SS ''Mesaba'' was a British

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

and

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

of in operation between 1898 and 1918. She was torpedoed and sunk by east of the Tuskar Rock in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

on 1 September 1918 with the loss of 20 of her crew, while she was travelling from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, United Kingdom to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, United States. She is best known as one of the ships that sent warnings of pack ice ahead to the before it struck an iceberg and sunk on 15 April 1912.

Construction

''Mesaba'' was launched for the Atlantic Transport Line at the

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

shipyard in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 11 September 1897, and completed on 17 February 1898. She was long, had a beam of and a depth of . The ship was assessed at and had a

triple expansion engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transf ...

producing 772 nhp, driving a single screw propeller. ''Mesaba'' could reach a maximum speed of and had four masts and one

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

. Her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s were named , , and .

Early career

''Winefreda'' originally sailed from London to New York City from her maiden voyage on 3 March 1898 until June 1898, when she was renamed to ''Mesaba'' and continued to operate on that line. She collided with the Wilson Line ship SS ''Martelo'', before colliding with yet another liner, the , not much later on 4 October 1900 in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. ''Mesaba'' only received slight damage both times. She also made three trips from

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

for the

Red Star Line The Red Star Line was a shipping line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, which also ran the American Line, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgi ...

between 1912 and 1914. She resumed her usual sailing plan in June 1915. She was however involved in a third collision on 11 August 1918 in the

with .

''Titanic'' connection

On the night struck an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

and began to

sink A sink (also known as ''basin'' in the UK) is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supplies hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for fas ...

on 14 April 1912, she had received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the

Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

. One of those ships to send her a warning was ''Mesaba''. On 14 April 1912, her

wireless operator A radio operator (also, formerly, a wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system and the technicalities in broadcasting. The profession of radio operator has become l ...

, Stanley Adams, sent ''Titanic'' an ice warning, but it never made it to the bridge of ''Titanic'' despite it being received by wireless officer Jack Phillips.

Sinking

''Mesaba'' departed

for Philadelphia in

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

OL32/OE21 on 31 August 1918 under the command of Captain Owen Percy Clarke. The following day, she was torpedoed and sunk by east of the Tuskar Rock in the Irish Sea. Twenty of her crew were lost, including her captain and chief officer, with the remaining 78 rescued by the gunboat ''Kildini'', commanded by Lieutenant F.J. Silva.

Wreck

The wreck of ''Mesaba'' lies at () in of water. The wreck, with its bow broken off, was positively identified by a team from the University of Bangor in September 2022 by the use of

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

. Before that, the wreck was believed to be that of , a passenger ship that was sunk on the same day and by the same

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

while travelling in the same convoy as ''Mesaba'' close to her position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesaba 1898 ships Ocean liners Ocean liners of the United Kingdom Passenger ships Passenger ships of England Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Northern Ireland Ships built in Belfast Ships built by Harland and Wolff Maritime incidents in 1918 Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean World War I shipwrecks in the Irish Sea Ships sunk by submarines Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I Cargo ships of the United Kingdom