S.S. Parthia
Yes! She’s finally done! A 110m long steam liner from late 1800s. Even though Parthia isn’t a famous ship, her life was actually very long and successful.
Anyway, I put a lot, no, a LOT of effort in this work. From finding references to tightening up last details. And I’m pretty sure you gonna like how this turned out.
Before you try, a quick disclaimer:
It IS a HUGE ship, with a lot of things going on in it and your experience may not go smooth if you have a poor pc!
Don’t forget to turn infinite electricity to ON and vehicle damage to OFF
The sails may behave themselves a bit wobbly-wobbly, it really depends on your physics sets. Try to load ship at low ph. detail, and then go higher if you happy with tps
The ship itself, as I said, 110m, and here you have to spawn it via addon editor. This is the only way
You can operate ship entirely from the wheelhouse (located at the stern), and some of functions such as W/S axis duplicated in the bridge. All needed controls are labeled.
To start up the engine, toggle the air valves, then start boilers. Once the temperature is high enough, move Up/Down axis to set pressure. The higher pressure – the faster you’ll go. Then you can simply use W/S A/D.
Note:
Boilers – they need time to warm up!
The steam engine throttle – the engine takes time to spin up!
The ship itself is HEAVY and have intentional inertia build in. You can rapidly stop steam engine, but the ship wouldn’t stop instantly! As well as speed up takes some time.
Oh yeah, almost forgot about sails. You have them workable – go ahead, catch some winds, in case if you run out of coal. All the sails control buttons in the wheelhouse.
History
The Parthia went to her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City in the December 17, 1870. Her maximal speed was captured as 13 knots, and she wasn’t able to take the Blue Riband, which was held at the time by Cunard’s paddle steamer Scotia. However Parthia’s performance was great enought to make her became the best vessel in Cunard’s fleet and one of the top ocean liners on the Atlantic. Parthia’s main advantage over her sister ships Abyssinia and Algeria was a more efficient engine, reducing the space needed to carry coal.
However, at only 9 years old, Parthia become an obsolete vessel in a world of rapid progress, and few years later she returned to Liverpool from her 119th and final voyage. Ship was sold to John Elder & Co. in 1884 and was refited with triple expansion engines and high pressure boilers, which nearly cut her coal consumption in half. Then Parthia was chartered to Wigram Co. to transport immigrants from Sydney to Yokohama via New York and Suez. After this, she once again was transfered to the Guion Line service from Australia to South America, via the Hebrides.
In 1887, the Guion Line chartered Parthia to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which used her to inaugurate its new transpacific service, while awaiting the delivery of its new vessels. After completing 20 voyages for Canadian Pacific between 1887 and 1891, Parthia was returned to the John Elder & Co., where the ship got a massive refit. Following the refit, she only sported two masts and was renamed Victoria. Guion subsequently sold Victoria to the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, which placed Victoria in service between Hong Kong and Tacoma, Washington. After only six years of service with the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, Victoria was sold to the North American Mail Steamship Company and was transferred to the American flag. in 1899, Victoria was drafted for use as a troopship by the U.S. Government during the Spanish–American War. She made six voyages between the United States and Manila in the Philippines before being returned to her owners. In 1900, Victoria sailed from the Puget Sound to Nome carrying hundreds of prospectors as part of the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1901, she was re-sold to the Northern Pacific Steamship Company, only to be resold three years later to the Northwestern Steamship Company. Under this new ownership, she permanently entered Alaskan service. Victoria’s inch-thick wrought-iron hull proved excellent for ice-breaking capabilities. In 1905, Victoria was used as a blockade runner in the Russo-Japanese War, assisting the port of Vladivostok in Russia.
During World War I, Victoria carried large quantities of cargo in transpacific service, earning her owners sizeable profits. Using the excess money earned during the war, Victoria underwent a major refit in 1924. The superstructure was increased and heightened, she was given extra decks, the bridge was closed off from the elements and she was re-engined and re-boilered to burn oil rather than coal. Despite being 54 years old, the Victoria emerged as a brand new looking ship. In 1927, Victoria’s engine blew a cylinder cover, forcing her to be towed to Akutan, Alaska by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. In 1934, Victoria embarked on the first Alaskan cruise operated by the Alaska Steamship Company. She called to the ports of Nome and Kotzebue and sailed to an Arctic ice cap within four miles of Wrangell Island in Siberia.
In 1935, time began running out for the Victoria. She spent three years being laid up in Lake Union, due to increased safety and fire precautions laid forth by the U.S. Government. After resuming passenger service briefly for two more years, Victoria was converted into a cargo-only vessel in 1940. When the United States got involved in World War II, Victoria was chartered by the U.S. federal government’s War Shipping Administration between 1942 and 1947. Victoria completed 46 voyages to Alaska. When she was returned to the Alaska Steamship Company, her hull was found to be in remarkable shape. In 1950, Victoria’s bell was returned to the Cunard Line, for use on their new passenger/cargo liner, the second Parthia. The Victoria continued to serve with the Alaska Steamship Company until 1952. At this point, she had been serving for almost 80 years!
Victoria was sold to Dulien Steel Products for demolition in 1954 and she was laid up in Houghton, Washington. Realising her value, Dulien Steel instead sold her to the Straits Towing and Salvage Company of Vancouver in 1955. She was converted into a lumber carrying barge named Straits No. 27. The next year, she was sold to Japanese ship breakers and renamed Straits Maru for her final voyage. She was towed to Osaka by the tugboat Sudbury and finally scrapped. The former Parthia had reached an age of 86 years.
As usual, have fun wondering in this liner! Peace /
