RMS Orontes

RMS Orontes was an ocean liner built for the Orient Steam Navigation Company by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Glasgow, Scotland, and launched on May 10, 1902.[1] She sailed on her maiden voyage on 24 October 1902, carrying mail and passengers from London to Suez, Melbourne and Sydney. This would become her regular route.

Orient Steam Navigation Co liner Orontes
History
United Kingdom
Name:
  • RMS Orontes (1902)
  • HMAT 'Orontes' (1916)
  • RMS 'Orontes' (1919)
Operator:
Route: London to Melbourne/Sydney
Builder: Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Glasgow
Launched: 10 May 1902
Maiden voyage: 24 October 1902, London to Suez, Melbourne and Sydney
Out of service: 1921-1922
Fate: Scrapped in 1925
Notes: first class dining room ceiling and stained glass saved and transported to The Woodside Hotel in Aberdour, where it remains to this day as the ceiling of the dining room there
General characteristics
Tonnage: 9,028 gross tonnes
Length: 530 ft (160 m)
Beam: 58 ft (18 m)
Speed: 18.8 knots
Capacity:
  • 200 First class
  • 200 Second class
  • 600 Third Class.

After the outbreak of World War I, Orontes initially remained in service on the Britain to Australia route, however in October 1916, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy and converted to a troopship, under the name HMAT (His Majesty's Australian Transports) Orontes. She made two further voyages from Britain to Australia, before spending some time on the Africa run.[2] In 1917, she was relinquished by the admiralty, as her refrigerated hold made her more useful for transporting dairy products and meat from Australia to Britain.[3]

In 1919, Orontes resumed her Australia service with calls at Gibraltar, Toulon, Port Said, Colombo, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and an extension to Brisbane.[1] In 1921, she was laid up in the Thames, and in 1922 she was sold with the intent of converting her to an exhibition vessel, the British Trade.[4]

She was re-acquired by the Orient Line in 1923, and reverted to Orontes until she was scrapped in 1925.[5]

A new SS Orontes was launched by the Orient Line in 1929.[3]

References
  1. "Category:Orontes (ship, 1902) - Wikimedia Commons". commons.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  2. "1902-1925: RMS ORONTES, an occasional troopship of the Great War - Dennis Brook". Flickr. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  3. "ABC OPEN: RMS Orontes Souvenir Spoon - England to Australia Passenger Line || From Project: Object Stories". open.abc.net.au. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  4. Swiggum, Sue. "Orient Line". www.theshipslist.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. "Orontes (1115707)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 26 November 2018.


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