(BRUNEL, I.K.) CLAXTON, Christopher The logs of the first voyage, made with the unceasing aid of steam, between England and America, by the Great Western, of Bristol, Lieut.James Hosken, R.N., Commander; also an appendix and remarks. Bristol, Printed at the Mirror office by John Taylor (1838)
Small 4to. (iv) + vi + (1) + 76 + (1)pp, folding litho map and 2 errata slips. Cloth. Brunel’s first ship, the “Great Western”, was the first true Atlantic steam ship and established the feasibility of a trans-Atlantic shipping route. Built in Bristol, she was the largest ship in the world and her engines were designed and built by no less a man than Henry Maudslay. The ship had many innovative features and for the first time sails were auxiliary to steam rather than the other way round. The fact that the logs of her first voyage were published at all is in itself highly innovative. The ship sailed at a time when the steam ship world was almost totally unregulated and there was no requirement that steam logs be made public, or indeed kept at all. There is a detailed record of her performance, and particularly that of her engines, from the moment she left the Thames, where she had been fitted out, including an account Brunel’s accident. The logs of her main voyage to New York contain “Occurrences and remarks” as well as keeping a note of the consumption of tallow, oil and the all-important coal. In addition to the logs themselves, there is an excellent account of the history and design of the ship, presumably by Claxton himself, who had been so intimately involved in the whole enterprise. There is also a journal of the outward voyage kept by one of the passengers and various other related material.
£650
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