The SS Oregon

The SS Oregon was built by John Elder & Company at the Fairfield Ship Builders Yard, near Glasgow, Scotland, for Stephen Barker Guion who owned the ‘American Lines’.  The ship, constructed of iron, was one of the largest and fastest passenger liners of her time.  The Oregon  measured approximately 520 feet in length with a 40 foot beam.  She weighed 7,375 tons and was originally capable of carrying approximately 1,400 passengers.
SS Oregon
From Harper's Weekly

Chronology

1883 SS Oregon was launched on 21 June, Glasgow, Scotland.

1883 Maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York completed in just over seven days.

1884
Bankruptcy caused Stephen Guion to return the Oregon to the builders, who in turn sold her to the Cunard Steamship Company in May.  By the end of the year the Oregon held the "Blue Riband" for both the fastest eastward and westward voyage between Liverpool and New York.

1885 Used by the British government as a dispatch vessel to support the Royal Navy fleet from spring to the end of the summer.  In November the Oregon returned to her role as a passenger liner.

1886
6 March departs Liverpool for New York under the captaincy of Philip Cottier with 205 crew members and just short of 650 passengers.


Among the Oregon’s cargo were foodstuffs and cloth, building materials, valuables, and 598 bags of mail.  The mail which originated from places such as the UK, Europe, the Mediterranean and Scandinavia, contained the Chignecto Marine Railway Transport Company’s contract that had been signed by the British shareholders, and was on its way to Canada.

           
The Oregon was thought to be hit by the schooner Charles H. Morse  in the early hours of 14 March.  Crew members attempted to patch the three holes made on the port side of the Oregon with sail cloth but to no avail.  Four hours after the collision, the pilot boat Phantom arrived to assist the Oregon, followed by the schooner Fannie A. Gorham  and the German liner FuldaEight hours after the collision, the SS Oregon sank.

There were no fatalities on the SS Oregon, but the schooner Charles H. Morse and the nine people aboard were not seen again.  There is still controversy about the sinking of the Oregon as so little remained of the schooner with which it presumably collided.

Sources:
Deep Explorers Incorporated
 In http://www.deepexplorers.com/articles/oregon_gentile.html

Shipwrecks of New England - SS Oregon
    In http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5609/oregon.html


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Last Update:  2004/03/31