Armed merchant cruiser · 1899–1914 · Shetland, United Kingdom
HMS Oceanic
Two captains stood on the bridge of HMS Oceanic, and they disagreed about her course on the night she was lost. The 17,272-ton liner, built in 1899 as Thomas Ismay's flagship, became an armed merchant cruiser in 1914 and patrolled between Scotland and the Faroes with her merchant master, Henry Smith, serving alongside a naval captain, William Slayter.
Uneasy with the heading, Smith turned her west while Slayter was in his cabin; Slayter returned and reversed the order, and she ran onto the Shaalds of Foula, far off her reckoned position. The sea was calm, and the Aberdeen trawler Glenogil took her crew off. At the court martial the navigator, Lieutenant David Blair, was reprimanded while both captains were acquitted. A gale broke her up within weeks.
Salvage in the 1920s and the 1970s took much of her metal; her engines and boilers lie among wreckage spread across the reef.
- Type
- Armed merchant cruiser
- Year built
- 1899
- Lost
- 1914
- Tonnage
- 17,272 GRTsteam
- Location
- Shetland, United KingdomAtlantic Ocean
History and LossLost 1914 · Shetland, United Kingdom.
Sailing from Scapa Flow on her first patrol, she followed a zigzag course meant to frustrate submarines, and powerful tides pushed her about fourteen miles from where her officers believed her to be before she grounded early on 8th September 1914. Later recalculation showed the fix taken by Lieutenant Blair had been accurate. On 29th September a great gale swept Shetland and she was gone.
Built 1899; 15 years in service. Lost 1914.
Condition of the Wreck
Intactness
Her remains run roughly NE/SW across a field about 200 by 30 metres, mostly shallow and nowhere deeper than 20 metres. Her engines can still be seen, and three great boilers survive nearly whole. A five-year salvage in the 1970s lifted around 250 tons of non-ferrous metal.
Notable Features
- Boilers
Sea-Surface Temperature by Month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface temp | 8.6° | 7.9° | 7.6° | 7.8° | 8.8° | 10.4° | 12.1° | 12.5° | 12.2° | 11.4° | 10.6° | 9.5° |
Additional Details8 further fields held for this wreck and not shown above.
- Propulsion
- Steam
- Loss date
- 1914
- Latitude
- 60.1170° N
- Longitude
- 1.9807° W
- Water body
- Atlantic Ocean
- War grave
- Not recorded
- Protected
- No
- Permit required
- No
Sources and VerificationEvery fact on this page traces to a published source.
- Historic Environment Scotland (Canmore, NRHE)inspire.hes.scot · Official record6 facts
- UK Hydrographic Officedatahub.admiralty.co.uk · Official record3 facts
- NOAA / NASA JPL MUR SST v4.1coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov · Institution or archive1 fact
- Scottish Shipwrecksscottishshipwrecks.com · Secondary source9 facts
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Historic Environment Scotland.
- Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right.
- JPL MUR MEaSUREs Project. GHRSST Level 4 MUR Global Foundation Sea Surface Temperature Analysis (v4.1). PO.DAAC. https://doi.org/10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04
A further 5 fields were derived from the wreck’s recorded position rather than taken from a source.
Licences and credits for the open data used on this site are on the Attribution page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the HMS Oceanic?
HMS Oceanic is the wreck of an armed merchant cruiser, off Shetland, United Kingdom. HMS Oceanic was lost in 1914.
How did the HMS Oceanic sink?
The cause of the loss of HMS Oceanic is not recorded in the sources held; the loss is dated 1914.