Royal Mail Ship

Royal Mail Ship (sometimes Steam-ship, Steamer), usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail. They have the right to fly the pennant of the Royal Mail when sailing.^[1][2][3]

The designation has been used since 1840.^[4] It was used by a many shipping lines, but is often associated in particular with the Cunard line^[5][6] and Royal Mail Lines, which held a number of high-profile mail contract business, and which traditionally prefixed the titles of all their ships with the initials "RMS". The Canadian Pacific Railway's trans-Pacific Royal Mail contract required the construction of the first three of a fleet of steamships—the RMS Empress of China, the RMS Empress of India, and the RMS Empress of Britain which regularly sailed between Vancouver and Asia beginning in 1891.^[7]

While some lines, 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".^[8]

Originally the Admiralty operated these ships.^[9] In 1850 contracts were awarded to private companies. 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 and purchased RMS Saint Columa and RMS Llwywllyn from the Admiralty.

Having the title "RMS" was seen as a mark of quality and a competitive advantage, because the mail had to be on time. In the 1860 CDSPCo contract there was a penalty clause of £1 1s 4d for every minute's delay. The White Star Line RMS Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship.

In recent years the shift to air transport for mail has left only three ships with the right to the prefix; RMS Segwun, which serves as a passenger vessel in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada, RMS St Helena, which serves the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic,^[10] and RMS Queen Mary 2. QM2 was conferred "RMS" by Royal Mail when she entered service in 2004 on the Southampton to New York route as a gesture to Cunard's history.^[11]

Royal Mail aircraft marking.

The Royal Mail continues a form of this tradition on modern day airliners. The UK's flag carrier airline, British Airways is contracted to carry mail on some of its scheduled long-distance routes. Aircraft operating these routes with the facilities to carry mail are allowed to display the Royal Mail's logo and crest on their fuselage, usually alongside their registration markings.

The less common designations RMMV, for Royal Mail Motor Vessel, and RMMS, for Royal Mail Motor Ship, were used for a period when RMS was restricted to steam-ships. Motor Ship indicates that propulsion is provided by diesel rather than steam. The designation TS as in TSMV before the name of the vessel would indicate that it was driven by twin propellers. The TS designation was also used for the Turbine Ship - "TS Bremen".

List of RMS ships

Name	Line	Maiden Voyage	Left Service	Fate
Queen Elizabeth 2	Cunard	1969	2008	luxury floating hotel in Dubai  UAE
Queen Mary 2	Cunard	2004		in service
St Helena	HM Government	1990		in service
Adriatic	White Star	1907	1934	broken-up
Aquitania	Cunard	1914	1950	broken-up
Arabia	Peninsular and Oriental	1898	1916	sunk (enemy action)
Alcantara	Royal Mail Lines	1913	1916	sunk in battle while serving as Armed Merchant Cruiser
Alcantara	Royal Mail Lines	1926	1958	scrapped
Andes	Royal Mail Lines	1913	1929	renamed Atlantis cruise ship
Andes	Royal Mail Lines	1939	1959	became cruise ship
Arlanza	Royal Mail Lines	1912	1938	broken-up
Atlantic	White Star	1871	1873	sunk
Baltic	White Star	1904	1933	broken-up
Britannia	Cunard	1840	1880	sunk
Britannic	White Star	1929	1960	broken-up
Lucania	Cunard	1893	1909	broken-up
Carpathia	Cunard	1903	1918	sunk (enemy action)
Caronia	Cunard	1949	1974	broken-up
Celtic	White Star	1901	1933	broken-up
Cedric	White Star	1903	1932	broken-up
Dunottar Castle	Union Castle	1890	1915	sunk
Empress of China[12]	Canadian Pacific	1891	1912	broken-up
Empress of India[12]	Canadian Pacific	1891	1919	broken-up
Empress of Japan[12]	Canadian Pacific	1891	1926[13]	broken-up
Empress of Britain	Canadian Pacific	1906	1930	broken-up
Empress of Ireland	Canadian Pacific	1906	1914	collided and sank; over 1,000 died
Empress of Asia[14]	Canadian Pacific	1913	1942[14]	unknown
Empress of Russia[15]	Canadian Pacific	1913	1945[15]	unknown
Empress of France	Canadian Pacific	1914	1934	unknown
Empress of India	Canadian Pacific	1908	1929	unknown
Empress of Australia[8]	Canadian Pacific	1922	1952[16]	broken-up
Empress of Scotland	Canadian Pacific	1906	1930	unknown
Empress of Canada	Canadian Pacific	1922	1943[15]	torpedoed;sunk
Empress of Canada	Canadian Pacific	1929	1953	unknown
Empress of Japan	Canadian Pacific	1930	1966	Caught fire and scrapped
Empress of Britain	Canadian Pacific	1931	1940[17]	torpedoed; sunk
Empress of Scotland	Canadian Pacific	1930	1966	Caught fire and scrapped
Empress of Australia	Canadian Pacific	1953	1956	sold for scrap 1962
Empress of Britain	Canadian Pacific	1956	.	sold for scrap 2008
Empress of England[18]	Canadian Pacific	1957	.	unknown
Empress of Canada[19]	Canadian Pacific	1961	.	unknown
Etruria	Cunard	1885	1909	broken-up
Homeric	White Star	1922	1935	broken-up
Laconia	Cunard	1922	1942	sunk (enemy action)
Laconia	Cunard	1912	1917	sunk (enemy action)
Lusitania	Cunard	1907	1915	sunk (enemy action)
Mauretania	Cunard	1939	1965	broken-up
Maloja	Peninsular and Oriental	1923	1954	broken-up
Majestic	White Star	1922	1940	broken-up
Mooltan	Peninsular and Oriental	1923	1953	broken-up
Niagara	Union Steamship	1912	1940	sunk (enemy action)
Oceanic	White Star	1871	1896	broken-up
Queen Elizabeth	Cunard	1940	1968	destroyed by arson
Royal Adelaide	City of Dublin Steam Packet	1838	1849	sunk
Georgic	White Star	1933	1954	broken-up
Olympic	White Star	1911	1935	broken-up
Mauretania	Cunard	1907	1935	broken-up
Queen Mary	Cunard	1936	1967	retired
Umbria	Cunard	1884	1910	broken-up
Scythia	Cunard	1921	1958	broken-up
Titanic	White Star	1912	1912	sunk
Windsor Castle	Union-Castle	1960	1998	broken-up
Viceroy of India	Peninsular and Oriental	1927	1942	sunk (enemy action)
Oceanic	White Star	1899	1914	broken-up
Snaefell	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1910	1918	sunk (enemy action)
Mona's Queen	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1934	?	?
King Orry	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1911	?	?
Lady of Mann	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1930	?	?
Ben My Chree	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1927	?	?
Peel Castle	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1894	?	?
Fenella	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1937	?	?
Tynwald	Isle of Man Steam Packet	1937	?	?
Segwun	Muskoka Steamships	1887		restored and returned to service
Trent	Royal Mail Steam Packet	1841	1865	broken-up
Leinster	City of Dublin Steam Packet	1896	1918	sunk (enemy action) 517 lost
Servia	Cunard	1881	1901	broken-up

See also

• Union-Castle Line

Notes

References

• Kennedy, John. (1903). The History of Steam Navigation. Liverpool: C. Birchall, 1903. OCLC 3553860

External links

• Historic Ocean Liners
• RMS Caronia "Green Goddess" Time-Line
• Titanic Archive