1838 - Crossing the Atlantic Ocean under Steam

Two steamships (or SS in short), Sirius and Great Western, simultaneously cross the Atlantic Ocean from Cork in Ireland for the first, from Bristol in England for the second, to New York, in 18½ and 15½ days respectively, the second departing 4 days after the first and arriving the day after, that is on the 23rd of April while Sirius arrived on the 22nd. Sirius has transported 45 passengers, Great Western only seven.

¤ Great Eastern caught fire in her machinery during her trials which deterred registered passengers from boarding.

Sirius also achieves to be the first arrived on the eastbound travel from New York to Falmouth on the 19th of May, ahead of Great Western by three days.

Sirius, 178-foot long and 25½-foot broad, a brigantine as for the sail plan, displays a gross tonnage of 700 tons. She has not been built for the purpose of crossing ocean but for the line between London and Cork, and she has been pushed to her limits of endurance, arriving almost short of fuel2 despite a large overload of coal. She has been designed for steaming 3,000 miles at 6½ knots and has achieved to steam 3,500 miles at 8 knots thanks to extra fuel and to machinery extra power.

¤ She arrives with 15 tons of coal left. Rumours circulate about the crew burning pieces of furniture and of rigging to complete the journey. False but a colourful tale. Yet the travel back has wisely been shortened by 300 miles.

She was built last year by Messrs Robert Menzies & Sons, shipbuilders at Leith in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, and fitted with a 500hp steam engine by Messrs Wingate & Co, on behalf of the St George Steam Packet Co. She has been chartered for two voyages by the British & American Steam Navigation company, established in 1835, to occupy the market niche before the commissioning of their own Atlantic liner Royal Victoria, just renamed British Queen, delayed by the bankrupt of her engine maker, Claud Girdwood. For British & American, Sirius’ feat is a lucky strike which opens the line with great stir.

On her own, Great Western, 1350 tons, 235-foot long, 57½-foot broad across the paddle wheels, a four-masted barquentine, has been purposefully built for crossing the ocean and she carries an ample stock of fuel accordingly. She has steamed in an easy way for her maiden trip.

She has been designed by already famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a bold and talented engineer aged 32, already in the public eye for the Great Western Railway, hence ship’s name as she is considered as an extension of it. She has been built by Messrs William Patterson Shipbuilders in Bristol, and fitted with a 750hp machinery composed of two side-lever steam engines by Messrs Maudslay, Sons & Field, on behalf of the Great Western Steamship company founded in 1836. She is able to steam at nine or even ten knots a full fortnight long.

¤ As everybody knows, the average duration of the travel westbound for a sailing packet ship is a bit over 40 days, 35 at best, but it may extend to 50 or even 60 days under adverse conditions – which legitimates the steamship as providing a standardised fast travel.

The travel eastbound lasts a bit less than 30 days as it is downwind in general. It is worth noticing that Giovanni Caboto (†1499), better known as John Cabot, reached Newfoundland from Bristol in 35 days in 1497 with the small 50-ton caravel Matthew. It is said that he went back in 17 days only but there is some uncertainty about the day of his departure. Well, even if he sailed back in 20 days, this was a genuine feat.

It is also interesting to notice that common sense, represented by Mr Dionysius Lardner, a polymath of great influence through his books and his lectures, aged 45, has been completely mistaken in a controversy he had with Brunel : as the project was unveiled, he spoke out that there was a limit in size, in fuel capacity so in range for a steamship, thus the Great Western project was chimeric and would fail. Well, the Great Western’s feat proves out that Brunel has been right, and Lardner wrong. Brunel has understood that, for a given form, ship capacity of carrying cargo, engine and fuel varies as the cube of its length while its resistance to movement varies as its square. In other terms, size facilitates higher speed, longer range, and lower transportation cost – the right combination for transoceanic trade. The genuine problem that thwarts size lies in the stiffness of ship structure, which Brunel has rightly thought he could overcome through iron-straps reinforcing wood bracing.

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IN RETROSPECT FROM TODAY

NOTE - About fastness and regularity.

In 1838 Great Western reaches nine knots on average on her third travel westbound in June, and ten knots on average on her third travel eastbound. She also demonstrates that she can carry out three round trips in four months. This is convincing enough for the Admiralty which contemplates to rely on such steamers for the service of mail – a decision finally made in 1839.

Great Western sailed 45 round transatlantic trips during her career until 1846. She made a record westbound trip at 9½ knots in 1839 and another at 10 knots in 1843, and a record eastbound trip at 11 knots in 1842.

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SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Helen Doe – The First Atlantic Liner – London, 2017