Sink or Swim or Scrap? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sank

The first steam ship known by the name SS Sirius was a paddle steamer launched in 1837 that had been designed to run a passenger service between London and the city of Cork in southern Ireland. In 1838, it became the first steam-powered ship to complete a scheduled transatlantic passenger service, reaching New York one day ahead of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's much more famous and vaunted SS Great Western. The short time between these ground-breaking (or should that be sea-breaking?) journeys was no coincidence - SS Sirius was chartered to make the crossing by the British and American Steam Navigation Company, who wanted to steal away the kudos of the achievement from the Great Western Steamship Company and Brunel's ship that had actually been specifically designed for the purpose.

The Blue Riband was an unofficial award granted to ships operating a regular passenger service that held the record for the highest average speed while completing a transatlantic crossing. The term wasn't actually used until the 1890s, but historical records were used to create a retrospective list of Blue Riband holders. That work resulted in the SS Sirius being credited as the first winner of the title, despite taking over 18 days to complete the crossing (at an average speed of just 8.03 knots), and only holding it for a single day.

SS Sirius spent the remainder of its working life on various routes between Great Britain and Ireland. It sank in 1847 with the loss of 20 of its 91 passengers and crew when it hit rocks shortly after leaving Cork on a voyage to Dublin and Glasgow.

Answer: Scrapped

The SS Great Western was the first of three "great" steam ships designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the first to be designed for a regular commercial transatlantic service. It was considerably faster than similar ships of its time, taking four days less to cross the Atlantic than its rival SS Sirius - it only failed to become the first to do so and ended up as the second Blue Riband holder because it set off five days later. The ship set multiple speed records across the Atlantic, the last of which was a crossing at 10.71 knots in 1843.

SS Great Western was a wooden hulled paddle steamer and the longest ship in the world when it launched 1838, although Brunel's subsequent ships SS Great Britain and SS Great Eastern were bigger and incorporated new propeller technology. SS Great Western ran a profitable transatlantic passenger service between Liverpool and New York until 1846, when the Great Western Steamship Company went out of business. It then began services to West Indies and Rio de Janeiro before being requisitioned to transport troops during the Crimean War.

The ship's career ended in 1856 when it was scrapped at a boatyard on the River Thames. SS Great Britain had a more fortunate fate than its elder sibling ship as it was rescued, restored as a museum ship and put on display in a dry dock in Bristol - the city where both of these ships were built.

Answer: Scrapped

RMS Teutonic was built by the Belfast shipbuilders Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line and launched in 1889. Its design (and that of its sister ship RMS Majestic) was influenced by the fierce competition between the various shipping companies running transatlantic passenger services at the time to have the fastest ships and be able to claim the Blue Riband for making record-breaking crossings. However, as well as being a passenger liner, RMS Teutonic was originally fitted with eight guns and held the title of Britain's first armed merchant cruiser. This unlikely combination of roles came from the funding arrangements for the ship, with White Star Line and the government sharing the costs of its construction with the understanding that it could also be used for military purposes as required.

RMS Teutonic's career included 18 years of service on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. It won the Blue Riband in 1891 after recording a transatlantic crossing at an average speed of 20.35 knots. That achievement turned out to be the last time that a White Star Line vessel claimed the title.

In 1913, it narrowly avoided the same fate as the Titanic after coming close to hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic. However, it survived to return to its role as a merchant cruiser following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and was used throughout the war as both an armed cruiser and a troopship. It never returned to passenger service afterwards and was scrapped in 1921.

Answer: Sank

RMS Campania set Blue Riband-winning record crossing of the Atlantic in 1893 and 1894, with a fastest average speed on record of 21.44 knots for a crossing between the 12th and 17th of August 1894. Its record was then broken by its Cunard sister ship RMS Lucania. As well as being fast, both Campania and Lucania set new standards in luxury accommodation for their first-class passengers with opulent wood-panelled staterooms and fine furniture. They also had the latest safety and communication innovations, being the first passenger liners to send each other wireless messages about iceberg locations in the Atlantic. Campania was also the first ship to have permanent radio communications to on-shore stations.

By 1914, the ship had outlived its useful life as a passenger liner and was set to be scrapped, before it was bought by the government and converted into a seaplane carrier. It saw action throughout the First World War but sank six days before it ended in the Firth of Forth after it was in a collision with several other naval ships during a storm.

Answer: Sank

The SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was the first of four German "superliners" built for the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, all of which were named after members of the German ruling royal family. They represented a further step forward in the size of transatlantic passenger liners (being the largest ships built since Brunel's SS Great Eastern) and were noted for being the first to have a four funnel design. SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was launched in 1897 and claimed the Blue Riband for the first time later that year, before setting a faster record of 22.29 knots in 1898. It was the first German ship to take the award and also the first non-British or non-American ship to do so.

Like many passenger liners of the time, SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was requisitioned for military use at the outbreak of the First World War and became an auxiliary cruiser after being fitted out with cannons and ammunition rather than paying passengers. However, its military career was short-lived after it went into battle against the British cruiser HMS Highflyer and was sunk off the coast of Africa in August 1914. The cause of its sinking was the subject of some dispute - the official German account was that the ship was scuttled to prevent it being captured, while the British claimed it sank as a result of damage inflicted during the battle.

Answer: Sank

The story of the loss of RMS Lusitania is probably one of the most famous in maritime history, behind that of the Titanic. It belonged to the Cunard line, was launched in 1906, and held the Blue Riband from 1907 to 1909, with a fastest recorded average crossing speed of 25.65 knots in August 1909. It continued operating as a passenger liner during the First World War until it was it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat on May 7th, 1915, while around 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the southern coast of Ireland. At the time of its sinking it was carrying 1,962 passengers and crew, of whom 1,192 were killed.

The sinking of the Lusitania was highly controversial due to the fact it was carrying civilian passengers but was treated as a military target by Germany due to it being listed as an auxiliary cruiser (despite not being armed) and as it was known to be transporting ammunition. The international outrage that followed was particularly notable in the United States as the loss of over 100 US citizens who were travelling on RMS Lusitania led to widespread discussion of whether the US should retaliate by joining the allies and declaring war against Germany. In the end, US President Woodrow Wilson's commitment to avoiding war and German promises to avoid targeting passenger liners in future defused the situation. The United States didn't enter the war until April 1917, following Germany's announcement of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.

Answer: Scrapped

Cunard's RMS Mauretania was built at the Swan Hunter yard on the River Tyne in north-east England and launched in 1906. It was the largest ship afloat until the rival White Star Line launched RMS Olympic (the Titanic's sister ship) in 1910. It was also indisputably the fastest ship afloat after it claimed the Blue Riband in 1909 with an average speed of 26.06 knots - a record that remained unbroken for nearly 20 years.

While RMS Mauretania's sister ship Lusitania continued in passenger service until its tragic end in 1915, Mauretania was first requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser in 1914 before becoming a troopship and also serving as a hospital ship. It returned to transatlantic passenger service in the 1920s before taking on another new role as a cruise ship in 1930. The much-loved ship was finally withdrawn from service in 1934 and scrapped at a Scottish shipyard.

Answer: Scrapped

The SS Normandie was a French passenger liner launched in 1932, which operated transatlantic services for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) from 1935 until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. It remained moored in New York until December 1941 when it was claimed by the US Navy in the wake of Pearl Harbor and renamed USS Lafayette. Work began to convert the ship into a troop carrier, but was never completed after a fire broke out during the conversion process. The ship burned for several hours before capsizing at its mooring due to the excess water pumped on board as part of the firefighting effort.

However, this partial sinking was not the ultimate fate of the ship. The hull was recovered in the hope that conversion work could be continued, but in the end it was deemed a lost cause and the remains of SS Normandie were sold for scrap.

This was an ignominious end for one of the most luxurious and fastest passenger liners of the steam era. Its fiery demise came just five years after it claimed its final Blue Riband record for a transatlantic crossing at an average speed of 31.20 knots.

Answer: Swam (afloat)

RMS Queen Mary had a long history of service on the transatlantic route from Southampton to New York, via Cherbourg. Its maiden voyage took place in May 1936 and it claimed the Blue Riband accolade on several occasions, with its ultimate record being a crossing in August 1938 at an average speed of 31.69 knots - a mark that wasn't surpassed for another 14 years. The ship was owned by the merged Cunard-White Star Line company and was noted for its Art Deco interiors and the comfort and space it provided for all its passengers - not just those who could afford to travel first class.

It was converted into a troop ship during the Second World War and was used to transport thousands of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand to Europe. It also took the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on trips to the US and earned the nickname the "Grey Ghost" for its speed and ability to avoid attack by U-boats.

After the war ended it returned to its traditional passenger route and remained in service until 1967 when it was permanently docked in Long Beach, California, as a floating hotel and tourist attraction.

Answer: Swam (afloat)

The SS United States became the final holder of the Blue Riband when it completed a transatlantic passenger service crossing at an average speed of 35.59 knots in July 1952. The advent of air travel then heralded the end of the era of large passenger liners and the race to build ever larger, more luxurious and faster craft.

SS United States belonged to the United States Lines shipping company. It was built at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia, to a design that allowed it to be easily converted into a troop ship if required, and was launched in 1951. It was finally withdrawn from service in 1969. Many different schemes were subsequently proposed for the vessel over several decades - including uses as a hotel, casino, cruise ship - before it was eventually purchased by the SS United States Conservancy in 2011. This charitable organisation was founded with the purpose of saving the iconic vessel and finding it a new use and permanent home.