Between 1802 and 1906 there were 14 schooners sailing the North Atlantic named the Atlanta. They ranged from the 45-ton vessel built in Maine in 1848 to the 104-ton ship built in Nova Scotia in 1862.
    In addition, there were nine Barks and Brigantines named Atlanta plying the waters of the North Atlantic. They ranged from the 143-ton Brigantine built in Prince Edward Island to the 867-ton Bark built in Maine.
    Between 1857 and 1864 there were two large steamers named the Atlanta operating along the coast of New England: the first, built in Maine weighed 957 tons, while the second, built in Connecticut, weighed some 1,000 tons.
    The first passenger ship Atlanta was a 1,155-ton steamer built for the Old Dominion Steamship Company. It was part of Charles Morse's steamship empire which served ports from Maine all the way down to North Carolina.
    The next passenger vessel named Atlanta was a 200-foot, 1,129-ton wooden steamer built in 1891 at the Cleveland Dry Dock Company for the Goodrich Transit company which plied the waters of the Great Lakes.
    At the same time William Denny Shipbuilders of Scotland built another Atlanta for the British India Associated Steamer Lines. A 5,183-ton passenger ship, it was sold later and made the Royal Yacht for Denmark's King Christian.
    The next Atlanta was a steamship that plied the waters between Baltimore and Norfolk built for the Southern Railway Company in 1896 by William Cramps and Sons Shipbuilding Company of Pennsylvania.
    The next Atlanta, built in 1908 by Russell and Company Shipbuilders of Scotland, was a 4,897-ton passenger liner built for an Italian steamship company.
    Sold twice to other Italian companies, she was used first as a cargo vessel carrying meat from South American and then as a passenger liner on the South America passenger trade.
    Seized by the Italian Government at the beginning of World War II, she was used during the war as a troopship carrying Italian soldiers to North Africa.
    After her crew brought her to Vichy France, the ship was seized by the Germans. Now operated by the shipping firm F.L. Sloman Company of Hamburg, Germany, the Atlanta was sunk off of the coast of Norway in an Allied air attack on Jan. 11, 1945.
                
    Roger Allen is a local lover of history. He provides a brief look at the area's historical past. Email Roger at rwasr1953@gmail.com.