RMS Oceanic
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | RMS Oceanic | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | ocean liner | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Grounding or wreck on rocks | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | White Star Line | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Scotland | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 23 km from land |
| Position | 60.1170, -1.9807 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 6 September 1899 and was the largest ship in the world until 1901. At the outbreak of World War I she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser. On 8 August 1914 she was commissioned into Royal Navy service.
On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to Faroe. On 8 September she ran aground and was wrecked off the island of Foula, in the Shetland Islands.
Diving & visiting
In 1924, a salvage company which had been engaged on the scuttled German warships at Scapa Flow attempted to salvage what remained of the wreck; however they were unsuccessful. In 1973 another attempt was made to salvage parts of the wreck and the propellers for scrap. Over the next six years, Simon Martin and Alec Crawford, with wet-suits and Scuba gear, and initially working from an inflatable dinghy, recovered more than 200 tonnes of non-ferrous metal. Martin told the story in his best-selling book, The Other Titanic.
Location
- Recorded position: 60.1170, -1.9807 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
- Nearest coast: Scotland
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article RMS Oceanic (revision 1360955119), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Salvage”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Cheerful 47 km
- Queen of Sweden 47 km
- SS The Ramsey 66 km
- El Gran Grifón 70 km
- Kennemerland 1664 · 76 km
- Wrangels Palais 77 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off Scotland · North Atlantic Ocean