RMS Ivernia was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line, built by the company C. S. Swan & Hunter of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and launched in 1899.

The Ivernia was one of Cunard's intermediate ships, that catered to the vast immigrant trade between Europe and the United States of America in the early 20th century.

[11] Cunard produced a plan on 3 August 1898 at their Derby Road works in Liverpool to accompany a contract specification for Swan & Hunter, and this was reviewed by William Denton, director of the yard, three days later with some adjustments that led to the appearance of Ivernia diverging from that of her sister Saxonia.

The two engines were connected by Armstrong Whitworth shafts to twin three-bladed manganese bronze propellers on a pair of steel bosses.

[20] This more prominent bridge was part of the original design specification from Cunard, which C S Swan & Hunter chose to modify on Ivernia but was left unchanged on Saxonia.

[21] Ivernia arrived on the River Mersey on 27 March 1900, after a five-day journey from the Tyne, and her passengers complimented her stability in rough weather during her delivery voyage.

[22][23] Ivernia undertook her maiden transatlantic voyage on 14 April 1900[3] from Liverpool to New York City, as the liners that were intended to work that route were conducting troop transport duties for the Second Boer War.

[3] Two months later, on 12 June, the Ivernia began working on Cunard's service from Liverpool to Boston, together with her sister ship RMS Saxonia.

[14] With a longer-than-usual stopover in Liverpool of 14 days between February 4 & 18 1902, construction of a hut for a wireless operator would have been possible in preparation for Ivernia's Marconi equipment.

[24] Two months later, Ivernia arrived from Boston on April 10, when the Cunard engineers at Liverpool had the opportunity to complete the fitting of the wireless apparatus.

[25] Ivernia sailed with a Marconi system installed and operational for the first time on 15 April 1902, with her first broadcast from 30 miles off shore reporting "All well" back to Liverpool.

Ivernia departed Boston on a routine voyage on 16 May 1911, under the command of Captain Thomas Potter, and was approaching Queenstown harbour on 24 May.

The forward hull of the ship was badly damaged in multiple places, but Ivernia successfully made it into the inner harbour while taking on water.

All passengers were disembarked to Queenstown while Ivernia was at anchor in the Kinloch Channel, but as dusk approached and the forward holds continued to take on water, Captain Potter made the decision to have the ship towed to the mud banks near Corkbeg Island on the eastern side of the harbour.

The Clyde company later secured £1,000 for the work, through the courts, from Cunard, who also made a voluntary award of £500 to the captain and crew of Hellespont.

An unnamed first-class passenger reported feeling the impact in the smoking room, and emerged onto the deck to see the Captain and officers calmly discussing the matter at the bridge.

[32] Nearly a month after she struck the reef, Ivernia was successfully refloated on 23 June 1911, the pumps finally able to keep pace with incoming water enough to enable temporary repair.

[33] A Board of Trade Inquiry found that Captain Potter was responsible for the accident, finding him guilty of "navigating the vessel at too great a rate of speed in increasingly thick weather".

[37] Ivernia was placed in Brocklebank Graving Dock in Liverpool, and Cunard staff began refitting and furnishing the ship.

[38] Ivernia returned to service on 17 October 1911, with much of her interior refitted,[4] with William R D Irvine in command, and carrying 872 passengers out of Liverpool to Queenstown and Boston.

After a single voyage, Captain Irvine handed command to Horace Mills Benison, who would become the longest serving master of Ivernia and oversee her Mediterranean service.

[39] From late 1911, Ivernia served on the route the Cunard Line had established from Fiume and Trieste to New York, carrying migrants from across the Mediterranean.

[45] The tall funnel of Ivernia was painted a 'naval gray' while at sea crossing the Atlantic, as well as her railings, in an attempt to resemble a German merchant vessel.

[47] On her way to Canada on 15 September 1914 she again ran aground, this time in the St Lawrence River off Pointe-au-Père, Quebec, the site of the disastrous sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland only a few months earlier.

[51][52] On 1 January 1917, the Ivernia was carrying some 2,400 British troops from Marseille to Alexandria, when at 10:12 am she was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-47 58 miles south-east of Cape Matapan in Greece, in the Kythira Strait.

Captain Turner, who had been criticised for not going down with the Lusitania (even though he had believed he was the last person on board), remained on the bridge until all aboard had departed in lifeboats and rafts "before striking out to swim as the vessel went down under his feet.

"[52] HMS Rifleman rescued a number of survivors and armed trawlers towed the bulk, who had taken to lifeboats, to Suda Bay in Crete.