General Steam Navigation Company

The General Steam Navigation Company (GSN), incorporated in 1824, was London's foremost short sea shipping line for almost 150 years. It was the oldest shipping company in the world to begin business with seagoing steam vessels.

In 1815, the first steam shipping line on the Thames was started. The paddle steamer Marjory, serviced a line between London and Gravesend. Many more steamboats followed, and the lines were soon extended to Margate. At the time both places were already popular tourist destinations. At the time, the brothers Thomas and John Brocklebank, were traders in timber and had a shipyard at Deptford Creek.

In about 1821, Thomas Brocklebank arrived at Margate on the first steamboat to ply that route. On disembarking the local authorities charged him 2s 6d for himself and 2s 6d for his hand baggage. This was the equivalent of about a week's income for an average salary. Brocklebank immediately saw a business opportunity and decided to convert one of the barges he had on the stocks to a steamboat. He ordered engines and soon launched her as Eagle Packet. She was used for a route between London and Ramsgate, where people could disembark without charges.

Brocklebank built some more vessels, and formed the Ramsgate and Broadstairs Steam Packet Company. This company had shares dated 29 April 1822. It employed Brocklebank's Thames paddle steamer Eagle on the route between London and Ramsgate. In 1822 Brocklebank built the slightly larger Royal Sovereign for the same route. In 1824 the City of London was built.^{[clarification needed]} In May 1824 Brocklebank sold the Eagle.

The initiative to form the General Steam Navigation Company came from William J. Hall and Thomas Brocklebank. On 11 June 1824 a contract was signed to found the company. It had a large nominal capital of £2 million in £100 shares, but the first installment was only two pounds 10 shillings, and would never exceed £15. The company had a wide ranging vision of establishing steam lines across the globe, but also wanted to station steam vessels for towing at multiple places on the British coast.

GSN's first board had 18 members. Amongst these were the Calais shipping line owners William Jolliffe and Sir Edward Banks, the wharfinger William J. Hall, and the Ramsgate shipping line owner Thomas Brocklebank. Mr. Matthias Attwood MP was the first chairman. He would be succeeded by his son Matthias Wolverley Attwood (1808-1865). (Matthias Attwood should not be confused with his younger brother the MP and banker Thomas Attwood. Others have that Sir Joseph Banks and Thomas Brocklebank would only later become the managing director.

When the company was established, it immediately acquired four existing steamers for lines to Hull and Ramsgate. It then ordered six more for lines to Yarmouth, Ostend, Brighton and Dieppe. The tonnage of these ships was about 240, with 40 hp. In 1825 a new line from London to Leith was added, serviced by the United Kingdom of 160 feet. In 1825 the GSN operated 14 steam vessels on lines from London. Many of the ships in this overview can be identified with ships in an 1822 overview of early steam vessels.

The overview illustrates how the company's operations started. In 1824, Jolliffe, Banks, and Brocklebank brought in their four steam vessels. The board then carefully placed orders for six new ships: four built by Everden at Deptford on land leased from Brocklebank, and two by Wallis at Blackwall. In 1825 however, many existing ships were hastily bought after little prior inspection. In 1826 GSN faced a financial crisis. Only about half of its fleet was actually employed, and not all of these permanently. Many of the second hand ships which had been bought required extensive repairs, and the ships that had been ordered cost a lot of money before they generated revenue.