SS Schiller
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Schiller |
| Owner: | German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line |
| Route: | New York-Hamburg |
| Builder: | Robert Napier and Sons, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Launched: | 26 August 1873 |
| Completed: | August 1873 |
| Maiden voyage: | 5 February 1874 |
| Out of service: | 1875 |
| Fate: | sank |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 3,421 |
| Length: | 380 feet (120 m) |
| Beam: | 40 feet (12 m) |
| Installed power: | 550 nhp compound engine |
SS Schiller was a 3,421 ton German ocean liner, one of the largest vessels of her time. Launched in 1873, she her trade across the Atlantic Ocean, carrying passengers between New York and Hamburg for the German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line. She became notorious on 7 May 1875, while operating on her normal route, when she hit the Retarrier Ledges in the Isles of Scilly, causing her to sink with the loss of most of her crew and passengers, totalling 335 fatalities.
Schiller was built 380 feet (120 m) long with a 40 feet (12 m) beam in Glasgow in August 1873 for her German owners, and had plied the Atlantic routes for just two years without major incident. In addition to her load of 254 passengers, she was carrying 250 mail bags intended for Australia, highly valuable general cargo, and 300,000 $20 coins totalling £60,000 at contemporary value and over £6 million today.
The ship was engaged to sail from New York City on 27 April 1875, and had arranged to call at Plymouth and Cherbourg on her route homeward to Hamburg. She made excellent time with her combination of two masts and engines, and by 7 May was nearing her first port of call at Plymouth on the Devon coast.
Captain Thomas needed to slow due to poor visibility in thick sea fog as she entered the English Channel, and was able to calculate that his ship was in the region of the Isles of Scilly, and thus within range of the Bishop Rock lighthouse which would provide him with information about his position. To facilitate finding the islands and the reefs which surround them, volunteers from the passengers were brought on deck to try to find the light. These lookouts unfortunately failed to see the light, which they were expecting on the starboard quarter, when in fact it was well to port. This meant that the Schiller was sailing straight between the islands on the inside of the lighthouse, leaving the ship heading towards the Retarrier Ledges.
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Wikipedia