''Scotia'' was a British

passenger liner A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

operated by the Cunard Line that won the Blue Riband in 1863 for the fastest westbound transatlantic voyage. She was the last oceangoing

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses we ...

, and as late as 1874 she made Cunard's second fastest voyage. Laid up in 1876, ''Scotia'' was converted to a twin-screw cable layer in 1879. She served in her new role for twenty-five years until she was wrecked off of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

in March 1904.

Development and design

As a result of competition from the

Collins Line The Collins Line was the common name for the American shipping company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins, formally called the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company. Under Edward C ...

, Cunard ordered of 1856, the first iron Blue Riband winner. ''Scotia'' was originally planned as a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

for ''Persia''. However, the project was delayed after the loss of the Collins and left Cunard without effective competition on the express service. When ''Scotia'' was finally built, she was a larger edition of ''Persia'' with an extra deck. Safety improvements included seven watertight compartments, a reinforced forward bulkhead and buoyancy chambers. There was considerable disagreement among Cunard's partners concerning the choice of paddle wheels for the new liner as screw propulsion was proving itself superior. While the firm already owned screw steamers for the secondary service, Samuel Cunard insisted that paddle wheels be retained for what was to be the line's premier unit. However, they agreed to order a second mail steamer, ''China'', to test screws in the express service. As completed by Robert Napier and Sons of Glasgow, ''Scotia'' was the second largest ship in the world after ''Great Eastern''. She carried 273 first class passengers and 50 in second class. ''Scotia'' did not have quarters for

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 ...

. Her two-cylinder

side-lever engine A marine steam engine is a steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. This article deals mainly with marine steam engines of the reciprocating type, which were in use from the inception of the steamboat in the early 19th century to the ...

produced , and consumed 164 tons of coal per day.

Service history

''Scotia'' and ''China'' relieved ''Asia'' and ''Africa'' on the New York express route, and the older steamers were transferred to the Boston trade. In July 1863, ''Scotia'' won the Blue Riband with a Queenstown – New York voyage of , beating ''Persia''s record by a full knot. ''Scotia'' is generally credited with retaining the Blue Riband until 1872 when she was surpassed by ''Adriatic'' of 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 ...

. While Gibbs credits the screw steamer of 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 ...

with a Blue Riband voyage in 1866, ''Scotia'' is universally considered as the equal of any pre-''Oceanic'' liner. Although she offered only first-class accommodations used by passengers such as

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

's family, ''Scotia'' was not consistently profitable and ''China'' proved to be the better investment. ''China''s coal consumption was half of ''Scotia''s while ''China'' carried more cargo and was only a knot slower. The firm quickly ordered two additional screw steamers to replace the last wooden paddlers on the New York express service. ''Scotia'' herself remained as Cunard's largest unit until ''Bothnia'' and ''Scythia'' were completed in 1874. The conversion of the French Line's ''Ville Du Havre'' to screws in 1873 left ''Scotia'' as the last paddler on the Atlantic. She was finally withdrawn in 1876 and offered for sale. Three years later, ''Scotia'' was converted to twin screws and refitted as a cable layer. She was enlarged to and commissioned by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. In 1896, ''Scotia'' suffered an explosion off Plymouth that destroyed her fore-part. She was only saved by the stoutness of her construction. Repaired, ''Scotia'' was sold in 1902 to the Commercial Pacific Cable Company. On 11 March 1904, ''Scotia'' approached Guam to deliver cable and spares when she went off course while entering Apra Harbor and ran hard aground on a nearby reef. Weather conditions deteriorated and the ship broke in two and sank. The wreck is now a popular diving location.

In fiction

''Scotia'' makes an appearance in the novel ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre- ...

'' by Jules Verne. On 13 April 1867 the ship is accidentally struck by the submarine : "Two and a half metres below the water-line appeared a neat hole in the form of an isosceles triangle."Verne, Jules (1869). ''20,000 Leagues under the Sea''. Thanks to its watertight compartments, ''Scotia'' makes it safely to Liverpool. In the second Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins book, the SS ''Scotia'' is the ship Sherlock and his accomplices travel on.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotia 1862 ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the Cunard Line Jules Verne