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Details of model
An early full builder's model, showing the ship as altered in 1872. Possibly the only full builder's model made of this ship.
Transatlantic passenger liner, the first ship of TH Ismay's White Star Line
'Oceanic' was the pioneer and 'name ship' of TH Ismay's Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Limited of Liverpool, better known as the White Star Line. She was built by Harland and Wolff shipbuilders of Belfast. From this partnership some sixty ships resulted, many of them outstanding for their advanced design, passenger facilities, speed and size.
The initial order was for four 14-knot steamers, each of about 3,700 tons, and these entered service as the 'Oceanic', 'Atlantic', 'Baltic' and 'Republic'. Each was fitted with four-cylinder compound engines. These White Star ships had long, narrow hulls. These were intended to gain more carriage space without sacrificing speed. Their design, the work of Edward Harland, also incorporated various suggestions made by their owner, Thomas Ismay. The final result was a class of vessels that made all previous North Atlantic liners obsolete.
'Oceanic' is generally considered to have been the forerunner of the modern luxury liner. The usual narrow deckhouses and high, solid bulwarks were replaced by an iron promenade deck with open railings. Even more revolutionary was the fact that the first class dining saloon and cabins were transferred from their old-established positions aft to amidships. Here there was less movement and less vibration from the propeller. The saloon itself covered the entire width of the ship. Cabins and portholes were much larger than usual. The overall effect was a light and airy appearance, new to steamship accommodation.
'Oceanic' sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 2 March 1871. Her avant-garde appearance created a sensation in both ports. In August 1875 she sailed from the Mersey via the Suez Canal to Hong Kong, to inaugurate a service between Yokohama and San Francisco whilst on charter to the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company. She returned to Liverpool in 1879 to have her passenger accommodation and machinery modernised, before sailing again for the Far East in March 1880. She remained on charter in the Pacific trade until 1895, when she returned to Belfast for an engine refit, which was never actually carried out. In February 1896 she left Belfast for a breaker's yard on the River Thames.