RMS Oceanic was the White Star Line

White Star Line

The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...

's first liner and an important turning point in passenger liner design.

Design and construction

Oceanic was built by Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff

Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....

 in Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, and was launched on 27 August 1870, arriving in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 for her maiden voyage on 26 February 1871. Powered by a combination of steam and sail, she had twelve boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

s generating steam at 65 pounds-force per square inch (450 kPa

KPA

KPA may refer to:* Kenya Ports Authority* Kiln phosphoric acid, a dry process to produce phosphoric acid at high temperature in a kiln* Kilopascal , a unit of pressure* Known-plaintext attack, a method of cryptanalysis* Korean People's Army...

), powered a single four cylinder

Cylinder (engine)

A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...

 compound steam engine, 2 x 78 inch (1.98 m) and 2 x 41 inch (1.04 m), with a stroke of 60 inches (1.52 m). A single funnel exhausted smoke and four masts carried sail. The hull was constructed of iron and divided into eleven watertight compartments

Ship floodability

Floodability is a characteristic of the construction of a ship to resist flooding.Floodability is achieved by dividing the volume of the hull into watertight compartments with decks and bulkheads , use of double bottom, and by other means.Watertight bulkhead compartments were written of by the Song...

. Passenger accommodations were located on the two decks concealed within the hull, as the Oceanic could carry 166 First Class passengers, referred to Saloon Passengers in those days and 1,000 Steerage Passengers, with a crew of 143. White Star had spared no expense in her construction, and the contemporary press described the ship as an "imperial yacht".

Innovative features included positioning the first class passenger cabins amidships, away from the vibration

Oscillation

Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and AC power. The term vibration is sometimes used more narrowly to mean a mechanical oscillation but sometimes...

 of engines and with the least ocean movement. Third class passengers were placed at the bow and stern of the ship. All first class could be seated at once in the first class dining saloon amidships. Porthole

Porthole

A porthole is a generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window"...

s in the ship were much larger than on contemporary liners, providing more light. Running water

Running Water

Running Water may be:* Running Water, Tennessee, former name of Whiteside, Tennessee* Running Water, South Dakota, a community in Bon Homme County, South Dakota* "Running Water" from the 1983 album The Present...

 was available for most if not all the first class cabins. There were also electric bell

Electric bell

An electric bell is a mechanical bell that functions by means of an electromagnet. When an electric current is applied, it produces a repetitive buzzing or clanging sound...

s to summon a steward. As for the steerage accommodations, the White Star Line used Oceanic to create a trademark for themselves in reference to the treatment of steerage passengers. The White Star Line was among only a handful of Trans-Atlantic Passenger lines to segregate their steerage accommodations into two sections; berthing for Single Men was located in the Bow, while berthing for Single Women, Married Couples and Families were berthed in the Stern.

Service history

Oceanic left for her maiden voyage

Maiden voyage

The maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it....

 from Liverpool on 2 March 1871 carrying only 64 passengers, under Captain Sir Digby Murray. Not long after departing, she had to return because of overheated bearings

Bearing (mechanical)

A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can...

. Her voyage restarted on 16 March. From that point onward, Oceanic was a success for White Star.

Three sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

s were constructed in rapid succession: the Atlantic

RMS Atlantic

RMS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States. During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, it ran onto rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, killing 535 people...

, Baltic

SS Baltic (1871)

SS Baltic was an ocean liner owned and operated by the White Star Line. The Baltic was one of the first four ships ordered by White Star from shipbuilders Harland and Wolff after Thomas Ismay had bought the company, and the third of the ships to be delivered.In 1889, after Teutonic entered service,...

, and Republic

SS Republic (1872)

SS Republic was an ocean liner built in 1871 by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line. She was originally intended to be named Arctic, but the name was changed before launching....

. All were of the same approximate dimensions with differences in tonnage

Tonnage

Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...

.

In January, 1872, the Oceanic underwent a refit, during which a large forecastle

Forecastle

Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

 was added to help prevent the bow

Bow (ship)

The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

 being inundated during high seas. Two new boilers were added to increase steam

Steam

Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...

 pressure and thus engine power, and the four masts were shortened.

Oceanic continued sailing with the White Star line on the Liverpool to New York route until 11 March 1875, when she was chartered to the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company, for service between San Francisco, Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 and Hong Kong. White Star provided the officers, while the crew was Chinese. The ship itself remained in White Star colours, but flew the O&O flag. During the repositioning voyage from Liverpool to Hong Kong, the Oceanic set a speed record for that route. Later, she also set a speed record for Yokohama to San Francisco in December 1876, and then broke her own record over that route in November, 1889, with a time of 13 days, 14 hours and 5 minutes.

On 22 August 1888, the Oceanic collided with the coastal liner City of Chester just outside of the Golden Gate

Golden Gate

The Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...

; the latter ship sank, killing 16 onboard.

In 1895, the Oceanic was returned to White Star, who planned on putting her back into service. She was sent back to Harland and Wolff for re-engining, but when the ship was inspected closely, it was found to be uneconomical to perform all the work needed. Instead, she was sold for scrap, leaving Belfast for the last time on 10 February 1896, under tow, for a scrapyard on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

.