SS Ivernia

For other ships with the same name, see RMS Ivernia.

Cunard Liner Ivernia
History
United Kingdom
Name	SS Ivernia
Namesake	Iverni
Owner	Cunard Line
Builder	C. S. Swan & Hunter, Tyne and Wear
Yard number	247
Laid down	6 December 1898
Launched	21 September 1899
Christened	The Countess of Ravensworth
Maiden voyage	14 April 1900, Liverpool to New York
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk, 1 January 1917
Notes	Completed deep-sea trials 27 May 1900, off Liverpool
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	13,900 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	600 ft (180 m) total 580 ft (180 m) between perpendiculars
Beam	64.5 ft (19.7 m)
Height	140 ft (43 m) from keel to top of funnel
Depth	41.5 ft (12.6 m) (depth moulded to Upper Deck)
Decks	6 passenger decks 8 decks overall
Installed power	9 single-ended scotch boilers Steam pressure of 210psi 12,000 indicated horsepower
Propulsion	Steam quadruple-expansion engines geared to twin propellers
Speed	16.8 knots (31.1 km/h; 19.3 mph) (achieved on trials) 16.25 knots (30.10 km/h; 18.70 mph) (contract stipulation)
Capacity	1,964 passengers (164 First Class, 200 Second Class, 1,600 Third Class)
Notes	sister ship to RMS Saxonia half-sister to RMS Carpathia

A postcard for Ivernia that uses a photograph of half-sister Carpathia

SS Ivernia was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line, built by the company C. S. Swan & Hunter of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and launched in 1899. The Ivernia was one of Cunard's intermediate ships, that catered to the vast immigrant trade. Like her sisters, she saw military service during World War I, and was sunk in 1917 after being struck by a torpedo.

Saxonia was the larger sister ship of Ivernia, and was launched three months later at John Brown & Company of Clydebank, leaving Ivernia the largest Cunard steamer during those months.

Carpathia was a smaller half-sister of Ivernia and Saxonia, built at the same yard as Ivernia and launched in 1902, to a modified design based on her older half-sisters. Carpathia was made famous for its role in the aftermath of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Design

Conception

In 1898, the Cunard Line commissioned C. S. Swan & Hunter, based on the North bank of the River Tyne in Wallsend, to construct one of two new intermediate-sized liners intended to work the Liverpool-Boston route across the North Atlantic. Unlike the leading Cunard liners at the time, RMS Campania and RMS Lucania, the new Ivernia class would focus on cargo and economy. Space otherwise taken by engine and boiler machinery would instead be freed for cargo at the cost of some speed.

Cunard produced a plan on 3 August 1898 at their Derby Road works in Liverpool to accompany a contract specification for Swan & Hunter, and this was reviewed by William Denton, director of the yard, three days later with some adjustments that led to the appearance of Ivernia diverging from that of her sister Saxonia. The design was of a 580 ft (180 m) vessel with passenger and cargo capacity over 8 decks.

First class saloons were on the top deck, the Promenade Deck. Below this was the 280 ft (85 m) Bridge Deck consisting of a main house accomodating first-class cabins, a separate rear house for second-class cabins, and a small forward house for the officers mess. The Shelter Deck spanned the full length of the ship and mainly housed the second class passengers, along with the first and second class dining saloons within a central house under the Bridge Deck. The enclosed Upper Deck housed crew, some cargo, and the third class promenade. Beneath this was the Main Deck which housed third class cabins forward, and dormitory accomadation aft. Below was the Lower Deck and a forward Orlop Deck, housing cargo and refrigerated goods. Finally, the boiler room and engine room sat back-to-back in the middle of the ship on top of the double bottom, separated from deep forward and after cargo and ballast holds by 10 watertight bulkheads extending up to the Upper Deck.

At launch, Ivernia was equipped with 18 lifeboats, with 8 on the Promenade Deck, two just forward of the bridge on the Bridge Deck, four atop the second class accomodation on the Bridge Deck (paired and served by only two, not four, davits), and four at the aft of the Shelter Deck.

Power and Propulsion

The engines were designed and built by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company, neighbours of C. S. Swan & Hunter on Tyneside, and were quadruple-expansion engines. The designer was Andrew Laing, who also designed the triple-expansion engines that powered the RMS Lucania to capture the Blue Riband accolade for fastest average speed crossing the Atlantic in 1894. The quadruple-expansion design could output 12,000 indicated horsepower, with cylinders of 28, 41, 58.5, and 84 inches in diameter, from high to low pressure, and a common stroke of 54 inches. These were fed by nine single-ended scotch boilers 15.5 ft (4.7 m) in diameter and 11.5 ft (3.5 m) deep and equipped with the Howden forced draught system with air drawn into the furnaces with use of a fan. The two engines were connected by Armstrong Whitworth shafts to twin three-bladed manganese bronze propellers on a pair of steel bosses.

Starting and reversing of the direction of the propeller shaft was conducted by a separate, small engine. An additional larger donkey boiler was situated behind the funnel across the Main and Upper decks to provide steam for deck machinery and other uses.

These engines allowed Ivernia to achieve a speed of 16.8 knots when completing its deep-sea trials in late May 1900, after fitting-out was complete. This exceeded the design contract stipulation of a 16.25 knots top speed, and made Ivernia the fastest of the three sisters.

Electric lighting throughout the ship was fed from a dynamo generator providing a direct current from a dynamo room just behind the funnel on the Upper Deck.

Operational history

Early history

Ivernia undertook her maiden voyage on 14 April 1900 from Liverpool to New York City, as the liners that were intended to work that route were conducting troop transport duties for the Second Boer War. On board for this maiden voyage was Charles Sheriton Swan, son of Charles Sheridan Swan, co-founder of the builder's yard. Only a few weeks later, together with her sister ship RMS Saxonia, the Ivernia began working on Cunard's service from Liverpool to Boston and then later on the immigrant run the Cunard Line had established from Fiume and Trieste to New York.

Wireless history

In 1901, Cunard began outfitting its ships with a Marconi wireless system, beginning with RMS Lucania on 21 May, followed by RMS Campania, RMS Umbria and RMS Etruria, Ivernia and Saxonia soon followed and by 1903 eight Cundarders were fitted with wireless telegraphy. In 1909, sending a message to the United States from Ivernia would cost a passenger 8s. 4d. for a ten-word message, or 6s for 12 words to the UK.

Daunt Rock Incident

Ivernia departed Boston on a routine voyage on 16 May 1911, under the command of Captain Thomas Potter, and was approaching Queenstown harbour on 24 May. Heavy fog closed in, and in spite of fog horns, she struck Daunt Rock only 9 mi (14.48 km) from the port. The stern was badly damaged, but Ivernia successfully made it into the harbour while taking on water, beaching near Spit Bank Lighthouse. All passengers were disembarked by passenger tender to Queenstown.

Lloyd's Register surveyor Herbert W Dove inspected the ship on 1 June, and reported flooding as high as the Main Deck and even the Shelter Deck at high water. The vessel was moved to Haulbowline for temporary repair and then returned to Liverpool for repair and refurbishment.

A Court of Inquiry found that Captain Potter was responsible for the accident, finding him guilty of "navigating the vessel at too great a rate of speed in increasingly thick weather". They were satisfied that the course set for the vessel was appropriate, but that the compass was at fault for leading the ship towards Daunt Rock. The court decided Captain Potter's master's certificate did not need to be revoked, allowing him to continue captaining vessels, but he was "censured" and made to pay £50 (equivalent to £6,432 in 2023) towards the costs of the inquiry.

Ivernia returned to service on 17 October 1911 with William R D Irvine in command, carrying 872 passengers out of Liverpool towards Queenstown and Boston.

World War I

Captain William Thomas Turner, photographed on 11 March 1915.

Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 the Ivernia was hired by the British government as a troop transport. In autumn of 1916, William Thomas Turner (made famous for being the captain of RMS Lusitania at the time of her sinking) was given command.

On 1 January 1917, the Ivernia was carrying some 2,400 British troops from Marseille to Alexandria, when at 10:12 am she was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-47 58 miles south-east of Cape Matapan in Greece, in the Kythira Strait. The ship went down fairly quickly with a loss of 36 crew members and 84 troops. Captain Turner, who had been criticised for not going down with the Lusitania (even though he had believed he was the last person on board), remained on the bridge until all aboard had departed in lifeboats and rafts "before striking out to swim as the vessel went down under his feet."

HMS Rifleman rescued a number of survivors and armed trawlers towed the bulk, who had taken to lifeboats, to Suda Bay in Crete.

Today Ivernia Road in Walton in Liverpool still bears the name of the doomed vessel.

External links

• Ivernia history Archived 9 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Wrecksite