SS Alaska Guion Line's Transatlantic Steamer Poster

This artwork is a remastered and enhanced reproduction of an early steamship portrait titled “Alaska Guion Line’s Transatlantic Steamer.” The reproduction is based on a copy of the original oil painting inspired by Antonio Jacobsen, a prolific late 1800s and early 1900s nautical art painter. The original was an oil-style painting of Guion Line’s steamship SS Alaska. The painting depicts the ship underway in a choppy green sea, with twin funnels smoking, four auxiliary masts for propulsion, and a cloudy sky. I expanded the image and retouched it using AI tools and Photoshop, which restored the details and vibrancy. The history of the Alaska ship is fascinating. It was launched by John Elder & Co. at Govan, Scotland, on 15 July 1881. The SS Alaska was a two-funnel, four-masted single-screw ocean liner, built for the Guion Line’s Liverpool–Queenstown–New York service. The ship was approximately 526 feet long with a 50.5-foot beam. It featured accommodations for roughly 350 saloon passengers and 1,000 steerage passengers. In April 1882, she won the Blue Riband with a record Atlantic passage (7 days, 6 hours, 43 minutes). In 1883, the SS Alaska became the first liner to reach New York in under a week. The ship’s speed was expensive. The Alaska would burn approximately 250 tons of coal per day. She continued service through the 1880s.