SS City of Glasgow
City of Glasgow by Edward Duncan
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | City of Glasgow |
Namesake | Glasgow |
Owner |
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Port of registry | Glasgow |
Route |
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Ordered | 1849 |
Builder | Tod & Macgregor, Partick, Glasgow |
Yard number | 57 |
Launched | 28 February 1850 |
Christened | 28 February 1850 by Miss M. Galbraith [1] |
Completed | April 1850 |
Maiden voyage | 16 April 1850 |
Fate | Lost at sea March 1854 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tons burthen | 1,610 bom |
Length | 227.5 ft (69.3 m) |
Beam | 32.7 ft (10.0 m) |
Depth | 24.7 ft (7.5 m) |
Propulsion |
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Sail plan | 3-masted barque |
Capacity | 137 cabin passengers as built. 400 steerage added later. |
Crew | 70 |
SS City of Glasgow of 1850 was a single-screw passenger steamship of the Inman Line, which disappeared en route from Liverpool to Philadelphia in March 1854 with 480 passengers and crew. Based on ideas pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain of 1845, City of Glasgow established that Atlantic steamships could be operated profitably without government subsidy. After a refit in 1852, she was also the first Atlantic steamship to carry steerage passengers, representing a significant improvement in the conditions experienced by immigrants. In March 1854 City of Glasgow vanished at sea with no known survivors.[2]
Development and design
Built by
Service history
She made five voyages on the
Cabins were available in state rooms from fifteen to twenty one guineas for each berth. Steerage passengers were charged eight guineas. Dogs were £3.[4]
Disappearance
City of Glasgow left Liverpool on 1 March 1854, with 480 people aboard. There were 111 cabin and saloon passengers and 293 in steerage. Her crew was 76: captain and 4 officers, 1 surgeon, 1 purser, 4 engineers, 6 firemen, 5 coal trimmers, 19 stewards and waiters, 1 stewardess, 1 quartermaster and 30 able seamen. She sailed under Captain K. Morrison. This was his first voyage in command, but he had served as her chief officer for many months before. He was reported to have considerable experience in navigating the Atlantic.[5] She was due to return from Philadelphia on 25 March 1854.[4]
No word was received from the ship after she left Liverpool. Her sister ship, the City of Manchester, met many icebergs and large fields of ice on her journey from Philadelphia on 8 March. Other ships reported that the ice was greater than had been witnessed for many years. Large icebergs and fields of ice were in the course that the steamers usually used.[5] When news of her delay reached the ship's owners, they issued a report stating that they felt the ship had been detained in the ice. She was well supplied with water, coal and provisions.[6] However, by the end of May 1854 she was accepted as lost. The ship and her cargo was insured for £50,000.[7]
Her fate remains a mystery.[8] Newspapers of the day reported various sightings of the ship, but these were often contradictory. For example, the captain of the Baldaur spotted a large steamer with a list to port on 21 April;[5] however, he asserted it was "unlike that ill-fated vessel".[9] The Mary Morris came upon the hull of a large iron vessel that was apparently Clyde built and thought to be of the City of Glasgow.[10] However the owners of the City of Glasgow ascertained that this was in fact the Shannon from Glasgow to Montreal.[11]
It was reported that a portion of the bow of a ship, bearing the name City of Glasgow in gilded letters, washed ashore at Ballochgair near Campbeltown on 25 October 1854.[3][12] However another ship called City of Glasgow at 416 tons had sailed from the Clyde under Muir towards Calcutta at the end of October. She may have been caught in late gales in the area but continued on her way. Lloyd's List reported a head-board been found with City of Glasgow on it in Kilbrannan Sound around the same time. This may be related to the Campbeltown find.[13]
See also
- List of ocean liners
- List of shipwrecks
- List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
References
- ^ Direct Steam Communication Between Glasgow and New York: Launch of the City of Glasgow, Glasgow Herald, 1 March 1850
- ^ a b Gibbs, CR Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff. pp. 112–114.
- ^ a b Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society. James MacNab. 1859. p. 68.
- ^ a b "The Liverpool and Philadelphia Steam-Ship Company's Favourite Iron Screw Steam Ships". Liverpool Mercury. 17 March 1854. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b c "The Missing City of Glasgow Steamer". Sheffield Independent. 13 May 1854. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "The City of Glasgow Screw Steamer". Liverpool Mercury. 25 April 1854. p. 8. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "The City of Glasgow Screw Steam-Ship". London Evening Standard. 29 May 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ISBN 0-06095549-X.
- ^ "The Steamer City of Glasgow". Liverpool Mercury. 30 May 1854. p. 6. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "The Missing Steamship City of Glasgow". Brighton Gazette. 19 October 1854. p. 6. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Omnium". Worcestershire Chronicle. 25 October 1854. p. 7. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Wreck of the City of Glasgow". Nairnshire Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Northern Counties. 9 November 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Glasgow, 2nd Nov". Lloyd's List. 3 November 1854. p. 4. Retrieved 22 May 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
External links
- Tod & Macgregor Shiplist: City of Glasgow
- The Ships List: Inman Line / Liverpool and Philadelphia Steamship Company / Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steamship Company
- TheShipsList: Ship Descriptions C
- Scottish Built Ships - City of Glasgow
- Norway-Heritage: S/S City of Glasgow