Ship History

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE RMS BRITANNIA 1840

Design and Construction:

The very first ship to use steam as support on an Atlantic crossing was the American sailing ship Savannah who had been equipped with auxiliary steam engines geared to two paddle wheels on the ship’s sides. In 1819, she made the voyage between New Jersey and Liverpool in 27 days, but the ship had relied on her sails most of the time – the engine had only been running for 85 hours during the entire voyage. Finally, the new coastal steamer Sirius, temporarily hired for the trans-Atlantic voyage, made the whole voyage under continuous steam power.

Soon steam ships became a marvel of the industrial revolution and other ship designers began to see their benefits. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of these who realised that there was a future in the steam ships. In 1838, he commissioned the first of three magnificent ships – the Great Western. She was larger and faster than any ship before her and her interiors astonished the world. She was designed as an extension to Brunel's Great Western Railway from London to Bristol so that their passengers could then travel on from Bristol to New York.

At this time, Samuel Cunard also noticed the benefits of steamships and wanted to get involved in the transatlantic trade. As a result he and some other investors formed Cunard Line in 1840. This prompted him to order a fleet of four new liners for the transatlantic service. This would have benefits over Brunel's single Great Western as by having four ships a regular schedule could be operated. The ships were built at the shipyard of Robert Duncan, Greenock, Glasgow, Scotland. Indeed Samuel Cunard sailed in 1840 on the Great Western from America to Britain to see the progress being made with his new ships. The first of the new class was called Britannia and was launched on the 5th February 1840. She started the tradition of how Cunard would name almost all of its ships in the future. All names would end with ‘-ia’ and they should be Latin words for different parts of the world. The three near-identical sisters of the Britannia (Britain) class were Acadia (Nova Scotia), Caledonia (Scotland) and Columbia (America).

When the fitting out of the Britannia had been completed she looked magnificent. She had the appearance of a traditional sailing ship but had two huge paddle wheels on her side and a fine funnel between her two masts. The funnel was painted in the now famous Cunard "orange-red colours with black banding" funnel colours.

Until then the only way to cross the North Atlantic had been on "reliable" sailing ships - often nicknamed "coffin ships" for it was not often that these vessels ever arrived at their destinations. But now the Britannia and her sisters would launch a new reliable service with a fleet of four steamships offering transatlantic sailings to a strict schedule. While Brunel's Great Western had been the world's first transatlantic ocean liner, the Britannia was the world's first ocean liner offering a reliable scheduled transtlantic service.

In late June 1840, the Britannia arrived at Liverpool after the trip from her builders on the Clyde in Glasgow.

The Cunard Line Years:

On the 4^th July 1840 (Samuel Cunard’s birthday as well as the American day of independence), 63 passengers including Cunard himself along with his daughter embarked the Britannia who was to leave England on her maiden voyage towards Boston in the New World. The honour of being master on this very first voyage for any Cunard ship was given to Captain Henry Woodruff, RN. On the 17^th July, Britannia entered the harbour of Boston after her acclaimed and revolutionary maiden voyage. She got a raptuous receptionas she docked at the new and specially designed "Cunard Wharf". The maiden voyage of the Britannia was seen as "the most significant crossing of the Atlantic since that of the Mayflower". It was a leap forward in communications and transport and placed transatlantic travel at the dawn of a new glorious age. The Britannia then settled to a reliable and distinguished career.

One notable moment in the Britannia's ocean going career was in January 1842 when one of her passengers was the famous Charles Dickens who was travelling with his wife from England to America to give a series of lectures. However he did not seem to like the experience on these new steamships as he returned to Europe by sailing ship!

<>Another incident occured in January 1844 when Boston harbour froze and threatened Cunard Line's reputation of reliability as the Britannia was just about to depart on her voyage to Liverpool. However the citizens of Boston rallied around and cut a seven-mile-long channel through the ice for the Britannia and she made her daring escape and reached Liverpool on time. In September 1847, the Britannia was stranded outside Cape Race. Eventually she was pulled away and repaired in New York. The next year she made her final crossing on her Liverpool to Boston transatlantic service that she had pioneered back in 1840.

The Final Years:

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Sadly after being sold by Cunard in 1848 life became not as exciting for the Britannia. In 1849 she was sold to the German Confederation Navy and was renamed Barbarossa. A few year later in 1852 she was transferred to the Prussian Navy. She continued to serve for the Prussians as an accommodation and guard ship, but she was then laid up until 1880. By this time the venerable old ship was sunk as a target ship. Thus the once beautiful Britannia the steamship that had pioneered Cunard Line's reliable schedule of transatlantic crossings was no more. But her great legacy lives on to the present day.