The Sirius was of about the size of a large sailing packet of the day. She measured 700 tons and had engines of 320 horse-power. On April 4, 1838, she left Cork for New York.
In the meantime, I. K. Brunel, who was then chief engineer of the Great Western Railroad, had become convinced of the feasibility of transatlantic steam navigation, and with a few associates he had built at Bristol a ship named the Great Western, especially for traffic between Bristol (the end of the Great Western Railroad) and New York. This ship was 212 feet long by 35 wide and 23 deep. She registered at 1340 tons. She was provided with side-lever engines of 440 horse-power, the cylinders being 73½ inches in diameter by 7 feet stroke.
As it happened, the Great Western left Bristol for New York on April 7, and transatlantic steam navigation was thereby begun with a race. The Sirius arrived first, anchoring off the Battery, New York, early in the morning on April 23. The excitement in the city was extraordinary, and the water about the ship was soon covered with small boats carrying people for a look at her. And then at about 11 o'clock, when the throngs around the Sirius were densest, a lookout announced another steamship in sight down below, when the crowd began to shout:—
"The Great Western! The Great Western!"
It was she, and in the middle of the afternoon she anchored off Pike Street.
The British consul, in a letter congratulating Lieutenant R. Roberts, R. N., commanding the Sirius, on arriving first, said:—
"I have a further cause of rejoicing, that the honor of accomplishing the enterprise has been achieved by a son of the British navy, and that it was completed on St. George's Day."
It was five years after this arrival that the keel of the first American clipper was laid, but with the termination of the passages of these two ships the dawn of the day of British supremacy upon the high seas appeared.
Special attention seems due to the Great Western, because she was the first ship built for the traffic. She had steamed 3125 sea miles, making an average of 208 miles per day, or 8.2 knots an hour. The total consumption of fuel was 655 tons, less than a day's consumption in some modern ships. She returned home with a consumption of only 392 tons, prevailing winds and a large spread of canvas helping her to save coal. The cost of this ship was £50,000, of which £13,500 was paid for the engines. She continued to ply regularly on the route, and on September 25, 1838, the New York American had this to say:—
"The arrival of the steam packet Great Western puts us in possession of intelligence to the 8th.... The great success of this enterprise has confirmed the timid and almost crazed the sanguine. She brings one hundred and forty passengers. All her berths were engaged before she arrived at Bristol." Then an article from the London Times is quoted as follows:—