SS Doric (1883)

SS Doric
History
United Kingdom
Name	Doric
Owner	White Star Line
Operator	New Zealand Shipping Company White Star Line Shaw, Savill & Albion Line Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company
Port of registry	Liverpool
Route	United Kingdom−New Zealand
Builder	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Yard number	153
Launched	10 March 1883[1]
Completed	4 July 1883
Maiden voyage	London−Wellington, 6 January 1885
Out of service	1906
Fate	Sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1906 and renamed Asia.
United States
Name	Asia
Owner	Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Route	San Francisco, California−Hong Kong
Acquired	1906
Out of service	1911
Fate	Wrecked 23 April 1911[2]
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	4,784 gross register tons (GRT)
Length	440.1 ft (134.1 m)
Beam	44.2 ft (13.5 m)
Height	28 ft (8.5 m)

SS Doric was a British ocean liner operated by White Star Line. She was put into service in 1883. Built by the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast, she was the sister ship of the Ionic which was put into service a few months earlier. Although the original purpose of the construction of the two ships was not known with certainty, both began their careers chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company which operated them on the route from London to Wellington.

As early as 1885, the Doric, like her sister ship and the Coptic, was assigned to the same route, but this time for the joint service provided by the White Star Line and the Shaw, Savill & Albion Line. The ship operated this service until she was refitted and modernised in 1895. Subsequently deemed superfluous for the New Zealand route, the Doric was chartered by the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company between Hong Kong and San Francisco.

It was in 1906 that the Doric made her last crossing under this company, while the O&O gradually withdrew from the market. She was then sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company which employed her on the same route, this time under the name of Asia. On 23 April 1911, the ship ran aground on rocks. Her passengers came out unharmed from the accident, but the ship was quickly looted and set on fire by local fishermen.