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RMS Olympic |
(image courtesy of S Terry Jette)
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RMS Olympic |
(image courtesy of S Terry Jette)
| The Olympic and Britannic were the sister ships of the RMS Titanic.
The Olympic was launched before the Titanic, and unlike her unlucky sister
Titanic, which sank on April 14/15, 1912,She has a long and illustrious
career, earning herself the nickname "Old Reliable". The third sister,
Britannic, was not so lucky, and sank while serving as a hospital ship!
The following statistics and short history is taken from the book "The Atlantic Liners" by Frederick Emmons, (1972) Drake Publishers or (1984) Bonanaza Books: "RMS Olympic - Built: 1911 -:- In service: 1911-1935
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| History: |
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| I collect Postcards of Ocean Liners, and these are 2 of my cards
of the Olympic that I can reproduce here because they should be free of
copyright. (They are photo postcards, which seem to be created from an
individuals photo as opposed to being mass produced)
The back of both cards indicate they were made in Canada, so it is possible both pictures show the Olympic while in or near Halifax. |
| This postcard stern view of the Olympic is an interesting angle. Because of the number of lifeboats, this is a post Titanic disaster picture. This picture shows that the Olympic and Titanic were certainly impressive Ships. | |
Photo Postcard Troopship (link to 87k jpg) |
Photo Postcard HMS Olympic - Viewed from a Sea-plane on War Service Copyright White Star Line - W. E. Axten, Publisher, Southamton This is a common image, shown in many books (image courtesy of S Terry Jette) |
| Postcard given to troops on board the troopship  (link to 102k jpg) |
Postcard given to troops returning to Canada, 1919
(image courtesy of S Terry Jette) |
Photo Postcard Dazzle Paint (link to 88k jpg) |
This picture may have been taken in Halifax harbour, and is a great
picture of the Dazzle Paint scheme beginning to peel and fade. She is probably
still acting as a troopship in this photo as there are a large number of
men lining the rails, and they appear to be wearing long army style trench
coats. As a troopship, New York, Halifax, Liverpool and Southampton were her ports of call! |
| Canadian Artist, Arthur Lismer (a member of the Group of Seven),
created this painting entitled: "The 'Olympic' with Returned Soldiers". This painting is in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Image copyright "National Gallery, Ottawa 1998" (image taken from a postcard!) |
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| Woven Silk Postcard with ship details R.M.S. Olympic Length 883 ft, Breadth 92 1/2 ft, Tonnage 46359, Speed 22 1/2 Knots (image courtesy of S Terry Jette) |
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H.M.T Olympic / H.M.S. Olympic
Wartime Service Record |
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| I have been able to figure out the following war-time activities
of the "HMT Olympic". First of all, it seems her designation during WWI was "HMT" or "His Majesty's Transport". I found this information in "Olympic&Titanic: Ocean Liners of the Past", and more specifically in the epilogue written by John Maxtone-Graham. One postcard (shown above) also gives the designation "HMS" or "His Majesty's Ship" Note: "RMS" means "Royal Mail Ship" |
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(The following war-time activity information comes from books, and personal messages sent to me:
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| 1914 | Saturday August 8 | after the declaration of war, The Olympic sailed, with no passengers, no mail and no cargo from New York to Liverpool. She was escorted part way by british cruiser HMS Essex, and was met by cruiser HMS Drake off the Irish coast. |
| Her next 2 passenger trans-Atlantic crossings were between New York and Liverpool (instead of Southampton) | ||
| October 21 | departs New York, 1600 passsengers. Oct 27, she was alerted by wireless that the battleship HMS Audacious had struck a mine. 250 of the 900 seamen were rescued by Olympic, with other british warships picking up the remaining crew (only 2 crew perished). Although the HMS Audacious was wallowing helplessly, with her stern awash, the Olympic attempted to take the Audacious in tow but the battleship could not be saved.
See: |
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| October 27 to November 2 |
after the rescue and tow attempt, Olympic anchors in Lough Swilly, her passengers not permitted to disembark until sworn to secrecy about the sinking. | |
| November 2 | she sails to Belfast, where she is taken out of service for conversion to a troopship. This takes 10 months, during which she is fitted with a 12 pound gun forward, and a 4.7 inch gun aft. | |
| 1915 | September | sails from England to the Eastern Mediterranean with 6000 troops. En-route, off Malta, rescues French sailors from a drifting lifeboat from the torpedoed French steamship Provencia. (A search of the web has found no information on this ship!) |
| October 31 | completes the above first troop voyage at Liverpool. | |
| November | troop voyage to the Mediterranean | |
| ?December? | troop voyage to the Mediterranean | |
| 1916 | January | troop voyage to the Mediterranean |
| February | troop voyage to the Mediterranean | |
| March 23 | departs on first of 10 round trips (20 crossings) to Halifax (from? Southampton or Liverpool?). | |
| September 18 September 25 |
Embarked Halifax Disembarked Liverpool |
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| 1917 | January 12 | returns to Belfast for maintenance and installation of 6 inch guns as added protection |
| late summer | new dazzle paint | |
| December 25 | arrives in New York, for her first voyage to carry American troops | |
| 1918 | January 12 | departs from New York with US troops |
| April 24 | departs Southampton for New York | |
| May 12 | on return voyage from New York, when approaching the English Channel, rams and sinks U-boat 103. (some info says this was the 22nd troop voyage | |
| Late May | departs Liverpool for Halifax as a Hospital ship | |
| June 27 | departs Southampton for Halifax with 935 "registered" passengers. The passenger manifest shows hundreds of civilians, women and children, along with a separate list of soldiers etc., being returned for various reasons including "medically unfit" etc. | |
| July 4 | 2:30pm arrives in Halifax. Between 3pm and 5pm, Dr Morton examines the Salon Passengers. Between 5pm and 7pm he examines the Steerage. Clean bill of Health, no Quarantine required! | |
| July 12 | departs New York City carrying US Army's 364th Infantry Division. | |
| July 18 | gains escort of 5 US Navy destroyers | |
| July 19 | arrives at Southampton. | |
| Aug 8 | Boarding of the Olympic at Pier #57, New York is allowed. | |
| Aug 9 | 8 a.m. the Olympic sets sail for England | |
| Aug 16 |  Olympic enters the English Channel
Aug 8-16 information provided by Jamie Cummins, June 2002. D S Cummins |
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| 1919 | Jan 11 | as troopship arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia (from Charles Leslie Lionel Payne's Service Records, as submitted to me by grandson Brett Payne - bpayne@xtra.co.nz, Feb 19, 2001) |
| unknown date |
Wilmot Harrington Kester was with the 81st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and returned in 1919 on the Olympic. He also served in the Boer War in 1902 with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. information passed on by Amanda Rader (June 3, 2022) |
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| July 2 | (Click image for larger view) Leave Southampton carrying soldiers from the "Canadian Expeditionary Force" Details on the card (supplied onboard ship) list the "campains(?)" fought by this expeditionary force:
2nd last trip as a troop ship! |
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| July 8 | Arrive Halifax carrying soldiers from the "Canadian Expeditiionary Force" | |
| July 21 | arrives in Liverpool after final voyage as troopship from Halifax | |
| 1920 | June 25 | return to passenger service, at Southampton. |
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Additional Links to the RMS Olympic:
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| RMS Olympic among other ships: AT | http://www.ocean-liners.com/ |
| http://www.bytenet.net/rmscaronia | |
| If anyone would like to pass along any thoughts or information they might have on the Olympic, especially her wartime service please feel free to Email me at: anash@julesverne.ca |
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