The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated luxury flagship, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of her sister ship, Britannic. In 1934 the line merged with its chief rival, Cunard Line, which operated as a separate entity until 2005 and is now part of Carnival Corporation & PLC.

History

Early history

The first company bearing the name White Star Line was founded in Liverpool, England by John Pilkington and Henry Threlfall Wilson, and focused on the U.K. - Australia trade, which had increased following the discovery of gold there. The fleet initially consisted of chartered sailing ships, RMS Tayleur, Blue Jacket (later renamed White Star), Red Jacket, Ellen, Ben Nevis, Emma, Mermaid and Iowa. The fate of Tayleur, the largest ship of its day, haunted the company for years, for it was wrecked on its maiden voyage to Australia at Lambay Island, near Ireland. The company acquired its first steamship in 1863, the Royal Standard.

The original White Star Line merged with two other small lines, Black Ball and Eagle, to form a conglomerate, the Liverpool, Melbourne and Oriental Steam Navigation Company Limited. This did not prosper and White Star broke away. White Star concentrated on the Liverpool to New York service. Heavy investment in new ships was financed by borrowing, but the company's bank, the Royal Bank of Liverpool, failed in October 1867. White Star was left with an outstanding debt of £527,000, and was forced into bankruptcy.

The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company

On 18 January 1868, Thomas Ismay, a director of the National Line, purchased the house flag, trade name, and goodwill of the bankrupt company for £1,000, with the intention of operating large ships on the North Atlantic service. Ismay established the company's headquarters at Albion House, Liverpool.

Ismay was approached by Gustav Christian Schwabe, a prominent Liverpool merchant, and his nephew, shipbuilder Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, during a game of billiards. Schwabe offered to finance the new line if Ismay had his ships built by Wolff's company, Harland and Wolff. Ismay agreed, and a partnership with Harland and Wolff was established. The shipbuilders received their first orders on 30 July 1869. The agreement was that Harland and Wolff would build the ships at cost plus a fixed percentage and would not build any vessels for the White Star's rivals. In 1870 William Imrie joined the managing company. As the first ship was being commissioned, Ismay formed the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company to operate the steamers under construction.

White Star began with six ships of the Oceanic class: Oceanic , Atlantic, Baltic, and Republic, followed by the slightly larger Celtic and Adriatic. White Star began operating again in 1871 between New York and Liverpool (with a call at Queenstown).

It has long been customary for many shipping lines to have a common theme for the names of its ships. White Star gave its ships names ending in -ic, such as Titanic. The line also adopted a buff-coloured funnel with a black top as a distinguishing feature for its ships, as well as its distinctive house flag, a red broad pennant with two tails, bearing a white five-pointed star.

During the late nineteenth century, White Star operated many famous ships, such as Britannic (I), Germanic, Teutonic, and Majestic . Several of these ships took the Blue Riband, awarded to the fastest ship to make the Atlantic crossing.

In 1899 Thomas Ismay commissioned one of the most beautiful steam ships constructed during the nineteenth century, the Oceanic . She was the first ship to exceed the Great Eastern in length (although not tonnage). The building of this ship marked White Star's departure from competition in speed with its rivals. Thereafter White Star concentrated on comfort and economy of operation instead.

In the late nineteenth century, shipbuilders had discovered that when speed through water increased above about , the required additional engine power increased in logarithmic proportion: that is, each additional increment of speed required a larger increase in engine power and fuel consumption. With the coal-fired reciprocating steam engines of the time, exceeding about required very high power and fuel consumption.

For this reason, the White Star Line committed to comfort and reliability rather than to speed. For example, White Star's Celtic cruised at with 14,000 horsepower, while Cunard's Mauretania made with 68,000 horsepower.

Between 1901 and 1907, White Star brought "The Big Four" (all around 24,000 tons) into service: Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, and Adriatic. These ships carried massive numbers of passengers: 400 passengers in First and Second Class, and over 2,000 in Third Class. In addition, they had extremely large cargo capacities, up to 17,000 tons of general cargo.

In 1902 the White Star Line was absorbed into the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMM), a large American shipping conglomerate. Bruce Ismay ceded control to IMM in the face of intense pressure from shareholders and J. P. Morgan, who threatened a rate war. IMM was dissolved in 1932.

The White Star Line and immigration

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, millions of people immigrated to the United States and Canada. White Star was among the first shipping lines to have passenger ships with less expensive accommodation for Third Class passengers, in addition to First and Second Class. The Oceanic-class liners of 1870-1872 carried up to 1,000 Third Class passengers. The "Big Four" of 1901-1907 all carried over 2,000 Third Class passengers. White Star advertised extensively for immigrant passengers. Most were from Great Britain or Ireland, but large numbers also came from continental Europe, Russia, and even the Middle East. No exact figures are available, but White Star liners may have carried as many as two million immigrants.

Olympic class ships

The Cunard Line was the chief competitor to White Star. In response to Cunard, White Star ordered the Olympic class liners: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. While Cunard was famed for the speed of its ships, the Olympic class were to be the biggest and most luxurious ships in the world. Britannic was originally to be much larger than Titanic, and named Gigantic; her name was changed shortly after the sinking of Titanic. The Olympic was the only ship of this class that was profitable for White Star. Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, while Britannic was requisitioned by the British government before she was fully fitted, and used as a hospital ship during World War I. Britannic sank after hitting a mine on November 21, 1916.

Mergers

In 1927 the White Star Line was purchased by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC), making RMSPC the largest shipping group in the world.

In 1928 a new Oceanic was proposed and her keel was laid down that year at Harland and Wolff, but the ship was never completed. She was to have the new diesel-electric propulsion system and maintain the thousand foot dimensions that had originally been planned for Gigantic and the unbuilt Ceric (1913). Oceanic's keel was dismantled and the steel was used in two new smaller ships built for the White Star: RMS Georgic and RMS Britannic . Both of these ships entered service in 1930; they were the last liners White Star built.

RMSPC ran into financial trouble, and was liquidated in 1932. A new company, Royal Mail Lines Limited, took over the ships of RMSPC and its subordinate lines including White Star.

In 1933 White Star and Cunard were both in serious financial difficulties because of the Great Depression, falling passenger numbers and the advanced age of their fleets. Work had been halted on Cunard's new giant, Hull 534 (later the Queen Mary), in 1931, to save money. In 1933 the British government agreed to provide assistance to the two competitors on the condition that they merge. The agreement was completed on 30 December 1933.

The merger took place on 10 May 1934, creating Cunard White Star Limited. White Star contributed 10 ships to the new company while Cunard contributed 15 ships. Because of this, and since Hull 534 was Cunard's ship, 62% of the company was owned by Cunard's shareholders and 38% of the company was owned by White Star's shareholders. A year after this merger, Olympic, the last of her class, was removed from service. Two years later, in 1937, she was scrapped.

In 1947 Cunard acquired the 38% of Cunard White Star it did not already own, and on 31 December 1949 it acquired Cunard White Star's assets and operations, and reverted to using the name "Cunard." From the time of the 1934 merger, the house flags of both lines had been flown on all its ships, with each ship flying the flag of its original owner above the other. After 1950, only Georgic and Britannic, the last surviving White Star liners, continued to fly the White Star burgee on a regular basis above the Cunard house flag. All other ships flew the Cunard flag over the White Star flag until 1968.

White Star Line today

The White Star Line's London offices, named Oceanic House, still exist today. They are just a block off Trafalgar Square, and one can still see the name on the building over the entrances.

The French passenger tender Nomadic, the last surviving vessel of the White Star Line, was purchased by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development in January 2006. She has since been returned to Belfast, where she is to be restored under the auspices of the Nomadic Preservation Trust along with the assistance of her original builders, Harland and Wolff. She is intended to serve as the centerpiece of a museum dedicated to the history of Atlantic steam, the White Star Line, and its most famous ship, the Titanic. Also, the Cunard Line has introduced the White Star Service as the name of the brand of services on its ships RMS Queen Mary 2, MS Queen Victoria, and the future MS Queen Elizabeth. The company has also created the White Star Academy, an in-house programme for preparing new crew members for Cunard ships.

The White Star flag is raised on the Queens on every 15 April, in memory of the Titanic disaster.

Fleet events

• On 21 January 1854 wrecked off Lambay Island, with the loss of 380 lives, out of 652 on board.
• In 1873 the was wrecked near Halifax, costing 585 lives.
• In 1893 vanished on the Atlantic ocean with 74 passengers and crew after departing Liverpool for New York. Her wreck has never been found.
• In 1907 ran aground off the coast of England, but in the largest rescue of its kind, all 456 passengers and 141 crewmembers were rescued. The ship was deliberately broken in two, with the stern half being rebuilt with a new bow.
• In 1909 the was lost after a collision with the liner . Four lives were lost in the collision and the ship remained afloat for over 39 hours before foundering.
• In September 1911 was involved in a collision with the warship Hawke in the Solent, badly damaging both ships.
• In April 1912 was lost after colliding with an iceberg, taking 1,517 passengers with her.
• The first White Star ship lost during World War I was Arabic , torpedoed off the Old Head of Kinsale Ireland on 19 August 1915 killing 44.
• The following November, the second sister ship of Titanic, HMHS Britannic, was lost after either striking a mine in the Kea Channel off Greece or getting torpedoed. She sank in less than 50 minutes with the loss of 21 lives and was the largest vessel sunk in the war.
• In 1915 the is narrowly missed by a German torpedo in the Mediterranean Sea. No lives were lost.
• On 3 May 1915 the former Germanic (then in service as a Turkish troop transport) was torpedoed by the British Submarine E-14. The ship survived the attack with no fatalities.
• In May 1916 Ceramic was narrowly missed by two torpedoes from unidentified U-boat in Mediterranean Sea.
• In 1916 the was torpedoed 3 times and sunk by U-20, killing 5.
• On 25 January 1917 Laurentic struck two mines laid by German submarine U-80 and sank with a loss of 354 lives.
• In May 1917 was torpedoed and sunk by the German coastal minelayer sub, UC-66, in English Channel, killing 22 crew members.
• In June 1917 Ceramic was narrowly missed by one torpedo from unidentified U-boat in English Channel.
• In July 1917 Ceramic was chased for 40 minute by unidentified U-boat firing its deck guns.
• In August 1917 Delphic was torpedoed 135 miles off Bishop Rock by German U-boat UC-72 and sank with the loss of five lives.
• On 12 May 1918, the Olympic rammed and sank the U-boat U-103 which had tried, and failed, to torpedo her.
• On 19-20 July 1918 Justicia (owned by the British Government and managed by White Star) was torpedoed twice by U-46 but she remained afloat. Later in the same day, she was torpedoed two more times by U-46 and again managed to stay afloat. The next morning, as she was towed by HMS Sonia, she was torpedoed two more times by U-124 and finally sank, killing 16 crew members.
• In September 1918 Persic was torpedoed by U-87 off of the Scilly Islands, but was able to limp off and out run the sub. She was towed in and repaired, resuming her service.
• In October 1917 Celtic ran up on a mine laid by U-88 near Cobh, Ireland, killing 17. She was repaired and put back into military service. In June 1918, she was torpedoed by UB-77 in the Irish Sea, killing 7. Once again, she was able to escape the sub and limp in to port with her own steam. She was repaired and once again put back into service, serving through the remainder of the war without incident.
• On 15 May 1934, while steaming in a fog, the Olympic rammed the Lightship Nantucket, sinking it and killing seven of the crew.
• In November 1940 Laurentic was torpedoed and sunk by U-99 off Northern Ireland with the loss of 49 lives.

Notable captains

• Commodore Sir Bertram Fox Hayes KCMG DSO RD RNR – Commodore, White Star Line
• Sir Digby Murray
• Captain J. B. Ranson OBE
• Captain Edward J. Smith RD RNR of RMS Titanic fame.
• Captain Charles Bartlett of the Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic.

See also

• List of White Star Line ships

References

Further reading

• The ship's list
• History of the White Star Line
• Red duster page on the White Star Line
• Brief company overview
• Info on the original financing deal
• Gardiner, Robin, History of the White Star Line, Ian Allan Publishing 2002. ISBN 0-7110-2809-5

External links

• Titanic Archive
• Maritimequest RMS Titanic Photo Gallery
• White Star Line - 1935+ Unofficial Cunard Page
• Historic Ocean Liners
• White Star Line on Titanic-Titanic.com
• Maritimequest RMS Olympic Photo Gallery
• Maritimequest HMHS Britannic Photo Gallery
• Final Demise of White Star Line Vessels
• Brief history of the White Star Line - from TDTSC MN
• White Star Line discussion forum at TDTSC
• Passenger Lists from the White Star Line
• White Star Line Historical Documents, Brochures, Menus, etc.
• White Star Line History website