SS ''Gaelic'' was a steamship of 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 ...

, built by shipbuilders

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

of Belfast. The ''Gaelic'' (later the ''Hugo''), was originally one of a pair of ships built by Harland and Wolff for the J.J. Bibby Company of Liverpool. Along with her sister ship, which was renamed SS ''Belgic'', she was bought while still building by White Star for their South American routes. She was launched on 21 September 1872. Completed on 7 January 1873, she made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Valparaiso on 29 January. However, White Star decided to abandon this route shortly after, and she was transferred to the Liverpool-New York run, making her first voyage on 10 July 1873. ''Gaelic'' made eight round voyages on this route. On 15 January 1874, while making an eastbound crossing, she came to the assistance of the larger White Star ship when the latter vessel lost her propeller blades after striking wreckage in the Irish Sea. She towed the ''Celtic'' into Queenstown. From 3 June to 2 November 1874, she made four round voyages on the London-New York run, resuming her original run on 24 December of that year. On this occasion, she made two round voyages. After the ''Britannic'' and ''Germanic'' entered service in 1874 and 1875, the new, faster and larger vessels made all previous White Star ships redundant, including ''Gaelic''. On 29 May 1875, ''Gaelic'', along with her sister ship ''Belgic'' and the company's first vessel ''Oceanic'', was chartered to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company for their Pacific routes. She was put on the San Francisco-Yokohama-Hong Kong run and was caught in a gale on 20 November, which damaged the after part of her wheelhouse and blew away her trysail. On 11 May 1883, while steaming from San Francisco to Hong Kong, ''Gaelic'' put into the Chinese port of Hankow after losing her propeller shaft; she was likely forced to complete her voyage under sail. She was sold later that year for £30,000, along with ''Belgic'', to the Cia. de Navigacion la Flecha of

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

and renamed SS ''Hugo''. After running aground on Terschelling Island in the Netherlands on 24 September 1896, she was declared a

total loss In insurance claims, a total loss or write-off is a situation where the lost value, repair cost or salvage cost of a damaged property exceeds its insured value, and simply replacing the old property with a new equivalent is more cost-effect ...

. After refloating, she was auctioned for scrap on 9 December 1896 and towed to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where she was broken up."SS Gaelic," de Kerbrech, Richard (2009). ''Ships of the White Star Line.'' Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Publishing. p. 24. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaelic (1873) Ships built in Belfast Steamships Ships of the White Star Line Merchant ships of Spain Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom 1872 ships Ships built by Harland and Wolff Maritime incidents in May 1883 Maritime incidents in 1896 Shipwrecks of the Netherlands Shipwrecks in the North Sea