Weighing 10 500 tonnes, she was fitted with twin screws in a steel hull and pushed the speed record past 20 knots.

Sister ship to the City of New York, she was built on the Clyde by J & G Thompson and was designed to surpass anything at that time afloat in the world. At 560 ft long and 392 ft deep she was built to Admiralty specifications and was intended to be pressed into service as a cruiser in wartime. Twin propellers were fitted for the first time in an "express" liner but these were independent and did not overlap, unlike the Teutonic which was then on the blocks at the builder's yard.

Launched in April 1889 City of Paris took the record in May of that year when she crossed from Queenstown (Ireland) to Sandy Hook at 19.95 knots, taking 5 days, 23 hours and 7 minutes. In September of that year she raised her speed to 20.01 knots, a record that stood until she was beaten by Teutonic in 1891, only for her to snatch back the record a year later in 1892 with a speed of 20.07 knots.

In 1893 the "City" ships were taken over by the United States government and the "City" prefix was dropped. The Paris became American and in May 1899 ran aground on The Manacles and was stuck fast until July, when she was towed off to have a rebuild at Harland & Wolff's yard in Belfast.

She reappeared in 1901 renamed the Philadelphia with a totally transformed appearance - her three funnels had been replaced with two and she had an extra promenade deck added.

She continued to ply back and forth across the north Atlantic for another 22 years, eventually being broken up in 1923 after her final voyage had ended in near mutiny among the crew and immigrant passengers.

Click picture for full screen version.

Thanks to Joey Mouse of London who sent me the elusive picture of City of Paris.