Oil Painting, Collins Line Steamship SS <I>Atlantic</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1800s
label: US Congress awarded an annual transatlantic mail contract to Collins
content: 1847
label: Collins Line service started
content: 1850
label: Collins Line service ended
content: 1858
label: Atlantic acquired by the government for Civil War service
content: 1858
label: Atlantic scrapped
content: 1871
name: label: Collins steamship line
content: New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company
label: ship owner
content: Collins, Edward Knight
label: ship owner and Knight's competitor
content: Cunard, Samuel
label: built SS <I>Atlantic</I>
content: Dramatic Line of Atlantic Sailing Packets
label: maker
content: Louis Honore Frederick Gamain
notes: label: Description
content: In 1840, Canadian Samuel Cunard inaugurated regular transatlantic steamship service from Liverpool, England to North America. Within a few years, he had two competitors, one of whom was American Edward Knight Collins (1802-1878), owner of the Dramatic Line of Atlantic sailing packets.
label: Description
content: Collins had been lobbying the U.S. government for nearly a decade for the subsidy of an American overseas steamship mail service, and in 1847 Congress authorized an annual transatlantic mail contract for $385,000. Won by Collins, the contract called for five steamships and bimonthly mail service from New York to Liverpool.
label: Description
content: Collins founded the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company (known as the Collins Line) and commissioned the four sister steamships <I>Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic</I> and <I>Baltic</I>. When service started in 1850, the Collins ships were the fastest, largest, and most magnificently appointed steamships in the world, with stained glass skylights, steam heat in the public rooms and 3,500-bottle wine cellars.
label: Description
content: This painting shows the arrival of the Collins liner <I>Atlantic</I> in May 1850 after her maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool. Measuring 282 feet long and 2,856 tons, the <I>Atlantic</I> set a speed record on this passage, while consuming 87 tons of coal per day. Although the Collins line ceased operations in February 1858, the <I>Atlantic</I> was acquired by the U.S. Government for Civil War service. After the war it was operated by other owners until scrapped in 1871.
place: label: ship sailed
content: United States: New York, New York
label: ship sailed
content: United Kingdom: England, Liverpool
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.336491
label: accession number
content: 1978.0362
label: catalog number
content: 336491
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting, oil
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: oil paint (paint material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 26 3/4 in x 37 1/4 in x 2 1/4 in; 67.945 cm x 94.615 cm x 5.715 cm