RMS Ultonia

RMS Ultonia was a British passenger-cargo vessel built by C. S. Swan & Hunter of Wallsend, England, and bought by the Cunard Line prior to launch in 1898. Ultonia saw military service during World War I and was sunk by a German torpedo in 1917.

Background

In the late 1890s Cunard had only a small number of vessels running on the transatlantic trade, with SS Catalonia, Cephalonia and Pavonia operating the passenger service on the Boston route. These were introduced in the early 1880s and were around each.[8]

In 1893 Cunard had also introduced RMS Lucania and RMS Campania as fast express liners between Liverpool and New York, with these winning the Blue Riband speed record, but this was later won by Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse of the Norddeutscher Lloyd line in 1897.[8]

White Star Line had also recently introduced the liners SS Georgic (1895) and SS Cymric. These were known as 'intermediate' liners, and were economical and did not consume much fuel for their speed, but they were not as luxurious or as speedy as the German record-holders or British express liners. Instead they focused on increased cargo space where the express liners would have had additional engine machinery and boilers.[9]

Cunard decided to follow White Star Line in producing smaller, more profitable liners of more moderate speed, oriented at the Liverpool–Boston service, to replace Catalonia, Cephalonia, and Pavonia. Ultonia was the first of these, built as a cargo liner but adapted to carry passengers, and was soon followed by the Ivernia-class: RMS Ivernia (1899), RMS Saxonia (1899) and the later, smaller RMS Carpathia. [8][10]

Design and construction

History

Ultonia was launched on 4 June 1898, measuring 500 ft by 57.4 ft by 33.9 ft, and assessed at with engines by Sir C. Furness, Westgarth & Co, Middlesbrough. Originally designed for cargo and cattle, third-class accommodation for 675 passengers was fitted in 1899.[12] Ultonia left Liverpool carrying passengers for the first time on 28 February 1899, with 102 passengers at departure[13] and an additional 27 picked up at Queenstown, Ireland, before proceeding to Boston.[14]

Departing Boston on one of these voyages on 5 August 1899, Ultonia hit a ledge just outside the main channel of Boston Harbor at Nantasket Roads, which was the typical route at the time. This area is now called the Ultonia Ledge, located 1+1/2 mi southeast of Boston Light, and is as shallow as 21 ft at mean lower low water according to modern nautical charts. This event spurred the alteration of ships' courses in the area to avoid the ledge, the dredging of Nantasket Roads to a depth of 35 ft to be safe for large steamships, and also the later dredging of the wider northern approach via President Roads, which is now the main channel for large ships entering or exiting Boston Harbor.[15]

In 1904, the ship was refitted to accommodate 120 second-class passengers, and 2,100 third-class passengers, increasing the tonnage to 10,402 gross register tons.[5] In 1915, further refits were made to carry up to 2,000 horses for the war effort.[12]

On 27 March 1917, Ultonia collided with the British collier Don Benito in the Atlantic Ocean (49.58333°N, -6.73333°W). Don Benito sank.[16]

Sinking

During World War I, Ultonia was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 190 mi from Fastnet, Ireland, on 27 June 1917 by the Imperial German Navy submarine SMU U-53 under Captain Hans Rose. One life was lost in the attack.[17]

See also

• List of the largest ships hit by U-boats in World War I
• List of shipwrecks in June 1917
• William Thomas Turner