The 10 inch blade has "MOORE/TICHBORNE St" on the left (cutler William Moore) and is secured by a silver bolster. The overall length is 18 3/4 inches from the tip of the blade to the toe of the deer foot handle. The hoof has a silver "horse shoe" inscribed "From New York/By the Great Western Steamer 1839 Presented by Earl O'Neill." The British based Great Western Steamship Company's S.S. Great Western was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was the first steamship purpose built for crossing the Atlantic and served as the model for many of the ships that followed. It was completed on March 31, 1838, and was the largest passenger ship in the world (234.91 feet long) until the completion of the British and American Steam Navigation Company's S.S. British Queen in July 1839. In August 1-14, 1839, the two rivals competed in a race across the Atlantic from New York to England, and the Great Western was victorious. The Great Western was arguably the first Blue Riband of the Atlantic winner, an unofficial accolade for the fastest ship crossing the Atlantic not named until later in the century. Although the S.S. Sirius crossed the Atlantic in 1838, the Great Western completed its crossing at a greater speed the next day despite the Sirius's four day head start. The Great Western was still the fastest transatlantic ship in 1843 when it ran another record-breaking voyage at the speed of 10.03 knots and continued to run between Bristol and New York until 1846 after which it was used for runs to the West Indies by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and then as a troop transport by the British during the Crimean War before being scrapped in 1856. The presenter may be Charles Henry St. John O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill, (1779-1841) of Shane's Castle in Northern Ireland, at that time the Lord-Lieutenant of Antrim, and the knife may have been presented at a formal event after arriving in England, perhaps in celebration of its victory over the S.S. British Queen.

Very good with mottled gray patina, some minor oxidation/pitting, and mild wear on the blade; some patches of fur absent from the foot, aged patina on the silver, and crisp inscription. Definitely an interesting artifact of nautical and Atlantic World history.