Royal William

Built at Quebec in the year 1830; launched in the

spring of 1831. On Aug. 5, 1833, she sailed from Quebec for London,

stopping at Pictou for coal. She arrived at Gravesend in twenty-five

days from Pictou--the first vessel to cross the Atlantic wholly under

steam. She had been named by Lady Aylmer, wife of the governor-general,

after William IV. A few days after her arrival in London, the vessel was

chartered as a troop ship by the Portuguese government. In 1894, on the

occasion of the opening of the Colonial Conference at Ottawa, Lord

Aberdeen unveiled a tablet in the entrance to the Library of Parliament,

bearing this inscription: "In honour of the men by whose enterprise,

courage and skill the ROYAL WILLIAM, the first vessel to cross the

Atlantic by steam power, was wholly constructed in Canada, and navigated

to England in 1833. The pioneer of those mighty fleets of ocean steamers

by which passengers and merchandise of all nations are now conveyed over

every sea throughout the world." =Bib.=: Fleming, Notes on Ocean Steam

Navigation (Can. Inst. Trans., 1891-1892); Christie, History of

Lower Canada.