The Big Four: White Star Line's Most Successful Ships

The Big Four class of ships were perhaps the most successful and profitable ocean liners in White Star Line's history. While they were not as glamorous as Olympic or Titanic or as fast as Oceanic, they were practical, comfortable, and popular transatlantic vessels. In fact, some of White Star's most profitable years can be largely attributed to Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, and Adriatic.

This video is sponsored by Wondrium, the premier entertaining and educational video subscription service that enriches your overall life experiences with approachable, comprehensive, and illuminating content.

Thanks to the following sites for some images used in this video:

Sources:

1. “The ‘Big Four’ of the White Star Fleet: Celtic, Cedric, Baltic, & Adriatic” by Mark Chirnside. 2016.

3. “Oceanic: White Star’s ‘Ship of the Century,’” by Mark Chirnside. 2018.

4. “Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend,” by Michael Davie. 1986.

5. “Falling Star: Misadventures of White Star Line Ships,” by John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas. 1989.

[Shaurya_II]

Idk why ocean liners and ships are so interesting but they are

[aleksavuksanovic]

The Big Four ships honestly, are quite great in what they achieved and what they did. Its amazing, really.

[matthess]

My great grandfather, his sister and mother sailed on the Adriatic in Nov. 1907. The captain on that voyage was Captain Smith. Smith stayed with the Adriatic until the Olympic entered service.

[WhiteArrow]

7:15 White Star's practice of providing private cabins to married couples and families actually began with Teutonic and Majestic, with the rest of the passengers berthed in 20-person dormitory style rooms. This practice carried over with Cymric and Oceanic, but Celtic broke the mold. At the forward end there were 600 berths in dormitory rooms, while the rest were quartered aft in two, four and six berth cabins. The forward berths were only used when the ship was fully booked, and the aft accommodation was divided into six sections, three on E Deck and three on F Deck, divided by watertight bulkheads. The forwardmost on each deck were commonly occupied by men, while women, married couples and families took the rest

[TheGreatBigMove]

The Big Four were quite slow for large Atlantic liners, but shipbuilding is a game of tradeoffs. Assuming the price of the ticket is the same, would you rather cross the Atlantic on a slower, more comfortable ship or a faster, less comfortable ship?

[WhiteArrow]

One crucial part of the formula for the plan for the Big Four was the Cymric. She was the first of White Star's intermediate liners, entering service the year before Oceanic and later spending most of her career on the Liverpool to Boston service. She'd initially been designed as a livestock carrier with accommodation for 258 First Class passengers, so her smaller engines left more space for passenger accommodations. Later her design was changed and her livestock areas were replaced with accommodations for 1, 160 Third Class passengers. Compared to Oceanic she sailed more smoothly, consumed less fuel and made for a bit more comfortable crossing

[TimCan]

I happen to have the blueprints of the Adriatic, and I also have the blueprints to the half-sister Lapland that served for the red star line.

Update: Now I got Suevic, Runic(Imo), Justicia, and Atlantic

[Ei_No]

An amazing ship class, just wish they were more similar to the 1899 Oceanic. She is truly beautiful!

[jetsons]

The Big Four looked to be floating art. Great use of B & W photos to help tell the story. We like your channel because you get to the point of the story and don't veer off course. Thanks for your time, work and

[insight-chris]

This Video was very informative, so thank you for putting your effort into it. I actually didn't knew that they had multiple refits and that they were white Stars testbed for the new Class System abord ships. But what I allready knew was the story about Cesar, when he was released from his captivity he managed to get the whole pirate crew located and killed afterwould because he was so pissed at them in case you didn't knew that allready.

[djjayem]

Always wanted to look inside those pre 1912 ships.

[giovannirastrelli]

I think I saw Don Lynch state somewhere that even though Adriatic was smaller than Lusitania and Mauretania, she still offered more passenger space per square foot than the two greyhounds.

[giovannidispirito]

I’m new to the channel but absolutely hooked already from the content

[AlextheHistorian]

This is THE BEST video about the big four on YouTube. Very good work!

[toddbonin]

Fantastic video! You did a wonderful tribute to these four ladies. Thank you!

[CJODell]

5:56. The exact fee was 1 shilling per person. 5, 162 people visited Celtic on July 24, 1901, two days before her maiden voyage, meaning White Star raised a total of £258 and 2 shillings, the equivalent of £40, 587.67 in 2023 or $51, 205.40 USD in August 2023.

[Massev]

I'm proud to own some furnishings from the Celtic. Great video.

[BritBattler]

I have a suggestion. The paddle steamer waverley. The ship has such a interesting history, i think its perfect for your channel.

[whovianhistorybuff]

4:00 wow so Celtic could carry about 300 more passengers than any of the Olympic class liners

[patrickryan]

Out of all ships planned for the North Atlantic, from any company and from any country, with multiple ships planned for the weekly service, I’m pretty sure only the big four actually ran as planned with all ships working together.