SS ''Baltic'' was an that was built in 1871 for the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

. She was one of the first four ships ordered by White Star from shipbuilders

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

after Thomas Ismay bought the company, and the third ship of the ''Oceanic'' class to be delivered. In 1888

Holland America Line Holland America Line N.V. (HAL) is an American cruise line operating as a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Founded in 1873 in Rotterdam, Netherlands as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), the company operated regular trans ...

bought her, and renamed her ''Veendam''. In 1898 she struck a submerged wreck and sank, but with no loss of life.

Name

Originally the ship was to be named ''Pacific,'' and was launched under this name. This was changed to ''Baltic'' during her fitting out so as to avoid association with the

Collins Line The Collins Line, formally the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company, was an American maritime transport company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins. Under Edward Collins' guidance, t ...

steamship , which had vanished with all hands in January 1856.

Features

''Baltic'' was largely identical in design to her three Oceanic-class sister ships, a general outline of her characteristics can be found at Oceanic-class_ocean_liner#Features. ''Baltic'' was an improved version of her first sister ship ''Oceanic'', in that her engines, built by Maudslay, Sons & Field were of an improved design, and she had improved passenger accommodation.

Career

She made her maiden voyage on the Liverpool – Queenstown – New York route in September 1871, On 17 October 1871, ''Baltic'' ran aground on the Jordan Flats, in

Liverpool Bay Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence. Liverpool Bay has historically suffered from redu ...

whilst on a voyage from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. Her passengers were taken off. She was refloated and taken in to

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. On 20 November 1872, ''Baltic'' rescued the crew of ''Assyria.'' In January 1873, she captured the much sought after eastbound

Blue Riband The Blue Riband () is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest Velocity, average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until ...

achieving a timing of 7 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes, from New York to Queenstown, achieving an average speed of . On 19 November 1875, ''Baltic'' rescued the crew of the

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing ship, sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more mast (sailing), masts, all of them square rig, square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mas ...

''Oriental'', which had become waterlogged in the Atlantic Ocean. On 17 August 1880, the steamship ''Longford'' collided with her in the River Mersey and sank. ''Baltic'' served White Star on the North Atlantic run for 17 years, except for two brief periods in 1883 and 1885 when she was chartered to the

Inman Line The Inman Line was one of the three largest 19th-century British passenger shipping companies on the North Atlantic, along with the White Star Line and Cunard Line. Founded in 1850, it was absorbed in 1893 into American Line. The firm's formal ...

. In 1888, ''Baltic'' was sold to the

and renamed ''Veendam'' after the town of Veendam in the province of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. In 1890 she we re-engined. On 6 February 1898, ''Veendam'' hit a submerged shipwreck and sank, with all on board saved.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltic (1871) Ocean liners Ships built in Belfast Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships of the White Star Line 1871 ships Ships built by Harland and Wolff Maritime incidents in October 1871 Maritime incidents in 1898 Ships sunk in collisions Ships sunk with no fatalities Shipwrecks

Name

Features

Career

See also

References