Elvas Tower: SS RARITAN - Elvas Tower

SS. RARITAN

Three Island Merchant Steamship 1920

Chris Gerlach - Jeff Farquar

3876 polys, 2000 mtr LOD


A merchant ship type found throughout the sea lanes, between 1900 and 1940, many of these sturdy ships carried cargo along the East Coast of the US, and beyond. Some remain in service to this day.

Additional forms of this ship will be available moored and docked, as well as additional variations including ships from the UK, NZ and beyond.

Specifications:

The ship type of this model had:

ONE SMOKESTACK, TWO SINGLE MASTS, THREE RAISED HULL ISLANDS,

Typical Dimensions of this type of ship:

Length: 355'
Beam: 48'
Draft: 17.7'

These ships were built in the hundreds in both the UK, the US and many other European countries between 1900 and 1940 and some remain in service to this day. They were able to serve and berth just about any size harbour, and often unloaded into lighters when there were no wharfs or quays available. They carried just about every conceivable cargo and sadly many were lost in convoy duty during the wars. They were the backbone of the merchant marine service and were served by three generations of sailors of all nationalities and services. They flew many flags but by and large the most were either under the Red Duster of the UK Merchant Marine or the United states flagged Houses.

This ship is name for a US cargo ship sunk during WWII along the East Coast in honour of the memory of the many US merchant mariners who gave their all to our country in that war.

This model was created for the Tri State Route but is suitable for any route from the 20th century that depicts maritime traffic.

The model is Medium poly count and will work in both MSTS and OR.

Credits:

Hull shape was kindly shared by Ron Piccard, the rest of the model was created by me and much of the textures as well along with some very nice cabin walls shared by John Fleming with his kind permission and a beautiful ships rail from Captain Bazza with many thanks. Jeff Farquar (Master Chief) helped correct issues with the main hull and texturing without his help this ship could not have been launched. He also created some of the custom shapes needed including a superb anchor set. We are glad to help add to the maratime resources for Steam Era routes everywhere.

This was one of the most common merchant ship types of the first half of the 20th century and they could be found in any major port across the world. My work making resources for Train Sim using TSM would not have been possible without the generous and gracious help of many including Tim Muir, John Fleming, Captain Bazza (Barry Munro), Refman, Ole Daddy, Swisse, Jeff Farquar, Larry Mullett, Rick (The Grindre), and many more. I am very grateful for the support and encouragement from the forums at Elvas Tower and UK Train Sim, and hope to continue to make contributions to both TS and Open Rails in the years to come.

Use:
You are welcome to mod, repaint and use this model as you wish, only restriction is that no commercial use may be made of it other than low cost library releases such as the excellent route collections of UK Train Sim Library. If you have a question or need assistance with this ship please contact me at the locations listed below.


Chris Gerlach
June 2015
CrisGer at Elvas Tower
chrisgerlach9@yahoo.com

Sources and History:

A remarkable account of an actual Seaman Officer from these ships:
http://www.bertramch...article393.aspx

http://www.boatnerd.com/

http://www.shipscrib...AK/ww1/w1ak.htm