PS Commonwealth (1854)

Contemporary painting of Commonwealth by the amateur artist James Bard, c. 1860
History
Name	Commonwealth
Owner	1854–60: Norwich & New London SBC 1860–63: New Jersey Steam Navigation & Transportation Co. 1863–65: Merchants Steamship Co.
Builder	Lawrence & Foulks (NY)
Cost	$250,000
Launched	27 Jun 1854
Completed	March 1855
Maiden voyage	5 Apr 1855
In service	5 Apr 1855–29 Dec 1865
Fate	Destroyed by dock fire at Groton, Conn., 29 Dec 1865
General characteristics
Type	Passenger sidewheel steamboat
Tonnage	1,732
Length	330 ft (100 m)
Beam	42 ft (13 m), 77 ft (23 m) over guards
Draft	8 ft (2.4 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion	1 × 76 inch bore, 12-foot stroke vertical beam steam engine
Sail plan	None
Capacity	1000+ passengers, with sleeping quarters for 600

Commonwealth was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, Commonwealth was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating, and an "enchantingly beautiful" domed roof in her upper saloon. Her stability of motion led her captain to describe Commonwealth as the finest rough weather steamboat ever built in the United States.

Commonwealth would spend her entire career on Long Island Sound routes, first from New York to Allyn's Point, Connecticut under the management of the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company, and later to Stonington and Groton with the New Jersey Steam Navigation and the Merchants' Steamship companies. During the American Civil War, she was part of the transport network that moved northern state Union regiments to the battlefront. Commonwealth's end came prematurely when she was destroyed by a dockyard fire at Groton in December 1865.