RMS Majestic (1889)

Constructed by Harland and Wolff, Majestic was launched on 29 June 1889. The ship spent the next nine months being fitted out for delivery to White Star in March, 1890. White Star had sought to fund the construction of both Majestic and Teutonic. Through the British government, a proposal which was accepted, with the stipulation that the Royal Navy would have access to the two liners in a time of war. Majestic and her sister were the first new additions to White Star's transatlantic fleet since the Britannic and Germanic had respectively entered service in 1874 and 1875. Together, the two new ships replaced the aging Baltic and Republic, which had both been in service with White Star since 1872 and were subsequently sold to new owners prior to the new ships entering service.

On 2 April 1890, Majestic left on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City. There was a strong desire in the White Star management to regain the coveted Blue Riband, the award for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. The maiden voyage did not produce a time good enough to win the Blue Riband away from City of Paris, but on a west-bound voyage between 30 July and 5 August 1891, she achieved that goal, with an average speed of 20.1 knots. Unfortunately, Majestic held the honour for a mere two weeks, as Teutonic completed a crossing on 19 August with a speed of 20.35 knots however, City of Paris regained the Blue Riband a year later.

In 1895, Majestic was assigned Captain Edward Smith, later notable as the captain of Titanic. Smith served as Majestic's captain for nine years. When the Boer War started in 1899, Smith and Majestic were called upon to transport troops to Cape Colony. Two trips were made to South Africa, one in December 1899 and one in February 1900, both without incident. Another Titanic shipmate served under Smith aboard the Majestic; Charles Lightoller served as a deck officer for Smith and was later the most senior officer of the Titanic to survive the sinking.

Postcard of Majestic, after her 1902 refit

In 1902–1903, the ship underwent a refit, which included updates to much of her passenger accommodations, new boilers and taller twin funnels, after which she returned to the Liverpool-New York run. Smith left as captain in 1904 to take on the new Baltic, then the largest ship in the world. In 1905, Majestic suffered a fire in her bunker, but the damage was not significant. In 1907, White Star opened a secondary 'Express' service terminating from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown, to which Majestic, along with Teutonic, Oceanic and the newly completed Adriatic were transferred, with the Majestic departing Southampton for the first time on 26 June.

When the Olympic entered service in 1911, Teutonic was removed from the New York run and put on Canadian service with the Dominion Line. Likewise when Titanic came on the scene in 1912, Majestic was retired from White Star's New York service and designated as a reserve ship, biding her time at Birkenhead's Bidston Dock. When Titanic met her fate in April, 1912, Majestic was returned into service, filling the hole in the transatlantic schedule.

On 17 October 1913, she came to the rescue of the French schooner Garonne, which had wrecked. 14 January 1914 saw Majestic leave for her last Atlantic crossing. By this point she had been in service for just shy of 24 years, during which time she had carried a total of 163,363 passengers westbound,[1] and another 113,524 passengers eastbound.[2] Soon after, she was sold for £26,700 for scrap to the Thos W Ward yard at Morecambe. Before scrapping of the ship commenced the scrapping company opened the ship for public tours, and some of the interior paneling was saved and used in the offices of the Ward company.

• RMS Majestic (1914)

• Historic information on the Majestic
• Majestic I on Titanic-Titanic.com

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Majestic (ship, 1890).

• White Star Line on Titanic-Titanic.com
• Majestic at the WSL History site