2-888-693 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Departure of the "Viceroy" Steamer from the Dock Quay, Galway, [Ireland], 1850. Crowds turn out to see the steamer begin her journey across the Atlantic Ocean carrying the mail. View '...from the Dock-quay; with the mountains of Clear in the distance...The sailing of the Viceroy...is an experiment...She has powerful rivals to contend with; but, although she has long odds against her, she has had a fair start...Her owners are confident of her making the trip to Halifax within nine days'. The ship was '...surrounded by hundreds of all sorts and sizes of craft, now made available to give the denizens of the West an opportunity of seeing the "big steamer," as she lay encircled by broken lands and superb mountain scenery...only surpassed by the wondering thousands who thronged both quay, pier, and eminence, to look on this noble sheet of water with an interest unknown to them before'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.