Beam 39 ft (12 m) Launched 1853 | Capacity 210 passengers Length 77 m | |
Fate Wrecked 28 June 1859, Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland Displacement 1,815 long tons (1,844 t) Propulsion Sail
Maudslay reciprocating engines, 300 hp (220 kW)
Single screw. Speed Average speed 10 knots (19 km/h) (steam or sail) Builder Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company | ||
Argo was an iron screw steamer launched in 1853. She was the first steamship to intentionally circumnavigate the earth.
History
Argo was built by C.J. Mare and Company of Leamouth, London for the General Screw Steam Shipping Company and launched in 1853. She was a three-masted ship with a clipper bow and a single funnel.
She was an early example of a screw-propelled vessel, though she also possessed a fully functional sail rig, and her screw could be feathered when she was required to travel under sail. This operation could be conducted within 7 minutes from stopping the engines. The screw could also be raised for inspection while at sea if required. During trials she turned out to be a fine sailer, achieving a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
On 8 May 1853, Argo sailed under the command of Captain George Hyde from Southampton, reaching Melbourne in 64 days, with one stop en route at Cape St. Vincent. She returned via Cape Horn in 63 days and received considerable acclaim as the first steamer to circumnavigate the globe.
Argo was sold along with all the other of the General Screw Company's ships in 1857. She was chartered to the Galway Line in 1859 and was wrecked at Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, on 28 June 1859 on her first homeward voyage, after running on a reef in thick fog. There was no loss of life.