Cunard’s chief British rival was
the White Star Line. White Star,
formally the Oceanic Steamship Navigation Company, was founded some thirty
years after Cunard by Thomas Ismay. White
Star pioneered the construction of larger and better ships and though a smaller
line than Cunard, managed to keep pace in terms of tonnage and passenger
popularity. As Cunard built the fastest
ships and then later lost the honor to the Germans, White Star sought to build
the most comfortable and well-appointed vessels. Indeed it was a White Star ship, Teutonic, that captured the Kasier’s
attention at Spithead. In the late 1890s
White Star competed with Cunard, and the upstart Germans for size. One of White Star's finest liners was built while it was still an independent company. The liner Oceanic
of 1899 was a record breaker- the first ship to exceed 700 feet in length. She was larger than the German record breaker
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, then the
world’s fastest ship. Externally, Oceanic was a cross between the old and
the new. She had three masts to balance
her profile and remind nostalgic travelers of age of sail. She also had a graceful, but knife-like (then
an ideal!) prow and rounded stern and two funnels. The ship exuded reliability and comfort. Steerage and Third Class passengers had more
spacious accommodations than in other vessels of the day and, unlike “rolling
Billy” and the fastest ships, Oceanic promised
a stable ride.
 |
| Oceanic's balanced profile. 1:1200 Scale model produced by Carlo Marquardt. |
Her
First Class accommodations were exquisite for the day. Passengers dined beneath a twenty-one foot
dome and oversized portholes flooding the space with natural light. She
had one of the finest libraries at sea and her public rooms featured the finest
woods from the Empire. The ship proved
very popular from her debut and gained a loyal following among frequent
travellers. Her career ended rather
abruptly when she ran aground while in Admiralty service in 1914.
Oceanic and her subsequent fleet mates of 1901-1907 Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, and Adriatic were each an improvement on a design for a large and comfortable vessel. The capital available to White Star from J.P. Morgan's combine, IMM (International Mercantile Marine) from 1902 onward enabled director J. Bruce Ismay to push the envelope with ship design and comfort at sea. To me, one can look at Oceanic and see how the basic shape of the Olympic class liners evolved from this design. Just like Oceanic, the Olympic in many ways looked as much to the past as to the future.
 |
|
R.M.S.
Oceanic (1899-1914). Built by
Harland & Wolff, Ltd. Belfast, Ireland.
17,272 gross tons, 704 feet long, 63 feet wide. Steam triple expansion engines geared to twin
screw. Service speed 19 knots. Total capacity of 1,710 passengers (410 first
class, 300 second class, 1,000 steerage).
|
