SS Heliopolis (1907)
 Heliopolis circa 1907–10 from an Egyptian Mail Co. postcard.[1] | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom, Canada | |
| Name: | Heliopolis |
| Namesake: | Heliopolis, Ancient Egypt |
| Owner: |
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| Operator: |
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| Builder: | |
| Yard number: | 449 |
| Launched: | 27 March 1907 |
| In service: | 1907–1922 |
| Renamed: | 1910 as Royal George |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1922 at Wilhelmshaven |
| Notes: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | passenger steamship |
| Tonnage: | 11,146 GRT |
| Length: | 525.8 feet (160.3 m) |
| Beam: | 60.2 feet (18.3 m) |
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 1,154 passengers |
SS Heliopolis is a Clyde-built British passenger ship that on her maiden voyage in 1907 became the first ship to deliver Spanish migrants from mainland Spain to Hawaii. She was subsequently renamed in 1910 SS Royal George, and served as a troop ship for the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
Pre-War service
Heliopolis was built in 1907 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Companyof Govan, Glasgow, Scotland and launched on 28 May 1907 for the British-owned Egyptian Mail Company. She was a 11,146 GRT ship with a length of 525.8 feet (160.3 m), a beam 60.2 feet (18.3 m), two funnels, two masts, and a triple-screw propulsion that gave a cruising speed of 19 knots (35 km/h).[2][3] Although intended for service in the Mediterranean, her maiden voyage took 850 Spanish families in Malaga, Spain to Hawaii as contract laborers to work on the Hawaiian sugar cane plantations.[4]
Her departure from Malaga was plagued by bureaucratic delays, in which time 1,157 Spanish passengers left the ship and returned home in protest of poor conditions on board. Heliopolis finally left port on 10 March 1907, and arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on 26 April 1907 with 2,246 Spanish migrants after 47 days at sea, which made the Heliopolis the first ship to participate in the Spanish immigration to Hawaii.[4][5]
The Heliopolis, upon returning from Hawaii, operated in the Mediterranean between Marseille and Alexandria, with accommodation for 344 First Class, 210 Second Class, and 560 Third Class passengers, giving a total capacity of 1,157 passengers. She continued until 1909, when the Egyptian Mail Company deemed her unprofitable and dry-docked her in Marseille to be offered for sale.[2][3]
In 1910 the Canadian Northern Steamship Company of Toronto bought the ship and renamed her Royal George. She then did passenger service in the North Atlantic commencing on 26 May 1910 with the Avonmouth – Quebec City – Montreal route. She ran aground on 6 November 1912 attempting to put in at Quebec, but was salvaged and after repairs returned to service on 17 June 1913.[2][3]
World War I service
The Royal George was taken over by the Canadian military when the First World War began, and sailed on 3 October 1914 from Gaspé Bay, Quebec for Plymouth, England with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In 1915 she served in the Gallipoli campaign, and through the remainder of the war served as a UK troop ship.[6] Royal George was returned at the end of the war to Cunard Line, which in 1916 had bought the entire fleet of Canadian Northern Steamships.[2][3]
Post-War service
Royal George resumed passenger service on 10 February 1919, first between Liverpool, Halifax, Nova Scotia and New York, and later between Southampton, Halifax and New York. After nine voyages with the Cunard Line, she was retired in 1920 and used as a depot ship at Cherbourg Harbour in France to process emigrants, before finally being scrapped in 1922 at Wilhelmshaven, Germany.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ "Emigration from the Port of Malaga" (PDF). ABC (newspaper) (Madrid, Spain). Lunes (Monday), March 11, 1907. ano 111, num. 646, p. 1. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - 1 2 3 4 Swiggum, Susan; Kohli, Marjorie. "Heliopolis / Royal George 1907". The Ships List (online database). Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 "SS Heliopolis". Clyde-built Ship Database. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- 1 2 Fernández, James D; Argeo, Luis. "Archive / Archivo: Heliópolis". Spanish Immigrants in the United States. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ↑ "Immigrants arrive after many weary weeks at sea". The Hawaiian Gazette (Honolulu, Hawaii). April 30, 1907. p. 3.
- ↑ Thompson, Captain FJ (October–November 1960). Lownds, Russ; Bonsor, N.R.P.; Kershaw, Philip, eds. "Gallipoli – 1915: from the records of Capt. F.J. Thompson of the troopship Royal George". Sea Breezes Magazine (Charles Birchall & Sons, Ltd.) 30 (178–179): 320–332.
- ↑ Bonsor, N.R.P. (1979). North Atlantic Seaway: An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New 4. Jersey: Channel Islands Brookside Publications. p. 1433. ISBN 0905824032.