respectable position in the city of Glasgow (his father having been
for the very long period of seventy-two years the minister of the
Barony parish of that city), entered into partnership with his elder
brother, James, in 1818, and in that year founded the great business
firm still carried on in Glasgow. In 1824 they became owners, along
with the late Hugh Matthie of Liverpool, of six sailing-vessels trading
between that port and Glasgow, and in the same year they engaged in
steam navigation between Glasgow and Belfast. They next substituted
steam for sailing-vessels in the Glasgow and Liverpool trade and, in
1830, amalgamated this business with that of the Messrs. MacIver of
Liverpool, with whom they afterwards made arrangements to establish
the line of steamers with the United States of America from Liverpool,
suggested by Mr. Cunard. The business thus created was, in its various
branches, carried on by Messrs. G. and J. Burns in Glasgow, by Messrs.
D. and C. MacIver in Liverpool, and by Messrs. S. Cunard and Co., in
Halifax, N.S., under the superintendence of Mr. Cunard at Boston,
and, subsequently, when New York was embraced in the line, under the
management of his son Mr., afterwards Sir Edward, Cunard, Bart. Mr.
David MacIver died a few years after the formation of the Cunard line.
Mr., afterwards Sir Samuel, Cunard, Bart., and his son, Sir Edward,
who died more recently, have been succeeded by Mr. William Cunard,
now managing the affairs of the company in London and Mr. George
Burns, alone, survives of the Glasgow firm, the business of which is
now carried on by his two sons, Mr. John Burns (whose abilities and
philanthropy are alike conspicuous), and his brother, Mr. James Cleland
Burns, and that in Liverpool by Mr. Charles MacIver (a gentleman of
remarkable energy and ability) and his sons.
[178] Mr. Cunard in his evidence before the Select Committee “On
Halifax and Boston Mails” (Parl. Paper, 1846, No. 563), stated that
3,295_l._ per voyage was paid for the service. And, in 1874, Mr. John
Burns, in his examination before the Royal Commission “On Unseaworthy
Ships,” said, in reply to question 16,982: “The original contract
of the Cunard Company which was made by my late partner, Sir Samuel
Cunard, was made with the Admiralty, and under the Admiralty all the
ships were inspected by Admiralty officers, and there were certain
restrictions in the contract as to allowing them to be used in time
of war. These ships were all wooden ships and they had to carry naval
officers on board, and to do other things which caused a good deal of
trouble and expense to us. In the last contract which we negotiated we
said that we would take less money, if certain of these restrictions
were taken away from us. Therefore, we are now under a contract of
70,000_l._ a year, and carry no naval officers on board.”
[179]
-----------+---------------+---------+----------+------------+---------
Name. |Length between | Extreme | Depth of | Nominal | Burden
|Perpendiculars.| Breadth.| Hold. |Horse-Power.| in Tons.
-----------+---------------+---------+----------+------------+---------
| Feet. | Ft. In. | Ft. In. | |
_Britannia_| 207 | 34 4 | 22 6 | 423 | 1,156
_Acadia_ | 206 | 34 6 | 22 6 | 425 | 1,136
_Caledonia_| 206 | 34 6 | 22 6 | 425 | 1,139
_Columbia_ | 207 | 34 2 | 22 4 | 425 | 1,138
-----------+---------------+---------+----------+------------+---------
[180] Built on the Clyde by Mr. R. Duncan, in 1840. Left Liverpool on
her first voyage, July 4th, 1840.
Material of vessel Wood
Length, keel and forerake 207 feet
Breadth of beam 34 feet 4 inches
Breadth over paddle boxes 54 feet 8 inches
Depth of hold 22 feet 6 inches
Depth over planking 24 feet 8 inches
Tonnage, builders’ measurement 1,156-45/94
Tonnage, new measurement 1,155-13/100
Tonnage, of engine-room 535-70/100
Tonnage, register 619-43/100
Length on deck 203 feet 7 inches
Breadth of deck 31 feet 9 inches
Depth of hold 22 feet 2 inches
Length allowed for engine space 70 feet 7 inches
Draught, mean, one-half of coals consumed 16 feet 10 inches
Area of midship section at mean draught 520
Displacement at mean draught 2,050 tons
Kind of engines Side-lever
Collective H.P., nominal, per Admiralty 403
Cylinders, diameter 72½ inches
Stroke of piston 6 feet 10 inches
Diameter of paddle-wheel over floats 27 feet 9 inches
Number of floats on one wheel 21
Dimensions of floats 8 ft. ⨉ 2ft. 10 in.
Kind of boilers Flue (4)
Number of furnaces 12
Grate, 6 ft. 2 in. ⨉ 3 ft. 222 square feet
Total heating surface in boilers 2,698 square feet
Coals consumed outwards to Boston viâ Halifax 440 tons
Coals consumed homeward from Boston viâ Halifax 450 tons
Mean draught of water, ship leaving Liverpool 17 feet 2 inches
[181] Report of Committee of House of Commons, August 1846.
[182]
---------------------+--------+------------+----------------------+--------------------
Vessel’s Name. |Tonnage.|Horse-Power.| Proportion of Tonnage| Remarks.
| | | to Power. |
---------------------+--------+------------+----------------------+--------------------
_Acadia_ (Cunard }| 1,136 | 400 | 1 h.p. = 2¾ tons | Exceedingly fast.
Company) }| | | |
| | | |{ 10¼ knots when
_Oriental_ | 1,670 | 440 | 1 h.p. = 4 tons |{ deep on trial
| | | |{ trip.
| | | |
_Great Western_ | 1,340 | 450 | 1 h.p. = 3 tons |
| | | |
_Great Liverpool_ | 1,543 | 464 | 1 h.p. = 3⅓ tons |
| | | |
| | | |{ Fast when light,
_British Queen_ | 2,016 | 500 | 1 h.p. = 4 tons |{ and light stern
| | | |{ breeze.
| | | |
_President_ | 2,366 | 540 | 1 h.p. = 4½ tons |{ Slow under any
| | | |{ circumstances.
| | | |
_Liverpool_ (before }| 1,150 | 404 | 1 h.p. = 2½ tons | Slow and crank.
alterations) }| | | |
See Fincham’s “Naval Architecture.”
[183] Letter from E—— in the _Civil Engineer and Architects’
Journal_, January 1841.
[184] She was constructed of iron, and expressly for the Transatlantic
trade. Her dimensions were, length of keel, 289 feet; 296 feet between
the perpendiculars; and 322 feet over all. Her extreme breadth, 51
feet, with 32 feet 6 inches depth of hold, her main load draught of
water being 16 feet; and her measurement 2984 tons, with engines of
1000 horse-power.
[185] The _Great Britain_ was launched on the 19th of July 1843. The
machinery was constructed in the works of the company, as no engineers
could be found willing to undertake the task by contract. But, by
putting the engines into the vessel at the works, it was found that she
was so deeply immersed as to be unable to pass out of the dock, and
she was, consequently, detained for some months until the requisite
alterations could be made for her release. Soon after her experimental
trip, made on the 12th December, 1844, she was placed on the American
station. Her career, however, was prematurely brought to a close by an
accident (stranded on the coast of Ireland) which, though occasioning a
serious loss to her enterprising owners, proved at this early stage the
great strength and value of iron ships. During the whole winter that
she lay on the beach at Dundrum Bay, coast of Ireland, she sustained
very little injury, and though frequently altered and under repair
since then, the _Great Britain_ is still successfully employed in the
trade between Liverpool and Australia, and to all appearance is as
sound a vessel as she was when launched thirty-one years ago.
[186] Mr. R. B. Forbes, of Milton, Massachusetts, in forwarding to the
author the lithograph of his ship, remarks: “The lower yards and the
topgallant yard are in the same position as in the ordinary rig; but
the topsail and topgallant sail are so divided as to make three sails
instead of two. The topsail being exactly of the size of an ordinary
double reefed topsail, the yard being parrelled to the heel of the
topmast, where the topmasts are fidded forward of the lower mast-head;
and to the head of the lower mast where the topmasts are (as they ought
to be) fidded abaft the mast-head; this renders it necessary to have
the lower mast-heads longer, by several feet, than in the old rig. The
next sail above the topsail, representing the upper half of the topsail
of the old rig and a fraction of the old topgallant sail, is called
the topgallant sail, and the old rig topgallant sail is in the new rig
called the royal, while the royal of the old rig becomes the skysail of
the new rig. As I consider it important to have the sail as much in the
body of the ship as possible, and at the same time to dispose of the
canvas and spars that the sails can be used in different places, I make
the foreyard of the same length (excepting a slight difference in the
yardarms) as the main topsail yard; the fore topsail yard the same as
the main topgallant yard, the fore topgallant yard the same as the main
royal yard, and so on with the mizen, so that the yards and sails on
the fore fit on the main one stage higher up, those on the mizen fit on
the fore one stage higher and on the main two higher.”
[187] In a letter which I had the pleasure of receiving from Mr.
Forbes (November 1874) that gentleman further remarks: “On the 15th
September, 1845, I sailed for Liverpool in the steam-propeller ship
_Massachusetts_: she made one other voyage to that port and, in June
1846, she was chartered to carry troops to the Gulf of Mexico. She
was afterwards bought by our government and bore the flag of General
Scott to the siege of Vera Cruz. She long continued in the navy
department, and was known as the _Farralones_. Three or four years ago
our government sold her when her machinery was removed, and she is now
running and is called the _Alaska_.”
[188]
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
Name. | Date of | Date of | At | Advantages to
| Sailing. | Arrival. | | credit of
| | | |_Massachusetts_.
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_Massachusetts_ | Oct. 22 | Nov. 18 |Holmes Hole| *
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_Shenandoah_ | Oct. 22 | Dec. 3 a 4 |Sandy Hook | 13 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_Adirondack_ | Oct. 22 | Dec. 3 |Sandy Hook | 13 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_Henry Clay_ | Oct. 23 | Nov. 26 |Sandy Hook | 5 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_Columbiana_ | Oct. 23 | Nov. 30 | Boston | 11 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_St. Patrick_ | Oct. 23 | Dec. 1 | New York | 11 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
_St. Petersburg_| Oct. 13 | Nov. 27 | Boston | 18 days
----------------+----------+------------+-----------+----------------
[189] Mr. Forbes, one of the owners of this ship, is a remarkable
man, and has, during the long period of sixty years, taken so useful
and active a part in the development of the maritime resources of his
country, that a brief note of his career, for which he has furnished
the materials, cannot fail to interest my readers. In 1811, when a boy
of only seven years of age, he and his mother were captured at sea on
their passage to France, and, again, in 1813, on his return passage.
In 1817 he adopted the sea as a profession; and by his genius and
industry he obtained the charge of an Indiaman, before he had reached
the age of twenty years, and by 1830 he was in command of a ship of
his own engaged in the trade with the East. He retired from the sea
in 1832, and, in 1839, he became the principal partner in one of the
largest mercantile establishments in China—the still well-known house
of Russell and Co. In November 1844 his _Midas_ (propeller schooner)
left New York for China: she was the first American steam-vessel that
went beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and the first to ply on the waters
of China. He was also interested in the propeller barque _Edith_, which
left New York for Bombay and China, on January 18th, 1845. She was
the first American steamer despatched to British India, and the first
square-rigged propeller to China under that flag. In April 1845 he,
with others, built an _iron_ paddle-wheel steamer, nearly 300 feet in
length, which they named the _Iron Witch_: she was designed by Ericsson
for great speed, to ply on the River Hudson, but as she did not prove
fast enough to compete with the regular Albany boats, her engines were
transferred to a wooden vessel named the _Falcon_; the _Falcon_ was the
first American steamer that plied to Chagres in connection with the
California route, as the _Iron Witch_ had been the first iron passenger
steamer that plied on the North River. In 1845 Mr. Forbes launched the
first iron steam-tug, built for mercantile purposes in New England,
designed so far back as 1838. In 1847 he loaded the ship _Bombay_ with
a full cargo of ice for Bombay, the first cargo taken there, a small
quantity having previously gone in the _Paul Jones_ in 1843. At that
period it used to be a joke that the Americans had nothing to offer in
return for the produce of India except _ice_, apples, and bills! On the
28th of March, 1847, he sailed from Boston to Cork in the sloop of war
_Jamestown_ with 800 tons of provisions, nobly contributed by citizens
of Boston and other inhabitants of New England for the famine-stricken
Irish—an act in itself which constituted a grand and imperishable
monument of their goodness. In 1847 he sent to China on the deck of a
ship, a small iron propeller called the _Firefly_, the first vessel
of the kind to ply on the Canton river. He states that when in China
in 1839-40, he sent the first cargo of tea to England in an American
ship, the _Oriental_. In 1857-8 he built and despatched from Boston,
an iron paddle-wheel steamer, called the _Argentina_, of 100 tons for
the survey of the La Plata, which ascended the Parana beyond where
any steamer had previously navigated. In 1861 he despatched the iron
propeller _Pembroke_ for China, where she was sold. She held the only
“letter of marque” issued by the United States’ Government during the
great civil war. Such are a few of the leading points in the active
life of Mr. R. B. Forbes, of whom his country may be proud, who still
in his fresh old age continues his career of usefulness. He now builds
boats for the “good boys” of his native town, and I had great pleasure
in executing for him the other day an order for no end of miniature
blocks, dead-eyes, anchors, and cables.
[190] “We have to say that, if the _Britannia_ beats the _Washington_
over (and they both, we understand, start the same day), she will
have to run by the deep mines, and put in more coal. We shall have,
in two years’ time, a system of Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific steamers
in operation that will tell a brilliant story for the enterprise of
Brother Jonathan. We are bound to go ahead, and steam is the agent of
the age. We expect yet to see the day when a traveller will be able to
leave New York, and going eastward all the time, will be enabled to
make the circuit of the earth, coming in by Huascualco, in the summer
interval between two sessions of Congress, spending a month or two in
the Mediterranean on the way.”
[191] “The _Washington_ is stated to be of 2000 horses’ indicated
power, and is 1750 tons Government measure, or 2000 tons carpenters’
measure; so her steam power is to her tonnage as one to one, while the
_Britannia_ has only one horse-power to 2¾ tons.[193] To go a little,
however, more into detail: both vessels have two cylinders, I believe,
of the same diameter, viz., 72 inches, and both have side beam engines;
the stroke of the _Washington_ is 10 feet; her boilers are able to
carry (they say) 30 lbs. of steam; but, if we allow her only 23 lbs.
⨉ 13 vacuum, she will be still double the power of the _Britannia_
with 5 lbs. ⨉ 13 lbs. i.e., = 900 horses’ power (450 ⨉ 2). I am now
speaking of full steam, or at least both cutting off at the same point.
The _Herald_ (New York) says the _Washington’s_ wheels are 39 feet in
diameter, and 7½ feet dip; but the latter is of course an error, and
probably means 7½ feet face; she has two boilers 36 feet ⨉ 15 on the
plan; there are three furnaces, each 7 feet ⨉ 4 feet 6 inches ⨉ 6 = 189
feet. Well then, there you have data from which you may calculate how
many horses’ power can be got off that great surface with anthracite
and blowers. Her recipient heating surface must be large; she has
flues, perhaps 12 inches in diameter.”
[192] The proportion was actually one to two as against one to two and
three-quarters.
[193] “In point of size she looked like an elongated three-decker, with
only one streak round her; but about as ugly a specimen of steam-ship
building as ever went through this anchorage. She did not appear to
make much use of her 2000 horse-power either, but seemed rather to roll
along than steam through the water. She excited considerable curiosity,
although her performance, as compared with the _Britannia_, had
evidently taken the edge off the feeling with which the vessel would
have been viewed had a different result been obtained in her favour.”
(Spithead correspondent of the _Times_.)
[194] In 1840 and 1841 the British Government entered into contracts,
to which I shall hereafter refer, for the conveyance of the mails with
the West Indies and also with the Pacific Steam Navigation Companies;
and, early in 1850, they concluded a contract with the Cunard Company
for the conveyance of the mails between Halifax, New York, and Bermuda
in small vessels of 350 tons and 80 horse-power, fitted with a proper
space for mounting an 18-pounder pivot gun. One of these vessels left
Halifax for Bermuda and another left for St. John’s within twenty-four
hours after the arrival of the packet from Liverpool; a third conveyed
the mails monthly between Bermuda and New York, the subsidy being
10,600_l._ per annum, or at the rate of 3_s._ per mile; on the main
line it was 11_s._ 4_d._ per mile.
In 1851, the British Government made another contract with the Cunard
Company for a monthly conveyance of the mails between Bermuda and St.
Thomas each way upon such days as might be fixed by the Admiralty, the
provisions as regards the size, power, and armament of the vessels
being the same in all respects as those in the other subsidiary
service, only that the price was to be equal to 4_s._ per mile, or
4,100_l._ per annum. This service connected the West Indies with
the United States and the North American provinces. The departure
of the one vessel engaged in it took place immediately after the
arrival of the homeward mail West India packet, so that she carried
the correspondence of the West Indian Colonies and of Her Majesty’s
officers on the station from that island to Bermuda.
[195] _Vide_ Official Reports from the Senate, 1850 and 1852, _passim_.
[196] The general dimensions of these celebrated steamers were:
length of keel, 277 feet; length on main deck, 282 feet; depth from
the maindeck, 24 feet; depth under the spar deck, 32 feet; breadth
of beam, 45 feet. They had rounded sterns, three masts with suitable
spars; a lower deck, main deck, and spar deck, as well as an orlop deck
extending from the engine-room forward and aft. The area of transverse
section of the _Arctic_, for instance, was 772 square feet. Launching
draught aft, 10 feet; average displacement per inch, from launching
to load line, 20½ tons; area of load line, 9369·10 square feet; whole
displacement to its circumscribing parallelopipedon, 601 per cent.;
weight of hull, 1525 tons; weight of spars and rigging, 34 tons;
ordinary load line aft, 20 feet; ordinary load line forward, 19½ feet.
[197] I have not room for these very valuable historical documents, so
much wanted in our own merchant navy, but the reader interested will
find them _in extenso_ in note, Appendix O, in Mr. C. B. Stuart’s work,
“On Naval and Mail Steamers;” U.S., published in New York, 1853.
[198] A description in detail of these boilers is given in the note,
Appendix O, already mentioned.
[199] The respective diameters of wheels in these steamers from
outside to outside of floats, were as follows, viz., _Arctic_, 35 feet
6 inches; _Baltic_, 36 feet; _Atlantic_, 35 feet; and _Pacific_, 35
feet. Those of the _Arctic_ and _Atlantic_ had thirty-six floats; the
_Baltic_, thirty-two; and the _Pacific_, twenty-eight.
The average performances of the engines of the _Arctic_ were as
follows: pressure, 16·9 pounds; revolutions, 15·8 per minute with
an average consumption of 83 tons of anthracite coals per day of
twenty-four hours, giving an average speed of 316·4 knots per day.
Her maximum pressure was 17·5 pounds; revolutions, 16·7 per minute;
consumption, 87 tons, and speed 320 knots per day. The consumption of
coal per day in the _Asia_ (Cunard line) was, on an average, 76 tons,
and her speed with this consumption 303 knots per day.
[200] The plates of this splendid engine will be found in the second
volume of Tredgold’s “Steam-Engine,” and well deserve the attention of
professional readers. Mr. Victor Beaumont’s account of the ship and
engine will be found in the same volume.
[201] See Reports of Proceedings in Congress.
[202] The comparative cost of driving a steamer on the average of
7 knots up to an average of 9 knots is very small compared to what
it would be to increase the speed from 9 to 11 knots an hour, and
it becomes enormous when that rate is increased (as the resistance
increases with the square of the velocity), but my readers must
take the very large sum mentioned as the extra cost of one extra
day’s saving of time with _very considerable qualifications_, as the
statement was made in Congress with the object of obtaining for the
Collins line further assistance either in the shape of a vote of money
or an enhanced annual subsidy.
[203] From a return which appeared in the _New York Herald_ on the 1st
of January, 1853, the number of persons carried in the course of eleven
months, January to November inclusive, 1852, was:
By Collins line to Liverpool, 2,420, to New York, 1,886.
By Cunard line to Liverpool, 1,783, to New York, 1,186.
[204] The dimensions of the _Africa_, built of wood by Messrs. Steele
and Company, of Greenock, were as follows:
_Builders’ Measurement._
Ft. In.
Length of keel and fore rake 267 0
Breadth of beam 40 6
Depth of hold 27 6
Tonnage 2128 78-94ths
_New Measurement._
Length on deck 265 0
Breadth on ditto at midships 37 2
Depth of hold at ditto 27 2
Tonnage 2226 24-100ths
She had a pair of side-lever engines, by Robert Napier of Glasgow, of
814 horse nominal power. Diameter of cylinders, 96 inches by 9 feet
stroke; paddlewheels, diameter, extreme, 37 feet 7 inches, and 30 feet
10 inches effective; twenty-eight floats, 9 feet 2 inches by 3 feet 2
inches, three sets of twenty-eight arms, eight floats in the water at
19 feet draft of water. Four flue boilers, twenty furnaces; bunkers
to hold 890 tons of coals; thirty-eight hands in the engine-room. The
_Africa_ was built of the best British oak, and planked double outside
and inside, and the space between the frames was filled up, from the
keel to the gunwale, with rock-salt, to preserve the vessel from the
dry rot. The number of her berths enabled her to carry 180 passengers.
She was manned by a full crew of chosen men, giving about one-third
to each department. She was estimated to carry 900 tons of coal; and
she had capacity for the transit of 600 tons of cargo, not including
the stores of ship and passengers. Fitted up for carrying guns, the
_Africa_ could at any time be transformed, from the peaceful original,
into an Admiralty ship of war. The saloons and berths were fitted with
an evident regard at once to elegance and utility: there was nothing
the most refined taste could desiderate, as there was nothing wanting
which could add to the comfort, convenience, and pleasure of the
passengers.
[205] See Appendix No. 8, p. 601. I give the authorities from whom
these returns were obtained, and all the figures on both sides of the
question, so that my readers may judge for themselves, but, having had
the log-books of the Cunard Company examined with great care, I can
vouch for the accuracy of the conclusions in my text.
[206] Mr. C. B. Stuart computes the power of the _Asia_ at eight
hundred and sixteen H.-P., and the _Atlantic_ and _Pacific_ at only
eight hundred each. On further comparing these steamers it will be
found that for each square foot of immersed section the _Atlantic_
had 1-10/100 horse-power; the _Pacific_, 1-12/100; and the _Asia_,
1-26/100, thereby giving the latter an important advantage over
the others. In the judgment of the Americans, therefore, whatever
superiority may have been exhibited in their vessels over those of
the British in speed, is justly ascribed to their models, effective
boilers, and ability in their preparation.
CHAPTER V.
Dangers of Atlantic Navigation—Collision of _Arctic_ and _Vesta_,
1854—_Arctic_ founders—Loss of _Pacific_, 1856—Renewed
exertions of the Collins and, also, of the Cunard Company—Launch
of the _Persia_—Collins line relinquished, 1858—_Scotia_—Her
great strength and speed—_Russia_, first Cunard iron
screw-steamer, 1862—_Bothnia_ and _Scythia_, 1874—Their
construction, outfit, and cabin accommodation—Vessels now owned
by Cunard Company—Comparison of _Britannia_ and _Bothnia_—Cunard
Company never lost a life nor a letter during thirty-five
years—Reasons—Value of punctuality—Admirable discipline in
their ships—Regulations of the Company—Most disasters may be
prevented by foresight—Success depends on fitting means—Cunard
line shows what can be done.
[Sidenote: Dangers of Atlantic navigation.]
A voyage across the Atlantic must ever be attended with greater peril
than almost any other ocean service of similar length and duration;
arising, as this does, from the boisterous character and uncertainty of
the weather, from the icebergs which float in huge masses during spring
along the northern line of passage, from the dense fogs frequently
prevailing, and from the many vessels of every kind to be met with,
either as employed in the Newfoundland fisheries, or in the vast and
daily increasing intercourse between Europe and America.
In such a navigation the utmost care and caution requires to be
constantly exercised, especially by steamships. Nevertheless, though
the Collins line of steamers performed this passage with a speed
hitherto unequalled, they encountered no accidents worthy of note
during the first four years of their career; but terrible calamities
befell them soon afterwards.
[Sidenote: Collision of _Arctic_ and _Vesta_, 1854.]
On the 21st of September, 1854, the _Arctic_, according to her usual
course, left Liverpool for New York. She had on board 233 passengers,
of whom 150 were first class, together with a crew of 135 persons, and
a valuable cargo. At mid-day on the 27th of that month, when about 60
miles south-east of Cape Race, and during a dense fog, she came in
contact with the French steamer _Vesta_. By this collision the _Vesta_
appeared at first to be so seriously injured that, in their terror and
confusion, her passengers, amounting to 147, and a crew of fifty men,
conceived she was about to sink, and that their only chance of safety
lay in getting on board the _Arctic_. Impressed with this idea many
of them rushed into the boats, of which, as too frequently happens,
one sank immediately, and the other containing thirteen persons was
swamped under the quarter of the ship, all on board of her perishing.
When, however, the captain of the _Vesta_ more carefully examined his
injuries, he found that, though the bows of his vessel were partially
stove in, the foremost bulkhead had not started. He, therefore, at once
lightened his ship by the head, strengthened the partition by every
means in his power, and by great exertions, courage, forethought, and
seamanship, brought his shattered vessel without further loss into the
harbour of St. John’s.
[Sidenote: _Arctic_ founders.]
In the meantime a frightful catastrophe befell the _Arctic_, and one so
little anticipated that the persons on board of her, supposing that
she had sustained only trifling injury by the collision, had launched
a boat for the rescue of the passengers and crew of the _Vesta_.
It was soon, however, discovered that their own ship had sustained
fatal injuries, and that the sea was rushing in so fast through three
holes which had been pierced in the hull below the water-line, that
the engine fires would be soon extinguished. The _Arctic’s_ head was
therefore immediately laid for Cape Race, the nearest point of land,
but in four hours from the time of the collision, the water reached the
furnaces and soon afterwards she foundered. As it was blowing a strong
gale at the time, some of the boats into which her passengers and crew
rushed were destroyed in launching, others which got clear of the
sinking ship were never again heard of, and only two, with thirty-one
of the crew and fourteen passengers, reached Newfoundland. Among those
who perished were the wife of Mr. Collins and their son and daughter,
but the captain, who remained on board to the last, and the first as
well as the second and fourth officers were saved. Seventy-two men and
four females sought refuge on a raft which the seamen, when they found
the ship sinking, had hastily constructed, but one by one they were
swept away—every wave as it washed over the raft claiming one or more
victims as its prey; and at eight o’clock on the following morning, one
human being alone was left out of the seventy-six persons who, only
twelve or fifteen hours before had hoped to save their lives on this
temporary structure. The solitary occupant of this fragile raft must
have had a brave heart and a strong nerve to have retained his place
upon it for a day and a half, after all his companions had perished,
for it was not until that time had elapsed that he was saved by a
passing vessel: his tale of how he and they were parted was of the most
heart-rending description.[207]
As a large proportion of the first-class passengers of the _Arctic_,
consisted of persons of wealth and extensive commercial relations in
the United States, as well as in England and her colonies, besides more
than one member of her aristocracy, the loss of the _Arctic_ and the
terrible incidents in connection with her fate caused an unusual amount
of grief and consternation on both sides of the Atlantic.
[Sidenote: Loss of the _Pacific_, 1856.]
Within little more than twelve months from this time, another great
calamity befell the Collins Company, and the sad loss of their steamer
_Pacific_, from the mystery in which it is shrouded, if not as
lamentable as that of the _Arctic_ (for the soul of man has never been
harrowed by its details), was equally deplorable. Though the ocean,
as in this instance, leaves no record of its ravages, the stern fact,
announced in the brief words _she was never heard of_, tells itself
the sad, sad tale, that a great ship, with all her living inmates, in
infancy, in manhood and in old age, it may be full of hope and joy,
has been engulfed in the deep blue waters of the Atlantic—summoned,
perhaps in a moment, to an eternity more mysterious than that which
still surrounds their melancholy fate.
This splendid but unfortunate ship left Liverpool on the 23rd of
January, 1856, having on board 25 first-class passengers, 20
second-class passengers, and a crew of 141 persons, almost all of
whom were Americans. She carried the mails and a valuable cargo; the
insurances effected on her amounting to $2,000,000. But no living soul
ever appeared to tell when and where or how she was lost, nor were any
articles belonging to her ever found to afford a clue to her melancholy
fate; it can only be supposed that she sprang an overwhelming leak, or
more probably struck suddenly, when at full speed, on an iceberg and
instantly foundered.[208]
[Sidenote: Renewed exertions of the Collins, and, also,]
These terrible disasters did not, however, quench the spirit of the
American people, however much they may have grieved over them. They
were still as resolved as ever to maintain an Atlantic mail service
of their own, and the requisite capital was soon found to supply the
place of the two vessels which had been lost; one of the new steamers,
the _Adriatic_, surpassing in size, speed, and splendour any of her
predecessors. Nor did these disasters check the passenger traffic
which, in eight years from the time of starting the Collins line, had
increased five-fold. This, however, is in a great measure accounted for
by the fact that, in the meantime, another line of steamers, specially
adapted for the emigrant trade, to which reference will hereafter be
made, had, during that period, been started, thus affording far greater
facilities for an economical and comparatively easy intercourse
between the two countries, than the sailing packets had hitherto
provided.
[Sidenote: of the Cunard Company.]
The Cunard Company having now other steam companies to contend against
besides the Collins line, made renewed and extraordinary exertions to
maintain their position. In 1852, they sent forth the _Arabia_, of 2400
tons, and of 938 horse-power, built on the Clyde and supplied with
engines by Robert Napier; and, in 1855, the first iron ship of their
fleet, the _Persia_, was dispatched to compete with the _Adriatic_.
[Sidenote: Launch of the _Persia_.]
The _Persia_[209] was a great step in advance of any other ship built
for the Cunard Company up to that period, and though they had added
twenty-six vessels to their fleet since they launched the _Britannia_,
she was not merely the first they had constructed of iron, but the
first ocean-going steamer in any way approaching her dimensions,
launched from the yard of Robert Napier and Sons, who had now added to
their business of engineers that of iron-ship builders.
Curious to relate, among the vast concourse of people who witnessed
the launch of this ship, there were persons who had been also present
at the launch of the _Comet_ on the Clyde, and who were thus living
witnesses of the extraordinary progress of steam navigation during the
course of their own experience. The _Persia_, besides being the largest
vessel hitherto owned by the Cunard Company, surpassed in speed all
their other vessels.[210]
With such vessels as the _Asia_, _Africa_, _Arabia_, and _Persia_ on
their line, the Cunard Company bade defiance to competition. In a
comparative statement of the voyages of the principal steamers then
engaged in the Transatlantic trade, including the Collins line, the
average speed of the Cunarders throughout the year 1856 exceeded that
of all others;[211] the _Persia_ during that year having, on four
occasions, made the passage from New York to Liverpool in less than
nine days and a half, indeed, in one instance, in nine days, four
hours, and thirty-five minutes.
[Sidenote: Collins line relinquished, 1858.]
But the Collins Company continued to run their ships with regularity
and undaunted vigour up till 1858, and it was only when the
shareholders discovered that they were competing with the Cunard and
other British steamers at a ruinous loss, and declined to provide more
capital, that this great but spirited undertaking was relinquished.
Though the most strenuous exertions were made, every effort failed to
resuscitate the Company. The losses had been stupendous: minor and
separate interests, moreover, as well as those persons who, from the
first, had been opposed to subsidies for the conveyance of the mails,
now brought their influence to bear upon Congress. The merchants and
shipowners of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other places,
envious of New York, complained loudly of that city having a virtual
monopoly of the Transatlantic trade, nor did the owners of the sailing
packets fail to renew their protests against the large annual grants
of public money voted for ocean steam communication. In the face of
these remonstrances, and of the numerous hostile interests now at work,
the American Government declined to grant any further subsidies to the
Collins Company, or to aid, from the public purse, another undertaking
which proposed to take its place.
[Sidenote: _Scotia._]
But the Cunarders did not relax their efforts to maintain the high
position they had now attained. In 1862 they sent forth the _Scotia_,
of which an illustration will be found on the following page.
[Sidenote: Her great strength,]
She also was built of iron, but superior in speed and strength to the
_Persia_, and of somewhat greater power and dimensions.[212]
[Illustration: CUNARD STEAM-SHIP “SCOTIA.”]
“In framing the _Scotia_, the utmost attention was bestowed for the
purpose of giving strength and firmness to the whole of her large hull
so as to enable her to resist strain, and make her invulnerable to
concussion. To secure strength she is bound in the strongest manner
throughout from stem to stern, and she is fitted with six transverse
bulkheads which, in the length of the ship, divide the hull into seven
perfectly water-tight compartments, and besides these she has also
four water-tight subsidiary or caisson compartments. She is traversed
from stem to stern by five keelsons, all of which are firmly secured
at each bulkhead. At the bow, her framing is diagonal to afford the
greatest possible resistance in case of concussion, and from the
various peculiarities of her construction and the excellence of the
material with which she has been built, the _Scotia_ is admitted to be
the strongest as she is certainly (1865) the finest merchant-steamer
afloat, and, as such, may be safely adopted as the champion and model
of a mercantile ocean steam-ship.”[213]
[Sidenote: and speed.]
This magnificent specimen of a merchant-steamer surpassed in all
respects any vessel which had hitherto crossed the Atlantic, having
made the passage (allowing for difference in time, but including the
detention of landing mails and passengers at Queenstown) in eight days,
twenty-two hours, from New York to Liverpool.
Though the Collins Company had collapsed, the Cunard Company were not
left in undisputed possession of the intercourse they had established,
except so far as regards any further competition from steam-vessels
subsidised by the Governments of Great Britain or of the United States.
But as no mean rivals in the trade had arisen from among their own
countrymen, they found it necessary to add vessel after vessel to their
fleet, each new one of a still more improved description, and therefore
wisely turned their attention to the screw as a means of propulsion.
[Sidenote: _Russia_, first Cunard screw-steamer, 1862.]
In 1862 they sent forth the _China_, in 1864 the _Cuba_, in 1865 the
_Java_, and in 1867 the _Russia_, all built of iron in the Clyde, but
fitted with the screw instead of paddle-wheels, and embodying various
improvements upon even the _Scotia_. The _Russia_ is 2960 gross
register, and, though her engines are only 492 horse-power,[214] her
speed equalled that of either the _Persia_ or _Scotia_, she having made
the passage from New York to Queenstown in eight days and twenty-eight
minutes, and from Queenstown to New York in eight days, five hours,
and fifty-two minutes mean time, thus affording another instance (if,
indeed, any more were required) of the superiority of the screw over
the paddle-wheels.
[Sidenote: _Bothnia_ and _Scythia_, 1874.]
[Sidenote: Their construction.]
But as the trade increased the Cunard Company found it necessary to
direct their attention to the adoption of every improvement, however
minute, which their experience, combined with the knowledge and science
of the age suggested, so as to increase considerably the capacity of
their vessels, without lessening their speed. Since they launched the
_Russia_ they have added to their fleet five vessels, the _Calabria_,
_Algeria_, and _Abyssinia_, each of 3300 tons, and the _Bothnia_
and _Scythia_, each of 4535 tons, all built of iron and fitted with
the screw. The _Bothnia_ and _Scythia_, (built by Messrs. James and
George Thomson, of Glasgow,) are in all respects similar. They are
each 455 feet in length over all, with a breadth of 42½ feet, and a
depth of 36 feet. In each, accommodation has been afforded for 300
first-class and 800 third-class passengers. They are barque-rigged,
and have four decks—the upper or promenade deck, the spar deck, the
main deck, and the lower or orlop deck; their engines are on the
compound principle.[215] Their engines are 507 nominal horse-power, of
the massive description common to the Cunard liners, so essential for
safety on an Atlantic voyage. They have each two jacketed cylinders,
the small cylinder being 60 inches and the large one 104 inches, with
eight tubular boilers and twenty-four furnaces.
[Illustration: “BOTHNIA.”]
The coal bunkers of the _Bothnia_ are capable of holding 1200 tons of
coals. Steam winches of extra size are attached to all the hatches, and
the weighing of the anchor is secured by the use of Harfield’s[216]
steam windlass. Her _steam_ steering gear is amidships, besides
which she has powerful screw gearing, and, in further supplement of
the guiding resources of the vessel, she can be directed, from a
wheel-house aft, in the event of the steam gearing getting out of order
while at sea.
[Sidenote: Outfit]
The _Bothnia_ (as well as the _Scythia_) is of unusual strength, being
double plated for a considerable distance round the bilge, and having
nine intercostal keelsons, while her spar deck, which is all of teak,
is plated with iron. She carries twelve lifeboats, an unusual number
for even a vessel of her large dimensions. Nor has the comfort and
luxury as well as the safety of the passengers been neglected. In her
main saloon, situated nearly amidships, 300 persons can conveniently
dine at one time. There are besides separate drawing-rooms for ladies,
and smoking and lounging-rooms for gentlemen.
[Sidenote: and cabin accommodation.]
Beyond the advance which has been made in the strength, speed, and
capacity of these ships, since iron has been employed in their
construction and the screw adopted as a propelling power, the improved
accommodation afforded to passengers of all classes has been equally
surprising. The state rooms of the _Bothnia_ are indeed splendid,
affording every comfort possible at sea, the sleeping-berths, in
space, light, ventilation, and convenience, more resembling the
rooms of an hotel than the cabins of a ship. (See illustration, p.
236.) By arrangements, which I have not space to describe in detail,
the scuttles, or rather windows, of the upper tier of berths are no
longer exposed to the wash of the sea, so that they can be kept open
if desired, without in any way jeopardizing the safety of the ship
in the most stormy weather; nay, even when closed, the ventilation
remains perfect, and is continued to the other range of cabins below.
Thus a passage across the stormy Atlantic is no longer one of enduring
discomfort or suffering, as it was in the days of our fathers, but,
to those who are not subject to sea-sickness, has now become a voyage
of pleasure; and, though many of my readers may not be disposed to
agree with me in this respect, the improvements in accommodation are so
great that I should prefer spending the proverbial “month’s holiday,”
which everybody now-a-days seems to require, on board of a modern
steam-ship to spending it in most of our European hotels.
[Illustration: SECTION AND DECK OF CABINS OF THE CUNARD STEAM-SHIPS
“BOTHNIA” AND “SCYTHIA.”]
The _Scythia_ was launched in October 1874, and the _Saragossa_ and
_Cherbourg_, now in course of construction on the Clyde by Messrs.
Thomson for the Cunard Company, are not likely to be in any way
inferior.
[Sidenote: Vessels owned by Cunard Company.]
[Sidenote: Comparison of _Britannia_ and _Bothnia_.]
This company now own forty-nine steam-vessels of 90,208 tons, and
14,537 horse-power;[217] and, in a foot note, will be found an
interesting table of the comparative consumption of coal in fourteen
of these steamers employed in different trades.[218] But, a much more
interesting and instructive table (embracing all the Cunard vessels
that have been employed in the Transatlantic trade since 1840) is
given in the Appendix,[219] and forms in itself a complete history of
the advance of steam-vessels during the last thirty-five years. It
is remarkable to note the extraordinary progress achieved since the
_Britannia_ made her first voyage in 1840. Though measuring 1,139 tons,
she had a capacity for only 225 tons of cargo, whereas the _Bothnia_,
of 4,335 tons, built in 1874, takes 3000 tons of cargo, or nearly
fourteen times as much, though only four times larger. The _Britannia_
carried ninety passengers, whereas the _Bothnia_ carries 340, or
close upon four times as many. The former steamed 8¼ knots an hour,
whereas the latter steams 13, or more than half as quick again, and the
_Bothnia_ does all this extra work on less than half the quantity of
fuel per indicated horse-power per hour, and on about the same quantity
for the actual number of miles run.
As it thus appears that engines of 507 nominal horse-power now drive a
vessel of 4,335 tons, at a speed nearly twice as great as engines of
425 nominal horse-power drove a vessel of only 1039 tons in 1840, with
not half the consumption of coals, may we not hope from the progress
of science and increased knowledge for still more extraordinary
results at the expiration of another thirty-five years?
[Sidenote: Cunard Company never lost a life or a letter during
thirty-five years.]
The Cunard Company have now afloat, and engaged in their Transatlantic
service alone, no less than twenty-three magnificent steam-ships and
two steam-tenders of a gross registered tonnage of 64,718 tons, and
10,000 horse-power.[220] And here I must state that, though they have
for thirty-five years been traversing that stormy ocean, now almost
daily, with surprising regularity and during the most tempestuous
weather, they have only lost two vessels; _but it is still more
remarkable,—indeed, it is an extraordinary fact,—that neither life
nor letter entrusted to their care has been lost through shipwreck,
collision, fire, or any of the too frequent causes of disaster, during
the numerous voyages made by the Cunard steamers across the Atlantic_.
[Sidenote: Reasons.]
_How is this?_ Here is a problem well worthy of solution, and one too
of great national importance. When we consider the terrible loss of
life and property at sea, as revealed by the returns of casualties
annually published by the Board of Trade, and observe the mass of
legislation to prevent or lessen, but in vain, these ever increasing,
and too frequently most lamentable casualties, we cannot but feel that
a noble work has yet to be achieved. What a boon would be conferred on
mankind if this great problem could be satisfactorily solved! I cannot
hope to do so, but I shall endeavour to show that, in the success of
the operations of the Cunard Company, in the regularity of the voyages
of their ships, and in the safety of life and property entrusted
to their care, there exists a wise power of control which might be
advantageously applied to vessels in other trades.
Now, regularity in itself, though perhaps more applicable to transit
on land than sea, is a means of safety, while irregularity or rather
want of punctuality has been the cause of an untold number of accidents
involving destruction of property beyond estimation, with a sacrifice
of life which no mathematician would attempt to value. Indeed it may
safely be affirmed that the number of persons who have lost their lives
through irregularity alone while travelling by land and sea during
the present century, would exceed that of the occupants of a town of
considerable size.
[Sidenote: Value of punctuality.]
[Sidenote: Admirable discipline in their ships.]
With the Cunard Company punctuality is a matter of the highest
consideration, for their ships sail as is the rule with the
Transatlantic lines in all weathers, not merely to the day but to the
hour and even to the minute of the time advertised. On board every
man has his allotted station and his special duty to perform. Nor is
this all, every commander and officer must show that he is thoroughly
competent, in all respects, for his duties, while attention to these
duties is rigidly enforced. From my own experience I can state (for
I have on two occasions crossed the Atlantic as a passenger in their
steamers) that I found prevailing on board a very superior state of
things to what I have noticed in too many steam-vessels in other
trades. The captain was seldom to be seen, except at his duty, nor was
he ever to be found mingling or gossiping with the passengers when
any duty, however trivial, required his attention, even though the
regulations laid down by the owners for his guidance might have allowed
him to do so. No officer was ever seen speaking to the passengers
except perhaps to answer a question. If you entered the engine-room,
the engineers in charge were invariably at their stations ready to stop
the machinery at a moment’s notice, while all the assistants, down
to the furnace-men and coal-trimmers, were at their respective posts
attending to their individual duties. Going aft, you would find the
men at the helm with an officer by their side to make sure that the
steering course was adhered to, and, whether you walked to the bridge
or the forecastle, you would find men on the “look out,” alike in fine
weather and in foul, with their attention steadily directed to the
ship’s course, and with the means of instant communication with the
officer of the watch, and, through him, with the engineer in case of
danger. In approaching land, when in soundings, seamen in both chains
were to be found casting or prepared to cast the lead, or with the
deep sea line on the weather bulwark ready to be run out according to
circumstances or the anticipated depth of water.[221] If you looked
around you would find everything in its place ready for instant action;
if you glanced at the boats you would find their tackles in order and
the boats themselves clear and free from all encumbrances with the
plugs, oars, and rudder ready for immediate use; if you looked below
you would observe the night-lamps carefully guarded from accident,
and the hose stretched out and attached to the engine so that water
could be instantly applied to quench any fire that might accidentally
arise in any part of the ship. Everywhere the most perfect order and
quietness prevailed.
[Sidenote: Regulations of the Company.]
That my readers may understand more thoroughly the nature and value
of these regulations, I furnish[222] for their information the more
important heads of the instructions given to all the commanders of the
Cunard ships. They are clear and to the point and, though every person
on board is subordinate to the commander, the engineer also receives
printed instructions for his guidance. Distinct regulations are laid
down for exercising the boats and fire-pumps, and for their prompt and
efficient use in case of accident:[223] even the duties of the stewards
and servants are as clearly defined, so that in the cabin the same
quiet and order prevails as in all other parts of the ship.
Neglect of these or similar orders has too often led to the most
serious consequences; hence, in all the ships of the Cunard Company,
as on the Transatlantic ships, generally, they are enforced even to
the most minute detail. Any negligence with regard to them would be
severely reprimanded, and any second offence or any wilful neglect,
would be punished by disrating or dismissal from the service. Every
person on board from the captain to the cook’s mate knows this:
consequently, these regulations do not hang neglected on the walls
as regulations of the same kind too frequently do in too many other
vessels, they are carefully studied, as every man on board knows full
well that they must be attended to. Nor does the care of the Company
for the safety of their ships and the lives of their passengers end
here. To avoid as far as possible collision at sea they have within
the last two or three years issued a notice, which is advertised almost
daily in the leading public journals, of the course their ships will
pursue in their passages across the Atlantic.[224]
[Sidenote: Most disasters may be prevented by foresight, &c.]
Though the “dangers of the sea” are proverbial, they might be reduced
by at least two-thirds of their present amount. This is neither an
exaggerated nor a haphazard statement, for upon a close examination
of the wreck returns, it will be found that a still larger proportion
could be prevented. A large volume might be indeed written to advantage
on this important subject. But as our space is limited, and, having
already (vol. iii. chap. xvii.) directed the attention of my readers
to it, I shall only now ask them to turn over in their minds the too
frequent accounts of shipwrecks which appear in the public journals,
and such expressions as “drunkenness,” “overloading,” “negligence,”
“incompetency,” “fire,” “collision,” and “unseaworthy ships and
sailors,” will recur to their recollection as the alleged causes of
too many of these disasters. This is no overdrawn picture, _it is but
too true_.[225]
With these facts in view, and having before them the regulations of the
Cunard Company with the knowledge, also, of the _perfect_ safety with
which their ships have traversed, at the highest rate of speed for a
long series of years, one of the most stormy oceans; one, too, where
icebergs abound, and where far more ships navigate than anywhere else,
they may ask themselves with advantage this question and study it in
their own minds: _Cannot this melancholy list of maritime casualties
be materially reduced?_ IT CAN and _must_. Opinions may differ widely
as to the most effective mode of carrying into practice the means at
our disposal for bringing about a more satisfactory state of things
than exists at present. But the work has to be done, and ought to be
done, when the great fact, which cannot be too often repeated, is
considered that the Cunard Company’s steamers have for thirty-five
years constantly traversed the Atlantic without the loss of the life
of a passenger, or of a letter entrusted to their care.
[Sidenote: Success depends on fitting means.]
Some persons may say that this arises from extraordinary “good luck.”
As a rule, I have no faith in such old sayings; good or bad luck are
expressions only applicable to games of chance where no skill, genius,
industry, or prudence are required, and where every man has an equal
opportunity of winning a prize. In all other matters success depends
on the means applied to obtain it. And there can be no doubt that the
freedom from accident on board of the ships of the Cunard Company
may be attributed, almost entirely, to the wise measures adopted to
prevent casualties, and to the rigour with which they are enforced.
If this conclusion is sound and borne out by the facts, why should we
not make the rules of that company or similar rules adopted by other
steam lines, the bases of our maritime legislation, especially in
passenger ships, and enforce them by legislative enactments? We could
thus dispense with a large portion of the confused mass of maritime
legislation now in force, and from its extent, in too many cases,
practically worthless.[226]
With regard to the seaworthiness, of a ship and the competency of her
crew, it would, while maintaining the valuable existing laws for the
examination of the officers, and the engagement and discharge of the
seamen, be desirable to sweep away the great bulk of the legislative
technical _details_, which even Parliament in its wisdom knows little
about, and require shipowners to produce vessels in all respects
seaworthy, under heavy penalties for negligence, while leaving them
to manage their own affairs as to the best mode of construction,
number, and efficiency of crew, outfits, load line, and so forth. Such
matters cannot be effectually dealt with by Act of Parliament; but,
if they could, is it just, is it proper, that the nation should be
required to take upon itself responsibilities, essentially, belonging
to individuals? If it does, we shall most assuredly create greater
dangers and bring about greater misfortunes and calamities, than those
we attempt to obviate by well-meant but injudicious legislation.
[Sidenote: Cunard line shows what can be done.]
The case of the Cunard Company is a striking instance of what
individuals can do. Legislative enactments are not required to regulate
the conduct of such men as constitute the managing owners of this
company, nor of that of the great majority of British shipowners. They
know that a good ship, well managed and well found, is a much better
investment than a bad one. But they likewise know, and therefore the
Government can always depend upon the support of such men in any wise
and necessary legislative measure, that there are interlopers in their
trade who “go down to the sea in ships and do business on the mighty
waters” of quite as knavish a character and, even more heartless, than
the swindlers who concoct joint stock undertakings on shore to rob the
widow of her mite and the fatherless children of their daily bread:
they know, also, that there are very bad men who send their ships
to sea to be lost, and villains who actually scuttle them. Nor are
they unaware that, among their number, there are men who smile when
their ships are lost _because_ they are well insured.[227] Therefore,
so far from objecting to general laws of even a much more stringent
character than those at present in force, they would welcome them if,
by their rigorous enforcement, the perpetration of crime could be more
effectually checked. If, for instance, punishment was made more certain
and severe, bad men would hesitate before they over-insured their ships
in the hope of realising profits out of disasters, especially where
loss of life occurs. It is only a question of degree between the man
who smiles when his ship founders, and the rogue who dispatches her
for the purpose of being cast away; and Parliament, when it again deals
with the loss of life and property at sea, might do well to direct its
attention more than has hitherto been done to _over-insurance_, and to
the insurance laws of our own and other countries. To limit the amount
insured to the honest value of the article thus protected from loss,
may appear a simple enough matter, but the whole subject is surrounded
with difficulties. It must not, therefore, be hastily dealt with, and
before any legislation is attempted, should be fully investigated,
either by a committee of the House of Commons or by a Royal Commission.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] See Annual Register, 1854, page 162.
[208] One reason why such ships as the _President_ and _Pacific_
have left no trace of their fate is, that they have foundered almost
instantaneously in deep water; the result of this would be that all the
wood in them, including their boats, would be carried down with them,
the wood being at the same time made so heavy by the water forced into
its pores, that it could never again float to the surface.
[209] The _Persia_ is 3766 tons gross register, being 350 feet length
of keel for tonnage, 45 breadth of beam, and 30 feet depth of hold,
with a mean draught of water of 20 feet. She has side-lever engines
of 917 nominal horse-power, working up at sea to 3600 indicated
horse-power.
[210] Shortly after the _Persia_ was dispatched, Mr. Vanderbilt of
New York launched a ship which he named after himself calculated to
surpass in speed any steamer then afloat, but, on the authority of the
_Philadelphia Ledger_, she was defeated by the _Persia_ by thirteen
hours on a passage of 3068 nautical miles across the Atlantic, the
average speed returned on this occasion being: _Vanderbilt_, 13·86
nautical, or 15·98 statute miles per hour; and that of the _Persia_,
13·95 nautical, or 16·08 statute miles per hour. Through the courtesy
of the owners of the latter ship I am enabled to furnish (Appendix No.
9, pp. 603-5) an abstract of her voyages from the 1st of January, 1856,
to the 31st of December, 1867, condensed.
[211]
_Comparative Statement of Average Sailings of various Transatlantic
Steamers during the Year 1856._
----------------------+------------------------+-----------------------
| Liverpool to New York. | New York to Liverpool.
+------------------------+-----------------------
Cunard (Boston) | 13·07 days | 11·12 days
Cunard (New York) | 12·67 days | 11·03 days
Collins | 12·16 days | 12·03 days
Bremen | 15·00 days | 14·12 days
Old Havre | 14·18 days | 13·16 days
Havre (Vanderbilt) | 13·00 days | 13·00 days
Havre (French) | 17·00 days | 15·00 days
Glasgow | 15·12 days | 13·08 days
Hamburg | 15·12 days | 16·00 days
----------------------+------------------------+-----------------------
[212] The dimensions of the _Scotia_ are, length of keel and forerake,
367 feet (nearly twice the length of the _Britannia_); breadth of
beam moulded, 47½ feet; depth for tonnage, 30½ feet; gross register
3871 tons. Her engines are 975 nominal horse-power, but she works at
sea up to 4200 horse-power. The diameters of her two cylinders are
respectively 100 and 144 inches. Her paddle-wheels are upwards of
40 feet in diameter, and her bunkers contain 1800 tons of coal. The
weight of iron in her hull alone is 2800 tons. On her trial trip she
attained a speed of 19 statute miles an hour. Her cost ready for sea
was 170,000_l._, but labour, iron, and other materials have risen
considerably in price since she was contracted for in 1860.
[213] “The Steam Fleet of Liverpool,” p. 17.
[214] This is her nominal power, but as her cylinder is 87 inches
diameter, and stroke 48, the power indicated is from 2700 to 3000
horses.
[215] The compound engine has two cylinders, one frequently double the
diameter of the other. Steam at a high pressure is admitted from the
boiler into the smaller cylinder, and, after it has driven the piston
_up_ or _down_, it is allowed to pass into the larger cylinder when,
by its expansive property, it assists in driving the larger piston
_down_ or up. When it has exerted its full expansive effect, it is then
in a condition to be condensed; and thus a compound engine combines
the advantages of both a high pressure and low pressure or condensing
engines. Compound engines are sometimes called “high and low pressure”
engines, and there are a great many modifications of them, their
principle however, being always the same.
[216] In the course of this work I have frequently had occasion to
refer to the skill and genius displayed by the Americans in their
adaptation of appliances to reduce or dispense with manual labour,
but perhaps none of their inventions with this object in view can be
compared with the windlass of Messrs. Harfield and Company (formerly
Brown, Harfield, and Company), of London, who, beyond other inventions,
have produced in their patent windlass, of which the following is an
illustration—
[Illustration]
a machine of strength, simplicity, and power, applicable to vessels of
all descriptions, which has never been surpassed. This very compact
instrument can be worked either by manual labour or by steam, and of
its value in the latter case Mr. Harfield remarks: “The two principal
points of advantage are (1) that the cable is led from the hawsepipe
to the _underside_ of the chain-wheel, then over and half round the
side standard (formed like a riding-bit) away to the after stopper,
thus forming the strongest means for riding securely; (2ndly), the
chain-wheels are not attached rigidly to the windlass, but have a very
simple _frictional_ connection which can be set up to any desired
extent so as to yield to a heavier strain.”
[217] See Appendix No. 10, pp. 606-608.
[218] _Comparative Statement of Consumption of Coal in various Cunard
Steamers._
--------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------
| | | Consumption |
| | | of Coal per | Consumption
| Indicated | Consumption | Indicated | of Coal
Names of | Horse- | of Coal per | Horse-power | per Mile.
Ships. | power. | Day. | per Hour. |
--------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------
| | Tons | lbs. | Cwts.
_Asia_ | 1,805 | 78 | 4·0 | 5·6
_Arabia_ | 3,005 | 116 | 3·6 | 7·5
_Persia_ | 4,026 | 150 | 3·47 | 9·0
_Scotia_ | 4,500 | 159 | 3·6 | 9·5
_Russia_ | 2,700 | 95 | 3·28 | 6·0
_Parthia_ | 1,950 | 42 | 2·0 | 3·3
_Bothnia_ | 2,543 | 64 | 2·34 | 4·1
_Abyssinia_ | 2,450 | 91 | 3·46 | 5·68
_Marathon_ | 1,450 | 35 | 2·25 | 2·5
_Sidon_ | 760 | 16 | 1·96 | 1·4
_Trinidad_ | 702 | 16 | 2·11 | 1·37
_Nantes_ | 687 | 15 | 2·03 | 1·38
_Sidon_ | 824 | 19 | 2·15 | 1·14
_Nantes_ | 620 | 13 | 1·95 | 1·32
--------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------
[219] See Appendix No. 11, p. 608. For this most valuable and
instructive table I am altogether indebted to Mr. Burns, who considers
toil a pleasure if he can only furnish information which may prove
useful to the public. Indeed, had it not been for him and other
gentlemen largely engaged in maritime commerce, who have so readily
rendered me their aid (for which I tender my warmest thanks), I should
not have ventured to offer to the public so large an amount of purely
original matter as this volume contains.
[220] See Appendix No. 10, page 608.
_Note._—The Cunard Company, consisting, as I have explained, of only a
few private individuals who started business just half a century ago,
now own a fleet of steam-ships whose tonnage is greater by far than
the whole mercantile steam shipping of the German Empire, and nearly
half as great as that of France, Holland (once our greatest rival), and
Hamburg put together. Since they commenced they have had no less than
164 steam-ships under their flag. They employ 6000 men, shipping and
discharging in the course of one year, 42,000 seamen.
See evidence of Mr. John Burns before the Royal Commission on
Unseaworthy Ships, 1874.
In 1871, France owned (including the vessels of the Messageries
Maritimes) 160,478 tons; Holland, 36,644 tons; and Hamburg, 45,669 tons
of steam shipping.
[221] The chief-mate of the steam-ship _Schiller_, a German steamer
engaged in the Transatlantic trade, which was lost, with 333 persons on
board, on rocks contiguous to Scilly, in thick weather during the night
of the 7th of May, 1875, states in his evidence: “The _Schiller_ was
out of her reckoning: they _thought_ they were 25 miles from the land.
They had had fog for three days, had been unable to take observations,
and HAD NOT ONCE CAST THE LEAD.” (See report of official inquiry
ordered by the Board of Trade, _Times_, 2nd June, 1875.) If any of my
readers will look at the soundings marked on a Channel chart they will
see that this steamer would most probably not have been lost had only
one cast of the lead been taken during the three days of fog.
[222] The instructions to the captains are in print and of considerable
length, but the leading points in regard to the discipline and safety
of the ship and all persons on board are as follows:
“We rely on your keeping every person attached to the ship, both
officers and people throughout the several departments, up to the
high standard of discipline and efficiency which we expect in the
service. Your own practical knowledge may be your best guide, but
we will allude to the following things:—
“The charge of the ship, in all its departments, is put under the
command of the captain.
“The departments on board are classed under three heads:
“Sailing, engineers, stewards and servants.
“The captain to divide the sailors and officers into two watches
only, so that two officers may be always on deck.”
“Keep good look-outs.—The trust of so many lives under the
captain’s charge is a great responsibility; requiring vigilance
night and day.
“Be most careful as regards fire and the use of naked lights.—See
the rules in cabin regulations on this point attended to.
“Good steering is of great value.—Pick out the best helmsmen for
this duty.
“We beg your especial care to the drawing-off of spirits. The
spirit-room should, if possible, be entered during the day _only_.
See instructions to the purser under this head, and enforce them.
“Avoid familiarity with any particular set or portion of
your passengers; avoid national observations and discourage
them in others; keep yourself always a disinterested party
ready to reconcile differences; be civil and kind to all your
passengers—_recollect they will value your services on deck
looking after their safety more than talking with them in the
saloons_.
“The engine store-room (the place where the waste and oil are
kept) should have the engineers’ close attention, so as to prevent
fire, or even the alarm of it, not only on the passage but in port.
“It is to be borne in mind that every part of the coast-board of
England and Ireland can be read off by the lead; and, on making
land, you should never omit to verify your position by soundings;
rather lose time in heaving the ship to, than run the risk of
losing the vessel and all the lives on board.
“You are to understand that you have a peremptory order, that,
in fog or snow-storm, or in such state of the weather as appears
attendant with risk in sailing, you are on no account whatever
to move the vessel under your command out of port or wherever
she may be lying in safety, if there exists in your mind a doubt
as to the propriety of proceeding; and, at the same time, you
are particularly warned against being influenced by the actions
of other captains who may venture to sail their vessels in such
weather.
“In any case when, in sailing, you are overtaken by thick weather,
fog, or snow-storm, the most extreme caution is to be exercised,
and you are not to be actuated by any desire to complete your
voyage, your sole consideration being the safety of your ship and
those under your charge; and we caution and instruct you in such
circumstances to make CONSTANT USE OF THE LEAD, and to enter in
your log the fact of your having done so.
“In the navigating of our vessels generally, we have entire
confidence in the ability of our captains, and full reliance upon
their judgment and discretion, knowing, by experience, the fitness
of each man for the responsibility of his post; but in the matter
of fog, the best of officers become infatuated, and often attempt
to push through, when common sense and prudence would teach them
to exercise patience.
“You will bear in mind that we are now impressing upon you
stringent rules, long laid down by us for the guidance of our
captains, the terms of which are plain and unmistakeable, and
can leave no doubt as to your clear course of action in the
circumstances referred to, and we expect them to be implicitly
obeyed; but, if otherwise, the conduct of those who disregard them
can only be looked upon as extremely culpable, and deserving the
severest censure.”
[223] Appendix No. 12, pp. 609-10.
[224] “Cunard line.—Notice.—With the view of diminishing the chances
of collision, the steamers of this line will henceforth take a
specified course for all seasons of the year.
“On the outward passage from Queenstown to New York or Boston crossing
meridian of 50 at 43 lat., or nothing to the north of 43.
“On the homeward passage, crossing the meridian of 50 at 42 lat., or
nothing to the north of 42.”
_Note._—In July, 1871, the late Mr. William Wheelwright laid before
Mr. Chichester Fortescue (now Lord Carlingford), then President of the
Board of Trade, a large and beautifully executed chart, “showing an
eastern and western route for steamers crossing the Atlantic, whereby
collision may be avoided, and the fleet of fishing-vessels on the banks
of Newfoundland protected.” Mr. Wheelwright appears to have been the
first person to make known this valuable suggestion (which might with
advantage be enforced on all passenger steamers engaged in the northern
branch of the Transatlantic trade), as he published a pamphlet on the
subject so far back as 1846.
[225] If my readers will refer to the Report of the Royal Commission on
Unseaworthy Ships (1873-74), they will find the following summary of
the losses of ships at sea from 1856 to 1872 inclusive, which have been
the subject of enquiry at the instance of the Board of Trade:—Losses
attributable to unseaworthiness of hull, compasses, equipment, and
outfit, within the power of the owners to remedy, 4½ per cent.; losses
to be attributed to carelessness, drunkenness, ignorance, incompetency,
and absence of discipline, 65 per cent.; losses from stress of weather,
and causes not apparently preventable, 30½ per cent. This last item
includes 38 wrecks of which no cause is assignable. See also article,
“Merchant Shipping Legislation,” in the ‘Westminster Review’ for April,
1875, by Mr. Charles Lamport; and a very able article by his brother,
the late Mr. W. J. Lamport, of Liverpool, entitled the “Plimsoll
Agitation,” which appeared in the ‘Theological Review’ for January,
1874.
[226] It is satisfactory to note by the official returns, that, with
respect to ships _carrying passengers_, the loss of life is not so
great as is generally supposed. Between 1847 and 1873 inclusive, 22,186
vessels left the United Kingdom, with 5,388,163 passengers and 847,550
of crew—in all 6,235,713 persons. Out of the above number, 103 ships
were lost, and 6129 lives, giving a percentage in the loss of ships
of ·46, or not one-half per cent., and in the loss of life ·09, or
less than one person in the thousand thus conveyed. This return refers
to ships which come under the “Passenger Act.” See “Report of Royal
Commission of 1873-74.”
[227] There are probably very few shipowners who actually over-insure
ship or freight with a view to their loss, but when these are fully
covered, so that a loss may become a gain, it is not in human nature to
be, under such circumstances, as careful as if a loss were _really_ a
loss; and, when times are bad or ships unprofitable, the temptation to
carelessness is very great.
Not long since a shipowner of high reputation and on whose word I can
implicitly rely, met another shipowner, who, complaining of the bad
times, in the course of conversation said: “And to make matters worse
I have also had a bit of very bad luck.” “What was it?” enquired my
friend. “Oh!” said he, “a ship of mine I had just sold was lost the
first voyage after I parted with her.” “Well,” replied my friend, “and
where was the bad luck there?” “_Where?_” exclaimed this “unfortunate”
shipowner, “why I bought her twenty years ago, and insured her at her
full value, and had kept her so insured till I parted with her.” “And
what made you do that?” enquired my friend. “Oh!” replied he, “she was
an old ship, and an old-fashioned ship, and I thought that if she _did_
happen to go to the bottom I might as well have a good and a new one in
her place.”
In relating this incident, my friend added that he was not less taken
aback by the _naïveté_ and apparent innocence with which these remarks
were made, than by the story itself.
CHAPTER VI.
Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company—_City
of Glasgow_, 1850—_City of Manchester_, 1851—Speed of _City of
Paris_ and _City of Brussels_—Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve
and facilitate cheap emigration to the United States—Large
number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers—_City
of Chester_, 1873—_City of Berlin_, 1875—Ocean steamers
to Canada, 1853—First mail contract, 1852—Allan line of
steamers, 1856—Extent and capacity of its fleet—Speed of
these vessels—Galway line a failure—Loss of _Connaught_,
1860—Rapid passage of _Adriatic_, 1861—Struggles between
sailing-clippers and iron screw-ships—National Steam Navigation
Company, 1863—Their splendid ships—Old Black Ball line—The
Guion line, 1863—Mississippi and Dominion Company—White
Star line, 1870—Strict regulations for safety—_Britannic_
and _Germanic_—Their great speed—Details of _Britannic_
and form of her screw—Difficulty of estimating real cost of
steamers—Pennsylvania Company, 1873—Anchor line from the
Clyde, 1856—Prodigious range of their trade operations—The
_Victoria_—Hamburg American Steam Packet Company—North German
Lloyd’s.
[Sidenote: Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company.]
The year 1850 proved somewhat remarkable in the history of steam
navigation. But among the various undertakings commenced in the course
of that year, the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship
Company, better known as the Inman line, was perhaps the most important.
[Sidenote: _City of Glasgow_, 1850.]
Mr. William Inman, the managing owner, by whose energy their present
large fleet of iron screw-steamers was created, had for some time
given his attention to the application of the screw, for the purpose
of propelling ocean-going steamers. Impressed with its superiority
over the paddle-wheel, he entered into communication with the late
David Tod, of the firm of Tod and Macgregor, iron shipbuilders and
engineers in Glasgow, who had formed, in common with the owners of the
_Great Britain_, the idea of starting a continuous service of voyages
across the Atlantic with vessels built of iron and driven by screws,
an experiment at that time considered rather hazardous, and, with that
object, had in 1850 launched the _City of Glasgow_, a vessel of 1600
tons, and 350 horse-power. Subsequently, she was purchased by the Inman
Company, and sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia on the 17th of
December, 1850, continuing in that service for many years.
[Sidenote: _City of Manchester_, 1851.]
In 1851, the Inman Company purchased the steam-ship _City of
Manchester_, of which the following is an illustration, built also by
Messrs. Tod and Macgregor,[228] and with these vessels a fortnightly
service between Liverpool and Philadelphia was established and
continued up to the year 1857. Between 1851 and 1856 the _City of
Baltimore_, the _Kangaroo_, and the _City of Washington_, all iron
screw-ships, were added to this line.
[Illustration: “CITY OF MANCHESTER.”]
In the year 1857 the Inman Company enlarged the area of their
operations by making New York one of their ports of arrival, and
establishing a regular fortnightly line thither. In 1860 they increased
the service of their steamers to once a week; in 1863 to three times a
fortnight, and in 1866 they sent forth their steamers twice every week
during the summer months.
[Sidenote: Speed of _City of Paris_, and _City of Brussels_.]
To some extent the failure of the Collins line proved the fortune
of the Inman, for, when that unfortunate undertaking collapsed, Mr.
Inman at once assumed their dates of sailing, and carried the United
States’ mails between England and America for some time afterwards with
great regularity. Nor were the vessels of the Inman line less swift
than their predecessors. Indeed, their _City of Paris_,[229] of 3081
tons gross register, and 500 nominal horse-power, and their _City of
Brussels_, of 3747 tons, and 600 horse-power, far surpassed the fastest
steamers of the Collins Company, and they in turn were surpassed by the
_City of Richmond_.[230]
[Sidenote: Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve and facilitate cheap
emigration to the United States.]
But whatever advantages may have been derived by carrying the United
States’ mails, Mr. Inman, apart from these, specially directed his
attention to the conveyance of emigrant passengers (who found in his
ships greater comfort, and a much more rapid means of reaching the
United States than could be obtained in the fastest of the American
sailing packets), and thus laid, at the outset, the foundation for
the future prosperity of the company he had formed. It was he who
first gave to the masses from the overcrowded cities of Europe, more
economical and rapid means than they had hitherto enjoyed of reaching
a country where their labour was in demand, and, by wise and judicious
arrangements in his steamers, supplied what had hitherto been to a
great extent wanting, the more complete separation of the sexes on
the voyage to the land of their adoption. While reaping the reward to
which his meritorious services were justly entitled, he conferred a
boon worthy of remembrance on myriads of poor people, and I should ill
perform the duty I have undertaken, were I not to specially notice his
exertions on behalf of those of the industrious working classes, who
felt it necessary to seek for themselves and their children, the means
of obtaining honest employment in other and in distant lands.[231]
[Sidenote: Large number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers.]
In 1856 and 1857, the Inman Company conveyed in their steamers
eighty-five thousand passengers, to and from the United States of
America, or about one-third of all the persons who crossed the Atlantic
in steamships during these two years; and that this company long
maintained the favourable prestige they had at first secured, may be
seen by the official returns of emigrants landed in New York for the
year 1870.[232]
[Sidenote: _City of Chester_, 1873.]
In 1873 this Company added two magnificent screws to their fleet,
the _City of Chester_, of which an illustration will be found on the
following page, and the _City of Richmond_, each of 4700 gross, or 3000
net register tonnage, and 800-horse power. These vessels were built by
Messrs. Caird and Co., of Greenock, and by Messrs. Tod and MacGregor,
of Glasgow, and are each 453 feet 6 inches in length over all, with a
beam of 43 feet, and a depth of hold of 36 feet. They are spar-decked,
have iron masts and solid iron bulwarks, and they are ship-rigged.
In midships, there are long rows of centre and side houses, for a
portion of the passengers and crew, and where accommodation is likewise
afforded for the steering gear which is wrought by manual labour or
steam power. There are also “the galley-saloons,” providing cooking
apparatus sufficient for 1500 persons; while five of the side houses
are devoted to the purpose of male and female hospitals. The engines
of these vessels are compound with inverted cylinders and surface
condensers; the large cylinder being 120 inches, and the smaller one 76
inches in diameter; the length of stroke of the piston is 5 feet; and
their speed on trial was 16 knots an hour.[233]
[Illustration: S.S. “CITY OF CHESTER.”]
[Sidenote: _City of Berlin_, 1875.]
But the Inman Company has recently launched from the yard of Messrs.
Caird and Company a still larger and more magnificent vessel, the
_City of Berlin_, being the longest and perhaps the largest merchant
steam-vessel afloat, the _Great Eastern_ alone excepted. Her dimensions
are: length over all, 520 feet; breadth 44 feet; and depth to spar
deck, 37 feet; her gross register is 5500 tons; she is supplied with
two direct-acting high and low pressure engines (compound condensing)
of 900 nominal, but indicating, as proved on trial, 4799 horse-power;
her cylinders being 120 and 72 inches diameter respectively, with a
piston stroke of 5 feet 6 inches; she has twelve boilers and thirty-six
furnaces; and she has accommodation for 202 first-class passengers, and
1500 intermediate passengers and emigrants.[234]
A list of the Inman Company’s vessels on the 1st of January, 1875, will
be found in the Appendix.[235]
The success which had attended the British steamers engaged in the
trade with the United States, led to further projects for extending
this beneficial agency to the British North American Colonies,
and induced the attempt to introduce a regular line of steam-ship
communication between Liverpool and Canada by means of the natural
estuary of the St. Lawrence. Magnificent, however, as this river
unquestionably is, when looked on as an artery of commerce between the
rich agricultural and mineral districts along its margins, and the vast
tracts of fertile country around its lakes, its navigation is attended
with many difficulties and presents numerous dangers. Not the least
of these arises from the ice, which, on breaking up, is apt to choke
the river, and at the same time to cause the elimination of quantities
of watery vapour, which, partially condensed by the surrounding low
temperature, is converted into dense fog, so thoroughly impervious
to the sun’s rays, as to bewilder the most skilful mariner, and
incalculably to increase the dangers to which voyaging in these waters
is otherwise exposed.
[Sidenote: Ocean steamers to Canada, 1853.]
But the indomitable spirit of British shipowners refuses to recognise
dangers or to acknowledge difficulties save with a resolution to
combat and overcome them; and so it has fared with the suggestion
made in June, 1852, for applying steam-ships to carry on the mail and
other rapid traffic with British North America. Previously, the trade
between this country and Canada, had been carried on by a superior
class of sailing-ships, many of which during its early history were
commanded by their owners or their sons. Among these early merchant
traders to Canada, Mr. Alexander Allan, the father of the family that
gives its name to the present Allan line of steamers, had a prominent
place.[236] When the success of screw-steamers upon the Atlantic had
been assured, the members of the Allan family turned their attention
to the advantages to be derived from their employment of such vessels,
and established a line of them to run between Liverpool, Quebec, and
Montreal during the period of open navigation, and between Liverpool
and Portland when the St. Lawrence is icebound.[237]
[Sidenote: First Mail Contract, 1852.]
Before, however, their vessels were finished, the Canadian Government
advertised (June, 1852) for the conveyance of their mails between this
country and Canada in summer, and Portland in winter. For this service
a contract was concluded with Messrs. McKean, McLarty, and Lamont of
Liverpool, who formed a company and opened the line in the spring
of 1853, with a vessel of 500 tons register named the _Genova_: the
line was continued for about eighteen months by means of the steamer
_Cleopatra_, of 1467 tons, and two smaller vessels, the _Ottawa_ and
_Charity_, and the _Canadian_, the first steamer built for Messrs.
Allan, who had chartered her to the company.
[Sidenote: Allan Line of Steamers, 1856.]
[Sidenote: Extent and capacity of its fleet.]
But the service, which was conducted with varying regularity, proving
unprofitable, was transferred to the Allans, who undertook with the
fleet they were building, specially for this trade, to carry on a
fortnightly service to Quebec in summer, and a monthly voyage to
Portland (Maine) in winter, for the annual subsidy of 24,000_l._ The
Crimean war, however, occurring in 1854, offered more remunerative
employment to the steamers of the fleet of both contractors. And,
consequently, the regular mail service by the Allan line (which at the
first was designated the Montreal Ocean Steam-ship Company) was not
commenced until April, 1856. Since then it has been maintained with
unbroken regularity, with the exception of various serious losses,
which might almost have been anticipated in the early history of
the service, considering the dangerous character of the navigation.
From a fortnightly line in summer, and a monthly line in winter, the
operations of the company have been expanded into a regular weekly
service, supplemented by an additional fortnightly mail service
between Liverpool and Halifax, extending during summer to St. John’s,
Newfoundland, and continued, monthly, during winter by means of an
iceboat, between Halifax and St. John’s, when the latter port cannot be
approached by ocean steamers.
Steamers of the Allan fleet also trade between Liverpool and Baltimore,
and a weekly line of this company is maintained between Glasgow and
Canada in summer. A list of the Allan steamers will be found in the
Appendix:[238] and I must add that they are now unsurpassed in their
efficiency and regularity by any of the Atlantic lines.
Their steamer, the _Hibernian_, built in 1861, was the first in the
Atlantic trade, where the deck-houses were covered by a promenade
deck, stretching from stem to stern, which prevents a sea, when it
breaks on board, from filling the passages between the deck-houses and
bulwarks. Indeed, so highly was the plan approved by Government, that
the unproductive spaces under this deck were made, by order of the
Board of Trade, the subject of a special exemption from tonnage measure
by the deck-shelter clause of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. Other
Atlantic lines adopting this protection obtained like privileges, but,
difficulties arising in connection with ships of somewhat different
construction which however claimed the same exemption, Government was
obliged to abolish all such immunities.
[Sidenote: Speed of these vessels.]
Some of the vessels of this line are remarkable for their speed. For
instance, in October, 1872, the _Polynesian_ on her first voyage, made
the passage between Quebec and Londonderry in seven days eighteen hours
and fifty-five minutes; while her sister ship, the _Sarmatian_, was
engaged by Government to convey the 42nd Highlanders to the Gold Coast,
in the recent Ashantee war.
The _Hungarian_, one of the earliest of these steamers, made the
passage from Quebec to the Rock Light in nine days six hours and
thirty-five minutes, or from land to land in six days. Another, the
_Peruvian_, completed one of the fastest round voyages on record in any
Atlantic line; on the 16th of December, 1864, she left Moville (port of
call, near Londonderry in Ireland, for the Allan boats) at 6.24 P.M.,
discharged her cargo at Portland (State of Maine, United States), took
in her homeward cargo, and sailing, arrived back at Moville on the 10th
of January, 1865, at 9.15 A.M., thus making the passage out and home,
including detentions at Portland, while discharging and loading her
cargoes, in twenty-four days fifteen hours.
In the limited space at my disposal it would be impossible for me
to notice all the lines of steamships now traversing the ocean, and
I must, therefore, in a great measure, confine my remarks to those
which have led the way and have become either famous by their success
or conspicuous by their failure, so that my readers may, it is to
be hoped, learn in their day and generation, wisdom from them both,
seeing, in the former, what they ought to imitate or if possible
improve on; in the latter, what they had better avoid and condemn.
Thus, in the Parliamentary Report[239] on the “Royal Atlantic Steam
Navigation Company,” better known as the “Galway line,” will be found
an account of the brief career of one of the most unfortunate and
disastrous of these undertakings.
[Sidenote: Galway line a failure.]
Having in view the success of the three British lines of steamers to
which I have just referred, but at the same time paying no heed to
the warning presented by the Collins Company in their endeavours to
traverse, with unusual speed, the fickle and stormy Atlantic, a company
of English and Irish gentlemen, most of whom had little knowledge and,
certainly, no experience of the business they were about to undertake,
proposed to the British Government, in January 1859, to carry Her
Majesty’s mails from Galway to Portland, Boston or New York, _viâ_ St.
John’s, Newfoundland, or otherwise, for the sum of 3000_l._ per voyage,
“such voyage being the passage out and home.” The great attraction,
however, of the offer lay in the further condition that “they would
undertake to convey telegraphic messages from the United Kingdom to
British North America and the United States in _six_ days, casualties
excepted,” the Atlantic cable being then only in contemplation: that
is, they offered to make the passage between Galway and St. John’s,
Newfoundland, at all seasons of the year, in the unprecedented short
time of six days. A contract based on this proposal was entered into on
the 21st April, 1859, to which a table was annexed[240] of the time in
which this company further agreed to deliver _letters_ at New York and
at Galway. With the object of carrying out this contract, the “Royal
Atlantic Steam Navigation Company concluded, on the 10th June, 1859,
an agreement with Messrs. Palmer of Newcastle, for the construction of
two ships at a cost of 95,000_l._ each, and, on the 15th June, they
entered into another contract with Messrs. Samuelson of Hull, for the
construction of two other ships at a cost of 97,500_l._ each. These
vessels were to be built according to lines, plans, and specifications
approved by the Admiralty, and were to be delivered within eleven
months from the date of the agreements, the commencement of the postal
service according to contract having been fixed for June 1860.”[241]
The dimensions of these ships were 360 feet long, 40 feet beam, and 32
feet depth of hold. They were each 2800 tons measurement, with engines
of about 850 nominal horse-power; in model and equipment they were
somewhat similar. Indeed, the _Connaught_ and the _Hibernia_, built
by Messrs. Palmer, were “precisely the same;”[242] a clause in their
agreement with the company requiring, “that each of the said vessels
when completed was, on a fair and proper trial thereof, to accomplish
a speed at _the rate of 20 statute miles_ per hour in smooth water,
and to consume not more than 8800 pounds of fuel per hour.”[243] But,
on the trial of the _Connaught_, the Government inspector reported
that the speed of this “vessel was about thirteen knots; the average
revolutions of the engines, 16·6; the average pressure of steam in
the boilers being 22½ lbs. on the square inch, and the vacuum in the
condensers 24½ inches.”[244]
[Sidenote: Loss of the _Connaught_, 1860.]
Difficulties and differences of various kinds having arisen, none of
these vessels were delivered within the time agreed upon, and the
company was consequently obliged to start the service with a hired
vessel—the _Parana_—which sailed from Galway on the 27th of June,
1860, arriving at St. John’s in seven days thirteen and a half hours,
and at New York in eleven days seventeen and three-quarter hours after
her departure, or fifteen hours and three-quarters behind the contract
time for the delivery of the mail bags at her final destination, and
one day thirteen and three-quarter hours beyond the stipulated time
for delivering the telegraph messages at St. John’s. The _Connaught_
followed, in her case direct for Boston, on the 11th of July, and
was twenty-two and a half hours over time in reaching that place.
But serious disasters soon befell these steamers: the _Connaught_
was totally lost on her second voyage in October, of this year when
approaching Boston, she having, on this occasion, been one day and
twenty and a half hours behind time in reaching St. John’s. One voyage
had, consequently, to be omitted altogether. The second ship belonging
to the company, the _Hibernia_, encountering a severe gale on her way
from the Tyne to Galway was so thoroughly disabled that she never
entered the service at all,[245] while their third new ship, the
_Columbia_, which sailed for the United States on the 9th of April from
Galway, returned in May disabled by ice,[246] after making the slowest
passage outwards of any of the fleet, having been ten days seven and
a half hours in reaching St. John’s, and seventeen days twenty and
three-quarter hours before she arrived at Boston.[247]
[Sidenote: Rapid passage of the _Adriatic_, 1861.]
The steamship _Prince Albert_ was chartered to take the place of the
_Connaught_, and in February 1861 the Company purchased the _Adriatic_,
one of the most famous ships of the Collins line. The transfer of this
ship to the British flag does not seem to have reduced her speed or
detracted from her celebrated sea-going qualities, for she made the
run from Galway to St. John’s in six days, the specified time, and,
having completed the passage to New York in one day fifteen hours and a
quarter less than the contract time, returned from St. John’s to Galway
in _five days nineteen hours and three-quarters_, perhaps the quickest
passage on record from port to port across the Atlantic.[248]
But, having, within six months, lost one of their vessels, while
another was disabled by storm, and a third rendered unfit for the
mail service in her encounter with ice off Newfoundland, the Company,
finding it impossible to raise fresh capital in the face of such
disasters, had no course left but to abandon their undertaking and
terminate their contract in May 1861. The return[249] of the earnings
and costs to Government of the Galway line of mail steamers shows a
heavy loss to the public, but, though I have no means of knowing the
amount of the losses of the company itself during its brief career,
these must have been far greater; indeed, it was currently reported
that the shareholders lost in eighteen months nearly all, if not the
whole, of their capital.
[Sidenote: Struggles between the “clippers” and the iron screw-ships.]
But, however disastrous the results to the American shareholders of
the Collins line on the one hand, or to the British shareholders of
the Galway line of steamers on the other (both these undertakings
being, it should be remembered, largely subsidized), the ardour of
private and unsubsidized energy in no way abated. The ocean race for
supremacy in the carrying trade of the Atlantic was still maintained;
and the struggle continued with quite as much spirit as ever between
the American owners of sailing-clippers and the British shareholders
of iron screw-steamers. It was a brave fight: but the wooden clippers
of America had no chance against the iron screws of Great Britain,
although the race was not then so unequal as might appear, arising
from the fact that the current expenses of the clippers were far
less then than those of the steamers, while their capacity for cargo
was far greater. Indeed, for a time, it was questionable whether the
clippers did not yield their owners quite as good returns on the
capital invested as the steamers. The wooden clipper, however, had
reached perfection, (the world having never previously seen a more
splendid class of sailing-ships than the “Yankee liners of that day,”)
whereas the screw, being still in its infancy, moved onwards with the
progress of science, improvements in machinery tending to reduce the
current expenses and to increase the capacity of the ship by reducing
the consumption of fuel, so that the sailing-ships were obliged to
succumb. At last, the screw-steamers slowly but surely obtained an
almost complete supremacy, and have now no competitors (except among
themselves) in the more valuable portion of the carrying trade across
the Atlantic.
[Sidenote: National Steam Navigation Company, 1863.]
The success which had attended the Inman and the Allan lines of
steamers induced others to follow their example; and various
undertakings of a similar character were started in rapid succession.
Thus, with the view of availing themselves of recent legislative
measures for the encouragement of mercantile associations, a number of
Liverpool merchants and shipowners established, in 1863, the National
Steam Navigation Company with a capital of 700,000_l._ The original
intention of the promoters of this undertaking was to provide for the
large trade they felt assured must arise between this country and the
Confederate States whenever the lamentable war then raging in America
should have exhausted itself, and when peace returning should have
showered down its many blessings on that fertile and teeming land;
their first plan, therefore, was to carry on a regular periodical line
of first-class steam-ships between Liverpool and the Southern States.
The anxiously hoped for peace between the contending parties in America
did not, however, arrive so soon as they had anticipated, and, as the
requisite capital had been obtained, and their ships were ready for
service, they sent forth their steamers to compete for a portion of the
passenger and goods trade of the Northern States, which the Cunard,
Inman, and Allan lines were now carrying on with great success.
[Sidenote: Their splendid ships, and complete success.]
The first vessels of the National Company dispatched to ply between
Liverpool and New York, were the _Louisiana_, the _Virginia_, and
the _Pennsylvania_ screw-ships of a gross tonnage, respectively, of
3000 and 3500 tons; at that time being the largest vessels afloat. In
1864, the company added to its fleet the _Erin_, the _Queen_, and the
_Helvetia_, each of an increased tonnage. With these six vessels the
company was enabled to lay the foundation of so successful a trade
that, at the conclusion of the war, the directors found the utmost
capacity of their vessels insufficient to accommodate the rapidly
increasing traffic between the two nations. In 1865, their fleet was
again increased by the further addition of the _England_ and the
_Denmark_, of 3723 tons, and these vessels, again, were followed in
1866, by the _France_, of nearly similar dimensions. In 1868, the
_Italy_, of 4300 tons, was placed on the line, and was the first in
that trade in which engines on the compound principle were placed. The
_Holland_, of 3847 tons, followed in 1869. The year 1870 proving to be
one of great prosperity to the company, the _Egypt_ and the _Spain_, of
4669 and 4512 tons respectively, were added to the fleet. These vessels
were built by the Liverpool Shipbuilding Company, and by Messrs. Laird
of Birkenhead, and are justly considered very fine specimens of naval
architecture.
This Company now maintain a weekly service, leaving Liverpool every
Wednesday and New York every Saturday; and a fortnightly service from
London to New York _viâ_ Havre. Following the example of the Cunard
Company, the commanders of the ships are required to navigate at
certain seasons within fixed limits of latitude, and to furnish a chart
to the Company with the lines of their course during each voyage laid
down upon it. Stringent regulations are also issued and enforced, and,
to the credit of the Company, they have not during their existence,
lost a single passenger through negligence or any accident of the sea.
[Sidenote: Old Black Ball line.]
It is a curious fact that, as a rule, the owners of the principal
American clipper lines of sailing-ships were among the last to see that
their vessels, however splendid, were being daily eclipsed by the screw
steamers of Great Britain. Thus, conspicuous among the lines which
bravely contended against the new motive power, and long maintained
itself in full force, may be mentioned the Old Black Ball line, which,
when I remember it, a quarter of a century ago, possessed upwards of
twenty of the finest sailing-packets I ever saw. They were grand ships
of their class, and admirably fitted for the trade in which they were
engaged, carrying, during some of the later years of their career, a
thousand passengers every week, during the summer months, from our
shores to the United States. But even the _Black Ball_ was at last
obliged to give in, having previously merged into or formed part of the
Guion line of sailing-ships, which in their day were equally celebrated
for the regularity of their passages.[250]
[Sidenote: The Guion line. 1863.]
In 1863, however, Mr. S. B. Guion, the chief owner of the line bearing
his name, finding it no longer possible to contend against the screws,
though evidently still doubtful of their permanent success, entered
into an arrangement to supply, through his old connections and agents
in America, the Cunard and National Companies, with emigrants and cargo
for their steamers; but in 1866, he and his co-partners, most of whom
are citizens of the United States, started a steamship of their own.
In August of that year, their _Manhattan_, built in this country of
iron and fitted with the screw, to their orders, sailed from Liverpool
for New York, being the pioneer of their new fleet of liners. The
_Minnesota_, _Nebraska_, _Colorado_, _Idaho_, _Nevada_, _Wisconsin_,
and _Wyoming_, vessels each of about 3000 tons, and built of iron,
specially for this trade, followed in rapid succession. In 1873, they
added the _Montana_, another fine vessel of 3500 tons, to their fleet,
which, in 1874, was further increased by the addition of the _Dakota_,
and two similar vessels, so that the Liverpool and Great Western
Steam-ship Company, better known as the Guion line, already possesses a
fleet of very fine steam-ships.[251]
Although the American sailing-packets engaged in the trade between
Great Britain and the Northern States were, about the year 1860,
obliged, in a great measure, to give way to steamers, they maintained
their position undisputed for ten years longer between Liverpool and
New Orleans; steamers, it was thought, not being able to compete with
sailing-vessels in the transport across the Atlantic of such bulky
articles as cotton, the chief article exported from New Orleans to
Europe. But in 1870, the American merchants and shipowners engaged
in the trade of that place found it desirable, if not necessary, to
substitute for some of their sailing-vessels a line of screw-steamers
similar in many respects, though smaller, to those of the other
lines already described, their merchants forming themselves into an
association known as the “Mississippi and Dominion Steam-ship Company
(Limited).”
[Sidenote: Mississippi and Dominion Company.]
This company now trades between Liverpool and New Orleans in the winter
when the cotton crops are shipped and, in the summer season, between
the former port and Canada with passengers and general cargoes. Like
the Guion line, their ships are chiefly, if not entirely, owned by
Americans and managed by them. On their passages to the south, they
usually call at Bordeaux, Corunna, Lisbon and Havana, and thus secure a
considerable number of the emigrant passengers who find their way from
the southern portions of Europe to that portion of the New World where
the climate is not unlike their own, and where the character of the
labour is more in accordance with their habits and abilities than would
be that of the Northern States.
[Sidenote: White Star line, 1870.]
But another important line of steamers has been added, which in speed
has since surpassed, and in other respects is equal to, any of the
great Transatlantic lines now competing for the traffic of the New
World. The White Star Line, under the management of Messrs. Ismay,
Imrie, and Co. who have adopted the name of a once celebrated line of
sailing-packets,[252] commenced running their steamers from Liverpool
to New York in 1870: they now maintain a weekly communication with
these ports, with extra boats available for intermediate sailings as
the requirements of the trade demand, the regular days being Thursday
from Liverpool (calling at Queenstown, Ireland, on Friday), and from
New York on Saturday.
[Illustration: THE WHITE STAR S.S. “BRITANNIC.”]
[Sidenote: Strict regulations for safety, &c.]
These vessels, which are nearly uniform in size and speed, were
designed and built with a view of affording the public an extra
supply of steamers, such as would best attain the three-fold purpose
of safety, speed, and comfort; and certainly their performances have
realised the objects and expectations of their enterprising owners.
Built of iron with watertight and fire-proof compartments, they afford
in their strength every guarantee for safety, nor are their owners
behind their rivals in the caution exercised to avoid the ordinary
dangers of rapid navigation.[253] But speed with them, as with all
well-regulated navigation companies, appears to be only a secondary
consideration, for, not satisfied with a general regulation, Messrs.
Ismay and Imrie, in their own interest, as well as in that of the
public, have wisely issued to the commanders of their ships a special
manuscript letter[254] reminding them, in the most distinct manner,
that the safety of the ship under their charge and of all on board of
her must ever be their first consideration. That their ships have
attained an average rate of speed hitherto unrivalled, combined with
great regularity, may be seen by their logs.[255] Their _Adriatic_[256]
has far surpassed the famous American steamship of that name
which once belonged to the Collins line, she having attained the
extraordinary speed of 455 statute miles in one day.[257] Nor has the
comfort of the passengers been in any way neglected.
[Sidenote: _Britannic_ and _Germanic_.]
At page 278 I furnish a drawing of their newest vessel; and for the
information of my nautical readers I may state that the _Britannic_ and
_Germanic_[258] are similar in all respects. These vessels were built
of iron by Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast.[259]
[Sidenote: Their great speed.]
The engines of the _Britannic_ are by Maudslay, Sons, and Field; they
are 760 nominal, but indicated 5090 horse-power on the trial trip. They
have four inverted cylinders, the high pressure above the low; the
diameters of the cylinders are 48 inches and 83 inches respectively,
and the length of stroke 5 feet. The pressure of steam is 70lbs. per
square inch, and the boilers, eight in number, are fired at both ends
with thirty-two furnaces. The propeller has four blades, and is 23 feet
6 inches in diameter, with 28 feet to 31 feet 6 inches pitch. The mode
of lifting the screw is novel, as may be seen by the drawing on the
following page.
[Sidenote: Details of _Britannic_, and form of her screw.]
The plan is that of Mr. Harland, the senior partner of the firm by
whom the _Britannic_ was built. His reasons for introducing this new
principle (which he styles, “a lifting-propeller”) are, that in long
ships, the pitching in a heavy sea way and the vertical motion of the
waves tend to expose the upper portion of the screw as usually fitted,
the evil effects arising from this being the ‘racing’ of the engines
and its attendant dangers, together with a diminished speed of the
vessel.[260]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
It is possible, also, that a further advantage may be derived from
the fact that, as one-half of the propeller works below the vessel’s
bottom,[261] there is a somewhat denser medium of water for it to
work against, consequently affording (but to what extent, my limited
scientific knowledge will not allow me to offer an opinion) the means
of obtaining, as I conceive, an increased power of propulsion.[262]
But into such questions as these I will not enter, as I prefer stating
the facts and furnishing an account of what has been done, leaving
others more competent than I am to deal with them. As scientific men
may consider another question of still greater importance, the best
form for the midship section of a steamship, to which I have already
referred, I furnish (see page 281) a sketch, drawn to scale and
supplied by her owners, of the midship section of this magnificent
vessel, and, without further comment, give an account of her
performances on her first voyage across the Atlantic.[263]
“The average speed of the _Britannic_ is fifteen knots per hour on a
consumption of 75 to 80 tons of coals per day, and her approximate
cost, built without contract, is 200,000_l._”[264]
These steamers run in connection with the Erie Railway from New York
(as do also other of the lines) booking their passengers through to
all parts of the United States, as far as Aspinwall and San Francisco,
and also to Canada. As their arrangements and scale of provisions for
steerage passengers are, in nearly all respects, the same as that of
the other Transatlantic lines, a copy is furnished for the information
of my readers, together with the conditions on which alone passengers
are received.[265]
[Sidenote: Difficulty of estimating the real cost of steamers.]
Recently an American Company have with great spirit sent forth from
their own country, a line of steamers to trade between Philadelphia
and Liverpool.[266] They consist at present of the _Pennsylvania_,
_Illinois_, _Ohio_, and _Indiana_, each of about 3100 tons gross,
or about 2000 tons nett register; they are all built of iron, on
the Delaware (U.S.), and are fitted with screw-propellers. The
_Pennsylvania_, launched 1873, cost, according to the statement of her
owners, “ready for sea, about 600,000 dollars” (120,000_l._); who add
that, “if built on the Clyde of as good materials, the saving would
have been trifling.” In any attempt, however, to estimate the cost of
a steamship I may state, for the information of non-nautical readers,
that the outlay on one vessel, even of a similar grade or class, when
built for the conveyance of passengers as well as cargo, gives but
an imperfect idea of the cost of another vessel, of the same tonnage
but not so appropriated. If we take simply the hull, the power of the
engines, and the ordinary outfit for a sea-going ship of a particular
class, the comparative cost of constructing such a vessel in different
countries, or even at different ports in any one country, may be easily
ascertained, but, in a passenger-ship so much depends on the quality of
the outfit and furnishing, and, especially, on the cabin accommodation,
varying as these do almost as much as from a cottage to a palace, I
should certainly mislead my readers were I to attempt to supply a
comparative cost of passenger-ships built in America and in England.
[Sidenote: Pennsylvania Company, 1873.]
The vessels of this line are each 355 feet in length, with 43 feet
beam, and 33 feet depth of hold. They have each accommodation for
76 first class, and for 800 intermediate and steerage passengers.
The actual steam-power of each of these vessels is given as “2800
horse-power indicated,” but this furnishes, as I have before stated,
but a vague idea of the nominal power on which the cost is based, as
the actual power depends on the dimensions of the engines, the mean
pressure on the piston, and the speed with which the engines move. On
the other hand, nominal horse-power is fixed by certain arbitrary rules.
Though the Philadelphia line of steamers has much to contend against,
owing to duties imposed by the American Government on all articles
required for their construction and outfit, and may, consequently, find
it difficult to rival successfully the steam-ships of Europe engaged
in the Transatlantic trade, they are supported, if not owned, by one
of the largest railway undertakings in the United States of America.
The lines of this company cover more than 6000 miles of communication
within the interior, extending over States which produce the
breadstuffs of the north as well as the tropical fruits of the south
with a teeming and almost virgin soil, sufficient in itself to produce
cargoes for a fleet of ships far in excess of that it as yet possesses,
and affording fields of remunerative employment for hundreds of
thousands of persons now huddled together in many of the over-peopled
countries of Europe.
Indeed, from the accounts which reach us, the valley of the Mississippi
in itself still affords room, and, in time, will give profitable
employment for 100,000,000 persons, and if the industrious and frugal
of our own people and of Europe, are unable to gain a living by honest
means in the land of their birth, they will find, sailing daily from
the port of Liverpool, alone, at the present moment, as also from other
ports, steam-ships[267] of the finest description, ready to convey them
in a hitherto incredibly short space of time, to the United States of
America, and at a cost very little more than they would require for
their maintenance at home, during a similar period of time to that
occupied on the passage.
[Sidenote: Anchor line from the Clyde, 1856.]
But, besides the magnificent lines of steamers which now connect,
_viâ_ Liverpool, the Old and New Worlds together by a ferry, easier
of accomplishment, and attended with less danger than was even the
passage between England and France half a century ago, there are
other important lines of steamers from Glasgow and London, as well as
from various continental ports, which I must notice. Not the least
important of these is the Anchor line from the Clyde, one of the many
extraordinary developments, during recent years, of our maritime
power, and entirely due to individual energy. Within only a few years
Messrs. Henderson Brothers, the managing owners of the Anchor line,
have created a fleet of steamships of 71,328 gross tons and of 15,147
horse-power.[268]
[Sidenote: Prodigious range of their trade operations.]
Though this line was established by Messrs. Handyside and Henderson
in 1856 (their vessels then sailing from Glasgow to Quebec and the
Mediterranean ports), it was not until 1865 that their owners commenced
regular communication, every fortnight, between Glasgow and New York.
Since then the service has been gradually increased, and a steamer is
now dispatched, at all seasons, weekly each way, and, during summer,
twice, and occasionally three times a week, according to the demands
of the trade. Like many other gigantic concerns, this one had a very
humble beginning. Commencing with only one or two vessels, they were
steadily and rapidly increased on the well-founded anticipation
of a successful trade. With the increase of the New York branch of
the service, that of the Mediterranean increased also. Indeed, it
supplies the main or American line with a considerable portion of its
most valuable employment, and now runs weekly to Lisbon, Gibraltar,
Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, and Palermo; fortnightly
to Trieste and Venice; and monthly to Algiers, Tunis, Malta, and
Alexandria, thus connecting the whole of the ancient trade of Spain,
of the Italian Republics, and of far-famed India itself, with the New
World through the medium of the Suez Canal[269] and the Mediterranean.
The Anchor Company also despatches steamers, weekly, during the season
of open navigation, to Christiania, Christiansund, and Gottenburg, thus
securing another valuable feeder to the New York line of steamers. The
Scandinavian and other passengers from the extreme north of Europe are
brought across from Gottenburg, to Granton (near Edinburgh) in two
days, or from Christiansund in a day and a half, and, as Granton is
only about two hours by rail from Glasgow, they can embark on board the
Anchor line of steamers for the United States or for Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick, on the third day after leaving their homes in the far
north.
The steamers of this firm also sail from Genoa, Leghorn, Naples,
Messina, Palermo, Marseilles, and Gibraltar, once a fortnight, direct
for New York, and every month from Trieste and Venice—once the great
emporium of commerce in the East—to the still greater commercial
emporium of the West; and every fortnight, during the six autumn and
spring months, or fruit season, Messrs. Henderson likewise dispatch
steamers direct from Malaga, Almeria, Valentia, and Denia to the United
States.
[Illustration: ANCHOR LINE S.S. “VICTORIA.”]
[Sidenote: The _Victoria_.]
In their _Victoria_ may be seen a good specimen of a business ship,
perhaps not so swift or so elegantly fitted as some of her competitors
from Liverpool, or equal to their own latest ships, the _Ethiopia_,
_Bolivia_, and _Anchora_,[270] but a vessel well adapted for the trade
on which she is employed. The _Victoria_ is a sister ship to the
_California_, launched from the shipbuilding yard, on the Clyde, of
Messrs. Alexander Stephens and Sons, who have constructed a great many
vessels for the Anchor Company. She is like all the other steamers
now engaged in the Transatlantic trade, built of iron and propelled by
the screw.[271] Though of larger capacity, she is said to have cost,
complete for sea, somewhere about 100,000_l._ or 20,000_l._ less than
the American iron screw ship _Pennsylvania_, to which reference has
just been made, which was built about the same time on the Delaware.
[Sidenote: Hamburg American Steam Packet Company.]
But besides the fleets we have specially named there are other equally
fine British steamers, plying between London and New York and Boston
direct, and also _viâ_ Southampton and Havre; together with various
other lines of first-class steamers engaged in the American trade
belonging to France, Hamburg, and Belgium, though most of these are
British built: for instance, the Hamburg and American Steam Packet
Company have a large fleet of high classed steamers, comprising the
_Suavia_,[272] _Pomerania_, _Thuringia_, _Hammonia_, _Westphalia_,
_Silesia_, _Cimbria_, _Frisia_, and _Holsatia_, which leave Hamburg
every Saturday throughout the year for New York; and another line of
eight equally fine steamers, which trade with the West Indies and
Mexico every month from Hamburg, calling alternately at Grimsby and
Havre.
[Sidenote: North German Lloyd’s Company.]
There are also the steamers of the North German Lloyd’s, an old
established company, trading between Bremen, Baltimore, and New York
_viâ_ Southampton and Havre; while, besides those engaged in the trade
with the United States, two lines of French steamers, most of which
were built in England, now maintain a weekly intercourse between the
ports of that country and the West Indies and Brazil.
FOOTNOTES:
[228] The dimensions of the _City of Manchester_ are as follows:—Length
on deck, 274 feet with 38 feet breadth of beam. She registers 2125
tons, and is propelled by engines of 400-horse power, driving a
three-bladed screw. Her two foremasts are of tubular plate-iron.
[229] The _City of Paris_ conveyed, in 1869, His Royal Highness Prince
Arthur (now Duke of Connaught) to America in _six days twenty-one
hours_, the quickest passage ever made to any port of the New World
from Cork. The Prince attended Divine Service at Queenstown on Sunday,
embarked at four P.M. that day, and was landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia,
at half-past ten A.M. on the following Sunday in time for Morning
Service at that place, which he also attended, much to his credit.
[230] The following is an extract from the logs of the _City of
Brussels_ and _City of Richmond_.
“CITY OF BRUSSELS.”
---------------+---------+--------+----------+---------+----------+-------------
Sandy Hook to | | | Distance | | |
Queenstown. | Wind. |Courses.| from |Latitude,|Longitude,| Remarks.
December, 1869.| | | Sandy | N. | W. |
| | | Hook. |
---------------+---------+--------+-------------+---------+----------+----------
Saturday, 4 |Southerly| East. | 37 | 40·30 | 73·09 |{A.M.—9.15,
| | | | | |{ passed
| | | | | |{ Sandy Hook.
| | | | | |
Sunday, 5 | ” |N. 85 E.| 330 | 41·27 | 66·00 |{Moderate
| | | | | |{ breeze and
| | | | | |{ calm.
| | | | | |
Monday, 6 |Easterly |N. 69 E.| 320 | 43·21 | 59·15 |{Moderate
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Tuesday, 7 |S. S. W. |N. 67 E.| 336 | 45·32 | 52·00 |{Light
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Wednesday, 8 | ” |N. 68 E.| 346 | 47·44 | 44·14 |{Light
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Thursday, 9 | S. W. |N. 72 E.| 371 | 49·42 | 38·18 |{Moderate
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Friday, 10 |West. |N. 85 E.| 365 | 50·11 | 25·51 |{Moderate
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Saturday, 11 | N. W. |N. 80 E.| 353 | 51·15 | 16·44 | Fresh gale.
| | | | | |
| | | | | |{A.M.—6.20,
| | | | | |{ past
| | | | | |{ Fastnet;
Sunday, 12 | To Fastnet 266 | | |{ 10.10,
| | | | | |{ Queenstown.
---------------+---------+--------+----------+---------+----------+-------------
“CITY OF RICHMOND.”