SS ''Abyssinia'' was a British mail liner built in 1870, and originally operated by the Cunard Line on the Liverpool–New York route. She later served the

Guion Line The Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company, known commonly as the Guion Line, was a British passenger service that operated the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route from 1866 to 1894. While incorporated in Great Britain, 52% of the company ...

on the same route and the Canadian Pacific Line in the Pacific. In December 1891, ''Abyssinia'' was destroyed mid-Atlantic without loss of life by a fire that started in her cargo of cotton, further highlighting the danger in carrying both cotton and passengers on the same ship.

Development and design

With the success of , Cunard ordered a new fleet of iron express liners for the New York mail route. ''Abyssinia'' was the fourth of the five liners required for a weekly service. ''Abyssinia'' and her sister, ''Algeria'' were the first Cunard express steamers built to carry steerage passengers, a concept that was proved profitable four years earlier by 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 ...

. As completed in 1870, ''Abyssinia'' carried 200 first class passengers and 1050 steerage. She had a service speed of 12.5 knots and was a full knot slower than ''Russia''. Both ''Abyssinia'' and ''Algeria'' were larger than their near sister, . Unlike ''Abyssinia'' and ''Algeria'' which were built in Glasgow, ''Parthia'' had been constructed in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Service history

Cunard employed ''Abyssinia'' on the Liverpool, Queenstown, New York service. All five of the new Cunarders on this route were quickly rendered out of date by White Star's revolutionary ' of 1871. For example, ''Abyssinia'' and her sister burned 90 tons of coal per day as compared to 58 tons for ''Oceanic''. While Inman and other rivals quickly installed compound machinery and modified passenger quarters to match White Star's new fleet, Cunard did not. On the other hand, ''Abyssinia'''s near sister, ''Parthia'' did utilise compound machinery. Due to such, ''Parthia'' only burned 47 tons of coal per day. In November 1873, ''Abyssinia'' discovered the American ship ''R. Robinson'' abandoned in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Some of her crew were put aboard and ''R. Robinson'' was taken in to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

, Dominion of Canada. Finally, in 1879 the privately owned Cunard line was reorganised as a public stock corporation to raise the capital needed to rebuild the fleet. In 1880, Cunard sold ''Abyssinia'' to the

when that company needed a mail liner to replace the wrecked ''Montana''. Two years later, ''Abyssinia'' finally received compound machinery. In 1884, she was transferred to the John Elder shipyard to partly finance Guion's new Blue Riband winner, the '. Unable to make the payments, Guion returned its new record breaker to Elders and continued to operate ''Abyssinia''. At the same time, Elders also acquired the former Cunarders ''Batavia'' and ''Parthia'', ''Abyssinia's'' near sister, as trade ins for the sale of ''Oregon'' to Cunard. In 1885, Stephen Guion himself died and his firm was reorganised with Sir William Pierce of Elders as the new chairman. In 1887, Pierce chartered Guion's ''Abyssinia'' along with Elder's two other former Cunarders to Sir

William Van Horne Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (February 3, 1843September 11, 1915) is most famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, a project that was completed in 1885, in under half the projected time. He succe ...

to begin steamship service in the Pacific, extending the Canadian Pacific Railway's transportation services from England, across the Atlantic to Canada by steamship, across Canada by railroad, and finally across the Pacific to Japan, China and India by steamship. ''Abyssinia'' opened the new Pacific service, with 22 first-class and 80 steerage passengers. She required only 13 days to reach

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

from

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, arriving there on 13 June 1887, establishing a new trans-Pacific record. ''Abyssinia's'' freight shipment of silk and tea was transferred to rail, arriving in New York (via

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

) on 21 June, and loaded onto another ship arriving in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 29 June. ''Abyssinia'' was returned to Guion when Canadian Pacific took delivery on the three new "Empress" liners. "Pacific Air Routes Replace Ship Line; Canadian Company Abandons Pre-War Service of Fleet, Maps Overseas Flights,"
''New York Times.'' 10 April 1949. Guion placed ''Abyssinia'' back on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. Her first eastbound return trip cleared New York on 13 December with 57 passengers and 88 crew with various cargo including cotton. At 12:40 pm on 18 December 1891 off the coast of Newfoundland a fire broke out in her cargo hold which quickly overpowered her crew's firefighting efforts. Captain G.S. Murray ordered the ship to be abandoned. Lookouts on board the eastbound

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of t ...

liner spotted the smoke from ''Abyssinia'' and removed all passengers and crew by 4:15 pm. ''Abyssinia'' sank shortly after. ''Spree'' made port with the survivors in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 21 December.

References

Other sources

*''Vancouver: From Milltown to Metropolis'', Alan Morley, Mitchell Press, Vancouver (1961), pp. 97–99.
SS Abyssinia immigrant ship informationAbyssinia on Chris' Cunard Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abyssinia 1870 ships Victorian-era passenger ships Ships of the Cunard Line Ships of CP Ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Steamships of Canada Shipwrecks of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast History of Vancouver Ships built on the River Clyde