thumb|upright=0.8|RMS "Crown" as displayed by the Cunard liner

thumb|upright=0.8|Royal Mail steamship routes

Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship or Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. The designation dates back to 1840. Any vessel designated as "RMS" has the right both to fly the pennant of the Royal Mail when sailing and to include the Royal Mail "crown" insignia with any identifying device and/or design for the ship.

It was used by many shipping lines, but is often associated in particular with the White Star Line, Cunard, Royal Mail Lines, Union-Castle Line, Canadian Pacific Line, Orient Line and the P&O, which held a number of high-profile mail contracts, and traditionally prefixed the names of many of their ships with the initials "RMS".

While some lines in the past, particularly the Royal Mail Lines, called all their ships "RMS", technically a ship would use the prefix only while contracted to carry mail, and would revert at other times to a standard designation such as "SS".

History

thumb|left|

Originally, the British Admiralty operated these ships.

The designation "RMS" has been used since 1840. In 1850 contracts were awarded to private companies. Having the title "RMS" was seen as a mark of quality and a competitive advantage, because the mail had to be on time.

thumb|

The most valuable route, with the highest volume, was between Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), in Ireland, and Holyhead in Wales. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company (CDSPCo) won the contract. They bought RMS St Columba and RMS Llewellyn from the Admiralty to supplement their Prince Arthur. In the CDSPCo contract, in 1860, there was a penalty clause of £1 1s 4d for every minute's delay.

The Canadian Pacific's trans-Pacific Royal Mail contract required the building of the first three of a fleet of steamships: the , and which regularly sailed between Vancouver and Asia beginning in 1891.

The RMS designation was also used on the ships of the White Star, P&O and Cunard lines of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The most famous liner with the RMS title was the .

Modern times

thumb|upright=1.1|[[Royal Mail aircraft-marking; on a British Airways Airbus A320-232 G-EUUI]]

In recent years the shift to air transport for mail has left only three ships with the right to the prefix or its variations: , which serves as a passenger vessel in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada; , which serves the Isles of Scilly; and . The "RMS" prefix was granted to QM2 by Royal Mail when she entered service in 2004 on the Southampton to New York route as a gesture to Cunard's history.However, a traditional red Royal Mail postbox is available to all passengers wishing to post letters aboard and the same is emptied by the crew at every call at Southampton, the ship's home port, and forwarded ashore. Queen Mary 2 is currently in active service as an ocean liner.

|-

| || Muskoka Lakes Navigation Co|| 1887 || Built as SS Nipissing, then as Segwun 1925, out of service from 1958 to 1981; restored 1972–1981 and returned to service since 1981. The only remaining steam-powered Royal Mail Ship.

|}

List of past Royal Mail Ships

Service dates are the years with the status of Royal Mail Ship. Those highlighted are still in service with the status of Royal Mail Ship.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!Name!!Line!!In service!!Left service!!Status

|-

| || White Star || 1907 || 1934 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1913 || 1916 || Sunk by mine

|-

| Alaunia || Cunard || 1925 || 1957 || Scrapped

|-

| Alaunia || Cunard || 1960 || 1969 || Sold 1969 to Brocklebank Line and renamed as Malancha, sold again in 1971 to Panama as Humi Nastta and fate unknown

|-

| || Cunard || 1911 || 1930 || Built in 1900 as Consuelo, bought by Cunard 1911 & renamed Albania, sold 1912 & renamed Poleric, scrapped 1930

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1913 || 1916 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later Royal Mail Lines || 1926 || 1958 || Scrapped

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1906 || 1948 || Scrapped

|-

| || Pickford & Black || — || — || —

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1906 || 1916 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Cunard || 1913 || 1918 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Cunard || 1921 || 1940 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| Andes || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1913 || 1929 || Scrapped after finishing career as the cruise ship Atlantis

|-

| || Royal Mail Lines || 1939 || 1959 || Scrapped in 1971 after finishing career as a cruise ship

|-

| || Cunard || 1921 || 1948 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1914 || 1950 || Scrapped

|-

| || P&O || 1898 || 1916 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1905 || 1917 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1912 || 1938 || Scrapped

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1921 || 1959 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1923 || 1957 || Scrapped

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1925 || 1957 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1881 || 1905 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1916 || 1918 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Cunard || 1924 || 1961 || Scrapped

|-

| || White Star || 1871 || 1873 || Sunk after collision with rocks

|-

| || Cunard || 1921 || 1965 || Scrapped

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1906 and 1919 || 1914 and 1929 || Converted as troopship in 1914, then as armed merchant cruiser 1915 and renamed HMS Avoca, return to owners and renamed Avon in 1919; scrapped 1930

|-

| || White Star || 1904 || 1933 || Scrapped

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1845 || 1860 || Wrecked

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1875 || 1906 || Scrapped

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1908 || 1915 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1927 || 1965 || Scrapped

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1966 || 1984 || Scrapped

|-

| Ben-my-Chree || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1998 || 2008 || Currently on active service as RO/PAX vessel

|-

| || Cunard || 1913 || 1938 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1840 || 1880 || Sunk

|-

| || White Star || 1874 || 1903 || Scrapped

|-

| || White Star || 1915 || 1916 || Sunk by mine

|-

| || White Star || 1929 || 1960 || Scrapped

|-

| || British India Steam Navigation Company || 1886 || 1922 || Built 1881, sold to China in 1882, scrapped in 1933.

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1937 || 1966 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1891 || 1918 || Sank after collision with

|-

| || Cunard || 1925 || 1940 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Cunard || 1956 || 1968 || Sold 1968; renamed Fairland; scrapped 2006

|-

| || Cunard || 1905 || 1932 || Scrapped

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1926 and 1950 || 1939 and 1963 || Commissioned as HMS Carnarvon Castle from 1939 to 1947.

|-

| || Cunard || 1903 || 1918 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Cunard || 1905 || 1933 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard White Star || 1948 || 1974 || Scrapped

|-

| || White Star || 1901 || 1933 || Scrapped

|-

| || White Star || 1903 || 1932 || Scrapped

|-

| || David MacBrayne || 1879 || 1936 || Scrapped

|-

| Columba || David MacBrayne || 1964 || 1968 || Owned by the Secretary of State for Scotland, chartered to David MacBrayne. Renamed MV Columba in 1968. Currently in active service as .

|-

| || White Star || 1923 || 1935 || Scrapped after collision with the

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1858 || 1862 ||Sold to Cunard, Wilson and Co. Later scrapped

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1864 || 1888 || Scrapped

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1901 || 1923 || Sunk after collision with

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1890 || 1915 || Sunk during bad weather

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1904 || 1940 || Sunk by mine

|-

| || Royal Mail Steam Packet Company || 1914 || 1954 || Scrapped after becoming NT Serpa Pinto

|-

| || || 1854 || 1858 || Sold to the Government of Sardinia, renamed Archimedes

|-

| || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1883 || 1909 || Sunk during bad weather in the River Mersey, December, 1909

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1913 || 1942 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1953 || 1956 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1906 || 1930 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1931 || 1940 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1956 || 1965 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1922 || 1943 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1929 || 1953 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1961 || 2003 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1891 || 1912 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1957 || 1970 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1914 || 1931 || Scrapped

|-

| || Canadian Pacific || 1913 || 1945

|-

| Tyrconnel || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1911 || 1932 || Scrapped

|-

| || Cunard || 1884 || 1910 || Scrapped

|-

| || P&O || 1927 || 1942 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| Victoria || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1907 || 1957 || Scrapped

|-

| || East African Railways & Harbours || 1961 || 1977 || Lost status when EAR&H was dissolved; still in service as "MV Victoria"

|-

| || Allan Line || 1904 || 1929 || World's first steam turbine ocean liner; scrapped 1929

|-

|Viking || Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|| 1905 || 1954 || Scrapped in 1954

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1922 || 1943 || Sunk by enemy action

|-

| || Union-Castle || 1960 || 1998 || Scrapped

|}

See also

  • Union-Castle Line
  • Mail steamer
  • Steamboat

Notes

References

  • Kennedy, John. (1903). The History of Steam Navigation. Liverpool: C. Birchall, 1903. OCLC 3553860
  • RMS Caronia "Green Goddess" Time-Line
  • Titanic Archive