RMS Majestic (1889)

RMS ''Majestic'' was an ocean liner which entered service in 1890 and was operated by the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of RMS ''Teutonic''. ''Majestic'' and her sister were the flagships of White Star Line's fleet for around a decade, until ''Oceanic'' entered service in 1899. She had a total career of 24 years, until being scrapped in 1914.

Background

Constructed by Harland & Wolff, ''Majestic'' was launched on 29 June 1889 and was delivered to White Star in March 1890. White Star had sought to fund the construction of both ''Majestic'' and her sister through the British government, a proposal which was accepted with the stipulation that the Royal Navy would have access to the two liners in a time of war as Armed Merchant Cruisers. ''Majestic'' and her sister were the first new additions to White Star's transatlantic fleet since the '' Britannic'' and '' Germanic'' had respectively entered service in 1874 and 1875. ''Majestic'' replaced the ageing ''Republic'', which had been in service with White Star since 1872 and was subsequently sold to new owners. The pair were designed to allow White Star to compete with a new generation of liners which had entered service in the 1880s, such as the Cunard Line's ''Etruria'' and ''Umbria'', and the Inman Line's duo of ''City of New York'' and ''City of Paris''. ''Teutonic'' and ''Majestic'' were the first White Star liners to have two engines, and two propellers, which allowed them to dispense with the auxiliary sails which had been required on earlier single-screw liners. They were powered by two triple expansion steam engines, which together produced .

Career

On 2 April 1890, ''Majestic'' left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York City. There was a strong desire among the White Star management to regain the coveted Blue Riband. ''Majestic'' eventually achieved this goal on a westbound voyage in July 1891, achieving a timing of 5 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes, between Queenstown and Sandy Hook, with an average speed of . ''Majestic'' held the honour for a mere two weeks however, as her sister ''Teutonic'' soon won the title from her.

On one journey in 1894, ''Majestic'' attracted attention, when she raced against her rival ''City of Paris'' from New York to the English Channel. The race ended in a tie, with no clear winner.

In 1895, ''Majestic'' was assigned Captain Edward Smith, who served as her captain for nine years. When the Boer War started in 1899, Smith and ''Majestic'' were called upon to transport troops to Cape Colony. Two trips were made to South Africa, one in December 1899 and one in February 1900, both without incident. Charles Lightoller served as a deck officer under Smith during this period.

In 1902–1903, the ship underwent a refit, which included updates to much of her passenger accommodations, new boilers and taller twin funnels, and increasing her gross tonnage to 10,147. After her refit was completed, she returned to the Liverpool-New York run. Smith left as captain in 1904 to take command of the new ''Baltic'', then the largest ship in the world. In 1905, ''Majestic'' suffered a fire in her bunker, but the damage was not significant. In 1907, White Star inaugurated a new express service from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown, to which ''Majestic'', along with ''Teutonic'', ''Oceanic'' and the newly completed ''Adriatic'' were transferred. ''Majestic'' departed Southampton for the first time on 26 June.

In January 1908, ''Majestic'' suffered a major fire whilst in port at Southampton, which gutted her smoking room and several cabins before being extinguished.

In November 1911, ''Majestic'' was removed from regular service and became White Star's reserve vessel; kept laid up at Birkenhead on standby, ready to stand in for any other ship which was out of service for any reason. When the ''Titanic'' disaster occurred the following April, ''Majestic'' was reactivated in order to maintain ''Titanics service.

On 17 October 1913, she came to the rescue of the French schooner ''Garonne'', which had wrecked. On 14 January 1914, ''Majestic'' departed on her last Atlantic crossing. By this point she had been in service for nearly 24 years, during which time she had carried a total of 163,363 passengers westbound, and another 113,524 passengers eastbound,UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878–1960 for a total of 276,887 passengers carried. In May 1914, she was sold for scrap to the Thos. W. Ward yard at Morecambe for £25,000. Before scrapping of the ship commenced, the scrapping company opened the ship for public tours. ''Majestic'' was sold for scrap just three months before the outbreak of World War I, and questions were asked about whether the sale had been premature, however by the time the conflict was underway, demolition of ''Majestic'' was well advanced.

See also

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References

Historic information on the ''Majestic''Majestic I on Titanic-Titanic.com

External links

White Star Line on Titanic-Titanic.com''Majestic'' at the WSL History site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majestic (1890)
Blue Riband holders
Ships of the White Star Line
1889 ships
Ships built by Harland and Wolff
Ships built in Belfast
Steamships of the United Kingdom
Ocean liners of the United Kingdom