RMS Britannia was an ocean liner of the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later known as Cunard Steamship Company. She was launched on 5 February 1840,[1] at the yard of Robert Duncan & Company in Greenock, Scotland. The ship and her Britannia-class sisters, Acadia, Caledonia, and Columbia, were the first ocean liners built by the company.
Description and service
Britannia was a large ship for the period, 207 feet (63 m) long and 34 feet (10.3 m) across the beam, with three masts and a wooden hull.[2] She had paddle wheels and her coal-powered[2] two-cylinder side-lever engine (from Robert Napier) had a power output of about 740 indicated horsepower with a coal consumption around 38 tons per day.[2]