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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
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(example: M^cLENNAN).
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STEAM NAVIGATION.
[Illustration:
LORD MOUNTSTEPHEN. LORD STRATHCONA. SIR SANDFORD FLEMING.]
STEAM NAVIGATION
AND
ITS RELATION TO THE COMMERCE OF
CANADA AND THE UNITED
STATES.
by
JAMES CROIL,
Montreal.
Author of “Dundas: A Sketch of Canadian History.”
With Illustrations and Portraits.
Toronto:
William Briggs.
Montreal: The Montreal News Company, Limited
1898.
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada,
in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight,
by William Briggs, at the Department of Agriculture.
_This Volume
is dedicated by permission to
His Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen,
K.T., G.C.M.G., etc.,
Governor-General of Canada
from 1893 to 1898,
a nobleman who will long be gratefully remembered
as the benefactor and friend
of all classes of the community, and
who, with his Consort,
The Countess of Aberdeen, LL.D.
will always be associated by the
Canadian people with a period in their history of
great national prosperity,
their joint efforts in furthering lofty ideals
having done much to
advance the highest interests of the Dominion._
[Illustration]
IN HONOUR OF THE MEN
by whose enterprise, courage, and skill
THE
ROYAL WILLIAM
The First Vessel to Cross the Atlantic by
Steam Power was wholly constructed in
Canada and navigated to England in 1833.
The Pioneer of Those Mighty Fleets of Ocean
Steamers by which Passengers and Merchandise
of all Nations are now conveyed on every sea
throughout the World.
ORDERED BY
THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA, JUNE 13-15, 1804.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, OTTAWA
FACSIMILE OF THE MEMORIAL BRASS.
“ROYAL WILLIAM.”
PREFACE.
When the history of the nineteenth century comes to be written, not
the least interesting chapter of it will be that which treats of the
origin, the development, and the triumphs of Steam Navigation—that
mighty combination of inventive genius and mechanical force that has
bridged the oceans and brought the ends of the earth together.
During the past few years several important contributions to this
class of literature have issued from the metropolitan press. Three of
these deserve special mention: (1) “The Atlantic Ferry; its Ships,
Men, and Working,” by Arthur J. Maginnis, gold medallist and member of
the Institution of Naval Architects, 1892; (2) “Our Ocean Railways,
or the Rise, Progress, and Development of Ocean Steam Navigation,” by
A. Fraser-Macdonald, 1893; (3) “The History of North Atlantic Steam
Navigation, with Some Account of Early Ships and Shipowners,” by Henry
Fry, ex-President of Dominion Board of Trade of Canada and Lloyd’s
Agent at Quebec, 1896. Each of these writers, in his own way, has
treated the subject so thoroughly and satisfactorily, the author feels
as though the wind had been taken out of his sails somewhat, and it is
not without hesitation that he has yielded to the advice of friends in
whose judgment he has implicit confidence, and ventured to follow in
the wake of such accomplished writers.
If I am questioned as to _motif_ I cannot better justify the rash deed
than by endorsing the sentiment in Byron’s apostrophe:
“And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward; from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers—they to me
Were a delight.”
These pages are of a much less pretentious character than the
above-named books. They are but a compilation of materials more or
less intimately connected with Steam Navigation, gathered from many
sources, during many years, and now woven into homely narrative. They
necessarily contain much in common with these other writings on this
subject, but they are projected from a different standpoint and embrace
a wider field, supplying information not easily obtained, respecting
the far-reaching waterways of Canada, her magnificent ship canals, and
the vast steam commerce of the Great Lakes.
So numerous are the sources of information drawn upon, it is impossible
to make adequate acknowledgment of them all. The agents of Atlantic
lines of steamships were particularly obliging in their replies to
inquiries made of them. Without in any way making them responsible for
the use made of their communications, upon these my remarks on that
branch of the subject are chiefly based. Among other publications I
have consulted the “Transactions of the Imperial Institute,” London,
and of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec; Government
reports emanating from Ottawa and Washington; also many pamphlets,
magazine and newspaper articles bearing on the subject, not to speak of
my capacious scrap-book and some well-thumbed note-books.
Additional authorities will be indicated as the narrative proceeds.
Besides these, grateful acknowledgments for valuable assistance are
due to Sir Sandford Fleming and Mr. George Johnson, F.S.S., of Ottawa;
to Messrs. Douglas Battersby, R. W. Shepherd, and the late Captain
Thomas Howard, of Montreal; to Mr. Archibald Campbell, of Quebec;
Captain Clarke Hamilton, of Kingston; Mrs. Holden, of Port Dover, Ont.,
and Mr. T. M. Henderson, of Victoria, B.C.; to members of the Boards
of Trade in Montreal, Minneapolis and Duluth; and to the following
clergymen: Rev. Dr. Bruce, of St. John, N.B.; Rev. T. F. Fullerton, of
Charlottetown. P.E.I.; Rev. James Bennett, of L’Orignal, Ont., and Rev.
W. H. L. Howard, of Fort William, Ont.
The illustrations have nearly all been made for this work: the
wood-cuts by Mr. J. H. Walker, and the half-tones by the Standard
Photo-Engraving Company, Montreal.
J. C.
MONTREAL, _October_, 1898.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
THE DAWN OF STEAM NAVIGATION 17
CHAPTER II.
EARLY YEARS OF STEAM NAVIGATION 50
CHAPTER III.
THE CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY 71
CHAPTER IV.
NORTH ATLANTIC STEAMSHIP COMPANIES 103
CHAPTER V.
STEAM TO INDIA AND THE EAST 142
CHAPTER VI.
STEAM IN THE BRITISH NAVY 166
CHAPTER VII.
THE ST. LAWRENCE ROUTE 192
CHAPTER VIII.
STEAM ON THE GREAT LAKES 244
CHAPTER IX.
STEAM COMMERCE OF THE GREAT LAKES 268
CHAPTER X.
STEAM NAVIGATION IN ALL THE PROVINCES
OF THE DOMINION AND IN NEWFOUNDLAND 307
ILLUSTRATIONS.
STEAM VESSELS.
PAGE
ALBERTA 285
ATLANTIC 105
AUGUSTA VICTORIA 133
BEAVER 335
BRITANNIA 72
CALEDONIA 146
CAMPANIA 78
CANADA 226
CHARLOTTE DUNDAS 32
CLERMONT 42
COLUMBA 38
COMET 35
CORONA 329
CRESCENT 191
DUKE OF WELLINGTON 167
EMPIRE 255
EMPRESS OF JAPAN 162
GREAT BRITAIN 62
GREAT EASTERN 63
HORNET 169
JEANIE DEANS 51
JOHN S. COLBY 363
KAISER W. DER GROSSE 137
LAKE ONTARIO 230
MAJESTIC 119
MANITOU 271
MILLER’S TWIN BOAT 31
MISSISSIPPI STEAMER 43
NELSON 337
NEW YORK 47
NIAGARA 74
NORMANNIA 131
NORTH-WEST 273
OCEANIC 117
OHIO STEAMER 45
PARIS 107
PARIS DINING-ROOM 109
PARIS (_Stern View_) 108
PARISIAN 204
PASSPORT 327
PENNSYLVANIA 135
PILGRIM 16
PRINCETON 253
PRISCILLA 46
QUEBEC 311
QUEEN CHARLOTTE 249
QUETTA 150
RENOWN 172
RHINE STEAMER 39
ROBERT GARRETT 49
ROYAL WILLIAM 8
ST. LOUIS 111
SAVANNAH 53
SCOTIA 77
SIRIUS 59
SOVEREIGN 317
STANLEY 352
TEUTONIC 174
VANDALIA 251
VICTORIA AND ALBERT 184
WALK-IN-THE-WATER 250
WILLIAM IV. 325
PORTRAITS.
PAGE
AIRD, CAPTAIN 215
ALLAN, SIR HUGH 208
ALLAN, ANDREW 296
BURNS, SIR GEORGE 93
CAMPBELL, CAPTAIN 233
CUNARD, SIR SAMUEL 93
DUTTON, CAPTAIN 218
FLEMING, SIR SANDFORD 4
GRAHAM, CAPTAIN 211
HAMILTON, HON. JOHN 331
LINDALL, CAPTAIN 223
MACAULAY, CAPTAIN 227
MACIVER, DAVID 93
MCMASTER, CAPTAIN 197
MCLENNAN, HUGH 296
MOUNTSTEPHEN, LORD 4
NAPIER, ROBERT 97
NAPIER, MRS. 97
OGILVIE, W. W. 296
RITCHIE, CAPTAIN 216
SHEPHERD, R. W. 322
SMITH, CAPTAIN W. H. 194
STRATHCONA, LORD 4
TORRANCE, JOHN 308
WYLIE, CAPTAIN 212
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE
CANAL LOCK, CANADIAN 264
CANAL LOCK, U. STATES 278
CUNARD TRACK CHART 90
GRAIN ELEVATOR 289
GREAT REPUBLIC, SHIP 26
HORSE-BOAT 29
MAP GULF PORTS, ETC. 241
ROYAL WILLIAM—MODEL 55
SHIP OF THE DESERT 143
WIND-BOAT 70
[Illustration: “PILGRIM,”
Sister to _Priscilla_ of the Fall River Line, 1890.]
CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF STEAM NAVIGATION.
_Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends.
All my dreams come back to me._
—LONGFELLOW.
The up-to-date standard—Old-time sailing
ships—The clipper packet-ship—Dawn of steam
navigation—Denis Papin on the Fulda—Bell’s
_Comet_—Fulton’s _Clermont_—American
river steamers and ferry-boats.
Travel increases in faster ratio than do facilities for
inter-communication. The prophecy surely is being fulfilled in these
latter days, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased.” It is estimated that at least 750,000 persons travel
yearly between Europe and America; 99,223 cabin passengers and 252,350
steerage passengers landed at New York from Europe in 1896. The
Cunard Line brought the largest number of cabin passengers, 17,999,
from Liverpool, and the North German Lloyd Line the largest number of
steerage, namely, 38,034, from Bremen.
Notwithstanding the wonderful development of railway and steamship
systems, means of conveyance during the summer months often fall short
of the demand. Passages by the more popular lines of steamships must
be engaged months ahead; in many cases the ships are uncomfortably
crowded. At such times sofas take the place of berths, and all the
officers’ rooms, from the coveted Captain’s cabin to the second and
third stewards’ bunks, are called into requisition and held at a round
premium. On Saturday, the 8th of May, 1897, no less than 1,500 saloon
passengers left New York for Liverpool on the great ocean greyhounds.
The travelling season is comparatively short, the competition is keen,
and the enormous expense of building, furnishing and running up-to-date
steamships renders it difficult to provide the requisite accommodation
on a paying basis. The up-to-date steamship must be built of steel, to
combine light weight with strength. It must have triple or quadruple
expansion engines to economize fuel. It must be propelled by twin or
triple screws, as well for the easier handling of the vessel as for
safety in case of a breakdown of machinery, and for attaining the
highest possible speed. Our ideal steamship must be able to turn quite
round in its own length, and to go through the water at an average
speed of at least twenty knots an hour. To attain these results, ships
of a very large class are called for—nothing short of from eight to
ten thousand tons burthen will come up to the mark. There are many
magnificent steamships in the North Atlantic trade and elsewhere but
as yet few have in all respects reached the up-to-date standard, and
even those that are such this year, a few years hence are certain to be
regarded as quite behind the times. There is no valid reason to suppose
that the process of development which has been going on during the last
fifty years in this direction is to be arrested at the close of the
century. The indications, so far as they can be interpreted, are all
in the opposite direction. The paddle-wheel ocean steamer reached its
zenith with the launch of the _Scotia_ of the Cunard Line in 1862. She
was the last of the race.
The wooden steamship, “copper-fastened and copper-bottomed,” etc.,
etc., is long since a thing of the past. The iron age, which succeeded
the wooden, has been changed to steel, and steel may change to
something else, and steam to electricity. Who knows? Mr. Maginnis,
who is himself an engineer and an architect, speaks with authority
when he says that, “Whether the improvements be in the ship or in
the machinery, gradual advances will be made in the near future.”
The thirst of competing steamship companies for conquest on the high
seas—at any cost—and the ambition of ship-builders to improve upon the
latest improvements, will not be satisfied with present attainments,
even if it can be proved to a demonstration that thousands of
additional horse-power and hundreds of additional tons of coal per day
would be required to increase to any appreciable extent the maximum
rate of speed that has already been reached. In the meantime some
idea may be formed of the possible saving in the consumption of fuel
when it is stated that, by a system of induced draught, discovered
since the last two Cunarders were designed, the number of boilers
necessary to generate steam enough for 30,000 indicated horse-power
may be reduced to little more than one-half, which, to put it briefly,
means a corresponding saving in space, weight and first cost.[1] In
fact, well-informed marine engineers do not hesitate to express their
opinion that the day is not far distant when Atlantic greyhounds may be
coursing across the ocean at the rate of thirty knots an hour, bringing
Queenstown and Sandy Hook within ninety-three hours of each other.
It is difficult to form a correct idea, from any verbal or pictorial
representation, of the elegance, the convenience and the comfort
attaching to the “Express Steamship.” Nothing short of a voyage or
voyages in one of these floating palaces would suffice to give an
adequate conception of their excellence. And yet, when all is said
that can be said in praise of the steamship, some of us “old stagers”
can look back, if not with lingering regret, at least with pleasant
recollection, to the days of the packet-ship, and even of the sailing
vessel of humbler pretensions.
Some of the early emigrant ships were certainly of a mean order, and
many emigrants suffered cruel hardships before they reached their
destination. It was not an uncommon thing for five or six hundred men,
women and children to be huddled together indiscriminately in the hold
of a vessel of from 250 to 300 tons, doomed to subsist on coarsest
food, and liable to be immured beneath hatches for days or weeks at a
time, without medical attendance, obliged to cook their own food, and
scantily supplied with water; and all this for eight or ten weeks at a
stretch!
In one of his autobiographic sketches the late Bishop Strachan says
that he sailed from Greenock in the end of August, 1799, “under
convoy,” and such was then the wretched state of navigation, he did
not reach Kingston, by way of New York and Montreal, till the 31st of
December. In a letter before me an aged friend recites the story of
his adventurous voyage from Liverpool to Quebec, some fifty years ago.
The ship was a superannuated bluff-bowed East Indiaman, but counted
good enough in those days to carry five hundred emigrants across the
stormy Atlantic. When ten days out they encountered a hurricane which
drove the vessel out of her course. Her three masts fell overboard.
The cook’s galley and the long boat, the water casks, and everything
else on deck, vanished in the gale. The huge hulk rolled like a log
in the Bay of Biscay for several days, the passengers meanwhile being
confined between decks in horrible confusion. A passing steamer towed
them back to Plymouth, where six weeks were spent in refitting the
ship, each adult receiving ten shillings and sixpence per week for
board and lodging until the repairs were completed. After seven weeks
more of great discomfort “and tyrannical treatment on the part of the
captain,” they finally reached Quebec in 107 days after first embarking
at Liverpool.
My own experience of sailing ships, though fifty-seven years have
elapsed, is still fresh in mind and recalls some pleasant memories. My
first voyage to New York was from the Clyde in a new American ship,
commanded by one Captain Theobald, a typical New Englander, as fine
a man as one could desire to meet. The voyage was uneventful in the
ordinary sense of the term, but one’s first voyage in a sailing ship
is an event never to be forgotten. It was anticipated with peculiar
interest, and regarded with far greater importance than attaches to
crossing the Atlantic nowadays. So far from being monotonous, there
were incessant changes in sea and sky, in the dress of the ship, and
the occupations and songs of the sailors. One day the ship might be
bowling along beautifully, decked out in her royals and sky-sails, her
studding-sails and stay sails; next day, perhaps, she might be scudding
under reefed topsails before an easterly gale, pooping seas that washed
the quarterdeck and tumbled like a waterfall into the waist of the
ship. Occasionally, a “white squall” coming up would make things lively
on deck while it lasted. If becalmed in the right place we caught
codfish. For the most part, however, the familiar refrain of “tacks and
sheets” would be heard many times a day and in the night watches, as we
tacked this way and that way against westerly breezes, thankful if the
log showed that we had advanced on our course forty or fifty miles in
twenty-four hours.
My second voyage westward in a sailing ship was also a memorable one.
The Scotch captain of the good ship _Perthshire_, in which we sailed
from the Tail of the Bank, off Greenock, on June 19th, 1844, was very
unlike the Yankee skipper of the previous voyage. Captain S—— was
kind and attentive to his passengers, but not at all popular with his
crew. As I watched him taking the sun, the first day out, he said,
“Young man, you are going to be some weeks on board this ship, with
nothing to do but to eat and drink and sleep. Suppose you take a few
lessons in navigation? Here is a spare quadrant which you can use.”
I jumped at the offer, and very soon mastered at least the outlines
of the business. Much was learned in these six weeks—how to find the
latitude and longitude at sea; to ascertain the precise deviation of
the chronometer from Greenwich time, and of the compass from its true
bearing; to measure the trend and velocity of ocean currents, and,
failing solar observations, how to consult the moon and the stars. This
was not only interesting; it was a fascinating pastime. The captain of
a twenty-knot steamship has seldom need to “resolve a traverse;” he
steers a straight course for his destination, and can usually estimate
within a few hours, or even minutes, when he will reach it. It is quite
different with the master of a sailing vessel; after contending with
contrary winds and being driven out of his course for weeks at a time,
he must often wrack his brains before he can locate his exact position
on the chart. To be enveloped in dense fog in the near neighbourhood
of Sable Island for several days at a time, as happened to us on this
voyage, is a very perplexing position to be in.
For a slight offence Captain S—— would send a man aloft to scrape
masts in a gale of wind; for a graver misdemeanour he would clap him
in irons; had the lash been permitted, he would probably not have
hesitated to use it. As might be supposed, things did not go very well
in the fo’castle. At length a climax was reached, when the starboard
watch came aft one day and lodged a complaint. Getting little or no
satisfaction, they retired sullenly, went below, and refused to work
for a whole week. The working of the ship then devolved on the first
and second mates, the carpenter and the cook, with such of the cabin
passengers as could give them assistance. The steerage passengers,
siding with the sailors, would not touch a rope, and things even went
so far that one of them was placed in confinement for insolence. Some
of us were rather glad of the opportunity thus afforded of running
up the rigging and creeping through the lubbers’ hole without being
“salted.” When orders were given to shorten sail or shake out a reef,
we “lay out” on the yard in sailor fashion; but how much good we did on
such occasions will never be known.[2] At any rate, we counted it fine
fun, and it gave the _fiasco_ a touch of romance that we slept with
loaded pistols under our pillows. But the mutiny ended harmlessly when
the pilot came on board. One may cross the Atlantic nowadays without
any kind of “adventure” like that to adorn a tale, even without so much
as once speaking to the captain.
Not every one has the chance of seeing Jack in his citadel. I was
deputed by the captain to interview the strikers and endeavour to
pacify them. Armed with a copy of the shipping articles which the men
had all signed, and another formidable document printed in very large
type, I went down into the dingy cabin at the dinner hour. Such a
place as it was! I shall never forget it. It corresponded in minute
detail to Dana’s description of his fo’castle in “Two Years Before
the Mast.” It was devoid of furniture. There was not even a table to
place their food on. In the centre of the floor stood a dirty-looking
wooden tub containing a junk of boiled salt beef; near it was a pail
full of boiled rice and some hard-tack. The men, about a dozen of them,
sat each man on his sea-chest, using his jack-knife to cut and carve
with. There were no plates. Imagine the rest. The only grievance they
would mention to me was that they had been refused molasses with their
rice! Their mind was made up to stay under hatches till the pilot came
aboard. They would work for him, but not for the captain; and they
kept their word. As I was about leaving, the spokesman of the party,
pointing to the mess on the middle of the floor, said with a look
that constrained pity, “Mister, how would you like that for your own
dinner?” He had the best of the argument. It may be added here that
this voyage to New York lasted forty-two days, and the last entry in
my log is to the effect that we made as good a passage as any ship
from England, “beating the _Columbus_ packet-ship by two days!”
[Illustration: “GREAT REPUBLIC.”
Last of the Clipper Passenger Packets, 1854.]
The clipper “packet ship” was a vast improvement on the ordinary
sailing ship. It had just reached its highest point of development when
the ocean steamship first made its appearance. It was to the upper
strata of the travelling community, sixty years ago, the counterpart
of the express steamer of to-day. The packet-ship was built for fast
sailing, with very fine lines, was handsomely fitted up and furnished,
was exceedingly well found in eatables and drinkables, and carried a
great spread of canvas. To see one of these ships under full sail was
a sight to be remembered—a rare sight, inasmuch as all the conditions
of wind and water necessary for the display of every stitch of canvas
are seldom met with in the North Atlantic. They not unfrequently
crossed in fourteen or fifteen days. In winter they might be three
months on a single voyage, but their average would be from twenty-five
to thirty days.
There were many separate lines of packet-ships sailing at regular
intervals from London and Liverpool, and from Hamburg and Havre, to New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other American ports. Among these were
the famous Black Ball Line, the White Star Line, the Old and the New
Line of Liverpool packets, etc. The New Line was American, and of it E.
K. Collins, the promoter of the Collins’ Line of steamers, was the New
York agent. The ships were named _Shakespeare_, _Siddons_, _Sheridan_,
_Garrick_, and so forth, hence this was called the “Dramatic Line.”
It is refreshing to read one of their advertisements in the Montreal
_Gazette_, as old as November 20th, 1838:
“These ships are of the first-class, upwards of 800
tons burthen, built in the city of New York, with
such improvements as to combine great speed with
unusual comfort to passengers. Every care has been
taken in the arrangement of their accommodation.
The price of passage hence is $140, for which ample
stores, including wines, etc., will be provided;
without wines, etc., $120. These ships will be
commanded by experienced masters, who will make
every exertion to give general satisfaction. Letters
charged at the rate or 25 cents per single sheet.
☛The ships of this line will hereafter go armed,
and their peculiar construction gives them security not
possessed by any other but vessels of war.”
E. K. COLLINS, NEW YORK.
WM. & JAS. BROWN & CO., LIVERPOOL.
The _Great Republic_, one of the last of the clipper packet-ships, was
built in the United States in 1854. She was a four-master of 3,400
tons, 305 feet long, 53 feet beam, and 30 feet in depth. She made the
run from New York to the Scilly Islands in thirteen days. She ended her
sailing career as a French transport ship, and finally was degraded to
a coal hulk. The largest sailing vessel afloat at the present time is
the five-masted steel ship _La France_, built on the Clyde by D. & W.
Henderson for French owners. She is 6,100 tons burthen, 375 feet long,
49 feet wide and 33¾ feet depth. Her fore mainmast is 166 feet high. On
her first trip from Cardiff to Rio Janeiro she carried 6,000 tons of
coal, and attained a speed of twelve and a half knots.
THE DAWN OF STEAMSHIP NAVIGATION.
Paddle-wheels for driving boats through the water were used long
before steam-engines were thought of. They were worked by hand and
foot-power without, however, any advantage over the old-fashioned oar.
The horse-boat, in a variety of forms, has been in use for many years,
and is not yet quite obsolete. In its earlier form two horses, one on
each side of a decked scow, were hitched to firmly braced upright posts
at which they tugged for all they were worth without ever advancing
beyond their noses, but communicating motion to the paddle-wheels by
the movable platform on which they trod. For larger boats four or five
horses were harnessed to horizontal bars converging towards the centre,
and moved around the deck in a circle, the paddles receiving their
impulse through a set of cog-wheels. The “latest improvement” was on
the direct self-acting treadmill principle, the power being regulated
by the weight of the horses and the pitch of elevation given to the
revolving platform on which the unfortunate animals were perched.
Newcomen’s steam-engine had been invented and used for other purposes
eighty years at least, before it was applied to the propelling of
vessels. The modern steamboat is not an _invention_, but rather the
embodiment of many inventions and experiments, extending over a long
series of years by different men and in different countries.
[Illustration: HORSE-BOAT AT EMPY’S FERRY, OSNABRUCK, ONT.]
One of the first actual steamboats of which there is authentic record
sailed down the River Fulda, in Prussia, in the year 1707. It was
built, engined and navigated by a clever Frenchman, Denis Papin,[3] who
was born in 1647, was educated as a physician, and became assistant
to the celebrated philosopher, Huygens, in Paris, where he published
a small volume on the mechanical effects to be obtained by means of
a vacuum. While this attracted the attention of _savants_, it had
little or no interest for practical men, and yet in it lay the germ
of the power that was to revolutionize the world. He went to London
with letters to the Royal Society, and was employed by that society
several years, during which he continued his experiments on atmospheric
pressure and the vacuum, and the power of steam. He was next appointed
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Marburg, from which he
removed to Cassel. He had seen the horse-boat in England, and the idea
of employing steam to turn the paddles took strong hold of him. He
had a boat built and fitted with a steam-engine, in which he embarked
with his family and all his belongings, with a view to making his
experiment known in Britain and exhibiting his steamboat. All went well
until he reached the junction of the rivers Fulda and Weser, where the
boatmen got up a hue-and-cry that their craft was endangered by this
innovation. In vain Papin protested that he merely wanted to leave the
country. On the plea that their rights of navigating these waters had
been infringed upon, they rose up _en masse_, seized the steamboat,
dragged out the machinery and smashed it to atoms. Poor Papin found his
way back to London a broken-hearted man, never to see the day when his
great discovery was to enrich the world.
[Illustration: MILLER’S TWIN BOAT ON LOCH DALSWINTON, 1788.
From “Chambers’ Book of Days.”]
Fifty years later another experiment was made by Patrick Miller, a
banker in Edinburgh, aided by Mr. Taylor, tutor in his family, and
Alexander Symington, a practical engineer. Mr. Miller had a boat built
and fitted with a small steam-engine, for his amusement, on Dalswinton
Loch, Dumfriesshire. It was a twin-boat, the engine being placed on
one side, the boiler on the other, and the paddle-wheel in the centre.
It was launched in October, 1788, and attained a speed of five miles
an hour. The engine, of one horse-power, is still to be seen in the
Andersonian Museum, in Glasgow. Encouraged by his experiment, Mr.
Miller bought one of the boats used on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and
had a steam-engine constructed for it by the Carron Ironworks Company,
under Symington’s superintendence. On December 26th, 1789, this
steamboat towed a heavy load on the canal, at a speed of seven miles an
hour; but, strange to say, the experiment was dropped as soon as it was
tried.
[Illustration: SYMINGTON’S “CHARLOTTE DUNDAS,” 1802.
From “Our Ocean Railways.”]
In 1801 the London newspapers contained the announcement that an
experiment had taken place on the Thames, on July 1st, for the purpose
of propelling a laden barge, or other craft, against the tide, by
means of a steam-engine of a very simple construction. “The moment the
engine was set to work the barge was brought about, answering her helm
quickly, and she made way against a strong current, at the rate of two
and a half miles an hour.” In 1802 a new vessel was built expressly
for steam navigation, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, under Symington’s
supervision, the _Charlotte Dundas_, which was minutely inspected on
the same day by Robert Fulton, of New York, and Henry Bell, of Glasgow,
both of whom took sketches of the machinery to good purpose.[4] This
boat drew a load of seventy tons, at a speed of three and a half miles
an hour, against a strong gale of wind. Under ordinary conditions she
made six miles an hour, but her admitted success was cut short by the
Canal Trust, who alleged that the wash of the steamer would destroy the
embankment.
BELL’S “COMET.”[5]
Nothing more was heard of the steamboat in Britain until 1812, when
Henry Bell surprised the natives of Strathclyde by the following
advertisement in the Greenock _Advertiser_:
STEAM PASSAGE BOAT,
“THE COMET,”
BETWEEN GLASGOW, GREENOCK AND HELENSBURGH,
FOR PASSENGERS ONLY.
The subscriber having, at much expense, fitted up a handsome
vessel, to ply upon the River Clyde, between Glasgow and Greenock,
to sail by the power of wind, air and steam, he intends that the
vessel shall leave the Broomielaw on Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays, about mid-day, or at such hour thereafter as may
answer from the state of the tide; and to leave Greenock on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, in the morning, to suit the tide.
The elegance, comfort, safety and speed of this vessel requires
only to be proved to meet the approbation of the public; and the
proprietor is determined to do everything in his power to merit
public encouragement.
The terms are, for the present, fixed at 4s. for the best cabin,
and 3s. for the second; but beyond these rates nothing is to be
allowed to servants, or any other person employed about the vessel.
The subscriber continues his establishment at HELENSBURGH
BATHS, the same as for years past, and a vessel will be in
readiness to convey passengers to the _Comet_ from Greenock
to Helensburgh.
HENRY BELL.
HELENSBURGH BATHS, _5th August, 1812_.
Bell’s _Comet_ was a quaint-looking craft, with a tall, slender funnel,
that served the double purpose of mast and chimney. Her length was 42
feet, breadth 11 feet, draught of water 5½ feet. She had originally two
small paddle-wheels on each side with four arms to each. The engine was
about three horse-power, and seems to have been the joint production of
Bell and the village blacksmith. The boiler was made by David Napier,
at a cost of £52. The engine is still preserved in the patent office of
the South Kensington Museum. The _Comet_ was lengthened at Helensburgh,
in 1818, to 60 feet, and received a new engine of six horse-power,
by means of which her speed was increased to six miles an hour. This
engine was made by John Robertson, of Glasgow.
[Illustration: BELL’S “COMET,” OFF DUMBARTON ON THE CLYDE, 1812.
From “Chambers’ Book of Days.”]
The _Comet_ did not pay as a passenger boat on the Clyde, and was soon
after her launch put on the route to Fort William, and continued on
that stormy route till December 15th, 1820, when she was wrecked at
Craignish, on the West Highland coast. She had left Oban that morning
against the advice of her captain, who deemed the boat unseaworthy and
quite unfit to encounter the blinding snow storm, in the midst of which
she went ashore. But Bell had over-ruled the captain. Fortunately there
was no loss of life. She was replaced in the following year by a larger
and improved style of vessel, called by the same name and sailed by the
same master, Robert Bain, who was the first to take a steamer through
the Crinan Canal, and the first to traverse the Caledonian Canal from
sea to sea by steam, in 1822. The second _Comet_ came into collision
with the steamer _Ayr_ off Gourock in October, 1825, and sank with
the loss of seventy lives. She was raised, however, was rigged as a
schooner, renamed the _Anne_, and sailed for many years as a coaster.
Mr. Bell was born in Linlithgow in 1767. The son of a mechanic, he
worked for some time as a stone-mason, afterwards as a carpenter, and
gained some experience in ship-building at Bo’ness under Mr. Rennie.
He removed to Helensburgh in 1808, where his wife kept the Baths Inn
while he was experimenting in mechanical projects. He was a man of
energy and enterprise, but like most inventors was always scant of
cash. Had it not been for the generosity of his friends, and an annuity
of £100 which he received from the Clyde Trust, he would have come
to want in his old age. He seems to have had steam navigation on the
brain as early as 1786, and had communicated his ideas on the subject
to most of the crowned heads of Europe, as well as to the President of
the United States, before he built the _Comet_. Mr. Bell’s memory is
perpetuated in an obelisk erected by the city of Glasgow corporation
on a picturesque promontory on the banks of the Clyde at Bowling, “in
acknowledgment of a debt which it can never repay.” There is also a
handsome granite obelisk to his memory on the esplanade at Helensburgh,
the inscription on which testifies that “Henry Bell was the first in
Great Britain who was successful in practically applying steam power
for the purpose of navigation.” The stone effigy of the man adjoining
his grave in Row churchyard was placed there by his friend Robert
Napier, whose fame and fortune were largely the result of Bell’s
enterprise. Mr. Bell died at his inn in Helensburgh, November 14th,
1830.
Fifty years later witnessed the full development of Mr. Bell’s ideal
in the _Columba_, then as now the largest river steamer ever seen on
the Clyde, and the swiftest. The _Columba_ is built of steel, is 316
feet long and 50 feet wide. She has two oscillating engines of 220
horse-power, and attains a speed of twenty-two miles an hour. Her
route is from Glasgow to Ardrishaig and back, daily in summer, when
she carries from 2,000 to 3,000 persons through some of the finest
scenery in Scotland. She is provided with steam machinery for steering
and warping her into the piers, and with other modern appliances that
make her as handy as a steam yacht. She resembles a little floating
town, with shops and post-office where you can procure money orders and
despatch telegrams And what is the _Columba_ after all but an enlarged
and perfected reproduction of Bell’s _Comet_!
[Illustration: “COLUMBA,” FAMOUS CLYDE RIVER STEAMER, 1875.]
[Illustration: “WILHELM KAISER” ON THE RHINE, 1886.]
The reputation of the Clyde in respect of ocean steamships and
“ironclads” has become world-wide. Some of the best specimens of marine
architecture are Clyde-built. Her own river steamers are the finest
and fleetest in the United Kingdom. The Thames river steamers, though
far inferior to the Clyde boats, answer their purpose by conveying
vast numbers of people short distances at a cheap rate. The Victoria
Steamboat Association, with its fleet of forty-five river steamers, can
carry 200,000 people daily for a penny a mile. The Rhine steamers and
those plying on the Swiss lakes are in keeping with the picturesque
scenery through which they run. Painted in bright colours, they present
a very attractive and smart appearance. They are kept scrupulously
clean and are admirably managed. Many of them are large, with saloon
cabins the whole length of the vessel, over which is the promenade deck
covered with gay awnings. They run fast. The captain sits in state in
his easy chair under a canopy on the bridge—smoking his cigar. The
chief steward, next to the captain by far the most important personage
on board, moves about all day long in full evening dress—his main
concern being to know what wine you will have for lunch or dinner
that he may put it on ice for you. The _table d’hote_ is the crowning
event of the day on board a Rhine steamer, _i.e._, for the misguided
majority of tourists to whom a swell dinner offers greater attractions
than the finest scenery imaginable.
The success of the first _Comet_ induced others to follow the example.
The year 1814 saw two other small steamboats on the Clyde. Next year
the _Marjery_, built by Denny of Dumbarton, made a voyage to Dublin
and thence to the Thames, where she plied between London and Margate
for some time, to the consternation of the Thames watermen. In 1818
David Napier of Glasgow went into the business, and equipped a number
of coasting steamers with improved machinery. At this time the _Rob
Roy_, claimed to be the pioneer of sea-going steamers, began to run
to Belfast, but being found too small for the traffic she was put on
the Dover and Calais route. In 1819 the Admiralty of the day had a
steamboat built for towing men of-war, called the _Comet_, 115 feet by
21 feet, with two of Boulton & Watt’s engines of 40 horse-power each.
This vessel was followed by the _Lightning_, _Echo_, _Confiance_,
_Columbia_ and _Dee_—the latter vessel having side-lever engines of
240 horse-power, with flue boilers carrying a pressure of six pounds
to the square inch, which developed a speed of seven knots an hour. In
1822 a large number of steam vessels fitted with condensing engines
were afloat. The _James Watt_ was built in that year to ply between
Leith and London. The largest steamer at that time was the _United
Kingdom_, built by Steele of Greenock, 160 feet long by 26½ feet wide,
having engines of 200 horse-power—as much an object of wonder in those
days for her “gigantic proportions” as was the _Great Eastern_ thirty
years later. In 1825 there were 168 steam vessels in Britain; in 1835
there were 538; in 1855 there were 2,310, including war vessels afloat
and building; in 1895 the number of steam vessels built in the United
Kingdom was 638, of which number 90 per cent. were built of steel.
In 1897 the number of steamers over 100 tons in the United Kingdom,
including the colonies, was computed to be 8,500, with a net tonnage of
6,500,000 tons.
THE “CLERMONT.”
Three years before Bell’s achievement on the Clyde, a clever American,
profiting by the experiments of Symington, applied his inventive
genius to perfecting the application of steam as a motive power for
vessels, and gained for himself the honour of being the first to make
it available for practical use on a paying basis. This was Robert
Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1765, who commenced business
as a portrait painter and followed that profession for some years in
France and England. He invented a number of “notions,” among the rest
a submarine torpedo-boat, in which he claimed that he could remain
under water for an hour and a half at a time; but failing to receive
the patronage of any naval authorities, he returned to New York, and,
with the assistance of Mr. John Livingstone, had a steamboat built and
fitted with an English engine by Boulton & Watt, of Birmingham. The
_Clermont_ (after being lengthened) was 133 feet long, 18 feet beam,
and 7½ feet deep. Her wheels were uncovered, 15 feet in diameter, with
eight buckets, 4 feet long, to each wheel, and dipping 2 feet. The
cylinder was 24 inches in diameter, with 4 feet stroke of piston. The
boiler was of copper, 20 feet long, 7 feet wide and 8 feet high.
[Illustration: FULTON’S “CLERMONT” ON THE HUDSON, 1807.]
The _Clermont_ made her first voyage from New York to Albany, August
7th, 1807. Her speed was about five miles an hour. During the winter of
1807-8 she was enlarged, her name being then changed to _North River_.
She continued to ply successfully on the Hudson as a passenger boat
for a number of years, her owners having acquired the exclusive right
to navigate the waters of the State of New York by steam. The _Car of
Neptune_ and the _Paragon_, of 300 and 350 tons, respectively, were
soon added to the Fulton & Livingstone Line. Both of these vessels
were fitted with English engines. The _Paragon_ continued to ply on
the Hudson for about ten years, earning a good deal of money for the
owners. About 1820, while ascending the river, she ran upon a rock and
became a total wreck. Other steamboats were built for other waters, and
very soon there were steamers plying on all the navigable rivers of the
United States available for commerce. Mr. Fulton married a daughter of
Mr. Livingstone. He died in New York in 1815, at the height of his fame
and prosperity.
[Illustration: MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT “J. M. WHITE,” 1878.]
[Illustration: OHIO STEAMBOAT “IRON QUEEN,” 1882.]
The contrast between Fulton’s _Clermont_, or Bell’s _Comet_ and the
Atlantic Liner coursing over the sea at railway speed is very striking,
and scarcely less remarkable the comparison of the river steamboat
of to-day with these early experiments. America has developed a type
of steamboat, or rather types of steamboats, peculiarly its own. The
light-draught Mississippi steamers[6] bear little resemblance to the
Hudson River and Long Island Sound boats while the American steam
ferry-boat is a thing certainly not of beauty, but unique. Dickens
in his American Notes speaks of the _Burlington_, the crack steamer
on Lake Champlain in the early forties, as “a perfectly exquisite
achievement of neatness, elegance and order—a model of graceful comfort
and beautiful contrivance.” But Dickens never saw the _Priscilla_.
She was only launched in 1894, and is claimed to be “pre-eminently
the world’s greatest inland steamer—the largest, finest and most
elaborately furnished steamboat of her class to be found anywhere.”
The _Priscilla_ is 440½ feet long, 52½ feet wide, or 95 feet over the
paddle-boxes. The paddle-wheels are of the feathering type, 35 feet
in diameter and 14 feet face. Her light draught is 12½ feet, and her
speed easily 22 miles an hour, though the ordinary service of the line
does not demand such fast running. Her night’s work is 181 miles,
which she covers leisurely in ten hours. She cost $1,500,000. All the
interior decorations are very elaborate and handsome. In her triple
row of staterooms there is luxurious sleeping accommodation for 1,500
passengers. In the spacious dining-room 325 persons may be seated
at one time. The grand saloon is a magnificent spectacle, large and
lofty, superbly decorated and lighted by electricity. The _Priscilla_
has cargo capacity for 800 tons of freight. “Her machinery is not only
a marvel of design and workmanship, but it fascinates all persons
interested in mechanical devices.” It consists of a double inclined
compound engine, with two high-pressure cylinders, each fifty-one
inches in diameter, and two low pressure, each ninety-five inches in
diameter, all with a stroke of eleven feet. There are ten return
tubular boilers of the Scotch type, each fourteen feet in diameter and
fourteen feet long, constructed for a working pressure of 150 lbs. to
the square inch. The indicated horse-power is 8,500. The machinery is
principally below the main deck, leaving all the space on and above
this deck available for general purposes.
[Illustration: “PRISCILLA.”
Fall River and Long Island Sound Line, 1894.]
This floating palace was built at Chester, Pa., by the Delaware Iron
Ship-building and Engine Works Company. She is built of steel. Her
registered tonnage is 5,398 tons. Although so vast in her proportions,
the _Priscilla_ sits on the water as lightly and gracefully as a swan.
Painted white as snow outside, as nearly all American river steamers
are, she presents a beautiful, you might say a dazzling, appearance;
and she is only one of five magnificent steamers of the Fall River
Line, all substantially alike in design and equipment, running
regularly all the year round between Fall River and New York, with a
perfection of service that cannot be surpassed.
[Illustration: “NEW YORK.”
The latest Hudson River Day Steamer, 1897.]
This cut, kindly furnished by the owners, gives a faithful
representation of the exterior of a very beautiful Hudson River day
steamboat. The _New York_ is built of steel, 311 feet over all, breadth
of beam 40 feet, and over the guards 74 feet; average draught of water
6 feet. She combines speed, luxuriousness of furnishing and a beauty
of finish in all parts that has not been surpassed on vessels of this
class. She is capable of running 24 miles an hour. This boat and her
consort, the _Albany_, are claimed to be the finest day passenger river
steamers in the world. She is not crowded with 2,500 passengers, of
whom 120 may sit down together to an exquisite dinner in the richly
decorated dining-room.
A distinct class of steamboats peculiar to America is the ferry-boat.
In one of its forms it is to be found fully developed in New York
harbour, and serves to convey daily countless thousands of people whose
business lies in New York City, but whose homes are on Brooklyn Heights
or elsewhere on Long Island, or the New Jersey coast. The boats are
very large and very ugly, but do their work admirably, being adapted
for the transport of wheeled carriages of every description as well as
for foot-passengers. One of the sights of New York worth seeing is a
visit to the Fulton Ferry in the morning or in the evening, when the
crowds are the greatest. The _Robert Garrett_, which runs down the bay
to Staten Island, carries from 4,000 to 5,000 passengers at a trip, and
is said to be the largest steam-ferry passenger boat in existence. She
is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Co., and cost $225,000.
Another type of ferry-boat is that which, in addition to carrying
passengers, is specially adapted for railway purposes. The best
specimen of this kind of steamboat is probably to be found on Lake
Erie, where a pair of boats, precisely alike, keep up regular
communication twice a day, summer and winter, between Coneant, Ohio,
and Port Dover, Ontario. They are named _Shenango_, 1st and 2nd. They
are each 300 feet long and 53 feet in width. On the main deck are four
railway tracks, sufficient for twenty-six loaded cars each containing
60,000 lbs. of coal. On the upper deck are handsomely fitted cabins for
1,000 passengers The ferry is sixty-five miles wide. Sometimes it is
pretty rough sailing, but these steamers never fail to make the round
trip in thirteen hours. They are fitted with compound engines, Scotch
boilers, and twin screws; they draw 12½ feet of water when loaded and
run twelve miles an hour; they are prodigiously strong, and can plough
their way through fields of ice with marvellous facility.
[Illustration: “ROBERT GARRETT,” FERRY STEAMBOAT, NEW YORK.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Atlantic Ferry,” p. 175.
[2] If my recollection serves me aright, there were not more than a
dozen cabin passengers, and the only one of them who ventured aloft
with me was my now venerable friend, Mr. Robert W. Graham, of the
Montreal _Star_.
[3] “Denis Papin,” by Henry C. Ewart, in _Sunday Magazine_, 1880, p.
316.
[4] Mr. Symington’s account of his interview with Mr. Fulton, as given
in the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” is as follows: “When engaged in these
experiments, I was called upon by Mr. Fulton, who told me he was lately
from North America, and intended returning thither in a few months,
but could not think of leaving this country without first waiting upon
me in expectation of seeing the boat, and procuring such information
regarding it as I might be pleased to communicate.... In compliance
with his earnest request, I caused the engine fire to be lighted up,
and in a short time thereafter put the steamboat in motion, and carried
him four miles west on the canal, returning to the point from which
we started in one hour and twenty minutes (being at the rate of six
miles an hour), to the great astonishment of Mr. Fulton and several
gentlemen, who at our outset chanced to come on board. During the trip
Mr. Fulton asked if I had any objection to his taking notes regarding
the steamboat, to which I made no objection, as I considered the more
publicity that was given to any discovery intended for the general
good, so much the better.... In consequence he pulled out a memorandum
book, and, after putting several pointed questions respecting the
general construction and effect of the machine, which I answered in
a most explicit manner, he jotted down particularly everything then
described, with his own observations upon the boat during the trip.”
[5] “The Story of Helensburgh,” 1894, p. 92.
[6] These cuts, copied from Stanton’s “American Steam Vessels,”
represent first class Mississippi and Ohio light-draught, high-pressure
river steamers. The _J. M. White_, of 1878, was deemed “a crowning
effort in steamboat architecture in the West.” She was 320 feet long
and 91 feet in width, over the guards. Her saloons were magnificently
furnished, and all her internal fittings of the most elaborate
description. She carried 7,000 bales of cotton and had accommodation
for 350 cabin passengers. Her cost was $300,000. She was totally
destroyed by fire in 1886.