Samuel Cunard - RMS Britannia 1840

[Paulrjordan]

I have just spent an interesting couple of hours researching that
great Canadian, Samuel Cunard and his pioneer TransAtlantic
paddlewheeler "RMS Britannia", the vessel which opened an entire new
era of ocean travel. I thought you might be interested in some tid
bits.

Cunard's first ship was actually the Paddlewheeler "SS Unicorn"
purchased in 1836 and which inaugurated Cunard's Transatlantic
crossings in 1840.
The first four ships designed and built by Cunard were named:
Britannia (Great Britain), Acadia (Nova Scotia), Caledonia (Scotland),
and Columbia (United States)and were all launched in 1840. Cunard
had secured a lucrative British Government contract to provide mail
service between Great Britain and North America which financed the
early years of the Company and a proliferation of new ships which gave
Cunard domination of the TransAtlantic routes for 150 years. The
exclusive RMS (ROYAL MAIL SHIP) prefix was therefore bestowed upon all
Cunard's ships.

Charles Dickens made his first journey to America in the Britannia in
1842, and later chronicled how un-impressed he had been with the
accommodation. This was largely because she ran into a series of
westerly gales which caused Dickens to suffer from severe
sea-sickness. When he was well enough to venture on deck, he found the
lifeboats reduced to matchwood. Part of the starboard paddle-box had
been carried away, and the naked paddles churned spray over the
heaving decks.

Britannia was sold to the North German Confederation Navy and re-named
Barbarossa in 1849. She was transferred to the Prussian Navy in 1852,
serving until 1880, when she was sunk while acting as a target during
experiments with early forms of torpedoes.

Incidentally, Cunard had an unblemished safety record and never lost a
passenger at sea other than the tragic hostile sinking of "RMS
Lusitania"

I have places three images of "RMS Britannia" in our files at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paddleducks/files/
Files > "PADDLERS OF THE ATLANTIC"

A good source of early Cunard information is the folowing Website.
http://www.alts.net/ns1625/nshist05.html

PJ