Commercial sailing ships had long taken three, sometimes four the Sirius (averaging 14.

raging 14.87 km/h) barely beat the larger and faster

weeks to make the eastbound crossing of the Atlantic; the ship, arriving in New York on 22 April 1838 after 18 days, 14 hours,
westbound route, against the wind, usually took six weeks. The first and 22 minutes.
steamship made the eastward crossing only in 1833, when the
Sirius, first ship to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam. Built
Quebec-built SS Royal William went to England, after stopping to
originally for service in the Irish Sea, the 703-ton Sirius, a side-
take on coal in Nova Scotia. It was only in April 1838—180 years
wheeler, was chartered by the British & American Steam
ago this month—that steamships pioneered the westward route. It
Navigation Company and sailed from London to New York by way
happened in an unexpectedly dramatic way.
of Cork in 1838 with 40 passengers. Her fuel ran out just short of
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the great 19th-century British her destination, but her captain, determined to complete the
engineers, built the SS Great Western for the Great Western passage under steam, refused to hoist the ship’s sails and, instead,
Steamship Company’s planned Bristol–New York run. The ship was fed spars into the furnace. Sandy Hook, New Jersey, was sighted in
ready on 31 March 1838, but fire damage scared most of its time to avert a potential mutiny, and the Sirius beat the much
passengers away, delaying departure until 8 April. larger Great Western to New York by a few hours. In addition to
establishing a crossing record, the Sirius introduced an important
Meanwhile, the British and American Steam Navigation Company
technical innovation, a condenser to recover the fresh water used
tried to steal a march by chartering the SS Sirius, a small wooden
in the boiler.
paddle-wheel vessel built for the Irish (London–Cork) service.
The Sirius left Cobh, Ireland, on 4 April 1838, its boilers operating
under 34 kilopascals (4.9 pounds per square inch), for a peak
Navigation between England and the America.
engine power of 370 kilowatts. With 460 metric tons of coal on
board, the ship could travel nearly 5,400 kilometers (2,916 nautical
While working on the Great Western Railway in 1836, Brunel made
miles)—almost but not quite all the way to New York Harbor.
a comment, apparently in jest, about extending the railroad by
starting a steamship company and going all the way to America. He
In contrast, the Great Western was the world’s largest passenger
began to think seriously about his humorous idea and designed a
ship, displacing 1,360 metric tons, with 128 beds in first class. The
grand steamship, the Great Western.
ship’s boilers also worked at 34 kPa, but its engines could deliver
about 560 kW, and on its first transatlantic journey it averaged The Great Western entered service in early 1838. It was a
technological marvel, and was also called a "floating palace."
16.04 kilometers per hour. Even with its four-day head start,
At 212 feet long, it was the largest steamship in the world. Though
built of wood, it contained a powerful steam engine, and it was
designed specifically to cross the rough North Atlantic.
When the Great Western departed Britain for its first voyage it
almost met disaster when a fire broke out in the engine room. The
fire was extinguished, but not before Isambard Brunel was seriously
injured and had to be taken ashore.
Despite that inauspicious beginning, the ship did have a successful
career crossing the Atlantic, making dozens of crossings over the
next few years.
The company which operated the ship, however, had a number of
financial problems and folded. The Great Western was sold, sailed
back and forth to the West Indies for a time, became a troopship
during the Crimean War, and was broken up in 1856.
An elevated railway (also known as an El rail, El train or simply
an El for short, and, in Europe, as an overhead railway) is a rapid
transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or
other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron,
concrete, or bricks).
The earliest elevated railway was the London and Greenwich
Railway on a brick viaduct of 878 arches, built between 1836 and
1838. The first 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of the London and Blackwall
Railway (1840) was also built on a viaduct. During the 1840s there
were other plans for elevated railways in London that never came
to fruition.
The London and Greenwich Railway was opened in London between
1836 and 1838. It was the first steam railway to have a terminus in
the capital, and the first of any to be built specifically for passenger
service.  become smaller.
An important features was that the line would run from close to
London Bridge, thus making it convenient for journeys to the City.
The line would be some 3¾ miles, and the plan was to build on a
viaduct of 878 brick arches, some of them skew. This was
apparently to avoid level crossings over the many streets which
were already appearing in the south of London. Colonel Landman
also planned to rent the arches out as workshops. The intention
had been to descend to ground level after the Grand Surrey Canal
but this was opposed by Parliament.
The ultimate intention was to reach Dover and there was much talk
of a London to Gravesend railway which would extend from
Greenwich. A scheme was presented to Parliament in 1836 but five
others were competing for acceptance, and the bill failed on its
second reading.
When it worked eight men were enough to operate it, but possibly
because of trouble with the foundations, it was unreliable. It still
exists, and is a listed structure, though the lift section was welded
in the down position many years ago due to problems with
misalignment of the track.
First and second class coaches were provided and were unusual in
that the sole bars and headstocks were below the axles. The
railway line, being for much of its length built on a viaduct, this was
a safety measure, since, in the event of a derailment, the coaches
would drop only a few inches onto the rails.
Between 1836 and 1840 the line carried over 1.25 million
passengers a year, benefiting it is thought from a developing
tourist trade.
ESSAY
A few decades ago, travelling overseas or communicating
with people who speak a different language was not part of
everyday life. Today though, countries and communities
around the world are becoming more connected. Travel is
more affordable and accessible, and businesses and
operating on a global scale, irrespective of how large they
are. Technology and new transport options contribute to the
accessibility of different locations, and are helping our world
The world is becoming smaller due to the advances in
technology and transport. Many natural barriers divided the
world before advances in transport were made,
The world is becoming smaller due to the advances in
technology and transport. Many natural barriers divided the
world before advances in transport were made, this includes
seas, mountains, deserts, forests and jungles. The first
advance in transport was the taming of horses, this is
believed to date back to 30,000 BC from paleolithic cave art.,
people met new cultures and traded their goods.
The water barrier between countries was overcome by the
invention of the first boat made from wood. It was moved
with paddles at first but the invention of the sail allowed the
boat to travel along trade winds. Americans explored the
Mediterranean and North Africa. In 1942 Columbus
discovered a new world to the west whilst looking for a
shorter trade route to the east. In 1519 it took Magellan 3
years to sail around the globe and prove was round.
The world’s barriers were now much less of an issue at this
point, in theory the world had shrunk and would continue to
do so
To conclude, transport has connected the world by making
natural features such as seas and deserts seem like paths
instead of barriers. World travel is now fast, reliable and
relatively cheap; people worldwide can travel easily and
therefore have become more culturally aware.