SS Dakota
| A broadside image of the SS Dakota A broadside image of the SS Dakota | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Dakota |
| Operator: | Great Northern Steamship Company |
| Route: | Pacific |
| Builder: | Eastern Shipbuilding Company |
| Launched: | February 1903 |
| Christened: | 06 February 1904 |
| Maiden voyage: | 20 September 1905 |
| Fate: | Sank off Yokohama on 03 March 1907 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 20,700 |
| Length: | 622 feet (190 m) |
| Beam: | 73 feet (22 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin propellers |
| Speed: | 14.6 knots (27.0 km/h) |
| Capacity: |
200 first-class passengers 1,800 steerage passengers |
The SS Dakota was a steamship built by the Eastern Shipbuilding Company in Groton, Connecticut and owned by railroad magnate James J. Hill of the Great Northern Steamship Company.[1]
History
Along with her sister ship, the SS Minnesota,[1][2] she was described as the largest steamer in the world flying the American flag.[1][2] She was built "to give impetus to the trade with the Orient", trading with Japan and Hong Kong[2] and travelling the Pacific route. Launched in February 1903,[2] she was a twin screw vessel with four masts and one funnel, capable of 14.6 knots.[3]
She was wrecked when she struck a reef[1] off the coast of Yokohama on 3 March 1907[2][4] on her seventh journey. The ship was close enough to shore to avoid any deaths and the passengers and cargo were evacuated before she sunk.[1]. The passengers returned to the United States aboard the Japanese steamship Hakuai.[5] Eighty bags of mail later washed ashore.[6]
After the ship was lost, Hill vowed not to make any more ships under the American flag, noting the high cost of maintaining a ship in America compared to Japan due to restrictions he regarded as "onerous".[7]
Engines
The Dakota's main engines consisted of two units of three vertically positioned triple expansion cylinders. The cylinders had a stroke of 57 inches and diameters of 29, 51, and 89 inches and were designed to run at 78 RPM, developing approximately 4,800 horsepower each at a steam pressure of 230 pounds per square inch. The engines were designed to drive the ship at 14 knots.[8]
See also
Media related to SS Dakota at Wikimedia Commons
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Dakota Datebook. 3 March 2006. "The Liner Dakota"". North Dakota Public Radio. Prairie Public Broadcasting in association with North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota. 2006-03-06. http://www.prairiepublic.org/programs/datebook/bydate/06/0306/030306.jsp. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Strom, Claire (2003). Profiting from the plains: the Great Northern Railway and corporate development of the American West. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 98. ISBN 0-295-98348-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OEq6XYehs48C.
- ↑ "Mystic Seaport Steamships. Mystic Seaport Steamship Images Collection". http://www.mysticseaport.org/Library/immigration/steamshipDetail.cfm?Expr1=Dakota1904. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
- ↑ McKenna, Robert W. (2003). The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy. Camden, ME: International Marine Publishing. pp. 92. ISBN 0-07-141950-0. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R8bmQL-ijCMC.
- ↑ "Dakota's Passengers Land". New York Times. 1907-03-06. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950CE1DD123EE033A25755C0A9659C946697D6CF. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
- ↑ "ForPostalHistory.com: 1907 - "Dakota"". http://store.forpostalhistory.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FPH&Product_Code=G1910&Category_Code=SHW. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ↑ "Hill won't build any more liners". New York Times. 1907-03-08. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403EEDE1E30E233A2575BC0A9659C946697D6CF. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
- ↑ "The "Dakota" for Pacific Trade a Monster". Popular Mechanics. June 1905. http://books.google.com/books?id=iOADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA676&dq=%22popular+mechanics%22+1904&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA626,M1. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
External links
- Photograph of the SS Dakota from an archived version of www.greatcruisephotos.com on the Internet Archive
- Dakota sinking by the bow (*note all lifeboats have been successfully launched on the starboard side.)
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