Vintage Steamships

Illustrations of historic steamships and sailing vessels from the 19th century, showcasing maritime exploration.

Traditional whale fishing in the 19th century. Old XIX century engraved illustration, El Mundo Ilustrado 1881

An engraving depicting a street scene in Shanghai, China. Dated 19th century

Illustration showing The Mayflower, an English ship that transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to the New World in 1620. There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown.2 The ship has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States. The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact prior to leaving the ship and establishing Plymouth Colony, a document which established a rudimentary form of democracy with each member contributing to the welfare of the community

Print depicting the transportation of the cables used in the Atlantic Telegraph. The transatlantic telegraph cable was an undersea cable running under the Atlantic Ocean used for telegraph communications. Transatlantic telegraph cables have since been replaced by transatlantic telecommunications cables. Dated 19th century

The Golden Horn, Constantinople, modern Istanbul, 1850. 'One of our artistic correspondents has sketched the great harbour...The pontoon bridge was then opened, to allow two fine Turkish frigates to pass from the dockyard. This bridge consists of a number of parts, each supported by four barges...two of the divisions of the bridge were removed, leaving a large open space. Near each extremity of the bridge is a wooden arch, high enough to allow boats and barges to pass...Without the outer bridge are to be seen large steamers and sailing-vessels constantly arriving and sailing, men-of-war, coa

An alternative scheme is seriously proposed : that a railway be constructed capable of carrying ships across the isthmus. But the idea never gets off the ground... Date: 1881

Historically, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century template, Record Date Not Stated, the Winans Oceanda steamer from 1858, American steamship

H.M.S Camperdown in drydock in Malta awaiting repair. The Camperdown collide with H.M.S Victoria killing 436 men. The disaster occurred when an admiral sent H.M.S Camperdown on a collision course with H.M.S Victoria. 436 men died because of the blunder, the navy received much criticism for the terrible tragedy. Date: 1893

Pack ice obstructs shipping traffic in New York harbour in 1869, America, Historic, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century original, exact original date unknown

Tugboat on the Elbe, open boats, people, hawser, steamboat, chimney, smoke, Germany, historical illustration 1880, Europe

Boat transporting animals and people passing the Sebu River in northern Morocco, North Africa. Old 19th century engraved illustration from El Mundo Ilustrado 1879

CATASTROPHE AT A SHIP-LAUNCH, AT HULL, 1854

The Tararua, which carried telegraph cable from the Gulf of Carpentaria up the river doper. This was part of the operation to construct an overland cable to be joined to the submarine cable linking Australia with Asia and Europe, 1873

Cotton shoot of around 350 feet in length used to send bales of cotton from high up on a steep river-bank down to a passing paddle steam-ship, 'Magnolia'. Date: May 4th 1861

Deck view of a VOC ship to the main mast. Draughtsman: Jan Brandes. Dating: 1778 - 26-Jul-1787. Place: Indische Oceaan. Measurements: h 155 mm × w 195 mm. Museum: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Engraving of passengers on deck looking aloft at the sailors unfurling the sail, at the top of the mast. Date: 1879

Robert Fulton's steamboat. Constructed by the North American engineer Robert FULTON (1765-1815). Colored engraving of the 19th century.

Wreck of the Labourdonnais off Madagascar in a cyclone. 23 of the 116 on board were lost. From Le Petit Journal, Paris, 125 March 1893. Weather, Storm, Shipwreck, Sea, Wave, Lifeboat, Rescue

Passengers disembarking from Thomas Cook's steamer 'Masr' on the Nile, to be carried by mules to the sites/sights Date: 1882

Henri Grace a Dieu or The Great Harry English warship, built 1514 From The National Encyclopaedia published by William Mackenzie London late 19th century, Henri Grace a Dieu or The Great Harry English warship built 1514 From The National Encyclopaedia published by William Mackenzie London late 19th century, Historic, digitally restored reproduction from a 19th century original, Record date not stated

Paddle steamers, drawing.

THE GREAT SNOWSTORM AND GALE, WRECKS ON THE COAST, UK, 1881: 1. Vessels Ashore at Lavernock Point, near Cardiff, after the Gale of January 13th. 2. The John Ward and the Lucknow on Ryde Pier. 3. The Havelock on Ryde Pier. 4. Penarth Beach from the "Look Out" after the Gale. 5. Yarmouth Beach: the Guiding Star and other Vessels off Yarmouth.

An early steamboat arrives in the port : the tour de Francois I still stands at the entrance to the port but it will be demolished in 1861. Date: 1835

A collision between a steamer, 'Waesland' and a sleeping whale between Antwerp and New York. The 80 foot whale was cut in two. Date: 1890s

15th century ship, facsimile of copper engraving by Israhel van Meckenem, Germany, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century original, exact o...

The paddle steamer 'Lady of the Lake' serves a number of popular New Hampshire resorts. Date: 1874

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, England, historical illustration, 1884

Illustration of M. Bazin's Roller Steamer, SS 'Ernest Bazin', leaving Le Havre on a sea trial, July 1897. This vessel, launched in 1896, was built with a flat rectangular deck supported on twelve disc-shaped wheels. With power applied via a screw propellor and each of the wheels, a speed of 6 knots was achieved and she was reported as behaving well in a 'fresh breeze and rough sea'. Date: 1897

Boat with three fishermen ..

A cotton chute, United States, c1880. Artist: Unknown

Engraving showing the yacht 'Eira', commanded by Benjamin Leigh Smith, crushed by the ice and sinking off Cape Flora, Franz Joseph Land, 21st August 1881. Following the sinking the crew endured an epic journey to safety, dragging the ship's boats over ice for six weeks and sailing through a strong gale to try to reach Nova Zembla. They were rescued by Sir Allen Young in the ship 'Hope' at Matotchkin Strait, August 1882. Date: 1882

Clipper Ship 'Sovereign of the Seas' E Brown Jr del N Currier 1852. Sovereign of the Seas, aclipper shipbuilt in 1852, was a sailing vessel notable for setting the world record for fastest sailing ship22 knots.

Fifteenth-Century Caravel - Drawn from a woodent after a delineation by Columbus in the Latin translation of his letter dated March 1, 1493, to Don Raphael de Sanxis (Treasurer of the King of Spain), in the Library at Milano. October 24, 1937.

España. Inauguración oficial del ferrocarril a La Coruña, Galicia. Viaje de los reyes de España, Alfonso XII y María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena a la Coruña. Revista de la escuadra por el rey, frente al castillo de San Antón, el dia 2 de septiembre. Dibujo del natural por A. de Caula. Grabado. La Ilustración Española y Americana, 15 de septiembre de 1883.

Suez Canal. Port-Said, Egypt. Ship Christopher Columbus at mouth of the canal from Port Said. The Suez Canal was built by the company of Ferdinand-Marie Lesseps (1805-1894). Engraving, 1877. Later colouration.

'The Ark Royal', 1588. Artist: Unknown.

Drawing of an old style Grand Bank cod schooner by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins. Dated 1895

The launch of the armored naval battleship Jaureguiberry at the Toulon shipyards October 27, 1893. France, Europe. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1893

Lighting the road at sea. A slice probably from a German magazine unknown

Model of the Mayflower, Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. , Model ships, Mayflower Ship, Tichnor Brothers Collection, postcards of the United States

Inundation of the Nile: view below Kafr Zayat, showing the railway-bridge, and train off the line, 1861. 'The Nile has risen this year seven feet and a half higher than the customary floods, causing great losses, and involving many of the inhabitants in utter ruin...The communications with the interior are so completely destroyed that there had been no steamer even from Cairo since the Calcutta passengers came through...there is no doubt that a large quantity of cotton is lost...in one village, sixty persons are believed to have perished...The railway is damaged for twenty miles more or less,

An engraving depicting the first engine for the Peshawar Railway, India, being transported across Attock. Dated 19th century

Captain Urquhart experimenting with his Life-Preserving Raft on the Thames, in London 1858. 'A craft, attracting attention by its singular appearance, has been lately experimented on by the inventor, Captain W. Urquhart, of New York, on the Thames. This new life-preserving apparatus is composed of nineteen mattresses connected in such a manner as to form a raft. These mattresses are intended at the same time as beds for the crew and passengers. Each of them is composed of an impervious envelope of gutta-percha, containing another, of common canvas, filled with cork shavings...A valve place

Engraving depicting Robert Fulton's paddle steamer 'Clermont' which plied between New York and Albany on the Hudson River. Dated 19th Century

An engraving depicting the Shropshire Union Canal: the Company's basin at Liverpool. Dated 19th century

Engraving depicting the launching of a lifeboat into the water. Dated 19th Century

United Kingdom, England, Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) sailing to England, print

Journey to the North Pole: The Polar Star ship which carried Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of the Abruzzi, to the Bay of Teplitz on Rudolf-Island located between the icebergs of the North Pole. Illustrator Achille Beltrame (1871-1945), from La Domenica del Corriere, 13th August 1899.

'The R.M.S. Oceanic', 1901. RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 6 September 1899 and was the largest ship in the world until 1901. From "Cassell's History of England, Vol. IX". Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris, New York & Melbourne

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SCHOONERS Date: circa 1880

Model of the Mayflower, Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. , Model ships, Mayflower Ship, Tichnor Brothers Collection, postcards of the United States

Sardine fishing. Sardine fishery on the coast of Brittany, France, Europe. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1889

Collisions At Sea Etc. - European Gateway, Mont Louis-Cargo Of Uranium Sunk N. France - General Merchant Shipping. January 01, 1934.

Geography: a ship in an ice-field. Coloured wood engraving by C. Whymper.

Spain. Sardine fishing off the Galician coast. Drawing by A. de Caula. Engraving by Arturo Carretero (1852-1903). Detail. The Spanish and American Illustration (La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana), 1884.

Chain steamer on the Elbe River near Dresden, Saxony, Germany, wood engraving, 1880, Europe

Pirate ship sailboat retro sketch hand drawn. Vector illustration design.

The ocean liner, Empress of Britain, a steamship owned by the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company pictured in detailed cross-section by the artist G. H. Davis. The ship carried mail as RMS Empress of Britain or passengers with the prefix SS. She was torpedoed and sunk in 1940 by German U-boat, U-32. Date: 1931

Engraving depicting hay-boat on the River Thames, London.

England. Railway accident suffered by one of the "Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway" trains that covered the route between Salisbury-Weymouth, at 4:30 p.m. on June 3, 1884. The train derailed south of Downton in Wiltshire, eight miles from Salisbury. Forty-one people were injured and four died. Three of them drowned when a carriage overturned in a drainage ditch. Engraving. La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana (The Spanish and American Illustration), June 22, 1884.

Towing, barge being pulled, on the Vistula or Wisla, Poland, river landscape, towpath, pulling, boat, transport, worker, former profession, historical illustration 1880, Europe

Engraving showing the Obelisk ship 'Cleopatra', with 'Cleopatra's Needle' aboard, off Westminster Bridge, London, 1878. Date: 16 February 1878

England. Sinking of SS Princess Alice (3 September 1878). British passenger paddle steamer that sank after a collision with the collier SS Bywell Castle on the River Thames. More than 600 people died in the accident, all of whom were travelling on the "Princess Alice", owned by the Woolwich Steam Packet Company. Rescue efforts for the survivors and bodies of the "Princess Alice" in the Thames on the morning of the 4th. Engraving by Rico. La Ilustración Española y Americana (The Spanish and American Illustration), 1878. Author: Bernardo Rico (1825-1894). Spanish painter and engraver.

Engraving of a trial of a Steam Channel Ferry design on the Serpentine, Hyde Park, from The Graphic, 26th February 1876. This working steam scale model appears an ambitious project, with three hulls, six paddle wheels and the ability to carry at least two passenger trains. Date: 1876

The son of Leif Eriksson, Thorvald, enters Boston Harbour on his own exploration of the newly discovered North American coast.

Illustration depicting a scene from Cambridge and Oxford University Boat Race. Dated 19th century

Primitive Ferry on the Tigris, Illustration, Classical Portfolio of Primitive Carriers, by Marshall M. Kirman, World Railway Publ. Co., Illustration, 1895

Greek Bireme ship repelling an attacking enemy ship 5th century BC

Dvenadsat Apostolov (ironclad warship) ca. 1892.

Engraving of the Berthon Folding Boat designed by The Rev. E. L. Berthon. Dated 19th Century

A train in an accident in the middle of the snow on the railway line over the Brenner Pass, 1869, Italy, Historic, digitally restored reproduction of an original 19th century painting, exact original date not known, Europe

Schiffbruch des Schiffes Eider, die Rettungsboote in Aktion, Historisch, digitale Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert

Roman ship, vintage engraved illustration.

Ball on board a sailing ship, historical engraving, circa 1885

Ancient galley with three banks of oars still image. Periodical illustrations. 1872-03. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection. Ships , To 499, Sails, Galleys (Ships), Triremes, Warships

Tahiti, French Polynesia18th Century Engraving

H.M.S. "Powerful", 1936. Creator: Unknown.

Terry's water tricycle converted into a boat during the crossing of the Pas de Calais July 28, 1883. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1883

Pedal boat with screw propeller, digitally restored reproduction of an original from the 19th century

Highly Ornamented Barge, with Forty Rowers on Each Side, Used by King of Siam, 1855, "Classical Portfolio of Primitive Carriers", by Marshall M. Kirman, World Railway Publ. Co., Illustration, 1895

Engraving of a Schooner, a sailing ship with two or more masts, typically with the foremast smaller than the mainmast. Dated 19th Century

The construction of a galleon in a floating dock close to a town. Date: 1486

Warship designed by Napoleon III, historic woodcut, circa 1880

Skat sailing on the frozen Hudson River, North America, historical illustration, circa 1886

transport transportation sledges transport by sledge on the polar ice wood engraving after Edouard Riou late 19th century,

An engraving depicting a "land yacht" constructed by a local firm of coachbuilders, and exhibited at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Exhibition. "It is useful for small parties travelling for pleasure around the country in the way which has become fashionable of late years". Dated 19th century

Chinese sail cart, China. Old XIX century engraved Journey from Shanghai to Moscow Le Tour du Monde 1864

Ship by Moonlight. Artist: Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Russian, Feodosiya 1817-1900 Feodosiya). Dimensions: 6 1/4 x 9 1/4 in. (15.9 x 23.5 cm). Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Engraving of a lifeboat. Dated 19th Century

Engraving of a yacht with adjustable keel. Dated 20th Century

Greek and Bulgarian fishermen's boat in the Black Sea, illustration by Henri Valentin from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 539, Volume XXI, June 25, 1853.

THE BRACKEN BOAT, 1870

H.M.S "Vindictive", 1936. Creator: Unknown.

PILL YAWL, BRISTOL CHANNEL Date: circa 1880

Países Bajos. Molinos de viento para extracción del agua en los alrededores de Amsterdam. Grabado de 1887.

English ship from the second half of the 14th century, embarkation of Count Beauchamp to the Holy Land, Historical, digitally restored reproduction from a 19th century original, exact date unknown

Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, at Java, From the Chart of 'Drake's Voyages. Golden Hind or Golden Hinde was an English galleon best known for her circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake

Ship hull on dry dock. Modern period. 15th century. Europe. Engraving, 19th century.

Birds' eye view of New-Orleans in 1880, with dense riverboat traffic on the Mississippi River.

Funeral procession of Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, actually Franz Hermann Schulze, 1808, 1883, a German politician and the founder of the German co-operative system, on the Long Bridge in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, c. 1885, Historic, digitally restored reproduction from a 19th century original, Funeral procession of Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, actually Franz Hermann Schulze, a German politician and the founder of the German co-operative system, on the Long Bridge i, Europe

Cavallito, Peruvian canoe, digitally restored reproduction of a public domain collective picture from ca 1900, Liebig picture series Ships III, (1893)

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