<<< Of Ocean Greyhounds . . . >>>

VII

The White Star Line was founded in 1845. At its birth it dominated the "Wool Clipper" trade, carrying that product between Australia and Great Britain. Wool clippers tended to be beamier (wider) than tea clippers which made them slower (less speed was acceptable because of less risk of spoilage to the cargo) but able to carry their bulkier cargo. On outbound trips from England, White Star ships carried gold prospectors to the Australian Gold Rush of the time. 

In 1868, Thomas Ismay bought the White Star Line, which by this time operated one "composite" ship bearing both sails and steam propulsion. He quickly entered into a partnership with Harland & Wolff Shipyards of Belfast to build iron-hulled steam-powered ships.

With the end of the American Civil War, the transatlantic route had become most profitable, and White Star began running its vessels between Southampton, UK (with stops at Queenstown, or Cobh, Ireland, and Cherbourg, France) and New York.

All White Star ships were remarkable for being named with an -ic ending: Baltic, Adriatic, Atlantic, Majestic, Olympic, and most famously and notoriously, Titanic.

But they were also remarkable for their clipper hulls, narrow cutwaters, overhanging sterns, and raked masts, which (after steam completely replaced sail on liners in the 1880s) gave the ships an appearance of being speedy.

In truth, most White Star Line ships could not compete with their rival Cunard ships for speed. White Star decided instead to focus on luxury for its passengers and created opulent ships of which the ill-fated Titanic was the non plus ultra.

White Star was the preferred line for Anglo-American millionaires of the Gilded Age. To this day, the phrase "White Star Service" is an idiom for providing the best of the best to one's customers.