The paddle steamer Sirius is credited as being the first ship to cross the Atlantic under continuous steam power in 1838 the voyage taking fifteen days and ten hours. The picture above is from the cover of the book Travel by Sea Through the Ages by Robert J Hoare and published in 1961. The original painting of Sirius is by my father the late Winston Megoran.
Sirius was built in 1837 by Robert Menzies & Son of Leith with a wooden hull and two cylinder side lever condensing steam engine for the London to Cork route operated by the St George Steam Packet Company. The Great Western Railway was building their Great Western paddle steamer around the same time for their proposed Trans Atlantic service with a start date aimed at April 1838. However a fire aboard her caused a delay. As a result Sirius was chartered to try to gain the record. She set off from Cork on 4th April four days ahead of the Great Western and arrived in New York just one day ahead of her so it was a close run thing.
Sirius was really too small for the Trans Atlantic trade so after one more round trip she returned to her former route connecting Cork with London. She was wrecked on 16th January 1847 hitting rocks in fog in Ballycotton Bay, Ireland.
Great Western proved to be a great success on the Atlantic route until superseded by new tonnage of an enhanced design. She was scrapped in 1856.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran
