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Baltic (steamship)

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SS Baltic was a wooden- hulled sidewheel steamer built in 1850 for transatlantic service with the American Collins Line . Designed to outclass their chief rivals from the British -owned Cunard Line , Baltic and her three sister ships— Atlantic , Pacific and Arctic —were the largest, fastest and most luxurious transatlantic steamships of their day.

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36-645: (Redirected from SS Baltic ) Several steamships have been named Baltic : SS  Baltic  (1850) — a wooden-hulled sidewheel steamer with the American Collins Line, which held the Blue Riband from 1851 to 1857 SS  Baltic  (1871) — a passenger ship of the White Star Line which held the eastbound transatlantic record from 1873 to 1875 RMS  Baltic  (1903) —

72-426: A White Star ocean liner which was the world's largest passenger ship in 1905 SS  Baltic  (1906) — a Danish cargo ship sunk in a collision in 1924 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with the same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

108-519: A black stack with a dark red top. While the outward appearance of the Collins Line ships has been described as imposing rather than elegant, the passenger accommodations provided a marked contrast. Here the managers of the Line broke with the generally austere tradition of oceangoing steamships of the era to spend extravagant sums on fittings and passenger comforts. Like her sister ships, Baltic

144-576: A careful study of the powerplants of the Cunard Line, Baltic was fitted with a pair of 96-inch cylinder , 10-foot stroke side-lever engines built by the Allaire Iron Works of New York . The engines produced about 500 horsepower each and delivered a speed of between 12 and 13 knots. The running gear was designed in such a way that if one engine failed, the remaining engine could continue to supply power to both paddlewheels . Steam

180-425: A combination of woods, including rose , satin and olive . Mirrors around the walls enhanced the effect of spaciousness. A ladies' drawing-room was also provided. On the main deck above, the foredeck cabin included the officers' quarters, a first-class kitchen complete with French maitré de cuisine , and, in another innovation, a barber 's shop, with patented adjustable chair. The aft cabin, which connected to

216-401: A grand saloon—into which they opened. Each saloon was illuminated by several large-diameter ventilated columns of patterned glass which stretched from the floor to a skylight in the spar deck above, while stained glass windows in the stern provided additional light. The saloons were richly carpeted, furnished with variegated Italian marble tables and superior quality furniture, and finished in

252-405: A keel uses the forward motion of the boat to generate lift to counteract the leeward force of the wind. As a counterweight, a keel increasingly offsets the heeling moment with increasing angle of heel. Related foils include movable centreplates, which -being metal- have the secondary purpose of being a counterweight, and centreboards and daggerboards , which are of lighter weight, do not have

288-434: A series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than being built around a single keel, so the shipbuilding process commences with the cutting of the first sheet of steel. The most common type of keel is the "flat plate keel", which is fitted in most ocean-going ships and other vessels. A form of keel found on smaller vessels is the "bar keel", which may be fitted in trawlers, tugs, and smaller ferries. Where grounding

324-526: A stopover at Southampton on 26 April 1866. The Lloyd Line proved unprofitable and was quickly withdrawn, and Baltic subsequently made five round voyages between New York, Southampton and Bremen for the New York and Bremen Steamship Company, the first of which commenced on 21 February 1867 and the last of which began on 21 October. Baltic was sold in 1870 to interests in Boston, Massachusetts , who removed

360-407: Is possible, this type of keel is suitable with its massive scantlings , but there is always a problem of the increased draft with no additional cargo capacity. If a double bottom is fitted, the keel is almost inevitably of the flat plate type, bar keels often being associated with open floors, where the plate keel may also be fitted. Hydrodynamic keels have the primary purpose of interacting with

396-405: Is the bottom-most structural member around which the hull of a ship is built. The keel runs along the centerline of the ship, from the bow to the stern . The keel is often the first part of a ship's hull to be constructed, and laying the keel , or placing the keel in the cradle where the ship will be built, may mark the start time of its construction. Large, modern ships are now often built in

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432-653: The East Coast of the United States , and later served as a transport for the Union cause during the American Civil War before briefly returning to transatlantic service. In her final years she was converted into a sailing ship. Baltic was scrapped in 1880. For several decades prior to the 1840s, American sailing ships had dominated the transatlantic routes between Europe and the United States. With

468-457: The Kyrenia ship establishes the origin of the keel at least as far back as 315 BC. The Uluburun shipwreck ( c. 1325 BC) had a rudimentary keel, but it may have been more of a center plank than a keel. In carvel-built hulls, construction began with the laying of the keel, followed by the stern and stem . Frames were set up afterward, set at key points along the keel. Later,

504-522: The keelson was attached to the keel, either bolted or with treenails . A plank first building system that is still in use today is clinker construction , using overlapping planks which are shaped to produce the hull form. Older systems include the bottom-based method used for the planking on either side of the keel of a cog (and also in Dutch shipbuilding up to and including the 17th century). This involves flush-fitted planks that have been cut to provide

540-550: The 18th. This was to be the final transatlantic crossing made by a Collins Line ship. On 1 April 1858, the assets of the financially troubled company were seized, and Baltic and Atlantic were sold to a creditor for the sum of $ 50,000. Baltic and Atlantic were laid up for more than a year after the Collins Line failure, but on 9 July the two ships were purchased by the North Atlantic Steamship Company which put them to work as coastal steamers on

576-664: The Cunard liner RMS Persia set a new record with an average speed of 13.11 knots. Almost a century would pass before another American ship, the SS ; United States , was to regain the honor. On 27 September 1854, Baltic's sister ship Arctic suffered a collision with the French screw-steamer Vesta and sank with heavy loss of life. Two years later, another of the four Collins Line steamers, Pacific , sailed from Liverpool on January 23, 1856 with almost 200 passengers and crew and

612-440: The New York and Liverpool S.S.C ordered four new ships from New York shipyards and established a new shipping line, the Collins Line, to manage them. The Collins Line ships were specifically designed to be larger and faster, and to offer a greater degree of passenger comfort, than their Cunard Line counterparts. Design of the ships was entrusted to a noted New York naval architect , George Steers . Baltic 's 282-foot wooden hull

648-573: The New York to Aspinwall route. Baltic and Atlantic continued to service this route until March 1860 when they were again laid up, as the company had been unsuccessful in its bid to secure a mail subsidy from the government. With the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Baltic and Atlantic were both leased by the U.S. government for use as transports at a rate of $ 1,500 per day. They continued to operate in this role for

684-458: The beginning date of a ship's construction. The word "keel" comes from Old English cēol , Old Norse kjóll , = " ship " or "keel". It has the distinction of being regarded by some scholars as the first word in the English language recorded in writing, having been recorded by Gildas in his 6th century Latin work De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae , under the spelling cyulae (he

720-500: The coming of oceangoing steamships however, the U.S. lost its dominance as British steamship companies, particularly the government-subsidized Cunard Line, established regular and reliable steam packet services between the U.S. and Britain. In 1847, the U.S. Congress granted a large subsidy to the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company for the establishment of an American steam packet service to compete with Britain's Cunard Line. With this generous subsidy in hand,

756-413: The coveted Blue Riband for fastest transatlantic passage. As the chief advantage of the Collins Line over its competitor the Cunard Line was speed, it was considered imperative to make every effort to ensure this advantage was maintained regardless of cost. This policy frequently resulted in costly repairs as the ships' engines were continually pushed to the limit. By 1852 it was clear to the owners that

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792-460: The coveted Blue Riband in 1851 for fastest transatlantic crossing by a steamship. She set a new record again in 1854, and was to remain the fastest steamship on the Atlantic for almost five years. In spite of these record-breaking achievements however, her Collins Line owners continued to lose money, and were eventually bankrupted in 1858. Baltic subsequently operated as a coastal steamer along

828-480: The duration of the war, with the lease rate dropping to $ 1,200 in 1863 and $ 1,000 a day by 1865. After the war, Baltic and Atlantic were both purchased by Ruger Brothers & Associates, whose directors included William H. Webb and E. W. Barstow, to operate for the newly established North American Lloyd Line. Baltic began the first of two round voyages for the Lloyd Line between New York and Bremen, with

864-486: The existing government mail subsidy of $ 19,250 per voyage was insufficient, and the Line returned to Congress to request an increase in the subsidy to $ 33,000 per voyage. The government granted this request, and it was additionally decided to increase the number of voyages from 20 to 26 per annum, resulting in a total increase of the annual subsidy from $ 385,000 to $ 858,000. Competition between the two Lines had reduced freight rates considerably however, and even this new subsidy

900-446: The intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baltic_(steamship)&oldid=1102179544 " Categories : Set index articles on ships Ship names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles SS Baltic (1850) Less than a year after entering service, Baltic captured

936-416: The saloon below, contained the men's smoking room. This cabin also housed the helmsman , with whom the captain communicated by a bell signal. The captain also communicated with the engine room by means of a mechanical signalling device. For all the attention devoted to passenger comforts, the directors of the Collins Line well understood that the success of their venture depended primarily upon speed. After

972-463: The shape of the hull. Still older is the mortice and tenon edge-to-edge joining of hull planks in the Mediterranean during the classical period . In this system, much of the strength of the hull is derived from the planking, with the frames providing some extra strength. In all these systems, the joining of the keel, stem and sternpost are the starting point of construction. A structural keel

1008-498: The ship's engines and used her as a sailing vessel. She was broken up in 1880. Books Websites Keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft . On some sailboats , it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The laying of the keel is often the initial step in constructing a ship. In the British and American shipbuilding traditions, this event marks

1044-411: The water and are typical of certain sailboats. Fixed hydrodynamic keels have the structural strength to support the boat's weight. In sailboats , keels serve two purposes: 1) as an underwater foil to minimize the lateral motion of the vessel under sail ( leeway ) and 2) as a counterweight to the lateral force of the wind on the sail(s) that causes rolling to the side ( heeling ). As an underwater foil,

1080-402: Was built from yellow pine , with keel and frames of white oak and chestnut . Like her three sister ships, Baltic had straight stems , a single smokestack , three square-rigged masts for auxiliary power, and a flat main deck with two single-story cabins, one fore and one aft. The ships were painted in Collins Line colors—black hull with a dark red stripe running the length of the ship, and

1116-492: Was initially designed to accommodate 200 first-class passengers in about 150 separate berths, including several large "honeymoon" berths. All the berths were spacious and included two washbasins and a sofa in addition to the beds, which were finished in satinwood and draped with damask curtains. Two innovations were also introduced—a bell-rope system for summoning the steward, and steam heating. The passenger berths were arranged around two large central saloons—a dining saloon and

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1152-459: Was launched in New York on 5 February 1850, and set out on her maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool, England on 16 November, a route she would maintain for the next eight years. Between 6 and 16 August the following year, Baltic made a record passage from Liverpool to New York of 9 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes at an average speed of 12.91 knots, beating the record of 12.46 knots set the previous year by her sister ship Pacific and thus winning

1188-521: Was never heard from again. Loss of these two ships—which some blamed upon the Line's emphasis on speed—caused serious financial harm to the company and also damaged its reputation. To make matters worse, Congress rescinded its generous subsidy to the Line in 1857, reducing it from $ 33,000 per voyage back to the original $ 19,250. On 3 February 1858, Baltic began her last crossing on the Liverpool-New York route, arriving at her destination on

1224-488: Was not sufficient to prevent the company from continuing to lose money. In 1853, Baltic's mizzen (third) mast was removed. From 28 June to July 7, 1854, Baltic set a new Blue Riband record with a passage from Liverpool to New York of 9 days, 16 hours and 52 minutes at an average speed of 13.04 knots. Baltic remained the fastest ship on the Atlantic from her first record breaking run in August 1851 until April 1856, when

1260-598: Was referring to the three ships that the Saxons first arrived in). Carina is the Latin word for "keel" and is the origin of the term careen (to clean a keel and the hull in general, often by rolling the ship on its side). An example of this use is Careening Cove , a suburb of Sydney, Australia , where careening was carried out in the early colonial days. The use of a keel in sailing vessels dates back to antiquity . The wreck of an ancient Greek merchant ship known as

1296-421: Was supplied by four vertical tubular boilers with a double row of furnaces , designed by the Line's chief engineer, John Faron. While this machinery would prove capable of outperforming the opposition, the downside was economy of operation. Fuel consumption for Baltic reached between 75 and 85 tons of coal per day, more than twice as much as the 35 to 45 tons a day for her Cunard Line competitors. Baltic

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