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The steamship SS Great Western
was the first steamship purposely built for the
Atlantic crossing. IDesigned by the great
railway engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose idea it was that
steam would replace sail power on the
regularly-scheduled trans-Atlantic "packet boat"
services. He convinced the directors of the Great
Western Railway.
Great Western could
carry 148 passengers and displaced 2,340 tons.
On her maiden run, Great Western raced the
SS Sirius to New York. The
Sirius had left Cork, Ireland days earlier, on
April 4. The Great Western left Bristol, England, on
April 8, 1838.
Though the Sirius
beat the Great Western to New York, arriving
on April 22, her sailors had to burn the cabin
furniture, spare yards, and one mast to do it. The
Great Western arrived the following day, with
200 tons of coal still aboard, and after only 15
days at sea. Great Western was subsequently
awarded the
Blue Riband for setting the record for
trans-Atlantic travel speed at 8.66 knots, beating
Sirius which clocked in at 8.03 knots.
The Great Western
served in the trans-Atlantic run until 1846. Later,
after serving as a troopship in the Crimean War.
She was broken up in a salvage yard on the lower
reaches of the Thames in 1856.
Available in April, 2007
$990
S & H is $100
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