SS Ionic

Ionic was the name of two ships of the White Star Line.

SS Ionic (1883)

SS Ionic was a cargo liner initially in service with White Star Line from 1883 until 1900. She was used on the company's joint route to New Zealand with the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line. She was sold to the Aberdeen Line in 1900 and renamed SS Sophocles, and was withdrawn for service in 1906 and scrapped in 1908.

Service

Ionic was built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast and launched on 11 January 1883, being delivered to her new owners on 28 March 1883. She was almost immediately chartered for service with the New Zealand Shipping Company, along with the White Star ships SS Doric and SS Coptic, to fill a gap while the company was awaiting the delivery of new ships. After being inspected by the Prince of Wales, Ionic began her maiden voyage from London to Wellington, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope, in April 1884, setting a new record for the passage.

She was placed on the regular joint White Star - Shaw, Savill & Albion route from December 1884, managed by Shaw, Savill & Albion but crewed by White Star Line personnel. She had to be towed to Cape Town after her propeller shaft snapped in 1893, and in 1894 she was extensively refitted by Harland and Wolff. In December 1899 she transported horses to the Cape during the Second Boer War, and in April 1900 was chartered by the Spanish government to repatriate troops from Manila after the Spanish–American War. Ionic was sold later that year to the Aberdeen Line as a replacement for their SS Thermopylae, which had been lost in September 1899. The Aberdeen Line renamed her SS Sophocles. She made her final voyage in August 1906, and was scrapped by Thos. W. Ward at Morecambe, Lancashire in April 1908.

SS Ionic (1902)

SS Ionic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1902 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. She was the second White Star Liner to be named Ionic and served on the United Kingdom – New Zealand route. Her sister ships were SS Athenic and SS Corinthic.

History

Ionic was launched at Harland and Wolff′s yard at the Queen's Island in Belfast on 22 May 1902. She was originally built to carry passengers and refrigerated meat between the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and began her maiden voyage from London to Wellington via Cape Town on 16 January 1903. Ionic was the first ship on the New Zealand route to be fitted with a Marconi wireless set. She was built with only one buff-coloured, black topped smokestack and four passenger decks. Ionic was also equipped with four masts. She was fitted with electrical lighting and had an open promenade deck and the golden White Star Line stripe along her hull.

In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Ionic was requisitioned as a troop ship for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and in 1915 she narrowly missed a torpedo by less than 15 yards while steaming through the Mediterranean Sea. On 31 January Ionic returned to her former New Zealand passenger service via the Panama Canal.