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.^[1] The next year, she opened transatlantic steam passenger service when she was chartered for two voyages by the British and American Steam Navigation Company.^[2] By arriving in New York a day ahead of the Great Western, she is usually listed as the first holder of the Blue Riband, although the term was not used until decades later.^[3]

History

Sirius was one of the first steamships built with a condenser that enabled her to use fresh water, avoiding the need to periodically shut down her boilers at sea for cleaning. Unfortunately, this also resulted in high coal consumption.^[1]

At the time Sirius was completed, two other companies were building steamships for proposed transatlantic passenger services. British and American's British Queen fell behind when the firm building her engines went bankrupt. Construction on the rival Great Western continued without interruption and she was ready for her first voyage by April 1838. One of British and American's directors suggested the company charter Sirius to beat Great Western.^[2] Overloaded with coal and with 45 passengers,^[1] Sirius left Cork, Ireland on April 4 and arrived in New York after a voyage of 18 days, 4 hours and 22 minutes (8.03) knots.^[3] The normal westbound passage by sailing packet was 40 days.^[4] 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.^[5] Great Western departed Avonmouth four days after Sirius and still came within a day of overtaking her.^[2] Because Sirius was clearly too small for the Cork-New York crossing, she completed only one additional round trip before she was returned to her owners and resumed her regular London-Cork route.^[1]

In 1839, the British Admiralty released bids for transatlantic mail service to Halifax. The St. George Steam Packet Company bid 45,000 pounds for a monthly Cork-Halifax service including Sirius^[6] and 65,000 pounds for a monthly Cork-Halifax-New York service.^[7] Great Western also bid a monthly Bristol-Halifax-New York service.^[8] However, the Admiralty rejected both bids because neither company offered fortnightly service in their bid response and the contract was finally awarded to Cunard.^[7]

Sirius continued her regular employment on the Irish Sea and was wrecked on January 16, 1847 near Ballycotton, Ireland with the loss of 20 lives.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} 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. 38–39. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} American Heritage (1991). The Annihilation of Time and Space. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Kludas, Arnold (1999). Record breakers of the North Atlantic, Blue Riband Liners 1838-1953. London: Chatham. 
4. ^ Pond, Edgar LeRoy (1927). Janius Smith. 
5. ^ Corlett, Ewan (1975). The Iron Ship: the Story of Brunel's ss Great Britain. Conway. 
6. ^ Body, Geoffey (1971). British Paddle Steamers. Newton Abbot. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Bacon, Edwin M. (1911). Manual of Ship Subsidies. 
8. ^ Fox, Stephen. Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel and the Great Atlantic Streamships. 

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