SS Alaska (1881)

SS Alaska under steam
History
Name:	SS Alaska
Operator:	Guion Line
Builder:	John Elder & Company, in Govan, Scotland
Launched:	15 July 1881
Fate:	Broken up 1902
Notes:	Renamed Magallanes in 1897
General characteristics
Class and type:	Steam passenger ocean liner
Tonnage:	6,932 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	520 ft (160 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Propulsion:	Single screw - 16 knots

The Alaska was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1882. She was a slightly larger and faster edition of Guion's Arizona and in 1883 became the first liner to make the crossing to New York in under a week. However, Alaska burned 250 tons of coal per day, as compared to Arizona's already high 135 tons. Built by John Elder & Company of Glasgow, she carried 350 first class passengers and 1,000 steerage. Her passengers included Hugh Simpson Rodham: future grandfather of Hillary Clinton, who travelled in steerage to America with his mother Bella and seven siblings as a toddler in October 1882. As in the case of Arizona, Stephen Guion also personally owned Alaska.

Alaska completed 100 voyages when Guion suspended sailings in 1894. She proved difficult to sell and was finally chartered in 1897 by Cia. Transatlanticia Espanola as a troop transport. In 1899, Alaska was sold for scrap, but was resold to the Barrow shipyard where she was used as an accommodation hulk until broken up in 1902.