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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: November 20, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,591 vessel histories (with 16,203 images and 13,900 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 40,000 processed so far this year.
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into 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 continues (almost every day for the last couple of years) to proof read thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 14,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.