SS City of Montreal

SS City of Montreal was a british passenger steamship, built for the Inman line in 1871 by Tod & Macgregor, Glasgow, Scotland.^[1]

SS City of Montreal, before her refit in 1876

Name	1867 - City Of Montreal
Namesake	Montreal
Owner	* 1871: Tod & Macgregor * 1872–87: Inman Line *
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	Trans-Atlantic route
Ordered	1871
Builder	Tod & Macgregor, Partick, Glasgow
Yard number	148
Launched	20th September 1871
Christened	-Unknown-
Completed	-Unknown-
Maiden voyage	February 8th 1872
Fate	Caught fire, August 10th 1887
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Gross registered tons	4,451 grt
Length	-Unknown-
Beam	-Unknown-
Depth	-Unknown-
Propulsion	* 2-cylinder beam engine * single screw

Construction

She was ordered by Inman line in 1871, and took about 1 year to finish. She was launched September 20th 1871, and finished in 1872. She was built to compete against the White Star Line's ships^[2]

Service (1872–1876)

After getting their new steamer, the Inman line had her sail on the Trans-Atlantic route, going from Liverpool to Queenstown and then heading to New York. City of Montreal's maiden voyage was uneventful, but it was found that the ship was slow and coal consuming. She would go on 7 more voyages before being brought back to Tod & Macgregor for a refit.^[3]

Being refit and her life after refitting

She was sent back to Tod & Macgregor, with the Inman line hoping that her refit would be well spent money. And it was. She went 12 knots after the refit. She would go on for another 50 voyages over 12 years before on her 51rst voyage she would burst into flames and sink.^[4]

City Of Montreal after her 1876 refit (with 1 extra funnel)

Sinking and rescue

On August 10th, 1887 the ship, heading back to Liverpool from New York, at around 9:20 PM caught fire and started to burn. The ship was loaded with 8,000 bales of American cotton, which is probably what started the fire, possibly when an oil lamp fell and broke onto the cotton. As the ship burned, the crew began hastily lowering lifeboats, however it was stormy when she did begin to burn, so the lifeboats all got ither separated when lowered or smashed to pieces when landing in the choppy water. 1 lifeboat that got separated, along with its 13 passengers, disappeared. The lifeboat was found later on. At around 2:00 PM the next morning the foremost mast was seen going under. The ship most likely sank round that morning. All crew and passengers were rescued by the steamship "SS York City". ^[5]

City Of Montreal burning | artists interpretations