Dear Gentlemen,
I am trying to research information (particularly photos or paintings) on one of the first paddle boats built in Passage West, Co. Cork, Ireland.
She was called the "City of Cork" and was ordered by the Cork Steampacket Company for servicing passenger movement between Cobh and Cork.
We are holding a Maritime Festival in Passage West in May next year (departure point of the S.S Sirius. The Sirius started from Passage, port of Cork, on 4 April at 10.30 in company with the Ocean, of the St. George Steam Packet Company. In a race against the Great Western she was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic under her own steam and beat the Great Western by 18 hours into New York on the 22nd of April 1838 by with a focus on ship building that used to take place in the area.
The "City of Cork" was the first steamship to be built in Ireland and had an unusual (for a boat) beam steam engine that was purchased from Bolton & Watt (of James Watt fame!) of Birmingham. We have extensive drawings of the engine and correspondence from Bolton & Watt (thanks to the wonderful archives at Birmingham Library) but sadly lack any particular details of the boat itself.
When I came across Paddleducks I thought this might be the proper location to find someone with knowledge of this boat.