Traveling on White Star Line's Oceanic Class (1870's)

the oceanic class are considered by historians to be the first modern ocean liners their new design their attention to passenger safety and comfort and their overall efficiency set them out from all of the other ships of the era the class consisted of the oceanic the atlantic the baltic the republic the adriatic and the celtic so six ships but what was it like to actually sail on these very first ocean liners now first off i ask you to bear with me a lot of this is guesswork or hypothetical considering how few references there are left on this subject we do have quite a bit of information which we put together into this video but a lot of this is filled in with educated guesses done by either myself or our historians to start off how do you hear about the ships well obviously advertisements they're in magazines newspapers and hung up as posters taglines weren't that common yet you didn't see these posters with fancy artwork and and slogans that were trying to sell you on something that you didn't need like you see today instead they assumed that if you are looking to sail on a ship you already have the need to do so so instead what they focus on is why their product is the superior choice advertisements for the oceanic class describe their safety thanks to watertight compartments their comfort at sea their amenities their saloons and even the quality of food and drink on board so now you're sold you've decided you want to sail on an oceanic ship so how do you acquire tickets well you have to inquire at one of their offices the white star line had a few devoted offices but they also had several other agents the difference is a devoted office is an entire staff serving one specific company the white star line headquarters in liverpool or london or new york while they would have an agent who might serve a bunch of other companies a single individual or perhaps with a secretary who you can approach and say i want to travel on this ship and he has the authority to sell you tickets a ticket will be provided to you upon payment and after you sign a passenger contract which is basically an agreement saying you understand the terms of the transaction and the voyage early white star liners did not leave from southampton as we see with the titanic they departed liverpool which was the homeport for the white star line the ships anchored on the mersey river while they were loaded up and inspected before each voyage we aren't certain but our hunch is at the ship usually anchored around prince's dock on the mersey passengers would travel to liverpool via train or carriage where they would often book a hotel before the voyage while they waited for the departure the night before the voyage passengers were permitted to board the ship and settle in spending the night for our hypothetical scenario of crossing the atlantic let's make the assumption that you're in the saloon class which is essentially first class as always the upper classes tended to document their experiences a little bit more while the steerage didn't do it as much so we have more information on what it would be like to travel insulin on boarding the ship no matter what class you're in you're inspected by the ship's surgeon if you are not in good health you will not be admitted to the u.s and they certainly don't want any diseases spreading on the voyage then the passenger would check in with the purser and he'd be assigned a stateroom and he'd be given keys on top of that he'd also be given a few papers one of them is a passenger list where you can see the names of everyone else traveling in saloon class you can see if you have any friends on board or more importantly if there's anyone you want to avoid usually the passenger list is also listed off the captain and the officers when traveling on ships you might like some of the officers or you might tend to prefer a captain so this way you get to know is this a captain i know are these officers i know and now you have their name so you can introduce yourselves you'd also be given deck plans of the class that you're in this was given to both saloon class and steerage class so that you can find your way back to your bunk or your stateroom and of course most importantly find food it's very important to remember that on these older ocean liners there's only two classes there's saloon which is sometimes called cabin glass which is essentially the equivalent of first class and then there's steerage which is pretty much third class on the titanic there's no real second class as the middle class hasn't exactly evolved out of society just yet in some of the much later voyages for the oceanic class which some of them were continuing into the 1880s and 1890s for the white star line the musicians on board would play the white star line's anthem the white star polka march as the passengers were boarding what would it be like to actually walk around on the oceanic class well almost no ships had their interiors photographed more likely an artistic journalist would travel on board take a bunch of sketches write up an article and submit it to an illustrated newspaper such as harper's monthly or frank leslie's and then they'd print a story on it with a bunch of engravings this was never done with the atlantic or any of the oceanic class as far as i'm aware in an unfortunate twist of irony there actually was an artistic journalist on board the faithful voyage of the atlantic named cyrus fisher he actually interviewed the captain about two hours before they struck golden rule rock and he was putting together an article for a magazine about a voyage on the atlantic unfortunately neither cyrus nor his wife survived the disaster and therefore his article was never published if disaster had struck a subsequent voyage or if he was traveling on a different voyage we very well could have actual interiors of the atlantic to show you instead i have to show you similar ones from other ships in your stateroom you'd have your bed and your wash basin as well as a nightstand and a few other cupboards if traveling in saloon class you usually did not need to share a stateroom with a stranger like you would in steerage out your stateroom door you enter one of the two long parallel corridors that run the length of the saloon glass section of the ship allowing for both outboard and inboard cabins the saloon-class quarters were on the middle deck of the atlantic as well as the hurricane deck above also known as the boat deck with the central point of the saloon quarters being the dining saloon on the atlantic it was adorned with two fireplaces of marble a bookshelf and six long tables running along the longitudinal lines of the ship this room doubled as the dining room and the lounge with a bar servicing the room and the purser's office attached to the bar while the atlantic did not seem to have a smoke room it did have a private sitting room for the ladies a boudoir just aft of the saloon on the starboard side at the far aft end of the saloon quarters was the hospital and the barber shop the oceanic class actually had a few rooms devoted to these two purposes which was a relatively new concept on other ships prior to this they did have doctors and barbers but they came to your cabin if you had any needs inboard were three baths for passenger use the number varied from ship to ship but the atlantic seemed to have more than the average of two for the oceanic class steerage was broken up into isolated sections for single men families and single women and children in most cases they were in dormitory style cabins which were basic yet comfortable around the midday high tide the ship would raise anchor and depart liverpool it needed to be around high tide so that the ship could cross the sand bar just outside the city once out in the open seas the sails would be unfurled if the winds were favorable which could expedite the voyage by quite a bit in the 1860s queenstown was made a port of call and the oceanic class usually stopped there briefly to pick up a few hundred more passengers as with the titanic the atlantic entered queenstown harbor and anchored near roches point where she was met by a single tender such as the jackal which serviced queenstown at the time the jackal didn't look as fierce as her name implied and she often struggled to reach ocean liners in the rough seas prior to travel just like with any other city the ships are departing from passengers would arrive in the city early and sometimes stay over at a hotel the queen's hotel was the most popular hotel at the time in queenstown it's still there today it's known as the commodore hotel and this brochure is one of the ones given out to guests at the time of the oceanic class turn around time in queenstown was quick and the atlantic was back at sea once more with queenstown behind them it was over a week before they'd see land again the adriatic and the baltic both captured the blue ribbon holding the record for the fastest time crossing the atlantic with just a few minutes under eight days for a voyage between queenstown and new york with the library passengers could spend much of the voyage reading others would play cards in the saloon or spend time up on the deck the atlantic had a part of the deck specifically designated to each class which again was unheard of at the time this way passengers had their own place safe from the crew who usually shared the decks with the passengers as they walked the decks they would see the funnel towering over them venting steam and the four masts even taller usually with sailors up in the rigging working the sails many people of the day kept journals which of course was a primary source for this video and would chip away an hour or two of your day while most of the time was actually spent socializing meals however were plentiful and on these early ships they were seen as the best way to pass the time breakfast was served at 8 am and consisted of coffee and tea and a choice of bread biscuits or oatmeal dinner was actually the next meal of the day for victorian travelers and it was served around 1 in the afternoon a passenger of the oceanic class liner celtic in 1872 would find themselves being served a 10 course meal on a daily basis though it was midday and from a modern standpoint we expect this to be a small meal at lunch it was actually the biggest meal of the day for victorians all right now excuse me i have to read this because there's no way i was able to memorize this course one turtle soup course two fish course three either pigeon or pork course four the roast beef lamb or veal getting hungry course five turkey and beef again course six the cold course ham or corned beef course seven vegetables course eight pastries course nine cheeses course ten you got your fruits and nuts on sundays pudding was added to the meal all this with a vast array of alcohols and soft drinks for an additional fare or coffee and tea or water with your ticket a supper of tea and biscuits were served at 8 pm as the day was winding down and of course the bar was always open up until about 11 at night when the lights were put out passengers could stay up beyond 11 in their staterooms but light and noise discipline was requested as the walls did not offer much privacy the ship passes sandy hook light marking the official end of the crossing and a pilot comes aboard harbors have special captains called pilots who board incoming and outgoing liners they're specialized in that harbor specifically as it's not expected for a sea captain to be intimately familiar with all the dangers and minute obstacles in the countless harbors of the world the pilot guides the ship into her designated mooring though the oceanic class was advertised to service new york city she didn't quite dock in manhattan in the first few years of white star line's operation they docked their ships at the pavonia ferry in jersey city eventually switching over to what's now pier 45 at the end of 10th street in manhattan in 1874. since the atlantic went down in 1873 she never once went to manhattan and instead always went to jersey city landing in jersey city did have its conveniences though yes the white star line was able to avoid the expensive mooring fees of manhattan while the company was still getting off the ground but for the passengers especially the arriving immigrants it was probably a little bit better for them to arrive in a city that was not as overwhelming as manhattan and they had a direct railroad connection to the rest of the country via the erie railroad which was in the terminal nearby any passengers who did wish to continue on to manhattan would simply jump on the pavonia ferry which was operating adjacent to the white star pier passengers disembarking are inspected by customs officials before being permitted to enter the country while the oceanic liner is recalled resupplied re-inspected and prepared for her return journey across the atlantic the atlantic only successfully completed 18 transatlantic crossings before her demise but her five sisters had wonderfully successful careers and reset the standards for safety and comfort of the atlantic travels [Music] you

Channel: Part-Time Explorer

Views: 77,834

Keywords: atlantic, oceanic, adriatic, celtic, baltic, republic, travel, traveling, oceanic class, 1870, 1870's, 1870s, white star line, white, star, line, liner, steamship, ship, steamer, steam, liverpool, pavonia, pavonia ferry, landing, stage, prince, queenstown, ireland, new york, lines, vintage, documentary, ocean liner, ocean

Id: YKdYY8qD2YE

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2020