SS City of Glasgow

SS "City of Glasgow" was a British single-screw passenger steamship of the Inman Line which disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean en route from New York to Liverpool in January 1854.

Description

The "City of Glasgow" was built by shipbuilders Tod & Macgregor of Partick, Glasgow and launched in February 28, 1850. She was built for the Glasgow to New York service on Tod & Macgregor's own account, and unlike the more common paddle wheel steamships of the period, the convert|237|ft|abbr=on iron-hulled ship was propelled by a single screw propeller powered by two steam engines producing a total of 350 hp. Her speed of nearly convert|9|kn|abbr=on was not as fast as the wooden paddle steamers of the competing Cunard Line but it was as good as the numerous sailing packets which carried the majority of passengers. she boasted an iron hull and screw propulsion unlike most Atlantic mail steamers of the time, and could reach a top speed of convert|9|kn|mph. As built, she could accommodate 52 passengers in first class and 85 in second class.

She sailed on her maiden voyage on April 15, 1850, the first steamship to travel from Glasgow to New York.cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society | publisher = James MacNab | date = 1859 | location = | pages = p. 68 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KdIGAAAAYAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

After her fourth voyage on Oct 5, 1850, she was purchased by the new Liverpool and Philadelphia Steam Ship Company (later to become the Inman Line) and moved to the Liverpool - Philadelphia route from Dec 17, 1850. William Inman, the business partner of the line's owners, had persuaded them to expand their line of sailing packets by buying the advanced new steamship. Her first voyage for her new owners was on 17 December 1850, when she sailed from Liverpool with 400 passengers, arriving at Philadelphia only 10 days later. [cite book | last = Stolarik | first = M. Mark | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States | publisher = Balch Institute Press | date = 1988 | location = | pages = p. 40 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0944190006] In 1852 she was refitted to accommodate more passengers, with 130 cabins and up to 400 third class passengers.

Disappearance

The ship left Liverpool on January 1, New Year's Day, 1854, with an estimated 480 passengers and crew, but was never heard of again. Her fate remains a mystery to this day. Some official registries mark her final date of departure as March 1, 1854; the reason for the discrepancy is unknown.

She was never seen again, but 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.

Other similarly unfortunate passenger vessels owned by the Inman Line included the SS "City of Philadelphia", which was wrecked off Cape Race on 6 September 1854, though with no loss of life; the SS "City of Boston", which sailed from New York to Liverpool via Halifax, Nova Scotia in January 1870 and disappeared with the loss of 177 lives; and the SS "City of Brussels", which sank in Liverpool Bay with 10 fatalities after a collision in fog with the SS "Kirby Hall", on 7 January 1883.

ee also

* List of shipwrecks
* List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll

Notes

External links

* [http://www.gregormacgregor.com/Tod&Macgregor/City_of_Glasgow_73.htm Tod and Macgregor's "City of Glasgow"]
* [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/inman.html]
* [http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsCC.html]
* [http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=13901]
* [http://www.norwayheritage.com/gallery/gallery.asp?action=viewimage&imageid=1306&text=&categoryid=23&box=&shownew=]