The Ship with Tallest Stack

The Ivernia was one many vessels in Cunard’s intermediate fleet.  These ships catered to immigrants and budget minded travelers whom did not demand swift passage or luxurious accommodations.  These vessels also transported larger quantities of cargo than the express liners.  Ivernia sailed on the Liverpool to Boston run and sometimes Treiste to New York. 

Ivernia dwarfs the USS Olympia in this scene. 

Ivernia carried the largest single funnel ever fitted to a ship, measuring 60 feet from base to top. Her overall design was similar to her near-sisters Saxonia and Carpathia.  Her practical design of a single funnel and four masts indicates that she carried more cargo than the larger express liners.  All four masts are positioned above cargo hatches and each is equipped with four booms for loading and unloading freight and baggage.

1:1250 model by Mercator.

Captain William Turner was in command when she was torpedoed by UB-47 and sank in 1917.  For the second time, Turner swam away from a sinking ship and was rescued.  Turner was accused of failing to sail Lusitania on a zig-zag pattern to avoid a U-boat attack.   When torpedoed, Turner claimed Ivernia was sailing on a zig-zag course.  Nevertheless, his career effectively ended.  While he was not dismissed from employment, Turner never took another vessel to sea.

SS Ivernia (1900-1917) Built for Cunard Line by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd., 1900.  13,799 GRT, 600 feet long, 64 feet wide.  Steam quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screw.  Service speed 15 knots.  1,964 passengers (164 first class, 200 second class, 1,600 steerage).

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria

A year after the popular liner Amerika was launched a near sister was completed in Stetin.  Christened by the Empress of Germany, the new vessel thundered down the ways named Kaiserin Auguste Victoria (not to be confused with the Augusta Victoria of 1889) and was briefly the world’s largest liner.  

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was built on the classic four masts and two funnels configuration.  1:1250 model by HL

As with Amerika, HAPAG was primarily concerned with the comfort and luxuries available to first class passengers.  The severe vibration of the Deustschland in addition to the expense of running the liner at high speed made HAPAG shy of competing on the basis of record-breaking crossings.  Much like White Star they sought swift, reliable, and economical service whilst providing top-notch service. 

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria.  Internet Archive Book Images [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the new vessel’s novelties was a special grillroom, or a la carte restaurant managed by the Ritz Carlton Company.  First class passengers paid extra to dine here (creating in essence a deluxe class) but were refunded a portion of their fare if they chose to dine exclusively in this establishment rather than the dining saloon.  In this exclusive enclave diners read gold-trimmed menu cards and dined on exotic dishes including whole roast oxen and grilled antelope.  One needed look no further for gilded age excess.  Little wonder that Teddy Roosevelt chose Kaiserin Auguste Victoria to embarked on his post-presidential safari!

Passing a freighter at sea.

HAPAG brochures highlighted such luxuries for its first class passengers.  For its third class and steerage tickets, the vessel offered clean, safe, and reliable emigrant service.  For all travelers, publicist stressed the technological side of the ship.  In the days before jets, ocean liners were among the most marvelous symbols of speed and might.  The public was impressed by length, width, tonnage, and speed.  They also (especially after the Titanic disaster) were keen to know about safety features. 

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria docked awaiting passengers and cargo.

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was outsized (and outrun) by the Lusitania when she entered service in 1907.  Nevertheless, she remained a popular ship on the Atlantic run until the First World War.  She remained in Hamburg until Germany surrendered, when she became a prize of war and was charted by the US Shipping Board to bring the veterans home.  In 1921 she sailed under the Cunard flag while the line’s vessels were being refurbished for peacetime service. 

The vessel was bought by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Line and became Empress of Scotland.  She worked the Hamburg-Southampton-Cherbourg-Quebec service from 1922 until 1930.  She was sold for scrap in 1931.

Kaiserin Auguste Victoria (1906-1918, Empress of Scotland 1922-1930) built for HAPAG by Vulkan Shipyard, Stettin, Germany 1906).  24,581 GRT, 705 feet long, 77 feet wide.  Steam quadruple expansion engines geared to twin screw.  Service speed 17.5 knots.  As built:  2,996 passengers (652 First Class, 286 Second Class, 216 third class, 1,842 steerage).

Reliance and Resolute: the White Cruising Yachts

On the eve of the Great War, HAPAG (Hamburg-America Line) began construction on two 20,000 ton liners, the William O’Swald and Johann Heinrich Burchard.  When the war ended the two ships were completed and given as reparations to Holland. 

Reliance and Resolute embody a classic steamship design with three funnels, two masts, and a graceful counter stern.  1:1250 model by Mercator.

The ships were renamed and sailed on the South America run until 1922 when they were sold to United American Lines in New York.  The sister ships were renamed again Resolute and Reliance and sailed on the transatlantic run between New York and Hamburg.

Reliance at sea.

In 1926 the ships were sold back to HAPAG and alternated between the Atlantic run and cruise service.  Reliance and Resolute were popular cruise ships of the 1920s and 1930s.  The “white cruising yachts” took passengers on a range of getaways from weekends in the West Indies to four-month around the world voyages.  Wintertime cruises were among Reliance’s most exclusive.  An all first-class, 27-day amble in the Caribbean cost a minimum of $250 in 1926.

Reliance leaving port.

On August 7, 1938, Reliance caught fire at her Hamburg berth and was declared a total loss.  Her remains were scrapped by the Krupp Company at Bremerhaven and no doubt became shot and shell during the Second World War.  Resolute was sold to the Italians in 1935 and became a troopship, Lombardia.  She was damaged in an allied attack on Naples and scrapped in 1947 in Spezia.

Reliance built by J.C. Tecklenborg Shipyard, Geestemunde, Germany for HAPAG, 1920.  19,582 GRT, 615 feet long, 71 feet wide.  Triple expansion engines and one steam turbine geared to triple screw.  Service speed 16 knots.  As completed, 1,010 total passengers (290 first class, 320 second class, 400 third class).

Queen of the Southern Seas

The Ceramic was launched in December 1912 as the newest and largest vessel on the White StarLine’s colonial service.  With four masts and a single funnel she had the look of a traditional steamship.  Operated jointly with Shaw, Savill, and Albion, she was designed for moderate speed on long runs to New Zealand and Australia.

Even though she was operated by the White Star Line and Shaw, Savill, and Albion, Ceramic wore White Star Livery.

This joint service competed with ships of the P&O (Peninsular and Orient Line), Aberdeen Line, and Blue Anchor Line on the southern seas.  In the early years of the twentieth century the quality of accommodation and service improved and profits soared.  While not as glamorous (or as swift) as the North Atlantic liners, the colonial route ships were fine vessels.  Competition was just as fierce and the shipping lines needed to innovate in order to attract customers. 

By the time of the Ceramic’s launch in 1912 (which marked a comeback of sorts after the Titanic disaster) White Star operated a small fleet of passenger-cargo liners to Australia and New Zealand including Runic and Suevic.

Ceramic was seven decks high with accommodation for 600 third class passengers and 836,000ft3 of cargo space, nearly half of which was refrigerated.  The four masts supported derricks for hoisting the cargo aboard. In an eerie foreshadowing of events to come two naval guns were concealed on the after decks.

Ceramic in harbor. A Canadian Pacific Empress is docked in the background.

Harland and Wolff fitted combination reciprocating engines with an exhaust turbine similar to—but on a smaller scale—than those in the Olympic-class liners.  The arrangement was fuel efficient and reduced vibration and was especially suited for the long voyages Ceramic would sail.

On July 24, 1913 Ceramic departed Liverpool for Australia via Cape Town and quickly became a popular vessel.  The next year she began war service carrying Australian troops.  During the Great War she had several close calls with U-Boats but each time her crew managed to maneuver quickly and steam away. 

Ceramic at sea.

In 1920 Ceramic resumed her peacetime sailings and became known as the Queen of the Southern Seas making routine and uneventful sailings to and from Australia.   She remained the largest vessel on the route until Shaw Savill’s Dominian Monarch entered service in 1939. She passed into Shaw Savill ownership upon the merger of Cunard and White Star in 1934.  Her new owners modernized Ceramic’s interiors and increased passenger comfort with new single berth cabins, reduced passenger capacity, a new verandah café (which could be fully enjoyed on the southern route), and mechanical improvements.  She was not converted to an oil burner, however, but the updates improved coal-burning efficiency and increased her speed to 16 knots.

Ceramic's large cargo capacity is evident by the numerous cargo booms and hatches.

Ceramic was requisitioned for wartime service in 1940 carrying freight, foodstuffs, and some passengers. She sailed several voyages in convoy.  In November 1942 she departed alone, from Liverpool with 378 passengers and 278 crewmembers.  On December 6 she was steaming west of the Azores when she was torpedoed by U-515.  Ceramic sank before distress signals could be sent and all but one person aboard, engineer Eric Munday, was lost in the sinking.  Munday was rescued by U-515 and taken prisoner.   The true nature of the tragedy was not realized for several months until Munday was able to record his story.

SS Ceramic (1913-1942) Built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland.  18,481 GRT, 675 feet long, 69.5 feet wide.  Triple expansion reciprocating engines and low pressure turbine.  Triple screw, service speed 15 knots.  As built, 600 (820 maximum) third class passengers.

The Pretty Sisters

Carmania and her sister ship, Caronia, entered service in 1905.   They were two of the most important ships on the Atlantic run at the turn of the century.  Dubbed the “pretty sisters,” they were noted for their beautiful interiors and fine profiles.  Their key contribution, however, was technical.

1:1250 model of Carmania by Gryzbowski

The ships were designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line.  When construction of these ships was underway, Cunard was planning Lusitania and Mauretania and chose to use Parson’s turbines to power the new ships.  As a pioneering technology, this was quite a gamble and made both shareholders and engineers anxious.  In order to give engineers practical experience with turbines, Cunard decided to fit Carmania with turbines and her sister with conventional reciprocating engines.  The company would make careful comparisons of fuel efficiency, speed, vibration, noise, and cleanliness between the two ships.

Hand colored postcard, ca. 1910.  One key difference between the sister ships  was the number of propellors.  Caronia had two, but Carmania had three.  Carmania also had large cowl vents on her forecastle.  

When launched, the sisters, were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet.  The Carmania’s turbines proved superior to the reciprocating engines fitted to the Caronia.

Carmania dockside.

The Carmania traveled the New York-Liverpool route from 1905 to 1910. In the spring of 1906, she carried H.G. Wells to America for the first time; he noted in a book about his travels that "This Carmania isn't the largest ship nor the finest, nor is to be the last. Greater ships are to follow and greater."  The sci-fi prophet was indeed correct, as Lusitania entered service a year later.

Postcard depicting the First Class Lounge on Carmania and Caronia.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the Carmania was converted into an armed merchant cruiser equipped with eight 4.7 inch guns. She sailed from Liverpool to Shell Bay in Bermuda. She subsequently engaged and sank the German merchant cruiser Cap Trafalgar, during the Battle of Trindad.  After a heavy exchange of fire, the Cap Trafalgar sank.  Carmania suffered extensive damage and suffered several casualties. After extensive repairs, she was summoned to assist in the Gallipoli campaign. From May 1916, she was used as a troop ship. After the war, she transported Canadian troops back from Europe.

Ephemera including a passenger list, concert program, and promotional booklet from a 1920s cruise to the Mediterranean.

Carmania was refitted in 1923 and converted to oil firing and her lower accommodations upgraded to tourist class.  She made crossings from Liverpool to Boston and New York but also began cruises to the Mediterranean and West Indies. 

1920s scene.  Carmania is docked behind Berengaria.  Scythia is on the left.

She remained a popular ship until the slump began in 1929.  Faced with falling numbers, Cunard retired the pretty sisters.  In 1932, she was sold to Hughes Bolckow & Co., and scrapped at Blyth.  The name was well remembered and a new Carmania was commissioned in the 1950s.

RMS Carmania (1905-1932).  Built by John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland for Cunard Line.  19,524 GRT.  675 feet long, 72 feet wide.  Steam turbines geared to triple screw.  Service speed 18 knots.  2,650 total passengers (300 First Class, 350 Second Class, 900 Third Class, 1,000 Steerage).