PS Commonwealth (1854)

Contemporary painting of Commonwealth by the amateur artist James Bard, c. 1860
History
Name:	Commonwealth
Owner:	1854–60: Norwich & New London SBC 1860–63: New Jersey Steam Navigation & Transportation Co. 1863–65: Merchants Steamship Co.
Builder:	Lawrence & Foulks (NY)
Cost:	$250,000
Launched:	27 Jun 1854
Completed:	March 1855
Maiden voyage:	5 Apr 1855
In service:	5 Apr 1855–29 Dec 1865
Fate:	Destroyed by dock fire at Groton, Conn., 29 Dec 1865
General characteristics
Type:	Passenger sidewheel steamboat
Tonnage:	1,732
Length:	330 ft (100 m)
Beam:	42 ft (13 m), 77 ft (23 m) over guards
Draft:	8 ft (2.4 m)
Depth of hold:	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion:	1 × 76 inch bore, 12-foot stroke vertical beam steam engine
Sail plan:	None
Capacity:	1000+ passengers, with sleeping quarters for 600

Commonwealth was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, Commonwealth was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating, and an "enchantingly beautiful" domed roof in her upper saloon. Her stability of motion led her captain to describe Commonwealth as the finest rough weather steamboat ever built in the United States.

Commonwealth would spend her entire career on Long Island Sound routes, first from New York to Allyn's Point, Connecticut under the management of the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company, and later to Stonington and Groton with the New Jersey Steam Navigation and the Merchants' Steamship companies. During the American Civil War, she was part of the transport network that moved northern state Union regiments to the battlefront. Commonwealth's end came prematurely when she was destroyed by a dockyard fire at Groton in December 1865.

Commonwealth was built by Lawrence & Foulks at Williamsburg, New York for the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company, which ran a steamboat line between New York City and Connecticut. About 18 months in construction, she was completed in March 1855.

Commonwealth had an overall length of 330 feet (100 metres), with a length on deck of 316 feet and 300 feet along the load line, making her one of the largest steamboats on the sound. She had a beam of 42 feet—77 feet over the guards—a hold depth of 13 feet 6 inches and a gross register tonnage of 1,732 tons. For a vessel of her size and tonnage, she drew a surprisingly light draft of scarcely more than 8 feet in running trim.