| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | City of Tokio |
| Namesake | Tokyo, Japan |
| Owner |  Pacific Mail Steamship Company |
| Operator | Pacific Mail Steamship Company |
| Port of registry |  New York City, United States of America[1] |
| Route | San Francisco to Yokohama and Hong Kong |
| Builder | Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works |
| Yard number | 131 |
| Launched | May 13, 1874[2] |
| Maiden voyage | April 1875 |
| Fate | Wrecked off Tokyo Bay, June 1885 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger freighter |
| Tonnage | 5,079 gross |
| Length | 423 ft (128.9 m) |
| Beam | 47.333 ft (14.4 m) |
| Draft | 38.5 ft (11.7 m) |
| Propulsion | 5,000 horsepower compound steam engine,[3] screw propeller, auxiliary sails |
| Speed | 14.5 knots |
| Capacity | 120 1st class, 250 2nd class, 1000 steerage class passengers |
SS City of Tokio (sometimes spelled City of Tokyo) was an iron steamship built in 1874 by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. City of Tokio and her sister ship City of Peking 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.
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 Tokio was to enjoy a successful commercial career until being wrecked at the entrance of Tokyo Bay in 1885.
City of Tokio holds the distinction of being the first ship to bring members of the Issei, or first-generation Japanese migrants, to the United States.
- ^ Ringwalt, John Luther (1888). Development of Transportation Systems in the United States: Comprising a Comprehensive Description of the Leading Features of Advancement, from the Colonial Era to the Present Time, in Water Channels, Roads, Turnpikes, Canals, Railways, Vessels, Vehicles, Cars and Locomotives. author, Railway World Office. pp. 290. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
Columbia 1880.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Another Great Steamship; Launch of the City of Tokio at Chester, Penn." – New York Times, May 14, 1874.
- ^ Bolles, Albert S. (1878): Industrial History of the United States, from the Earliest Settlements to the Present Time, The H. Bill publishing company, digitized by Oxford University 2006, pp 599–600.