The George Law ship model

Smithsonian's Office of Exhibits Central created this model for the National Postal Museum’s inaugural exhibits in 1993.

The SS George Law, a three-masted 272-foot-long side-wheel steamship, was named for the owner of the United States Mail Steamship Company. The George Law made its first trip on October 28, 1852. In 1857 the ship was renamed the SS Central America. The ship made the trip between New York City and Panama in 19 to 24 days.

The ship sailed from Aspinwall, Panama, on September 3, 1857, carrying 476 passengers, 102 crew members, and a cargo that included mail and three tons of gold. Nine days later, a hurricane sank the ship off of the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, all but 109 perished as the ship floundered and sank. In September 1986 the Columbus-American Discovery group located the wreck of the Central America.

Once gold was discovered in California in 1848, the need for swift travel between the U.S. west and east coasts became a priority for gold seekers. To ensure that mail traveled as quickly as possible between the coasts, the Post Office Department contracted with steamship companies to carry mail down both coasts to the Panamanian or Nicaraguan Isthmus. From there it was carried fifty-miles across land to be loaded back onto another steamship for the rest of its journey.

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company contracted with the U.S. government to carry the mail from Panama north to San Francisco. By mid-century two companies monopolized the Panamanian Isthmus route. George Law's U.S. Mail Steamship Company operated on the Atlantic coast, and William H. Aspinwall's Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the Pacific.

Mail contracts ensured that mail would be transported across land between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in Panama and Nicaragua. Passengers, however, were left to find their own way across. The fifty-mile journey by mule, wagon, or on foot along Panama's jungle trails was grueling, and many travelers fell ill or were injured. In 1851 the Vanderbilt Line opened a route through Nicaragua, all but twelve miles of it by water, giving transcontinental travelers a safer alternative to Panama. The exhausting overland trip across Panama became faster and easier in 1855 when the Panamanian Railroad began operations.

Museum ID: 1993.4005.3