SS City of Peking

City of Peking anchored in San Francisco Bay, May 1898.
History
United States
Name	City of Peking
Namesake	Beijing, China
Owner	Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Operator	Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Port of registry	New York[1]
Route	San Francisco – Yokohama – Hong Kong
Builder	John Roach & Sons, Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works
Yard number	130
Launched	March 19, 1874
Maiden voyage	February 1875
Fate	Scrapped 1920
General characteristics
Type	Passenger & cargo
Tonnage	5,079 GRT
Length	423 ft (129 m)
Beam	47 ft 4 in (14.4 m)
Draft	38 ft 6 in (11.7 m)
Installed power	5,000 horsepower[clarification needed]
Propulsion	compound steam engine,[2] screw propeller, auxiliary sails
Sail plan	4-masted bark
Speed	14.5 knots (26.9 km/h)
Capacity	Passengers: 120 1st class, 250 2nd class, 1,000 steerage class

SS City of Peking was an iron-hulled steamship built in 1874 by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, Chester, Pennsylvania for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. City of Peking and her sister ship City of Tokio were at the time of construction the largest vessels ever built in the United States, and the second largest in the world behind the British leviathan Great Eastern.^[3]

Like Great Eastern, construction of the two Pacific Mail ships was to be plagued with financial difficulties, which threatened to bankrupt the shipbuilder. Unlike Great Eastern, however, which was a commercial failure, City of Peking would go on to have a long and successful commercial career.

In addition to her cargoes, City of Peking brought many Chinese and Japanese immigrants to the United States, and later served as a troopship in the Spanish–American War.