RMS Teutonic

During the first 18 years of service, both Teutonic and Majestic, along with their older cousins Britannic and Germanic
sailed on the route from their home port of Liverpool, England, to New
York City. Each ship made on average one sailing per month, and averaged
11–14 sailings each season. The White Star Line had it planned so as
they could operate a weekly service across the North Atlantic. Each week
a ship sailed from Liverpool on a specific day, commonly Wednesday or
Thursday. From there, they would stop at the port of Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, to pick up more passengers. Records have shown that Teutonic
and her partner ships were known to pick up as many as 800 Irish
immigrants in a single stop, as the White Star Line was very popular in
Ireland because most of their ships, including Teutonic were Irish built.


After Queenstown, the ships would then continue on the long voyage to
New York, almost 2,500 miles of open sea. Once passengers were
disbursed at either the White Star Line pier in New York or the
immigration center at Castle Garden, and later on Ellis Island, the ship
would be prepared for her return voyage.


In 1897, Teutonic reassumed her military role for a review commemorating Victoria's 60th anniversary. In 1898, she had a minor collision in New York Harbor with the United States Lines' Berlin, but neither ship suffered major damage.


During the Boer War in 1900, she served as a troop transport. In 1901, Teutonic encountered a tsunami,
which washed two lookouts out of the crows nest, but survived.
Fortunately the tsunami hit at night, there were no passengers up on
deck.


In 1911, the ship was replaced in the White Star lineup by the new Olympic and transferred to sister company Dominion Line for Canadian service. By 1913, Teutonic's
age meant that she no longer attracted the top class passengers, and so
was refitted to carry only second and third class travellers. In
October, 1913,^[2] the ship narrowly avoided the same fate as Titanic when, at 172 miles east of Belle Isle off the Newfoundland
coast, she ran so close to an iceberg that she avoided collision only
by reversing her engines and putting the helm hard aport. According to
the October 29, 1913 issue of the Chicago Tribune,
"the liner passed within twenty feet of the iceberg. The fog was so
thick that even at that small distance the berg could scarcely be
distinguished. It was so close that there was danger that the propeller
of the ship would strike it as the vessel went around. The passengers
were not aware of their peril until it had been averted. They signed a
testimonial to the captain and his officers expressing their gratitude
and admiration for the care and skill displayed by them."


In 1914, with the start of World War I, Teutonic
became a merchant cruiser once again, being commissioned into the 10th
Cruiser Squadron. In 1916, she was refitted with 6" guns, and served as a
convoy escort ship as well as being used for troop transport.


In 1921, Teutonic was scrapped at Emden.