SS City of Glasgow

City of Glasgow by Edward Duncan
History
United Kingdom
NameCity of Glasgow
NamesakeGlasgow
Owner
Port of registryGlasgow
Route
Ordered1849
BuilderTod & Macgregor, Partick, Glasgow
Yard number57
Launched28 February 1850
Christened28 February 1850 by Miss M. Galbraith [1]
CompletedApril 1850
Maiden voyage16 April 1850
FateLost at sea March 1854
General characteristics
TypeOcean liner
Tons burthen1,610 bom
Length227.5 ft (69.3 m)
Beam32.7 ft (10.0 m)
Depth24.7 ft (7.5 m)
Propulsion
Sail plan3-masted barque
Capacity137 cabin passengers as built. 400 steerage added later.
Crew70
Button from officer's uniform

SS City of Glasgow of 1850 was a single-screw iron hulled passenger steamship of the Inman Line. 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 while enroute from Liverpool to Philadelphia with 480 passengers and crew aboard.[2]

  1. ^ Direct Steam Communication Between Glasgow and New York: Launch of the City of Glasgow, Glasgow Herald, 1 March 1850
  2. ^ 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.