Royal Mail Ship

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Royal Mail aircraft marking.
Royal Mail aircraft marking.

Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship, Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail. They have the right to fly the pennant of the Royal Mail when sailing.[1][2][3]

The designation has been used since 1840.[4] It was used by a large number of companies, but is often associated in particular with the Cunard line and Royal Mail Lines, which held a number of high-profile mail contract business, and which traditionally prefixed the titles of all its ships with the initials "RMS". The best-known ship carrying the prefix is almost certainly the RMS Titanic of the White Star Line.

Technically, a ship would use the prefix only while contracted to carry mail, and would revert at other times to a standard type designation such as "SS".

Previously, the Admiralty operated these ships [5]. In 1850 contracts were awarded to private companies. The most valuable route, with the highest volume, was between Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), in Ireland, and Holyhead in Wales. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company (CDSPCo) won the contract and purchased RMS Saint Columa and RMS Llwywllyn from the Admiralty.

Having the title "RMS" was seen as a mark of quality and a competitive advantage, because the mail had to be on time. In the 1860 CDSPCo contract there was a penalty clause of £1 1s 4d for every minute's delay.

In recent years the shift to air transport for mail has left only two ships with the right to the prefix; RMS St. Helena, which serves the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, and RMS Queen Mary 2. QM2 was conferred "RMS" by Royal Mail when she entered service in 2004 on the Southampton to New York route as a gesture to Cunard's history.[6]

The less common designations RMMV, for Royal Mail Motor Vessel, and RMMS, for Royal Mail Motor Ship, were used for a period when RMS was restricted to steam-ships. Motor Ship indicates that propulsion is provided by diesel rather than steam. The designation TS as in TSMV before the name of the vessel would indicate that it was driven by twin screws.

Contents

[edit] List of RMS Ships

Name Line Maiden Voyage Left Service Fate
Queen Elizabeth 2 Cunard 1969 in service until 2008
Queen Mary 2 Cunard 2004 in service
Adriatic White Star 1907 1934 broken-up
Aquitania Cunard 1914 1950 broken-up
Arabia Peninsular and Oriental 1898 1916 sunk (enemy action)
Alcantara Royal Mail Lines 1913 1916 Sunk in battle while serving as Armed Merchant Cruiser
Alcantara Royal Mail Lines 1926 1958 scrapped
Andes Royal Mail Lines 1913 1929 renamed Atlantis cruise ship
Andes Royal Mail Lines 1939 1959 became cruise ship
Arlanza Royal Mail Lines 1912 1938 broken-up
Atlantic White Star 1871 1873 sunk
Baltic White Star 1904 1933 broken-up
Britannia Cunard 1840 1880 sunk
Britannic White Star 1929 1960 broken-up
Lucania Cunard 1893 1909 broken-up
Carpathia Cunard 1903 1918 sunk (enemy action)
Caronia Cunard 1949 1974 broken-up
Celtic White Star 1901 1933 broken-up
Cedric White Star 1903 1932 broken-up
Dunottar Castle Union Castle 1890 1915 sunk
Empress of Australia Canadian Pacific 1922 1952 broken-up
Etruria Cunard 1885 1909 broken-up
Homeric White Star 1922 1935 broken-up
Laconia Cunard 1922 1942 sunk (enemy action)
Laconia Cunard 1912 1917 sunk (enemy action)
Lusitania Cunard 1907 1915 sunk (enemy action)
Mauretania Cunard 1939 1965 broken-up
Maloja Peninsular and Oriental 1923 1954 broken-up
Majestic White Star 1922 1940 broken-up
Mooltan Peninsular and Oriental 1923 1953 broken-up
Niagara Union Steamship 1912 1940 sunk (enemy action)
Oceanic White Star 1871 1896 broken-up
Queen Elizabeth Cunard 1940 1968 broken-up
Royal Adelaide City of Dublin Steam Packet 1838 1849 sunk
Georgic White Star 1933 1954 broken-up
Olympic White Star 1911 1935 broken-up
Mauretania Cunard 1907 1935 broken-up
Queen Mary Cunard 1936 1967 retired
Umbria Cunard 1884 1910 broken-up
Scythia Cunard 1921 1958 broken-up
Titanic White Star 1912 1912 sunk
Windsor Castle Union-Castle 1960 1998 broken-up
Viceroy of India Peninsular and Oriental 1927 1942 sunk (enemy action)
Oceanic White Star 1899 1914 broken-up
St. Helena HM Government 1990 in service
Snaefell Isle of Man Steam Packet 1910 1918 sunk (enemy action)
Mona's Queen Isle of Man Steam Packet 1934  ?  ?
King Orry Isle of Man Steam Packet 1911  ?  ?
Lady of Mann Isle of Man Steam Packet 1930  ?  ?
Ben My Chree Isle of Man Steam Packet 1927  ?  ?
Peel Castle Isle of Man Steam Packet 1894  ?  ?
Fenella Isle of Man Steam Packet 1937  ?  ?
Tynwald Isle of Man Steam Packet 1937  ?  ?
Segwun  ? 1887 restored and returned to service
Trent Royal Mail Steam Packet 1841 1865 broken-up
Leinster City of Dublin Steam Packet 1918 sunk (enemy action)
Servia Cunard 1881 1901 broken-up

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Royal Mails employees Courier newspaper page 20 August 2007
  2. ^ QM2
  3. ^ United Kingdom - Royal Mail
  4. ^ The first citation in the Times is from August 18, 1840
  5. ^ The Admiralty took over the Packet Service from the General Post Office in 1823]]
  6. ^ Royal Mails employees Courier newspaper page 20 August 2007