Adriatic (II)'s History

Adriatic  (II) was built by Harland and Wolff (Belfast) and launched on 20th September, 1906. She was the last of White Star's turn-of-the-century "Big Four" (though the only one of the quartet which never attained the distinction of being the World's largest ship).

On Adriatic's maiden voyage, she left Liverpool (bound to New York) on 8th May, 1907, but the return leg was to Southampton - White Star having moved its principal terminal there at that time. Adriatic made White Star's first Southampton departure on 5th June, 1907; she was joined by Teutonic, Majestic (I) and Oceanic (II) in providing a weekly Southampton-New York service.

On 7 January 1910, Adriatic II arrived in New York with 258 first class passengers. Among them were five "knights of the green cloth," who were shunned by the others once their calling became known and therefore "did not reap a great profit from their journey."

In 1911, when Olympic came into service, Adriatic returned to the Liverpool route and served in that capacity until 1919.

On 7th January 1913, whilst Leaving New York in fog, Adriatic II (Capt. Bertram F. Hayes) ran aground on the Red Hook mud flats off Governor's Island and remained stuck for about four and a half hours. Among Adriatic's passengers were J. Pierpont Morgan, making his final Atlantic crossing, and former U. S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich.

Adriatic II then spent three more years at Southampton and returned to Liverpool in 1922. From 1926 onwards, she was used mainly for cruises. In 1928 she was converted to cabin class. Her last transatlantic sailing was in February 1934.

When White Star merged with Cunard in May 1934, Adriatic was used for that year's Summer cruise season - but was laid up as soon as that employment ended and sold for scrapping. In March, 1935, she arrived in Osaka, Japan for breaking up.