''Slavonia'' was a passenger ship that was built in 1902 as ''Yamuna'' for the British India Line. She was sold to the

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

in 1903 and renamed ''Slavonia''. In 1909, she ran aground in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

; soon after, she sent an

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

, the first time a ship used this code. All on board were rescued and the ship was declared a total loss.

Description

As built, the ship was long, with a beam of . She was equipped with

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

s, which were built by the Wallsend Slipway Co Ltd. These drove twin screw propellers and could propel the ship at . She was assessed at . Accommodation for 40 first class and 800 steerage class passengers was provided.

History

''Yamuna'' was built as

yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

600 by Sir J. Laing & Co Ltd,

Sunderland, County Durham Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

for the

British India Steam Navigation Company British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company. History The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading part ...

. She was launched on 15 November 1902, when she was christened by Lady Stewart (wife of Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Stewart), and completed in June 1903. She was the largest ship built at a British shipyard for eleven years, and the largest ever to be launched on the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

. The United Kingdom Official Number 115761 was allocated. In 1904, she was sold to the

and renamed ''Slavonia''. She was used on the service between the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. This service had been introduced as a temporary measure in the autumn of 1903 and was subsequently made permanent. After a refit, she was assessed at , . Its port of registry was

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 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. Accommodation for 71 first class, 74 second class and 1,954 steerage class passengers was provided. Her crew numbered 225. Lifesaving equipment comprised twelve

lifeboats Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

, seven collapsible lifeboats and two other boats. She carried 24 lifebuoys and 2,340 lifebelts. ''Slavonia'' made her maiden voyage for Cunard Line on 17 March 1904, sailing from Sunderland to New York via

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

and

Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

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Shipwreck

''Slavonia'' departed from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 3 June 1909 under Captain A.G. Dunning on what would be her final voyage.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tue 14 Sep 1909, Page 5 On 10 June, ''Slavonia'' ran aground in foggy weather at Ponta dos Fenais,

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

, Portugal. An

was sent, the first use of this code. All on board were rescued by and . ''Prinzess Irene'' took off 110 cabin class passengers. ''Batavia'' took off 300 steerage class passengers, leaving the crew on board. They left the ship later that day. The wreck was subsequently looted. ''Prinzess Irene'' landed some of the rescued passengers at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. The 84 remaining on board travelled on to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy, where they arrived on 17 June. Those rescued by ''Batavia'' reached Naples on 19 June. ''Slavonia'' was abandoned and declared a total loss. She was insured for £90,000. Some of her cargo was salvaged - 400 bags of

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, 1,000 ingots of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and 200 casks of oil. Also salvaged were 25 pieces of agricultural machinery and miscellaneous ships' stores. They were taken to

by . A

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

inquiry was held into the loss of ''Slavonia''. The captain's explanation for navigating so close to the Azores was to provide a bit of scenery, relieving the monotony of an ocean voyage, and at the same time assuaging some of the passengers land was close by. Though her captain did not lose his license, he was severely reprimanded for being off course and going at an excessive speed for the prevailing conditions. The Board of Trade awarded the captains of ''Batavia'' and ''Prinzess Irene'' a piece of plate in recognition of their efforts to rescue the passengers of ''Slavonia''. The person in charge of the wireless station on Flores also received a piece of plate. His two assistants were awarded a sum of money each.

References

External links

Photo of RMS ''Slavonia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slavonia 1902 ships Ships built on the River Wear Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks of the Azores Maritime incidents in 1909