Qualla: SS Devonian (1900)

SS Devonian (1900): Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Massachusetts Humane Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. The torpedo struck at 11:55 in the morning on 21 August 1917, hitting Devonian's port quarter and tearing open her number 6 and 7 holds. The ship's carpenter and his assistant died in the blast. Forty-eight kilometres off the north coast of Ireland, in a convoy of fifteen merchantmen escorted by Royal Navy submarines, a Harland and Wolff cattle liner that had spent seventeen years hauling livestock and horses between Belfast and Boston was about to become another casualty of unrestricted submarine warfare. Devonian had survived two harbour fires, rescued seventy-five strangers from burning ships in the open Atlantic, and ferried thousands of horses to the Western Front. She had less than an hour left.

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Image: Massachusetts Humane Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

SS Devonian (1900): Built for Cattle and Crossing

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photographer not identified, Public domain. Harland and Wolff in Belfast launched Devonian on 28 April 1900 as yard number 331, completing her on 6 September for Frederick Leyland and Co. She was a working ship: eight cargo hatches, capacity for 900 head of cattle plus 125 passengers in second-class accommodation. As built...

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Image: Photographer not identified | Public domain

SS Devonian (1900): Fire and Rescue

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Massachusetts Humane Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. Devonian had a complicated relationship with fire. In March 1907, six railroad cars' worth of baled hay loaded as cattle feed ignited in her number 4 hold while she was docked at Charlestown, Boston. The fire ruined 20,000 bushels of corn and an unloading hose burst, drenching th...

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Image: Massachusetts Humane Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

SS Devonian (1900): The Volturno

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Massachusetts Humane Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Volturno was an emigrant ship sailing from Rotterdam to New York via Halifax when fire broke out in her forward holds on the morning of 9 October 1913. She broadcast a distress signal, and Devonian was one of ten or more ships that converged on her position. Volturno launched...

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Image: Massachusetts Humane Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

SS Devonian (1900): The War Years

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Massachusetts Humane Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the First World War began, Devonian carried her last load of civilian passengers, 150 Americans fleeing Europe, into Boston in September 1914. After that, the trade changed. In 1915 alone she shipped 1,100 horses in February, 1,000 in March, and another 1,017 in April, all b...

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Image: Massachusetts Humane Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

SS Devonian (1900): Buncrana

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. On 21 August 1917, U-53 torpedoed Devonian as she sailed in convoy from Liverpool toward Boston. The refrigerated cargo ship Roscommon, struck minutes earlier, sank within minutes. British submarines and aircraft engaged the U-boats while Devonian launched eight of her remaining ...

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Image: Public domain