S.S. Oslo
S.S. Oslo 21/08/1917
Displacement: 2296grt.
Length: 88.4m. Beam: 11.9 m. Draught: 7.7 m.
Propulsion: 1 x 3 cyl. Triple expansion steam engine, two boilers, single shaft, 1 screw
Machinery: Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (C. & W. Earle), Hull
Complement: 43 officers and men 76 passengers.
Men Lost: 3 (2 x crew & 1 Female Passenger)
Armament: 1 x 12 Pdr
Displacement: 2296grt.
Length: 88.4m. Beam: 11.9 m. Draught: 7.7 m.
Propulsion: 1 x 3 cyl. Triple expansion steam engine, two boilers, single shaft, 1 screw
Machinery: Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (C. & W. Earle), Hull
Complement: 43 officers and men 76 passengers.
Men Lost: 3 (2 x crew & 1 Female Passenger)
Armament: 1 x 12 Pdr
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Built in 1906 by Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. (C. & W. Earle), Hull for the Wilson Line, Hull.
Hull Daily Mail - Tuesday 10 April 1906
LAUNCH A WILSON STEAMER. Last evening the launch took place of the steamer Oslo, built by Messrs Earle's to the order of Messrs Thomas Wilson, Sons, and Co., Ltd. Mrs Heron, wife the chief of the Norwegian department of Messrs Wilson, performed the ceremony, and a large number of officials and others were present. The vessel is intended for passenger and cargo trade between Hull and Christiania. She is 290 ft. long, and has accommodation for over 600 passengers. The principal rooms, consisting dining saloon, library and smoke room, will be placed in deck houses amidships. The keel the s.s. Oslo was laid shortly after the accession of King Haakon and Queen Maud to the throne Norway, and their Majesties approved of the name of the vessel.
Hull Daily Mail - Tuesday 10 April 1906
LAUNCH A WILSON STEAMER. Last evening the launch took place of the steamer Oslo, built by Messrs Earle's to the order of Messrs Thomas Wilson, Sons, and Co., Ltd. Mrs Heron, wife the chief of the Norwegian department of Messrs Wilson, performed the ceremony, and a large number of officials and others were present. The vessel is intended for passenger and cargo trade between Hull and Christiania. She is 290 ft. long, and has accommodation for over 600 passengers. The principal rooms, consisting dining saloon, library and smoke room, will be placed in deck houses amidships. The keel the s.s. Oslo was laid shortly after the accession of King Haakon and Queen Maud to the throne Norway, and their Majesties approved of the name of the vessel.
Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1907 Steamers
History
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Postcards of SS/RMS Oslo. LiWD collection
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Globe - Friday 24 June 1910
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe, the Hon. Gerald and Lady Evelyn Ward, Capt. E. J. Clarke-Jervoise, Capt. R. K. Price, Mr. Montagu Waldo Sibthorp (Canwick Hall, Lincoln), Mr. R. Duff, and Mr. Cecil H. Wray were among the passengers by the Wilson liner ss Oslo, which left Hull for Bergen and Drontheim.
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe, the Hon. Gerald and Lady Evelyn Ward, Capt. E. J. Clarke-Jervoise, Capt. R. K. Price, Mr. Montagu Waldo Sibthorp (Canwick Hall, Lincoln), Mr. R. Duff, and Mr. Cecil H. Wray were among the passengers by the Wilson liner ss Oslo, which left Hull for Bergen and Drontheim.
Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Thursday 13 July 1911
1917
SS Oslo was on route, in convoy, from Bergan to Liverpool with passengers and a cargo of copper ore & hematite ferro-chrome.
The Loss
Lloyds War Losses the First World War
At about 14.00, U.87 (Kptlt.Rudolf Schnieder) fired a torpedo at SS Oslo. The explosion damaged a number of lifeboats.
All but three, two crew and one female passenger, escaped from the ship which sank in 12 minutes. A female passenger drowned while abandoning ship along with two crewmen. Survivors got away in the undamaged lifeboats and were picked up by some of the escort vessels and were landed at Lerwick.
Lloyds Record of War Losses 1917
U-87
Extract for sinking SS Oslo from KTB of U 87
Translation from KTB (M Lowrey)
The convoy spotted off the Norwegian coast yesterday evening is again in sight. There was no possibility of attack, surfaced after 8.25 hours of being underwater in order to advance above water.
Dived for underwater attack on convoy.
Shot from Tube #2. C/06 [torpedo]. Hit. Dived to 45 meters. After 15 minutes came to periscope depth. The convoy has moved away and the steamer must have already sunk. Convoy consisted of 6 steamers in irregular double keel line, escorted by 2 destroyers and 2 trawlers. Sunk steamer was lead ship of left column. It was a Norwegian fjord steamer of about 1000 tons.
sinking position
Our Skerries 263 deg 23 sea miles.
The convoy spotted off the Norwegian coast yesterday evening is again in sight. There was no possibility of attack, surfaced after 8.25 hours of being underwater in order to advance above water.
Dived for underwater attack on convoy.
Shot from Tube #2. C/06 [torpedo]. Hit. Dived to 45 meters. After 15 minutes came to periscope depth. The convoy has moved away and the steamer must have already sunk. Convoy consisted of 6 steamers in irregular double keel line, escorted by 2 destroyers and 2 trawlers. Sunk steamer was lead ship of left column. It was a Norwegian fjord steamer of about 1000 tons.
sinking position
Our Skerries 263 deg 23 sea miles.
Chart from U 87 KTB showing sinking's of SS Olso (red circle) Actions by U 87 up to sinking of SS Oslo.
SS Aurora and SS Anne.
SS Aurora and SS Anne.
The Wreck
The S.S. Oslo has the UKHO Wreck Card 116. The wreck was recorded as being ''sunk 15 miles E by N from Out Skerries.''
In 1980 the wreck was added to the chart as NDWPA (Non Dangerous Wreck Position Approximate ) in position 60°32,967'N 00°18,125'W
In 1980 the wreck was added to the chart as NDWPA (Non Dangerous Wreck Position Approximate ) in position 60°32,967'N 00°18,125'W
Lost Crew †21/08/1917
Clarke Thomas , Fireman & Trimmer, Remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial
Born at South Shields in 1876
Son of the late David & Margaret Clarke. 96 Boundary Street, Liverpool.
Husband of Sarah Clarke (nee McCarthy), of Liverpool.
Born at South Shields in 1876
Son of the late David & Margaret Clarke. 96 Boundary Street, Liverpool.
Husband of Sarah Clarke (nee McCarthy), of Liverpool.
Rossiter Laurence , Fireman & Trimmer, No. 6674. Remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial
Born Wexford, Ireland, 1884.
Son of the late Nicholas Rossiter and Mary Rossiter
Husband of Elizabeth Rossiter (Nee Kavanagh) 20 Hook Street, Liverpool
Free Press (Wexford) - Saturday 08 September 1917
WEXFORD SAILOR LOST AT SEA The sad intelligence reached Wexford during the week that Mr. Laurence Rostiter, son of Mr. Nicholas Rossiter, John Street, Wexford, had been lost at sea. No particulars as to the actual manner in which the deceased came by his end are available, beyond the statement that he was killed in an explosion on board ship, For many years the deceased, who was well and popularly known in Wexford, had been n the mercantile marine. Since the outbreak of war he had several narrow escapes from falling a victim to piracy. He was one of the crew of the ill-fated Lusitania, and when that gigantic liner was sent to her doom by an unscrupulous enemy, carrying with her hundreds of innocent non-combatants, Mr Rossiter was one of the survivors. On that occasion he was in the water for over two hours before being rescued by one of the patrol boats. Since then he had been almost constantly at sea braving the perils with which the path of the mariner are so thickly bestrewn in these terrible times. The news of his uniimely end caused a painful impression 1n his native town, where he was held in such his esteem, and much sympathy is felt with his sorrowing relatives,
Enniscorthy Echo and South Leinster Advertiser - Saturday 08 September 1917
Wexford Sailor Lost.—News has reached Wexford that Mr. Laurence Rossiter, son of the late Mr. Nicholas Rossiter, victualier, Wexford, has been lost at sea. Deceased was one of the survivors of the Lusitania disaster. Much sympathy is felt for hi= mother, Mrs. Rossiter, Waterloo road, Wexford, and sisters: Deceased was a first cousin of Rev J Gaul, C O, Mulrankin.
Born Wexford, Ireland, 1884.
Son of the late Nicholas Rossiter and Mary Rossiter
Husband of Elizabeth Rossiter (Nee Kavanagh) 20 Hook Street, Liverpool
Free Press (Wexford) - Saturday 08 September 1917
WEXFORD SAILOR LOST AT SEA The sad intelligence reached Wexford during the week that Mr. Laurence Rostiter, son of Mr. Nicholas Rossiter, John Street, Wexford, had been lost at sea. No particulars as to the actual manner in which the deceased came by his end are available, beyond the statement that he was killed in an explosion on board ship, For many years the deceased, who was well and popularly known in Wexford, had been n the mercantile marine. Since the outbreak of war he had several narrow escapes from falling a victim to piracy. He was one of the crew of the ill-fated Lusitania, and when that gigantic liner was sent to her doom by an unscrupulous enemy, carrying with her hundreds of innocent non-combatants, Mr Rossiter was one of the survivors. On that occasion he was in the water for over two hours before being rescued by one of the patrol boats. Since then he had been almost constantly at sea braving the perils with which the path of the mariner are so thickly bestrewn in these terrible times. The news of his uniimely end caused a painful impression 1n his native town, where he was held in such his esteem, and much sympathy is felt with his sorrowing relatives,
Enniscorthy Echo and South Leinster Advertiser - Saturday 08 September 1917
Wexford Sailor Lost.—News has reached Wexford that Mr. Laurence Rossiter, son of the late Mr. Nicholas Rossiter, victualier, Wexford, has been lost at sea. Deceased was one of the survivors of the Lusitania disaster. Much sympathy is felt for hi= mother, Mrs. Rossiter, Waterloo road, Wexford, and sisters: Deceased was a first cousin of Rev J Gaul, C O, Mulrankin.
Lost Passenger
Rusanesco Marie, (16) female passenger, from Romania, drowned while abandoning ship.
Shetland Times - Saturday 07 June 1919
INTERESTING STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR.
Shipping at Lerwick.
Stories of the Sea and Submarines.
No 18.
A SAD STORY OF THE SEA.
PERHAPS In the whole stories of shipping adventures which can be related, there was none more pathetic than that of the steamer Oslo, of Hull, whose crew and passengers were landed at Lerwick on the afternoon and evening of 21st August, 1917. The steamer left Bergen on the forenoon of the 20th, bound for England. She carried a crew of forty, all told, and had on board seventy passengers. She proceeded all well on her way until she was close to Shetland —about twenty miles off Lerwick—when she was torpedoed without warning. There was a heavy sea running at the time, but the lifeboats were got out. Surely there were few ships carried a ** more mixed " complement of passengers, for these consisted of— British, Swedish, Romanian, French, Belgian, American, Japanese, Swiss, Norwegian, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese and Italian. But the story of the vessel and her freight of human life is full of the most impressive human pathos. While the passengers were leaving the ship, a young girl of sixteen, Marie Rusanesco, a Romanian, lost her life. She was coming down the companion of the sinking ship, and as the boat rose on the crest of the wave, she was told to let go; but she held on for a moment tco long, and when she let go the boat had fallen away, and she fell between the ship and the boat, and was more. The first boat to arrive at Lerwick reached the pier about seven o'clock in the evening. Among the rescued passengers was a lady—Madame Lambertine Dupone, wife of Joseph Dupone, who was also on board the ship. Quite unaware of the fate of her husband, and utterly disregardful of consequences, although she was soaking wet and shivering with cold, she stood on the pier awaiting the arrival of the other boats. The second boat arrived later, but still there was no word of her husband; but at last the third boat came in, with her husband on board. Those who witnessed the reunion of the wife and husband will never forget it; but that is too sacred to discuss in the columns of a newspaper. It was at once pathetic and sublime. The young Romanian girl who was drowned was the daughter of M. Stephan Rusanesco, a proprietor in Romania, who, along with his wife, his only son, and two daughters, was fleeing from the horrible atrocities of the Germans in his native land. The youngest daughter, Marie, was drowned, but Olga was saved and brought ashore. She was in a terrible plight. Almost nude, and rolled in a blanket, she was soaking wet. She had seen her sister drown alongside the boat in which she was seated, and, with terror and verging on hysteria, her plight was a pitiable one. She (along with her father and mother) was taken to the Grand Hotel, where a Lerwick lady sat beside her during the night, soothing and comforting her throughout. And one of the most pathetic parts of the story was that her father, robbed of his child only a few hours before, could not rest, but kept continually, all during the night, visiting the bedroom where his ‘‘ little darling Olga lay, to see that she was still with him.
Shetland Times - Saturday 07 June 1919
INTERESTING STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR.
Shipping at Lerwick.
Stories of the Sea and Submarines.
No 18.
A SAD STORY OF THE SEA.
PERHAPS In the whole stories of shipping adventures which can be related, there was none more pathetic than that of the steamer Oslo, of Hull, whose crew and passengers were landed at Lerwick on the afternoon and evening of 21st August, 1917. The steamer left Bergen on the forenoon of the 20th, bound for England. She carried a crew of forty, all told, and had on board seventy passengers. She proceeded all well on her way until she was close to Shetland —about twenty miles off Lerwick—when she was torpedoed without warning. There was a heavy sea running at the time, but the lifeboats were got out. Surely there were few ships carried a ** more mixed " complement of passengers, for these consisted of— British, Swedish, Romanian, French, Belgian, American, Japanese, Swiss, Norwegian, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese and Italian. But the story of the vessel and her freight of human life is full of the most impressive human pathos. While the passengers were leaving the ship, a young girl of sixteen, Marie Rusanesco, a Romanian, lost her life. She was coming down the companion of the sinking ship, and as the boat rose on the crest of the wave, she was told to let go; but she held on for a moment tco long, and when she let go the boat had fallen away, and she fell between the ship and the boat, and was more. The first boat to arrive at Lerwick reached the pier about seven o'clock in the evening. Among the rescued passengers was a lady—Madame Lambertine Dupone, wife of Joseph Dupone, who was also on board the ship. Quite unaware of the fate of her husband, and utterly disregardful of consequences, although she was soaking wet and shivering with cold, she stood on the pier awaiting the arrival of the other boats. The second boat arrived later, but still there was no word of her husband; but at last the third boat came in, with her husband on board. Those who witnessed the reunion of the wife and husband will never forget it; but that is too sacred to discuss in the columns of a newspaper. It was at once pathetic and sublime. The young Romanian girl who was drowned was the daughter of M. Stephan Rusanesco, a proprietor in Romania, who, along with his wife, his only son, and two daughters, was fleeing from the horrible atrocities of the Germans in his native land. The youngest daughter, Marie, was drowned, but Olga was saved and brought ashore. She was in a terrible plight. Almost nude, and rolled in a blanket, she was soaking wet. She had seen her sister drown alongside the boat in which she was seated, and, with terror and verging on hysteria, her plight was a pitiable one. She (along with her father and mother) was taken to the Grand Hotel, where a Lerwick lady sat beside her during the night, soothing and comforting her throughout. And one of the most pathetic parts of the story was that her father, robbed of his child only a few hours before, could not rest, but kept continually, all during the night, visiting the bedroom where his ‘‘ little darling Olga lay, to see that she was still with him.
Tower Hill Memorial
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Photos: LiWD Collection
