SS Alaska (1881)

{{other ships|USS Alaska}}

SS Alaska was a record breaking British passenger liner that won the Blue Riband for the Guion Line as the fastest liner on the Atlantic in 1882.{{cite web|url=http://library.mysticseaport.org/immigration/steamshipDetail.cfm?Expr1=Alaska1881|title=Immigration Vessels|publisher=Mystic Seaport|access-date=31 August 2013|quote=Won Atlantic Blue Ribbon in April 1882 for a record Atlantic crossing of 7 days, 6 hours, 43 minutes. Laid up 1894. In 1897 renamed MAGALLANES, sailed as charter for Cia Trasatlatica. Sold for scrap 1899, but resold as a hulk. Broken up 1902.}} She was a slightly larger and faster edition of Guion's Arizona and in 1883 became the first liner to make the crossing to New York in under a week. However, Alaska burned 250 tons of coal per day, as compared to Arizona's already high 135 tons. Built by John Elder & Company of Glasgow, she carried 350 first class passengers and 1,000 steerage.{{cite book | last = Gibbs | first = Charles Robert Vernon | title = Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day | publisher = John De Graff | year = 1957 | pages = 205–206}} Her passengers included Hugh Simpson Rodham: future grandfather of Hillary Clinton, who travelled in steerage to America with his mother Bella and seven siblings as a toddler in October 1882.Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C. As in the case of Arizona, Stephen Guion also personally owned Alaska.{{cite book | last = New York Times | title = Obituary: Stephen Baker Guion | date = December 20, 1885 }}

On her maiden voyage she arrived to New York in December 1881.Scientific American Volume 61 Number 25 (December 1889)

Alaska completed 100 voyages when Guion suspended sailings in 1894. She proved difficult to sell and was finally chartered in 1897 by Cia. Transatlanticia Espanola as a troop transport. In 1899, Alaska was sold for scrap, but was resold to the Barrow shipyard where she was used as an accommodation hulk until broken up in 1902.{{cite book | last = Kludas | first = Arnold | title = Record breakers of the North Atlantic, Blue Riband Liners 1838-1953 | location = London | publisher = Chatham | year =1999 }}