Combining an iron hull with screw-propeller propulsion, SS Great Britain was the largest ship afloat at the time of its launch and introduced technologies that would influence ocean-going ships for the remainder of the nineteenth century.
The plane, named the City of Everett, left the Paine Field runway near Everett in Washington State – about 30 miles north of Seattle – and successfully performed a number of tests before landing at 12.50pm.
The very first non-stop transatlantic flight had occurred in 1919 when John Alcock and Arthur Whiten Brown flew a modified Vickers Vimy bomber aircraft from Newfoundland to Ireland in just under 16 hours.
The first transatlantic yacht race, from Sandy Hook in New Jersey to the Needles off the coast of the Isle of Wight in England, was the result of a drunken wager between three prominent New York businessmen: James Gordon Bennett Jr., Pierre Lorillard, and George Osgood.
SS United States secured the Blue Riband, an accolade awarded to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic with the highest average speed, and continues to hold the record to this day.
Great Western’s maiden voyage crossed the Atlantic in a record time of 15 days and five hours.
The Capitulations of Santa Fe granted a number of official titles to Columbus as well as ten per cent of any treasure he was able to secure on his voyage.
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