page_title: RMS Oceanic (1870)
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: RMS Oceanic (1870) / Service history
caption_attribution_description: English: newspaper illustration of the collision of the SS City of Chester w/ another ship, in 1888
context_page_description: RMS Oceanic was the White Star Line's first liner and an important turning point in passenger liner design. Entering service in 1871 for Atlantic crossings, she was later chartered to Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company in 1875. The ship provided passenger service for O&O in the Pacific until 1895 when she was sold for scrap.
context_section_description: Oceanic left for her maiden voyage from Liverpool on 2 March 1871 carrying only 64 passengers, under Captain Sir Digby Murray. Not long after departing, she had to return because of overheated bearings. Her voyage restarted on 16 March. From that point onward, Oceanic was a success for the White Star Line.
  She was to be the first of a series of six sister ships constructed in rapid succession: Atlantic, Baltic, Republic, Adriatic, and Celtic. All were of the same approximate dimensions with differences in tonnage, with the exception of the Adriatic and the Celtic, the designs for which were later modified to slightly increase their sizes.
  In January 1872, Oceanic underwent a refit, during which a large forecastle was added to help prevent the bow being inundated during high seas. Two new boilers were added to increase steam pressure and thus engine power, and the four masts were shortened.
  Oceanic continued sailing with the White Star line on the Liverpool to New York City route until 11 March 1875, when she was chartered to the Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company for service between San Francisco, Yokohama and Hong Kong. The White Star Line provided the officers, while the crew was Chinese. The ship itself remained in White Star Line colours, but flew the O&O flag. During the repositioning voyage from Liverpool to Hong Kong, Oceanic set a speed record for that route. Later, she also set a speed record for Yokohama to San Francisco in December 1876, and then broke her own record over that route in November 1889, with a time of 13 days, 14 hours and 5 minutes.
  On 22 August 1888, Oceanic collided with the coastal liner SS City of Chester just outside the Golden Gate; the latter ship sank, killing 16 on board.
  On 7 January 1890, Nellie Bly boarded Oceanic in Yokohama to cross the Pacific as part of her voyage Around the World in Seventy-Two Days. She arrived in San Francisco on 21 January 1890, which was a day behind schedule as a result of rough weather.
  In 1895, Oceanic was returned to the White Star Line, which planned on putting her back into service. She was sent back to Harland and Wolff for re-engining, but when the ship was inspected closely, it was found to be uneconomical to perform all the work needed. Instead, she was sold for scrap, leaving Belfast for the last time on 10 February 1896, under tow, for a scrapyard on the River Thames.
caption: A newspaper illustration of RMS Oceanic (left) colliding with SS City of Chester.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:22 16:53:33", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7938", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "300", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "202"}