The City Steamboat Company's vessels.

Repro ID: H5331

Description: The City (or Citizen) Steamboat Company served the Thames from 1845. Traffic peaked in the early 1840s, with intense competition between the companies: in 1844 eight steamboats travelled between London Bridge and Chelsea, four times an hour, and traffic was increasing. The Chelsea Vestry saw steamboats - quick, cheap, and comfortable - as potentially the common transport of residents of the densely-populated shore, but by the 1850s improved railways and roads had begun the decline in both commuter and recreational traffic on the river.

Creator: 'Illustrated London News'

Date: 14 August 1852

Credit line: National Maritime Museum, London