This Print representing the B & N. A Royal Mail Steam Ship Britannia, John Hewitt, Commander, leaving her dock at East Boston on the 3rd of February 1844 on her voyage to Liverpool

Lithograph showing the Cunard paddle steamer 'Britannia' (1840) leaving her dock at East Boston, 3 February 1844 bound to Liverpool. The Boston Harbor was frozen over and the ice was so thick that a channel had to be cut through the ice for the ship to leave. The Merchants of Boston, for whom the print is dedicated, paid for the cutting of the ice. The Royal Mail steamer carried around 30,000 letters for England. Many observers stand on the ice and wave at the ship. The Boston coast stretches across the background beneath a stormy sky.