Lot Essay
The screw steamer America, 5,528 tons, was built for the British-owned National Line by Messrs. J & G Thomson of Glasgow in 1884. A very distinctive vessel with her clipper bow and two enormous elliptical funnels, she was the earliest Altantic record-breaker to be built of steel and also the first to have a glass domed roof to her main saloon thereby giving her a lofty and comfortable spaciousness. Designed to compete with the Guion Line's record-holder Oregon, America could not only make an effortless 17 knots, but also burned considerably less coal than any of her competitors. Additionally, she was significantly smaller than most of the other record-breakers of the time and was considered by many to be "one of the most imposing steamships ever sent to sea."
On her maiden voyage out in May 1884, she captured the Blue Riband for the fastest North Atlantic crossing to New York and then broke the record for the eastbound passage on her homeward journey to Liverpool. Even though she lost both records to the Oregon, by then owned by Cunard, there was little doubt which was the better ship. Despite America's success and popularity with passengers, her owners could not afford to build an equally fast running mate so attempted to charter suitable vessels to pair with her, most notably the ill-starred City of Rome. She even did a run to India as a troopship but at the end of the 1886 season, the National Line decided to cut its losses and sell her. Her reputation attracted competing offers with the result that she brought almost her original cost when a sale was concluded with the Itanian Government.
Renamed Trinacria, she was first employed as a cruiser-transport and then a torpedo schoolship before becoming the official Italian royal yacht in 1900, the largest and most impressive such vessel in the world. In continuous use at least until the end of the Great War, she was finally from service in July 1925 and broken up shortly afterwards.
On her maiden voyage out in May 1884, she captured the Blue Riband for the fastest North Atlantic crossing to New York and then broke the record for the eastbound passage on her homeward journey to Liverpool. Even though she lost both records to the Oregon, by then owned by Cunard, there was little doubt which was the better ship. Despite America's success and popularity with passengers, her owners could not afford to build an equally fast running mate so attempted to charter suitable vessels to pair with her, most notably the ill-starred City of Rome. She even did a run to India as a troopship but at the end of the 1886 season, the National Line decided to cut its losses and sell her. Her reputation attracted competing offers with the result that she brought almost her original cost when a sale was concluded with the Itanian Government.
Renamed Trinacria, she was first employed as a cruiser-transport and then a torpedo schoolship before becoming the official Italian royal yacht in 1900, the largest and most impressive such vessel in the world. In continuous use at least until the end of the Great War, she was finally from service in July 1925 and broken up shortly afterwards.