Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the

ship prefix A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/na ...

used for seagoing vessels that carry

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

under contract to the British

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel designated as "RMS" has the right both to fly the pennant of the Royal Mail when sailing and to include the Royal Mail "crown" insignia with any identifying device and/or design for the ship.Royal Mails employees Courier newspaper page 20 August 2007 It was used by many shipping lines, but is often associated in particular with the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

, Cunard, Royal Mail Lines, Union-Castle Line, Canadian Pacific Line, Orient Line and the P&OSNC, which held a number of high-profile mail

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s, and traditionally prefixed the names of many of their ships with the initials "RMS". While some lines in the past, particularly the Royal Mail Lines, called all their ships "RMS", technically a

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

would use the prefix only while contracted to carry mail, and would revert at other times to a standard designation such as " SS".By Wireless from R.M.S. ''Empress of Australia''
"Royal Gifts Gladden 172 On Lonely Atlantic Island" (Tristan da Cunya),"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. 24 March 1935; Robinson, Samuel. (1924).

History

Originally, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

operated these ships. The designation "RMS" has been used since 1840. In 1850 contracts were awarded to private companies. Having the title "RMS" was seen as a mark of quality and a competitive advantage, because the mail had to be on time. Titanic in color

The most valuable route, with the highest volume, was between Kingstown (now

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation th ...

), in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and

Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company (CDSPCo) won the contract. They bought RMS ''St Columba'' and RMS ''Llewellyn'' from the Admiralty to supplement their ''Prince Arthur''. In the CDSPCo contract, in 1860, there was a penalty clause of £1 1s 4d for every minute's delay. The

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

's trans-Pacific Royal Mail contract required the building of the first three of a fleet of steamships: the , and which regularly sailed between Vancouver and Asia beginning in 1891.Kennedy, John. (1903)
''The History of Steam Navigation,'' pp. 147–151.
/ref> The RMS designation was also used on the ships of the White Star, P&O and Cunard lines of the 19th and 20th centuries. The most famous liner with the RMS title was the Titanic.

Modern times

In recent years the shift to air transport for mail has left only three ships with the right to the prefix or its variations: , which serves as a passenger vessel in

Gravenhurst, Ontario Gravenhurst is a town in the District Municipality of Muskoka, Muskoka Region of Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately south of Bracebridge, Ontario. The Town of Gravenhurst includes a large area of the District of Muskoka, known to Ontar ...

, Canada; , which serves the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

; and . The "RMS" prefix was granted to QM2 by Royal Mail when she entered service in 2004 on the Southampton to New York route as a gesture to Cunard's history. The Royal Mail continues a form of this tradition on modern day

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

s. The UK's

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

airline,

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

, is contracted to carry mail on some of its scheduled long-distance routes. Aircraft operating these routes with the facilities to carry mail are allowed to display the Royal Mail's logo and crest on their fuselage, usually alongside their registration markings.

Other designations

The less-common designations RMMV for Royal Mail Motor Vessel and RMMS for Royal Mail Motor Ship, were used for a period when RMS was restricted to steam-ships. Motor Vessel and Motor Ship indicated that propulsion was provided by diesel rather than

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

. The carries the designation RMV for Royal Mail Vessel and is the only active RMV.

List of current Royal Mail Ships

List of past Royal Mail Ships

Service dates are the years with the status of Royal Mail Ship. Those highlighted are still in service with the status of Royal Mail Ship.

Notes

References

* Kennedy, John. (1903)
''The History of Steam Navigation.''
Liverpool: C. Birchall, 1903
OCLC 3553860

External links

RMS ''Caronia'' "Green Goddess" Time-Line

Titanic Archive
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709005601/http://titanic.deep-ice.com/ , date=9 July 2011 Packet trade Postal infrastructure Postal vehicles Ship types Ship prefixes