SS Adriatic (1871)
SS Adriatic was the first of two White Star Line ocean liners to carry the name Adriatic. The White Star Line's first four steamships of the Oceanic-class, the (Oceanic (I), Atlantic, Baltic, and the Republic) met with great success in the trans-Atlantic market, and the line decided to build two more. The first of these was the SS Adriatic, which was built by Harland and Wolff and launched on 17 October 1871; the second was the . History During the remainder of 1871 and the early part of 1872, Adriatic was fitted out. As a part of this process, a technology new to that era was tried on the ship. Up to this point, ships' cabins had been lit by oil lamps, but the builders decided to try new gas lamps on Adriatic and her sister, Celtic. A machine was added to the engine room to produce gas from oil. This worked well, initially, but the motion of the ship caused gas leaks to develop at the joints in the pipework and the system had to be removed. Adriatic left on her maiden voyage on 11 April 1872, sailing from Liverpool to New York, under Captain Sir Digby Murray, who