On May 1, 1901, the United States Government issued a set of six stamps in commemoration of the Pan-American Exhibition at Buffalo. The 10-cents value, representing fast ocean travel, shows a famous old transatlantic liner, the steamer St. Paul, of the American Line. She was built by Cramp & Son, Philadelphia, in 1895, for the International Mercantile Marine Company, of New York. Her dimensions were 535 ft. 5 in. by 63 ft. by 26 ft. 8 in.; gross tonnage approximately 11,630; h.p. 20,500. Newspapers of the day described her as a "mammoth liner."
The St. Paul was the first ship to go into commission as an auxiliary cruiser of the United States Navy, and she and her sister ship, St. Louis, were the first armed merchant cruisers ever to be in action. The St. Paul was taken over by the U.S. Navy on the day before the Spanish-American War broke out, April 21, 1898. On November 15, 1899, the first wireless news sheet was published on board. Signor Marconi, a passenger, had installed an experimental wireless apparatus which enabled the ship to make contact with the land station at The Needles, I.o.W. The news was printed on a small sheet called the "Transatlantic Times," This was sold to the passengers for one dollar, the proceeds being distributed to seamens' charities.
The St. Paul will always be remembered in connection with her ramming and sinking of the second-class protected cruiser Gladiator, of the British Home Fleet, a vessel of 5,750 tons displacement. The cruiser was making for Portsmouth from Portland with a skeleton crew of 184 aboard. On Saturday, April 25, 1908, while making the Needles passage at the entrance to the Solent, she was rammed by the American liner, which an hour and a half previous had left Southampton, with a considerable number of passengers bound for New York. The cruiser was struck on the side and the penetrating bow of the St. Paul cut a hole in the after boiler room. The liner was severely damaged about the bows and was off the service for some time afterwards. The disaster occurred in a blizzard of snow and sleet which lasted for two hours. So dense was the downfall that the officers on watch could only see a few yards ahead of them. Many the crew of the Gladiator were picked up by the boats of the St Paul. The death toll was one officer and twenty-six ratings, all from the cruiser. The widows, orphans and other dependants had their immediate necessities supplied by Miss Agnes Weston, a lady honoured to this day by British seamen.
In 1923, after 28 years'service, the career of the St. Paul ended, when she was sold to a German firm a Wilhelmshaven for scrapping.
Sea Breezes July 1946 Ernest Argyle.
U.S.A. SG305