From SS Royal William to SS Britannia

Did you know that Samuel Cunard, the founder of the Cunard Steamship Company, in 1833 part owned the first ship to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam power, SS Royal William.

The SS Royal William was built in Canada as a side paddle steamship, it was 1,370 tons, was 49m long with 13m breadth, making it the largest steamship of its time.  Samuel Cunard was one of the original investors in the Quebec and Halifax Steam Navigation Company, who paid for her to be built.

She was originally registered on 22^nd August 1831 and employed between Quebec and the East Coast colonies of the new United States

Unfortunately, the route was not profitable and the owners went bankrupt, with the result that she was brought by a consortium of the old investors (Samuel Cunard being one) and the Mortgage holders, to be sent across the Atlantic to be sold.

She left Pictou, Nova Scotia on 18^th August 1833 carrying a little bit of freight and a lot of coal.  25 days later she arrived at Gravesend on the River Thames, the first steam powered ship to achieve this crossing, where eventually she was sold to the Spanish Navy, where she became the first steamship to fire in anger. She kept being the first at something!

Meanwhile, Samuel Cunard, a successful Halifax entrepreneur, had an ambition to capitalise on what he had learnt from the SS Royal William. You see, he realised that as there was a growing railway network in England, he could extend that network by creating a Transatlantic bridge with steamships crossing the Atlantic, as regularly as trains crossed land. Therefore, in 1837 he went to England and put in a bid to run a transatlantic mail service between the UK and North America. This was to become Cunard Steamships Limited

Finally, in 1840 he achieved his dream when SS Britannia, sailed from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then on to Boston, Massachusetts, with 64 passengers.  The start of a regular cross Atlantic service.

It could be said that Samuel Cunard our love of ocean liners, in the face of many potential rivals who lost ships and fortunes.

His company and his ships continue today, continuing to provide luxury trans-oceanic cruises across the world.

Isn’t History fun!

10 questions to discuss:

1. 1. 1. What was the name of the first ship to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam power?
      2. When was the SS Royal William built?
      3. What was the original route of the SS Royal William?
      4. Why did the original owners of the SS Royal William go bankrupt?
      5. What was the name of the company that Samuel Cunard founded?
      6. When did the first Cunard ship, the SS Britannia, sail from Liverpool to Halifax?
      7. What is the name of Samuel Cunard’s company today?
      8. What does Cunard’s company do today?
      9. What was the impact of Samuel Cunard on the development of ocean liners?
      10. Why was the SS Royal William significant?

To learn more:

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/SS_Royal_William

https://ssbritannia.org/britannia/

https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/history-of-the-cunard-line/

©Tony Dalton