SS ''Dwinsk'' was a British-flagged

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). C ...

sunk by in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The ship was previously the third ''Rotterdam'' for the Holland America Line, ''C.F. Tietgen'' for the Scandinavian America Line, and, as ''Dwinsk'', for the Russian American Line. The ship was put under

Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...

management in 1917, and sailed under the British flag until sunk on 18 June 1918.

History

SS ''Rotterdam'' was launched 18 February 1897 by

Harland & 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 ...

for the Holland America Line, the third ship by that name for the line. She sailed from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, her namesake city, to

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

and

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

on her maiden voyage 18 August 1897. The ship began its final voyage on this route on 17 February 1906. Dwinsk survivors rescued by USS Siboney

Purchased by the Scandinavian America Line on 5 April 1906, the ship was renamed ''C. F. Tietgen'' after Carl Frederik Tietgen, a Danish merchant. The ship operated primarily on a

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

- Kristiania-

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, f ...

-New York route through 1913. On 28 June 1906 ''C. F. Tietgen'' collided with and sank the , 63- gross register ton American

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

''E. C. Hay'' in the North River off the

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terminal in New York City; all four people aboard ''E. C. Hay'' survived.Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of Navigation ''Thirty-Ninth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States for the Year Ending June 30, 1907'', Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907, p. 375.
/ref> In July 1913 the ship was chartered to Nordisk Film A/S for the filming of the movie ''Atlantis''. Later in 1913, the ship was sold to the Russian American Line and renamed ''Dwinsk'', and operating between Libau and New York from 10 February 1914. On 20 September 1914, ''Dwinsk'' began service on an

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-New York route. In 1917, control of the ship passed to

who reflagged her under the British flag, and retaining her existing name. On 18 June 1918, under the command of Captain Henry Nelson, while steaming from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

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, ''Dwinsk'' was torpedoed by about from

Bermuda ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , ...

. After the ship sank, ''U-151'' remained in the area, using the survivors in seven lifeboats as a lure to try to sink additional Allied ships. Later the same day, spotted wreckage and the seven lifeboats, and as it approached the survivors, narrowly averted a torpedo strike launched by ''U-151''. Six of the lifeboats were rescued by other ships; the seventh lifeboat, in the charge of the Second Officer, Joseph William Coppin (born 1881, St Neot, Cornwall), with 22 men aboard was never heard from again. rescued two boats on 21 June, and picked up the final boat on 28 June.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dwinsk Ships built in Belfast Ocean liners Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean 1897 ships Maritime incidents in 1906 Maritime incidents in 1918 Ships built by Harland and Wolff