The RMS ''Teutonic'' was an
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 ...
built for the
White Star Line
The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
in
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 ...
and was the first
armed merchant cruiser
An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...
.
History
Background
In the late 1880s competition for the
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 average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. T ...
, the award for the fastest Atlantic crossing, was fierce amongst the top steamship lines, and White Star decided to order two ships from
Harland and 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 W ...
that would be capable of an average Atlantic crossing speed of . Construction of ''Teutonic'' and
''Majestic'' began in 1887. When ''Teutonic'' was launched on 19 January 1889, she was the first White Star ship without square rigged sails. The ship was completed on 25 July 1889 and participated in the Spithead Naval Review on 5 and 6 August, in conjunction with the state visit of
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
.
Although Queen Victoria remained aboard the Royal Yacht, the Kaiser was given a two-hour tour of the new ship hosted by his "Uncle Bertie," (the Prince of Wales and future
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
). During the tour, Wilhelm is reputed to have turned to a subaltern and remarked: "We must have some of these ..."
The Kaiser's reaction is generally credited as the impetus for the creation of Germany's
four funnel liner
A four-funnel liner, also known as a four-stacker, is an ocean liner with four funnels.
, launched in 1897, was the first ocean liner to have four funnels and was one of the first of the golden era of ocean liners that became prominent in the 2 ...
s known as the
Kaiser Class.
Eight years later, ''Teutonic'' also participated in the 1897 Spithead Naval Review honoring Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
''Teutonic'' was built under the
British Auxiliary Armed Cruiser Agreement
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, ...
, and was Britain's first armed merchant cruiser, sporting eight 4.7" guns. These were removed after the military reviews, and on 7 August 1889, she left on her maiden voyage to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, replacing
''Baltic'' in White Star's lineup. In 1891, ''Majestic'' brought the Blue Riband to White Star, and in 1891, ''Teutonic'' took it from her sister with an average crossing speed of . She later bested her own record with a speed of . The following year ''
City of Paris'' took the honour away, and no White Star ship would regain it. Both ''Teutonic'' and her sister were extremely profitable liners, and the two ships made crossings full to passenger capacity several times.
Specifications
Whereas all of White Star's previous liners had only carried two classes of passengers, Cabin and Steerage, ''Teutonic'' and ''Majestic'' introduced changes to that paradigm. Both ships were built with the three-class accommodation system, consisting of First, Second and Third Classes. First Class, originally known as Cabin Class, was renamed as Saloon Class on specific terms, being meant for upper class passengers.
''Teutonic'' had accommodations for 300 First Class passengers in spacious cabins situated on her uppermost three decks, and had many interesting features. Many of the cabins were inter-connecting for family travel. A new class began appearing in ships after this time in shipbuilding, and ''Teutonic'' was among the first to see it. Second Class, also known as Cabin Class, was meant for middle class passengers. ''Teutonic'' was built to carry 190 Second Class passengers in comfortable rooms on the second highest deck, further aft towards the stern. Third Class, commonly known as
steerage
Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North America ...
, was primarily for immigrants. ''Teutonic'' was built to carry 1,000 Third Class passengers in two areas of accommodation aboard the ship. As was the case aboard all White Star vessels, Third Class spaces were segregated with single men berthed forward, and single women, married couples and families with children berthed aft. In a layout similar to what was seen aboard ''Britannic'' and ''Germanic'', steerage passengers were quartered in nine separate compartments on the two lowest decks, with five forward and four aft. All five forward sections and three of the four aft sections consisted of large twenty-berth cabins lining the ship's hull, with interior spaces left open to be used for dining and other purposes. The fourth section in the stern, designated for married couples and families with children, consisted of small but comfortable and private two and four-berth cabins.
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - Staircase.jpg, Staircase on ''Teutonic''
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - Saloon.jpg, Saloon on ''Teutonic''
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - Smoke Room 1.jpg, Smoke Room on ''Teutonic''
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - Smoke Room 2.jpg, Smoke Room on ''Teutonic''
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - Library.jpg, Library on ''Teutonic''
File:SS Teutonic (1889) - State Room.jpg, State Room on ''Teutonic''
Career
![Teutonic leaving Liverpool](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Teutonic_leaving_Liverpool.jpg)
During the first 18 years of service, both ''Teutonic'' and ''Majestic'', along with their older cousins ''Britannic'' and ''Germanic'' sailed on the route from their home port of Liverpool to New York City. Each ship made on average one sailing per month, and averaged 11–14 sailings each season. The White Star Line had it planned so as they could operate a weekly service across the North Atlantic. Each week a ship sailed from Liverpool on a specific day, commonly Wednesday or Thursday. From there, they would stop at the port of Queenstown (now
Cobh
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
), Ireland, to pick up more passengers. Records have shown that ''Teutonic'' and her partner ships picked up as many as 800 Irish immigrants in a single stop, as the White Star Line was very popular in Ireland because most of their ships, including ''Teutonic'', were Irish built.
After Queenstown, the ships would then continue on the long voyage to New York, almost 2,500 miles of open sea. Once passengers were disembarked at either the White Star Line pier in New York or the immigration centre at
Castle Garden
Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden) is a circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating ...
, and later on
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...
, the ship would be prepared for her return voyage.
Transatlantic races between the ''Teutonic'' and liner
''City of New York'' were common in the 19th-century. They usually began in either
Queenstown Harbour or
New York Harbor
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
. On August 14, 1890, the ''Teutonic'' beat the ''City of New York'' by over three hours, and broke the ocean record by coming from Queenstown in 5 days, 19 hours, and 5 minutes, and breaking the record by 13 minutes.
In 1897 ''Teutonic'' reassumed her military role for a review commemorating Victoria's 60th anniversary. In 1898, she had a minor collision in
New York Harbor
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
with the
United States Lines
United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board (USSB), Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) created to operate German liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all ...
' ''Berlin'', but neither ship suffered major damage.
During the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
in 1900, she served as a troop transport. In 1901, ''Teutonic'' encountered a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
, which washed two lookouts out of the crows nest who survived. The tsunami hit at night, so there were no passengers up on deck.
In 1907 ''Teutonic'', along with ''Majestic'', ''Oceanic'' and the new ''Adriatic'' was transferred to White Star's new 'Express Service' between Southampton and New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown. In 1911, the ship was replaced in the White Star lineup by the new ''
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
'' and transferred to sister company
Dominion Line
The Dominion Line was a trans-atlantic passenger line founded in 1870 as the ''Liverpool & Mississippi Steamship Co.'', with the official name being changed in 1872 to the ''Mississippi & Dominion Steamship Co Ltd.'' The firm was amalgamated in ...
for Canadian service. At the end of her career on White Star's UK-US services, she had carried a total of 209,466 passengers westbound and another 125,720 eastbound. By 1913 ''Teutonic's'' age meant that she no longer attracted the top class passengers, and so was refitted to carry only second and third class passengers. In October 1913
[NY Times, 27 October 1913 edition] the ship narrowly avoided the same fate as ''Titanic'' when, at 172 miles east of
Belle Isle off the
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
coast, she ran so close to an iceberg that she avoided collision only by reversing her engines and putting the helm hard aport. According to the 29 October 1913 issue of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', "the liner passed within twenty feet of the iceberg. The fog was so thick that even at that small distance the berg could scarcely be distinguished. It was so close that there was danger that the propeller of the ship would strike it as the vessel went around. The passengers were not aware of their peril until it had been averted. They signed a testimonial to the captain and his officers expressing their gratitude and admiration for the care and skill displayed by them."
In 1914, with the start of
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 ...
, ''Teutonic'' became a merchant cruiser once again, being commissioned into the 10th Cruiser Squadron. In 1916, she was refitted with 6" guns, and served as a
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
escort ship as well as being used for troop transport.
In 1921, ''Teutonic'' was scrapped at
Emden
Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528.
History
The exact founding date of E ...
.
References
External links
White Star ShipsGreat Ocean LinersDetailed record of sailings on Norway HeritageHistorical overviewVideo dedicated to RMS Teutonic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teutonic (1889)
Blue Riband holders
Ships built in Belfast
Passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Steamships
Ships of the White Star Line
World War I Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy
1889 ships
Ships built by Harland and Wolff