USS SAXONIA,MAIL SENT TO PASSENGER REV CHARLES GILKEY 1921 w/RECEIVING HANDSTAMP

Description

Mailed April 21, 1921.....
Received on the ship on the day of sailing, April 26, 1921!
Railroad Cancel front side.
Cunard Line Ship Cancel on reverse.
add .00 for 1st class/Insured to U.S.....
RMS
Saxonia
(1899)
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RMS
Saxonia
around 1900
History
United Kingdom
Name
RMS
Saxonia
Owner
Cunard Line
Port of registry
United Kingdom
Route
Liverpool
–
Boston
(1900–1911)
Liverpool–Boston, Liverpool–New York City, and Liverpool–
Trieste
/
Fiume
(1911–1914)
Government war service (1914–1918)
London–New York and London-
Hamburg
–New York (1919–1925)
Builder
John Brown & Company
,
Clydebank
, Scotland
Launched
16 December 1899
Completed
mid-May 1900
Maiden voyage
22 May 1900
Out of service
1925
Fate
Scrapped in the Netherlands in 1925
General characteristics
Tonnage
14,281
GRT
(as built)
14,197
GRT
(after 1920 refit)
Length
600 ft (180 m)
Beam
64.2 ft (19.6 m)
Propulsion
Steam
quadruple expansion engines
, twin
propellers
Speed
15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity
1,964 passengers (as built, 164 First Class, 200 Second Class, 1,600 Third Class)
1,449 passengers (after 1920 refit)
The first
RMS
Saxonia
was a
passenger ship
of the British
Cunard Line
. Between 1900 and 1925,
Saxonia
operated on North Atlantic and
Mediterranean
passenger routes, and she saw military service during
World War I
(1914–1918).
Saxonia
'
s sister ship was
Ivernia
.
Design
Around 1900, the Cunard Line faced tight competition from the British
White Star Line
and the German lines
Norddeutscher Lloyd
and Hamburg America (HAPAG). Cunard
'
s largest liners, as of 1898
RMS
Campania
and
RMS
Lucania
, had a reputation for size and speed, both being of 12,950
gross register tons
(grt) and having held the
Blue Riband
for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
[1]
However, Norddeutscher Lloyd
'
s new liner
SS
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
had taken the Blue Riband from them in 1897, while White Star was planning to place a new 17,000-grt liner,
RMS
Oceanic
into service. In response, Cunard updated its fleet, ordering new liners including the sister ships
SS
Ivernia
and RMS
Saxonia
(both launched in late 1899) and
RMS
Carpathia
(launched in mid-1902).
[2]
[3]
Rather than attempting to fully regain prestige by spending the additional money necessary to order liners that were fast enough to win back the Blue Riband from
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
or large enough to rival
Oceanic
in size, Cunard tried to maximize their profitability in order to remain solvent enough to fend off any takeover attempts. The three new ships were not especially fast, but all were larger than
Campania
and
Lucania
; in fact,
Saxonia
at 14,281 GRT was the largest Cunard liner up to that time – beating out
Ivernia
, which entered service a month before
Saxonia
, for that distinction – and the largest until Cunard placed
RMS
Caronia
in service in 1905.
[2]
[4]
Thus, although the decision to order and launch
Saxonia
in 1898–1899 was taken well before
J. P. Morgan
’s efforts of 1900–1902, to put together the large combination of shipping lines that was officially designated
IMM
in October 1902,
Saxonia
, her sister
Ivernia
, and her "half-sister"
Carpathia
became both instruments and models through which Cunard was able to successfully compete with its larger rivals – most notably IMM’s lead company, White Star.
[5]
[6]
Saxonia
was
steam
-powered, with her two
propellers
powered by
quadruple expansion engines
, and had a service speed of 15 knots (28 km/h). She had a long, black
hull
, a low, well-balanced superstructure, and four masts.
Saxonia
and
Ivernia
both had a single
funnel
which was 106 feet (32.3 m) tall, probably the tallest funnel ever installed on a passenger ship.
Saxonia
had a large cargo capacity, so much so that her passenger accommodations were smaller than most people expected for a liner of her size. Her four masts were intended to allow effective handling of larger amounts of cargo than was customary on a liner.
[2]
Constructed at the
John Brown & Company
shipyard
at
Clydebank
,
Scotland
,
Saxonia
was
launched
on 16 December 1899. She completed
fitting out
in mid-May 1900.
[2]
Operational history
Early history
Saxonia
departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 22 May 1900, bound for Boston, Massachusetts. She operated on the Liverpool–Boston route until 1909, when she shifted on an alternating basis between Boston and New York, and between Liverpool and the Adriatic ports of
Fiume
and
Trieste
.
[7]
World War I
A cropped copy of the photograph of HMTS
Saxonia
in 1900.
When the United Kingdom entered
World War I
in August 1914,
Saxonia
was requisitioned for government service and taken off her Trieste-Boston route. She made a single voyage as a
troopship
, carrying troops from the 41st Battalion of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force
, arriving in England on 28 October 1914.
[8]
In 1915 she was tied up in England on the
River Thames
as an
accommodation ship
for German
prisoners of war
. In March 1915, she resumed service as a troopship.
[2]
[7]
[9]
Later career
After the war ended in November 1918,
Saxonia
returned to commercial service, returning to the North Atlantic run on the route between Liverpool and New York City.
[2]
On 17 April 1919, one of her propellers struck the
United States Navy
tug
USS
Freehold
(SP-347)
while
Freehold
was assisting in docking her at New York.
Freehold
sank with the loss of one crew member killed, but soon was refloated and repaired.
[10]
Saxonia
underwent a major refit at
Tilbury
in 1920. Her funnel was shortened to 90 feet (27.4 m) in height, her passenger accommodations were modified to allow her to carry 1,449 passengers – 471 in cabin class and 978 in third class – and her gross tonnage dropped to 14,197.
[2]
After her refit,
Saxonia
returned to the North Atlantic service, operating between London and New York City. An additional stop at
Hamburg
, Germany, was added later.
[2]
Disposal
In 1925, the aging and outdated
Saxonia
was sold to the
Hendrik Ido Ambacht
company in the
Netherlands
for scrapping. Her scrapping was completed before the end of the year.
[2]
Cunard next used the name
Saxonia
for the passenger liner
RMS
Saxonia
, launched in 1954.