Friday Crossing

A weekly deep dive into the ingenuity and beauty of the ships that crossed the Atlantic, from ocean liners, warships, and every odd boat in between Instagram: @fridaycrossing

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This week, we’re traveling the waters of the Baltic to one of best preserved warships from the Renaissance period. 

The Vasa is a famous warship now preserved in Stockholm, Sweden. She was commissioned by Gustav Adolphus II as part of a military campaign. Because of Gustav’s aggressive tactics, Sweden was a Great War power during the early 17th century. This ship, the vasa and her sister ship, Applet, would be fitted with 64 bronze cannons and Vasa was chosen to be one of the most elaborate warships at sea, as a mix of power and propaganda to the might of Sweden. 

She was constructed between 1626 and 1628 and was designed by Dutch shipbuilders. And therein lies the first quirk of vasa. At this time, the Dutch and Swedish foot were measured differently, and as such vasas planned proportions were significantly different than what actually occurred when built in Sweden. She ended up being 226ft long and 38 wide. However, her keel was far too narrow for a ship of her size. This was discovered when the vice admiral did a stability test on her by having crew run across the ship. He had to abort only a few minutes in because she heeled dangerously. Unfortunately, no one told the king because he was in a campaign on the continent.

Vasa had her maiden voyage on 10 August, 1628 in Stockholm. She only made it 1300m  (~4300 ft) before a gust of wind caused her to heel to port, and water rushed into her open gun ports. She sank quickly, taking 30 crew with her into the Baltic. Her cannons were quickly salvaged for war, and her masts were cut off as she only sunk only about 100 feet, and they could still be seen from shore. 

In 1961, she was properly salvaged and taken ashore for the first time since her maiden voyage. She had to be sprayed with water constantly as she could warp and crack if she dried out. They ended up spraying her with a mix of water and  polymer to take the water molecules place and keep her stable. The cold water of the Baltic, the low salinity of where she sat, and the clay sediment at the bottom made her incredibly well preserved. They were able to recover 98% of her, including pigment samples and in fact human hair from the crew bodies. 

Vasa currently resides in Stockholm, enjoying her new life as a museum ship, one of the few ships from this era that managed to survive, albeit in a very roundabout way. Amongst her exhibits are the bodies of the sailors, sailcloth that’s been recovered, restored and painted statues, and of course the grand Swedish lady herself.

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This week brings us onto the Canadian route, on the anniversary of one of the worst disasters in a conglomerates history

The RMS Empress of Ireland was launched on 27 January, 1906 and had her maiden voyage in late June of that year. She was a part of the Canadian Pacific route, who already had substantial rail networks across the continent. The thought was to make it so every part of a journey could be covered by the CP railway. 

Empress of Ireland was built with a lot of safety features that would haunt her. She wanted to be extremely safe, and she had several watertight compartments; however the large machinery limited the number of bulkheads. So, CP decided to include longitudinal bulkheads, going down the length of the ship in addition to the normal bulkheads. Apart from that, she was a gorgeous ship that was mighty comfortable for her 1st class. She was built as a sister ship of the Empress of Britain, and served the route from Quebec City to mobile Ireland.

On may 29, 1914, Empress of Ireland would begin her final voyage. She navigated down to the pointe-au-père and let the pilot disembark. At this point a fog began to develop and Ireland continued onward. Shortly after sounding her fog horns, she was struck in the side by the Norwegian collier SS Storstad. She sank in 14 minutes on the St Lawrence River, losing 1,012 of her  1,477 passengers and crew. The reason she sank so fast was due to the longitudinal bulkheads. Because they made the ship so compartmentalised, she ended up listing and falling on her side within minutes, trapping many inside.

The “Canadian Titanic” as Empress of Ireland is now known, was a ship cut before its time. She only served for 8 years, and was part of a dream her owners would never truly capture. Still, her slinking did prove the inefficiency of the longitudinal bulkhead idea.

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This week, we'll be crossing the Atlantic on a ship that was part of a class that revolutionized its shipping line. The RMS Baltic was launched from Harland & Wolff on 21 November 1903. She was the third of White Star Lines "Big four" Liners from the turn of the century, which revolutionized the lines design and style for comfort. She was larger than her sisters, being the last of the ships to be considered the largest ship in the world until the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria in 1906. Baltic's maiden voyage was captained by Edward Smith of titanic fame. A brief oversight during the voyage was that her machinery had not been upgraded. Baltic supposedly struggled to maintain the service speed designated by the other ships in her class. In 1909, Baltic saved several passengers from the fellow White Star Liner RMS Republic in a thick fog after being rammed by the SS Florida. Ironically, Republic's sinking would prove the current safety measures at sea but would prove inefficient for the RMS Titanic. Strangely enough, Baltic would play a role in the sinking. She sent iceberg warnings to the liner, and when she heard the distress signal via the RMS Caronia, she diverted her course for 9 hours trying to reach the ship, but she was too far from the sinking to be of any use. In WWI, Baltic initially still was making transatlantic journeys until 1915 when she became a troop transport ship. In 1917, she fled in a two day pursuit with a U-boat failing to sink her. she even transported Major General John J. Pershing to England, an military legend in America. In total she transported over 35000 troops across the Atlantic. After the war, Baltic was converted into a cabin-class ship. She eventually found a place in Canada's immigration pier 21, and made journeys from 1928-1932. With the introduction of the MV Georgic, Baltic made her last crossing in 1932, and was sold for scrap. While briefly the largest liner in the world, Baltic made her way being a supporting member of mercantile fleet.

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This week, we're taking a trip on the speed demon that was the fastest liner afloat for twenty years, and my personal favorite ship. The RMS Mauretania was launched on September 20, 1906 at Swan Hunter ship yard on the Tyne River. She was, at that time, the largest and fastest ship afloat, one of Cunard's greyhounds alongside her sister Lusitania. She was constructed to reclaim shipbuilding prowess for Brittan and give the admiralty auxiliary merchant cruisers in times of war. Maury, as she was affectionately known, utilized the innovative Parsons steam turbine, but she sustained less vibration issues than her sister. Maury's interiors were a maze of dark, rich woods, and golden adornments. Some highlights are the Francois I octagonal dining room, Grey and gold library, and wrought iron entrance. She was a cozy ship compared to the light interiors of her sister. Although a storm prevented her from taking the fastest liner title on her maiden voyage, she quickly stole it from Lusitania on her return voyage. She was infamous for dropping randomly in calm seas, even soaking her then Captain of Titanic fame, Arthur Rostron. She encountered a rogue wave in 1908, exposing her propellors an damaging them significantly. She even hosted King George V and Queen Mary in 1913 (the Namesake of Cunard's QM in California). During WWI, Maury was requisitioned and used as both a hospital and troop ship. She was briefly considered to replace Lusitania on Cunard's route, but ultimately carried American troops to the trenches, and served in the Gallipoli Campaign alongside her sister Aquitania and the RMS Britannic. She got a special dazzle paint scheme to help with U boats, and carried over 35,000 troops. The great depression made Cunard send her cruising in 1930. She was painted all white, and served until 1935, when she was sent for scrapping when Cunard and White Star Line Merged. The public was against this, and even President Franklin Roosevelt petitioned for her to be saved. Some of her furnishing survive, including in a coffee shop and board room. Maury's legacy leaves 20 years as the fastest liner and one that revolutionized ocean travel.

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Expanding our influence, this week on Tumblr, we're taking one last crossing on the Ocean Liner whose whole motto was adaptation. The MS Stockholm was ordered for the Swedish America Line (SAL). She was, at the time, the smallest ship on the North Atlantic route, but large for Sweden. She could accommodate 395 passengers. She made her maiden voyage on 21 February, 1948, From Gothenburg to NYC. Stockholm is most known for her collision with the Italian Liner Anrea Doria on the 25th July, 1956 off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Her bow was completely crumpled as she rammed Andrea Doria on her side. While the Italian ship sank, most of her passengers were saved by Stockholm and the Ile de France. 5 of her crew were killed, and her bell was damaged. After repairs and a settlement, she returned to service. In 1960, she was transferred to East Germany, and was renamed Völkerfreundschaft, where she made trips to Cuba and Germany, even during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During this time, she also reprises her roll of a colliding ship for a German film under the name Astoria. She also kept colliding with submarines. in 1985, she was transferred to a Panamanian company. She was renamed twice that year, one to Volker, and then to Fridtjof Nansen, where she was used as a barracks ship in Oslo. In 1989 she was sold to an Italian line, and converted into a cruise ship. Over her cruising career, she went over several names, notable the Caribe, Athena, and finally Astoria. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Stockholm was laid up and put up for auction. In July 2021, the ship was purchased by an affiliate of actor and entrepreneur Brock Pierce; however after she broke loose from her moorings and crashed into yet another ship in 2022, she was made for sale again, and bought by a scrapping company based in Belgium. She currently resides there, in the process of being fully scrapped. Depending on how you see it, Stockholm is either lucky or unlucky. She survived for nearly 80 years, but was marred with the deaths of her fellow ships. Even though she's only a shell of her former self, Stockholm is a ship that never quit, and found a way to serve the seas, regardless of stature or reputation.