The was a Japanese

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

owned by

Nippon Yusen Kaisha Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi '' keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a ...

. The ship was built in 1899 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The ship's name comes in part from the ancient province of Awa. This turn-of-the-20th-century ''Awa Maru'' was the first NYK vessel to bear this name. A second mid-century, 11,249 ton ''Awa Maru'' was completed in 1943.Haworth, R.B
Miramar Ship IndexID #4049894
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History

The ship was built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu. The keel was laid down on June 20, 1898. The ''Awa Maru'' was launched on July 27, 1899; and she was completed November 14, 1899. The ship sailed the route between Japan and England, By 1914, the ship settled into a regular schedule of sailings between Yokohama and Seattle. and she would be taken out of service in 1930. On December 27, 1906, the ''Awa Maru'' ran aground on the West Scar Rocks off

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

. There were no deaths, thanks to the efforts of the

lifeboat crew and local fishermen, and after eighteen days the vessel was successfully refloated. Arguably the most important voyage of this ''Awa Maru'' began when it left Yokohama on February 14, 1912, carrying 3,020 cherry trees of twelve varieties. These fragile tree slips were bound for Seattle where they were trans-shipped across the North American continent via insulated freight cars. On arrival in Washington, D.C., these trees they would form the genesis of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The English Academy Times'' ( Ehime, Japan). 2001.

Notes

References

* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1935)
''The Nomenclature of the N.Y.K. Fleet.''
Tokyo : Nippon Yusen Kaisha
OCLC 27933596
* Tate, E. Mowbray. (1986)
''Transpacific steam: the story of steam navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1867-1941.''
New York: Cornwall Books. ; * U.S. Bureau of Manufactures, Bureau of Foreign Commerce. (1905)
''Monthly consular and trade reports'' (1854-1903).
Washington, D.C.: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. {{DEFAULTSORT:Awa Maru, 1899 1899 ships Ships of the NYK Line Steamships of Japan Ocean liners