SS Pisa (1896)

SS Pisa was a transatlantic passenger steamship built by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow. Pisa began her maiden voyage in 1897 and was at sea during the sinking of RMS Titanic after she hit an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912.

History
Name: SS Pisa
Owner:
Builder: Alexander Stephen and Sons
Yard number: 369
Laid down: 1896
Launched: 24 November 1896
Maiden voyage: 20 May 1897
In service: 1897-1934
Renamed: USS Ascutney (1917)
Homeport: Hamburg
Fate: Scrapped in Boston, Massachusetts in 1934
General characteristics
Class and type: transatlantic passenger steamship
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 4,473 gt
Length: 390 ft (120 m)
Beam: 46 ft (14 m)
Draught: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Propulsion: Triple Expansion Steam Engine Single-Screw
Speed: – service speed: 12 knots (22 km/h)
Capacity: 1,240 passengers
Complement:
  • 1,240
  •  First-class: 40
  •  Third-class: 1200

History

SS Pisa was built as a transatlantic passenger liner by Alexander Stephen and Sons for the Sloman Line. She was the last ship built for the Sloman Line. She was launched on 2 November 1896, and departed on her maiden voyage from Hamburg to New York City on 20 May 1897.[1]

In 1903, she was chartered by the Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG), a German owned shipping company, and began to make the routine Hamburg to New York crossings for the company on 11 April 1903. On 1 September 1907, she was bought by the Hamburg-America Line and resumed her Hamburg to New York trips. On 14 April 1911, the Pisa started her first Hamburg-Quebec-Montreal voyage.[1]

On 1 April 1912, she departed Hamburg for Saint John, New Brunswick. She encountered ice on 14 April, and was in the same general vicinity as the RMS Titanic.[2] She arrived in Saint John on 17 April. Her last Hamburg-Quebec-Montreal trip was on 29 August 1913, and her last Hamburg-New York trip was on 11 April 1914. The First World War would commence shortly thereafter on 28 July 1914 pitting her native Germany against the Allied powers.[1]

On 22 June 1916, she sailed from Batum for Constantinople, Smyrna, Piraeus and New York to take refuge from US seizure until 17 April. After being seized by the United States Government, she was given the name USS Ascutney and continued in service until 1934, when she was scrapped in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

Stern view of the Ascutney during the North Russian Intervention

References

  1. "The Ships List". Archived from the original on December 15, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  2. "SS Pisa ice warning on IceData.ca". Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

Further reading

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