White Star's first Majestic, sister to
Teutonic,
was built by Harland & Wolff of Belfast. Launched in 1889, she entered
service on 2 April 1890, with a Liverpool-New York roundtrip. In July
1891, she captured the westbound Blue Riband on her only record
crossing: 5 days, 18 hrs., 8 mins., for an average speed of 20.1 knots.
Except for two Boer War trooping trips to South Africa in December 1899
and February 1900, Majestic remained on the Liverpool-New York service
until 1907. Along the way she was substantially remodeled in 1902-03,
a process which included the installation of new boilers, the
heightening of her funnels and the elimination of one of her three
masts. Although the ship shown on the last card on this page is not
identified, it appears to be Majestic after these changes were made.
When White Star moved its principal service from Liverpool to
Southampton in June 1907, Majestic was one of the four ships assigned
there to maintain a weekly sailing schedule. (The other three were
Adriatic (II),
Teutonic and
Oceanic (II).
In November 1911, after
Olympic
entered service, Majestic was withdrawn and placed in reserve. Six months
later, however, she resumed her Southampton-New York duties as
Titanic's
replacement. She made her last voyage on 14 January 1914 and arrived at
the shipbreakers in May of that year.
Sources: Haws' Merchant Fleets; Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway.
