The Cruise of the Royal Mail Steamer Dunottar Castle Round Scotland on Her Trial Trip

The ‘Dunottar Castle’ is the twenty-first ship built for the ‘Castle’ Company, and is the largest, and in all respects the most perfect, of all the vessels engaged in the South African Royal Mail Service. This fine vessel was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow, under the direction of Mr. Saxon White, the Manager of that Company, and the supervision of Mr. John List and Mr. George Scott of the ‘Castle’ Line. The fact that the ship was ordered from the Fairfield Company without competing contracts being invited from other firms, is a proof of the confidence which Sir Donald Currie had in the builders.

This is especially noteworthy when the dimensions and the capacity of the ship are remembered. She exceeds the largest of her sister ships, the ‘Roslin Castle’ by 1000 tons, the gross tonnage of the ‘Dunottar Castle’ being nearly 5500 tons, and her net tonnage 3069. Her length is 435 feet; the extreme breadth is 50 feet; and she is 36 feet deep. The hull is constructed entirely of steel, with a continuous double cellular bottom, and with eight vertical bulk-heads, which extend to the upper deck, and divide the ship into nine water-tight compartments. The engines are of the triple-expansion type, the cylinders being respectively 38 inches, 61½ inches, and 100 inches in diameter, with a stroke of 5 feet 6 inches. Between 6000 and 7000 horse-power can be developed. Steam is supplied at a pressure of 160 lbs. to the square inch, by four large steam boilers and a supplementary boiler, each with six corrugated furnaces.