Site Navigation:
Searchable Databases
Articles Archive
Pacific Nautical Heritage...
- Gallery of Light and Buoy Images
- Gallery of Mariners
- Gallery of Ship Images
- Gallery of Ship Wrecks
- Gallery of Monuments and Statues
- Gallery of Nautical Images
- Gallery of Freshwater Images
- Gallery of New Books
Canadian Naval Topics…
- Nautical History Videos
- UNTD
- British Columbia Heritage
- Arctic and Northern Nautical Heritage
- Western Canada Boat and Ship Builders
- Gallery of Arctic Images
- Reflections on Nautical Heritage
- British Columbia Heritage
Site Search:
Looking for more? Search for Articles on the Nauticapedia Site.
The R.M.S. Abyssinia
by John MacFarlane 2020
The R.M.S. Abyssinia (Photo from the collection of the City of Vancouver Archives AM54-S4-SGN_307.)
Originally constructed for the Cunard Line for service on their North Atlantic routes she was given up to the builders in 1880 and then sold on to the Guion Line. In 1887 she was chartered to the CPR until 1890 when she was returned to the Guion Line. She arrived in Vancouver on June 14, 1887 after a voyage of 13 days and 14 hours from Yokohama Japan. She carried 22 first class passengers with 80 Chinese steerage class passengers. She also carried mail, tea and silk. She operated a fast route across the North Pacific from Vancouver to Yokohama. She carried freight as well as passengers. Tea and silk were among the valuable items worth the cost of freight and calling for fast service. She was never intended for long–term service but filled a gap in the fleet until purpose–designed Empress ships could be constructed. On December 18, 1891 she burned at sea.
The R.M.S. Abyssinia (Photo from the collection of the City of Vancouver Archives AM54-S4-Bo_P132.)
The Royal Mail Ship Abyssinia was built in Glasgow Scotland, 1870, by J. & G. Thomson. She was 363’ x 42’ x 34’ steel hulled 3651gt 2346nt. She was powered by a steam engine by J. Jones & Son driving one screw but was also rigged to carry sails. She was re–engined with a compound engine in 1882.
To quote from this article please cite:
MacFarlane, John (2020) The R.M.S. Abyssinia. Nauticapedia.ca 2020. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Abyssinia.php
Site News: May 07, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,798 vessel histories (with 15,646 images and 13,431 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.