Lot Essay
Several steamers named Britannia have served on the North Atlantic ferry but only one was French owned. Built for Cyprien Fabre of Marseilles by Royden's of Liverpool, that vessel was launched on 25th October 1881 and completed the following summer. Registered at 2,456 tons and measuring 328 feet in length, she had engines by Forrester's of Liverpool and could cruise at 12 knots. Basically an emigrant ship, she had accommodation for 1,000 steerage and a mere 18 First class passengers, and made her maiden voyage from Marseilles to New York in September 1882. For unknown reasons her name was changed to America in 1902 but she continued in service until 1907 when she was laid up pending sale. Despite suffering a broken propeller shaft on North Atlantic crossings in 1893 and again in 1906, she proved an otherwise reliable vessel for the Fabre Line and was finally scrapped in 1909.