SS Oregon (1883)

SS ''Oregon'' was a record-breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1884. She was sold to the Cunard Line after a few voyages and continued to improve her passage times for her new owner. In 1885, ''Oregon'' was chartered to the Royal Navy as an auxiliary cruiser, and her success in this role resulted in the Admiralty subsidizing suitable ships for quick conversion in the event of a crisis. She returned to Cunard service in November 1885 and four months later collided with a schooner while approaching New York. Virtually all persons on board were rescued before ''Oregon'' sank. Her wreck, 18 miles south of Long Island, remains a popular diving site.

Development and design

and only allowed the Guion Line to schedule fortnightly sailings with express liners in each direction. On alternate weeks, Guion's sailings used ships that were considerably slower. Guion needed two additional ships for a balanced weekly service. When Cunard started to build a new fleet for its weekly Liverpool – New York express service, Guion Line ordered ''Oregon'' to retain the Atlantic records won by ''Alaska''. As her predecessors, ''Oregon'' was built at the Fairfield Yard of John Elder & Company of Glasgow, Scotland, and cost $1,250,000.

''Oregon'' was 6.5% larger and wider than ''Alaska'', but the same length to reduce her ratio of length to beam and address the serious vibration problem experienced by ''Arizona'' and ''Alaska''. Consideration was given to building ''Oregon'' of steel after the fiasco of , but the new metal was still expensive and hard to obtain. ''Oregon'' was the last iron record breaker. She had nine transverse watertight bulkheads, five iron decks, and a strong turtle-back deck forward and aft as a protection from the heavy seas.

The compound steam engine built for ''Oregon'' had a high-pressure cylinder flanked by two low-pressure cylinders. The engine generated 12,500 indicated horsepower as compared to 8,300 for ''Alaska''. Steam was generated from nine Fox patent double-ended boilers, each 16 feet long and 16 feet in diameter. Daily coal consumption was 300 tons, an increase of 50 tons compared to ''Alaska'' and 165 tons over ''Arizona''. The screw propeller was twenty-four feet in diameter with a shaft that consisted of fifteen separate parts made of crucible steel.

''Oregon'' was fitted for 340 saloon, 92 second-class, and 1,000 steerage passengers. Passengers traveling saloon or cabin were equivalent to first class today. On ''Oregon'', steerage had been upgraded to third class and given assigned berths in small rooms rather than dormitories.

The main public room, the grand saloon was in the forepart of the ship and described at the time as "capable of dining the whole of the 340 cabin passengers." "The ceiling decorations were almost exclusively confined to white and gold. The panels were of polished satinwood, the pilasters of walnut, with gilt capitals. The saloon measured 65 by 54 feet, and was 9 feet high in the lowest part. A central cupola of handsome design, 25 feet long and 15 feet wide, rose to a height of 20 feet, and gave abundant light and ventilation." "The staterooms are large and well lighted and ventilated. Every facility for comfort is provided in the cabin. The ladies' drawing room is furnished in a costly manner, and is on the promenade deck. The latter extends nearly the entire length of the vessel. The wood work of the ladies' drawing room, the Captain's cabin, and the principal entrance to the saloons came from the State of Oregon. On the upper deck near the entrance of the grand saloon was the smoking room, which is paneled in Spanish mahogany and has a mosaic floor."

The ''Oregon'' was also the first ship to have installed dynamos and incandescent electric lamps, supplied by the Edison Company, which were used in lighting the vessel. In 1884 the dynamos became badly damaged and were repaired by an engineer from the Edison Machine Works, Nikola Tesla