SS Royal Standard
White Star Line Royal Standard 1863-1869
The first steam driven White Star Line vessel. (prior to Thomas Ismay's purchase of WSL) Combination of sail and steam. (Similar to the original Germanic) She was a 2.000 ton single screw vessel. On its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne, Australia, the ship's captain died during the voyage. In April of 1864, Royal Standard struck an iceberg but managed to limp in to Rio de Janeiro for repairs. She became the first White Star Line vessel to strike an iceberg, and unfortunately not the last.
Underpowered by a simple 2 cylinder steam engine, the ship was taken out of service. She was easily overtaken by clipper ships and in 1867 was sold to a company in Liverpool where the engine was removed and she was converted to a sailing vessel. In 1869, Royal Standard wrecked near the coast of Brazil and was scrapped where it lay.
The depiction above shows Royal Standard fighting to steam away from the iceberg that she was blown in to in rough seas; the main mast and aft mast are broken. The painting was based on passenger accounts of the incident.
