White Star Line Big Four - Celtic II, Cedric, Baltic II, Adriatic

The four White Star Line vessels that would eventually become known as the 'Big Four' were built and launched by Harland & Wolff between 1900 & 1907, and were particularly noted for their steadiness in rough weather on the main route that all of the ships sailed on for most of their careers, Liverpool - New York. In fact, many people preferred crossing the North Atlantic on the Big Four than on bigger, better or faster vessels, such was the reputation of the Big Four at that time.

Much like the Olympic-class liners that would soon follow them, the Big Four had two engines driving two propellers, port and starboard, although the engines were quadruple-expansion, not triple-expansion like the Olympics. They had two funnels, and four masts, and were well-proportioned, and aesthetically-pleasing to the eye. Apart from Adriatic, each ship, once launched, would be the largest in the world, although at the time that these ships were being built, competition for bigger ships was increasing quickly, and the Big Four soon lost out to other vessels.

CELTIC II

Celtic II was the first of the four near-identical White Star liners which would be launched in the space of five years. She was launched at Harland & Wolff's Belfast yard on 4th April, 1901, and her maiden voyage between Liverpool and New York would take place just over three months later, on 26th July. Her weight, at 20,904 tons, would make her the first ever vessel to exceed the 20,000 ton mark, and more importantly, the first vessel to outweigh Brunel's Great Eastern.

The Liverpool - New York route would be Celtic's stamping ground for almost her entire twenty-seven year career, apart from one or two cruising stints, and a VERY fortuitous war service, during which she managed to hit a mine in 1917, just off the Isle of Man. The mine tore a huge hole in her, but luckily, the flooding only affected her No. 1 hold, and after a tow to Liverpool, she was fixed and back in war service in six weeks. Then in 1918, she was torpedoed by a U-boat soon after departing Liverpool, and this time there were six fatalities. She was beached to prevent her from sinking, and later refloated, and taken to Belfast for repairs.

Celtic's good luck ran out in 1928, when she ran aground not half-a-mile from the entrance to Queenstown harbour. There were no casualties, but efforts to refloat the vessel failed, and the White Star Line, faced with the prospect of repairing the badly damaged and ageing vessel decided to cut their losses, and scrap her. In a rather sad end to her steady career, she was shorn of her rigging, masts and funnels so as not to block the view of vessels approaching the harbour, and left on the rocks rusting for some months before a Danish ship-breaking company bought her and scrapped her where she lay.

CEDRIC

The next of the quartet was Cedric, which went down the slipways in 1902. She departed Liverpool for New York on her maiden voyage on February 11th, 1903, and like her sister before her, she was almost completely assigned to operating the Liverpool - New York route, often referred to as the 'Atlantic Ferry'. She was just slightly heavier than her older sister Celtic, weighing in at 21,035 tons.

On March 15th, 1905, Cedric was hit by two huge waves whilst battling through a storm in the North Atlantic, which caused some slight structural damage, but she battled on, and made her safely home.

Again, like her sister before her, Cedric was utilised during the outbreak of war in 1914, firstly as an armed merchant cruiser, and then spending some time as a troop carrier. During this period she rammed and sank the Canadian Pacific Line's Montreal close-to Liverpool on January 29th, 1918.

At the end of the war, in 1918, Cedric returned to service, and the following year underwent a refit.

Cedric was withdrawn from service in 1931.

BALTIC II

Baltic II, yard No. 352, was launched on November 21st, 1903, and made her maiden voyage between Liverpool and New York on June 29th, 1904. She was the third of the 'Big Four' liners to enter service, although she would be slightly longer, and therefore heavier too, than her sisters, due to Bruce Ismay's rather late insistence that Baltic II should be the biggest ship in the world, which she did indeed become, weighing-in at a mammoth 23,876 tons. Because of this late change of plan, which was essentially little more than inserting a new section of hull, there was nothing done to compensate for the extra weight, and Baltic II was consequently underpowered, although modifications to her engines would almost correct this.

On January 23rd, 1909, White Star's Republic was rammed, in fog, by the Lloyd Italiano ship Florida. Efforts to save Republic with improvised collision mats were not a success, and she eventually sank more than 40 hours after the actual collision. However, during this time, her Marconi radio operator, Jack Binns, had been operating the shattered remains of his radio equipment, and managed to put out a call for assistance, to which Baltic II answered, turning-up 12 hours after the collision at about 7.30pm, and taking aboard all of of Republic's passengers in the next four hours. Baltic II then began the rescue of the Florida's passengers and crew, taking aboard 1,650 people.

During WW1 she was engaged, like her sisters, in transporting troops, and after the war, she continued on the familiar route between Liverpool and New York.

Her last voyage was in September, 1932, and on 17th February the following year, Baltic II sailed to Osaka in Japan for scrapping.

ADRIATIC

The final vessel in this illustrious quartet was Adriatic, which was launched in 1906. She made her maiden voyage on May 8th, 1907, on the Liverpool - New York run as had the been the case with her three sister vessels, however, her return journey was to Southampton, not Liverpool. White Star had begun to prepare for the forthcoming super-liners of the Olympic-class, although they still used Liverpool as a major port of departure. Olympic's arrival on the route in 1911 relegated Adriatic to the Liverpool - New York run until after the end of the war, when she returned to the Southampton - New York route.

From 1926, Adriatic was utilised in more of a cruising role, something she continued to perform until 1934, and the merger of the White Star and Cunard lines.

The swift and truly ruthless manner in which the newly-formed Cunard White Star Line disposed of many ex-White Star vessels sounded the death knell for many vessels, and Adriatic was no exception. She was laid-up at the end of 1934, and in 1935, she was sold to Japanese ship-breakers for scrap, just as Baltic had done 2 years previously.

 

Related Reading: White Star Line Ships | Cunard White Star Line Merger | Adriatic | Britannic II | Laurentic I | Majestic I | Nomadic II | Olympic | Suevic | Teutonic | Traffic II | Oceanic |

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