Great Western Steamship Company
Encyclopedia
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
, the company's directors expected their new enterprise to achieve the position that was ultimately secured by the Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
. The firm's first ship, the Great Western
SS Great Western
SS Great Western of 1838, was an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship; the first purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Great Western proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful...
was capable of record Blue Riband
Blue Riband
The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. Under the unwritten rules, the record is based on average speed...
crossings as late as 1843 and was the model for Cunard's Britannia
RMS Britannia
The RMS Britannia was an ocean liner of the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later known as Cunard Steamship Company. She was launched on 5 February 1840, at the yard of Robert Duncan & Company in Greenock, Scotland...
and her three sisters. The company's second steamer, the Great Britain
SS Great Britain
SS Great Britain was an advanced passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had previously been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first...
was an outstanding technical achievement of the age. Unfortunately, the company collapsed because it failed to secure a mail contract and the Great Britain appeared to be a total loss after running aground. The company may have had a more successful outcome had it built sister ships for the Great Western instead of investing in the too advanced Great Britain.
History
By the 1830s, Liverpool was overtaking Bristol as a transatlantic port. The Great Western Railway was formed in 1833 to build a Bristol-London line and appointed Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
as chief engineer. The issue of the line's length was discussed at a 1835 director's meeting when supposedly Brunel joked that the line could be made longer by building a steamship to run between Bristol and New York. The necessary investors were recruited by Brunel's friend, Thomas Guppy, a Bristol engineer and businessman. The next year, the Great Western Steam Ship Company was established, even though the rail line was still years from completion.
Construction on the Brunel designed Great Western was started in June 1836. Her large size (1,350 GRT) sparked controversy when Dionysius Lardner
Dionysius Lardner
Dionysius Lardner , was an Irish scientific writer who popularised science and technology, and edited the 133-volume Cabinet Cyclopedia.-Early life in Dublin:...
spoke to the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
and concluded that the largest practical ship for a transatlantic service was 800 GRT, which was too small for a direct New York service. Brunel argued that larger ships were more efficient and was ultimately proved correct. However, Lardner's conclusions scared away some potential Bristol investors and the new firm was undersubscribed.
Great Western was launched in July 1837 and ready for her maiden Bristol-New York voyage the following April. The British and American Steam Navigation Company
British and American Steam Navigation Company
The British and American Steam Navigation Company was a pre-Cunard steamship line that operated a regular transatlantic service from 1839 to 1841. Before its first purpose-built Atlantic liner, the British Queen was completed, British and American chartered the Sirius for two voyages in 1838 to...
was also planning a transatlantic steamship service, but its first unit, the British Queen
SS British Queen
British Queen was a British passenger liner that was the second steamship completed for the transatlantic route when she was commissioned in 1839. She was named in honor of Queen Victoria and owned by the British and American Steam Navigation Company...
, was not ready when Great Western scheduled its initial sailing. To beat its rival, British and American chartered the Irish Sea steamer, the 700 GRT Sirius
SS Sirius (1837)
The Sirius was a side-wheel wooden-hulled steamship built in 1837 for the London-Cork route operated by the St George Steam Packet Company. The next year, she opened transatlantic steam passenger service when she was chartered for two voyages by the British and American Steam Navigation Company...
from the St. George Steam Packet Company for two voyages. While the Sirius left Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Ireland four days before the Great Western departed Avonmouth
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...
, Great Western still came within a day of overtaking Sirius to New York. To complete the voyage, Sirius was forced to burn spars when coal ran low. Because British and American did not begin its regular service until the following year, the Great Western Steam Ship Company is considered the first regular transatlantic steamship service.
The Great Western proved clearly superior to the British Queen and was the model for every successful Atlantic wooden paddler. 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.
Even more disastrous was the British Government's decision to award the transatlantic mail contract to Samuel Cunard
Samuel Cunard
Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet was a British shipping magnate, born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line...
. Three years earlier, a Committee of Parliament decided that mail packets managed by the Post Office should be replaced by contracts with private shipping companies and that the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
should assume responsibility. Famed Arctic explorer, Admiral Sir William Edward Parry
William Edward Parry
Sir William Edward Parry was an English rear-admiral and Arctic explorer, who in 1827 attempted one of the earliest expeditions to the North Pole...
was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837. Nova Scotians led by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe
Joseph Howe
Joseph Howe, PC was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, and public servant. He is one of Nova Scotia's greatest and best-loved politicians...
lobbied for steam service to Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. The Rebellions of 1837
Rebellions of 1837
The Rebellions of 1837 were a pair of Canadian armed uprisings that occurred in 1837 and 1838 in response to frustrations in political reform. A key shared goal was the allowance of responsible government, which was eventually achieved in the incident's aftermath.-Rebellions:The rebellions started...
were still ongoing and London realized that the proposed Halifax service was also important for defence reasons.
That November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic mail service to Halifax. Great Western bid £45,000 for a monthly Bristol-Halifax-New York service to begin in 18 to 24 months. The St. George Steam Packet Company also bid £45,000 for a monthly Cork-Halifax service including their Sirius and £65,000 for a monthly Cork-Halifax-New York service. Great Western's directors were confident that they would win the contract because of the demonstrated success of their first steamer. However, the Admiralty rejected both bids because neither company offered to begin service early enough. Guppy was also in disfavor at the Admiralty because of his critical remarks about the Royal Navy's steamship designs made at a 1837 scientific meeting.
Cunard, who was back in Halifax, did not even know of the tender until after the original deadline. Cunard returned to London and started negotiations with Admiral Parry, who was Cunard's good friend from the time Parry was a young officer stationed in Halifax twenty years earlier. Cunard offered Parry a fortnightly service beginning by May 1840. While Cunard did not currently own a steamship, he had been involved in an earlier steamship venture (the Royal William
SS Royal William
SS Royal William was a Canadian steamship that is sometimes credited with achieving the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to be made almost entirely under steam power, using sails only during periods of boiler maintenance, though the British-built Dutch-owned Curaçao crossed in 1827.The...
) and owned coal mines in Nova Scotia. Cunard's major backer was Robert Napier
Robert Napier (engineer)
Robert Napier was a Scottish engineer, and is often called "The Father of Clyde Shipbuilding."-Early life:Robert Napier was born in Dumbarton at the height of the Industrial Revolution, to James and Jean Napier...
, who was the Royal Navy's supplier of steam engines. Napier was eager to support Cunard because he just had a falling out with Junius Smith of British and American. Cunard also had the strong backing of Nova Scotian political leaders such as Howe at the time when London was concerned about building support in British North America after the rebellion. In May 1839, Admiral Parry accepted Cunard's tender over the loud protests of Great Western's directors. Parliament investigated Great Western's complaints, and upheld the Admiralty's decision.
The company also faced difficulties at its home port. The water was not deep enough for the Great Western to dock at Avonmouth, forcing the ship to anchor midstream. The Docks Company refused to dredge a deeper berth and charged twice the rate as Liverpool. The result was that Bristol lost further ground to it rival ports. After the collapse of British and American, Great Western decided to alternate departures between Avonmouth and Liverpool, before abandoning Avonmouth entirely in 1843. The company remained profitable even though it now competed directly against Cunard's fortnightly service. In 1843, the firm's receipts were ₤33,400 against expenditures of ₤25,600. However, the company was still financially stressed because of the cost of building the Great Britain, which ultimately reached ₤117,295.
In 1843, the Great Britain was finally launched with great fanfare. She was no less than three times the size of Cunard's Britannia Class. The company's fortunes improved in 1845 when Great Britain entered service. She recorded 14 days, 21 hours (9.3 knots) to New York and a day less on her return. 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. The company was forced to sell the salvage rights at a fraction of the Great Britain's original cost The Great Britain was saved, sold and served various owners until 1937.
Great Western fleet
List sourced from| Ship | Launched | In service for Great Western | Type | Tonnage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1837 | 1838–1846 | wood-paddler | 1,350 GRT | Blue Riband Blue Riband The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. Under the unwritten rules, the record is based on average speed... , sold 1847 to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and scrapped 1856 |
|
| 1843 | 1845–1846 | iron-screw | 3,450 GRT | sold 1850 and ultimately transferred to the Australian trade, now preserved in Bristol | |