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S.S. Arabic

Sisters: Minnehaha, Minnetonka, Minnewaska (III), Minneapolis, Mongolia, Manchuria
Builder: Harland & Wolff, Belfast, yard number 340
Launched December 18, 1902; delivered June 21, 1903; maiden voyage June 26, 1903; torpedoed August 19, 1915
Hull: length 600' 8"; beam 65' 6"; 15,801 tons

The Minnewaska (II) was the last of the four Minne class ships ordered by Bernard N. Baker in 1898 using money loaned by J.P. Morgan as an incentive to merge the Atlantic Transport Line into the International Navigation Company, the first step in the creation of the International Mercantile Marine Company.

Unfortunately for the Atlantic Transport Line an economic downturn led the International Mercantile Marine Company to transfer her before completion to the White Star Line. Her superstructure was extended aft of the third mast and forward of the second mast, giving her a very ungainly appearance. Sailing as the Arabic she possessed accommodation for 200 first class passengers and 1,000 third class.

The Arabic sailed on the Liverpool via Queenstown to New York from June 26, 1903, but occasionally sailed on the Liverpool to Boston service. Her first class accommodation was reclassified as second class in 1913 and extra lifeboats were added following new regulations after the loss of the Titanic. At the end of the following year she resumed her Liverpool to New York voyages.

On August 19, 1915, the Arabic was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U 24 off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. She went down in 9 minutes with the loss of 44 lives; 380 were saved. She was the first White Star vessel lost in the war. After the war the White Star Line acquired a German liner through reparations, and named her Arabic. She was of similar size, but with two funnels and a much more elegant appearance.

Sources: The Atlantic Transport Line, 1881-1931; The Ships List; Passenger Ships of the World Past and Present, Eugene W. Smith, Massachusetts, 1977; Merchant Fleets in Profile 2; the Ships of the Cunard, American, Red Star, Inman, Leyland, Dominion, Atlantic Transport and White Star Lines, Duncan Haws, 1979; Answers.com; Encyclopedia Titanica

A photo postcard depicting the Arabic (Ian Newson)

The Arabic, from a White Star Line brochure

A postcard depicting Arabic and the cover of a 1905 menu card (both eBay)

A color postcard from Tuck's "Celebrated Liners" series depicting the Arabic (Kinghorn)

The sinking of the Arabic, from a contemporary image purporting to be a photograph (Dick Sloan)

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