"Olympic" and "Titanic" (painter unknown, old postcard)

Liverpool (WS)

London - Liverpool (old card, coll. WS)

Cunard could not expect to maintain its dominance on the North Atlantic for ever. The beginning of the regular passenger services was shortly after followed by the increasing wave of migration to the New World. An immense population explosion in all European countries and the impoverishment of the low social classes as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution awoke the hope for a better life in America, the continent of the "unlimited possibilities". To a particular high degree afflicted was the population of Ireland. A frightful crop failure, caused by a potato rottenness, led to famine all over the country. One and a half million Irishmen died of starvation, another million emigrated. To meet this exodus, old and new shipping companies offered their services. Within a few years, Cunard was confronted with half a dozen competitors. Temporarily Cunard was displaced from the first position on the Atlantic.

While most of the rivals proved after initial successes being more or less short-living, the one with the white star in its red home flag increased steadily its fleet. Thomas Ismay (1837-1899), prior director of the National Line, founded in 1869 the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company with headquarters in Liverpool. Already in 1867 he had acquired name and house flag from the ailing White Star Line of Packets, which was engaged in the Australian trade. Ismay was backed by Gustavius G. Schwabe, a merchantman with extensive holdings in the Harland & Wolff shipyard at Belfast. He placed an order for four ships with Harland & Wolff, which became the main constructor of the company. Delivered in 1871/72, they have been the first express liners equipped with the fuel saving compound engines. A number of innovations, as placing the boats deck with the First Class cabins amidships, away from the screw vibrations and occupying the full space from board to board, and a special equipment for emigrants in simply furnished cabins for families instead in the huge dormitory then generally in use in the so-called steerage or between deck. The four-mast single-funnel liners "Oceanic", "Atlantic", "Baltic" and "Republic", followed in 1874 by the somewhat larger "Adriatic" and "Celtic", took up a very successful Liverpool - New York service. The lead ship "Oceanic" of 3,707 tons demonstrated an exceptionally advanced design. She took for the passage from Queenstown to the Sandy Hook Lighthouse 23 hours and 17 minutes at an average of 14.53 knots, bettering the record of Cunard's "Scotia" by more than 3 hours. This success was overshadowed by the loss of the "Atlantic" in a storm near Halifax. Only 423 out of the 1,038 passengers and crew hands were rescued over a tow to the shore laid by a ship's officer. To restore the image of the company, two bigger liners of 5,000 tons - "Britannic" and "Germanic" - were placed in the North Atlantic service in 1874/75. They featured improved first class accommodation for 220 passengers and space for 1,500 emigrants. They were Ismay's first two-funnel liners being fitted with six watertight sections. The buff-painted funnels with black tops in combination with the ships' names ending on "...ic" became the distinguished markings for the shipping company known as the White Star Line. The "Britannic" was chartered in 1899 for troop transports in the Boer War and went in 1903 to Hamburg for scrapping. The "Germanic" was sold to Dominion Line as "Ottawa". In 1899 White Star entered also the Australian trade - see chapter Indian Ocean.

At the end of the century White Star placed two express liners of advanced design on the North Atlantic route: the "Teutonic" of 9,984 tons and the "Majestic" of 9,365 tons. Harland & Wolff had fitted them with triple-expansion engines working on double screws to enable them winning the Blue Riband. They averaged 20.35 resp. 20.10 knots and have been the first to operate without auxiliary sailing. The Admiralty had subsidized their construction under the terms of taking provision for a quick change into an auxiliary cruiser as it became the case in 1914 with the "Teutonic". She was broken up in 1921 in Emden, Germany. Sister "Majestic" worked as a trooper in the Boer War. Reconstructed in 1903, she got taller funnels and lost one of her three masts. Nevertheless she was broken up already in 1914.

The race for the fastest North Atlantic crossing cost the shipping companies immense sums for fuel and maintenance. This made the White Star Line thinking about being worthwhile to gain a few tenths of knots instead of investing in safety and comfort. While Inman, Cunard and the Germans put up new Blue Riband records, the last White Star liner "Oceanic" (II) of 17,274 tons remained in spite of her powerful triple-expansion engine of 28,000 h.p. behind, although her boilers consumed 400 tons of coal a day. When running at speed reduced by 3 knots, 140 tons of coal could be saved. When in 1899 J. Bruce Ismay followed his father as managing director, he decided for a change of policy: larger ships, moderate speed, maximum of comfort for all passenger classes and the highest standard of safety. Under this aspect, an order for a quartet of de-luxe liners was placed with Harland & Wolff: "Celtic" (II) (20,904 tons). "Cedric" (21,035 tons), "Baltic (23,884 tons) and "Adriatic" (24,541 tons). They were the largest ships of the time, offering a berth capacity of more than 2,200 and they could carry a respectable cargo load. This Big Four operated most profitably on the New York route. The pioneer ship was torpedoed in 1917 in the Irish Sea, but did not sink, so that she could resume her commercial service after the war. Ten years later she was thrown on the cliffs off-shore of Ireland in a storm and got damaged under repair.

"Celtic" (II) ashore, White Star Line (via Wikimedia)

"Doric" of White Star Line (via Wikimedia)

In 1902 British pride was hurt severely when the White Star Line came under American control by J.P. Morgan and his IMM (see chapter USA's Last Word). "The first target of the Morgan Combine was Cunard (...). The injection of huge American capital into Cunard would, however, have dealt a death blow to White Star.(...) Instead of competing with the Morgan Combine, White Star opted to join them. This important step was masterminded by W.J. Pirrie" (according to Peter Thresh: Titanic)- Lord Pirrie was the engineer who had built up the Harland & Wolff shipyard as world's largest.


Arrival of the "Olympic" (Library of Congress, Flickr Commons)

"Titanic"
When Cunard had set its new express liners "Lusitania" and "Mauretania" into the race in 1907, White Star's answer was to place an order with Harland & Wolff for a trio of super liners, 50 percent larger than Cunard's race horses, starting with the "Olympic" (46,359 tons, according to a White Star advertisement), outclassing every ship of the time by size, comfort and beauty. Their drive was effected by a fuel saving triple-compound machinery with an exhaust turbine between, producing a total of 46,000 h.p. on three propellers enabling to a speed of more than 22 knots. A Georgian and a Louis XIV saloon, luxurious private staterooms and heated swimming pools set new standards for the upper classes. White Star hoped to cut out any competitor, and the success seemed to confirm the company's policy. But only the "Olympic" was blessed with fortune until her withdrawal in 1935 after 514 Atlantic crossings.


"Titanic" (National Maritime Museum)

"Titanic", 1st class cabin (exposition Orlando Science Museum)	"Titanic", 1st class cabin (exposition Orlando Science Museum)
"Titanic", the grand stairway (exposition Orlando Science Museum)	"Titanic", the helm (exposition Orlando Science Museum)

"Titanic", the end (magazine Sphere, 1912)

The "Titanic" however went into the annals as a symbol for man's hybris. Many press items have been written about the world's greatest ship on the eve of her maiden voyage of 10th April 1912. There was, for instance, to read: "The 'Titanic' is the safest ship in the world. She has a double bottom and 16 watertight compartments. If there is a collision and the bows of the ship are holed, her bulkheads can be shut immediately by the officer of the bridge. All he has to do is to pull an electric switch. This magnificent ship is unsinkable". Many distinguished persons went on board, among them the managing director of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, and Thomas Andrews, the manager and naval architect of Harland & Wolff. Four days after departure from Southampton for the 3,118 nm-run to New York, reportedly at not quite full speed, the "Titanic" struck an iceberg at 11.40 p.m. Andrews was the first to realize that the "Titanic" would sink. If only four of the watertight compartments would have been flooded, she could probably stay afloat. But when the fifth compartment was filling up, he told the Captain Smith: "Nothing can save her now". The leaks between the deformed plates on the starboard side made her sinking bow first at 2.20 a.m. of April 14, taking down with her 1,503 passengers, mostly of the 'lower classes', and crew hands. Among the victims were Captain E.J. Smith and Thomas Andrews, who decided to die with the ship. Bruce Ismay stayed alive, as a broken man. About the detailed circumstances a number of serious historians have reported. Primarily, the latest warnings had been ignored. By hazard the lookout was not equipped with binoculars. The wireless operator was kept busy tapping out private messages of first-class passengers and there were technical problems, too. Last inquiries found out that the rivets, not the steel plates, had broken, otherwise the ship would have sunk immediately. For lack of lifeboats, only 703 persons could be picked up after hours by the old Cunard liner "Carpathia". The Courts of Inquiry on both sides of the Atlantic blamed the speed in view of the reported iceberg danger, but in the end, neither the ship's lead nor the White Star management were found being guilty. The sinking of the "Titanic" entered as one of the most outstanding sensations into the history of navigation and taught a number of lessons to shipbuilders and shipping companies: In future, all passenger ships had to be occupied round the clock with two wireless operators. Every ship had to be equipped with a sufficient number of lifeboats securing space for every single person on board according to a new international law. Lifeboat drill was made compulsory. Ships crossing the Atlantic had to take a route sixty miles further south.

The "Titanic" tragedy has been made the subject matter of a number of novels and films until our days. To enhance the dramatic plot, authors and producers made up the legend, the catastrophe was the consequence of a chase for the Blue Riband. Apart from the fact there has been no evidence for such an intention - neither from the side of the ship's lead nor from the White Star Line - it could never be expected that. A glimpse on the technical data makes evident that the "Titanic" with her size of more than 46,000 tons and a total engine power of 51,000 h.p. would not have been capable to match against Cunard's record holder "Mauretania" of less than 32,000 tons but equipped with the new turbine drive giving her an output of 78,000 h.p. enabling to a speed of 26 knots (later more), compared with the maximum of 22.5 knots of the "Titanic".

WWI and Aftermath
As a reaction to the "Titanic" tragedy, the youngest, largest and best furnished 48,150-ton member of White Star's trio was to change name from "Gigantic" into "Britannic", thus eliminating any thought on megalomania. The "Britannic" got a complete inner skin, some bulkheads were heightened and the number of lifeboats was increased. When technically completed in 1916, she received instead of the planned de-luxe appointments an equipment for a hospital ship to carry 3,309 wounded soldiers. According to the Convention of Geneva she was painted white with a green stripe over her full length with Red Crosses between. On November 21st 1916, after coaling at Naples, the "Britannic" ran on a mine in the Aegean Sea. Fortunately the ship had no wounded on board, but 30 of the complement and the medical staff lost their lives. A nurse who had survived the "Titanic" catastrophe was rescued a second time. A sad end of a prevented dreamliner.

To compensate the losses of the British mercantile marine in World War I, Cunard and White Star got indemnified with three of Germany's largest ships for common use on the North Atlantic: the Hapag super liners "Imperator" (52,117 tons, 23 knots) and "Bismarck" (56,551 tons, 23 knots) and the North German Lloyd's biggest ship, the "Columbus" (33,526 tons, 18 knots), becoming the "Berengaria", the "Majestic" and the "Homeric". Although launched before the war, rebuilding and completion dragged on until 1922. "Majestic" and "Homeric" have later been acquired by the White Star Line and underwent thorough modernization in 1923, enlarging the "Majestic's" tonnage to 60,000 and raising "Homeric's" operational speed to 19.5 knots. The "Majestic" was until the advent of the French "Normandie" in 1935 the largest ship in the world and provided together with the "Olympic" and the "Homeric" an excellent service on the New York route. After 207 Atlantic crossings her operation was discontinued in 1936 to be broken up because of an overhang of tonnage, but was eventually acquired by the Royal Navy to get transformed into a schooling and training ship "Caledonia". The intention to rebuild her into a troopship was frustrated by fire in 1940. Both ships had occasionally been used for cruises. The "Homeric" had ceased operation in 1935 after the fusion with Cunard and was sent to the ship breaker the same year.

The merger of White Star with Cunard in 1934 was a result of the breakdown of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. under Lord Kylsant, who had purchased in 1926 the shares of the White Star Line from the International Mercantile Marine (IMM) of the American tycoon J.P. Morgan. The glorious White Star Line in American hands had been considered disgraceful and Lord Kylsant, who saved it for England, was the hero. In 1928 the new owners laid the keel of a 3-funnelled 60,000-ton liner powered by 24 diesel engines each driving a generator. In 1930 the project was abandoned.

Lord Kylsant had built up his group with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. (RMSP, see chapter South Atlantic). Before WWI, the RMSP provided also Southampton - New York services, after the war extended to Hamburg, until 1925. After Lord Kylsant's empire collapsed in 1931, the White Star Line became separated and in 1934 it was saved by a merger with Cunard, becoming the Cunard White Star Line. In 1947 Cunard dropped the label White Star.


Southampton Docks, in the background "Leviathan", "Olympic" and "Mauretania" (old card, coll. WS)

Cherbourg, Gare Maritime at the port-of-call (coll. Roger Commault)

Other Competitors
Apart from Cunard and White Star, some half-dozen other companies strove for getting a piece of the cake. Already in 1850 William Inman (1825-1881) founded the Liverpool & Philadelphia Steamship Company as the first non-subsidized transatlantic line. In 1875 the company adopted the name Inman Steamship Company, whose efforts aimed to become the fastest on the North Atlantic. And it surpassed Cunard not only in terms of speed, but also by the number of passengers. After the sad loss of two ships - the "City of Glasgow" (1,609 tons) and the "City of Philadelphia" (2,168 tons) in 1854 with some hundreds of victims - Inman disposed only upon the "City of Manchester" (2,109 tons). Nevertheless he did not give up. In December 1866 he took delivery of the "City of Paris" (I) and the "City of New York" (I), followed by the "City of Brussels" in December 1869, all of about 3,000 tons. The latter was the first to cross the Atlantic in less than 8 days at a speed of 14.74 knots, consuming 110 tons of coal a day. Each ship offered berth for 800 passengers, 600 of which in the between deck. In 1875 the Caird Wharf delivered the "City of Berlin" (5,491 tons) which broke the speed record, held by White Star, attaining 15.21 knots. Four years later she was the first getting equipped with electric lighting. When the German socialist Friedrich Engels traveled to New York in 1888, he praised 'the "City of Berlin" being afloat much finer than the city on land'. To counter the rivaling lines, Inman sent into the race the 8,415 ton-liner "City of Rome" in 1881. The four-masted three-funnel liner with her elegant clipper bow was considered the most beautiful ship of the time, but she could not perform what she was expected to, attaining only 16 knots instead of the 18 promised by the builder.

The loss of the "City of Brussels" in a collision in 1883 was followed by a steady economical decline of the company. The aging "City of Paris" was sold to France (renamed "Tonquin") and got lost a year later. Shortly before the bankruptcy, the Inman Line was taken over by the International Navigation Company. This newly founded American trust adopted the name Inman & International Steamship Company. In 1887 Inman placed an order for a pair of exceptional three-funnel liners with the Thompson Yard of Glasgow, named "City of New York" (II) and the "City of Paris" (II), which joined the Liverpool - New York route in 1888 resp. 1889 as the first double-screw ships of the world. They left every competitor behind in terms of size (10,499 tons), engine power, safety, passenger accommodation and last but not least by attaining a speed of 21.1 resp. 21.9 knots, enabling the "City of Paris" to attain the Blue Riband. In 1890 the she got in a serious danger when a broken propeller brought her in a hopeless situation out of which she had to be towed to Queenstown. In 1893 Inman became fully integrated into the mother association (see chapter USA's Last Word) and his three ships changed the Red Ensign for the Stars and Stripes, canceling the "City of..." from their names and starting a new New York - Southampton service. Renamed "Maede", "Harward" and "Yale", they served temporarily in the American-Spanish War of 1898 as troopships. "Berlin" was in 1906 destroyed by fire. "Paris", repaired after stranding off Cornwall in 1899, served under the name "Philadelphia" also as a trooper, as did the "New York" as "Plattsburg". Both ships arrived in Genoa in 1923 for scrapping.

The strong desire of western Ireland with the harbour Galway and also of Newfoundland for direct connections was considered a chance by John O. Lever, engaged in emigrant shipping. Awarded a mail contract, he founded the Atlantic Royal Mail Steam Navigation Co. The first of the company's new paddle wheelers, the "Connaught", commenced Atlantic crossings in 1860, but the four vessels proved unsuitable. The only successful ship was the "Adriatic", acquired from the Collins Line in 1861. In the same year however the Post Office suspended the contract (see Howard Robinson: Carrying British Mails Overseas).

Having gathered a good deal of experience with Cunard and the National Line, the naturalized American Stephen Barker Guion founded a shipping company of his own in 1866, named the Liverpool & Great Western Steamship Company, otherwise known as the Guion Line. Since having his ships registered in Great Britain, they were permitted to sail under British flag. The company operated with its four ships quite successfully in the emigration business, but aimed also for a speed record to raise its prestige. Having failed this target with the "Montana" and the "Dakota" in 1872, Guion started another attempt in 1879 with the two-funnel liner "Arizona" (5,147 tons), delivered by Elder of Glasgow. She set only a single record at 16 knots in west-eastern direction. More fame gained the ship relating to safety for her resistant construction, when she collided with an iceberg on her way home to Liverpool in November 1879. Although heavily damaged losing 8 metres of her length, the collision bulkhead stood firm and she could reach St. John's under own power with nobody seriously hurt on board. Accidents like that usually impaired the reputation of a shipping company, but in this special case it helped the Guion Line to consolidate the faith and the confidence of the public. Guion eventually succeeded in winning the wanted trophy with the "Alaska" (6,932 tons) in 1882. Her record was bettered with the "Oregon" of 7,375 tons, build by Elder in 1883, attaining 18.56 knots in eastern direction in April 1884. She berthed 340 passengers in the 1st, 92 in the 2nd, 110 in the 3rd class and 1000 in the between deck. The costs for the "Oregon" brought Guion on to the margin of ruin. To pay the Elder Yard, he had to sell his fine flagship to Cunard. Nonetheless he went into liquidation in 1894. His ships however went into the maritime annals as the Greyhounds of the Atlantic. The "Arizona" was transferred in 1897 to William Pearce, previously in control of the Guion Line and cooperating with the Canadian Pacific, to join the existing Vancouver - Yokohama service in 1898 and 1914 temporarily used as a U.S. Navy transporter, she was broken up in 1926. "Alaska" served in the 1898 - war also as a troopship, however for the Spaniards and was broken up in 1902. Occasionally equipped as an auxiliary cruiser, the "Oregon" resumed her commercial service. In 1886 she collided with a schooner which sank with all her crew hands, but also the "Oregon" could not be rescued. Her 900 passengers were taken over by the German liner "Fulda" of the North German Lloyd.

Another competitor appeared in 1890 under the name of the National Steam Ship Navigation Company, being the first Limited Company introducing a new operating concept: The mixed passenger and cargo service. Its only ship of any importance was the two-mast two-funnel liner "America" of 5,528 tons, built in 1889, which acquired for two months the Blue Riband. To set up an express service, the National Line chartered from the Anchor Line the "City of Rome" (purchased from Inman), but her fortnightly service remained disappointing. After serving for some time as a troopship, the "America" was sold to the Italian Navy to be converted into an auxiliary warship renamed "Trinacria". She was broken up in 1925. After the loss of the "Egypt" (4,670 tons) and the "Erin" (3,300 tons), the Anchor Line failed to recover and discontinued its passenger service in 1892 and was finally closed down in 1907.

Already before WWI the timetable showed also services Liverpool - New York by the Leyland Line and London - New York by the Atlantic Transport Line. That company had opened the New York service in 1903 under British flag, was owned however by the IMM. The Royal Mail and P.S.N., known for their Latin America services, appeared temporarily on the New York route, too.

In the course of a century of steam navigation, a lot of companies, famous or almost unknown, crossed the North Atlantic. After the victory of the jet airliner, Cunard remained the sole provider of North Atlantic passenger services.

"City of Chester", Inman Line (old card, coll. WS)	"Alaska" of Guion Line, painting by Antonio Jacobsen, 1881 (via Wikimedia)
"Arizona", Guion Line (via timetableimages)	"Cameronia" of 1920, Anchor Line, later Australian emigrant service (old card, coll. WS)