Eileen Reid Marcil, The PS Royal William of Quebec: The First True Transatlantic Steamer

Northern Mariner/le marin du nord article on Quebec builder John Goudie.As such, she is ideally suited to write the story of the Royal William, a paddle steamer designed and launched in Quebec in 1831 that became the first vessel to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam power.While other accounts of the ship have focussed almost entirely on that event, Marcil fortunately has provided a more rounded picture of the vessel and its times.The thin volume (fewer that 100 pages without the appendices) tells three linked stories: an introduction to steamship services in Canada before 1830, the history of the Royal William itself, and the struggle for recognition of the ship as the first to cross the Atlantic under steam power.Even without being recognized for the first Atlantic steam passage, the Royal William was an important vessel in Canadian history.Steamship transportation on the St. Lawrence River and in the Gulf began in 1809 and was common by the early 1820s, when seven steamboats served the route between Montreal and Quebec.But the link between Canada and what were called the 'lower provinces' still required a sailing ship, and travel between Quebec and Halifax usually took three or more weeks.Recognizing the benefits of closer ties between the colonies and with subsidies approved by both the Quebec and Nova Scotia legislatures, a company was formed to build a steamship and provide the first regular service between the two ports.The majority of the shares were held in Montreal and Quebec, but there were also subscribers from Miramichi, New Brunswick, and Halifax, among whom were several members of the Cunard family.Given her research history, it is not surprising that Marcil's coverage is particularly good with regard to the actual building of the vessel, which early in 1831 inaugurated service between Quebec and Halifax, touching at Miramichi, Pictou, and Charlottetown.Despite the apparent enthusiasm, the inter-colonial