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Today's Auction House Artefact is this c. 1840 oil painting of the steam ship "Clarence". Artist unknown but it it is similar to the work of B. McKilan Drummond, a Scots-sounding artist who may actually have been Slovak.
The "Clarenence" was built for the General Steam Navigation Company, London's principal "short sea shipping" company of the time.
"Clarence" served initially on the premier service, the London to Leith packet route. She is seen here, with other GSNC steamers "Leith" and "Columbine" at Blackwall in London.
"Clarence" was built at Blackwall in 1836 for the London & Leith passenger and mail run, and displaced 766 tons gross, was 178 feet long and 27 feet in the beam. She had steam engines producing 240hp, giving "a very fair turn of speed".
But sails were still an important part of her propulsion. She could carry a 32 pdr cannon and a pair of carronades for self defence in war, but "never had occasion to use them". She survived on the run until the mid-1860s when she was withdrawn and broken up.
In the event, the GSNC switched their service to the newly-completed Granton which had a much better harbour and pier than Leith (which at the time was rather in the doldrums as a port), and also had a passenger station on the quayside.
Note at the foot of the advert that there is a connecting train running from "Princes Street" and "Scotland Street", which we can assume means from the Canal Street Station (on site of Waverley Market), through the Scotland Street Tunnel and straight down the hill to Granton
Until 1870, the station known as Princes Street (or the "Caley Station") was called Lothian Road Station. Canal Street was at 90 degrees to the rest of what would become Waverley Station and was closed and demolished in 1866 to allow the latter to be expanded
So you would get on your train, whisked down the hill to Trinity, turn hard left for Granton, hang a right onto the pier and literally step out and into your First Class conveyance to London. I'm not sure quite how First Class the experience on an October night would have been...
Prior to the GSNC taking on the service, you would have left from Leith or Newhaven on one of the ships of the "London and Edinburgh Steam Packet Company". The latter was bought out by GSNC in 1836 who built new ships and moved the service to Granton.
I'm not sure exactly how long the trip took, but the Royal Museum Greenwich has a painting of a London & Edinburgh steam packet "Monarch" passing the Bass Rock in 1834 stating the run took 37 hours.
It's 422 nautical miles from the centre of London to Edinburgh by sea, which would make for a run of 11.5 knots average speed - fast but perfectly achievable with a good wind.
