SS ''Arabic'' was a steamship of the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between ...

and its first steel-hulled vessel. Like her predecessors, she was built by shipbuilders

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

History

Originally intended to be named ''Asiatic'', she was the first steel-hulled vessel built for White Star. She was completed as the ''Arabic'' on 12 August 1881. Like her sister ''Coptic'', she was designed as a combination cargo/passenger freighter; while able to accommodate both steerage and second-class passengers, she was primarily designed to carry cargo and livestock. She made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 10 September 1881, at the end of the normal trans-Atlantic crossing season. She made two more round voyages on this route, colliding with the SS ''Plove'' while departing the

Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

for the last crossing. On 4 February 1882, she began her service under charter to the

Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company The Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company (sometimes abbreviated to O&O) was an American shipping company founded in 1874 by US railroads wishing to provide competition to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company which had not complied with its obl ...

for their San Francisco-Hong Kong route, departing Liverpool for Hong Kong via the Suez Canal, after which she sailed to San Francisco to begin her trans-Pacific service. On 2 June 1884, she arrived in Hong Kong via Yokohama with a damaged propeller, which necessitated her being dry-docked before returning to San Francisco. She returned to the UK in 1886 and made one Australian voyage for Occidental & Oriental (London-Melbourne-Sydney, via Cape Town) on 26 October of that year. She completed her charter upon returning to London early in 1887, after which she sailed to Belfast to have 50 second-class ("intermediate-class") berths installed. She returned to White Star service on the London-Queenstown-New York route from 30 March 1887, resuming the Liverpool-New York run on 12 May and making her final voyage on this run after departing Liverpool on 19 April 1888. In May, she resumed her charter for Occidental & Oriental. In February 1890, ''Arabic'' was sold to the

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

for £65,000 and renamed SS ''Spaarndam''. On 29 March, she made her first voyage under the Dutch flag from Rotterdam to New York. After 11 years of service, she made her final voyage on 7 February 1901. In August, she was sold to Thomas Ward ship breakers and broken up at Preston."SS Arabic," de Kerbrech, Richard (2009). ''Ships of the White Star Line.'' Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Publishing. p. 33.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabic Ships built in Belfast Steamships Ships of the White Star Line Merchant ships of the Netherlands Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom 1881 ships Ships built by Harland and Wolff