When word spread of the valuable haul coming from the Oceanic, Shetland-based Hay & Co came forward to contest ownership of the wreck in court. “I’d never sell the bottles I’ve kept. Also a map headed: "Scene Of The Disaster". She was the company’s last express liner prior to Olympic and Titanic, and her lavish first class accommodation became … There was a Library on the Promenade Deck and a Smoke Room at the aft end of the Upper Deck, with the most impressive feature being the elegant dome which capped the First Class dining room on the Saloon Deck.[8]. “I still work in equipment design part-time but I can’t get a medical certificate to go to sea any more. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}60°07′N 1°58′W / 60.117°N 1.967°W / 60.117; -1.967. U-1206 (wreck) 310 km; HMS Audacious (Wreck) 599 km; U-883 (wreck) 624 km; SS Beatus 708 km; RMS Lusitania (WWI Ocean Liner Wreck) 1049 km; 17th century shipwreck 1217 km; Wreck of ORP ORKAN - destroyer of the Polish Navy. El RMS Oceanic fue un transatlántico británico de la naviera White Star Line, construido por los astilleros Harland & Wolff en Belfast. [2], Their new flagship Oceanic was built at Harland and Wolff’s Queen's Island yard at Belfast, as was the tradition with White Star Line ships, and her keel was laid down in 1897. Fortunately the fire was brought under control before it could spread to Oceanic. “But I’m fascinated about the future of deep-water salvage and I love writing about the past. “When most people think of shipwrecks, they think of whole vessels but often these damaged ships lie in pieces on the ocean floor,” said Alec. Filled with youthful bravado and the prospect of a salvage haul of a lifetime, the two rookie divers set off for the tiny island with a makeshift salvage boat, minimal heavy lifting gear and modest funds. To avoid this problem it was soon found necessary to operate her at a service speed of 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph), lower than her planned service speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. As was seen aboard Teutonic and Majestic, as well as the newly-completed Cymric, a limited number of two-berth and four-berth cabins were arraigned, but were strictly reserved for married couples and families with children. El RMS Oceanic fue un transatlántico británico de la naviera White Star Line, construido por los astilleros Harland & Wolff en Belfast.El 6 de septiembre de 1899 inició su viaje inaugural. She was powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion engines, which were when constructed the largest of their type in the world, and could produce 28,000 ihp[4][5][2], In order to build the ship a new 500 ton overhead gantry crane had to be constructed at the yard in order to lift the material necessary for the ship's construction. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce. These things are lovely to have because they are so unusual. This includes a record-breaking £1 million copper haul 1,250m underwater from a French cargo ship lost off the coast of Spain. On the Upper Deck, entrances were located adjacent to the forward and aft well decks, where most of the lavatories were located. [1] At the outbreak of World War I she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. I wasn't aware that the Arabic had been found until now. He offered in his defence that he was exonerated by the evidence given by Captain Slayter and Commander Smith that he was under their supervision, and that the stranding was due to abnormal currents. A local from Shetland, John-Andrew Ratter, worked on the Oceanic with us and we are in touch to this day.”. Writing has allowed me to look back on everything we’ve achieved and describe it with a fresh perspective. The depth of the wreck varies, being at average around 50 feet below the surface. This put them directly on course for a reef, the notorious Shaalds of Foula, which poses a major threat to shipping, coming within a few feet of the surface, and in calm weather giving no warning sign whatsoever. At the very aft end of the deck were the Third Class Smoke Room and General Room, as well as the galley. Alec and Simon recovered 250 tonnes of valuable metal from the wreck over five years and hundreds of dives. Alec has two at home, sitting untouched on his mantelpiece, taken during his dive in the early 1970s. After 50 years, Alec remains fascinated by the underwater world of marine salvage. “It was worth a lot of money,” recalls Alec. Thomas Ismay had planned to be on board but was by this stage too unwell. All Rights Reserved. “For two young lads, it was a very lucrative haul and set us both up for life,” said Alec, who, now 72, can no longer take part in salvage missions at sea but has written about the shipwrecks that defined his early diving career in his first book, Treasure Island: True Tales Of A Shipwreck Hunter. “Simon bought a nice flat in St Andrews at the time and one propeller would’ve bought him about three of those. As attempts to dispose of the White Star Line ship at that time, only succeeded in dismantling her to the waterline, another salvage operation had to be carried out in 1979 to clear the remaining wreckage from the site. [2], Captain Slayter had retired after his night watch, unaware of the situation, with orders to steer to Foula. Built in 1899, the Oceanic was once the largest ship in the world, rivalling the Titanic in terms of luxury until it was converted into an armed merchant carrier during the First World War. The revelation of such gross incompetence at this early stage of the war would have done nothing for national morale. “There was perfect visibility down there. The smaller of the two Saloon deck compartments was designated for married couples. The money they made from their salvage set them up for life. Charles Lightoller, the ship's First Officer (and also the most senior officer to survive the sinking of the Titanic), was the last man off, taking the navigation room's clock as a souvenir. Whether diving among shallow wartime wrecks submerged off the Western Isles or remotely exploring a lost luxury liner 3,000 metres deep in the Mediterranean, Alec’s profitable hauls include precious gems, personal artefacts, gigantic brass propellers and even a few famous whisky bottles. Triple expansion reciprocating engines; 28,000 horsepower. 1 A sister ship for the Oceanic to be named Olympic was planned. [16], Commander Smith is said to have come ashore at the remote island’s tiny pier, and on looking back out to sea toward his stranded ship two miles away, commented that the ship would stay on the reef as a monument and nothing would move it. RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. ! She departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on 6 September, under the command of Captain John G. Cameron. Wreck of the Titanic found Seventy-three years after it sank to the North Atlantic ocean floor, a joint U.S.-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic . Oceanic while entering the harbor of San Francisco collided with the steamship SS City of Chester that was en-route to Eureka, California. Close-up of Titanic's bow. [12], In 1900 she was struck by lightning while at dock at Liverpool and lost the top of her mainmast. The same scaling-down was seen with the Second Class dining room, which could seat 148, and the array of comfortable two-berth and four-berth cabins. I became more interested in the engineering side as we moved from physical risk to financial risk. [2], In 1905, 45 of the ship's firemen mutinied in protest at the unpleasant working conditions in the ship's boiler rooms, which resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of 33 stokers.[13][2]. In 1901 in a heavy fog, she was involved in a collision where she rammed and sank the small Waterford S.S. Co's. In 1905, Oceanic … In 1924, a salvage company which had been engaged on the scuttled German warships at Scapa Flow attempted to salvage what remained of the wreck; however they were unsuccessful. 'The Titanic Commutator; Vol II, Issue 23, Fall 1979: p. 7, 9, 28, 33. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBartlett2011 (, "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in September 1914, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RMS_Oceanic_(1899)&oldid=1000982637, Articles with dead external links from April 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Oceanic was to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to the Faroes, in particular the area around Shetland. From here she proceeded north to Shetland travelling continuously on a standard zigzag course as a precaution against being targeted by U-boats. On 8 August 1914 she was commissioned into Royal Navy service. Thomas Beattie, a first class passenger, and two crew members, a fireman and a seaman. The White Star Line’s Oceanic was the largest ship in the world in 1899 when she was launched as the company’s "Ship of the Century." Additional resources: The three male corpses were discovered in the collapsible boat 200 miles from the wreck site by the passing British liner RMS Oceanic ... arms came off when lifted by crew members of the Oceanic. Each of the two compartments also had small dining rooms fashioned with fitted tables and swivel chairs similar to that in Second Class. Deep below the waves, thousands of shipwrecks lie hidden on the ocean floor around Scotland, and diver Alec Crawford has made his fortune by hunting – and finding – their lost treasures. [1] At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, she was commissioned into Royal Navy service on 8 August 1914 as an armed merchant cruiser.. On 25 August 1914, the newly-designated HMS Oceanic … In order to compete with these ships the White Star Line needed to produce a new flagship which could rival them. She was wrecked in a flat calm and clear weather. [2], An inaccurate fix of their position was made on the night of 7 September by navigator Lieutenant David Blair RNR (previously assigned to, then reassigned from, the Titanic). [2], The early years of Oceanic's career were fairly eventful, as she was well received by the public on both sides of the Atlantic. From there he worked on previously explored sunken wartime vessels in the waters off Barra. El 6 de septiembre de 1899 inició su viaje inaugural. Saved by Geoff Murray. “After Moya and I married we had this ambition to do deep-water salvage. 6 hold – which was occupied as a steerage compartment. The cargo vessel carrying 22,000 cases of whisky foundered off the coast of Eriskay in 1941, taking 264,000 whisky bottles down with it. The wreck of Oceanic remained on the rocks untouched until 1926. In 1973 another attempt was made to salvage parts of the wreck and the propellers for scrap. The problem with deep-water salvage isn’t how deep you can go, but how you can do it cost-effectively, and the engineering is driven by that.”. We collected some loose scrap but just enough to pay for the fuel we used on the boat to get there,” he recalled. If an owner is found, the salvager receives a “salvage award” according to the value of the goods. Get a round-up of stories from The Sunday Post every week. Alec grew up by the River Tay, a few miles from Balmerino, in Fife. Under British law, items found on shipwrecks are declared to the salvager of wreck, who must try to find its owner. She completed the voyage in 6 days 2 hours and 37 minutes at an average speed of 19.57 knots and arrived at New York to a rapturous welcome. Oceanic was not however designed to be the fastest ship afloat or compete for the Blue Riband, as it was the White Star Line's policy to focus on size and comfort rather than speed. Having previously disagreed with his naval superior about navigating a ship as large as Oceanic in the dangerous waters around the Scottish islands, he instructed the navigator to plot a course west, and out to sea, away (so he thought) from hidden dangers like outlying reefs. The Atlantic lies southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia and east of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia at the south end of Marrs Island. Oceanics's bell was being used by a retired lady as a doorstep, until the bell was sold and caught the museum's attention, when it saw the bell was on auction ! On 3rd June 1907, while in New York, Oceanic suffered approximately $5,000 to $10,000 worth of damage after a fire broke out in No. Oceanic - 126 ft* Normandie - 117.9 ft Queen Mary - 118 ft Draught: Oceanic - 38 ft Normandie - 37 ft Queen Mary - 39 ft Installed power: Oceanic - Diesel-electric drive; 47 six-cylinder, exhaust turbo-charged, four-stroke, single-acting diesel generators. El RMS Oceanic fue un transatlántico británico de la naviera White Star Line, construido en los astilleros de Harland and Wolff, en Belfast. The keel was laid in January of 1897, and the ship was built under the supervision of its designer, Thomas Ismay, director and owner of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, better known as White Star Line. Atlantic is a popular scuba diving site. Alec said: “We ended up paying them a very small percentage for everything we recovered, which was good because it wasn’t a lot of money from our point of view!”. Between 1900 and 1906, she bested her main rivals, Cunard's speed queens Campania and Lucania, as well as her own running mates for westbound crossings. Liverpool Images Liverpool Docks Liverpool Waterfront Titanic History Rms Titanic Legend Of The Seas History Photos Historical Photos Old Photos. [2], The ship ran aground on the Shaalds on the morning of 8 September, approximately 2.5 nautical miles (5 km) east of Foula's southern tip. Hey guys, I was just on Ebay and came across a china sugar bowl from the wreck of the RMS Arabic recovered during diving operations to the wreck in June 1996. The Aberdeen trawler Glenogil was the first vessel on the scene, and although she attempted to pull off the massive ship, it proved an impossible task, and with the hull already ruptured, Oceanic would not have stayed afloat long in open waters. Last week, we told how a bottle from the famous wreck was going up for sale at auction but the highest bid, £6,000, did not meet the reserve price and the bottle is still on sale. But, for me, the memories of the dive mean more than any item.”, The connections Alec forged with islanders in the decades he worked off the Scottish islands were equally meaningful. There’s a tremendous thrill of exploring these wrecks and not knowing what you are going to find.”. Nearby towns include Lower Prospect and Terence Bay. However following the death of the company chairman Thomas Ismay in November 1899 the order was postponed and then cancelled. SS Atlantic was a transatlantic ocean liner of the White Star Line that operated between Liverpool, United Kingdom, and New York City, United States.During the ship's 19th voyage, on 1 April 1873, she struck rocks and sank off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, killing at least 535 people.It remained the deadliest civilian maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean until the sinking of … First Class occupied spaces on all four decks, most of which was dedicated to an array of spacious and comfortable single, two-berth and three-berth cabins. The ship broke in two pieces, which came to rest 590 metres (approx. RMS Oceanic. Alec also met and married his wife and long-time business partner, Moya, on Foula. They invented and developed pioneering technology and equipment to remotely locate and salvage wrecks at unprecedented depths. © DC Thomson Co Ltd 2021. [15] Other ships in the area were called in to assist in the rescue operation that was to follow. “In the 1970s, risks weren’t assessed in the same way as today,” he recalled. On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to Faroe. In the remaining three compartments, single women were berthed in 20-berth dormitory-style cabins situated on the outer sides of each compartment. For these duties, she carried Royal Marines and Captain William Slayter RN was appointed in command. However it was cancelled after the deat… Pictures - Oceanic RMS [+1914], wreck, wreck database. Yet Alec undertook his most memorable salvage mission in the formative years of his career off the uninhabited island of Foula, near Shetland. It is lying orientated 045/225 degrees, with the bows to the NE. The wreck lies approximately 2 mile east of Foula Island, on the north of Hoevdi Ground. “We had a lot more freedom. While everyone on the bridge thought they were well to the southwest of the Isle of Foula, they were in fact an estimated thirteen to fourteen miles further north than they believed and to the east of the island instead of the west. Such ships were built to particular naval specifications, in the case of Oceanic so that the 4.7 inch guns she was to be given could be quickly mounted. [2] In his autobiography, Titanic and Other Ships,[7] Charles Lightoller gives an account of what it was like to be an officer on this vessel. “We still have one of five spare propeller blades from the Oceanic on display in our yard. The ship was named after the company's first successful liner RMS Oceanic(from 1870) which itself was named after the company, and was intended to be its flagship. [a] After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were buried at sea. Arriving from Asia, the RMS. Years indicate year of entry into White Star service. 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