SS ''Dwinsk'' was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-flagged

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 ...

sunk by in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The ship was previously the third ''Rotterdam'' for the

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

, ''C.F. Tietgen'' for the

Scandinavian America Line The Scandinavian America Line (''Skandinavien-Amerika-Linien'') was founded in 1898, when ''Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskap'' (DFDS) took over the steamship company Thingvalla Line. The passenger and freight service between Scandinavia and New York ...

, and, as ''Dwinsk'', for the

Russian American Line The Russian American Line was a subsidiary steamship line of the East Asiatic Company that was in business from 1900 until the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In 1906 it began passenger service from Libau to New York after the Hamburg Am ...

. The ship was put under

Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

management in 1917, and sailed under the British flag until sunk on 18 June 1918.

History

SS ''Rotterdam'' was launched 18 February 1897 by

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the Wh ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

for the

, the third ship by that name for the line. She sailed from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, her namesake city, to

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

and

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

on her maiden voyage 18 August 1897. The ship began its final voyage on this route on 17 February 1906. Dwinsk survivors rescued by USS Siboney

Purchased by the

on 5 April 1906, the ship was renamed ''C. F. Tietgen'' after

Carl Frederik Tietgen Carl Frederik Tietgen (19 March 1829 – 19 October 1901) was a Danish financier and industrialist. He played an important role in the industrialisation of Denmark as the founder of numerous prominent Danish companies, many of which are still ...

, a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

merchant. The ship operated primarily on a

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

-New York route through 1913. On 28 June 1906 ''C. F. Tietgen'' collided with and sank the , 63- gross register ton American

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''E. C. Hay'' in the North River off the

Desbrosses Street Ferry The Desbrosses Street Ferry was a ferry route across the Hudson River (then called the North River) in the 19th and 20th centuries. It provided passengers with ferry service between the Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place station at Jersey Cit ...

terminal in New York City; all four people aboard ''E. C. Hay'' survived.Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of Navigation ''Thirty-Ninth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States for the Year Ending June 30, 1907'', Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907, p. 375.
/ref> In July 1913 the ship was chartered to Nordisk Film A/S for the filming of the movie ''Atlantis''. Later in 1913, the ship was sold to the

and renamed ''Dwinsk'', and operating between Libau and New York from 10 February 1914. On 20 September 1914, ''Dwinsk'' began service on an

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...

-New York route. In 1917, control of the ship passed to

who reflagged her under the British flag, and retaining her existing name. On 18 June 1918, under the command of Captain Henry Nelson, while steaming from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

, ''Dwinsk'' was torpedoed by about from

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

. After the ship sank, ''U-151'' remained in the area, using the survivors in seven lifeboats as a lure to try to sink additional

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

ships. Later the same day, spotted wreckage and the seven lifeboats, and as it approached the survivors, narrowly averted a torpedo strike launched by ''U-151''. Six of the lifeboats were rescued by other ships; the seventh lifeboat, in the charge of the Second Officer, Joseph William Coppin (born 1881, St Neot, Cornwall), with 22 men aboard was never heard from again. rescued two boats on 21 June, and picked up the final boat on 28 June.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwinsk Ships built in Belfast Ocean liners Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1897 ships Maritime incidents in 1906 Maritime incidents in 1918 Ships built by Harland and Wolff