1887 *RMS SERVIA* {CUNARD ROYAL MAIL STEAMSHIP} QUEENSTOWN, NZ. COVER+2 LETTERS!

Description

AUGUST 29, 1887 ***SCARCE*** ~S. S. (RMS) SERVIA~ "CUNARD-ROYAL-MAIL-STEAMSHIP" ... QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND POSTAL COVER WITH "THE CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY LIMITED" LOGO PLUS "MUNROE & CO." STAMPED ON BACK ... MATCHING LETTER AND ADDITIONAL 2ND LETTER ... 2 1/2d (VIOLET, BLUE) SCOTT# 114 "QUEEN VICTORIA" STAMP!
RARE "134" year old transportation postal history with original contents still intact!
Continue reading below about the ending fate of this notable ocean liner (just 15 years after this cover was posted):
____________________________________________________________________________________
SS
Servia
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History
United Kingdom
Name
SS
Servia
Owner
Cunard Line
Operator
Cunard Line
Port of registry
United Kingdom
, Liverpool
Route
Liverpool – New York
Builder
J & G Thomson
Cost
£256,903
Yard number
179
Launched
1 March 1881
Maiden voyage
November 26, 1881
Homeport
Liverpool
Fate
Broken up in 1902
General characteristics
Type
Ocean liner
Tonnage
7,392
GT
Length
515 ft (157 m)
Beam
52.1 ft (15.9 m)
Draft
40.75 ft (12.42 m)
Decks
5
Installed power
10,300 ihp
Propulsion
Single Screw
Sail plan
Barque-rigged
Speed
16.7 kn (best average)
Capacity
480 1st class, 750 steerage
Crew
298
SS Servia
, also known as
RMS
Servia
, was a successful transatlantic passenger and mail steamer of revolutionary design, built by
J & G Thomson
of Clydebank (later
John Brown & Company
) and launched in 1881. She was the first large ocean liner to be built of steel instead of iron, and the first
Cunard
ship to have an electric lighting installation. For these and other reasons, maritime historians often consider
Servia
to be the first "modern" ocean liner.
Background
[
edit
]
Servia
underway
In 1878,
Samuel Cunard's
British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company
was reorganised into limited company and officially named
Cunard
. This capitalisation allowed it to use shareholder money to build larger, more expensive ships. A new policy to this end was put into effect by Cunard's new chairman,
John Burns
, and announced in the London
Times
.
[1]
:235
Launched on 1 March 1881,
Servia
was the first of
Cunard
's new breed of ocean liners. She was the second largest ship in the world at 515 feet long and 52.1 feet wide,
[2]
surpassed only by
Brunel
's
SS Great Eastern
. With her design and construction guided by
Admiralty
specifications,
Servia
had many features that satisfied the requirements for her to be placed high on the admiralty's reserve list of the armed auxiliary cruisers,
[3]
:xxiv
where she could be called into service in times of war. It was named after historical English name for country
Serbia
.
Power plant
[
edit
]
Servia’s
engine was similar to the one installed on the
Guion Line’s
crack passenger liner
SS Alaska
of 1881.
[2]
:70
It was a triple-crank
compound steam engine
with one 72
in
high-pressure cylinder, and two 100 in low-pressure cylinders, and a stroke of 6.5 ft (2.0 m). The steam was supplied at 90
lbf
by seven
Scotch boilers
, each of which were 18 ft (5.5 m) in diameter and contained six furnaces. Six of these boilers were double-ended, while the seventh was single-ended and contained three furnaces. The power developed was 10,300
ihp
, driving a single four-bladed screw.
Servia's
maximum recorded speed during her trials was 17.85
knots
, and her average speed during a crossing was around 16 knots. Although
Servia
did not achieve any speed records, she was a competitive liner that performed well, and in 1884 she managed to make a crossing in less than seven days, averaging at 16.7 knots.
[3]
:xxiv
Notable features
[
edit
]
Servia
differed from earlier Atlantic liners in a number of significant ways, but most notably, she was the first liner to
specialise
in passenger transportation, due to her cargo space being sacrificed for her large power-plant. This sacrifice was viable because at that time,
tramp steamers
had taken over much of the freight across the Atlantic, while the demand for passenger transportation had increased.
[1]
Because of her passenger specialisation, Servia is considered to be first liner of what became known as the Express Transatlantic Service.
[4]
:41
Servia
also had a number of innovative technical features which are noteworthy in the history of ocean-going liners. The following list is a summary of those features:
Construction and design
[
edit
]
Servia
, 1881, by Joseph Witham
Servia
was the first major ocean liner to be built of steel, which gave her large hull the advantage of additional strength while at the same time making her lighter. She was also the first liner to re-introduce the cellular
double-bottom
design which
Brunel
had invented 20 years earlier for the
Great Eastern
.
[1]
The double-bottom was 4' 8" deep, and could be flooded with 800 tons of water ballast. Because
Servia
was built to admiralty specifications, she incorporated several safety features, the most notable being the sub-division of her hull into 12 transverse water-tight compartments, fitted with water-tight doors. She could remain afloat with any two of these compartments flooded. The water-tight doors between the boiler and engine room were fail-safe and could be closed from any deck.
[3]
:xxiv
Electric lighting
[
edit
]
The first application of electrical lighting on a passenger ship occurred around 1879, with the installation of a small but practical electric lighting installation had been made on the Inman liner
City of Berlin
.
[4]
:xxiv
However, a larger more extensive installation aboard the American coastal liner
Columbia
performed by
Thomas Edison
the following year, became the first commercial and practical application of electric lighting at sea.
[5]
Where
City of Berlin
had a total of six incandescent lamps installed within the dining hall, boiler rooms and engine room, the installation aboard the
Columbia
consisted of 200 incandescent lamps fitted within the main saloon and 120 first class staterooms.
[5]
[6]
The
Columbia's
installation included a small number of extra lamps within the engine room as well.
[7]
Upon her completion in 1881, the
Servia
became the first Cunarder to introduce electric lighting, using
incandescent lamps
. Much like the previous installations aboard the
Columbia
and
City of Berlin
, the lamps were installed in the public rooms and engineering spaces aboard the
Servia
.
[3]
:xxiv
In total, the
Servia
utilized a total of 119 incandescent bulbs, which consisted of 117 Swan lamps and two arc lamps.
[8]
The installation also included a
Siemens
built dynamo which fed
direct current
electricity to an electromagnetic
inverter
operaing at 650 revolutions per minute. Both the dynamo and inverter were located in a secluded area of the
Servia's
engine room. The inverter in turn supplied
alternating current
electricity directly to the incandescent lamps through four independent circuits. The majority of lamps were located in the saloon, ladies' room, the boiler rooms, the engine room and smoke room among other areas of the ship. Two lamps were also utilized on deck to aid the loading and unloading of cargo from the vessel. Installation of the electrical lighting system was performed by the
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company
.
[9]
In addition to the incandescent lamps,
Servia
was also fitted with a new type of compass and deep-sea sounding device.
[3]
:xxiv
Passenger accommodation
[
edit
]
Servia
had public rooms of a scale and luxury greater than previously known.
[2]
:70
Of the three decks, the upper deck consisted of deck-houses that included a first-class smoking room, and a luxuriously fitted ladies drawing room and a music room. The entrance and grand staircase was the largest that had ever appeared on a liner,
[3]
:xxiv
and was panelled in polished maple and ash. It led down to the a landing on the main deck which featured a library. Twenty-four first-class staterooms were situated aft of this landing, while the first-class dining salon was situated forward. The dining salon could sit 220 of
Servia's
480 first-class passengers on five long tables, and was richly decorated with carved panels and carpets. In the centre was an open well that rose 17 ft to a skylight. Forward of the dining salon were a further 58 staterooms, followed by crew accommodation areas.
On the lower deck was a servants dining room and a further 82 first-class staterooms. The forward section of this deck was reserved for 730 steerage passengers. This section was a large area of about 150 feet long, and included a dining area. The berths were grouped into separate male and female areas.
[3]
:xxiv
Fate
[
edit
]
With the appearance of the crack Cunard liners
RMS
Campania
and
RMS
Lucania
in 1893,
Servia
was relegated to intermediate service. She was later used to transport troops to South Africa
[2]
:70
during the Boer war. She was broken up in 1902 by
Thos W Ward
.
Notable passengers
[
edit
]
Writers
Jane Addams
and
Henry James
both sailed on a crossing aboard
Servia
in August 1883, though it does not appear they met.
[10]
Edward Pellew
, 4th Viscount Exmouth, and Viscountess Exmouth sailed aboard the
Servia
leaving New York City for Liverpool on 1 October 1884.
[11]
____________________________________________________________________________________
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