They were both paddle-steamers, built of wood, the former designed by Brunel, and engined by Maudsley, Sons & Field, and the latter built by Menzies, of Leith, and engined by Wingate & Co., of Glasgow. For upwards of eight years the Great Western continued to sail regularly between Bristol and New York, on which station she was very popular with passengers. She was sold in 1847 to the Royal Mail Steampacket Co., in which service she was also a favourite for several years. In 1857 it was the opinion of the Directors that she could not compete profitably with modern boats, and she was therefore broken up at Vauxhall.
About the date of the despatch of the Sirius from Cork, the Directors of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. had under consideration the formation of a Transatlantic Steam-Packet Co., with sailings to and from Liverpool. The steamers of this Company were amongst the largest and most famous afloat. A meeting of Directors was held in the Committee Room, Water Street, Liverpool, at which it was decided to open up the new service by the despatch of the P.S. Royal William as soon as she could be got ready for the voyage. The Royal William was practically a new steamer, having been built in 1836, being one of four steamers built to compete with the Admiralty steamers for the mail service between Liverpool and Kingstown. She proved herself to be faster than any of the Government mail steamers, and when placed on the Dublin and London station, made a passage from Falmouth to Kingstown, 260 miles, in 23 hours. She was built by Wilson, of Liverpool, and engined by Fawcett & Preston, of the same city. Her length was 175 feet (being 3 feet less than the Sirius), beam 27 feet, depth of hold 17 feet 6 inches. Her capacity was 817 tons burden, and she was propelled by engines of 276 h.p. Her coal consumption was about 17 tons per 24 hours, and in fairly smooth water her speed was 11½ knots per hour. She had cabin accommodation for eighty passengers. She sailed from the Prince’s Pier on Thursday evening, 5th July, 1838, having on board thirty-two passengers. Sixty-four years afterwards the present author had several interviews with Mr. Brownrigg, the City of Dublin Co.’s Customs Clerk, who took out the Customs clearance for the Royal William, and who in spite of his great age remembered clearly the appearance of the vessel as she steamed down the River Mersey on that midsummer evening so long ago. Although she carried no cargo on that voyage, she was so deeply laden with coal for fuel—coal that filled her bunkers, her holds, and even her well-deck—that her paddles were buried six feet, her sponsons were submerged, and it was possible by leaning over the bulwarks to wash one’s hands in the water that surged at the vessel’s sides. Naturally it was an event in which the townspeople of Liverpool and the residents on the Cheshire side of the river took the deepest interest. As she began to move she was greeted with enthusiastic cheers from thousands of spectators who crowded the piers and lined the river side, whilst cannon were fired from Woodside, Monks Ferry, Rock Ferry, and from the steamboats on the river. The Royal William completed the passage from Liverpool to New York in nineteen days, and the homeward passage in fourteen and a half days.
Royal William P. S. in Mid-Atlantic, 12th July, 1838.
Amongst those who were present at the meeting held in the Water Street Committee Room was Sir John Tobin, who had a large steamer nearing completion on the stocks. It was agreed that this vessel should sail alternately with the Royal William between Liverpool and New York. At her launch, Sir John Tobin’s steamer was named the Liverpool. She was a vessel of 1,150 tons, with engines of 404 h.p. She started on her first voyage on the 20th October, 1838, but experienced such bad weather that she put back to Cork on the 26th, after having accomplished about one-third of her voyage. She remained at Cork for ten days, and again proceeded to sea on the 6th November, arriving at New York on the 23rd, after a passage of sixteen and a half days. It was on board this steamer that Mr. Samuel Cunard crossed the Atlantic, for the purpose of inducing British capitalists to take up his scheme of mail steamers between Liverpool, Halifax and Boston.
After making a few voyages to and from Liverpool and New York, the Liverpool was lengthened, her capacity being increased by 393 tons, and at the same time her name was changed to the Great Liverpool. Her new owners, the P. and O. Co., employed her in their mail service between Southampton and Alexandria. Her career as a Royal Mail steamer was a short one, as she was lost off Cape Finisterre on the 4th February, 1846.
The first great disaster in the Transatlantic steamship trade occurred in the spring of 1841. On the 12th March of that year, the steamship President sailed from New York, bound for Liverpool, with a full list of passengers. She was a new steamer, having been launched fifteen months previously (7th December, 1839) by Messrs. Curling & Young for account of the British and American Steam Navigation Co., of Bristol. The President was one of the largest and most powerful steamships of her day, her register tonnage being 2,366 tons, and her engines indicated 540 horse-power. On her first voyage, she sailed from Liverpool for New York at 2 p.m. on the 1st August, 1840, arrived at New York 2 p.m. on the 17th idem; sailed from New York 2 p.m. on the 1st September, and arrived at Liverpool 2 p.m. on the 17th of the same month, being exactly sixteen days on both her westward and her eastward passage. She apparently lay up for the winter, and resumed her sailings in the spring of the following year. She left New York for Liverpool on her third homeward voyage on the 12th March, 1841, having on board 136 passengers. After leaving New York she disappeared, with all her living freight, from human ken. As day after day passed, the utmost anxiety arose, both in the mercantile world and amongst the relatives of the passengers and seamen, as to the cause of her detention. Other steamers and ships reported very heavy weather in the Atlantic, and the presence of unusual quantities of ice in very low latitudes. The newspapers of the period were filled with references to the ill-fated vessel, with suggestions that her engines had broken down, and that she had drifted out of the track of homeward bound steamers. Multitudinous and conflicting rumours passed into circulation of her wreck having been seen in various places, and a thousand speculations as to the cause and certainty of a catastrophe, and the subsequent fate of those on board, kept alive the agony of those interested in her. Her fate remains one of the sad mysteries of the ocean, as no trace of her wreck was ever discovered, nor a single survivor from the tragedy.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] The “Annals of Liverpool” section in “Gore’s Directory” erroneously states: “1838. The steamship Sirius sailed from London to Cork, 27th March, and from Cork to New York, 2nd April.”