SS Berlin (1894)
A photo of the SS Berlin, pictured on a postcard released directly after the disaster.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | SS Berlin |
| Owner: | Great Eastern Railway |
| Operator: | Great Eastern Railway |
| Route: | Harwich to Hook of Holland |
| Builder: | Earle's Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Hull |
| Yard number: | 379 |
| Launched: | 10 January 1894 |
| Fate: | Foundered on 21 February 1907 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 1,745 GRT |
| Length: | 302 ft 5 in (92.2 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 0 in (11.0 m) |
| Installed power: | Two reciprocating steam engines. Effect: 5,800 HP |
| Speed: | Cruising: 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph). |
| Capacity: | Passengers: 338 |
SS Berlin was a steel ship, which was owned by the Great Eastern Railway and built for use on their ferry service from Harwich and the Hook of Holland, which the company had initiated in 1893.
The Great Eastern Railway ordered three steamships to operate the service. The ships were named Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna to publicise some of the rail connections from the Hook of Holland. Berlin was built in 1894 by Earles Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Hull. She had berths for 218 first- and 120 second-class passengers.
At 0500 on Thursday, 21 February 1907, the Hook lighthouse keeper recorded that Berlin was navigating the channel when she suddenly veered off course northward after a huge wave struck her on her port quarter. Captain Precious and pilot Bronders managed to return the ship to her original course, but another wave struck Berlin and she swung northward again, causing her to become impaled on the tip of the granite breakwater at the entrance to the New Waterway.
Waves swept over the vessel, and both Precious and Bronders soon were swept overboard. The Dutch steam lifeboat President van Heel attempted to offer aid, but the rough seas prevented her from approaching the stricken vessel. Berlin broke in two amidships at 0600. The majority of those on board had fled to the bow, which sank when the ship broke in half.President van Heel could not close with the survivors on the stern of the vessel due to the weather. Only one man, a Captain Parkinson who was travelling as a passenger, was able to swim to the safety of the lifeboat.
Prince Henry made a visit the following day and went out on the pilot boat Helvoetsluis as Helvoetsluis and President van Heel attempted to recover the deceased from the sea and rescue the fifteen people remaining on the stern. The rescue of the people required a great deal of effort. An important role in this rescue was played by lifeboat Captain Martijn Sperling who used a small boat to reach the North Pier and ascend its iron beacon, from where he was able to throw ropes to the deck of the wreck to rescue 11 of the survivors. Captain Sperling then took a yawl from the salvage vessel Van der Tak alongside the wreck to rescue the remaining three survivors, all female.
...
Wikipedia