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61-401: As a transport during World War I, Siboney made 17 transatlantic voyages for the navy carrying troops to and from Europe , and had the shortest average in-port turnaround time of all navy transports. During her maiden voyage, her steering gear malfunctioned which resulted in a collision between two other troopships in the convoy. After her World War I service ended, Siboney was returned to

122-808: A 1944 overhaul, the ship was selected for conversion to a hospital ship. Renamed USAHS Charles A. Stafford after a U.S. Army doctor killed in action in Australia, the ship served in both the European and the Pacific Theatres . After the end of her army service, the ship was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet in February 1948, and sold for scrapping in 1957. Oriente was a combination cargo and passenger ship built by William Cramp & Sons , Philadelphia , for

183-527: A dog) each way. Transatlantic flight surpassed ocean liners as the predominant mode of crossing the Atlantic in the mid 20th century. In 1919, the American NC-4 became the first airplane to cross the Atlantic (but in multiple stages). Later that year, a British Vickers Vimy piloted by Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland . Also in 1919,

244-635: A man who had apparently just delivered a supply of alcohol to the docked ship. Siboney underwent a major refit in 1924 during which time she was replaced on her routes by SS  Yucatán , formerly the North German Lloyd ship Prinz Waldemar . After returning to service for the Ward Line, Siboney was the first to relay messages from Miami about the severity of the Great Miami Hurricane when she passed there shortly after

305-595: A similar luxurious style to the ocean liners. However, the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 put an end to transatlantic Zeppelin flights. On 1 June 1944, two K-class blimps from Blimp Squadron ZP-14 of the United States Navy (USN) completed the first transatlantic crossing by non-rigid airships . The two K-ships (K-123 and K-130) left South Weymouth, MA on 28 May 1944 and flew approximately 16 hours to Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland. From Argentia,

366-667: A similar maritime route between its ports in Brazil and the Portuguese mainland. Other colonial powers followed, such as Britain , France and the Netherlands , as they colonized the New World . Guinness Book of World Records has awarded world records to vessels of various classes such as luxury liners, sail boats, and rowing boats. Because of the shape of the continents and the assistance (or resistance) of ocean currents,

427-679: The Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas . The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America . Centuries after the dwindling of sporadic Viking trade with Markland , a regular and lasting transatlantic trade route was established in 1566 with the Spanish West Indies fleets , following the voyages of Christopher Columbus . Prior to

488-517: The Boeing 767 , Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 have largely taken over on transatlantic routes from quad-engine jets, whilst the supersonic Concorde was ultimately doomed by its high running costs, leading to its retirement in 2003. Since the late 1990s, twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliners have been used for transatlantic service, meaning that city pairs between major North American hubs and secondary European cities can now be connected directly without

549-856: The Canary Islands to the Caribbean . It now runs roughly once every two years. In 2006, the first West–East North Atlantic Rowing Race took place, running from New York City to Falmouth, Cornwall in the UK . In 1775, the 62-ton schooner Quero , sailed by John Derby from Salem, Massachusetts to the Isle of Wight in 28 days (April 28 to May 25). In 1866, the 26-foot (7.9 m) lifeboat Red, White and Blue sailed from New York City to Margate , England, in 38 days. In 1870 and 1871, The 20-ft yawl City of Ragusa sailed from Queenstown , Ireland, to New York and back, crewed by two men (and

610-609: The Cunard Line , with Cunard's dominance drawing the attention of the U.S. government, which had its own mail contract to offer to an American firm willing to compete. In 1850 the contract was awarded to the New York and Liverpool United States Steamship Company, which became the Collins Line , and which answered Cunard with its own four ships, which were newer, larger, faster, and more luxurious. Competition developed among

671-910: The Panama Canal during February 1946, Charles A. Stafford resumed her North Atlantic runs to the UK. On 30 August 1946 the Army transferred the ship to the Maritime Commission . On 16 February 1948 the ship was placed in the James River Reserve Fleet . Kept on reserve under the name Siboney , the ship was sold by the Maritime Administration on 2 January 1957 for $ 286,125 to Bethlehem Steel for scrapping. Transatlantic crossing Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across

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732-549: The SS ; United States . The United States is the current holder of the Hales Trophy. In July 1952 that ship made the crossing in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes. Cunard Line's RMS Queen Mary 2 is the only ship currently making regular transatlantic crossings throughout the year, usually between Southampton and New York. For this reason it has been designed as a proper ocean liner, not as a cruise ship. During World War II

793-562: The United Kingdom or France . The introduction of various technologies facilitated progressively faster transatlantic crossings. The duration to travel westbound from Europe to North America when a new transport innovation was introduced for commercial use is listed below: USS President Lincoln Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

854-523: The Vivaldi Atlantic 4 broke the previous rowing record of 55 days and setting a new record of 39 days. On 26 October 2010, Polish sexagenarian Aleksander Doba was the first recorded individual to complete a non-stop transatlantic crossing by kayak . He departed Dakar, Senegal and arrived in Brazil 99 days later. In 1997, the first East–West Atlantic Rowing Race took place, running from

915-613: The evacuation of Java on 3 March 1942. With her conversion complete in September 1944, the Stafford , equipped with new boilers, a single stack in place of her original two, and other improvements, moved to her new homeport of Charleston. From that port the ship made monthly runs to the United Kingdom and back until May 1945, interrupting the pattern only once for a trip to Gibraltar and Marseilles . Steaming to New York at

976-534: The 12 November, shortly after the announcement of the Armistice , and was met by a cheering crowd. Siboney then began her peacetime mission of returning American veterans from Europe to the United States. After embarking 513 wounded men at Saint-Nazaire, she moved to Brest on the 15th and took on 600 more passengers. She sailed the same day under escort and reached New York on 24 November. During

1037-633: The 19th century, transatlantic crossings were undertaken in sailing ships , and the journeys were time-consuming and often perilous. The first trade route across the Atlantic was inaugurated by Spain a few decades after the European Discovery of the Americas , with the establishment of the West Indies fleets in 1566, a convoy system that regularly linked its territories in the Americas with Spain for over two centuries. Portugal created

1098-400: The Army's bareboat charter continued. In early December 1942 Siboney departed for Newfoundland but put into Halifax for two months of drydocking and repairs after she collided with SS City of Kimberly . After returning to New York in February 1943, she made several transatlantic runs, calling at Casablanca , Oran , Gibraltar , Clyde, Durban , Rio de Janeiro , Trinidad, and Cuba over

1159-492: The Atlantic (east–west–east). The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic was made by the Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922. Coutinho and Cabral flew from Lisbon, Portugal , to Rio de Janeiro , Brazil in stages, using three different Fairey III biplanes, and they covered a distance of 8,383 kilometres (5,209 mi) between 30 March and 17 June. The first night-time crossing of

1220-626: The Atlantic and into the Caribbean , and, by the end of 1941, had called at Bermuda, San Juan , Trinidad , St. John's , Charleston , Newport News , Cristóbal , Jamaica , and Panama . December 1941 saw Siboney depart from New York to Trinidad and on to Cape Town , then sailing up the east coast of Africa to Basra , Iraq , and Bandar Shahpur , Iran . The ship returned to Cape Town via Aden and underwent routine boiler repairs there, before returning to New York in April 1942. After undergoing six weeks of repairs at Bethlehem Steel Company ,

1281-454: The Atlantic from East to West, journeying 113 days in a Zodiac , L'Hérétique . In 1956, Henri Beaudout crossed the Atlantic from West to East, from Halifax to Falmouth , on a raft of wood and rope, L'Égaré II , in 88 days. In 1970, Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Atlantic in Ra II , a papyrus raft built to an Ancient Egyptian design. This voyage followed an unsuccessful attempt

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1342-566: The Atlantic was accomplished during 16–17 April 1927 by the Portuguese aviators Sarmento de Beires , Jorge de Castilho and Manuel Gouveia, flying from the Bijagós Archipelago , Portuguese Guinea , to Fernando de Noronha , Brazil in the Argos , a Dornier Wal flying boat. In May 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight in an airplane (between New York City and Paris ). The second solo piloting, and

1403-627: The Atlantic. This record became so critical to international prestige that the RMS ; Mauretania was commissioned by the British government specifically to take the Blue Riband back from the Germans and their SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , which it did in 1907. The government also required it be convertible into a troop carrier if needed. In 1935 shipping magnate Harold Hales formalized

1464-529: The British were the first to cross the Atlantic in an airship when the R34 captained by Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force with his crew and passengers flew from East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, Long Island, covering a distance of about 3,000 statute miles (4,800 km) in about four and a half days; he then made a return trip to England, thus also completing the first double crossing of

1525-571: The Eastbound crossing is quicker than the Westbound crossing. Transatlantic passenger crossings became faster, safer, and more reliable with the advent of steamships in the 19th century. The wooden-hulled, paddle-wheel SS  Great Western built in 1838 is recognized as the first purpose-built transatlantic steamship, on a scheduled run back and forth from Bristol to New York City. The design by British civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel

1586-479: The Statistical Department of the U.S. Navy, Siboney had the shortest average in-port turnaround time out of 37 U.S. Navy transports used during World War I. The ship completed 17 round trips and had an average turn-around time of just under 30 days per trip, almost ten days shorter than the average of 39.8 days. On 10 September at Hoboken, Siboney was decommissioned and turned over to

1647-550: The War Department, who returned the ship to the Ward Line, her original owners. After her reacquisition, the Ward Line placed SS Siboney in transatlantic service on a New York to Havana , Tenerife , Bilbao , Santander , and Vigo route. On 9 September 1920, the ship ran aground in the harbor at Vigo. Initial efforts to re-float her were unsuccessful, but by late October, Siboney had been repaired enough to make it to Shields . Despite considerable damage, Siboney

1708-510: The Ward Line and placed in New York–Cuba–Spain transatlantic service; the liner ran aground at Vigo , Spain in September 1920. Despite considerable damage, she was repaired and placed back in service. In late 1921, Siboney was switched to New York–Cuba–Mexico routes, which were a popular and inexpensive way for Americans to escape Prohibition . In late 1940, she was chartered to American Export Lines to return Americans fleeing Europe at

1769-513: The Ward Line. In mid-1917 the United States Shipping Board (USSB) commandeered and received title to all private shipbuilding projects in progress, including the still-incomplete Oriente and her sister ship Orizaba . Plans for both ships were modified for troop carrying duties. Oriente was launched on 15 August 1917, renamed Siboney on 28 February 1918, delivered to the navy on 8 April, and commissioned

1830-571: The Ward Line—the fire and sinking of Morro Castle off New Jersey in 1934 and the grounding of Havana and the sinking of Mohawk in the months that followed—caused the "Ward Line" name to be dropped in favor of the "Cuba Mail Line" moniker. By 1939, Siboney , still on the New York–Cuba–Mexico route, sported a new paint scheme of "dove grey" hull and black funnels with white markings to reflect this change in name. In late 1940, however,

1891-561: The blimps flew approximately 22 hours to Lajes Field on Terceira Island in the Azores. The final leg of the first transatlantic crossing was about a 20-hour flight from the Azores to Craw Field in Port Lyautey ( Kenitra ), French Morocco . Beginning in the 1950s, the predominance of ocean liners began to wane when larger, jet -powered airplanes began carrying passengers across the ocean in less and less time. The speed of crossing

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1952-631: The conclusion of her last transatlantic run, Charles A. Stafford was overhauled for duty in the South Pacific . With the alterations complete, the veteran ship—now homeported at Los Angeles —sailed in August 1945 for Cristobál and on to Honolulu , Manila , Biak , Leyte , and Mindoro . After returning to Los Angeles in October, the Stafford sailed for Honolulu, Manila, and Eniwetok and back. After sailing to her new homeport of New York via

2013-412: The convoy was joined by the war zone escort of eight destroyers and, on 6 May, Siboney arrived at Brest . Debarking her troops, she sailed the following day and arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey , on 15 May. Siboney embarked her second contingent of troops at Lambert's Point , Virginia , on 25 May and sailed the following day. The New York section of the convoy joined two days later and

2074-414: The first to carry a passenger, was Clarence Duncan Chamberlin on 6 June 1927. Edward R. Armstrong proposed a string of anchored "seadromes" to refuel planes in a crossing. The first serious attempt to take a share of the transatlantic passenger market away from the ocean liners was undertaken by Germany . In the 1930s, Germany crossed the Atlantic with Zeppelins that could carry about 60 passengers in

2135-522: The industrial powers of the time—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States—to competitively build grand ocean liners as symbols of national technical skill and expressions of power, not just transport businesses. The competition was for speed. An award called the Blue Riband has been tracked since 1838, for the fastest average speed of a steamship in regular service across

2196-421: The need for larger widebody jets, which were uneconomic on routes with lower passenger demand. The Boeing 757 started this trend when it became ETOPS certified, although the most recent versions of both the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 now have transatlantic capability. Transatlantic cables are cables that have been laid along the ocean floor to connect North America and Europe. Before the advent of radio ,

2257-475: The next 11 months. Siboney returned to New York for major repairs and reboilering at Bethlehem Steel Co. In January 1944, while undergoing this work, the ship was selected for conversion to a hospital ship. The ship was renamed USAHS Charles A. Stafford after Captain Charles A. Stafford of the U.S. Army Medical Corps , who was killed during the air raid on Broome, Western Australia , while participating in

2318-532: The next ten months, Siboney made ten more round trips between the United States and France, returning over 3,000 troops per trip when fully loaded. On one such return trip in August 1919, Siboney carried Admiral Henry T. Mayo and Congressman Thomas S. Butler home from France. Siboney returned to New York on 2 September at the conclusion of her 17th trip, having traveled over 115,000 nautical miles (213,000 km) and transported approximately 55,000 military passengers to and from French ports. According to

2379-427: The ocean therefore became more important than the style of crossing it. The maturing passenger Jet Age starting with the Boeing 707 reduced the typical crossing time between London and New York City to between 6.5 and 8 hours, depending on weather conditions. By the 1970s, supersonic Concorde airplanes could connect the two cities in less than 4 hours, and only one ocean liner, Queen Elizabeth 2 remained on

2440-535: The only means of communication across the Atlantic Ocean was to physically connect the continents with a transatlantic telegraph cable , the first of which was installed from Valentia , Ireland to Heart's Content , Newfoundland in 1858. It worked for a month. The first pair of eastbound and westbound transatlantic telephone cables, TAT-1 , were laid in 1955 and 1956 by the cable ship HMTS Monarch . The first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8 ,

2501-660: The outset of World War II, making seven roundtrips from Jersey City , New Jersey , to Lisbon . During World War II , Siboney was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) and assigned to the War Department as a U.S. Army transport. She made several transatlantic trips and called at ports in Africa , the Middle East , Canada , the Caribbean , and the United Kingdom . During

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2562-605: The previous year in his first raft, Ra I . In 1988, the junk raft , Son of Town Hall , crossed the North Atlantic Ocean. In 2011, Anthony Smith and the Antiki crossed the Atlantic. On 13 June 2003, French rower Maud Fontenoy started an eastward crossing of the Atlantic from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon . She reached A Coruña in Spain on 10 October, becoming the first woman to accomplish this feat. In 2005,

2623-441: The prize by commissioning and donating the four-foot, solid silver Hales Trophy. Examples of other famous transatlantic liners are RMS  Lusitania , RMS  Olympic , RMS  Titanic , SS  Île de France , RMS  Aquitania , SS  Rex , SS  Normandie , RMS  Queen Mary , SS  America , RMS  Queen Elizabeth , SS  France , Queen Elizabeth 2 , RMS  Queen Mary 2 , and

2684-613: The quickest and least expensive ways to what one author called "alcohol-enriched vacations". A typical route from this period would sail from New York and call at Nassau , Havana, Progreso , Veracruz , and Tampico , skipping Nassau on the return. Prohibition also had a more direct effect on Siboney and her crew. On 27 June 1922, Siboney —freshly returned from Havana with a load of pineapples—was raided by United States Customs Service inspectors who seized 300 bottles of smuggled liquor on board. In December 1923, four boiler room workers were arrested when police became suspicious of

2745-505: The same day. Siboney sailed from Philadelphia on 16 April as a unit of the Cruiser and Transport Force , and arrived at Newport News two days later to embark her first contingent of troops. She departed Hampton Roads on 23 April and joined her first convoy the following day. On 25 April, her rudder jammed; and, in the ensuing confusion, transports Aeolus and Huron collided and had to return to New York . On 4 May,

2806-543: The ships entered the war zone on 6 June. In French waters, they were met by USS  Corsair , a squadron of minesweepers , an American dirigible , and two French hydroplanes . Siboney arrived in Bordeaux on 8 June and departed the following day but remained anchored in the mouth of the Gironde until 13 June, awaiting the tanker Woonsocket . On 15 June, the convoy passed six empty lifeboats from

2867-583: The ship—painted with a large American flag and "American Export" lettering on each side—was accosted by "two submarine chasers flying British ensigns " that fired shots over Siboney ' s bow, one of which landed less than 100 feet (30 m) away from the ship. According to Siboney ' s captain, Wenzel Habel, the two ships were British corvette types marked "K-25" and "K-125"—which may have been Flower-class corvettes HMS  Azalea  (K25) and HMCS  Kenogami  (K125) . After answering questions from "K-25" shouted via loudspeaker, Siboney

2928-530: The storm hit in September 1926. On 18 February 1928, Siboney rammed and sank the coal barge Seneca off Ambrose Light during a snowstorm; the barge had been cut down in 1915 from SS  Seneca , coincidentally, a former Ward Line ship. Bad luck continued for Siboney on 5 January 1929, when she rammed and sank the Bauer Towing Company tug Phillip Hoffman off the Battery , killing

2989-490: The struggling Cuba Mail Line chartered Siboney to American Export Lines which employed her on Jersey City –Lisbon service. During her American Export service, one of her passengers to the U.S. was French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , when he emigrated in January 1941 to Asharoken, New York after Germany 's armistice with France . On 12 April 1941 at 13:30, 320 nautical miles (590 km) out of Lisbon,

3050-765: The torpedoed transport USS  President Lincoln . Siboney entered the American war zone on 20 June, and the next day rescued survivors of the British troopship , Dwinsk , which had been torpedoed three days earlier. The transport arrived at New York on 22 June and anchored in the North River. Siboney sailed for France on 30 June; after delivering her troops at Brest on 12 July, she returned to New York on 25 July. She sailed again on 31 July. Before arriving at Brest on 12 August, she had to maneuver several times to evade possible submarine contacts. She arrived at New York on 22 August and

3111-467: The transatlantic crossing was very important for the United Kingdom as much of Europe had been taken over by Germany and its allies preventing trade and supplies; the struggle is known as the Battle of the Atlantic . In 2009, two brothers, Ralph and Robert Brown, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a 21 ft (6.4 m) flats boat – a special boat designed to operate in extremely shallow water. This flats boat

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3172-443: The transatlantic route for those who favored the slower style of travel. The economics of commercial transatlantic flying have evolved markedly since the 1950s; the introduction of widebody airliners (such as the Boeing 747 and Douglas DC-10 ) in the early 1970s made affordable transatlantic travel to the masses a reality. Since the 1990s, the high reliability of modern jet engines has meant that twin-engine jet aircraft such as

3233-582: The transport sailed for Halifax , Iceland , and the Clyde , Scotland , in late May, returning to New York in July. Another trip to England and back followed in September 1942. On 1 July 1942 the ship had been acquired by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) under a bareboat charter converting the Army's time charter to a sub bareboat charter. On 9 August 1943 WSA purchased the ship with

3294-400: The troops, killing a number of soldiers. Sailing from Brest on 16 October, the transport returned to New York on 24 October. Siboney had already embarked troops for her next voyage when, on 3 November, she was ordered to disembark them. She sailed the following day with an army brigadier general and his staff, and a naval draft of 500 men. She arrived at Saint-Nazaire on

3355-407: The tug's engineer. Siboney continued her same routes into the 1930s, and by 1933 typical runs for Siboney were from New York to Havana, Progreso, and Veracruz and back, omitting Progreso on the return. On one such return trip from Veracruz and Havana in April 1935, a passenger had $ 5,000 worth of diamond and platinum jewelry stolen while on board. By 1935, multiple public relations disasters for

3416-453: Was a breakthrough in its size, unprecedented passenger capacity, and for Brunel leveraging the fuel efficiency of a larger ship. It became the prototype for a generation of similar ships. The British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company started its year-round Liverpool-Halifax-Boston service in 1840, using four new Britannia -class steamships and a mail contract from the British government. The company later evolved into

3477-400: Was allowed to resume her course. Habel filed a protest with British officials when Siboney docked at Bermuda . At the conclusion of her seventh and final journey for American Export, Siboney was placed under time charter for duty as an Army transport. After a hasty outfitting, the redesignated USAT Siboney was put to work transporting troops. Based in New York, she made trips up and down

3538-653: Was designed and built by Ralph Brown. The voyage was called the "I Am Second Wounded Hero Voyage" in honor of the men who were killed in Operation Eagle Claw ; Ralph Brown had been in the USMC at the time of the Operation and was told he was going to participate in the mission. Though he ultimately did not go, other servicemen who did perished in the failed military operation. In 1952, Alain Bombard crossed

3599-499: Was given a two-week repair period. On 4 September, Siboney sailed from New York on her fifth crossing and arrived at Saint-Nazaire nine days later. On 15 September, she embarked a number of wounded troops and left Saint-Nazaire the same day, but, due to heavy submarine activity, swung at anchor for several days before her convoy sailed. She arrived on 29 September at New York. On her sixth eastward crossing, between 6 and 15 October, an influenza epidemic broke out among

3660-474: Was installed in 1988. The exchange rate between the United States dollar and British pound is still colloquially known as "cable" by financial marketeers, from the early use of the transatlantic cable for this purpose. A transatlantic tunnel is a theoretical structure proposed several times since the late 19th century. It would be a tunnel spanning the Atlantic Ocean between New York City and

3721-432: Was refitted and placed in service again and, by March 1921, the Ward Line was advertising passage to Spain via Havana aboard her. The Ward Line, however, abandoned the New York–Cuba–Spain service later in 1921 due to a lack of passengers. By November 1921, Siboney was placed in New York–Cuba–Mexico service, where business thrived, in part because of Prohibition in the United States . Ward Line cruises to Havana were one of

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