July 4: Two maiden voyages of note took place.

In 1840 the Britannia, Cunard's first steamship departed Liverpool with 63 passengers including Samuel Cunard and his daughter, for Halifax and Boston. The voyage took longer than expected and this caused a small panic in Boston. The sailing had been delayed in Liverpool by a few days and Britannia fought strong headwinds, waves and generally poor weather all the way.

People in Boston expected her to arrive on the 14th but had no way of knowing she departed late and had unfavorable seas for almost the entire voyage. Anxiety was high by the 18th when Britannia still had not arrived. It was a steamship after all and they were supposed to be faster and more reliable than sailing packets. Fears were put to rest at 10:00 p.m when Britannia sailed into Boston harbor none worse for the wear. Cunard was treated like a hero with hundreds of invitations for dinners in the Boston area.

Britannia however failed to break the speed record that would later be known as the Blue Riband, at that time the Great Western held the record in both directions. Even though she failed to win the westbound record Britannia did take the eastbound on her return trip. She held the eastbound record until 1842 when Great Western took it back and Britannia never held the record again.

The second maiden voyage of note was that of the Hamburg-America Line's Deutschland. She left Hamburg for Plymouth and New York on July 4, 1900. The 684' liner took the speed record in both directions from her rival the North German Lloyd liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse with a speed of close to 22.5 knots. Deutschland increased her record time in the westbound direction twice before loosing to the Lusitania in 1907. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse never held the record again.

As a side note the current holder of the Blue Riband in the all important westbound direction is the SS United States, a record she has held since  1952.

The record holder in the eastbound (2nd class) direction is Scandlines Cat-Link V, a high speed catamaran which has held the record since 1998. It is thought by many that such a ship should not qualify for the Blue Riband and it did take a law suit to have the trophy awarded to the Cat-Link V. For those (like myself) who believe such vessels do not qualify, I think it might be interesting to look at the differences in the two vessels.

The United States is 990' long and could carry 1,928 passengers and a crew of 1,093. The Cat-Link V is 300' long and carries 800 passengers and 200 cars. The weight difference is enormous, United States has a gross registered tonnage of 53,329 tons and a deadweight tonnage of 13, 016 while the Cat-Link V has a deadweight tonnage of 500.

In the almost 50 years that separate the records the speed has not increased at an overwhelming pace, especially if you consider the size difference and the fact that the Cat-Link V was not carrying passengers or cargo unlike the United States. The United States record run in 1952 was 35.59 knots while in 1998 the Cat-Link V ran the eastbound voyage at only 41.28 knots. You be the judge.

© 2006 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

SS Britannia by Fritz Hugh Lane

 

Portrait of Deutschland by Hans Bohrdt.