Everything about Ss Majestic 1890 totally explained
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 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 didn't 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 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 wasn't 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 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 cutting it up, the scrappers opened the ship up for public tours, and some of the still-beautiful interior paneling was saved and used in the offices of the Ward company.
Specifications
- 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
Further Information
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