Blue Riband
The Blue Riband is an unofficial accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the record highest average speed. The term was borrowed from horse racing and was not widely used until after 1910. The record is based on average speed rather than passage time because ships follow different routes.
Also, eastbound and westbound speed records are reckoned separately, as the more difficult westbound record voyage, against the Gulf Stream and the prevailing weather systems, typically results in lower average speeds.
Of the 35 Atlantic liners to hold the Blue Riband, 25 were British, followed by five German, three American, and one each from Italy and France. Thirteen were Cunarders, five White Star liners, with four owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd, two by Collins, two by Inman, two by Guion, and one each by British American, Great Western, Hamburg-America, the Italian Line, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and finally the United States Lines. The record set by United States in 1952 remains unbroken by any passenger liner. The next-longest period through which the Blue Riband was retained was 19 years, held from 1909 to 1929 by Mauretania. The shortest period was six weeks, by Bremen from July to August 1933.
Many of these ships were built with substantial government subsidies and were designed with military considerations in mind. Winston Churchill estimated that the two Cunard Queens helped shorten the Second World War by a year. The last Atlantic liner to hold the Blue Riband, the SS United States, was designed for her potential use as a troopship as well as her service as a commercial passenger liner. There was no formal award until 1935, when Harold K. Hales donated the Hales Trophy; though the rules for the Hales Trophy were different from the traditional rules for the Blue Riband and changed several times thereafter. It was awarded to just three Blue Riband holders during the express liner era. The trophy continues to be awarded, though many people believe United States remains as the holder of the Blue Riband, because no subsequent record-breaker was in Atlantic passenger service.
Background
The first well-documented crossing of the North Atlantic, though not the earliest, was that of John Cabot's ship Matthew in the summer of 1497. Matthew crossed from Bristol to Newfoundland in 35 days, returning the following month in just 17 days.Over the next three centuries, countless vessels crossed back and forth over the North Atlantic, all subject to the vagaries of wind and weather. They arrived at port when they could, dependent on the wind, and left when they were loaded, frequently visiting other ports to complete their routes. During this period eastbound passages of 30 and 45 days were not uncommon, while westward passages of 65 to 90 days excited no attention. It was the advent of the steamship, with its independence from wind power, which offered the possibility of regular, scheduled Atlantic crossings, in periods of two to three weeks, that opened a new era of transatlantic travel and competition.
History
The term "Blue Riband of the Atlantic" did not come into use until the 1890s, and the history of the trans-Atlantic competition, which was compiled retrospectively, was regarded as starting with the crossings by the steamships Sirius and Great Western in 1838. Although not the first steamships to cross the Atlantic nor the fastest to make the crossing the Sirius and Great Western were the first steamships offering a regular, scheduled trans-Atlantic service; and crucially, they were involved in a race. Cunard refused officially to recognise the title because racing vessels was not in line with the company's safety policy.Paddlers (1838–1872)
The idea of building a line of transatlantic steamships was mooted in 1832 by Junius Smith, an American lawyer turned London merchant. The idea came to him during an Atlantic crossing which took 57 days, a not unusual occurrence, and it was published in the American Rail Road Journal. After receiving no support for several years, his plan gained credibility when Scottish shipbuilder Macgregor Laird became an investor. Smith, who is often considered the Father of the Atlantic Liner, formed the British and American Steam Navigation Company to operate a London-New York service. About the same time, the question of Atlantic steamships was discussed at an 1835 director's meeting of the newly formed Great Western Railway when the line's chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel supposedly joked that the line could be made longer by building a steamship to run between Bristol and New York. The necessary investors were recruited by Brunel's friend, Thomas Guppy, a Bristol engineer and businessman. The next year, the Great Western Steamship Company was established, even though the rail line was still years from completion.By spring 1838, Brunel's was ready for sea, but Smith's first ship was still without engines. When Great Western scheduled its initial sailing, Laird suggested that British and American charter the Irish Sea steamer from the St. George Steam Packet Company for two voyages to beat Great Western. While the Sirius left Cork, Ireland four days before Great Western departed Avonmouth, Great Western still came within a day of overtaking Sirius to New York. To complete the voyage, Sirius was forced to burn spars when coal ran low. With her westbound crossing at 8.03 knots, Sirius is often considered the first record holder even though she would have held the record for only one day, until Great Western's arrival from her even faster crossing. However the notion of a "Blue Riband" would not be used for several decades. Great Western herself became the prototype for all successful wooden paddlers and made a record-breaking voyage at as late as 1843.
The Cunard Line started its Liverpool-Halifax-Boston service in 1840 with the four ships that were slightly reduced versions of Great Western with about the same speed. Ultimately Cunard built nine additional wood paddlers. By 1846, Cunard was the only original steamship line that survived, largely because of its subsidy from the British Admiralty to carry the mails and its emphasis on safety. Until 1850, the record passed between various Cunarders, finally reaching for an 8-day Liverpool-Halifax crossing by Asia. Record voyages during this period were often the result of using sails to gain extra speed from a following gale.
Cunard's first serious competition for the record came from the American-owned Collins Line. The American Government supplied Collins with a substantial subsidy to operate four wooden paddlers that were superior to Cunard's best. In its first year, 1850, the set the record at on a 10-day run from Liverpool to New York. Unfortunately, Collins suffered a setback when its foundered with heavy loss of life. The next year, Cunard put further pressure on Collins by commissioning its first iron-hulled paddler, the Persia, which set a new record with a 9-day, 16-hour Liverpool–New York voyage at. During the Crimean War, Cunard supplied eleven of its ships for war service and suspended all routes except the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston service. While the Collins' fortunes improved because of the lack of competition during the war, Collins collapsed in 1858 after the loss of two additional steamers. Cunard emerged as the leading carrier of first-class passengers and in 1862 commissioned the Scotia, the last paddle steamer to set a record with a Queenstown-New York voyage at. Scotia was the final significant paddler ordered for the Atlantic because under the terms of Cunard's mail contract with the Admiralty, it was still required to supply paddle steamers when needed for military service.
Single screw steamers (1872–1889)
In 1845, Brunel's became the first iron-hulled screw liner on the Atlantic. Starting in 1850, the Inman Line built numerous reduced versions for the steerage trade. In 1866, Inman started to commission single screw express liners that were the equal of Scotia. The Admiralty allowed Cunard to order its first screw express liner, the Russia. In 1871 both companies faced a new rival when the White Star Line commissioned Oceanic and her five sisters. The following year, White Star's Adriatic finally surpassed Scotia with a voyage at. The new White Star record-breakers were especially economical because of their use of compound engines, but their high ratio of length to beam increased vibration. To counter this, White Star placed the dining saloon midships and made their ships more luxurious. Inman rebuilt its express fleet to the new standard, but Cunard lagged behind both of its rivals. In 1875, Inman's new City of Berlin averaged on its record-breaking voyage.During the five-year shipping depression that began in 1873, William Pearce, the controlling partner of the John Elder shipyard, became convinced that a crack steamer that carried only passengers and light freight could be profitable because she would attract more passengers and spend less time in port. He proposed a ship that crammed the most powerful machinery possible into the hull, sacrificing everything to speed. When Cunard rejected his proposal, Pearce offered his idea to the Guion Line, a firm primarily engaged in the steerage trade. The first ship Pearce built for Guion, the Arizona was described as a "souped-up transatlantic hot rod" by one nautical historian. While she won only the eastbound record, two years later, Guion took delivery of the even faster Alaska that set the record at. To continue the program, Pearce offered Guion favourable terms on a third unit, the Oregon, which raised the record to in 1884. These ships were uncomfortable and their excessive coal consumption made them uneconomic. However, for a while they were popular with American clients because of their American ownership.
After being out of the contest for a decade, Cunard finally started to rebuild. In 1884, Cunard purchased Oregon from the Guion line when that firm defaulted on payments to the shipyard. Later that year, Cunard commissioned the first steel-hulled record-breakers, Umbria and Etruria. Etruria, the faster of the pair, raised the record to on a 6-day, 2-hour run from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in 1888. However, Etruria and her sister represented the limit of single screw technology.