I have now to speak of the last great change in river transit--the
introduction of steam navigation on the river Thames. The first
steamboat used in river navigation, or, indeed, in any navigation, was
one built and launched by Fulton, on the river Hudson, New York, in
1807. It was not until eleven years later, or in 1818, that the first
English river steamboat challenged the notice of the citizens as she
commenced her voyage on the Thames, running daily from the Dundee Arms,
Wapping, to Gravesend and back. She was called “Margery,” and was the
property of a company, who started her as an experiment. She was about
the burden of the present Gravesend steamers, but she did not possess
covered paddle-wheels, being propelled by uncovered wheels (which were
at the time compared to ducks’ feet,) projecting from the extremity of
the stern. The splashing made by the strokes of the wheels was extreme,
and afforded a subject for all the ridicule and wit the watermen were
masters of. Occasionally, too, the steamer came into contact with
a barge, and broke one or more of her duck feet, which might cause
a delay of an hour or so (as it was worded to me) before a jury
duck-foot could be fitted, and perhaps, before another mile was done,
there was another break and another stoppage. These delays, which would
now be intolerable, were less regarded at that period, when the average
duration of a voyage from Wapping to Gravesend by the “Margery” was
about 5-1/2 hours, while at present, with favouring wind and tide, the
distance from London-bridge to Gravesend, thirty-one miles by water,
is done in less than one hour and a half. The fares by the first river
steamer were 3_s._ for the best, and 2_s._ 6_d._ for the fore cabin.
Sailing-packets, at that time, ran from the Dundee Arms to Gravesend,
the fare being 1_s._ 6_d._; and these vessels were sometimes a day, and
sometimes a day and a-half in accomplishing the distance. The first
river steamboat, after running less than three months of the summer,
was abandoned as a failure. A favourite nickname, given by the watermen
and the river-side idlers to the unfortunate “Margery” was “the Yankee
Torpedo.” About that time there had been an explosion of an American
steamer, named the “Torpedo,” with loss of life, and the epithet,
doubtless, had an influence in deterring the timid from venturing on a
voyage down the Thames in so dangerous a vessel. The construction of
the “Margery” was, moreover, greatly inferior to the steamers of the
present day, as when she shot off her steam she frequently shot off
boiling water along with it. One waterman told me that he had his right
hand so scalded by the hot water, as he was near the “Margery,” in his
boat, that it was disabled for a week.
In the following summer another steamer was started by another
company--the “Old Thames.” The “Old Thames” had paddle-wheels, as in
the present build, her speed was better by about one mile in ten than
that of her predecessor, and her success was greater. She ran the
same route, at the same prices, until the “Majestic,” the third river
steamer, was started in the same year by a rival company, and the fares
were reduced to 2_s._ 6_d._ and 2_s._ The “Majestic” ran from the Tower
to Gravesend. At this time, and twenty years afterwards, the watermen
had to convey passengers in boats to and from the steamers, as one of
the watermen has stated in the narrative I have given. This was an
additional source of employment to them, and led to frequent quarrels
among them as to their terms in conveying passengers and luggage; and
these quarrels led to frequent complaints from the captains of the
steamers, owing to their passengers being subject to annoyances and
occasional extortions from the watermen. In 1820, two smaller boats,
the “Favourite” and the “Sons of Commerce” were started, and the
distance was accomplished in half the time. It was not until 1830,
however, that steam navigation became at all general above bridge.
The increase of the river steamboats from 1820 is evinced by the
following Table:--
Number of Number
Years. River Steamers. of Voyages.
1820 4 227
1830 20 2344
1835 43 8843
Thus we have an increase in the ten years from 1820 to 1830 of 16
steamers; and in the five years from 1830 to 1835, of 23 over the
number employed in 1830; and of 39 over the number of 1820.
During the next thirty years--that is from 1820 to 1850,--there was an
increase of 65 steamers.
The diminution in the time occupied by the river steamboats in
executing their voyages, is quite as remarkable as the increase in
their numbers. In 1820, four boats performed 227 voyages; or presuming
that they ran, at that period, 26 weeks in the year, 56-3/4 voyages
each, or about two a-week. In 1830, following the same calculation, 20
steamers accomplished 2344 voyages, being 117 each, or between 4 and
5 voyages a-week. In 1835, 43 steamers made 8843 voyages, being 205
voyages each, or about 8 a-week. During this time some of the steamers
going the longer distances, such as to Richmond, Gravesend, &c. ran
only one, two, or three days in the week, which accounts for the
paucity of voyages compared with the number of vessels.
In 1820, only 227 voyages were accomplished during the season
of twenty-six weeks; in 1850, half that number of voyages were
accomplished daily during a similar term, and during the whole of
that term the river steamboats conveyed 27,955,200 passengers. The
amount expended in this mode of transit exceeds a quarter of a million
sterling, or upwards of half-a-crown a-head for the entire metropolitan
population.
The consequences of the increase of steam-navigation commanded the
attention of Parliament in the year 1831, when voluminous evidence was
taken before a Committee of the House of Commons, but no legislative
enactments followed, the management of the steam traffic, as well
as that of all other river traffic, being left in the hands of the
Navigation Committee of the Corporation of London, of the composition
of which body I have already spoken. “Collisions have taken place,”
said Sir John Hall, in 1836; “barges, boats, and craft, have been
swamped, and valuable property destroyed, from the crowded and narrow
space of the passage through the Pool; and human life has, in some
instances, also fallen a sacrifice from such collisions, and in others,
from the effect of the undulations of the water produced by the action
of the paddle-wheels of the steamboats,--circumstances which have
been aggravated by the unnecessary velocity with which some of those
vessels have been occasionally propelled.” The returns laid before
Parliament show three deaths, in 1834, attributable to steam craft. In
the year 1835, the number of deaths from the same causes was no less
than ten. In all these cases inquests were held. In 1834, the number of
deaths, from all causes, whether of accident or suicide on the river,
as investigated by the coroner, was fifty-four; the deaths caused by
steamboats being one-eighteenth that number; while, in 1835, the deaths
from all causes were forty-one, the steamboats having occasioned loss
of life to nearly one-fourth of that number.
To obviate the danger and risk to boats, it was suggested to the
committee that the steamers should not be propelled beyond a certain
rate, and that an indicator should be placed on board, which, by
recording the number of revolutions of the paddle-wheels, should
show the speed of the steam-vessel, while excessive speed, when thus
detected, was to entail punishment. It was shown, however, that the
number of times the wheel revolves affords no criterion of the speed
of the vessel, as regards the space traversed in a given period.
Her speed is affected by depth of water, weight of cargo, number of
passengers, by her superior or inferior construction and handling, and
most especially by her going with or against the tide; while, in all
these circumstances of varying speed, as regards rates of progress, the
revolutions of the paddle-wheels might, in every fifteen minutes, vary
little in number. The tide moves, ebb and flow, on the average, three
miles an hour. Mr. Rowland, the harbour-master, has said, touching
the proper speed of steam-vessels on the river:--“Four miles an hour
through the water against the tide, and seven with the tide, would give
ample speed for the steamboats. An opportunity would thus be afforded
of travelling over the ground against the tide at the rate of about
four miles an hour, and with the tide they would positively pass over
the ground at the rate of about seven miles.” The rate at which the
better class of river steamers progress, when fairly in motion, is now
from eight to nine miles an hour.
Although no legislative enactments for the better regulation of the
river steam navigation took place after the Report of the Committee,
accidents from the cause referred to are now unfrequent. In the present
year, I am informed, there has been no loss of life on the Thames
occasioned by steamboats. This is attributable to a better and clearer
“water way” being kept, and to a greater efficiency on the part of the
captains and helmsmen of the river steam fleet.
It is common for people proceeding from London-bridge to Gravesend to
exclaim about the “crowds of shipping!” The fact is, however, that
notwithstanding the great increase in the commerce and traffic of the
capital, the Thames is less crowded with shipping than it was at the
beginning of the century. Mr. Banyon, clerk to the Waterman’s Company,
in his evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, described
himself as a “practical man twenty-two years before 1811.” He says,
“There is a wonderful difference since my time. I was on the river
previous to any docks being made, when all the trade of the country was
laying out in the river.... The river was then so crowded that the
tiers used to overlap one another, and we used to be obliged to bring
up so as to prevent getting athwart hawse.” I mention this fact to show
that, without the relief afforded by the docks, steam navigation would
be utterly impracticable.
The average tonnage of a steam-vessel, of a build adapted to run
between London and Greenwich, or Woolwich, is 70 or 80 tons; one
adapted to run to Gravesend or beyond is about 180 tons; and those
merely suitable for plying between London-bridge and Westminster, 40
or 50 tons. What is the number of persons, per ton, which may safely
be entrusted to the conveyance of steamboats, authorities are not
agreed upon. Mr. W. Cunningham, the captain of a Woolwich steamer,
represented it to the committee as four or five to the ton, though he
admits that five to the ton inconvenienced the passengers by crowding
them. The tonnage of Mr. Cunningham’s vessel was 77; his average number
of passengers, “on extreme freights,” was 200; yet he once carried 500
persons, though, by his own admission, 385 would involve crowding.
The changes wrought in the appearance of the river, and in the
condition of the waterman, by the introduction of steamers, have been
rapid and marked. Not only since the steam era have new boats and new
companies gradually made their appearance, but new piers have sprung up
in the course of the Thames from Gravesend to Richmond. Of these piers,
that at Hungerford is the most remarkable, as it is erected fairly in
the river; and on a fine summer’s day, when filled with well-dressed
persons, waiting “for their boat,” it has a very animated appearance.
A long, wooden framework, which rises into a kind of staircase at high
water, and is a sloping platform at low water, connects the pier with
Hungerford-bridge. At Southwark and Vauxhall bridges the piers are
constructed on the abutments of an arch, and a staircase conducts the
passenger to the bridge. On the north side of the river are, three at
London-bridge, one at Southwark-bridge, at Paul’s-wharf (Blackfriars),
Temple, Arundel-street, Waterloo-bridge, Fox-under-the-hill,
George-street, Adelphi, Hungerford, Pimlico, Cadogan-pier, Chelsea,
Battersea-bridge, Hammersmith, and Kew. On the other side are, two at
Richmond, one at Putney, Red House, Battersea, Nine Elms, Lambeth,
Westminster-bridge, and London-bridge. Below bridge, on the Middlesex
side, the piers are, the Tunnel, Limehouse-hole, Brunswick, North
Woolwich, and Purfleet. On the Surrey side there are two piers at
Gravesend, one at Rosherville, Erith, Woolwich, East Greenwich,
Greenwich, and the Commercial-docks, Rotherhithe.
The piermen at the pier belonging to the Gravesend Diamond Company (the
oldest company now flourishing, as it was started in June 1828), and
to others of similar character, are seven in number. At Hungerford,
however, there are eleven piermen; and taking the steamboat-piers
altogether, it may be safely said there are four men to each on an
average, or 168 men to 42 such piers. The piermen are of three classes
as regards the rates of remuneration.
The piermaster, who is the general superintendent of the station, has
35_s._ a-week; the others have 25_s._ and 21_s._ These men are not
confined to any one duty; as the man who takes the tickets from the
passengers one day may assist merely in mooring, or in “touting” the
next--though a good touter is not often changed. The colour of the
tickets is changed daily, unless a colour is “run out,” in which case
another colour must be substituted until a supply can be obtained. The
majority of the piermen have been watermen, or seamen, or in some way
connected with river work. They are, for the most part, married men,
supporting families in the best manner that their means will admit.
From a gentleman connected with a Steam-packet Company I had the
pleasure of hearing a very good character of these men, while by
the men themselves I was informed that they were, as a body, fairly
treated, never being dismissed without reasons assigned and due
inquiry. The directors of such vessels as are in the hands of companies
meet weekly, and among their general business they then investigate
any complaints by or against the men, who are sometimes suspended as a
punishment, though such cases are unfrequent. All the men employed on
board the river-steamers are free watermen, excepting those working in
the engine-room. In the winter some of them return to the avocation of
watermen--hiring a boat by the month or week, if they do not possess,
as many do, boats of their own. In the course of my inquiries among
the merchant seamen, I heard not a few contemptuous opinions expressed
of the men on board the river-craft. There is no doubt, however, that
the captain of a river-steamer, who is also the pilot, must have a
quick and correct eye to direct his vessel out of the crowd of others
about London-bridge, for instance, without collision. The helmsman is
frequently the mate of the steamer--sometimes, but rarely, one of the
crew--while sometimes the captain himself relieves the mate at the
helm, and then the mate undertakes the piloting of the vessel. During
the season, when a steam-boat is “made safe” for the night, one of
the crew usually sleeps on board to protect what property may be kept
there, and to guard against fire. The crew go on board about two hours
before the vessel starts, to clean her thoroughly; the engineer and his
people must be in attendance about that time to get the steam up; and
the captain about half-an-hour or an hour before the boat leaves her
mooring, to see that everything is in order.
The river-steamers generally commence running on Good Friday or Easter
Monday, and continue until the 1st of October, or a little later if the
weather be fine. Each steamer carries a captain, a mate, and three men
as crew, with an engineer, a stoker, and a call-boy--or eight hands
altogether on board. The number daily at work on the river-steamers is
thus 552; so that including the piermen, the clerks, and the “odd men,”
between 700 and 800 persons are employed in the steam navigation of
the Thames. Calculating each voyage to average six miles, the extent
of steam navigation on the Thames, performed daily in the season, is
no less than 8280 miles. The captains receive from 2_l._ to 3_l._ per
week; the mates, from 30_s._ to 35_s._; the crew, 25_s._ each; the
call-boy, 7_s._; the engineer, from 2_l._ to 3_l._; and the stokers,
30_s._
The class of persons travelling by these steamboats is mixed. The
wealthier not unfrequently use them for their excursions up or down
the river; but the great support of the boats is from the middle and
working classes, more especially such of the working class (including
the artisans) as reside in the suburbs, and proceed by this means of
conveyance to their accustomed places of business: in all, or nearly
all, the larger steamers, a band of music adds to the enjoyment of the
passengers; but with this the directors of the vessel have nothing
to do beyond giving their consent to gratuitous conveyance of the
musicians who go upon speculation, their remuneration being what they
can collect from the passengers.