The Mauretania Collision - 28 November, 1929
By Joseph B. Rayder
The Stock Market began to crash by 11 November 1929 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average index stood at 228 which was the result of a forty percent decrease. The steady decrease in the value of stock certificates would eventually lead to the stock market crash in July 1932; the Dow Jones Industrial Average index failing at a eighty-nine percent devaluation. The Great Depression had begun as the result of stock market crash of 1929.
Not only did the Dow Jones Industrial Average crash in 1929, but to maintain the theme the Cunard liner Mauretania crashed while departing New York to complete the Eastbound crossing to Southampton on voyage No. 232. At 12:00 a.m. on Thursday 28 November 1929 with a shipment of gold bound for France worth $5.350.000 tucked down in the liners cargo holds and with 870 passengers on board, the Mauretania left the Cunard pier on Manhattan under the command of Captain S. G. S. McNeil and proceeded down the Hudson River towards the upper bay of New York harbor. Also on board the Mauretania were four Russian air-pilots who had flown from Moscow to New York and were now returning to their homeland. Only one passenger, a female, had wished to fore-go the voyage to remain in New York with a sick relative; everyone else who had booked passage was on board for the crossing.
The weather at the time the Mauretania eased away from her pier was far less than preferable. The Midwest states were being plagued with heavy blizzards while temperatures throughout New England had dropped significantly. New York Harbor was thick with fog and haze and the air temperature was reflective of the cold front which was on it eastward track towards New York. The fog limited the visibility between ocean liners and harbor ships.
By 12:30 a.m. the Mauretania had passed the Statue of Liberty and was approaching the Robbins Reef light. Two steel rail-car barges owned by the New York, New Jersey, New Haven Hartford Railroad Company approached the Mauretania's port side as the liner was outbound. This barge flotilla consisted of two barges en-tow with a tug in between and was crossing the harbor from Brooklyn carrying a total of twenty-eight freight cars. Captain McNeil of the Mauretania signaled the approaching barge flotilla with a single blast of the ships whistle which indicated the desire of the ship to pass to the port side; while two blasts of the whistle would have indicated the desire to pass on the starboard side. The leading barge replied to the Mauretania with a single whistle blast.
Not only did the Dow Jones Industrial Average crash in 1929, but to maintain the theme the Cunard liner Mauretania crashed while departing New York to complete the Eastbound crossing to Southampton on voyage No. 232. At 12:00 a.m. on Thursday 28 November 1929 with a shipment of gold bound for France worth $5.350.000 tucked down in the liners cargo holds and with 870 passengers on board, the Mauretania left the Cunard pier on Manhattan under the command of Captain S. G. S. McNeil and proceeded down the Hudson River towards the upper bay of New York harbor. Also on board the Mauretania were four Russian air-pilots who had flown from Moscow to New York and were now returning to their homeland. Only one passenger, a female, had wished to fore-go the voyage to remain in New York with a sick relative; everyone else who had booked passage was on board for the crossing.
The weather at the time the Mauretania eased away from her pier was far less than preferable. The Midwest states were being plagued with heavy blizzards while temperatures throughout New England had dropped significantly. New York Harbor was thick with fog and haze and the air temperature was reflective of the cold front which was on it eastward track towards New York. The fog limited the visibility between ocean liners and harbor ships.
By 12:30 a.m. the Mauretania had passed the Statue of Liberty and was approaching the Robbins Reef light. Two steel rail-car barges owned by the New York, New Jersey, New Haven Hartford Railroad Company approached the Mauretania's port side as the liner was outbound. This barge flotilla consisted of two barges en-tow with a tug in between and was crossing the harbor from Brooklyn carrying a total of twenty-eight freight cars. Captain McNeil of the Mauretania signaled the approaching barge flotilla with a single blast of the ships whistle which indicated the desire of the ship to pass to the port side; while two blasts of the whistle would have indicated the desire to pass on the starboard side. The leading barge replied to the Mauretania with a single whistle blast.
Above - A diagram showing the position of the Mauretania and the barge flotilla at the time of collision.
(Sketch © 2012 Joseph B. Rayder)
(Sketch © 2012 Joseph B. Rayder)
The Mauretania was no longer under the escort of harbor tugs and was now outbound under her own steam, progressing to intermediate speeds. At 12:30 a.m. the second steel barge en-tow, which was carrying fourteen rail-cars, struck the Mauretania causing damage to the vessels port bow just above the water line; the flotilla had passed in front of the Mauretania and was parted when the vessel passed between the tug and second steel barge. A hole had been ripped into the Mauretania which measured four feet by ten feet long; many of the adjacent hull plates had been bent. Captain McNeil ordered the engines stopped and the watertight compartments sealed; an inspection of the ship was to be made. The second steel barge had started to list immediately dumping half of the freight cars into the water. Seventeen minutes later the barge sank to the bottom of the harbor. After a sounding report had been given to Captain McNeil, the Mauretania was taken back to the Fourteenth Street Pier No. 59.
Above - The Mauretania rests on the Hudson River the day after her collision with the steel barge ferry, Nov. 29, 1929.
(Restored photo file © 2012 Joseph B. Rayder)
(Restored photo file © 2012 Joseph B. Rayder)
At 6:00 a.m. on Friday November 29, nearly five and a half hours after the collision, repairs on the Mauretania's damaged hull began and by 9:00 p.m. the liner departed Manhattan once again for her eastbound crossing to Southampton. Twenty tons of concrete had been poured over the damaged hull plates and new plates were secured over the concrete. While the Mauretania once again passed Robbins Reef Light and the sight of the collision with the barge, the Mauretania's hull scraped over the rail-cars which had been dumped as a result of the sinking earlier that morning. A telegraph had been sent to the Cunard and Harbor Masters office's reporting the incident which reported no apparent damage to the ships keel. The Mauretania made her passage at Eddystone achieving 25.09 knots. She finished her eastbound crossing in five days and forty-six minutes at an average of 25.09 knots; having completed transatlantic voyage No. 232 on 3 December 1929.
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Copyright © 2008, 2012, 2018 Joseph B. Rayder.
Copyright © 2008, 2012, 2018 Joseph B. Rayder.