This is a coloured lithograph of the experimental steamer Leviathan, built at New York in 1852, cutting a swathe through stormy seas. There is a cigar-shaped inscription below the image, representing the horizontal section of the hull at the waterline, with the outline of the deck. Her novel shape was intended for strength, speed and efficiency, in the hope that she could make the New York to Liverpool crossing in less than five days. In spite of her streamlined design, sixteen separate engines and thirty-two funnels, however, the Leviathan failed to live up to the predicted average speed of twenty-five knots and only achieved about four knots. She was soon scrapped.