SS ''Orteric'' was a

Bank Line The ''Bank Line'' was a British commercial shipping line that was established in 1905 by Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth, Andrew Weir. The company was sold to the Swire Group in 2003, eventually ceasing operations in 2009. Initially a Tramp trad ...

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

and

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

steamship that was built in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in 1910–11 and sunk by a U-boat in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

in 1915. In 1911 she took 960 Spanish and 565 Portuguese migrants to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

to work on the sugar plantations. She was the first of two Bank Line ships that were called ''Orteric''. The second was built in England in 1919 for the United Kingdom Shipping Controller as ''War Coral''. Andrew Weir & Co bought her and renamed her ''Orteric''. She was wrecked in 1922.

Building

Russell & Co Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory * Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Rus ...

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most rece ...

on the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

built ''Orteric'' for Andrew Weir & Co. She was launched on 19 December 1910 and completed in January 1911. Her registered length was , her

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

was and her depth was . Her

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ...

s were and . She had a three-cylinder

triple expansion engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

that was built by Rankin and Blackmore of

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

. It developed 690 NHP and gave her a cruising speed of . Andrew Weir & Co

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

''Orteric'' in Glasgow. Her United Kingdom

official number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats have sometimes ...

was 129534 and her

code letters Code letters or ship's call sign (or callsign) Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853"> SHIPSPOTTING.COM >> Mtide Taurus - IMO 7626853/ref> were a method of identifying ships before the introduction of modern navigation aids and today also. Later, with the i ...

were HSCV. She was equipped for

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...

, and her

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...

was GLE.

Migrant ship

In 1911 ''Orteric'' took 960 Spanish and 565 Portuguese migrants to

to work as contract labour in the sugar cane plantations. This made her the last ship to take part in the

Portuguese immigration to Hawaii Portuguese immigration to Hawaii began in 1878 when laborers from Madeira and the Azores migrated there to work in the sugarcane plantations. By the end of 1911, nearly 16,000 Portuguese immigrants had arrived. Early immigration The Hawaiian c ...

of 1878–1911, and the second ship to take part in the Spanish immigration that followed. The Spanish immigrants, who were mostly from the area of

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

, embarked at Gibraltar, and the Portuguese embarked at

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and Lisbon. ''Orteric'' left Gibraltar on 24 February 1911 and reached Hawaii on 12 April 1911 after 48 days at sea. Hawaiian newspapers reported that the two groups argued and fought with each other on the long voyage, ''"so much so that they had to be separated. The women... went as far as hair pulling."'' There was an outbreak of measles on the voyage that caused 58 deaths, most of them children.

Loss

In December 1915 ''Orteric'' was carrying about 10,000 tons of

sodium nitrate Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. ...

from

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

. At about 1620 hrs on 9 December she was in the

off the coast of

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

when she sighted the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

. ''Orteric''s

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

McGill, attempted evasive manoeuvres, but ''U-39''s commander, KptLt

Walther Forstmann Walther Forstmann (9 March 1883 – 2 November 1973) was one of the most highly decorated U-boat commanders in the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' during World War I. He also served in the ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II in different staff positions. ...

, opened fire with his 88mm deck gun. At least four shells hit ''Orteric''. One killed a member of her Chinese crew, and another destroyed her wireless. ''Orteric'' raised a white flag in surrender, and her crew began to launch her

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 ...

, but ''U-39'' kept firing. A shell hit one of the boats, killing a second member of her Chinese crew and wounding another four. Her crew successfully launched her remaining three lifeboats, but left behind Captain McGill, the third officer, the

second engineer A second engineer or first assistant engineer is a licensed member of the engineering department on a merchant vessel. This title is used for the person on a ship responsible for supervising the daily maintenance and operation of the engine depa ...

and the wireless officer. The four officers then abandoned ship in a small emergency boat. ''U-39'' then came within about of ''Orteric'' and fired a torpedo at her. ''Orteric'' sank within about five minutes, about 140 miles south by east of the island of

Gavdos Gavdos ( el, Γαύδος, ) is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much larger neighbour, Crete, of which it is administratively a part, in the regional unit of Chania. It forms a community with surrounding islets and was ...

. The U-boat crew then detained ''Orteric''s emergency boat and ordered Captain McGill to board ''U-39''. KptLt Forstmann ordered McGill to sign something in a book, which McGill did not understand as it was in German. McGill was then released to return to the emergency boat. The four lifeboats kept together, and a few hours later a British

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. ...

rescued their occupants.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orteric, SS 1910 ships Maritime incidents in 1915 Ships built on the River Clyde Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I Steamships of the United Kingdom World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea