''William Fawcett'' was the name of two

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

s that operated in British waters from the late 1820s into the mid-1840s. The first ship, built in 1828, is generally recognized as the first ship in the service of what became the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).

1828 ship

In 1828, William Fawcett of

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and Joseph Robinson Pim of

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commissioned the construction of a paddle steamer named ''William Fawcett''. The ship was built by Caleb and James Smith at the

Queen's Dock, Port of Liverpool Queen's Dock is a dock on the River Mersey and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the southern dock system, connected to Wapping Dock to the north and Coburg Dock to the south. History The dock was designed by Henry Berry and ...

. As built, the ship was long, with a cargo capacity of 185

tons Tons can refer to: * Tons River, a major river in India * Tamsa River, locally called Tons in its lower parts (Allahabad district, Uttar pradesh, India). * the plural of ton, a unit of mass, force, volume, energy or power :* short ton, 2,000 poun ...

. In 1835 the ship's length was given as , with a gross register tonnage of 206. The firm of Fawcett, Preston and Company, of which William Fawcett was part-owner and manager, provided the steam engines, rated at 130

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

, for the ship. The ship was employed in the packet trade between

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, Cork and Dublin. The ship was sold to Richard Bourne and associates in 1832 for service with the Dublin and London Steam Packet Company. In 1835 Bourne partnered with Brodie McGhie Willcox and Arthur Anderson to charter the ''William Fawcett'' for five voyages between London and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. This service is regarded as the beginning of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, which later became the P&O. The first four trips of the ''William Fawcett'' for the Peninsular company in 1835 turned around at Lisbon. The fifth trip reached Gibraltar. In 1837 and again in early 1838, the ship was chartered by the Peninsular company for a trip from London to northern Spain and return. The ship was refitted later in 1838, and afterwards chartered by the Peninsular company for two trips between London and

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

. The ''William Fawcett'' had been broken up by April 1845.

1829 ship

The second ''William Fawcett'' was a paddle steamer built in 1829 in Liverpool by Mottershead and Hayes. It was long, with a capacity of 48

. It had a 26 (or 30) horsepower engine supplied by Fawcett, Preston and Company. The ship worked as a ferry between Liverpool and

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for at least twenty years.

Notes

{{reflist P&O (company) Paddle steamers of the United Kingdom Mersey Ferries