SS Sirius (1837)

The SS "Sirius" was a side-wheel steamship built in 1837. She was the first ship to cross the Atlantic solely on steampower, though she was also rigged for sail, possessing two masts. [Kludas, Arnold. "Das blaue Band des Nordatlantiks", 1999, pg 35 (in German)]

This famous crossing from London to New York ended on April 22 1838 with a crossing time of 18 days, 14 hours and 22 minutes [From [http://www.greatships.net/riband.html list of record holders] found on http://www.greatships.net] . "Sirius" thus became the first bearer of the Blue Riband, a decoration for being for the ship with the fastest east-west Atlantic crossing, even when the decoration still was unknown at the time.

To the great surprise of the passengers and crew of "Sirius", the record was only held few hours; the day after, the SS "Great Western" called in New York having done the crossing approximately three days faster. "Sirius" only did one further round trip and then had to discontinue the Atlantic service due to a lack of customers.

"Sirius" was wrecked on January 16 1847 near Ballycotton, Ireland with the loss of 20 lives.

External sources

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/side_wheel/sirius/sirius.htm Facts about Sirius]

Notes