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The steamship BRITISH EMPIRE was built for British Shipowners by
Harland & Wolff, Belfast (engines by G. Forrester & Co, Liverpool), and was
launched on 7 March 1878. 3,329 tons; 119,56 x 11,89 meters / 392.3 x 39 feet
(length x breadth); straight step, 1 funnel, 4 masts; iron construction, screw
propulsion, service speed 12 knots. Originally chartered to the American Line. 25 September 1878, maiden voyage,
Liverpool-Philadelphia, for the American Line. 1 September 1880, last voyage,
Philadelphia-Liverpool. 30 May 1885, 1 roundtrip voyage, Liverpool - Queenstown
- New York, chartered to the Guion Line. 1886, purchased by the
Nederlandsche-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (Holland America Line), and
renamed ROTTERDAM (the second of several vessels of that name owned by
the line); accommodation for 70 passengers in 1st class, 70 in 2nd class, and
800 in steerage. 6 November 1886, first voyage, Rotterdam-New York. 8 February
1890, first voyage, Amsterdam-New York. By 29 October 1892, resumed
Rotterdam-New York service. 31 August 1895, resumed Amsterdam-New York service.
1895, renamed EDAM (to make way for a new steamship
named ROTTERDAM); 28 November 1895, first voyage, Amsterdam-New York,
under new name. 25 February-27 May 1899, Rotterdam-New York. 1899, scrapped in
Italy.
Source: Noel Reginald Pixell Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway; An Illustrated
History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New (2nd
ed.; Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications), vol. 3 (1979), pp 911
and 940.
Voyages:
- Holland America Line steamship ROTTERDAM, Capt. A. Roggeveen,
arrived at the Bar to New York Harbor at 11:15 A.M. on 13 November 1892, from
Amsterdam 29 October (manifest, dated 14 November 1892, National Archives
Microfilm Publication M237, roll 599 [= Family History Library microfilm
#1027700], list #1767 for 1892).
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