RMS Adriatic (1906)

RMS Adriatic was a UK ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships of more than 20,000 GRT, dubbed The Big Four. The ship was the only one of the four which was never the World's largest ship. However, she was the fastest of the Big Four. Adriatic was the first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and a Turkish bath.[1]

For other ships with the same name, see Adriatic (ship).

RMS Adriatic in Belfast harbour, April 1907
History
United Kingdom
Name: RMS Adriatic
Namesake: Adriatic Sea
Owner: Oceanic Steam Ship Co
Operator: White Star Line
Port of registry: Liverpool
Route:
Builder: Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number: 358
Launched: 20 September 1906
Completed: 25 April 1907
Maiden voyage: 8 May 1907
In service: 1907
Out of service: 1935
Identification:
Fate: Scrapped in Onomichi, 1935
General characteristics
Class and type: Big Four
Type: ocean liner
Tonnage: 24,679 GRT, 4,568 NRT
Length: 709.2 ft (216.2 m)
Beam: 52.6 ft (16.0 m)
Depth: 52.6 ft (16.0 m)
Decks: 4
Installed power: 1,720 NHP
Propulsion:
Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 20 lifeboats
Capacity:
  • 2,825 passengers:
    • 425 First Class
    • 500 Second Class
    • 1900 Third Class
  • 51,120 cu ft (1,448 m3) refrigerated cargo

Building
Adriatic just before launching, September 1906

Harland and Wolff built Adriatic on slipway number three of its North Yard in Belfast, Ireland.[2] She was launched on 20 September 1906, the same day as the Cunard Line's Mauretania.

Adriatic had twin quadruple-expansion steam engines driving twin screws. Between them the two engines were rated at 1,720 NHP.[3] 51,120 cu ft (1,448 m3) of her cargo holds were refrigerated.[4]

Service

Adriatic began her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 8 May 1907 under the command of Captain Edward Smith. After her maiden she was transferred to the Southampton – New York route, inaugurating White Star's Southampton service. She was the first White Star liner to use Southampton's newly-built dock, named the White Star Dock. (In 1922 it was renamed the Ocean Dock.) She ran this route until 1911 when RMS Olympic replaced her. Adriatic then returned to the Liverpool route.

Adriatic sailed from Liverpool on 18 April 1912 and arrived in New York on 27 April 1912. Some of Titanic's rescued passengers and crew returned to Britain aboard her, departing from New York on 2 May 1912. The passengers included disgraced White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay[5] and Millvina Dean, the disaster's youngest and last living survivor.

In the First World War Adriatic was a troop ship. She survived the war without incidents and returned to passenger service.

Gas explosion
View of Adriatic from the stern, ca. 1920's

On a westbound voyage at 01.30 hrs on 10 August 1922 Adriatic suffered a gas explosion in her number three hold, which she was using as a reserve coal bunker. The explosion killed five crewmen, severely injured another three, tore the hatch off the hold, broke and twisted girders and beams and started a coal fire.[6]

Some of the dead and injured were stokers who had gone into the hold to work coal for her furnaces. One was an electrician, Leslie Ablett, who was rigging a cluster of electric lights by which the stokers were to work. Three were stokers who had been sleeping in the open on the hatch cover because it was a hot summer night. One of the stokers sleeping on the hatch cover was blown overboard[7]

Two liners, CGT's Lafayette and United States Lines' Reliance, changed course to come to Adriatic's assistance. Adriatic's crew fought and extinguished the fire. Her Second Engineer, James Corrigan, entered the burning hold and rescued two injured men. At 0355 hrs Adriatic's wireless operator signalled that there was no further danger, so Lafayette and Reliance resumed their normal courses.[7]

The injured were treated in the ship's sick bay. Two of the ship's stewardesses were trained nurses and helped to tend the injured and dying.[8]

All of the dead and injured were from Liverpool.[7] Before Adriatic reached New York, her passengers raised $7,000 to help their families.[6]

Adriatic reached New York on 13 August. Marine insurance agents came aboard and assessed the damage at less than $1,000. Temporary repairs were made before she began her return voyage to Liverpool[9] on 19 August.[10]

Cabin class ship
Adriatic's reading and writing room

In 1928 Adriatic was converted to a "cabin-class" ship. In 1933 she was withdrawn from the North Atlantic route and was converted into cruising.

In 1934 Adriatic's code letters HKNW[3] were superseded by the call sign GLSJ.[11]

After Calgaric's successful 1933 "Peace Cruise" in the Baltic, in 1934 the British Boy Scouts and Girl Guides chartered her for a similar cruise in the Mediterranean, under the command of Commander CP Freeman, RD. Adriatic sailed from Liverpool on 29 March 1934, and called at Gibraltar, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Malta, Algiers, and Lisbon.[12]

Fate

Adriatic left Liverpool for the last time on 19 December 1934, her longest voyage ever, to be scrapped at Onomichi, Japan, in 1935.

See also

References

Notes
  1. Shifrin, Malcolm (2015). "Chapter 23: The Turkish bath at sea". Victorian Turkish Baths. Historic England. ISBN 978-1-84802-230-0.
  2. "Adriatic". Harland and Wolff. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  3. "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  4. "List of Vessels Fitted with Refrigerating Appliances". Lloyd's Register (PDF). I. London: Lloyd's Register. 1930. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  5. Othfors, Daniel (23 March 2018). "Adriatic (II)". The Great Ocean Liners.
  6. "Adriatic explosion kills 5, injures 4 of crew in midsea". The New York Times. 12 August 1922. p. 1. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  7. "Adriatic safe here; think short circuit made gas explode". The New York Times. 14 August 1922. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  8. Keane, William (18 August 1922). "Nurses on the Adriatic". The New York Times. p. 8. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  9. "Adriatic's damage $1,000". The New York Times. 16 August 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  10. "Big liner delayed by thrifty bluenose". The New York Times. 20 August 1922. p. 19. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  11. "Steamers and Motorships". Lloyd's Register (PDF). II. London: Lloyd's Register. 1934. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  12. Reference to follow, once the Journal I have of a passenger has been transcribed and put up.

Bibliography
  • Chirnside, Mark (2016). The 'Big Four' of the White Star Fleet: Celtic, Cedric, Baltic & Adriatic. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 9780750965972.
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