SS Arcadian
RMS Arcadian as she appeared between 1910 and 1915
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Port of registry: | |
| Route: | London – Australia (1899–1910) |
| Builder: | Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness |
| Yard number: | 272 |
| Launched: | 10 July 1899 |
| Completed: | 26 October 1899 |
| Maiden voyage: | 24 November 1899 |
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| Fate: | 15 April 1917: torpedoed and sunk by German submarine SM UC-74 near Milos, Greece, in position 36°50’N-24°50’E |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 500 ft 6 in (152.55 m) |
| Beam: | 55 ft 3 in (16.84 m) |
| Draught: | 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m) |
| Installed power: | 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Triple-expansion steam engine; twin screws |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 140 first class, 180 second class, 300 third class (as built) |
SS Arcadian was a Barrow-in-Furness built passenger liner constructed in 1899 by Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company as SS Ortona. In World War I she served with the Royal Navy and was sunk by a U-boat in 1917.
SS Ortona was the last ship that Pacific Steam built for the London-to-Australia route. Launched on 10 July 1899 and registered in Liverpool on 26 October, she left London on her maiden voyage was on 24 November in a joint service with the Orient Steam Navigation Company. She carried 140 first-class, 180 second-class and 300 third-class passengers, a total of 620. In December 1902, Ortona was used to return troops to the UK after the end of the Second Boer War.
On 8 May 1906 Ortona was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, who used her in a joint operation with the Orient line to Australia. It was renamed as the RMSP's liners had names beginning with the letter "A". In April 1909, she was transferred to the Royal Mail West Indies service. In 1910, she was sent to the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast for conversion into a 320-capacity cruise ship with a new gross tonnage of 8,939. She was renamed Arcadian on 21 September 1910 and registered at Belfast in September of the following year. She started her first world cruise in January 1912, the largest dedicated cruise ship in the world at that time. It was on the first leg of this voyage that Olave St Claire Soames met Lieutenant General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, leading to their marriage in October of that year.
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