The ''Britannia'' class was the
Cunard Line's initial fleet of wooden paddlers that established the first year round scheduled Atlantic steamship service in 1840. By 1845, steamships carried half of the
transatlantic
Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to:
Film
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* ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...
saloon passengers and Cunard dominated this trade. While the units of the ''Britannia'' class were solid performers, they were not superior to many of the other steamers being placed on the Atlantic at that time. What made the ''Britannia'' class successful is that it was the first homogeneous class of transatlantic steamships to provide a frequent and uniform service. ''Britannia'', ''Acadia'' and ''Caledonia'' entered service in 1840 and ''Columbia'' in 1841 enabling Cunard to provide the dependable schedule of sailings required under his mail contracts with the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
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*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
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* Admiralty, Traf ...
. It was these mail contracts that enabled Cunard to survive when all of his early competitors failed.
Cunard's ships were reduced versions of and only carried 115 passengers in conditions that
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
unfavourably likened to a "gigantic hearse". Mean 1840 – 1841
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
-
Halifax times for the quartette were 13 days, 6 hours () westbound and 11 days, 3 hours () eastbound. The initial four units were insufficient to meet the contracted sailings, and an enhanced unit, the ''Hibernia'' entered service in 1843. When ''Columbia'' was wrecked in 1843 without loss of life, ''Cambria'' was ordered to replace her.
In 1849 and 1850, the surviving original units along with ''Hibernia'' were sold to foreign navies after completing forty round trips for Cunard. ''Cambria'' remained in the Cunard fleet for another decade.
History and design
In his initial negotiations with Admiral Parry,
Samuel Cunard
Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet (21 November 1787 – 28 April 1865), was a British-Canadian shipping magnate, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who founded the Cunard Line, establishing the first scheduled steamship connection with North America. H ...
contemplated a fortnightly service from
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
to
Halifax and onto
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
using three steamers. This was 40% smaller than ''Great Western'', which had just entered service from
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
to
New York
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* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
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* '' ...
. When completed, Cunard's ships grew to 1,150 GRT but were still 15% smaller than ''Great Western''. The other steamships under construction for Atlantic service at the time were also bigger than Cunard's initial units. Cunard's final contract added a fourth unit to insure that the fortnightly schedule could be maintained ten months a year with sailings during the height of winter reduced to monthly.
Samuel Cunard's major backer was
Robert Napier, whose
Robert Napier and Sons
Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of River Clyde, Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, City of Glasgow, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier (engineer), Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. Hi ...
was the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
's supplier of steam engines. For the ''Britannia'' class, Napier designed a two-cylinder
side lever engine that produced , just ten horsepower less than ''Great Western''. Unlike most other Atlantic steamers, ''Britannia''s boilers were located aft of her engines and
paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about ...
s, resulting in a unique profile. The ships had three
masts and
full rigging for sails. To speed delivery, construction of the wooden
hulls was contracted to three
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shipyards.
Cunard's major concern was the delivery of the mail and most of the ship’s space was allocated to engines and coal. The ''Britannia'' quartette also carried 115 passengers traveling in a single class along with 225 tons of cargo. The dining room was a long deck house aft of the
funnel
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construct ...
and the only other public room was a small ladies cabin. A special padded
deck house
A cabin or berthing is an enclosed space generally on a ship or an aircraft. A cabin which protrudes above the level of a ship's deck may be referred to as a deckhouse.
Sailing ships
In sailing ships, the officers and paying passengers wou ...
had the ship's cow and overturned boats protected vegetables from the weather. Smoking was limited to the upper deck.
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
and his wife crossed from Liverpool to Boston during a January 1842 storm. He wrote:
"Before descending into the bowels of the ship, we had passed from the deck into a long narrow apartment, not unlike a gigantic hearse with windows in the sides; having at the upper end a melancholy stove at which three or four chilly stewards were warming their hands; while on either side, extending down its whole dreary length, was a long, long table over which a rack, fixed to the low roof and stuck full of drinking-glasses and cruet-stands, hinted dismally at rolling seas and heavy weather."
Describing the cabin, Dickens wrote:
"..deducting the two berths, one above the other (the top one a most inaccessible shelf) than which nothing smaller for sleeping in was ever made except coffins, it was no bigger than one of those hackney cabriolets which have the door behind and soot their fares out, like sacks of coals, upon the pavement."
While ''Britannia'' and her
sisters
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
had a favourable power-to-weight ratio, they were only able to match ''Great Western''s speed. ''Britannia'' took the eastbound record from ''Great Western'' in August 1840, but ''Great Western'' regained it in April 1842. ''Columbia'' took the westbound
Blue Riband
The Blue Riband () is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. T ...
from ''Great Western'' in April 1841 before losing it again to ''Great Western'' in 1843. ''Columbia'' also took the eastbound record in April 1843 before she was wrecked.
Cunard quickly realized that five units were required to maintain the fortnightly service and in 1843 he commissioned an enhanced ''Britannia'' with an additional . While 21% larger than the original ''Britannia'', ''Hibernia'' only carried five more passengers. ''Hibernia'' immediately took the eastbound record from ''Columbia'' and held it until 1849. When ''Columbia'' was lost in 1843, a second enhanced unit, ''Cambria'' was ordered as her replacement. ''Cambria'' took the westbound Blue Riband when she entered service in 1845 and held the honor until 1848.
Service histories
''Britannia''
In March 1849 was sold to the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
Navy and renamed SMS ''Barbarossa''. Fitted with nine guns, she served as the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the ''
Reichsflotte
The ''Reichsflotte'' (, ''Imperial Fleet'') was the first navy for all of Germany, established by the revolutionary German Empire to provide a naval force in the First Schleswig War against Denmark. The decision was made on 14 June 1848 by the F ...
'' under
Karl Rudolf Brommy
Rear Admiral Karl Rudolf Brommy (changed his name to reflect the English pronunciation of his original name, Bromme) (10 September 1804 – 9 January 1860) was a German naval officer who helped establish the first unified German fleet, the Reichs ...
in the
Battle of Heligoland. In June 1852 she was transferred to the
Prussian Navy
The Prussian Navy (German: ''Preußische Marine''), officially the Royal Prussian Navy (German: ''Königlich Preußische Marine''), was the naval force of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1867.
The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the f ...
and used as a
barracks ship
A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...
at
Danzig. Twenty-eight years later, she was
decommissioned and in July 1880 she was sunk as a
target ship
A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...
.
''Acadia''
''Acadia'' had a reputation for speed, but never actually won a speed record. She was also sold in 1849 to the North German Confederation Navy for conversion to a
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
, ''Ersherzog Johann''. When that navy was dissolved, ''Ersherzog Johann'' was sold to W. A. Fritze and Company of Bremen, Germany's first oceangoing steamship venture. The former ''Acadia'' was converted back to an Atlantic liner and renamed ''Germania''. In August 1853, she took the new line’s initial sailing, but required 24 days to reach New York because of boiler problems. Sailings were erratic until the fleet was
chartered for
trooping during the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. ''Germania'' was out of service after the war until she was sold to British shipowners. Her final deployment was as a troopship during the
Indian Mutiny
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
before she was
scrapped
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
in 1858.
''Caledonia''
''Caledonia'' was sold to the
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...
in 1850 and was lost outside
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. the next year.
''Columbia''
''Columbia'' was also known as a fast ship and held the Blue Riband for three years. On 2 July 1843, she was wrecked on Devil's Limb Reef at
Seal Island, Nova Scotia
Seal Island (also known as Great Seal Island) is an island on the outermost extreme of Southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, in the Municipality of the District of Argyle in Yarmouth County. It is approximately long and wide and is surrounded on i ...
, without loss of life.
''Hibernia''
''Hibernia'' took the first sailing to New York when Cunard added that city to the schedule in 1848. She was also sold to the Spanish Navy in 1850 and converted to the frigate ''Habanois''. The former Cunarder was lost in 1868.
''Cambria''
''Cambria'' was the replacement for the wrecked ''Columbia''. She held the Blue Riband for the fastest westbound Atlantic voyage from July 1845 until ''America'' won the record in June 1848. ''Cambria'' grounded on
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
in April 1846, but was towed off. She was to be replaced by ''Arabia'' in 1852, but was retained when ''Arabia''s sister was sold before completion. After serving as a trooper in the Crimean War, ''Cambria'' was briefly placed back on the Boston service until was commissioned. ''Cambria'' went into reserve except for charter to the
European and Australian Royal Mail Company. In 1860, ''Cambria'' was sold to Italian owners and served in the
Royal Italian Navy
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' (" ...
until scrapped in 1875.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Britannia class
Ships of the Cunard Line
Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom
Victorian-era merchant ships of the United Kingdom
Steamships of the United Kingdom
Paddle steamers
Ships built on the River Clyde