Portland (shipwreck)
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PS Portland at sea, by Antonio Jacobsen.
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| History | |
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| Name: | PS Portland |
| Namesake: | Portland, Maine |
| Owner: |
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| Route: | Atlantic Ocean between Portland, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts |
| Builder: | New England Shipbuilding Co., Bath, Maine |
| Cost: | $250,000 |
| Launched: | October 14, 1889 |
| Homeport: | Portland, Maine |
| Fate: | Sank on 27 November 1898, during the Portland Gale |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Passenger paddle steamship |
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| Beam: |
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| Draft: | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) |
| Decks: | Three |
| Installed power: | (1) 62-inch-bore (1.6 m), 12-foot-stroke (3.7 m), 1,200-horsepower vertical-beam steam engine with (2) boilers |
| Propulsion: | (2) 35-foot-diameter (11 m) paddlewheels; each having (26) paddle buckets, 8 ft × 2 ft (2.4 m × 0.6 m), dipping 4 ft (1.2 m). |
| Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Capacity: | 156 staterooms accommodating 700 passengers; 400 tons freight |
| Crew: | 63 |
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PORTLAND (Shipwreck and Remains)
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| Nearest city | Gloucester, Massachusetts |
| NRHP Reference # | 04001473 |
| Added to NRHP | January 13, 2005 |
PS Portland was a large side-wheel paddle steamer, an ocean-going steamship with side-mounted paddlewheels. She was built in 1889 for passenger service between Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. She is best known as the namesake of the infamous Portland Gale of 1898, a massive blizzard that struck coastal New England, claiming the lives of over 400 people and more than 150 vessels.
Portland sank off of Cape Ann with all hands, the exact number of which cannot be determined, as the only known passenger list went down with the ship. Initial newspaper accounts at the time estimated the loss as from 99 to 118 persons. The bodies of only 16 crew and 35 passengers were ever recovered, but present-day estimates are that the Portland was carrying, in total, from 193 to 245 persons, including 63 crew. Her loss represented New England's greatest steamship disaster prior to the year 1900.
Portland's wooden hull was built by the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The 1200-horsepower vertical-beam steam engine was constructed by the Portland Company, with a bore, or cylinder diameter, measuring 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) across, together with a 12 ft (3.7 m) stroke. The ship's two iron boilers were constructed at the Bath Iron Works, also in Bath, Maine.
Portland was built for the Portland Steam Packet Company (later renamed Portland Steamship Company), at a cost of $250,000, to provide overnight passenger service between Boston and Portland. She was one of New England's largest and most luxurious paddle steamers in existence at the time, and after nine years' solid performance, she had earned a reputation as a safe and dependable vessel.
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Wikipedia