SS Alaska (1881)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Alaska.

Career
Guion's Alaska of 1881
Name:	SS Alaska
Operator:	Guion Line
Builder:	John Elder & Company, in Govan, Scotland
Launched:	15 July 1881
Fate:	Broken up 1902
Notes:	Renamed Magallanes in 1897
General characteristics
Class and type:	Steam passenger ship
Tonnage:	6,932 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	520 ft (160 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Propulsion:	Single screw - 16 knots

The Alaska was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1882. She was a slightly larger and faster edition of Guion's Arizona and in 1883 became the first liner to make the crossing to New York in under a week. However, Alaska burned 250 tons of coal per day, as compared to Arizona's already high 135 tons. Built by John Elder & Company of Glasgow, she carried 350 first class passengers and 1,000 steerage.^[1] As in the case of Arizona, Stephen Guion also personally owned Alaska.^[2]

Alaska completed 100 voyages when Guion suspended sailings in 1894.^[1] She proved difficult to sell and was finally chartered in 1897 by Cia. Transatlanticia Espanola as a troop transport. In 1899, Alaska was sold for scrap, but was resold to the Barrow shipyard where she was used as an accommodiation hulk until broken up in 1902.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b 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. 205–206.
^ New York Times (December 20, 1885). Obituary: Stephen Baker Guion.
^ Kludas, Arnold (1999). Record breakers of the North Atlantic, Blue Riband Liners 1838-1953. London: Chatham.

Records
Preceded by Germanic	Holder of the Blue Riband (Westbound) 1882 – 1884	Succeeded by Oregon
Preceded by Arizona	Atlantic Eastbound Record 1882 – 1884	Succeeded by Oregon