Chapter XIII.
Mr. Cunard’s tender for the carriage of the British and North American Mails accepted, 1839.—Great Britain launched, 1843.—Sails from Bristol for London, 23rd January, 1845.—Visited by H.M. Queen Victoria.—Sails for Liverpool, June, 1845.—For New York, July, 1845.—Stranded Dundrum Bay, September, 1846.—Floated off, August, 1847.—Sails to New York, 1852.
In October, 1838, the British Government, being convinced of the superiority of steamships over sailing brigs, advertised for tenders for the conveyance of the North American Mails by steamers.
Amongst the tenders sent in, that of Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, was accepted as being the lowest, and in many other respects the most favourable for the public.
With a view of carrying out his scheme for establishing a mail steamship service between England and North America, Mr. Cunard came to London and called upon Mr. Melville, Secretary to the East India Company, to whom he was personally known. From Mr. Melville he received a letter of introduction to Mr. Robert Napier, the celebrated Clyde engineer and shipbuilder, by whom he was introduced to Mr. George Burns, of Glasgow, and Mr. David MacIver, of Liverpool. Both these gentlemen favourably regarded the proposals of Mr. Cunard, and interested themselves so energetically in the matter that in a very short time the whole of the requisite capital for the formation of the Trans-Atlantic Mail Steamship Company was subscribed. A sketch of the history of this famous Company (afterwards known as the Cunard Company) will be found in the second part of this volume.
Although the British Queen had proved an entire success, and was a great favourite with transatlantic travellers, her owners resolved to build a second ship, which would not only exceed her in size, but which should also include all the latest improvements the art of naval construction could then command. This was the famous Great Britain. She was the first Western Ocean steamship constructed of iron, and the first and only one for several years that was propelled by a screw propeller instead of paddle-wheels. She was considered a colossal steamer in her time, and excited quite as much public interest as did the Great Eastern at a later period. Her principal dimensions were, length of keel 289 feet, between perpendiculars 296 feet, over all 322 feet, her breadth was 51 feet, depth of hold 32 feet 6 inches, her measurement 2,984 tons, and her engines 1,000 h.p. She originally carried six masts, two of which were forward and four aft of the funnel. She was built at Bristol, from plans furnished by Mr. Patterson of that City, who also had designed the Great Western. Her engines and boilers were constructed in, and fitted on board the vessel at, the Company’s own works, as no outside engineers would undertake the contract. But, owing to an extraordinary oversight on the part of the consulting Engineer, it was then found that she was imprisoned in the dock, being so deeply immersed by the weight of her machinery as to be unable to pass out. Although she was launched on the 19th July, 1843, owing to the above unfortunate mistake, she was not ready for sea until December of the following year. On her passage from Bristol to London she encountered a severe storm which thoroughly tested her seagoing qualities, and through which she passed triumphantly. Her arrival in the Thames was awaited with great interest by the public, whose curiosity had been excited by the numerous references to the vessel published in the daily and illustrated papers. A long and interesting account of this trial voyage, from which the following particulars are taken, was published in the “Illustrated London News,” under date of the 1st February, 1845. From this article it appears that the Great Britain left Bristol for London at 7 p.m. on Thursday, 23rd January, 1845. At the time the ship got under weigh, it was blowing a fresh breeze from the S.S.W., which at 3 a.m. on Friday had veered to the N.W. and increased to a gale, and there was a counter swell from the Irish Channel, causing a disagreeable and heavy cross sea. The gale continued to increase, and was for a considerable time on her starboard bow; yet, notwithstanding this, in the face of the gale, and a heavy head sea with a strong ebb tide, she made five and a half knots per hour. At twenty minutes past twelve, when about fifteen miles to the westward of Lundy, she was struck on the starboard bow by a tremendous sea, which must have contained two or three thousand tons of water. The shock for a moment seemed to paralyse the vessel and to bring her to a standstill; this, however, was but for one moment; the vessel recovered the shock instanter, and continued to brave the gale as though nothing had happened to check her progress. Some idea of the force of the concussion may be formed from the damage done to the vessel. Three of her starboard bulls eyes were stove in, together with their frames, the diagonal bends of her forecastle deck were bent, the woodwork started two inches upwards, a portion of the carved figurehead carried away, also the wooden fittings of her bulkhead, the iron sheathing of both bows split above deck in two places. The gale continued until 5-30 p.m., when it became more moderate. At 8-45 p.m. the Great Britain rounded the Land’s End, and at 10-40 was off the Lizard proceeding up the Channel at the rate of 10½ knots per hour. The Captain (Lieut. Hoskin, R.N.), was of opinion that neither the Great Western, nor any other Royal Mail (Paddle) Steamer, could have made such headway under the same circumstances by at least from one to one and a half knots per hour.
Great Britain s.s. (1845), from an old Engraving.
On Saturday, 25th January, at 12-10 a.m., she was abreast of Falmouth, and proceeded up channel, with light winds from the S.W. at an average speed of 12 knots per hour. At 12-45 p.m. she entered the Needles passage, and when off Cowes, at 2-15, the engines were stopped to land despatches. At 2-18 again proceeded on her course. Upon arriving at Spithead, Captain Hoskin took his vessel under the stern of H.M.S. Apollo, fired a gun, and gave her three cheers, which were returned by the crew and troops on board. At 1-40 a.m. on Sunday (26th), the Great Britain came to an anchor in the Downs, having ran from the time she rounded the Land’s End, three hundred and fifty miles at an average speed of twelve knots per hour.
At 7-45 a.m. the vessel was got under weigh again from the Downs, and upon rounding the North Foreland, and steering through the Queen’s Channel, encountered a stiff gale from the W.N.W. The Great Britain, however, met it in gallant style, and made nine and a half knots against it. As she steamed up the river, the crews of every vessel she passed ran on deck to obtain a view of her, her great length, and her singular appearance with six masts, rendering her an object of considerable attraction. She arrived at Woolwich at 3-30 p.m., and at Blackwall a few minutes later. At both these places there was an immense concourse of people assembled to witness her arrival.
She remained at her anchorage at Blackwall nearly five months, during which period she was inspected by many thousands of the public. On the 22nd April H.M. Queen Victoria, accompanied by Prince Albert and suite, paid her a visit.
The Great Britain left Blackwall on Thursday afternoon, 12th June, 1845. On passing Woolwich it seemed as if the whole population had turned out to behold her. The Dockyard was lined with the Naval and Military officers connected with that depôt, whose cheers were loud and continued. She had on board about eighty passengers, who had embarked for a trip round the coast. After calling at several ports she arrived in the Mersey about 9 o’clock on the evening of Thursday, 3rd July, on which occasion she was anxiously looked for by thousands, the pierheads and every available point on the river being densely crowded. The Great Britain sailed on her first voyage from Liverpool to New York on Saturday, 26th July, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, taking forty-five passengers, and arrived out on the 10th August, at noon. On her return voyage she left New York on the 30th August, having on board fifty-seven passengers and 600 tons general cargo, and arrived at Liverpool on the 15th September, at 8 a.m. She continued to trade regularly between the two ports, her passenger list steadily increasing, until the 22nd September, 1846, when she stranded in Dundrum Bay, Ireland. She was, at the time of the stranding, on a voyage from Liverpool to New York with 185 passengers. Fortunately the mishap was accompanied by no loss of life. The cause of the disaster is explained by the following resolution passed by the Directors of the Company:—“With respect to the occurrences which preceded the stranding of the unfortunate ship, as explained now by Captain Hoskin, and by the Report of Captain Claxton to the Secretary, the Directors are of opinion that the ship was stranded in consequence of an error in judgment, into which it appears the Captain was betrayed through the omission of a notice of St. John’s light in the chart of this year, by which he was navigating, and of the want of knowledge on his part of such a light having been established, it being to the Directors obvious that had the light been laid, Captain Hoskin would have known that the judgment which led him at 8 o’clock to put his ship in the proper course for the North Channel, ought to have been persevered in.”
The Great Britain remained stranded for over eleven months, but on the 25th August, 1847, she was floated off and towed to Liverpool for repairs. After the completion of the repairs she lay in the Liverpool Dock for about five years, and then made one trip to New York, sailing from Liverpool on the 1st May, 1852. She sailed from New York on the 5th June, and after a rapid passage of 10 days 23 hours arrived in Liverpool on the 16th of that month. From that date she ceased to be connected with the Transatlantic Trade, and her subsequent history is sketched in the chapter devoted to the account of steam communication with Australia.
