Royal William

   Built at Quebec in the year 1830; launched in the spring of 1831. On Aug. 5, 1833, she sailed from Quebec for London, stopping at Pictou for coal. She arrived at Gravesend in twenty-five days from Pictou--the first vessel to cross the Atlantic wholly under steam. She had been named by Lady Aylmer, wife of the governor-general, after William IV. A few days after her arrival in London, the vessel was chartered as a troop-ship by the Portuguese government. In 1894, on the occasion of the opening of the Colonial Conference at Ottawa, Lord Aberdeen unveiled a tablet in the entrance to the Library of Parliament, bearing this inscription: "In honour of the men by whose enterprise, courage and skill the ROYAL WILLIAM, the first vessel to cross the Atlantic by steam power, was wholly constructed in Canada, and navigated to England in 1833. The pioneer of those mighty fleets of ocean steamers by which passengers and merchandise of all nations are now conveyed over every sea throughout the world."

   Bib.: Fleming, Notes on Ocean Steam Navigation (Can. Inst. Trans., 1891-1892); Christie, History of Lower Canada.