''Persia'' was a British

passenger liner A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

operated by the

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

that won the

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 Velocity, average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until ...

in 1856 for the fastest westbound transatlantic voyage. She was the first Atlantic record breaker constructed of iron and was the largest ship in the world at the time of her launch. However, the inefficiencies of

paddle wheel A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

propulsion rendered ''Persia'' obsolete and she was taken out of service in 1868 after only twelve years. Attempts to convert ''Persia'' to sail were unsuccessful and the former pride of the British merchant marine was scrapped in 1872.

Development and design

As a result of competition from the

Collins Line The Collins Line, formally the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company, was an American maritime transport company started by Israel Collins and then built up by his son Edward Knight Collins. Under Edward Collins' guidance, t ...

, Cunard ordered the ''Arabia'' in 1852 to retake the Atlantic records. ''Arabia'' crammed more powerful engines into a smaller ship than the Collins speedsters, and touched 15 knots on trials. However, she proved too powerful for her wooden construction and was unable to win the records. Cunard realized that in the future, new construction must include an iron hull. For ''Persia'', Robert Napier and Sons of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

designed an iron ship that was 16% larger than the wooden Collins liners and 50% larger than Cunard's ''Arabia''. Her two-cylinder side-lever engine produced and consumed of coal per day. ''Persia's'' launch in July 1855 was a national event and she touched on her trials, although her normal service speed was limited to because of her high fuel consumption. She carried 250 first class and 50 second class passengers.

Service history

On her maiden voyage in 1856, ''Persia'' struck an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

, but was saved by her clipper bow and the stoutness of her construction. It was during this maiden voyage that the Collins Line steamer ''Pacific'' disappeared, possibly itself a victim of icebergs. In April, she took the Atlantic speed records in both directions with an eastbound voyage of 9 days, 10 hours, 22 minutes () and a westbound voyage of 9 days, 16 hours, 16 minutes (). She held both records until 1863 when Cunard commissioned the ''Scotia'', the last

Atlantic record holder. ''Scotia'' was originally intended to be ''Persia's'' sister, but was delayed when the Collins Line collapsed. When ''Scotia'' was finally built, she was a larger edition of ''Persia'' with an extra deck and power. In 1861, during the Trent incident, ''Persia'' and several other liners were chartered to rush troops to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She was the only ship to reach

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

before ice closed the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

. The next year, Cunard commissioned the '' SS China'', its first mail liner with screw propulsion. She proved substantially more profitable than Cunard's mail paddle steamers and the firm quickly ordered two additional screw mail ships to retire the last wooden paddle steamers on the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

express route. ''Persia'' remained paired with ''Scotia'' on the New York route until 1867 when Cunard commissioned the ''Russia'', the first screw Cunarder that could match ''Scotia's'' speed. Because of her fuel consumption, ''Persia'' was not a good fit for the other Cunard services and was laid up in 1868. Her engines were removed and she was sold to MacArthur and Wilson of Glasgow for conversion to sail. However, the conversion didn't take place and ''Persia'' was sold for scrap in 1872.

References

External links

*
''Persia'' on Chris' Cunard Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persia 1855 ships Steamships of the United Kingdom Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the Cunard Line Ship collisions with icebergs Maritime incidents in 1856