SS Gothic (eng)

Statistics

Gross Tonnage - 7,755 tons
Dimensions - 159.56 x 16.21m (490.7 x 53.2ft)
Number of funnels - 1
Number of masts - 4
Construction - Steel
Propulsion - Twin screw
Engines - Two triple expansion engines
Service speed - 14 knots
Builder - Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launch date - 28 June 1892
Passenger accommodation - 104 1st class, 114 3rd class

Details of Career

The Gothic was launched for White Star on 28 June 1892 and was both a passenger and cargo vessel. There was limited passenger accommodation and new refrigeration units, brine and carbon anhydride, for the carriage of meat. The ship was delivered in 1893 and made its maiden voyage, on the London-Plymouth-Cape Town-Wellington route, on 28 December. It was the first twin screw vessel to serve this route and broke the record making the crossing in 37.5 days. It was also the largest vessel to enter the port of London at the time.

During the summer of 1902 it was employed as a Boer War repatriation transport. In June 1906 its cargo of wool caught fire off Lands End. The ship was then forced to beach at Cattewater, Plymouth. When it had been repaired, which took eight months, the passenger accommodation had been altered to house 104 1st class and 250 3rd class passengers. It was further refitted in 1907 before being transferred to the Red Star line and being renamed Gothland. It then made summer sailings from Rotterdam to Quebec and Montreal.

In June 1914 the ship went ashore on Gunners Rocks, Scilly Isles. All 281 passengers were safely taken off by the steamer Lyonesse and local lifeboats. Repairs at Southampton took six months. When Belgium was overrun, in August 1914, the ship was transferred to the Rotterdam-New York route, but maintained an irregular service. At the end of World War I the ship was refitted and returned to Antwerp, making sailings to Baltimore and New York.

The ship briefly served White Star again in 1921, but as the Gothland and not the Gothic. In 1922 the ship spent several months laid up. In May 1923 the ship tested a new service sailing from Antwerp to Vigo, Havana and New York. This turned out to be ineffective and it soon changed to the Antwerp-Philadelphia service. It made its final voyage on this route in March 1925. In January 1926 it was sold and broken up at Bowness, on the Firth of Forth.