SS Great Western
| 300px The Great Western 's maiden voyage from Bristol in 1838 | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Great Western |
| Namesake: | Great Western Railway |
| Operator: | Great Western Steamship Company |
| Builder: | William Patterson, Bristol |
| Laid down: | 26 June 1836 |
| Launched: | 19 July 1837 |
| Completed: | 31 March 1838 |
| Maiden voyage: |
8 April 1838 Bristol-New York |
| Out of service: | December 1846 in Liverpool |
| Notes: |
1839-40: Rebuilt for more passengers. Now 76.8 m (251.97 ft) long and 1,700 gross register tons (GRT). Did 45 Atlantic round trips before being taken out of service |
| Career | |
| Operator: | Royal Mail Steam Packet Company |
| Acquired: | 24 April 1847 |
| Notes: | Transatlantic mail service Southhampton - West Indies[1] |
| Career | |
| Operator: | British Government |
| Acquired: | 1855 |
| Fate: | Scrapped October 1856 |
| Notes: | Operated as troop transport in the Crimean War |
| General characteristics [2] | |
| Type: | Oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship |
| Tonnage: | 1,340 GRT, later 1,700 GRT |
| Displacement: | 2300 ton |
| Length: | 71.6 m (234.91 ft), later 76.8 m (251.97 ft) long |
| Beam: | 17.59 m (57.71 ft) across wheels |
| Installed power: |
2-cylinder Maudslay steam engine 750 HP |
| Propulsion: | Two paddle-wheels |
| Speed: | 8.5 knots |
| Capacity: | 128 passengers in 1st class + 20 servants |
| Crew: | 60 |
The Great Western of 1838, was the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company and the first purpose-built Atlantic steamship.[3] Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Great Western proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful Atlantic wood paddlers.[4] She was capable of making record Blue Riband voyages as late as 1843.[4] Great Western worked to New York for 8 years until her owners went out of business.[5] She was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and was scrapped in 1856 after serving as a troop ship during the Crimean War.[3]
Development and design
In 1836, Isambard Brunel, his friend Thomas Guppy and a group of Bristol investors formed the Great Western Steamship Company to build a line of steamships for the Bristol-New York route.[3] The idea of regular scheduled transatlantic service was under discussion by several groups and the rival British and American Steam Navigation Company was established at the same time.[6] The Great Western's design sparked controversy from critics that contended that she was too big.[3] The principle that Brunel understood was that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This meant that large ships were more fuel efficient, something very important for long voyages across the Atlantic.[7]
Great Western was an iron-strapped, wooden, side-wheel paddle steamer with four masts to hoist the auxiliary sails. The sails were not just to provide auxiliary propulsion, but were used in rough seas to keep the ship on an even keel and ensure that both paddle wheels remained in the water, driving the ship in a straight line. The hull was built of oak by traditional methods. She was the largest steamship for one year until the British and American's British Queen went into service. Built at the shipyard of Patterson & Mercer in Bristol, Great Western was launched on 19 July 1837 and then sailed to the London where she was fitted with two side-lever steam engines from the firm of Maudslay, Sons & Field, producing 750 i.h.p. between them.[3]
Service history
On 31 March 1838, Great Western sailed for Avonmouth (Bristol) to start her maiden voyage to New York. Before reaching Avonmouth, a fire broke out in the engine room. During the confusion Brunel fell 20 feet (6.1 m), and was injured. The fire was extinguished, and the damages to the ship were minimal, but Brunel had to be put ashore at Canvey Island.[3] As a result of the accident, more than 50 passengers canceled their bookings for the Bristol-New York voyage and when the Great Western finally departed Avonmouth, only 7 passengers were aboard.[2]
Construction of the rival British and American's first ship was delayed, and the company chartered the Sirius to beat Great Western to New York. Sirius was a 700 GRT Irish Sea steam packet on the London - Cork route, and had part of her passenger accommodation removed to make room for extra coal bunkers.[7] She left London three days before the Great Western, refueled at Cork, and departed for New York on 4 April.[8] The Great Western was delayed in Bristol because of the fire and did not depart until 8 April.[7]
Even with a four-day head start, Sirius only narrowly beat the Great Western, arriving on 22 April.[6] When coal ran low, the crew burned cabin furniture, spare yards and one mast, inspiring the similar sequence in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. Great Western arrived the following day, with 200 tons of coal still aboard.[3] Although the term Blue Riband was not coined until years later, Sirius is often credited as the first winner at 8.03 knots (14.87 km/h). However, Sirius only held the record for a day because Great Western's voyage was faster at 8.66 knots (16.04 km/h).
The Great Western proved completely satisfactory in service and influenced the design of other Atlantic paddlers. Even Cunard's Britannia was a reduced version of Great Western.[4] During 1838-1840, Great Western averaged 16 days, 0 hours (7.95 knots) westward to New York and 13 days, 9 hours (9.55 knots) home. In 1838, the company paid a 9% dividend, but that was to be the firm's only dividend because of the expense of building the company's next ship.[4] After the collapse of British and American, Great Western alternated between Avonmouth and Liverpool, before abandoning Avonmouth entirely in 1843.[4] The ship remained profitable even though she lacked a running mate because of the protracted construction on the Great Britain. In 1843, Great Western's receipts were £33,400 against expenditures of £25,600.[3]
The company's fortunes improved in 1845 when Great Britain entered service.[4] However, in September 1846 Great Britain ran ashore because of a navigational error and was not expected to survive the winter. The directors suspended all sailings of the Great Western and went out of business.[3] Great Western had completed 45 crossings for her owners in eight years [5] In 1847 she was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and used on the West Indies run. Later, after serving as a troopship in the Crimean War, in 1856 she was broken up at Castles' Yard, Millbank on the Thames.[4]
References
- ↑ About Great Western from Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 MaritimeQuest.com about SS Great Western
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Corlett, Ewan (1975). The Iron Ship: the Story of Brunel's ss Great Britain. Conway.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Gibbs, Charles Robert Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff. pp. 41–45.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kludas, Arnold. "Das blaue Band des Nordatlantiks", 1999, pg 36 (in German)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 American Heritage (1991). The Annihilation of Time and Space.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Rolt, L.T.C., “Victorian Engineering”, 1970, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, ISBN 713901047
- ↑ MaritimeQuest.com about SS Sirius
See also
| SS Great Western
]]External links
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sirius |
Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1838 – 1841 |
Succeeded by Columbia |
| Atlantic Eastbound Record 1838 – 1840 |
Succeeded by Britannia | |
| Preceded by Britannia |
Atlantic Eastbound Record 1842 – 1843 |
Succeeded by Columbia |
| Preceded by Columbia |
Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1843 – 1845 |
Succeeded by Cambria |
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da:SS Great Western de:Great Western (Schiff) el:Γκρέητ Γουέστερν fr:Great Western gd:SS Great Western hr:SS Great Western nl:Great Western ja:グレート・ウェスタン (蒸気船) sh:SS Great Western
