The
New England started her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Boston on 30 June 1898. In 1902 the Dominion Line and the
White Star Line were taken over by the
International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMMCo) which set about transferring ships between its subsidiary companies in order to increase efficiency. Most of the Dominion Line's profitable routes were soon transferred to the White Star Line including the Boston service.
New England made her last sailing from Liverpool under the Dominion Line on 17 September 1903, soon after she was sold internally within the IMMCo group along with her sisters to the White Star Line and renamed
Romanic. She was initially retained on the Liverpool–Boston service, and made her first sailing for White Star on 19 November 1903. Soon afterwards
Romanic was transferred to a new service between Boston and
Naples and
Genoa in Italy in order to take advantage of the lucrative market for immigrants from Italy to the United States. She commenced service on this route on 3 December 1903. On 12 July 1907
Romanic collided with a 66-ton fishing
schooner Natalie B. Nickerson in thick fog near the
Nantucket Shoals. The schooner sank and three of her crew of eighteen lost their lives;
Romanic picked up the survivors and landed them at Boston.
Romanic continued on the Boston–Italy service until the growth of Italy's own merchant fleet began to displace British vessels on the Mediterranean service.
Romanic was withdrawn from the service in November 1911, and in January 1912 she was sold to the
Glasgow-based
Allan Line and renamed
Scandinavian. Her new owners refitted the vessel's passenger accommodation to carry 400 Second and 800 Third class passengers. Her gross register tonnage was increased in the refit to 12,099 tons. She commenced service for the Allan Line on 23 March 1912 between Glasgow,
Halifax and Boston for their winter service, switching to the Glasgow–
Quebec–
Montreal route during the summer months when the
St. Lawrence River was ice free. Following the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914 the
Scandinavian was used as a
troopship to transport Canadian troops to Britain. between 1917 and 1918 she was operated under the
Liner Requisition Scheme. In 1917 the Allan Line was taken over by the
Canadian Pacific Line. Following her release from government service,
Scandinavian made her first voyage for her new owners on 22 August 1918 between Liverpool and New York. Three months later she was switched to the Liverpool–
Saint John service. In May 1920 she was switched again to the
Antwerp–
Southampton–Quebec–Montreal route, but by 1922 there were a surplus of ships on this route, and
Scandinavian was withdrawn from the service in July that year and laid up at
Falmouth for disposal. The following year she was sold for scrap, and in October 1923 she moved to
Hamburg for breaking up. ==References==