Arcturus (steamship)

SS Arcturus was a passenger ship of the Finland Steamship Company operating primarily on the route between Hanko, Finland and Hull, England via Copenhagen, Denmark. Gourlay Brothers of Dundee, Scotland built Arcturus, launching her on 1 October 1898 and completing her that December.[3]

A scale model by Tomi Isopahkala in Maritime Museum of Finland
History
Finland
Name	Arcturus
Owner	Finland Steamship Company
Port of registry	Helsinki,  Finland
Route	Finland-Copenhagen-Hull, England
Builder	Gourlay Brothers, Dundee, Scotland
Cost	FIM 1,317,000
Yard number	183
Launched	1 October 1898[1]
Completed	December 1898
In service	1898–1957
Identification	code letters SQMJ (until 1933) call sign OHAF (from 1934)
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics [2]
Type	Passenger ship
Tonnage	2,023 GRT tonnage under deck 1,522[3] 1,157 NRT 1,270 DWT (open)
Length	88.95 m (292 ft)
Beam	11.57 m (38 ft)
Draught	6.35 m (21 ft)
Depth	4.2 m (13.7 ft)
Installed power	3,250 ihp 551 NHP[3]
Propulsion	triple-expansion steam engine single screw
Speed	13.5 knots (25 km/h)
Sensors and processing systems	wireless direction finding (from 1931)[3]

In its earlier years Arcturus was one of the primary ships that Finnish emigrants sailed on when heading to North America. After disembarking at Hull, emigrants would typically take a train to Liverpool to board a transatlantic liner.[4]

On 12 December 1930 in fog in the Kattegat Arcturus collided with another Finnish Steamship Company ship, Oberon. Oberon sank[5] in only three minutes, with the loss of 41 of her passengers and crew.[6]

Arcturus remained in service until 1956.[7]