RMS Slavonia

Slavonia was a 10,606 GRT passenger ship that was built in 1902 as Yamuna for the British India Line. She was sold to the Cunard Line in 1903 and renamed Slavonia. She was wrecked in the Azores in 1909, sending out the first SOS message. All on board were rescued.

Description

As built, the ship was 510 feet 0 inches (155.44 m) long, with a beam of 59 feet 6 inches (18.13 m). She was equipped with triple expansion steam engines, which were built by the Wallsend Slipway Co Ltd. These drove twin screw propellers and could propel the ship at 13 knots (24 km/h). She was assessed at 8,831 GRT. Accommodation for 40 first class and 800 steerage class passengers was provided.

History

Yamuna was built as yard number 600 by Sir J. Laing & Co Ltd, Sunderland, County Durham for the British India Line. She was launched on 15 November 1902 and completed in June 1903. She was the largest ship built at a British shipyard for eleven years. The United Kingdom Official Number 115761 was allocated. In 1904, she was sold to the Cunard Line and renamed Slavonia. She was used on the service between the Mediterranean and New York, United States. This service had been introduced as a temporary measure in the autumn of 1903 and was subsequently made permanent. After a refit, she was assessed at 10,606 GRT,6,724 NRT. Her port of registry was Liverpool, Lancashire. Accommodation for 71 first class, 74 second class and 1,954 steerage class passengers was provided. Her crew numbered 225. Lifesaving equipment comprised twelve lifeboats, seven collapsible lifeboats and two other boats. She carried 24 lifebuoys and 2,340 lifebelts.Slavonia made her maiden voyage for Cunard Line on 17 March 1904, sailing from Sunderland to New York via Trieste and Fiume, Austrian Empire and Palermo, Italy.

Slavonia

Slavonia (/sləˈvoʊniə/; Croatian: Slavonija) is, alongside Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, Požega-Slavonia, Virovitica-Podravina and Vukovar-Srijem, although the territory of the counties includes Baranya, and the definition of the western extent of Slavonia as a region varies. The counties cover 12,556 square kilometres (4,848 square miles) or 22.2% of Croatia, inhabited by 806,192—18.8% of Croatia's population. The largest city in the region is Osijek, followed by Slavonski Brod and Vinkovci. It is located in the Pannonian Basin, largely bordered by the Danube, Drava and Sava rivers. In the west, the region consists of the Sava and Drava valleys, and the mountains surrounding the Požega Valley, and plains in the east. Slavonia enjoys a moderate continental climate, with relatively low precipitation.

After the fall of Rome, which ruled the area of modern-day Slavonia until the 5th century, Ostrogoths and Lombards controlled the area before the arrival of Avars and Croats, when the Principality of Pannonian Croatia was established in the 7th century. It was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Croatia and, after its decline, the kingdom was ruled through a personal union with Hungary. The Ottoman conquest of Slavonia took place in 1536 – 1552. In 1699, after the Great Turkish War, Slavonia was transferred to the Habsburgs. Reform of the empire through the Compromise of 1867 assigned it to the Hungarian part of the realm, and a year later to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. In 1918, when Austria-Hungary dissolved, Slavonia was a part of the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which in turn became a part of the kingdom later renamed Yugoslavia. During the Croatian War of Independence, Slavonia saw fierce fighting—including the Battle of Vukovar.