Great Western Steamship Company

The Great Western Steam Ship Company operated the first regular transatlantic steamer service from 1838 until 1846. Related to the Great Western Railway, it was expected to achieve the position that was ultimately secured by the Cunard Line. The firm's first ship, the Great Western was capable of record Blue Riband crossings as late as 1843 and was the model for Cunard's Britannia and her three sisters. The company's second steamer, the Great Britain was an outstanding technical achievement of the age. The company collapsed because it failed to secure a mail contract and the Great Britain appeared to be a total loss after running aground. The company might have had a more successful outcome had it built sister ships for the Great Western instead of investing in the too advanced Great Britain.

By the 1830s, Liverpool was overtaking Bristol as a transatlantic port. The Great Western Railway was formed in 1833 to build a Bristol-London line and appointed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as chief engineer. The issue of the line's length was discussed at an 1835 director's meeting when supposedly Brunel 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 Steam Ship Company was established, even though the rail line was still years from completion.

Construction on the Brunel designed Great Western was started in June 1836 at William Patterson's shipyard. Her large size (1,350 GRT) sparked controversy when Dionysius Lardner spoke to the British Association for the Advancement of Science and concluded that the largest practical ship for a transatlantic service was 800 GRT, which was too small for a direct New York service. Brunel argued that larger ships were more efficient and was ultimately proved correct. However, Lardner's conclusions scared away some potential Bristol investors and the new firm was undersubscribed.

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