SS Majestic (1890)

The SS "Majestic" was a steamship built in 1890 for and operated by the White Star Line.

A product of shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, the "Majestic" was launched and christened on June 29, 1889. The ship then spent the next nine months being fitted out, with delivery to White Star in March, 1890. White Star had sought to fund the construction of the "Majestic" and her sister ship SS|Teutonic|1889|2 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.

On April 2, 1890, she left for her six day, ten hour maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York. 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 the "City of Paris", but on a west-bound voyage between July 30 and August 5, 1891, she achieved that goal, with an average speed of 20.1 knots. Unfortunately, the "Majestic" held the honor for a mere two weeks, as her sister ship, the SS|Teutonic|1889|2 completed a crossing on August 19 with a speed of 20.35 knots (the "City of Paris" then won it back a year later).

In 1895, the "Majestic" was assigned a new Captain, an up-and-coming officer named Edward Smith, who years later would gain lasting fame as the Captain of the "Titanic". Smith served as "Majestic's" captain for nine years. When the Boer War started in 1899, Smith and the "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.

In 1902-03, the ship underwent a refit, which included new boilers (and consequently 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, the "Majestic" suffered a fire in her bunker, but the damage was not significant. In 1907, White Star's main terminal was moved from Liverpool to Southampton, and on June 26, the "Majestic" sailed from these new facilities for the first time.

When the RMS|Olympic|3=2 went online in 1911, the older "Majestic" was removed from regular service, and designated as a reserve ship, biding her time at Birkenhead's Bidston Dock. When the "Titanic" met her fate in April, 1912, "Majestic" was pressed back into service, filling the hole in the transatlantic schedule.

On October 17, 1913, she came to the rescue of the French schooner "Garonne", which had wrecked. January 14, 1914 saw the "Majestic" leave for her last Atlantic crossing. Soon after, she was sold for £26,700 for scrap to the Thomas Ward yard at Morecambe. Before scrapping of the ship commenced the scrapping company opened the ship for public tours, and some of the still-beautiful interior paneling was saved and used in the offices of the Ward company.

pecifications

*Length: 582 feet (177.8 m)
*Beam: 57.7 feet (17.6 m)
*Tonnage: 9,965 gross tons
*Engines: Two triple expansion steam powering two propellers.
*Service speed: 20 knots
*Passengers: 1,490 people

References

* [http://www.du.edu/~tbjokne/rms_majestic.html Historic information on the "Majestic"]
* [http://www.titanic-titanic.com/majestic.shtml Info (including photos) from titanic-titanic.com]

ee also

*RMS|Majestic|1914

External links

* [http://www.cunardwhitestar.com/ Historic Ocean Liners]
* [http://www.titanic-titanic.com/white_star_line.shtml White Star Line on Titanic-Titanic.com]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/wslhistory/majestic1.htm Majestic at the WSL History site]