1902 Mr. J. P. Morgan succeeded in welding into one huge commercial undertaking, with a capital of £32,000,000, several of the principal Transatlantic steamship companies, including the famous White Star Line. The purchase money for the latter alone exceeded ten millions sterling, three millions of which was payable in cash on the 31st December, 1902, and, as a matter of fact, was actually paid at the offices of Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co., in London, on the 1st December, 1902.

It was a sincere satisfaction to the British public when it was officially intimated that the White Star flag was still to be retained, and that Mr. J. Bruce Ismay and Mr. Pirrie (the senior partner of the celebrated Belfast shipbuilding firm) were to be on the directorate.

The latest addition to the New York service of the White Star Line is the ARABIC, 15,800 tons gross register, which sailed on her maiden voyage, June 26th, 1903, and in the autumn of 1903 the four latest steamers built for the Dominion Line, the COLUMBUS, COMMONWEALTH, NEW ENGLAND and MAYFLOWER, were transferred to the White Star flag, and renamed the REPUBLIC, CANOPIC, ROMANIC and CRETIC. With the addition of these vessels, a new service has been announced of sailings between Boston and the principal ports in the Mediterranean, and, in conjunction with the other steamships, the CYMRIC is intended to maintain a Liverpool-Boston service.

A monster steamer of no less than 24,000 tons (an increase of 3,000 tons upon the CEDRIC’s tonnage) is approaching completion at the yard of Harland & Wolff. She is to be named the BALTIC, and will probably be ready early in the summer of 1904.

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