Bulgaria
1898
(Gryzbowski GLR-1)
- Type: Passenger / general cargo
- Displacement: 10,237 tons
- Dimensions: 517 x 62 ft
- Machinery: Steam quadruple expansion, twin screw , 4,100 ihp = 12 knots
- Passengers: 2,700 (300 second class, 2,400 third class)
- Crew: 150
- Builder: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, Germany, 1898
- Launched: 5 Feb 1898, Yard No.125
- Service: Bulgaria was built for Hamburg America Line; maiden voyage 10 Apr 1898, she sailed between Hamburg, Halifax and New York. In 1899 she encountered a severe hurricane, her hatches were stove in and her rudder carried away. Over 100 injured horses were slaughtered and thrown overboard, and the passengers were taken off by three British steamers. After three weeks, a jury rudder was rigged and she managed to reach Punta Delgada in the Azores. Reconstructed at Blohm & Voss in 1906 with new measurement of 11,494 grt.
After a voyage from Hamburg to Boston and Baltimore in Feb 1913, she was transferred to Unione Austriaca who renamed her Canada. After two Trieste - Quebec - Montreal sailings, she reverted to Hamburg America Line and her original name. She resumed Hamburg - Boston - Baltimore sailings in Dec 1913 and made her last crossing in Jul 1914. Interned at Baltimore when WWI broke out in Europe. Seized by the USA in Apr.1917, she was became the US Army transport Hercules. Transferred to the US Shipping Board in 1919 and renamed Philippines, she was laid up in 1920 and scrapped in 1924.
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