|
The White Star Line designed
Baltic to be the largest ship in
the world. For this liner to exceed the
21,035-tons of her sister ship
Cedric, she was fitted with an
extra 29-foot midsection. Baltic
set out on her maiden voyage from
Liverpool - New York June 29th 1904. She
struggled to maintain the White Star
Line’s leisurely-recommended speed
of 16 knots on that crossing as the extra
weight proved too much for her engines.
This led to Baltic being returned
to Harland & Wolff to have more
powerful engines installed. On January
23rd 1909, Baltic’s newly
installed communication equipment picked
up a message stating the liners
Republic and Florida had
collided 64 miles from her position. With
this being the first time the Marconi
system had been used in an emergency, it
was soon proved a complete success as
Baltic reached the accident site
within a few hours and rescued passengers
from both ships.
On April 14th 1912, a wireless message
was sent from Baltic warning the
following liner Titanic they had
encountered heavy pack ice off the
American coast. The failure of
Titanic’s crew to respond to
the warning led to one of the
world’s greatest maritime
disasters. The British Admiralty
requisitioned Baltic to serve as a
troopship at the outbreak of World War
One. On one trooping voyage in 1917, she
had a lucky escape after torpedoes fired
from the German submarine UC-66 failed to
find their target. Emerging from that
attack unscathed allowed Baltic to
continue transporting US troops to Europe
until the end of the war. After
Baltic’s interiors had been
restored, the White Star Line re-deployed
her on the Liverpool - New York run
December 12th 1918. She was again called
to rescue passengers in 1929, that time
it was the schooner Northern
Lights in danger of sinking off
Newfoundland. The aging Baltic was
taken out of service in 1932 after 28
years operating between Liverpool and New
York. She set out on her final voyage
from Liverpool to the scrap yard at
Osaka/Japan February 17th 1933.
|