Packet Ship

A packet ship was a sailing vessel running a fixed published schedule across the North Atlantic to carry mail, passengers, and fine freight, regardless of whether the hold was full. The Black Ball Line, opened on the New York to Liverpool run in January 1818, is usually credited as the first regular packet line. Packets sailed on advertised days and built the model that the steam packet and the scheduled liner later inherited; sail packets faded as steamers took the mail after the 1840s.