3-034-696 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The screw steam-ship Viceroy for the Suez Canal traffic, 1871. Ship '...belonging to and built by Messrs. Green and Co., of Blackwall,...on her first voyage to Madras and Calcutta, via the Suez Canal...the first of a new line of steamers intended to ply regularly between London and Calcutta. Her commander...has pledged himself to make Calcutta within thirty-four days. The Viceroy is an iron ship of 2225 tons,...with compound surface-condensing engines by Messrs. Ravenhiil, of 240 nominal and 1200 actual horse-power, designed to attain an average speed of nine knots throughout the passage...She has been rigged as a three-masted schooner...Her length is 320 ft....She has accommodation for one hundred first and forty second class passengers, with a large and well-ventilated troop-deck. No expense or care has been spared in order to alleviate the intensity of the heat, which is so distressing to passengers on this tropical route. All the first-class accommodation...is placed forward of the machinery, so that the annoyance from the heat, smoke, and vibration of the engines is avoided...Thorough ventilation has been secured by the ports being square and of unusual dimensions, and placed so that they can be kept open in the heaviest weather'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.