2-979-761 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The United States' New Mail Steam-Ship "Adriatic", 1857. '...the largest and most powerful vessel afloat...The Adriatic was constructed in New York by the late Mr. George Steers...The machinery...consists of two of the largest oscillating engines that have ever been constructed...the calcium light, which she carries at her foretopmast-head, will not only be a security against a collision with another vessel, but, by enabling the look-out to discover objects at a distance of three or four miles in the dark, will greatly lessen the chances of accidents at night. She has accommodations for about 400 passengers, 300 of them being first-class...She is altogether a splendid specimen of naval architecture, and will doubtless prove to be by far the fastest vessel ever constructed in the United States. The total cost is estimated at little short of a quarter of a million sterling'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.