page_title: SS Republic (1871)
section_title: Reserve vessel
hierarchical_section_title: SS Republic (1871) / History / Reserve vessel
caption_attribution_description: English: SS Britannic 日本語: 客船「ブリタニック（初代）」
context_page_description: SS Republic was an ocean liner built in 1871 by Harland and Wolff for White Star Line. It was intended to be the last of four vessels forming the Oceanic class, before two new ships were commissioned. After a rough maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City on 1 February 1872, the ship was chosen to be on White Star Line's first voyage on the South Atlantic and Pacific line with four other ships, destined for Chile. In 1874, the construction of modern ships SS Germanic and SS Britannic led to SS Republic's becoming the standby vessel of White Star Line. It occupied this position for 15 years, and attempts were made to modernise it in 1888. When SS Teutonic and SS Majestic entered service in the following year, the Republic became surplus to White Star's needs.
  Republic was sold in 1889 to Holland America Line and was renamed Maasdam, and served with the company for twelve years. In 1902, it was sold to Italian company La Veloce where it was renamed Vittoria, before being renamed again to Città di Napoli. It was used for many years to transport Italian migrants to America.
context_section_description: In 1874, White Star Line had two modern ships produced, the SS Britannic and the SS Germanic. The Republic was deemed unnecessary for the regular service to New York and became a standby vessel for the company. Despite this, the SS Republic was used repeatedly in the future, whenever one of the modern vessels had to undergo repairs or maintenance.
  In February 1879, the ship was badly damaged after being struck on the River Mersey by schooner Ocean Queen. In December of the same year, the Republic faced rough seas during a crossing of the Atlantic, and its smokestack was damaged and had to be repaired by the crew. In December 1880, Republic was damaged and was meant to be towed by German steam vessel Mosel. This vessel did not have enough coal, but Republic managed to reach New York a few days later without assistance.
  In 1885, White Star Line briefly provided Inman Line with SS Baltic, as they were having financial difficulties. The Republic temporarily served as the replacement for this ship. On 20 September 1885, the Republic collided with the Cunard Line steamer Aurania while leaving the port of New York, following the error of a coast pilot. Republic was sufficiently damaged for the journey to be cancelled, and the ship was put into dry dock.
  In 1888, the Republic underwent a redesign, and a second class was added. In January 1889, the ship began its final voyage with White Star Line under the command of Edward Smith, who later became the captain of the RMS Titanic. On 27 January, the ship was grounded a few hours before its arrival in New York; an incident near the boilers killed three trimmers and seriously injured several others. Despite this, the ship underwent repairs and made its last voyage to England.
caption: SS Britannic, one of the modern ships that led to SS Republic's becoming unnecessary to White Star Line.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "10025", "Image ImageLength": "8003", "Image BitsPerSample": "16", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "1", "Image Make": "Sinar", "Image Model": "54H", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "1", "Image XResolution": "980", "Image YResolution": "980", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:05:21 04:32:14", "Image Artist": "Library of Congress", "Image ExifOffset": "308", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "9096", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "6822"}