96 years ago.

Another item I must add to my already HUGE collection of Ocean Liner memorabilia:

The first set of commemorative stamps marking the 96th anniversary of the Titanic have been designed.

The collectable First Class stamps have been produced by the Titanic Heritage Trust in conjunction with Royal Mail and will be the first in the ‘White Star History’ series being rolled out every year from now until 2012 - the centenary of Titanic’s maiden voyage.

Each sheet in the first series includes five RMS Titanic ‘The Fourth Funnel’ and five ‘SS Nomadic The Farewell’ stamps.

The images are taken from fine art paintings by Belfast artist Jim McDonald whose work depicts shipyard people, street children and pub scenes from the bygone era in the east of the city.

A First Day Cover with Belfast or Southampton postmarks and franked 15, April 08 will also go on sale.

Each envelope has been exclusively designed for Titanic Heritage Trust by AG Bradbury.

Howard Nelson, founder and chairman of the Titanic Heritage Trust said: ” We are going to use a number of different images each year until 2012 when there will be a special edition and also a presentation pack.

“Each stamp is legal tender, so if people wanted to they could put it on an envelope and post it, but most people will just be collecting them.

“We will be using different artists for each set of stamps but we rather liked Jim McDonald’s interpretations.”

I ordered my set already and can’t wait to get it…I need to have a special frame made for the sheet too…

Tonnage: 13,440 tons gross, Length: 600.7’, Beam: 65.5’
Builder: Harland & Wolff, Belfast
Launch Date: December 12, 1901, Maiden Voyage: May 17, 1902
Destruction: Torpedoed January 30, 1918
Operated by A.T.L.: 1900 - 1917.

Notes: Twin screws, quadruple expansion engines by builder with cylinders of 30″, 43″, 63″ & 89″, stroke 60″. Steam pressure 180 lbs, 1,227 n.h.p. 16 knots, Passengers: 250 first class, Depth of hold: 39-5’, Port of registry: Belfast.

Minnetonka and her sisters were among the first ships to be fitted for wireless telegraphy, and at least two of them were clearly using their equipment by February of 1902 for on the 5th of that month the New York Times reported Minneapolis’s wireless communication with Minnetonka, which had just defeated the Etruria in a chess match by wireless telegraphy. It would seem that a lot of fun was being had with this new toy! Two years later when the Journal of the Telegraph named all of the passenger ships fitted with Marconi wireless apparatus there were still only 32 vessels on the list. The call letters for Minnetonka were “MMK.”

In mid June 1907 Mark Twain (Sam Clemens) traveled to England on board Minneapolis to receive an honorary degree from Oxford University. He returned home from this, his last European trip, on Minnetonka in July. Twain befriended several children on the voyage, but in his own words “made a particular pet of little Dorothy Quick,” an 11-year old returning home to Brooklyn with her mother. Dorothy became a frequent houseguest of Twain’s, both at his Tuxedo Park home, in New York City, and in Redding, Connecticut, and their friendship lasted until his death in 1910. Quick became a writer and poet herself, and her book Mark Twain and Me: A Little Girl’s Friendship With Mark Twain formed the basis of a TV movie in 1991.

Minnetonka was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-64 40 miles from Malta on January 30, 1918, with the loss of four lives. The ship was carrying mail from Port Said to Marseilles at the time and there were no troops aboard.

Built: 1969, Finland
Capacity: 100 passengers
Tonnage: 2,400 Cruising speed: 11 knots
Engines: 3,800 hp diesels
Crew: 54
First custom-built expedition ship
Known as the ‘Little Red Ship’ to aficionados
Became the first passenger vessel to navigate the North West passage in 1984
Involved in rescue of crew from Argentine cargo vessel off Anvers Island, Antarctica, in 1989

“The ship ran into some ice. It was submerged ice and the result was a hole about the size of a fist in the side of the hull so it began taking on water … but quite slowly,” said Susan Hayes of G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, which owns the stricken MS Explorer. “The passengers are absolutely fine. They’re all accounted for, no injuries whatsoever.”

Throughout the day, Chilean aerial photographs showed the ship listing heavily, its white superstructure and red hull starkly visible against the gray, choppy waters and overcast skies. The navy eventually lost sight of the ship and wreckage indicated it had gone under completely, according to a navy press officer who declined be identified in accordance with department policy.

RMS Celtic II
Built: 1901, Harland & Wolff, Belfast.
Yard No: 335
Funnels: 2 Masts: 4
Tonnage: 21,035 GRT
Dimensions: 213.4 x 22.9 m / 700 x 75.3 ft.
Engines: Quadruple Expansion by builders.
Twin Screw; 14,000 IHP; 16, max 16.5 kn.
Hull: Steel, 4 Decks, fcsle-105 ft, Bridge-334 ft, Poop-81 ft.
Cargo: 17,000 Tons.
Passengers: 347-1st Class, 160-2nd Class, 2,350-3rd Class

When the Celtic was launched on April 4, 1901, she was the last ship ordered by Thomas Ismay. She was the first of the class known as the ‘Big Four’. She was delivered July 11, 1901 and made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on July 26, 1901. Until 1903 the Celtic was the largest ship in the world.

On August 4, 1914 she was taken over at Liverpool for war service. On October 20 she was commissioned as an Armed Merchant Cruiser with 8 x 6 in guns. She was then assigned to the 10th Cruiser Squadron on December 4, 1914. In January 1916 she was decommissioned and converted for trooping. On February 15, 1917 off the Isle of Man she was mined. Seventeen killed.

On March 31, 1918 she was torpedoed in the Irish Sea by UB-77. Six killed. On April 2nd she was towed to Liverpool and repaired there by Harland & Wolff. In 1919 she was returned to her owners and reconditioned at Belfast.

In January 1920 she resumed the Liverpool to New York service. Her passenger accommodation had been altered to: 350-1st Class, 250-2nd Class, 1,000-3rd Class. On April 21, 1925 she collided in the Irish Sea with Hampshire Coast of the Coast Line. The Celtic suffered only superficial damage. The Hampshire Coast was much worse off, but made port safely. On January 29, 1927 she collided, off Long Island, with the US Anaconda of the US Shipping Board. Little damage was done to either vessel.

In 1928 she was converted to Cabin Class only with accommodation for 2,500. On December 10, 1928, when entering Cobh harbor in a gale, Celtic was driven ashore and eventually became a total loss. The wreck was sold to Petersen and Albeck of Copenhagen and dismantled as she lay. The demolition was finally completed in 1933.

Source

Built Blohm & Voss Hamburg, 1913 as VATERLAND
54,282 GRT
948 x 100 feet
Quadruple screw, 24 knots, turbines
752 first class, 535 second class, 850 third class, 1,772 passengers; 1,243 crew

The S.S. Vaterland, was built in Hamburg, Germany, as the second of three very large ships for the Hamburg-America Line’s trans-Atlantic route. Completed in the spring of 1914 she surpassed her slightly older near-sister, S.S. Imperator, as the World’s largest ship. Vaterland held this honor until 1922, when the last of the three big German liners, the 56,551 gross ton Bismarck, was delivered after a long delay and almost immediately became the British liner Majestic.

The three ships’ design emphasized luxury and comfort over speed, though their 23-knot service speed was fast enough for the North Atlantic trade. Vaterland had made only a few trips when, in late July 1914, she arrived at New York just as World War I broke out. With a safe return to Germany rendered virtually impossible by British dominance of the seas, she was laid up at her Hoboken, New Jersey, terminal, and remained immobile for nearly three years.

In April 1917, when the United States entered the war, Vaterland was seized and turned over to the U.S. Navy, which placed her in service later in the year under the name USS Leviathan. In October 1919, she was transferred to the U.S. Shipping Board and again laid up at Hoboken until plans for her future employment could be determined. These finally materialized and, in April 1922 the ship steamed to Newport News, Virginia, where she was completely refitted to suit American tastes and post-World War I standards.

As S.S. Leviathan, she was the “queen” of the United States’ merchant fleet, and operated in the trans-Atlantic trade into the early 1930s. She was not profitable, however, and, with the exception of several months of additional service in 1934, Leviathan was inactive until early 1938, when she made a final Atlantic crossing to Scotland, where she was broken up. No U.S. flag commercial ship approached her size until 1952, until the the S.S. United States was completed.