The "big four" was a nickname given to a grand quartet of two-funneled 20,000 ton liners, created around the turn of the century. They were built by the White Star Line and were the largest ships the world had ever seen (hmm, that sounds familiar...) and would exceed the famed SS Great Eastern, both in size, and in tonnage. The ships were built in the following order,

1. Celtic

2. Cedric

3. Baltic

4. Adriatic

The first of the ships would be accident prone, and the Celtic would be a target during WWI. Both of these first two ships would collide with other vessels, the Cedric ramming a Canadian-Pacific liner during her time as an auxiliary cruiser. The Celtic would strike a mine, and  be torpedoed during her wartime service. She would eventually strike rocks, and was scrapped over a five-year period.

Though these vents marred the reputation of the liners, the quartet's luck would begin to turn by it's third ship, the Baltic. She would participate in many sea rescues, and even had a little buddy! The SS Magnetic was a White Star tender which serviced her throughout most of her career, and they are often depicted together in postcards. How cute.

The Adriatic would be the largest, heaviest, fastest, and most luxurious of the quartet, though she would suffer some incidents. She ran aground in the Ambrose Channel, suffered a boiler explosion killing 5 of her crew, and had an oil fire on board during WWI.