SS Ohio (1872)

SS Ohio anchored off Nome, Alaska, 1907
History
Name:	SS Ohio
Namesake:	Ohio, USA
Owner:	American Line
Operator:	American Steamship Company
Port of registry:	United States
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons
Cost:	$520,000
Launched:	October 30, 1872
Maiden voyage:	August 7, 1873
Refit:	1887
Fate:	Wrecked off the coast of British Columbia, August 26, 1909
General characteristics
Class and type:	Pennsylvania class passenger-cargo ship
Tonnage:	3,104 gross
Length:	343 ft
Beam:	43 ft
Depth of hold:	32 ft 2 in
Propulsion:	Compound (later triple expansion) steam engine, single screw, auxiliary sails
Speed:	11.5 knots
Capacity:	46 x 1st-, 132 2nd class and 789 steerage passengers

SS Ohio was an iron passenger-cargo steamship built by William Cramp & Sons in 1872. The second of a series of four Pennsylvania-class vessels, Ohio and her three sister ships—Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois—were the largest iron ships ever built in the United States at the time of their construction, and amongst the first to be fitted with compound steam engines. They were also the first ships to challenge British dominance of the trade since the American Civil War.

Ohio spent most of her career on the Liverpool-Philadelphia route she had originally been designed to service. After 25 years of transatlantic crossings, Ohio was sold in 1898 for service in the Alaskan gold rush. She was wrecked in British Columbian waters in 1909.

The four Pennsylvania class liners were constructed at a cost of $520,000 each by William Cramp & Sons on behalf of the American Steamship Company (ASC), a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The Railroad intended to utilize the vessels to bring European immigrants direct to Philadelphia, thus ensuring the company a steady stream of customers. In recognition of this purpose, the four ships - Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio - were named after the four states serviced by the Railroad. Design of the ships was entrusted to Charles H. Cramp of the Cramp & Sons shipyard, and Barnabas H. Bartol, a director of the ASC.

At 3,000 gross tons apiece, the ships were 1,000 tons larger than any iron ship previously constructed in the United States, and Cramp & Sons was forced to undertake a substantial upgrade of its facilities to complete them. The company established an entirely new shipyard for construction of the vessels, serviced by its own blacksmith, engine, boiler and carpentry shops, as well as providing it with a 700-foot (210 m) outfitting wharf. Cost of the real estate alone was in excess of $265,000, and Cramp & Sons was obliged to incorporate as the William Cramp & Sons Engine and Ship Building Company in order to limit the financial risk involved. Fortuitously, Cramp & Sons had only recently built its first compound marine steam engine, and consequently the shipyard was able to install the vessels with the latest in engine technology.