Titanic’s Sister Ship Oceanic Was Also Registered to Liverpool
Everyone who is able to read, listen or watch a film knows the story of the Titanic.
In spite of the fact that countless other ships have sunk in the years since the Titanic went down, some costing far more lives, there is something about the great ocean liner’s history that makes it both tragic and intriguing in equal measure.
The Titanic was registered to Liverpool on account of the fact that that’s where its owner was based, but did you know that it’s sister ship, the Oceanic, was also registered to sail out of Liverpool for the same reason?
The Ship’s Background
In the latter part of the 1890s, the White Star Line owned two flagship ocean liners: the Teutonic and the Majestic. They had both launched in 1889, but rapid advancements in the world of marine technology meant that they were soon outmoded.
The Cunard Line, one of the main competitors of the White Star Line, had launched both the Campania and the Luciana in 1893, then from 1897 the German shipping firm Norddeutscher Lloyd began launching Kaiser-class ocean liners such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse as competing vessels.
1890s Liverpool Overhead Railway and New White Star Line Building. pic.twitter.com/TwnM0pAzcB
— Kathleen (@oldpicposter) August 30, 2023
As a result, there was the feeling within the White Star Line that the company needed to come up with flagship vessels that would be able to compete with them. It was with this in mind that the Harland and Wolff yard at Queen’s Island in Belfast, the traditional location of the White Star Line’s ship construction, began the job of building two new vessels.
In 1897, the keel of the Oceanic was laid down, following the ‘luxury over speed’ strategy that had been introduced with the Cymric in 1897 and named after the company’s first vessel that had launched in 1870.
The plan was for the Oceanic to exceed the length of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Eastern, becoming the first ship to do so, although it would not weight more. It cost £1 million to build, requiring as many as 1,500 shipwrights to complete and was known to those building her as the ‘Queen of the Ocean’.
Despite the money spent on her, the ship followed the White Star Line’s ethos of opting for size and comfort more than speed, so there was no intention to compete for the Blue Riband or to be the fastest ship on the seas.
A Game-Changing Vessel
In order to build the Oceanic, Harland and Wolff had to construct a new 500-ton overheard gantry crane at the construction yard, which was brought in in order to lift the ship’s materials into place. Hydraulic riveting machines were also introduced for the first time, with the bridge being integrated with the superstructure in order to offer a clean and fluid look.
The policy was ‘nothing but the finest’; something that would also be employed for the sister ship the Titanic. It was built in order to be able to welcome 1,710 passenger on board.
Tin laudanum medical case from the RMS Cedric. Cedric was one of the Big Four Class of ships from the White Star Line. The Cedric pre-dated White Star’s famous ship, RMS Titanic, and was the largest ship in the world at the time of her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1903.
#antiques
— StoriedHistoryAntiques (@storiedhistory.bsky.social) 9 February 2025 at 18:00
The vessel was all about being impressive to look at as well as spend time in. As a result, it boasted a dome above the first-class dining room on the Saloon Deck, with a piano and an organ also being present there.
Even the second-class areas were more spacious and comfortable than was the case on board other ships, even if they were still modest in terms of their luxury. Although the ship was a departure from what White Star Line had done previously, the feeling early on was that it was good enough to be the basis of future vessels.
The Links to Liverpool
The White Star Line was predominantly based in Liverpool. That meant that all of her ships were registered in the city, including the Oceanic. She was launched from Belfast on the 14th of January 1899, with more than 50,000 people lining the streets to watch her go.
They were witness to the last large British liner to be launched in the 19th century and the ship left Belfast for Liverpool once her sea trials and fitting out had been completed. That was the 26th of August, arriving in Liverpool in order to be opened to the press and the public.
@theshiptales Pictures of the RMS Oceanic colorized by IA #rmsoceanic #ship #construction #oceanic #boat #whitestarline ♬ som original – The Titanic Post
She received great fanfare in Liverpool, with the port city coming out in numbers in order to see her and prepare to bid her farewell on her journey to New York. Under the command of Captain John G. Cameron, she left the city on the sixth of September, traveling at an average speed of 19.57 knots in order to arrive in New York just six days, two hours and 37 minutes later to a rapturous reception.
In the years that followed, she was received well by both the public and her passengers, doing the job of besting the likes of the Luciana and the Campania.
The Leaving of Liverpool
The early years of the Oceanic’s existence were relatively uneventful, but in 1900 disaster nearly struck when she was docked in Liverpool and the mainmast was struck by lightning. The top of it was lost, requiring minor surgery to get the ship ready to sail once more.
A serious fire broke out on the ship next to Oceanic when she was in New York a few months later, but it was brought under control before it could spread over. In 1904, she was sailing to New York from Liverpool when terrible weather saw two port holes stove in, allowing a lot of water to enter.
Oceanic, the predecessor of #Titanic, was built in 1899. Until 1901, it held the title of the largest ship in the world. The vessel was constructed for the White Star Line and embarked on its maiden voyage in the same year.
During the late 1800s, maritime technology advanced… pic.twitter.com/t5E3WXpEvP
— JP Maxwell (@MaxMaxWriter) June 14, 2023
In 1907, the White Star Line decided it wanted to offer an express service from the UK to the United States of America, with the Oceanic being moved to Southampton as a result. In some ways, it was a sign of things to come for Liverpool’s once great docks.
It was also the beginning of the end for the shipping line, punctuated by Oceanic having to pick up three bodies from one of the Titanic’s lifeguards that had been left floating in the Atlantic in the wake of the Titanic’s sinking. Their bodies were buried at sea.
