Steam Packet
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
Early nineteenth century steamship on coastal and short-sea routes.
A steam packet was a steamship running a scheduled mail and passenger service, mostly on coastal, cross-channel, and short-sea routes, from the 1810s onward. The early ones were paddle steamers; the General Steam Navigation Company (1824) and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (1830, still trading) are documented examples. The steam packet replaced the sailing packet on the mail runs and seeded the transatlantic mail contracts that Samuel Cunard won in 1839 for the 1840 service.
Source: Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, incorporated 1830; Cunard transatlantic mail contract awarded 1839.