Great Western Steamship Company
The Great Western Steam Ship Company operated the first regular transatlantic steamer service from 1838 until 1846. Related to the Great Western Railway, the company's directors expected their new enterprise to achieve the position that was ultimately secured by the Cunard Line. The firm's first ship, the Great Western was the earlest Blue Riband winner and superior to Cunard's Britannia and her three sisters.[1] The company's second steamer, the Great Britain was an outstanding technical achievement of the age.[2] 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.
History
By the 1830s, Liverpool was quickly overtaking Bristol as a transatlantic port. The Great Western Railway was formed in 1833 to build a Bristol-London line and appointed Isambard Kingdom Brunel 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 next year, the Great Western Steam Ship Company was established, even though the rail line was still years from completion.[2]
Construction on the Brunel designed Great Western was started in June 1836. Her large size (1,350 GRT) sparked controversy when Dionysius Lardner spoke to the British Association for the Advancement of Science and concluded that the largest practical ship for a transatlantic service was 800 GRT, which was too small for a direct New York service. In fact, because of coal capacity, a ship of that size is limited to a considerably shorter route. Brunel disagreed and was ultimately proved correct. However, Lardner's conclusions scared away some potential Bristol investors and the new firm was undersubscribed.[2]
Great Western was launched in July 1837 and ready for her maiden Bristol-New York voyage in April 1838.[2] During 1838-1840, she averaged 16 days, 0 hours (7.95 knots) westward to New York and 13 days, 9 hours (9.55 knots) home. In service, she was completely satisfactory and the company paid a 9% dividend at the end of 1838. That was to be the firm's only dividend.[1]
Unfortunately, the events in 1839 doomed the company. Materials were already collected to build a second ship, tentatively named the City of New York when Brunel convinced the directors to build an entirely different ship, an iron-hulled steamer of unusually large demensions.[2] Construction of the Great Britain proved disasterously protracted and expensive, and for the next six years the Great Western operated alone.[1]
Even more disasterous was the British Government's decision to award the critical transatlantic mail contract to Samuel Cunard for a fortnightly mail service. 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 Admirality should assume responsibility.[3] Famed Arctic explorer, Vice Admiral Sir William Edward Parry was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837.[4] Nova Scotians lead by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe lobbied for steam service to Halifax.[5] The Rebellions of 1837 were still ongoing and London realized that the proposed Halifax service was also important for defense reasons.[6]
That November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic mail service to Halifax.[6] Both the Great Western and the St. George Steam Packet Company bid 45,000 pounds.[7] Cunard, who was back in Halifax, did not even know of the tender until after the deadline.[5] Great Western's directors were confident that they would win the contract because of the demonstrated success of their first steamer.[2]
However, Cunard returned to London and convinced Admiral Parry to reopen the tender. Parry was Cunard's good friend from the time Parry was a young officer stationed in Halifax twenty years earlier.[4][5] While Cunard did not currently own a steamship, he had been involved in an earlier steamship venture and owned coal mines in Nova Scotia.[5] He also had the strong backing of Nova Scotian political leaders such as Howe at the time when London was concerned about its support in British North America after the rebellion.[6] Over Great Western's loud protests,[2] in May 1839 Admiral Parry accepted Cunard's tender.[5]
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. In 1842, the company decided to alternate departures between Avonmouth and Liverpool, before abandoning Avonmouth entirely.[1] The company remained profitable even though it now competed directly against Cunard's fortnightly service. In 1843, the firm's receipts were 33,400 pounds against expendatures of 25,600 pounds. However, the company was still financially stressed because of the cost of building the Great Britain, which ultiimately reached 117,295 pounds.[2]
In 1843, the Great Britain was finally launched with great fanfare. She was no less than three times the size of Cunard's Britannia. The company's fortunates 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.[1] 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.[2] Ironically, the Great Britain was saved, sold and served various owners until 1937. 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.[1]
Great Western fleet: List sourced from[1]
| Ship | Built | In service for Great Western | Type | Tonnage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Western | 1838 | 1838-1846 | wood-paddler | 1,350 GRT | Blue Riband, sold 1847 to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and scrapped 1856 |
| Great Britain | 1845 | 1845-1846 | iron-screw | 3,450 GRT | sold 1850 and ultimately transferred to the Australian trade, now preserved in Bristol |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Corlett, Ewan (1975). The Iron Ship: the Story of Brunel's ss Great Britain. Conway.
- ^ Parry, Ann (1963). Parry of the Artic. London.
- ^ a b Grant, Kay (1967). Samuel Cunard. London.
- ^ a b c d e Langley, John G. (2006). Steam Lion. Nimbus.
- ^ a b c Arnell, J.C, (1986). Steam and the North Atlantic Mails. Toronto.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Body, Geoffey (1971). British Paddle Steamers. Newton Abbot.