Advertisment for 'New Line of Steam Ships to America', c.1858 (printed paper)

The Atlantic Steam Navigation Company, known colloquially as the 'Galway Line', was launched in 1858; Steam Ships were still relatively new and promised greater comfort and safety than the sailing alternative, something that would have appealed to the masses of people who were emigrated at this time from Ireland to America as a result of the potato famine that wreaked such devastation on the Irish economy; The Galway Line was initially granted the Royal Mail charter but this was withdrawn after only two years; This coupled with other setbacks, including The American Civil War, stiff competition and the laying of the first transatlantic cable meant that the company collapsed in 1864;