SSCoptic

SSCoptic
History
United Kingdom
Name	Coptic
Owner	Oceanic Steam Navigation Co.
Operator	White Star Line Occidental & Oriental Steamship Co. New Zealand Shipping Co. Shaw, Savill & Albion Co. Japanese Steam Ship Co.
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	Liverpool–New York (1881) San Francisco–Hong Kong (1882–1883) Outbound: London–Plymouth–Tenerife–Cape Town–Hobart–New Zealand (Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Wellington and/or Auckland; Napier occasionally); Inbound: Cape Horn–Montevideo–Rio de Janeiro–Tenerife–Plymouth–London (1884–1895).
Builder	Harland & Wolff,Belfast
Yard number	142
Launched	10 August 1881
Acquired	9 November 1881
Maiden voyage	16 November 1881
Out of service	30 October 1906
Fate	Sold December 1906
United States
Name	Persia
Owner	Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Port of registry	London
Route	San Francisco-Hong Kong
Acquired	December 1906
Homeport	San Francisco
Fate	Sold 1915
Japan
Name	Persia Maru
Owner	Oriental Steam Ship Co. (Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha)
Port of registry	Yokohama
Route	Yokohama–San Francisco–Hong Kong (1915–1922) Yokohama-Netherlands East Indies (1922–1924)
Acquired	1915
In service	1915
Out of service	December 1924
Fate	Scrapped at Osaka 1926
General characteristics
Tonnage	4,448GRT 2,670NRT
Length	430 ft 2 in (131.11 m)
Beam	42 ft 2 in (12.85 m)
Depth	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Propulsion	As built 2 × 2-cylindercompound steam engines Single propeller From 1894 Harland & Wolfftriple expansion steam engine
Speed	13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) (as built)

SSCopticwas asteamshipbuilt in 1881, which was successively owned by theOceanic Steam Navigation Company,thePacific Mail Steamship Company,and the Japanese Oriental Steam Ship Co. (Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha) before being scrapped in 1926. She was filmed by Thomas Edison in 1897 in one of his early movies. The movie is currently stored in theLibrary of Congress.

Ship history

A sister ship toSSArabic,Copticwas built at theHarland & Wolffshipyard inBelfast,for service with the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company'sWhite Star Line.Launchedon 10 August 1881, she was delivered on 9 November 1881 and made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 16 November 1881 under the command ofCaptainEdward J. Smith,who later commandedRMSTitanicon her disastrous 1912 maiden voyage. On the return voyage, ahurricanestove in several of herlifeboatsand drowned two seamen who were swept overboard. On 11 March 1882, she sailed fromLiverpooltoHong Kongvia theSuez Canal,chartered to theOccidental and Oriental Steamship Companyfor service betweenSan Francisco,California,andChina.As O&O already had numerous vessels on that run, she was briefly chartered by theNew Zealand Shipping Companywhile the latter's own ships were under construction.

In 1884,Copticwas chartered byShaw, Savill & Companyfor their Liverpool toNew Zealandservice,and was fitted with 750-ton-capacity refrigerated holds and the refrigerating machinery to transport New Zealandmutton.From 8 October 1884, a regular service was established; fares ranged from 70guineasin first class to 16 in steerage.

On 12 October 1889,Copticstruck a rock off Mai Island, Brazil. when on a voyage fromRio de Janeiro,Brazil toPlymouth,Devon. She was refloated and put back to Rio de Janeiro flooded at the bow. Following repairs, she resumed her voyage on 30 October.While under the command of Captain Smith – her master from 1889 to 1894 – she ran aground in December 1890 on Main Island atRio de Janeiro,Brazil,while about to return toPlymouth.Her forward compartments flooded, but were repaired by local engineers.In late 1894, hercompound engineswere replaced with aHarland & Wolfftriple expansion engineand newboilers;her accommodations were modernised and her funnel lengthened. In early 1895, she was chartered to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company again to serve betweenSan Francisco,California,and theFar East.In September 1897, she collided in Kobe harbour withMinatogawa Maru,which buckled several of herhullplates and twisted herstem.In February 1898 she suffered considerable damage after being caught in atyphoon.After temporary repairs atYokohama,Japan,she sailed toHong Kong,where several decks were removed and rebuilt.

On 5 June 1898,United States NavyCaptainCharles V. Gridley,died of natural causes aboardCopticwhile inKobe,Japan. He had recently been relieved of command of theAsiatic Squadronflagship,theprotected cruiserUSSOlympia,following the American victory in theBattle of Manila Bayon 1 May 1898 during theSpanish–American War;the heat and stress of the battle had exacerbated an existing medical condition, and Gridley′s health deteriorated quickly afterward. His body was brought home to theUnited Statesand buried in his home town ofErie,Pennsylvania.

On 12 September 1900,Copticran aground again, this time atShimonoseki,Japan, but suffered no damage. She made her final voyage for Occidental and Oriental in 1906, departing San Francisco on 30 October. In December 1906, she was sold to the AmericanPacific Mail Steamship Company,and renamedPersia,but continued to serve between San Francisco and the Far East and retained British registry.After a 1911 refit, the elderly ship was sold again in 1915 to the Japanese Steam Ship Co. (Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha) ofYokohama,and renamedPersia Maru.She continued plying the trans-Pacific route through 1922, when she was transferred to theTokyo–Netherlands East Indiesroute. She was laid up in Yokohama in December 1924 and her fittings were auctioned off.In 1926, the Japanese Steam Ship Co. merged with the Japan Mail Shipping Line (NYK), and after a 44-year career,Persia Maruwas scrapped inOsaka,Japan, in 1926.

External links

• Media related toCoptic (ship, 1881)at Wikimedia Commons
• "White Star Line: SS Coptic".titanic-whitestarships.