SS Mesaba (1898)

Mesaba was launched for the Atlantic Transport Line at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 11 September 1897, and completed on 17 February 1898. The ship was 146.9 metres (481 ft 11 in) long, had a beam of 15.8 metres (51 ft 10 in) and a depth of 9.4 metres (30 ft 10 in). She was assessed at 6,833 GRT and had a triple expansion engine producing 772 nhp, driving a single screw propeller. The ship could reach a maximum speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) and had four masts and one funnel.[2] Her sister ships were: Manitou, Marquette, Menominee and Mohegan.[3]

Winefreda originally sailed from London to New York City from her maiden voyage on 3 March 1898 until June 1898, when she was renamed to Mesaba and continued to operate on that line. She collided with the Wilson Line ship Martello, before colliding with yet another liner, the Zeta, not much later on 4 October 1900 in New York Harbor. Mesaba only received slight damage both times. She also made three trips from Antwerp to Boston and Philadelphia for the Red Star Line between 1912 and 1914. She resumed her usual sailing plan in June 1915. She was however involved in a third collision on 11 August 1918 in the Irish Sea with SS Lizard.[4]

On the night the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink on 14 April 1912, she had received a series of warnings from other ships of drifting ice in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. One of those ships to send her a warning, was the Mesaba. At 7.50 pm on 14 April 1912, her wireless operator Stanley Adams sent her the ice warnings, but they never made it to the bridge of the Titanic despite them being received by wireless officer Jack Phillips at 9.40 pm.[5]

Mesaba departed Liverpool for Philadelphia in convoy OL32/OE21 on 31 August 1918 under the command of Captain Owen Percy Clarke. The following day, she was torpedoed and sunk by SM UB-118 21 nautical miles (39 km) east of the Tuskar Rock in the Irish Sea. The sinking claimed the lives of 20 of her crew, including her captain and chief officer. The remaining 78 crew were rescued by the gunboat Kildini, commanded by Lieutenant F.J. Silva.[6]

The wreck of Mesaba lies at (52°17′N 5°38′W) in 96 meters (314 feet) of water. The wreck, with its bow broken off, was positivily identified by a team from the University of Bangor in September 2022 by the use of sonar.[7] Before that, the wreck was believed to be that of SS City of Glasgow, a passenger ship that was sunk on the same day and by the same U-boat while travelling in the same convoy as Mesaba close to her position.[8]