View source for RMS Dunottar Castle

{{Short description|Ocean liner (1890–1915)}}
{{About||the castle in Aberdeenshire|Dunnottar Castle|the 1936 cruise liner|MS Dunnottar Castle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Rms dunottar castle.jpg
|Ship caption= ''Dunottar Castle'' at [[Dartmouth, Devon]]
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
|Ship name=''Dunottar Castle''
|Ship owner=[[Union-Castle Line]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]]
|Ship yard number=348
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|Ship laid down=1889
|Ship launched=22 May 1890
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|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=1890
|Ship out of service=
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|Ship fate=Sunk {{cvt|35|mi}} off [[Cape Wrath]] 27 September 1915<ref name="badenpowell">{{cite web |url= http://www.beyondmag.co.uk/wreck/liners.htm |title=Wreck Diving |accessdate=2007-08-02 |work=chronology }}</ref>
|Ship notes=
}}
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|Ship tonnage={{GRT|5625}}
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{convert|433|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|49|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship draught={{convert|25|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion=Single screw
|Ship speed= {{cvt|17|kn|lk=in}} service speed
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'''RMS ''Dunottar Castle''''' was a [[Royal Mail Ship]] that went into service with the Castle Line (and its successor, the [[Union-Castle Line]]) in 1890 on the passenger and mail service between Britain and South Africa. In 1913 the ship was sold to the [[Royal Mail Steam Packet Company]] as the ''Caribbean''. After the outbreak of the First World War she served as HMS ''Caribbean'', first as a [[troopship|troop ship]] and then as an [[Armed merchantman#Armed merchant cruisers|armed merchant cruiser]], until she sank in a storm off the Scottish coast on 27 September 1915.

==Construction and service==
{{stack|[[File:Castle Packets, R.M.S. DUNOTTAR CASTLE.jpg|thumb|''Dunottar Castle'', from an 1893 book]]}}
The ''Dunottar Castle'' was built at [[Govan]] Shipyards in 1889 by the [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]] for the Castle Line, passing to the [[Union Castle Line]] in 1900. She became famous in the 1890s for reducing the voyage from [[Southampton]], [[England]], to [[Cape Town]], [[South Africa]], from 42 to 17 days and 20 hours. In 1894 she grounded for two tides near the [[Eddystone Lighthouse]]. She was refitted in 1897 when the funnels were heightened, her yards were removed and she was given a wheelhouse.<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation">{{cite web| url=http://www.red-duster.co.uk/UNION12.htm| title=Castle Mail Packet Co| publisher=Red Duster (Merchant Navy Association)| accessdate=14 November 2012| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129151347/http://www.red-duster.co.uk/UNION12.htm| archive-date=29 November 2012}}</ref>

==Troop ship==
In November 1899 ''Dunottar Castle'' was requisitioned as a troop ship in the [[Second Boer War]]. She carried General [[Redvers Buller]] and 1,500 troops to Cape Town for Boer War duties and on the following voyage carried [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] and [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]].<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/> In the war she made frequent trips between Britain and the [[Cape Colony]] and carried some of the most famous Boer War warriors of the time, including two famous scouts, Major [[Frederick Russell Burnham]] and Col. [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|Robert Baden-Powell]], as well as a young [[war correspondent]] for the [[Morning Post]] by the name of [[Winston Churchill]].

In 1904 ''Dunottar Castle'' was laid up at Netley in Southampton Water, but by 1907 she was being chartered to the Panama Railroad Co. for their [[New York (state)|New York]] to [[Colón, Panama|Colon]] ([[Panama Canal]]) service. In 1908 she was chartered to Sir Henry Lunn Ltd for cruises to [[Norway]] and the [[Mediterranean]], and in 1911 she took guests to the [[Delhi Durbar]] of King [[George V]].<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/>

Union-Castle became part of the [[Royal Mail Group]] in 1912, and ''Dunottar Castle'' was sold to the [[Royal Mail Steam Packet Company]] in 1913 as the ''Caribbean''. In 1914 she was requisitioned as HMS ''Caribbean'' for [[World War I]], initially as a troop ship to bring soldiers from [[Canada]] to Europe and later as an Armed Merchant Cruiser.<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/> But after it was found that she was unsuitable to carry gun mountings, she was converted into a dockyard workers' accommodation ship in May 1915.<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/>

==Loss==
''Caribbean'' sailed for [[Scapa Flow]] on 24 September 1915, but foundered at noon on 26 September, about {{convert|35|mi|km}} south of [[Cape Wrath]], [[Scotland]]. Several ships were despatched to assist when her SOS message was received, but most were obliged to turn back due to the poor weather. Some trawlers from [[Stornoway]] and the light cruiser {{HMS|Birkenhead|1915|6}} managed to reach the scene. An attempt by the ''Birkenhead'' to place the ''Caribbean'' under tow failed, but most of the crew were rescued in the night.

The ''Caribbean'' sank early on 27 September, and the 15 crewmen still aboard died. The ensuing Court of Enquiry later blamed the ship's carpenter for being insufficiently familiar with the ship and for failing to shut all the scuttles. Like most of the crew, he had joined the ship just 10 days earlier. The wreck was found in 2004, undisturbed except for fishing nets.<ref name="yorkshirepost2004">{{cite news |last=Robinson |first=Andrew |date=16 June 2004 |title=Yorkshire diver first to see wreck for nearly 90 years |newspaper=[[The Yorkshire Post]] |url= http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/yorkshire-diver-first-to-see-wreck-for-nearly-90-years-1-2545421 |accessdate= 2007-08-06}}</ref>

==Second Boer War milestones==
{{Burnham churchill image map}}
*3 July 1899, "at a few days" notice from [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Lord Wolseley]], Col. [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|Robert Baden-Powell]] left [[Southampton]] on ''Dunottar Castle'' and arrived in Cape Town on 25 July.<ref name="badenpowell2">{{cite web|url=http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/chronology.htm |title="Johnny Walker's" Scouting Milestone Pages |accessdate=2007-08-02 |work=chronology |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629044738/http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/chronology.htm |archive-date=29 June 2007 }}</ref> On 10 October 1899 the [[Second Boer War]] began and three days later Baden-Powell was cut off by the Boers in the [[Siege of Mafeking]]<ref name="badenpowell2"/>
*14 October 1899 [[Winston Churchill]] sailed from Southampton aboard ''Dunottar Castle'' and reached Cape Town on 31 October.<ref name="churchillboerwar">{{cite book |last=Churchill |first=Winston |author-link=Winston Churchill |year=1990 |title=Boer War: London to Ladysmith via Pretoria |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=0-393-02815-1}}</ref>
*November 1899, General [[Redvers Buller]] and 1,500 troops were carried by ''Dunottar Castle'' to Cape Town to reinforce British Army forces at the start of the Second Boer War.<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/>
*23 December 1899, [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] quickly departed Southampton on his way to [[South Africa]] on the ''Dunottar Castle'' where he took command of the British forces in the Second Boer War. En route, [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] joined Lord Roberts on ''Dunottar Castle'' in [[Gibraltar]] to become the second in command.<ref name="lordroberts">{{cite web |url= http://www.bfi.org.uk/nftva/catalogues/film/2/14/352 |title=BFI National Archive Catalogues Lord Roberts Leaving for South Africa |accessdate=2007-08-02 |work=film |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071023055019/http://www.bfi.org.uk/nftva/catalogues/film/2/14/352 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date= 2007-10-23}}</ref>
* July 1900, Winston Churchill and [[Frederick Russell Burnham]] left [[South Africa]] and returned to England on 20 July as war heroes.<ref name="finesthour127"/> On the voyage home, Churchill wrote the following letter to [[Cecil Rhodes]]:<ref name="churchillrhodesletter">{{cite web |url= http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/english/interaction/95pm.htm |title=Cape to Cairo: tracing an imperial imaginary |accessdate=2007-08-02 |work=Baderoon, Gabeba; Christopher Roper and Hermann Wittenberg (eds) 1996. Inter Action 4. Proceedings of the Fourth Postgraduate Conference. Bellville: UWC Press, pages 95-97. |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071218155513/http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/english/interaction/95pm.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2007-12-18}}</ref>
{{blockquote|
My dear Mr Rhodes,

[[Abe Bailey]] has spoken to me about a plan to send a small private expedition from Cape Town to Cairo, and has suggested my coming with him. Of course I must think first of all of getting into the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]], but I daresay the general election will be over before the expedition would start and were that the case I daresay I could get away.

I should personally like very much indeed to take part in such an interesting venture, and as I have to make my own living it would be a great advantage to me to do so, for what with a series of letters to a London newspaper and a good sized book to be published later, I should be able to earn a good deal of money.

Now it seems to me that this writing would help to attract public attention to the Cape to Cairo route and stimulate the interest taken in your railway scheme: so that perhaps you will think that our roads lie for some small distance in the same direction. If this be so and you would like me to go with this small expedition as Bailey's companion, will you write me - or have me written for I know you have many things to occupy you - a letter on the subject. This should reach me in about two months time, and I will then give you a definite answer without delay, for by then I shall know what prospect there is of my being able to play at 'the cup and ball trick' (to quote your expression) in the House of Commons.

I lunched and dined with [[Francis William Rhodes|Frankie]] at [[Groote Schuur]] and much admired your beautiful house. I am sorry not to have seen you in South Africa, but the Boers interfered with most peoples' arrangements.

Yours sincerely, <br>
Winston S. Churchill.<br>
12 July 1900}}

*In December 1900, her propeller shaft snapped and she had to be towed into [[Dakar]]. ''[[HMHS Glenart Castle|Galician]]'' went into service and in the same month went to Dakar to pick up passengers and mail from the disabled ''Dunottar Castle''.<ref name="MerchantNavyAssociation"/>
*On 25 November 1901 the ''Dunottar Castle'' was disabled and towed into Dakar by the {{SS|Runic|1900|2}}.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commonscat-inline|Dunottar Castle (ship, 1890)}}

{{1894 shipwrecks}}
{{September 1915 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|North Sea}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunottar Castle}}
[[Category:1890 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Clyde]]
[[Category:Ocean liners]]
[[Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Second Boer War]]
[[Category:Ships of the Union-Castle Line]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1894]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1915]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:World War I Auxiliary cruisers of the Royal Navy]]