Britannia
1840
(GEM 913003)
- Type: Passenger
- Displacement: 1,156 tons
- Dimensions: 230 x 34 x 22 ft.
- Machinery: Napier two-cylinder side-lever steam engine, two paddle wheels, 740 ihp = 9 knots
- Passengers: 115 (all first class)
- Crew: 89
- Built: Robert Duncan & Co, Greenock, Scotland
- Launched: 5 Feb 1840
- Service: First ship built for Cunard Line, and first regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger and mail service. Maiden voyage 4 Jul 1840 Liverpool-Halifax-Boston. On return trip the ship set a record at an average speed of almost 11 knots. In 1844 Boston harbor froze over and the citizens of Boston cut a seven mile channel through the ice to let her sail. Made 40 crossings on route until Nov 1848. Sold to German Confederation Navy Mar 1849 and renamed Barbarossa. Transferred to Prussian Navy Jun 1852. Barracks ship in Danzig and then Kiel. Decommissioned 5 May 1880; Sunk as target ship by torpedo from training ship Zieten 28 Jul 1880. Wreck later raised and broken up in Kiel.
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