THE VOYAGE TO PANAMA
In 1903, before the United States’ occupation, there was no choice as to
means of transport to the Isthmus. A single steamship company, that of
the Panama Railroad, dispatched a vessel from New York once a week. Now
there are four different lines with as many weekly sailings, besides one
from New Orleans, a more convenient point of departure for many south of
Mason and Dixon’s line. The four companies, all with headquarters in New
York, will gladly furnish the latest information in regard to their own
sailing and accommodations as on other points in reference to the tour.
=Fares.= The lowest fare from New York to Colon, $75.00, to Panama,
$78.00, is the same on all lines, better accommodations being provided
for a supplementary fee of from $15.00 up. It is wisdom to purchase, if
not a ticket for the round trip, one as far at least as Mollendo, $191,
as a slight reduction is made on through tickets. Stop-overs are allowed
at any of the ports of call, and on the East or West Coasts of South
America the journey may, if more convenient, be resumed on certain other
lines of steamers without extra charge, save for embarking or
disembarking in the small boats.
The respective merits of the four steamship lines to Panama are a matter
of opinion. On three of these I have enjoyed the voyage, especially my
last in a luxurious suite on the _Prinz August Wilhelm_ of the Atlas
Hamburg-American Line.
The old PANAMA COMPANY claims that its boats are provided with all of
the comforts afforded by the others, including rooms with private baths.
It has slightly irregular sailings, seven a month, with several steamers
making the journey in six days, instead of the seven, eight, or nine
occupied by ships of the other lines. Those who prefer American cooking
or the shorter voyage will choose one of these ships.
The ROYAL MAIL and the HAMBURG-AMERICAN lines are quite similar to each
other in service and accommodations; the boats of the former sail for
Colon on alternate Saturdays, calling on the way at Antilla, Cuba, and
at Kingston, Jamaica: those of the latter sail every Saturday, touching
at Santiago de Cuba and Kingston. The Royal Mail Steamers are scheduled
to arrive at Colon on Sunday, eight days from New York, connecting with
the P.S.N. boats departing on Monday for the south. But through tickets
are good by any of the three lines on the other side; and one may delay
on the Isthmus for a few days or weeks of sight-seeing. The
Hamburg-American steamers arrive at Colon Monday, one week connecting
with a P.S.N. steamer, the next with one of the Peruvian and another of
the Chilian Line sailing the same afternoon. No one, however, who is
making a pleasure trip should cross the Isthmus without staying over a
few days.
The UNITED FRUIT COMPANY boasts of a great white fleet with four
sailings to Colon a week; two, on Wednesday and Saturday, from New York;
and two on the same days from New Orleans. These ships, they say, are
the only ones going to Colon which were designed and built especially
for tropical service, thus having all of the latest devices for comfort
as well as for safety. Among these are bilge keels and automatic
water-tight compartments. A wireless equipment as a matter of course the
boats of all lines carry; these have also a submarine signal apparatus,
to give warning of the proximity of another vessel, and, as an especial
feature, lifeboats which with a patent lever may be swung off and
lowered by a single man. By the system of ventilation the temperature of
the rooms at night may be kept down to 55° if desired, a boon to many on
the muggy Caribbean; and the electric lights have the rare quality of
burning low. All of the boats on the various lines have pianos and
music, most of them cards, checkers, chess, and libraries, the United
Fruit Company supplying the latest magazines.
The Saturday steamers of this line from New York call Thursday at
Kingston, Jamaica, where they remain until two p.m. Friday. They are due
at Colon at noon on Sunday. The Wednesday steamers take a day less for
the trip; at Kingston where they arrive on Monday they remain from 7
a.m. till 4 p.m. The Isthmus is reached at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
=Via New Orleans.= The opportunity to go by way of New Orleans may
appeal, especially in winter, to some who have not visited that city and
to those who desire to avoid the possibility of two or three cold stormy
days on the sea before entering the regions of perpetual summer. The
steamers sail in five days to Colon, the Saturday boats arriving
Thursday a.m. and the Wednesday boats Monday morning.
The voyage to Panama, indeed all of the six or seven weeks on the sea,
which are a necessary part of this tour, will be likely to prove an
agreeable experience even to those who as a rule do not enjoy the ocean.
While the waters of the Atlantic may at any season be turbulent and
tempestuous, the portions of both oceans which are to be traversed are
for the most part so smooth that unless persons are _determined_ to be
seasick whether they have occasion or not, it is probable that they will
suffer little or none from this unpleasant malady. Ordinarily the sail
to Panama, under sunny skies, over unruffled seas, in weather, after a
day or two, warm enough for summer clothing, is a pleasure unalloyed. On
the Caribbean it may be a trifle muggy and sticky, but if favored with
sunshine the wonderful blue of the waters, deeper than that of the Bay
of Naples, affords solace. On some of the ships a little dance on deck,
if happily under a tropical moon, may be an experience affording
delightful memories.
=Watling’s Island.= After leaving New York harbor and the adjoining
coast the first land to come within range of vision is that of Watling’s
Island, noted for a lighthouse of great power and value. Otherwise
unimportant, it acquires interest from the fact that on this shore
Columbus is believed to have made his first landing in the Western
World. The island is thus entitled to the more pretentious name, San
Salvador, bestowed by the great explorer upon the land where first he
trod in devout thanksgiving, after many weeks of painful suspense upon
the limitless ocean.
Fortunate is the traveler who towards sunset enters _Windward Channel_,
passing before dark the desolate wooded bluffs of the eastern extremity
of Cuba, _Cape Maysi_, and later having a look at the southeast shores
where rise sombre, forest covered peaks to an imposing height, the
loftiest above 8000 feet. From a Panama or United Fruit Company steamer
no more will you see of Cuba; but on a boat of the Royal Mail you will
already have called at ANTILLA, in the eastern section of the island’s
northern shore, a new and growing seaport on Nipe Bay, and the north
terminus of the Cuban Railway. Extensive docking facilities have been
provided, large warehouses, immense tanks for molasses, a good hotel:
and plans are made for building here a great commercial city.
=Santiago de Cuba.= By the Hamburg-American Line the first call is made
on the south side of the island at the more famous and considerable
city, Santiago de Cuba, which, founded in 1514, is said to be the oldest
settlement of size in the Western Hemisphere. With a population of
50,000, among Cuban cities it comes next to Havana. It has also historic
interest. That Hernando Cortez from this port, Nov. 18, 1518, set out
for the bold conquest of the Aztec Empire is a fact less widely known
than the more recent circumstance that in this sheltered harbor the
fleet of Admiral Cervera lay concealed, until July 3, 1898, it sailed
forth to its doom. In the narrow portal, less than 600 feet wide, rests
the old _Merrimac_, sunk by Lt. Hobson and seven others, June 3, 1898.
On the right of the entrance, crowning a bluff 200 feet high, is the old
Morro Castle, an ancient fortress of picturesque appearance, begun soon
after the founding of the city and possessing towers and turrets in
genuine mediæval style. Six miles farther, at the head of the bay, on a
sloping terrace with steep hills behind, is the bright, gay city; though
at the noontide hour it may seem a trifle sleepy and dull.
If time permits, a drive on the fine roads will be enjoyed. To the _San
Juan_ battlefield three miles distant and to _El Caney_ a little farther
the fare is $1.50 for a single person, $2.00 for several. The longer
drive to _Morro Castle_, fare $3.50, affords charming views. In the city
one proceeds first to the plaza, where on one side is the great
cathedral called the largest in Cuba, containing rare marbles and
mahogany choir stalls. On the other sides are the Casa Grande Hotel and
the Venus Restaurant. Near by is the Filarmonia Theatre where the famous
_diva_, Adalina Patti, is said to have made her début. A few may care to
visit the spot where the Captain and sailors of the _Virginius_ were
executed as filibusters in 1873, a slaughter pen near the harbor front
to the east of the Cuba Railway Station. An inscribed tablet there
commemorates the sad event.
=Kingston=, Jamaica, is visited by all of the steamers except those of
the Panama Line, the Wednesday boat of the United Fruit Company having
previously touched at _Port Antonio_ on the northeast end of the same
island; the port, a busy place, owing its present prosperity chiefly to
our fondness for bananas. Captain Baker of Boston in 1868 began the
trade which the United Fruit Company has developed to immense
proportions. The splendid Hotel Titchfield which the company has erected
affords every facility for a delightful summer outing during our winter
season.
The older and larger city of _Kingston_ is on the south side of the
island, by the excellent and far-famed harbor of Port Royal. The town of
that name, ancient rendezvous of Morgan and the buccaneers, once stood
on the long sandy spit which separates the bay from the ocean. But on a
day in 1692 occurred one of those memorable tragedies at which the whole
world stands appalled. The earth was shaken. The city sank beneath the
sea, where it is said that some of the buildings may yet be seen, when
the waves are still, deep down below the smiling tranquil surface.
Kingston, then founded on the main shore, recently suffered (January 14,
1907), as we well remember, a similar though less complete disaster,
being merely shaken down instead of swallowed up. Like San Francisco it
was promptly rebuilt with better architecture. Quite up to date with
electric cars and other modern conveniences, it is an attractive place
of scenic and tropical beauty, excellent too for shopping. Interesting
are the markets, the old Parish Church, badly shaken, but still
standing; the main streets, King and Queen, at right angles to each
other; the Jamaica Institute with museum and library where among other
historical curios may be seen the famous Shark papers, in 1799 thrown
overboard, swallowed by a shark, but soon after rescued from his maw, to
the discomfiture of the Yankee captain of the _Nancy_, an American
privateer. In the suburbs of the city within easy reach is King’s House,
the fine residence of the Governor-General. Worth visiting (electric
cars) is Hope Gardens, an estate of 220 acres, with a fine collection of
indigenous plants and many exotics. The splendid roads over the island,
the possibilities for delightful excursions,—the most enchanting the
ascent of Blue Mountain, 7423 feet,—would tempt to a longer stay. But we
hasten onward to more distant and greater glories.
=Western Tourists.= Tourists living west of the Rocky Mountains may
prefer to sail from _San Francisco_ or _Los Angeles_ to Balboa, the port
of _Panama_, at a considerable saving of expense, though not of time.
Express steamers twice a month make the voyage from San Francisco in 14
days with the single call at San Pedro (Los Angeles), fare $85; while
three times a month there are other boats which do not stop at San
Pedro, but make eleven calls in Mexico and Central America, thus
affording opportunity to see some of those ports, consuming 26 days on
the trip. On these steamers the fare is $120. All these boats are of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company. By way of New York the journey from San
Francisco to Panama may, with close connection, be made in 10 or 12
days.
=European Tourists= may sail from Southampton by Royal Mail steamer in
18 days to Colon, fare $125, or from Cherbourg, 17 days, fare $100.
Other companies which have steamers sailing from Europe to Colon are the
Hamburg-American, four times monthly from Havre and Hamburg, the Leyland
C. Harrison, three times a month from Liverpool, the Cia. Generale
Transatlantica, once a month from St. Nazaire and once from Bordeaux,
the Cia. Transatlantica and the Cia. La Veloce, each monthly from
Barcelona and Genoa.
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