Copper engraving with original hand colour. Artist, engraver and publication date not given. Probably circa 1840.
Image size: 250mm x 393mm
In generally good condition: ex scrapbook, trimmed to engraved border top and sides and just below title. Laid onto paper support.
Designed by Macgregor Laird, built by Curling and Young of London and owned by the British and American Steam Navigation Company, the SS President was, for a short while, the largest passenger ship in the world capable of carrying 154 passengers. She was also top-heavy and underpowered. She embarked on her maiden voyage, an Atlantic crossing in August 1840. On 11 March 1841, on the return leg of her third voyage, she left New York bound for Liverpool with 136 passengers and crew along with a heavy cargo. She never arrived. The cause of her loss has never been precisely established, but it is surmised that SS President was caught in a storm and foundered somewhere off Nantucket. There were no survivors.
