SS Royal William, a Canadian steamship, launched…

SS Royal William, a Canadian steamship, launched on April 27, 1831 at Cape Cove, Quebec, had achieved the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to be made almost entirely under steam power, using sails only during periods of boiler maintenance during the twenty-five day passage from Pictou, Nova Scotia to Gravesend, England, having set out on August 18, 1833.

The steam engines were made and installed in Montreal.

She had made several trips between Quebec and the Atlantic colonies in 1831, but travel had become restricted because of the cholera epidemic in 1832.

The owners have lost some £16,000 on the venture, and decide to sell.

One of Royal William's co-owners is Samuel Cunard, a merchant from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who will draw important lessons from the ship that he is to apply when he founds the Cunard Steamship Company a few years on.