SS ''Rhynland'' was a

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

owned by the

Red Star Line The Red Star Line was a shipping line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, which also ran the American Line, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgi ...

. She was built in 1879 by Barrow Shipbuilding Company. The ship was sold to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1906, renamed ''Rhyna'', and was subsequently scrapped.

Service

She made her maiden voyage on 10 June 1879 sailing across the Atlantic from

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; ; ) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after Tournai and Couvin. With a population of 565,039, ...

, to

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

. The ocean liner ran aground on

Fenwick Island, Delaware Fenwick Island is a coastal resort town in Sussex County, Delaware, Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to 2020 census figures, the population of the town is 355, a 2.6% decrease over the last decade. It is part of the Salisbury me ...

, on 31 January 1899. The vessel was refloated on 4 February.

Red Star Line

The Red Star Line was an ocean passenger line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the

International Navigation Company The International Navigation Company (INC) was a Philadelphia-based holding company owning 26 ships totaling 181,000 tons and carried more passengers than either Cunard or White Star, when the company was reorganized as International Mercantile ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, which also ran the

American Line The American Line was a shipping company that operated independently from 1871 until 1932, when it was absorbed into the United States Lines. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company was the largest American shipping company during its exist ...

, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgium. The company's main ports of call were AntwerpHarnack, 1938, page 566 in Belgium;

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Philadelphia in the United States. The company operated until 1935 when, due to the

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

, it ceased trading. Its assets were eventually sold to the

Holland-America Line Holland America Line N.V. (HAL) is an American cruise line operating as a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Founded in 1873 in Rotterdam, Netherlands as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), the company operated regular transat ...

. The company was founded by

Clement Griscom Clement Acton Griscom (March 15, 1841 – November 10, 1912) was an American shipping magnate and financier. Griscom was "without question, the key figure in American transatlantic shipping" by 1900. Biography Griscom was born in 1841 to a long ...

, who led it from its founding until the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMMC) took it over in 1902. Red Star Line survived IMMC's financial crisis in 1915. In the 1930s Red Star Line was part of Arnold Bernstein Line.

Heritage

The former warehouses of the Red Star Line in Antwerp were designated as a landmark and reopened as a museum on 28 September 2013 by the City of Antwerp. The main focus of the museum is the travel stories that could be retrieved through relatives of the some two million Red Star Line passengers. In the exhibition the visitor follows the travelers' tracks from the travel agency in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

until their arrival in New York. Works of art depicting the Red Star Line

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

s made by the Antwerp artist Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875–1930) will be exhibited there, next to Red Star Line memorabilia of the collection of Robert Vervoort.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhynland Steamships Passenger ships 1879 ships Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Ships of the American Line Ships of the Red Star Line