Queenstown to | Wind. |Courses. | Dis- |Latitude.|Longitude.| Remarks.
Sandy Hook. | | | tances. | | |
December, 1875.| | | | | |
---------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+-------------
Saturday, 17 | Calm. |S. 84 W. | 290 | 50·58 | 15·41 |{P.M.—4.10,
| | | | | |{ Received
| | | | | |{ Mails.
| | | | | |{ Calm and
| | | | | |{ Cloudy.
| | | | | |
Sunday, 18 |Variable.|S. 80 W. | 362 | 49·56 | 25·01 | Light airs.
| | | | | |
Monday, 19 |Variable.|S. 72 W. | 360 | 48·08 | 33·43 | Light airs.
| | | | | |
Tuesday, 20 | S. E. |S. 68 W. | 380 | 45·42 | 42·18 |{Moderate
| | | | | |{ breeze.
| | | | | |
Wedn’sday, 21 |Variable.|Variable.| 366 | 43·25 | 50·14 |{Light and
| | | | | |{ Variable.
| | | | | |
Thursday, 22 | Calm. |S. 81 W. | 363 | 42·00 | 58·11 |{Light airs
| | | | | |{ and calm.
| | | | | |
| | | | | |{Light airs
| | | | | |{ and fog,
| | | | | |{ 9.25 A.M.
| | | | | |{ Received
Friday, 23 |Variable.| | 361 | 41·03 | 66·07 |{ Pilot.
| | | | | |{ P.M. 10.00
| | | | | |{ stopped
| | | | | |{ and
| | | | | |{ sounded.
| | | | | |
Saturday, 24 |Variable.| | 361 | | |{P.M. 10.30
| | | | | |{ Sandy
| | | | | |{ Hook.
---------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+-------------
[231] Mr. Inman was the first to start a regular line of steamers
across the Atlantic consisting entirely of iron ships propelled by the
screw; and as he and Mrs. Inman, greatly to their credit, made a voyage
in one of their earliest emigrant steamers, expressly for the purpose
of ameliorating the discomforts and evils hitherto but too common in
emigrant ships, my readers may naturally desire to know something of
Mr. Inman’s history.
In a few words therefore I may state that he was born at Leicester in
the year 1825, where his father (a partner of Pickford and Co.) then
resided. Educated at the Collegiate Institution at that place, and
at the Liverpool Royal Institution, he, in 1841, preferring business
to a profession, entered a mercantile office; passed through various
grades of clerkship under the late Mr. Nathan Cairns (brother to Lord
Cairns), Messrs. Cater and Co., and Messrs. Richardson Brothers, (all
merchants of Liverpool): of the latter firm he became a partner in
January 1849, and had the entire management of their fleet of American
sailing packets then trading between Liverpool and Philadelphia. Here
he first gained an intimate knowledge of the emigrant business which he
has since pursued with so much success and public advantage.
Mr. Inman having watched with considerable interest the performances
of the _City of Glasgow_ on her first trip to America, was convinced
of the advantages she possessed over, not merely their sailing-ships,
but over paddle-steamers for the purposes of navigation, and therefore
recommended her purchase to his partners. Acting on his advice, they
bought and dispatched her with 400 steerage passengers in the winter
of 1850 across the troubled waters of the Atlantic, very much to the
dismay of that numerous body of men who had still no faith in the
screw, and who dreaded the performances of any vessel thus propelled in
so stormy an ocean, even though they had seen what the _Great Britain_
had done years before. But the _City of Glasgow_ did her work right
well, and completely falsified the prophecies of the foreboders of
disaster. The _City of Manchester_, which followed, “left a profit in
the first year of her movements of 40 per cent.” to her enterprising
owners, and hence no more has been heard since that time of the
inferiority of the screw to the paddle-wheel. One is often surprised to
see a man so fully occupied, as he must have been, with his own affairs
taking an active part in public matters; but we find Mr. Inman in his
useful and busy career (like numerous other active men of business)
a member of the Local Marine Board, a member of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Trust, a member of the first Liverpool School Board, a captain
of the Cheshire Rifle Volunteers and the holder, too, of prizes, a
magistrate for the county of Cheshire where he resides, the chairman
of the Liverpool Steam Shipowners’ Association of Liverpool, and an
active politician, frequently called on to give evidence before Royal
Commissions and Committees of the House of Commons. His life indeed
affords an excellent example for the rising generation to follow.
[232] Passengers landed at New York from the United Kingdom in 1870 by
the following steamers:—
---------+------+------+---------+------+-------
Line. |Trips.|Cabin.|Steerage.|Total.|Deaths.
---------+------+------+---------+------+-------
Inman | 68 | 3,635| 40,465 |44,100| 22
National | 56 | 2,442| 33,494 |35,736| 35
Guion | 55 | 1,115| 27,054 |28,569| 18
Anchor | 74 | 1,637| 23,404 |25,041| 19
Cunard | 70 | 7,638| 16,871 |24,509| 10
---------+------+------+---------+------+-------
[233] On the average of the first seven voyages the _City of Chester_
performed the passage from New York to Queenstown in eight days, eleven
hours, and twenty-six minutes. The _City of Richmond_, too, in her
first seven voyages made the same passage on an average of eight days,
eleven hours, and fifty-eight minutes; the last-named ship, having on
one occasion (April 1874) made the run from Sandy Hook (New York) to
Fastnet (60 miles from Cork Harbour) in seven days, twenty-three hours.
[234] To these particulars Mr. Inman, in his evidence before the
Committee of the House of Commons (Session 1874, p. 185) on tonnage
measurement, adds, “the _City of Berlin_ is about 40 feet (depth) to
the hurricane deck, and about seven feet six inches in addition to the
poop, and about seven feet to the captain’s bridge above that.... The
depth from the main deck is about twenty-four feet.” This ship on her
trial trip over the measured mile indicated 5200 horse-power, and an
average speed of 14·825 knots per hour.
[235] The _City of Berlin_ has just (Sept. 1875) made the two fastest
passages across the Atlantic yet on record. See Appendix No. 13, pp.
611-2.
[236] The founder of this firm, Mr. Alexander Allan, a native of
Saltcoats, North Britain, afterwards removed to Glasgow, and owned a
numerous fleet of sailing-ships, one of which in early life he himself
commanded. His eldest son, James, followed his example, as did also his
third son, the late Bryce Allan, of Liverpool. Other two, Hugh (now Sir
Hugh Allan) and Andrew, established themselves in Montreal, where they
managed the shipping business of the family, and James, when he retired
from the sea, formed with Bryce and their youngest brother, Alexander,
the now important branch of their business at Liverpool.
[237] The first four steamers of this firm were built by the late
Mr. William Denny, of Dumbarton, and the skill of this eminent
builder is evinced by the fact that one of these early steamers, the
_Anglo-Saxon_, although designed, for economy of fuel and capacity,
for cargo and passengers, rather than for speed, made the passage
from Quebec to the Rock Light, Liverpool, in the then altogether
unprecedented short time of nine days and five hours.
[238] Appendix No. 14, p. 612.
[239] Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 23rd of July 1861.
[240]
TIME TABLE.—(A.) GALWAY TO AMERICA.
_Summer Service—Outward Voyages._
From Galway to New York, during the months of
April, May, June, July, August, September, and
October 11 days 2 hours.
From Galway to Boston, during the like months. 11 days 16 hours.
_Summer Service—Homeward Voyages._
From New York to Galway, during the like months 10 days.
From Boston to Galway, during the like months 10 days 4 hours.
_Winter Service—Outward Voyages._
From Galway to New York, during the months of
November, December, January, February, and
March 13 days.
From Galway to Boston, during the like months 13 days 12 hours.
_Winter Service—Homeward Voyages._
From New York to Galway, during the like months 10 days 10 hours.
From Boston to Galway, during the like months 11 days 2 hours.
[241] See Report of Committee, 1861, p. iii.
[242] See Evidence, Questions 1583 and 1587, p. 139.
[243] Question, 1573, Ibid.
[244] Question 243, p. 25.
[245] The government inspectors, in their Report, state (Question
256, p. 26): “We surveyed the _Hibernia_ in dry dock at Messrs.
Laird’s yard, at Birkenhead,” in reference to the Postmaster-General’s
communication respecting the leaky state of that vessel, “and we found
the whole of the ‘bolts of the flat keel’ and bottom plating, for about
150 feet amidships, very much strained.”
[246] Report of Committee, page iv.
[247] Appendix to Report of Committee, page 298, “Table of Voyages.”
[248] See Appendix No. 6 to the Report of the Committee of the House of
Commons.
[249] Paper delivered in by Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., 12th July, 1861:—
_Statement of the Earnings and Costs of the Galway Line of Mail
Steamers._
Sea postage of correspondence (including newspapers £
and transit letters) from 26th June to 23rd October,
1860, inclusive, when the voyages were suspended
(estimated) 1,400
-------
Trips: Out, 7; home, 6 Total, 13.
Earnings, 108_l._ per trip.
_Cost to Post-Office in same time._
£
Contract payment (less penalties) 14,764
Incidental payments 500
-------
£15,264
-------
(Signed) _Frank James Scudamore_,
12th July, 1861. Receiver and Accountant-General.
[250] There is still a line of sailing-packets, named the “Old Black
Ball” line, trading between Liverpool and New York, sailing from the
former port on the 1st and 16th of each month. They are large and fine
ships, and are under the management of Messrs. C. H. Marshall & Co.
[251] In 1873 the _Wisconsin_ made the passages from Liverpool to New
York and back in each case within ten days.
[252] The White Star Line was originally composed of a fleet of fast
sailing American clipper-ships, such as the _Champion of the Seas_,
_Blue Jacket_, _White Star_, _Shalimar_, &c., sailing to Australia:
to this line, Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, and Co. succeeded, and they still
carry it on with similar fast high-classed vessels built of iron, such
as the _Belfast_, _British Commerce_, _Knight Commander_, _Houghton
Tower_, _Glengarry_, _Knowsley Hall_, &c., and they have applied the
title “White Star” to their New York line of steamers.
[253] Extract from “Book of Regulations” of the White Star line of
steamers:
“The commanders must distinctly understand that the issue of the
following instructions does not, in any way, relieve them from
entire responsibility for the safe and efficient navigation of their
respective vessels; and they are also enjoined to remember that,
whilst they are expected to use every diligence to secure a speedy
voyage, _they must run no risk which might by any possibility result in
accident to their ships. It is to be hoped that they will ever bear in
mind that the safety of the lives and property entrusted to their care
is the ruling principle that should govern them in the navigation of
their ships, and no supposed gain in expedition, or saving of time on
the voyage, is to be purchased at the risk of accident._ The company
desires to establish and maintain for its vessels a reputation for
safety, and only looks for such speed on the various voyages as is
consistent with safe and prudent navigation.”
[254] See Appendix No. 15, p. 613.
[255] _The First Eleven Passages of the_ “BALTIC.”
QUEENSTOWN TO NEW YORK. NEW YORK TO QUEENSTOWN.
Voyage. Days. H. M. Voyage. Days. H. M.
1. September, 1871 8 19 52 1. October, 1871 8 15 3
2. February, 1872 9 19 22 2. March, 1872 9 3 38
3. March, 1872 8 18 32 3. April, 1872 8 3 58
4. April, 1872 9 3 52 4. May, 1872 8 20 10
5. May, 1872 8 14 35 5. June, 1872 8 22 20
6. June, 1872 9 4 52 6. July, 1872 8 19 8
7. August, 1872 8 13 57 7. August, 1872 8 12 8
8. September, 1872 8 14 40 8. September, 1872 8 10 53
9. October, 1872 8 17 52 9. October, 1872 8 11 50
10. November, 1872 10 17 12 10. December, 1872 7 23 22
11. December, 1872 10 8 11 11. January, 1873 7 20 9
[256] _Copy of the_ “ADRIATIC’S” _Log_.
QUEENSTOWN TOWARD NEW YORK.
-------+-----------+--------+---------+----------+----------+------------------
Date. | Winds. |Courses.|Distance.|Latitude. |Longitude.| Weather.
-------+-----------+--------+---------+----------+----------+------------------
1872. | | | | |
May 16 | .. | .. | Left |Liverpool | .. | {5.10 P.M., Rock
| | | | | | { Light abeam.
| | | | | |
May 17 | .. | .. | Left |Queenstown| 11·05 | {A.M., Roche’s
| | | | | | { Point abeam.
| | | | | |
| | | | North. | West. |
May 18 | E.N.E. | W. | 381 | 51·22 | 18·12 | {Fresh breeze and
| | | | | | { fine weather.
| | | | | |
May 19 | Northerly |S. 87 W.| 348 | 51·13 | 27·27 | {Mod. breeze and
| | | | | | { fine weather.
| | | | | |
May 20 | Northerly | 75 | 366 | 49·31 | 36·42 | Calm.
| | | | | |
| | | | | | { Light breeze;
May 21 | N.N.W. | 72 | 353 | 37·44 | 45·11 | { dense fogs at
| | | | | | { times.
| | | | | |
| | | | | | { Mod. breeze;
May 22 | N.N.W. | 62 | 362 | 44·57 | 52·57 | { dense fogs at
| | | | | | { times.
| | | | | |
| | | | | | {Light breeze;
May 23 | W. by N. | 78 | 333 | 43·20 | 60·21 | { dense fogs at
| | | | | | { times.
| | | | | |
May 24 | .. | 68 | 357 | 41·08 | 67·51 | Ditto, ditto.
| | | | | |
May 25 |To S. Hook,| .. | 278 | .. | .. | {Anchd.off Sandy
| | | | | | { Hook, 6 A.M.
-------+-----------+--------+---------+----------+----------+------------------+
[257] See Appendix No. 16, p. 614, for particulars of this passage.
[258] The _Germanic_ (June 1875) made the passage from Queenstown to
Sandy Hook in 7 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes actual time. See details
of her log, Appendix No. 17.
[259] The following are some of the principal dimensions of the
_Britannic_:
Feet. In.
Length between perpendiculars 455 0
Length over all 468 0
Breadth of beam 45 3
Depth of hold 34 0
Net register tonnage 3,174-15/100 tons.
She has accommodation for 1,300 passengers, and 150 crew.
[260] _Engineering_, weekly journal, London, 20th November, 1874.
[261] On arriving in shallow water or nearing a port the screw is
raised, so that the bottom of it is above the level of the keel, and
when the blades require examining or replacing, the shaft can be
raised still higher, thus exposing the boss and allowing ready access
when the ship is in light trim. The last two lengths of shafting are
connected with an universal joint which works in a chamber in the after
end of the tunnel and is at all times accessible to the engineers.
The bush is guided by two cheeks on the stern-post, and raised by
means of rods with gearing on the middle deck either by a steam-engine
or by a hand winch placed on the upper deck, additional power being
always at command through the medium of the capstan. The want of the
customary keel pieces joining the inner and outer stern-post conveys an
appearance of weakness, but this is amply compensated by the increased
width and additional thickness at the head of the screw aperture; and
the centre of effort of the rudder being raised above the ordinary
height. A false foot is fitted to the bottom of the rudder-post and
this foot can be readily removed, allowing the screw boss to be
changed without disturbing the shaft, which is another very important
feature.—_Ibid._, 20th November, 1874.
[262] Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, & Co. state: “With regard to the
_Britannic’s_ screw propeller, it can be worked at any depth, and need
not be stopped whilst the lowering or raising is being proceeded with.”
[263]
_Abstract of Log, S.S._ “BRITANNIC.”
FIRST VOYAGE FROM LIVERPOOL TOWARDS NEW YORK.
-------+------------+--------+---------+-----+-----+-------------------------
Date |Direction of|Course. |Distance.|Lat. |Long.| Remarks.
| Wind. | | | | |
-------+------------+--------+---------+-----+-----+-------------------------
1874. | | | Miles | | |
June 25| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | Left Liverpool, 5 P.M.
| | | | | |
| | | | | |{ Anchored in Queenstown
June 26| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |{ Harbour, 11.35
| | | | | |{ A.M. Proceeded at
| | | | | |{ noon.
| | | | | |
June 27| N.W. |Various.| 350 |51·20|17·16|{ Moderate breeze and
| | | | | |{ fine weather.
| | | | | |
June 28| S.E. |S. 87 W.| 351 |51·05|26·34|{ Moderate breeze,
| | | | | |{ cloudy, with head sea.
| | | | | |
June 29| N.E. to S. |S. 76 W.| 352 |49·38|35·25|{ Light breeze, with
| | | | | |{ cloudy weather.
| | | | | |
| | | | | |{ Moderate breeze,
June 30| W.N.W. |S. 72 W.| 351 |47·49|43·39|{ cloudy, with head
| | | | | |{ sea.
| | | | | |
July 1| N. to N.E. |S. 66 W.| 367 |45·22|51·42|{ Moderate breeze, with
| | | | | |{ dense fog.
| | | | | |
July 2| N.E. |S. 66 W.| 375 |42·52|59·34|{ Moderate breeze, and
| | | | | |{ cloudy.
| | | | | |
July 3| E.S.E. |S. 72 W.| 376 |40·56|67·32|{ Light breeze, and
| | | | | |{ dense fog.
| | | | | |
July 4| .. |Various.| 285 | .. | .. |{ Sandy Hook abreast
| | | | | |{ at 9.15 A.M.
-------+------------+--------+---------+-----+-----+-------------------------
[264] Letter from Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, and Company, 3rd December, 1874.
[265] “Passengers will be provided with berths to sleep in, each adult
having a separate berth; but they have to provide themselves with a
plate, mug, knife, fork, spoon, and water-can, also bedding. Married
couples, with their children, will be berthed together; females will be
berthed in rooms by themselves.
“_Bill of fare._—Each passenger will be supplied with three quarts of
water daily, and with as much provisions as he can eat, which are all
of the best quality, and which are examined and put on board under the
inspection of her Majesty’s Emigration Officers, _and cooked and served
out by the company’s servants_.
“_Breakfast at eight o’clock._—Coffee, sugar, and fresh bread and
butter, or biscuit and butter, or oatmeal porridge and molasses.
“_Dinner at one o’clock._—Soup and beef, pork, or fish, according to
the day of the week, with bread and potatoes, and, on Sunday, pudding
will be added.
“_Supper at six o’clock_—Tea, sugar, biscuit, and butter. Oatmeal
gruel will be supplied at eight P.M. when necessary.
“_Luggage._—Ten cubic feet will be allowed for each adult steerage
passenger, and twenty for each adult saloon passenger, free; for all
over that quantity a charge of 1_s._ 6_d._ for each cubic foot will be
made.
“All passengers are liable to be _rejected_ who, upon examination,
are found to be lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, maimed, infirm, or
above the age of sixty years; or any woman without a husband with a
child or children; or any person unable to take care of himself (or
herself) without becoming a public charge, or who, from any attending
circumstances, are likely to become a public charge. Sick persons or
widows with children cannot be taken, nor lame persons, unless full
security be given to the United States’ Government, that the parties
will not become chargeable to the State.”
[266] In 1866, an American company started a line of steamers between
Boston and Liverpool. Two large and elegantly fitted wooden screws
built in Boston, named the _Erie_ and _Ontario_, were the precursors
of this line, but were so unfortunate that, after making two or three
passages across the Atlantic, the enterprise had to be abandoned.
[267] In the Appendix No. 17, pp. 617-632, will be found a table of
the several passages of the steamers of some of the lines employed
in the Transatlantic trade during the years 1873 and 1874. I must,
however, add (as I am anxious to be impartial and strictly accurate),
that the steamers of three of these lines, the “Cunard,” “Inman,” and
“National,” adopt the “Lane route,” that is, the route to the south of
the Newfoundland banks, which increases the distance of each passage
by about 90 miles, or allowing for the favourable Gulf stream by from
50 to 60 miles. I must also direct the attention of my readers to
certain figures in these returns where I have placed an asterisk. For
instance, one of the Cunard steamers (the _Cuba_) was on the passage
of the 19th January, 1873, about seven days beyond her usual time, no
doubt arising from some uncontrollable cause, which would increase the
average passages outwards of the steamers of this line for that year
by about 3 hours 10 minutes. Similar remarks apply to the steamers of
the other lines, as the increased time there noted affects the annual
average length of their passages, also, in a greater or less degree.
The _Canada_ (National line), 16 January, 1873, was, for instance,
about seven days, while three other vessels of this line were three and
a half, six and a half, and six days respectively behind their usual
time. The _America_ (Bremen line) was on one passage more than eleven
days. A steamer of the White Star line, on one occasion, four and a
half days; while the Guion line, on four occasions, four, five, six,
and ten and a half days respectively; and the Inman line, four and a
half, three and a half, four and a half, and ten days respectively
longer than their usual time, occasioned, I am informed, by serving
ships in distress and other laudable or unavoidable causes. Though some
are faster than others, the speed and regularity with which all these
lines of steamers traverse the Atlantic is very remarkable, and no
better illustration could be given than this table of the perfection
we have reached in ocean navigation. Indeed, the time of the arrival
of these vessels can be depended on with almost as much certainty as a
railway train.
[268] See Appendix No. 18, p. 633.
[269] These steamers, which sail monthly from Glasgow for Alexandria,
run in connection with the Peninsular and Oriental, and British India
Steam Navigation Companies, by means of which system, passengers can
be forwarded from Suez to Colombo, Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon, and
Moulmein, and to all the principal towns in India and China. The
Anchor Company has also a monthly service of its own vessels between
Glasgow, Liverpool, and Bombay, _viâ_, the Suez Canal, taking goods and
passengers for the ports on the West coast of India and the Persian
Gulf in connection with the British India Company’s steamers.
[270] These steamers are each 400 feet in length, 40 feet breadth, and
33 feet depth from upper deck. They measure 4000 tons gross. They can
accommodate in their cabins, which are fitted in first-class style,
250, and in the steerage 900 passengers.
[271] The _Victoria_ is 361½ feet in length, 40½ feet beam, 24½ feet
depth of hold to main, and 32 feet to spar deck; her measurement is
3287 tons gross. She has compound engines of 500 nominal horse-power,
with cylinders of 57 inches and 108 inches diameter respectively,
having 4 feet length of stroke of piston, and six boilers with eighteen
furnaces, consuming, when at full speed, “14 knots per hour on the
measured mile, 45 tons of coal per day of twenty-four hours.” She has
accommodation for 150 first-class and 900 steerage passengers, besides
her crew, and also large cargo space.
[272] The _Suavia_, which was built in 1874 by Messrs. Caird and Co.
of Greenock, is 361 feet in length, 41 feet in breadth, and her depth
to the upper spar deck is 34 feet. She measures 3623 tons gross, and
has accommodation for ninety-two first-class passengers, eighty-two
second-class and 930 third-class passengers, besides her crew of 120
men; she has likewise space for 2000 tons of cargo. The _Suavia_ is the
twenty-second steam-ship built by Messrs. Caird and Company for the
Hamburg American Steam Packet Company.
CHAPTER VII.
Royal West India Mail Steam Packet Company, 1841—Number of
their ships—Conditions of mail contract—Large subsidy—Heavy
loss during the first year of their operations—Capital of
the Company—Liberal concessions by Government—Complaints of
the public—Improved prospects of the company from improved
management—Contract renewed, 1850—Its conditions—Fresh
conditions, 1857—Contract again renewed, 1864—Further renewal,
1874—The steam-ship _Forth_—Losses of various ships of the
company—Causes of these losses—Loss of the _Amazon_—Terrible
sufferings—Loss of the _Demerara_—Additions to their fleet, and
superior class of vessels.
[Sidenote: Royal West India Mail Steam Packet Company, 1841.]
[Sidenote: Number of ships.]
Soon after the Atlantic Ocean began to be regularly navigated by
steam-vessels, the importance of a better means of intercommunication
with the West Indies led to the formation of the Royal Mail Steam
Packet Company, which entered into a contract with the Board of
Admiralty in March 1841 for the conveyance of the mails between
England, the West Indies, and the Gulf of Mexico. This company
commenced operations on a much more comprehensive and grander scale
than either the Cunard Company or the Peninsular and Oriental. Fourteen
large steam-ships were at once ordered to be built for the service;
they were to be substantial and efficient in all respects, and of such
strength as would enable them to carry guns of the largest calibre then
in use on board Her Majesty’s war-steamers, with engines of not less
than 400 collective horse-power.
[Sidenote: Conditions of mail contract.]
[Sidenote: Large Subsidy.]
When complete, the conditions of the contract required one of these
vessels to be ready to take the mails on board, twice in each calendar
month, and to proceed, _viâ_ Corunna and Madeira, to the island of
Barbadoes and, after staying there not more than six hours, thence,
_viâ_ St. Vincent, to the island of Grenada, where the stoppage
was limited to twelve hours, and thence, again, to the islands in
succession of Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, Nicola Mole in Haiti, Santiago
de Cuba, and Port Royal, in Jamaica. After a stay not exceeding
twenty-four hours at Port Royal, the steamer was to proceed to
Savannah-la-Mer, in the same island, thence to Havannah, and, on her
return thence, to call again at Savannah-la-Mer, thence to Port Royal,
and, thence, to Santiago de Cuba, Nicola Mole, and Samana, in the
island of Haiti, delivering mails at each place, “care being taken that
the said steam-vessel shall always arrive at Samana aforesaid (after
performing the said voyage from Barbadoes under ordinary circumstances
of wind and weather) on the twenty-second day after the arrival from
England of the mails at Barbadoes;” and, after delivering and receiving
the mails at Samana, “the steam-vessel shall make the best of her
way back from Samana to such port in the British Channel as the said
Commissioners of the Admiralty shall from time to time direct.” The
scheme, also, embraced other places in the West Indies, the Spanish
Main, and the United States, for which mails were to be carried. In
consideration of the services thus to be performed, the company was to
receive at the rate of 240,000_l._ per annum, in quarterly payments;
the contract to commence on the 1st of December, 1841, or at an earlier
day if possible, and to continue in force for ten years, subject to
twelve months’ notice on either side for its termination.
[Sidenote: Heavy loss during the first year of their operations.]
But this subsidy, large as it doubtless was for the service to be
performed, was not sufficient to cover the heavy outlay the company
had considered necessary in the construction and equipment of their
fleet. Perhaps, too, part of this outlay arose from the fact that,
though Mr. McQueen, the projector of the company, was a gentleman who
had had considerable experience in the promotion of large undertakings,
his knowledge of maritime affairs was limited, while he was not
sufficiently conversant with those details, the practical knowledge of
which is so essential to the success of all shipping operations. The
directors, as a body, were not competent, from previous experience,
to manage such an undertaking; while the choice also of commanders,
selected from the Royal Navy, with little or no experience of steam,
and none whatever of the numerous requirements of a merchant-ship,
was unfortunate, and may have in some measure tended to produce a
balance sheet which, though embracing to its credit the large permanent
subsidy, showed at the close of the first year’s operations a loss of
no less than 79,790_l._ 16_s._ 8_d._ to the company!
It may, however, be remarked that the projectors of this undertaking
had entered on an entirely new field, and that merchants who had been
accustomed to dispatch their produce in sailing-vessels were unprepared
to pay the enhanced rates required for steam-ships, while the
passenger and goods trade in itself was not then nearly sufficient for
a remunerative return on the large capital subscribed.
[Sidenote: Capital of the Company.]
[Sidenote: Liberal concessions by Government.]
Originally, the company was authorized to issue fifteen thousand
shares of 100_l._ on which calls of 50_l._ per share had been made
up to the time of the first meeting of shareholders, with power to
borrow 260,000_l._ But as another call of 10_l._ per share, sanctioned
at this meeting, was found insufficient for the requirements of the
Company, the directors appealed to Government for further assistance.
By the original arrangements, the annual mileage traversed by the
company’s ships would have been 684,816 miles. Government, however, in
reply to their appeal, generously consented to reduce the distances
to be performed to 392,976 miles, and to allow the annual subsidy of
240,000_l._ to remain undisturbed. By these important and liberal
modifications the annual expenditure of the company which, according
to their own calculations, would have been 360,000_l._ per annum, was
reduced to 235,000_l._
It was further conceded that if, at any time, and from causes, in the
opinion of Government, of a public and national character, such as
war, the insurance on steam-vessels should rise above six guineas per
cent. per annum, or on coals above two guineas per cent. on the outward
passage, the company was to receive an additional sum to be settled by
arbitration, but which was not to exceed 10,000_l._ per annum.
[Sidenote: Complaints of the public.]
In process of time, and notably after the necessity of greater
economy in the public finances had been admitted, great discontent
was expressed through the press with regard to these very liberal
concessions,[273] which was materially aggravated by a statement, the
accuracy of which I have no means of testing, that the amount paid
for the West India mail service exceeded the sum received for postage
by 183,938_l._, and that, though the Brazil branch left a margin of
3478_l._ in favour of the Post-office, the direct loss to the public
amounted to no less than 180,460_l._ per annum.[274]
To most of these complaints the company was altogether indifferent,
believing them to have their origin in disappointment and jealousy;
but there was no answer to the well-founded remonstrances of the
colonists that the service was, after all, performed with great
irregularity. Indeed, it is beyond cavil that during their earlier
operations, the vessels did not arrive at the time named in the tables
of routes attached to the contract, that, for instance, the duplicate
correspondence from Chagres, sent round by way of New York in American
vessels, and thence by the Cunard or American steamers to Liverpool,
often arrived in England sooner than the original letters brought
directly by the Royal Mail vessels; and, further, that much confusion
was constantly caused by the non-arrival of the outward mails till days
after the dispatch of the homeward ones. Unnecessary delays also took
place in coaling at St. Thomas and in the receiving and transferring
freight there and elsewhere. There was also, it was alleged, a want of
sufficient steamers for the intercolonial service, while the occasional
negligence and incompetency of the commanders of the vessels led to a
needless loss of time between port and port; complaints were likewise
made of insufficiency of accommodation for passengers on some of
the intercolonial steamers, and, also, that a pernicious system of
gambling was permitted in the vessels of the main line. Some of these
complaints, as frequently happens under similar circumstances, were
frivolous and unwarrantable, but too many of them were unanswerable;
indeed the bitter attacks on the company might naturally have been
expected considering the numerous favours supposed to have been
conferred on it, and, above all, the notorious fact, that the contract
for the conveyance of the mails was never exposed to public competition.
[Sidenote: Improved prospects of the Company]
On the other hand, the company had great difficulties to contend
against, while its shareholders, so far from receiving any dividend
on their capital, sustained during the first year of its operations
a heavy loss. Moreover, though liberal concessions had been made by
the Government, together with various unusual allowances, these were
more than counterbalanced by the loss of two valuable ships during the
second year of its operations. Yet, taking into account these and other
losses, to which reference will hereafter be made, the trade increased
so rapidly as to recoup the disasters of the company, and to leave,
in 1843, a surplus of receipts over expenditure of 94,210_l._ and in
1844 of 147,749_l._: the directors were therefore enabled to recommend
a dividend on the half-year ending 31st December, 1844, of 30_s._
per share; in October, 1846, 35_s._; and in April, 1848, 2_l._ per
share.[275]
From this time the prospects of the company steadily improved, and
when, in 1850, various capitalists in the United States projected the
construction of a railway across the isthmus of Panama—a project
which promised extensive additions to its business—the company was
in a position to render this new undertaking considerable assistance
by advancing, in the course of the year 1851, the sum of 25,480_l._
towards its completion. At that time, too, the direct and most
advantageous route to the Australian colonies appeared to be across
that Isthmus; indeed the Panama route was recommended by a Committee
of the House of Commons who inquired into this subject in the session
of 1849. But, apart from the Australian trade, that of San Francisco
was then being rapidly developed by the discovery of the gold mines, by
attracting (as these did) large numbers of passengers from Europe, and,
thereby, laying the foundation of the present enormous traffic in grain
and other produce from California, perhaps the most fertile district of
the United States—the valley of the Mississippi not excepted.
[Sidenote: from improved management.]
From that period the operations of the company have from various
causes yielded a very fair return to its shareholders, some of these,
doubtless, being due to the rapid increase of the trade, to the
knowledge the directors have gained from experience, and, not the
least, to the fact that their ships are now commanded by men who have
been either trained in their own service, or have acquired, while
employed by other shipowners, the sort of knowledge essential for the
successful management of merchant-steamers.
[Sidenote: Contract renewed, 1850.]
[Sidenote: Its conditions.]
In 1850, Government granted a renewal of the mail contract to the
company for a further term of ten years from the 1st January, 1852, the
conditions being, that the subsidy should be raised from 240,000_l._
to 270,000_l._ per annum, and that the company, on its part, should
undertake the additional cost and expense of a monthly service to the
Brazils, thus increasing the mileage to be performed from 389,448 to
547,296 miles, and, at the same time, reducing the mileage rate from
12_s._ 3_d._ to 9_s._ 10_d._ per mile. The company was also required to
accelerate the speed on the West Indian line from 8 knots an hour, as
originally agreed, to 10 knots an hour, and to add five new steamers to
their fleet, each of 2250 tons burden and 800 horse-power. Besides an
increased outlay of capital, these conditions entailed on the company a
very considerable increase in the wear and tear of ships and machinery;
hence their general expenditure rose in the course of the year, after
these new arrangements came into force, from 264,802_l._ to 403,769_l._
per annum.
[Sidenote: Fresh conditions, 1857.]
In 1857, other changes were made in their contract. The first
condition—a somewhat extraordinary one—had reference to an
amalgamation with the European and Australian Mail Company for the
conveyance of the mails, _viâ Egypt_, to and from Australia, which
subsequently proved a great failure, this Company having altogether
broken down; the second required an acceleration of the mails between
England and Rio Janeiro from sixty-six days twenty-two hours, the time
hitherto allowed for the performance of the round voyage, to fifty-five
days nineteen hours. The company was, also, ordered to provide three
more vessels, of 3000 tons and 800 horse-power, for the West India
and Atlantic service, and a fourth of smaller dimensions to increase
the speed of the mails between Rio Janeiro and the River Plate. These
changes proved to be of considerable public advantage, as the time of
the post between England and the isthmus of Panama was thus reduced
from fifty-nine to forty-two days, while, as the homeward mails arrived
three days before the departure of the outward ones, the mercantile
community obtained important additional facilities for transacting
their business with that part of the world.
[Sidenote: Contract again renewed, 1864.]
When the second contract expired in January 1864 fresh arrangements
were made whereby the annual subsidy was reduced to 172,914_l._ and
the speed increased on the West India Transatlantic service to 10½
knots an hour. In 1866 it was further agreed that each alternate
fortnightly packet should proceed from St. Thomas direct to Colon
instead of touching first at Jamaica, thus shortening the route between
England and Panama. In 1868 another and, in this case, most important
modification, was suggested in the conditions of the contract.
Hitherto, the steamers of this company had been propelled, principally,
by paddle-wheels, its directors being, perhaps, among the last to see
the advantages to be derived from the application of the screw. But,
though now convinced of the many advantages of the screw over the
paddle, before entering on the large expenditure required for such a
change, they naturally wished to know the intentions of Government
with regard to the continuation of their mail contracts; the result of
this application being the extension of the period till 1874, with,
however, the condition, that Government should participate in all
profits beyond eight per cent.
[Sidenote: Further renewal, 1874.]
As a considerable amount of discontent had, in the meantime, again
found expression through the medium of the public press with regard
to the very large sums of money which this company had received for
the conveyance of the mails, and, as different members of the House of
Commons had insisted that the service should be thrown open to public
competition, the directors were obliged to consider the alternative of
either abandoning it altogether, or of conducting the service for a
much less amount than they had hitherto received: they wisely adopted
the latter course, and, on public tenders being invited, undertook
to convey the West India mails for the annual subsidy of 84,750_l._,
not much more than one-third of what they had originally received—a
sum, however, subsequently supplemented by 2000_l._ per annum as a
recompense for the ships calling at Plymouth and there landing the
mails, instead of at Southampton, their final port of destination.[276]
In subsidizing the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company during the earlier
portion of its career to the large extent I have named, the British
government were evidently actuated by reasons similar to those, which
induced the government of the United States to make the like liberal
concessions to the unfortunate Collins line; and there can be no doubt
that the original vessels of this company were well adapted for one
of the objects Government had then in view—the creation of a fleet
of a class of large and strongly built merchant-steamers, which could
be made use of in the event of war. Hence, all these vessels were
built to carry heavy guns when necessary, so as to be serviceable for
the purpose of the navy at a comparatively small subsequent outlay. A
drawing is furnished on the following page of one of those ships which,
in nearly all respects, resembled the government steamers of the period.
[Illustration: S.S. “FORTH.”]
[Sidenote: The steam-ship _Forth_.]
[Sidenote: Losses of various ships of the company.]
The _Forth_ was altogether a very fine vessel of her class, and the
largest of any of the original fleet of the company. She was somewhere
about 1900 tons gross, or builders’ measurement, 1147 tons register,
and 450 nominal horse-power. She was built at Leith in 1841, by
Messrs. Menzies and Co., and, as Government reserved its right of
purchasing any of these ships at a valuation, she was, like the others,
constructed in accordance with a specification from the Admiralty,
under the survey and immediate control of officers appointed for this
purpose. Indeed, the fleet of the Royal Mail Company consisted of
the finest class of vessels of that description built of wood which,
previous to 1841, had been sent to sea either for naval or mercantile
purposes. Nor were they inferior to any vessels then afloat either in
the completeness of their equipment, or in the elegance and convenience
of their accommodation for first-class passengers. But, from some
cause or other, arising either from those I have already ventured to
suggest or from the unavoidable dangers of the ocean, the company at
first was most unfortunate in the number of losses they sustained. Nor
can it be urged that such disasters were due to any special dangers
in their line of navigation, for they had no fogs and ice to fear,
like their more northern Transatlantic voyagers: with the exception of
occasional hurricanes among the West India Islands, their course was a
comparatively safe one, and, yet, no fewer than six of the West India
Royal Mail Company’s packets were lost in the first eight years of
their career.
Besides the _Isis_ which, on the 8th of October, 1842, sank off
Bermuda, having previously struck on a reef, the company lost, on
the 15th of April, 1843, the _Solway_, 20 miles west of Corunna. She
was one of their finest vessels. Her captain, the surgeon, various
passengers, and a portion of the crew, consisting in all of sixty
persons, perished with the ship. The _Tweed_, another of their
first-class vessels, of 1800 tons burden and 450 horse-power, was
totally lost on the 12th of February, 1847, on the Alicranes reefs off
Yucatan, in the Gulf of Mexico, while on her voyage to Vera Cruz. Her
loss was most disastrous, and caused great excitement at the time. The
crew and passengers amounted to 151 persons (seventy-two of whom were
drowned), and their sufferings, as graphically described by one who
had escaped,[277] formed a subject of conversation for a longer period
than such calamities now do. After five days’ suffering, the remainder
of the passengers and crew were rescued from the barren reef of rocks
on which they had been cast. Again, on the 1st of February, 1849, the
_Forth_ was also completely lost on the same rocks which had caused
the total destruction of the _Tweed_; while, in the following year the
_Actæon_ was wrecked in rounding the point near Carthagena on a shoal
extending, as was alleged, much further into the sea than had been
laid down on the Admiralty charts. Nor must the loss of the _Medina_,
wrecked on the 12th of May, 1844, on a coral reef near Turks Island, be
omitted, as this was, certainly, one which ought not to have occurred.
[Sidenote: Causes of these losses.]
Some of these disasters, no doubt, arose from the intricate nature of
the navigation among the West India Islands, and others may have been
caused, as the supporters of the company alleged, “by those sudden
changes of the weather, hurricanes, squalls, northers, &c., with
which the West India Islands, Spanish Main, and Gulf of Mexico are so
frequently visited,” but the rocks and shoals of the Gulf could have
had nothing to do with the loss of the _Solway_ off Corunna, and, as
the company has met with much fewer disasters of late years, I may be
allowed to suspect that incompetency had too much to do with the almost
periodical losses of the first eight or ten years of its career.
[Sidenote: Loss of the _Amazon_.]
But by far the greatest disaster which befell any of this company’s
ships was the destruction of the _Amazon_ by fire at sea; indeed,
nothing could be more terrible than the loss of this ship and the
sufferings of those who perished with her.
The _Amazon_ was built by Messrs. R. and H. Green, at Blackwall, and
launched from their yard on the 28th of June, 1851: she was the largest
wooden merchant steam-ship which had up to that time been constructed.
An illustration of her, as she lay at anchor ready for sea, on her
first and only voyage, will be found on the following page.[278]
When surveyed by the Admiralty before her departure from Southampton,
she was reported capable of carrying fourteen 32-pounders, and two
10-inch pivot guns of 85 cwt. each on her main-deck; her coal bunkers
were constructed to carry 1000 tons of coals, or upward of sixteen
and a half days’ consumption at the rate of 2½ tons per hour for her
twenty-six furnaces. Her engines were fitted in a framework independent
of the vessel, so that little or no perceptible vibration was felt when
they were at work: moreover, allowing 12 superficial feet for each man,
she had accommodation in her lower decks for 360 soldiers, besides
elegant cabins for first-class passengers. Her cost, when ready for
sea, was somewhat over 100,000_l._
[Illustration: “AMAZON.”]
On the 2nd of January, 1852, the _Amazon_, under command of Captain
Symons, took her departure from Southampton with the usual mails for
the British and foreign West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish
Main, &c., fifty passengers, and a large and valuable cargo. Her crew
numbered 110, exclusive of the Admiralty officer in charge of the
mails. The _Amazon_ was the first of the direct line of steam-ships
arranged by the company to run fortnightly between Southampton and
Chagres, touching only at St. Thomas, at which place various lines of
branch packets for the accommodation of the West Indies, the Gulf of
Mexico, &c., were to meet, diverging thence to the different islands
and ports embraced in the new arrangements with Government, and thus
establishing, as it was termed at the time, “a great steam ferry
between Europe and the Isthmus of Panama.”
In the course of the day after her departure, when steaming at the
rate of about 9 miles an hour against a stiff south-west gale, the
bearings of the paddle-shafts became so hot from the excessive friction
of the new machinery, that on two occasions the engines had to be
stopped to cool them, in one case for two and a half hours; after which
everything appeared to be in order. But at midnight of the evening
of the 4th January, when the _Amazon_ was somewhere about 110 miles
west-south-west of the Scilly Islands, the watch on deck, to their
dismay, discovered that a fire had broken out suddenly on the starboard
side forward between the steam-chest and that portion of the deck
whereon the galley stood, the flames at once rushing up the gangway in
front of the foremost funnel. So sudden, indeed, was the conflagration
that when the alarm bell, instantly sounded, brought the captain upon
deck, it was only to witness the inevitable destruction of his ship;
the force of the gale then blowing having spread the flames with such
rapidity that every appliance, by means of wet swabs, buckets of water,
and at last the fire pumps (for they had not been ready), proved alike
utterly futile to check the progress of the fire.
The most terrible consternation and confusion now prevailed. Passengers
and crew rushed on deck in the wildest dismay, while the gale which
raged overhead increased their fears. To add if possible to the terrors
of this awful calamity, the smoke and flames had driven the engineers
from their stations, so that the machinery could not be stopped;
consequently the _Amazon_ dashed through the waves at full speed. Thus
the raging fire, made more fearful by the storm, consumed everything
animate and inanimate within its reach, spreading with the most
alarming rapidity over the deck of the ship and extending to the cabins
below, where many of the passengers were either suffocated by the smoke
or consumed by the flames.
Recourse was now had to the boats: of these there were nine, including
four life-boats. As too often happens in cases of emergency, the boats
were neither clear nor ready for lowering. In this instance, too, the
life-boats had been fitted with crutches on which their keels rested.
These fittings now obstructed their clearance from the sides of the
ship, and but for this fatal arrangement so serious a loss of life
might have been lessened. To make matters worse, the two best and
largest boats had been stowed on the top of the sponsons, which were
now surrounded by the flames and could not be approached. When the
mail-boat was lowered, it was immediately swamped with twenty-five
persons on board, all of whom perished; the pinnace, when lowered,
sheered across the sea before the people in her could unhook the
foretackle, and they too were all washed out and drowned, except two
men who had clung to the thwarts and were enabled to scramble back
to the deck of the ship: the boat itself, which hung by the single
tackle, was soon afterwards dashed to pieces against the side of the
vessel. By extraordinary efforts fourteen of the crew and two of the
passengers were enabled to remove from the cranes and lower in safety
one of the starboard life-boats, while nineteen of the crew and six
of her passengers escaped in another: these, with a young midshipman,
named Vincent, who displayed great bravery and intrepidity, the chief
steward, one passenger (a young lady), and two of the seamen, who
had managed to lower without accident a small boat, the dingy, were
the only persons saved out of the 161 who had embarked on board the
_Amazon_ only two days previously. All the others perished, including
the captain, either by the flames or the waves; and, perhaps, in the
melancholy annals of the sea, there is no shipwreck more appalling than
that of the _Amazon_.
[Sidenote: Terrible sufferings.]
No writer of romance in the wildest dreams of fancy could have pictured
a scene more terrible than this reality. Young Vincent, in his vivid
narrative, describes two passengers rushing from their cabins
enveloped in flames and falling lifeless upon deck. He speaks of a
lady, with an infant in her arms, entreating some one to take care of
her child, heedless of her own safety, but before assistance could be
rendered perishing with her child amid the flames. Others, he says,
fled from them, only to be engulfed in the ocean. One lady passenger,
who had been lifted into the boat, was so terrified by the waves which
dashed over the sides of the ship that she preferred death among the
flames, and wildly rushed back to her destruction. Others fell through
the burning decks or hatchways, and were instantly consumed, while some
resigned themselves calmly to their terrible fate; when Vincent left
the ship he states that “some of those who yet lived were kneeling on
the deck in prayer, while others, almost in a state of nudity, were
running about screaming with terror.”
Between three and four o’clock in the morning the masts of the vessel
fell over her sides; the foremast on the port and the mainmast on the
starboard, but the mizen still stood while the fire raged from stem to
stern. One poor fellow then appeared perched on the extreme end of the
jib-boom, the only living thing amidst the burning mass; but he, too,
perished. About five in the morning, when the life-boat was “passing
the ship in a leewardly direction,” the gunpowder in her magazines
exploded, and in about twenty minutes afterwards, the mizenmast went by
the board; the vessel herself then making a heavy lurch, as if eager
to escape from the flames, went down, her funnels still standing, but
red hot, with everything on board which the fire, in its fury, had left
unconsumed.
[Sidenote: Loss of the _Demerara_.]
The destruction of the _Amazon_ following so quickly upon the stranding
of the _Demerara_ at Bristol (another of the five additional vessels
which the company had just launched), materially inconvenienced the
directors in the fresh arrangements they had made with Government for
the more expeditious delivery of the mails. They had now only the
_Oronoco_, _Magdalene_, and _Parana_ to conduct the direct service
between Southampton and the isthmus of Panama; but these misfortunes
appear to have stimulated the shareholders to renewed exertions.
Other vessels were engaged and fresh contracts entered into for the
construction of steamers of a still finer description.[279] When,
at length, Government relieved the company from the condition of
building wooden vessels adapted for purposes of war, and the directors
themselves discovered that iron was preferable to wood and the screw
a better mode of propulsion than the paddle-wheel, they produced
vessels equal to most of those now engaged in Transatlantic navigation.
Of late years, their average of loss, until very recently, has been
comparatively small.
[Sidenote: Additions to their fleet,]
There are not now many finer steamers afloat than their _Tagus_ and
_Moselle_, which were launched in the year 1871 from the yard of
Messrs. John Elder and Co. The former, a vessel of 2789 tons builders’
measurement and 600 horse-power, attained a mean speed of 14·878 knots
per hour on the occasion of her official trial; while the _Moselle_,
a sister ship, of about 3200 tons gross register, surpassed her,
having made 14·929 knots per hour as the average of four runs over
the measured mile. Equally satisfactory results have attended many of
their other vessels, and not the least remarkable is the case of the
_Tasmanian_, an iron screw-vessel they purchased from the unfortunate
European and Australian Steam Navigation Company. This vessel, which
was also fitted in 1871 by Messrs. John Elder and Co. with engines on
the compound principle, accomplished her first voyage to St. Thomas in
338 hours (14 days, 2 hours) on a consumption of only 466 tons of coal,
though she formerly consumed 1088 tons on a run of 349 hours (14 days,
13 hours).
[Sidenote: and superior class of vessels.]
An entire change of management combined with a superior class of
vessels have had a very material effect on the prosperity of the
company, enabling the directors at their last meeting to declare a
dividend of 10 per cent. per annum. Their fleet[280] is now a large and
excellent one, and well adapted, on the whole, for the due performances
of the various mail services[281] undertaken by the company. It is
further only just to the company, before closing this sketch of its
operations, to record the services which it rendered to the British
Government in placing some of its finest ships at the disposal of the
naval department for the conveyance of troops during the Crimean War,
more especially as the operation was carried out with only a trifling
interruption to the contract mail service.
FOOTNOTES:
[273] See articles in the _Civil Engineer and Architects’ Journal_,
1862, pp. 174 and 242, and other journals of the period.
[274] It should, however, be added that these figures apply to an
estimate made during the time of high postage rates, when as few
letters as possible were sent through the Post-office.
[275] “Our Steam Fleets,” _Liverpool Journal of Commerce_, October
26th, 1874.
[276] “The mail services of the company on the West India, and Brazil
and River Plate lines are now (1875) carried on under arrangements with
the Government, involving a still further reduced subsidy;” and the
Directors in their report of the 28th April last, add:—
“Since the last Report a contract has been entered into by the Company
with her Majesty’s Government to carry on the Brazil and River Plate
Mail Service, from the 1st January, 1875, for a payment according to
the weight of letters, etc., conveyed by the packets. The contract
is terminable at six months’ notice on either side, and is for a
service twice a month from Southampton; the vessels, which have for
a considerable time past left on the 24th of the month, being thus
placed on the same footing as those dispatched by the company under the
previous contract on the 9th of the month.”
[277] _Vide_ _Times_ newspaper, 9th April, 1847.
[278] The dimensions of the _Amazon_ were 300 feet in length, 41 feet
in width, and 32 feet in depth; she was about 3000 tons burthen or
2256 tons register. Her engines, of 800-horse power, were constructed
by Messrs. Seaward and Capel of Millwall, Poplar, the diameter of the
cylinders being 96 inches each and the stroke 9 feet. The engines made
fourteen revolutions of her wheels (which were 41 feet in diameter) per
minute, giving a speed by log of 11 knots an hour on her trial trip, at
a draught of 19 feet forward and 19 feet 9 inches aft.
[279] The following is a return of the vessels which were added to the
fleet of the Company between 1851 and 1860 inclusive:
-------------------+-----------+-------------+------------
| Number of | Tonnage. |Horse-power.
| Vessels. | |
+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------
|1851.|1860.|1851. |1860. |1851.|1860.
+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------
Under 1,000 tons| 5 | 4 | 2,949| 2,838|1,030| 900
1,000 to 1,500 tons| Nil | 2 | .. | 2,371| .. | 680
1,500 to 2,000 tons| 9 | 6 |16,593|11,057|3,900| 2,510
2,000 to 3,000 tons| 1 | 6 | 2,069|14,683| 440| 4,120
Over 3,000 tons| Nil | 3 | .. |10,070| .. | 2,400
+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------
| 15 | 21 |21,611|41,019|5,370|10,610
-------------------+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------
[280] See Appendix No. 19, p. 634.
[281] These services from Southampton with mails, passengers, and
cargo, are as follows:
_2nd of each month_—for West Indies, Cuba and Mexico, Colon
(Aspinwall), Savanilla, Panama, Central America, South and North
Pacific, San Francisco.
_9th and 24th of each month_—for Brazil and River Plate Routes, viz.
Lisbon, St. Vincent (Cape de Verde), Pernambuco, Bahia,[282] Rio de
Janeiro, Monte Video, Buenos Ayres.
_17th of each month_—for West Indies, Belize, Grey Town, Colon
(Aspinwall), Savanilla, Panama, Central America, South Pacific,
Acapulco, Mazanillo, San Francisco, British Columbia, Japan, China.
An additional steamer also leaves Southampton the 10th of each month
for Barbadoes, Trinidad, La Guayra, Porto Cabellos, Curaçoa, Santa
Marta, Savanilla, and Colon.
[282] The steamers of the 24th of each month do not call at Pernambuco
or Bahia.
CHAPTER VIII.
Pacific Steam Navigation Company—First steamer on the Pacific,
1825—Mr. Wheelwright—Obtains a charter, 1840—First vessels,
the _Chili_ and _Peru_—Warm reception at Valparaiso—The
Company persevere—Appointment of Mr. Just, 1846—Extension
of contract, 1850—Marked improvement in the prospects of
the Company, 1860—New lines—Vast increase of capital,
1867—Further increase of capital to 3,000,000_l._, 1871—Capital
increased, to 4,000,000_l._, 1872—Extent of fleet, _Iberia_
and _Liguria_—_Chimborazo_, 1871—Too rapid increase—Loss
arising therefrom—Modification of mail contract and reduced
services—West coast steamer _Bolivia_—Future prospects of
the Company—Trade with Mexico—First line of steamers from
Liverpool to Chagres—West India and Pacific Steam Navigation
Company—Liverpool, Brazil, and River Plate Steam Navigation
Company.
[Sidenote: Pacific Steam Navigation Company.]
About the period when the West India Steam Line was in course of
formation, another company, destined to surpass it in importance, had
obtained from the British Government a charter for establishing “steam
navigation along the shores of North and South America in the Pacific
Ocean,” as well as between those shores and China, the Australasian
Colonies, and certain ports in the West Indies and in the Atlantic
Ocean.
To establish a line of steam-ships for the purpose of carrying on
efficiently the large and valuable, but hitherto undeveloped, commerce
within the area named was indeed a bold undertaking, and one requiring
extensive and varied knowledge, with a large amount of experience and
judicious management combined with the necessary amount of capital.
These various requisites were not, however, readily obtained at a
period when ocean steam navigation was comparatively in its infancy,
and were rendered still more difficult by the knowledge that the
endeavours of the original projectors of steam navigation on the shores
of the Pacific had not been attended with success. Indeed, the first of
those undertakings proved most unfortunate, and was, also, accompanied
by a good deal of romance.
[Sidenote: First steamer in the Pacific, 1825.]
So early as 1825, when the struggles among the republics of the South
Pacific for supremacy were at their height, a few merchants resident
in Panama formed themselves into an association for the purpose of
trading along those shores, but they had so many difficulties to
overcome that a long time elapsed ere they could obtain the required
capital. The first steamer on the Pacific coast was a small craft named
the _Telica_, commanded and owned by a Spaniard named Mitrovitch;
but his career and that of the vessel under his charge was a short
and melancholy one. In a fit of despair at his want of success, with
some further annoyance from the complaints by his passengers, caused
chiefly by delay, and his inability to find a sufficient supply of
fuel, he fired his pistol into a barrel of gunpowder, blowing up his
vessel in the harbour of Guayaquil, and destroying himself and all on
board except one man. An occurrence of this lamentable nature, though
it happened ten or fifteen years previously, would, in most cases,
have destroyed, for many years subsequently, any attempts, by means of
steamers, to trade between Valparaiso and Panama, had not a gentleman,
then resident in Guayaquil and familiar with the trade of the coast,
taken up the business with the determination to carry it through at all
hazards.
[Sidenote: Mr. Wheelwright.]
William Wheelwright,[283] an American citizen, and at that time United
States’ Consul in Guayaquil, was no common man. He saw the advantages
to be derived from developing the rich resources of the eastern shores
of the Pacific, and the facilities which steam communication would
afford to the more frequent and more rapid intercourse between the
then rival republics. Nor was he mistaken in the views he entertained,
though he had many difficulties to overcome. Steam, while it eventually
became the chief means of settling the petty wars which had so long
raged, offered, at the same time, so many new sources of profitable
employment, with the opening up so many new channels of trade, as
happily to direct the attention of the native inhabitants from the
struggles of war to the peaceful pursuits of commerce. Studying the
wants of those countries and the most efficient means of affording
profitable employment to the people, Mr. Wheelwright spent six of the
best years of his life in arranging plans for steam communication
between the different republics, and, at last, obtained from the
Peruvian, Bolivian, and Chilian Governments the privilege of thus
navigating their coasts for the term of ten years. He then made a
journey to England for the purpose of endeavouring to influence the
wealthy merchants of this country to aid him in the undertaking.
[Sidenote: Obtains a charter, 1840.]
Here, however, he had still many difficulties to overcome, for the
trade he proposed to develop was then comparatively unknown, and the
little wars between the republics of the Pacific naturally led English
merchants to hesitate, ere they embarked their capital in a company
whose prospects were at that time far from encouraging. Nevertheless,
he succeeded in his object, and, on the 17th of February, 1840,
obtained, under letters patent, a charter for the establishment of the
undertaking now known as the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, together
with a small subsidy for the conveyance of the mails.
This contract differs from all others, in this respect, that the
vessels employed under it do not touch at any port of Her Majesty’s
dominions, although, practically, it may be considered as providing a
continuation of the line from Southampton. The extension of British
influence and British commerce was, doubtless, the chief inducement
for supporting this communication between the republics of New
Grenada, Bolivia, Peru, and Chili; the nature and extent of that
traffic rendering it necessary for the English to maintain mercantile
establishments in the chief ports and towns on the western coast of the
Pacific, and thus justifying Government in incurring this expense.[284]
The capital of the Pacific Company at first was limited to 250,000_l._
in 5000 shares of 50_l._ each. Though the whole capital, after a good
deal of labour, was subscribed, only an amount was called up sufficient
at the time to enable the directors to provide two boats, the _Chili_
and the _Peru_, which were dispatched to commence operations towards
the close of the year 1840.
[Sidenote: First vessels, the _Chili_ and _Peru_.]
[Sidenote: Warm reception at Valparaiso.]
These vessels were built of wood by Messrs. Charles Young and Co. of
Limehouse, London. They were sister ships, each of about 700 tons gross
register, though with a capacity of not half of that tonnage, and
with engines of about 150 horse-power constructed by Messrs. Miller
and Ravenhill. Through the courtesy of the directors, I am enabled to
furnish the following illustration of the _Peru_, whose dimensions were
198 feet extreme length and 50 feet extreme breadth. They were at that
time considered fine vessels and certainly they have a comfortable
business-like appearance. No wonder, therefore, that, on their arrival
at Valparaiso, they were received with great rejoicing and with
“salvoes of artillery, everybody wishing to visit them, the President
of the Republic, accompanied by his ministers, being among the first to
welcome the steam-ships to the shores of the Pacific.”
[Illustration: “PERU.”]
[Sidenote: The Company persevere.]
[Sidenote: Appointment of Mr. Just, 1846.]
But here again, Mr. Wheelwright had many difficulties to overcome, the
scarcity of fuel, as in the case of the _Telica_, being one of the
greatest. Under these circumstances, the Company, during the first five
years of its operations, sustained a loss of no less than 72,000_l._
upon a paid-up capital of 94,000_l._ In the face, however, of these
heavy losses, the shareholders resolved to persevere with their bold
undertaking, seeing in it the germs of future success. Under the
impression that the business of the Company could be better conducted
in Liverpool, where most of the shareholders resided, the directors,
on the 4th May, 1846, obtained a supplemental charter to remove from
London to that city, where the head office and general management,
have since been conducted by Mr. William Just, who, in January of the
following year, was appointed its managing director. In December 1847,
the directors were enabled to give to the shareholders for the first
time a dividend, though only 2½ per cent., on their paid-up capital.
[Sidenote: Extension of contract, 1850.]
In 1850, the Company obtained an extension of its mail contract of
1845-46, whereby the directors were required to provide not less than
six steamers, of at least 170 horse-power each, but, at the suggestion
of the Company, the Government, in November of that year, allowed four
steamers of 1000 tons and 300 horse-power to be substituted for the six
smaller vessels originally contemplated.[285]
The prospects of the undertaking were, however, still far from
encouraging, and when, in February 1853, the directors represented
to the Board of Admiralty that the expense arising from the greatly
increased price of coals rendered the portion of their service between
Callao and Panama altogether unremunerative, and asked for an increase
of subsidy, they were refused. The directors then solicited permission
to employ between these two places vessels of only 100 horse-power and
400 tons, which they considered would be sufficiently large for the
passenger traffic, and would restore the balance of profit by reducing
the cost of fuel. They also undertook that these vessels should be
capable of maintaining an average speed of 10 knots an hour, and that
the mail service should not suffer. This proposal Government acquiesced
in, temporarily, reserving to itself the right of reverting to the
original agreement.
The more frequent and more speedy services had, indeed, become, if not
necessary, at least desirable, since the West India Mail Packet Co.
had doubled the services of their ships between England and Colon. The
Pacific Co. therefore felt that, if they did not run their vessels to
and from Panama in connection with the steamers from England, those
of the United States of America, now rapidly increasing in the trade
of the Pacific, might soon monopolize the lines they occupied from
the Isthmus to the southern ports. Consequently, the directors of the
Pacific Company were glad to accede to the proposal of the Admiralty to
run steamers with the mails monthly from Panama, for the small increase
of 5000_l._ per annum to their original contract of 20,000_l._
This Company had now in its service seven vessels of 5719 tons and of
2396 horse-power; but, though they touched at no less than thirteen
ports between Panama and Valparaiso inclusive, the average annual
amount of receipts for postage, for five years previously to 1860,
amounted to only 5441_l._
In 1856, Mr. Just visited the west coast, and re-organized the
management and the service generally with very successful results.
Towards that success his adoption of the compound engine,[286] then
almost a novelty, materially tended, effecting as it did, an enormous
saving in the consumption of fuel and, consequently, in the current
expenses of the Company.
[Sidenote: Marked improvement in the prospects of the Company, 1860.]
[Sidenote: New lines.]
From 1860, the trade of the Pacific rapidly developed itself. The
inhabitants of the coast now saw the incalculable advantages to
be derived from regular and increased intercourse between other
countries. Steam here, as it has done everywhere else, opened up new
and hitherto unthought of branches of commerce; the natives learned
what other nations required, and, to meet these demands, they turned
to cultivating their fields instead of fighting among themselves.
Consequently, the Pacific Company soon found it necessary to increase
the number of their fleet. In December 1859, a second supplemental
charter was obtained, which extended the incorporation of the Company
for twenty-one years from the 17th of February, 1861. On the 15th of
June, 1865, a third supplemental charter was applied for and obtained,
extending the powers of the Company, to the establishment of lines of
communication “between the west coast of South America and the River
Plata, including the Falkland Islands and such other ports or places
in North and South America, and other foreign ports, as to the said
Company shall seem expedient.”
[Sidenote: Vast increase of capital, 1867.]
During these years the profits of the undertaking had been steadily
increasing, and at a special meeting of shareholders held in December
1867 it was determined to add to the operations of the company by
establishing a monthly line _from Liverpool_ to the west coast of South
America, _viâ_ the Straits of Magellan.
This entirely new and important, though hazardous, branch of the
service necessitated an increase of the capital of the company to
2,000,000_l._ In furtherance of their views the directors sent their
steamer _Pacific_, of 2000 tons register and 450 horse-power, from
Valparaiso, in May 1868, as the pioneer of the new mail line.
[Sidenote: Further increase of capital to 3,000,000_l._, 1871.]
The bold undertaking of dispatching steamers on so distant a voyage,
and at so high a rate of speed as that maintained, proved for some
years more successful than could have been anticipated, and, in 1869,
the profits of the four new steamers, which had made nine voyages from
Liverpool to Valparaiso, were so satisfactory that the directors in
1870 determined to make the line bi-monthly, and extend the voyage from
Valparaiso to Callao. Seventeen voyages made in the course of that year
with still greater success, induced the directors to recommend that
the departures thenceforward should be three a month; and, in December
1871, the shareholders authorized a further increase of the capital to
3,000,000_l._, so that the company might be enabled to dispatch every
week one of their steamers on this distant voyage.
Considering the then comparatively limited amount of the trade it was a
very bold experiment. While directors of undertakings of this nature
very properly consider it their duty to meet and even to anticipate
the requirements of the public, so as to prevent others occupying
their field of operations, and thus avoiding injury from competition,
it may well be questioned if this extraordinary increase of steamers
could be justified by any reasonable anticipations of the increase of
the trade to be developed by these additional facilities, and within
so limited a space of time. The result, indeed, soon showed that they
were now too far in advance of the requirements of commerce. Though,
in 1871, twenty-nine round voyages were performed between Liverpool,
Valparaiso, and Callao, the profits, so far from being increased, gave
signs of falling off; and, in 1872, thirty-seven round voyages were
made with, as the result proved, a further diminished rate of profit,
the directors having, in January of that year, recommended at a special
meeting of shareholders the addition to their fleet of four more
steamers at a cost of 500,000_l._
[Sidenote: Capital increased to 4,000,000_l._ 1872.]
In the course of the following July, a further charter had been
obtained authorizing an additional 1,000,000_l._ of capital to be
raised, and thus, with power to draw on the shareholders to the extent
of 4,000,000_l._, the whole capital of the company, the directors did
not hesitate to still further increase their already gigantic fleet!
[Sidenote: Extent of fleet.]
[Sidenote: _Iberia_ and _Liguria_.]
The company now owns no less than fifty-four steamers, of an aggregate
of 119,870 tons, and 21,395 horse-power.[287] Two of these, the
_Iberia_ and _Liguria_, built and supplied with engines by Messrs.
John Elder and Co., of Glasgow, in 1873, are each 4671 tons gross
register with a capacity for 4000 tons of cargo, besides space for
916 tons of coals, and accommodation for no less than 800 third-class
passengers. They are each of 700 horse-power nominal, and attained a
speed on their trial trips of 15 knots per hour.[288]
[Sidenote: _Chimborazo_, 1871.]
[Sidenote: Too rapid increase.]
But, though inferior in power and dimensions, the vessels the company
had built previously to this time for their Liverpool and Valparaiso
line were equal in other respects to the new ones. Indeed, as may be
seen by the following representation of the _Chimborazo_, launched in
1871, also from the yard of Elder and Company, they were not surpassed
by any steamers afloat. She is a sister ship of the _Cuzco_, built by
the same firm, as also of the _Garonne_ built by Robert Napier and Sons
and launched the same year. They are each 370 feet in length between
perpendiculars, 41 feet beam, 35 feet depth of hold, and about 3850
tons gross register tonnage. They perform their passages on the coast
with remarkable speed and regularity, while the voyage from Liverpool
to Valparaiso is usually made in forty-two days. But, for the time
being, the company has found itself overtaken by severe competition
and depression in the west coast trade, and has been obliged to reduce
the services on the line from Liverpool to that coast to two voyages
each month instead of one weekly; in consequence of which nine of their
steamers are, at present, laid up for want of employment.
[Illustration: “CHIMBORAZO.”]
[Sidenote: Loss arising therefrom.]
Although the loss thus sustained may be attributed in no small
degree to the over-sanguine views of the directors in regard to the
development of the trade between Great Britain and the west coast of
South America, some portion of it is also due to the competition on the
coast and to the opposition they met in performing the weekly service
for which they had obtained a postal contract from Her Majesty’s
Government in December 1872. Bound to a speed in excess of what had
been required of other companies, and with a grant of only the sea
postage, it was impossible for them to hope to compete successfully
with such highly subsidized companies as the Royal Mail and the French
Messageries Maritimes, both of which maintain an opposition race to
those ports of the Brazils whence the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
hoped to derive some advantage by the conveyance of passengers on their
way to Valparaiso.
[Sidenote: Modification of mail contract and reduced services.]
Indeed, where a high rate of speed is required, and where heavy
penalties are inflicted for any irregularity in the performance
of the stipulated service, it is very questionable, unless when
highly subsidized, if any advantage whatever is to be gained by the
conveyance of mails on so distant a voyage as that which the Pacific
Company had undertaken to perform. But, by reducing the number of
services and modifying the rate of speed, which the Government at
last consented they should do—requiring, however, a reduction in the
amount of subsidy—the directors, on the one hand, may hope to secure
a sufficient amount of remunerative freight; and, on the other, to
effect a saving in the consumption of coal—a matter of the highest
consideration on such distant voyages.
Although the anticipations of the directors, in the more recent and
expensive portion of their great undertaking, have not been realised,
while the services of the steamers on the West Coast have periodically,
and especially of late, been subjected to considerable depression,
the trade of the Pacific has steadily and, compared with any previous
development, marvellously increased since first opened out by the
energy of Mr. Wheelwright. Moreover, this trade is likely to go on
increasing, especially as the company has now a class of vessels
admirably adapted for its still increasing wants, and affording many
comforts to passengers who, induced by numerous attractions travel
either for business or pleasure, along the shores of the Pacific.
[Sidenote: West Coast steamer, _Bolivia_.]
The following is an illustration of one of the steamers now engaged
on the Pacific coast line; but the _Santa Rosa_ and the many similar
vessels belonging to the Pacific Company now trading along these
shores,[289] have been greatly surpassed by their screw-steamer
_Bolivia_, of 1925 tons, launched from the building yard of Messrs. T.
Wingate & Co., Glasgow, in 1874, and which is perhaps the finest, or at
least, one of the finest vessels now afloat on the Pacific. The details
of this handsome ship, which has an average speed of 14 knots an hour,
as have also those of the other vessels of the company, will be found
in the Appendix, together with interesting and instructive returns of
the cost of each ship complete for sea.[290]
[Illustration: “SANTA-ROSA.”]
[Sidenote: Future prospects of the company.]
With the losses this company have sustained during the last few years,
the differences between the shareholders and directors, and the charges
of mismanagement and extravagance which have been alleged, it is not
my province to deal. Companies and nations, like individuals, are
frequently too prone to spend more than they ought, if unusual success
has attended their efforts, or they find more money at their disposal
than they can prudently or wisely expend. It has been so throughout
all time and in all countries, and we daily see it in the case of
individuals managing their own affairs.
It is, therefore, not surprising, and certainly nothing new to learn
that, when the directors of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company were
favoured with many years of unusual prosperity, after many years of
hard up-hill work, and were able to divide an average of over 20 per
cent. per annum among their shareholders, they should have followed
the example of individuals, of companies, and of nations throughout
all history; and that, in the sanguine hope of being able to maintain
this prosperity, they should have expended money in the construction of
ships not required, and for, perhaps, even less justifiable purposes.
It should, however, be remembered, of this great undertaking when its
failings are noticed, that it has rendered very important services in
developing British commerce and that, in bringing so many civilizing
influences to bear upon the people of various republics, who, from
their constant warfare with each other, were little better than tribes
of semi-barbarians, the Pacific Company has essentially aided the cause
of progress and the happiness of mankind. These advantages will be
felt long after its mishaps are forgotten.
The field which the directors have chosen for their operations, is
still only very partially developed, and there is, consequently, a
great future for this company, if wisely and prudently conducted. It
requires no prophetic vision to see that, as the commerce of the world
moves westward, the principal highway to the ever envied and far famed
East will be by the route which Columbus sought in vain across the
Pacific Ocean. Indeed, San Francisco will soon be a greater entrepôt
for trade than ever Venice was, and may, even before long, rival in
many respects the now gigantic commerce of Great Britain.
[Sidenote: Trade with Mexico.]
The steady increase of trade along the whole of the western shores of
the Pacific has already rendered necessary greatly increased means
of intercourse with Europe and the United States of America, which
the line of railway across the Isthmus has assisted to develop with
extraordinary rapidity. Other channels of trade in that quarter have
likewise been recently opened, rich in themselves and capable of vast
extension, through the medium of steam.
[Sidenote: First line of steamers from Liverpool to Chagres.]
Although many schemes had been set on foot during the last three
centuries, for re-opening the commerce of Central America, and,
especially, of that portion of it which has its outlet into the Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean Sea,—among these none being so conspicuous as
the unfortunate Darien expedition—all attempts proved abortive until
the latter half of the present century. Indeed, till the completion
of the railway, none of these were worthy of any notice. So rapid,
however, has been its increase since then, that the undertakings of
more recent years have been attended with considerable success. Perhaps
the most important of these is the line of steam navigation between
Liverpool and the West Indies, and, thence, by the Isthmus of Panama,
to the Pacific Ocean, originally due to Mr. Alfred Holt, of Liverpool,
who about the year 1855, dispatched steamers to trade between that port
and Colon (the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railroad) and other
ports on the Spanish Main. His first was a vessel of only 535 tons
burden, but she was then more than sufficient for any surplus commerce,
which the American boats, on the one hand and those of the West India
Mail Packet Co., on the other, could not convey. The regularity,
however, with which this additional service was performed, created
increased sources of employment, so that within a very short time, Mr.
Holt considered it desirable to establish a monthly line of steamers
of increased size and power, and so rapid was the rise of trade that
other steam-vessels were soon engaged in similar traffic. In 1863,
Messrs Leach, Harrison, and Forwood of Liverpool, large importers of
produce from the West Coast, found it necessary to establish a line
of steamers in a great measure for their own requirements, and about
the same time, Messrs Imrie and Tomlinson, in association with Messrs
Duranty and Co., of Liverpool, who had long been engaged in the trade
with Mexico and the West Indies, formed another line of steamers on the
limited liability principle. The trade in its various ramifications
had now become so large that, towards the close of that year, it was
considered desirable to form a public company to amalgamate these
three undertakings, and thus more thoroughly to conduct the rapidly
increasing commercial intercourse between Liverpool, Mexico, Honduras,
Venezuela, and the Windward Islands.
[Sidenote: West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company.]
The capital of 1,250,000_l._ was at once subscribed, and this new
undertaking now known as the West India and Pacific Steam Navigation
Company (Limited), finding it necessary to re-organize the whole
business and, in addition, to embrace the Colon trade, and other lines
of traffic, subdivided the services into five separate branches—one
to Belize, one to Tampico, one to Colon, one to St. Thomas, and one to
Trinidad.[291] It was also arranged to dispatch steamers to Barbadoes
and Demerara. The trunk or principal line of the company is that to
Colon, in connection with the Panama railroad, and, by it, with the
various steam lines on the Pacific, the company signing through bills
of lading for no fewer than seventy ports, at sixteen of which their
vessels call to land goods and passengers.
This undertaking, which has met with considerable success, conveys the
British mails to Honduras and Mexico. It now owns thirteen steamers
of 24,680 tons gross register. Though inferior in size and power to
the steam-ships of the other Transatlantic lines, they are a very fine
class of iron screw propelled vessels, maintaining an average speed
of more than 10 knots an hour, and performing the passage with great
regularity from Liverpool to St. Thomas in eighteen, and to Colon in
about twenty-two days.
Besides those I have mentioned, various other lines of steam-ships now
traverse the Atlantic north and south, as well as casual steamers and
large numbers of sailing-vessels, most of the former being the property
of associations carrying on business, either under the old law or under
the Limited Liability Act.
[Sidenote: Liverpool, Brazil, and River Plate Steam Company.]
Among the largest of these may be mentioned the Liverpool, Brazil, and
River Plate Steam-ship Company (Limited), which was formed in 1865, the
principal shareholders being Messrs. Lamport and Holt, of Liverpool,
by whom the steamers are managed, and a few of their personal friends.
There is nothing, however, in their fleet of vessels requiring
special notice, except that they are a very fine class of business
steamers and have performed their work with great regularity. They
are now thirty-one in number, of a gross tonnage of 49,294 tons,[292]
and have excellent accommodation, combined with every comfort which
passengers can desire, offering all the means of safety in their
prudent management, and regularity of system, which can be hoped for in
Transatlantic voyages.
Although the vessels of this company are principally engaged out
of Liverpool, some of them sail from London and Antwerp, calling
frequently at Havre and Lisbon in the course of their trade with
the ports of Brazil and River Plate, Pernambuco, and Buenos Ayres.
One of them proceeds monthly, up the River Parana to Rosario, and,
occasionally, others return from Brazil to the United States with
cargoes of coffee. Three are permanently engaged in the service of
the Government of Brazil for the conveyance of mails between Rio de
Janeiro and the southern ports, while others maintain a direct line
of communication with Brazil and Antwerp. The Company is also under
contract with the British Government to dispatch, on the 20th of each
month, a steamer with the mails from Liverpool to Bahia, Rio Janeiro,
Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres, returning with a monthly mail from each
of these ports. Steamers are likewise dispatched on the 3rd, 10th, and
12th of each month to the other ports, with extra vessels at such dates
as the requirements of the trade may demand. The last new steamer, the
_Herelius_, of 2610 tons register, was built by Messrs. Andrew Leslie
and Company, Hebburn-on-Tyne, and her engines, of 300 horse-power
nominal, are by Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Co., Newcastle; she is an
excellent specimen of a merchant-steamer, being 345 feet in length, 37
feet in breadth, and 27 feet depth of hold from maindeck, with a large
capacity for cargo, and a speed on the measured or trial mile of from
11 to 12 knots an hour, on a moderate consumption of fuel.
Though, by an ancient Act of Parliament, the responsibility of
shipowners has been limited—no doubt for the purpose of encouraging
navigation—to the value of the ship and freight, numerous companies
of shipowners have been formed, under the Limited Liability Act of
1862, consisting of a few individuals, as in the case of Messrs.
Lamport and Holt’s line, for the purpose of conducting different
branches of maritime commerce. Many of these are larger and more
important undertakings than the great bulk of the public steam
navigation companies, and have generally proved more successful from
the fact that their managing directors usually hold themselves a very
large amount of capital invested in them. To some of these I shall
have occasion to refer hereafter. In the meantime, I must invite the
attention of my readers to the trade with the East, as now conducted by
steam-vessels.
FOOTNOTES:
[283] Mr. Wheelwright was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, U.S., in
1798, where his ancestors from Bilsby, in Lincolnshire, had settled
so early as the year 1629. His first visit to South America was in
command of one of his father’s vessels, where he was wrecked at Cape
Corrientes in 1821. In the following year, he sailed as supercargo in
a vessel to Valparaiso and thence proceeded viâ Peru to Guayaquil,
where he established himself as a commission merchant and was, in 1824,
appointed United States’ Consul. Having frequent occasion to make
voyages along the Pacific coast, he saw the advantages to be derived
from steam communication, which subsequently led to the formation of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. His intimate connection with that
company, as one of its most active managers and directors, continued
until 1855, when he directed his attention more especially to the
construction of railways in South America, his first line between
Caldera and Copiago proving so great a success that “in a few years the
dividends paid to its shareholders amounted to double the entire cost.”
Subsequently, he, in association with Messrs. Brassey and Wythes,
constructed the line between Cordoba and Rosario, which was opened in
1870, when the President, addressing him, said, “The Argentine Republic
have not wherewith to acknowledge the greatness of your works.” Mr.
Wheelwright died in London, 16th September, 1873.
[284] “A broader and more promising field for steam operations than
that which the Pacific affords, does not exist in any part of the
world. The prevailing south winds, the calms, and the currents of that
ocean render navigation by sailing-vessels tedious and uncertain in
the extreme; while the nature of the whole country, from Valparaiso
to Guayaquil—presenting a succession of mountains and deep ravines,
intersected by sandy deserts—offers every imaginable obstacle to
land travelling; and, yet, there are four millions of inhabitants
within the proposed line of intercourse ready to participate, to a
greater or less degree, in the benefits to arise from the proposed
undertaking.”—Pamphlet on ‘Steam Navigation in the Pacific,’ by Mr.
Wheelwright: London, 1838.
[285] The four steamers supplied (at a cost of 140,000_l._), in
pursuance of the company’s contract with the Admiralty, were the
_Lima_, _Santiago_, _Quito_, and _Bogota_: they were to be employed in
the bi-monthly service between Valparaiso and Panama.
[286] The directors of the Pacific Co. by degrees applied the compound
engine after 1856 to all their steam-ships, and it is worthy of record
that they were not only among the first, if not the first, to adopt
the compound engine for ocean-going steamers, but were almost singular
in this respect for upwards of fourteen years. This description of
engine has now entirely superseded all others for the purposes of steam
navigation.
[287] See Appendix No. 20, pp. 635-6.
[288] The length of these steamers is 425 feet between perpendiculars
and 449 feet over all. Their breadth is 44½ feet, and their depth
of hold 35½ feet. The engines, which are compound, have each three
cylinders, one of 4 feet 8 inches diameter and two of 6 feet 6 inches
diameter, with 5 feet length of stroke.
[289] The _Santa Rosa_ is 320 feet in length, 38 feet in breadth, and
28 feet deep to the main deck on which a range of cabins extend for
nearly the whole length, as may be seen from the drawing, affording the
perfect system of ventilation so much required in steamers employed in
tropical climates. She is 1816 tons gross register, and is propelled
by a screw, although some others of smaller class still use the
paddle-wheels.
[290] Appendix No. 20, p. 637.
[291] “Steam Lines of Liverpool,” page 37.
[292] See Appendix No. 21, p. 637.
CHAPTER IX.
Steam to India and overland routes—East India Company establish
a Tátar post between Constantinople and Baghdad—First public
meeting in London to promote steam communication with India,
1822—Captain Johnston—Calcutta meetings, 1823—The _Enterprize_,
first steamer to India by Cape, 1825—Sold in Calcutta to East
India Company—Other steamers follow—Pioneers of overland
route viâ Egypt—Sir Miles Nightingall in 1819 and Mount-Stuart
Elphinstone in 1823 return home by this route—Mr. Thomas Waghorn
visits England to promote the Cape route, 1829-30—Returns
to India by way of Trieste and the Red Sea—Still advocates
Cape route, 1830—Mr. Taylor’s proposal—Reply of Bombay
Government and discussion of the question—Supineness of the
Court of Directors—Their views—Official report of the first
voyage of the _Hugh Lindsay_, 1830—Report of the Committee of
1834—Decision of the House of Commons Committee influenced by
political considerations—Admiralty packets extended from Malta
to Alexandria—Steamers of the Indian navy—Modes of transport
across the Isthmus of Suez—Great exertions of Waghorn in the
establishment of this route—Suez Canal—Popular errors on this
subject—M. de Lesseps—His great scheme—Not fairly considered
in England—Commencement of M. de Lesseps’ works in 1857—General
details—Partial opening of Canal, April 18th, 1869—Finally
opened by Empress Eugénie, November 17th, 1869.
[Sidenote: Steam to India, and overland routes.]
Having in the early portions of this work endeavoured to trace the
various commercial routes to the East by land and sea in the most
remote periods as well as in the Middle Ages, I now invite my readers
to accompany me while I attempt to furnish an outline of the modes by
which commercial intercourse is maintained with India and China at the
present time, and of the transport service employed in conveying this
commerce.
Although nearly the whole of the European trade with the East has,
since the time of Vasco de Gama, been conducted by sea round the Cape
of Good Hope, caravans through Arabia and Asia Minor and along the
shores of the Red Sea, as well as by the more frequented route of the
valley of Mesopotamia and the River Euphrates to the Persian Gulf,
have never, since the days of Herodotus, altogether ceased. Indeed,
during the reign of Elizabeth, and for sometime afterwards, many
English merchants preferred the Euphrates route to the sea voyage, the
course they then adopted, being apparently through Syria or Asia Minor
to Bir, where a fleet of boats or barges, resembling those described
by the Father of History, was at all seasons ready to convey them
and their merchandise down the Euphrates to Hillah, near the site of
Ancient Babylon, or by Mosul to Baghdad, the chief Eastern centre of
commerce during the early part of the Middle Ages. From Baghdad their
course was down the Tigris to Bussorah, where they embarked in native
sailing-vessels for various parts of India.
[Sidenote: East India Company establish a Tátar post between
Constantinople and Baghdad.]
An overland route between Europe and India had thus from time
immemorial been sustained; and, though there was no established service
between England and the East until a comparatively recent period, the
East India Company, from the time they first became possessors of
land in India, frequently sent despatches by the way of the Persian
Gulf, thus creating at length a regular monthly communication between
Constantinople and Baghdad, by Tátars, maintained at the cost of the
Indian Government. Thus, at last, private letters as well as official
despatches, were transmitted by these means, while, on important
occasions, special despatches were forwarded by the same route at other
than the monthly periods. This, so far as the East India Company was
concerned, was the original, and the only official overland line of
communication; and so it continued to be till it was superseded by the
route through Egypt. Another generation may see it resumed by an iron
highway.[293]
[Sidenote: First public meeting in London to promote steam
communication with India, 1822.]
[Sidenote: Captain Johnston.]
It was not, however, until steam-vessels began to attract attention
that any regular postal service other than by sailing-vessels was
seriously considered. But on this subject opinions differed widely,
the prevailing one at that time being at first in favour of the Cape
route, transferring the conveyance of the mails from the old East
Indiamen to steamers. Nothing, however, was definitely proposed till
1822, when a public meeting was held in London with the view of forming
a Steam Navigation Company to trade with India, the result of which
was the despatch of Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) J. Johnston, to
Calcutta to see what could be done to prosecute the object in view.
Johnston went through Egypt and became subsequently one of the ardent
supporters of the route by Suez, though his own employment and the
intention of those for whom he then acted, was more especially the
promotion of the Cape route.
[Illustration: S.S. “ENTERPRISE.”]
[Sidenote: Calcutta meetings, 1823.]
Soon after his arrival in Calcutta, several meetings took place,
the most important of which was held in the Town Hall of that city,
December 17th, 1823,[294] with Mr. Harrington in the Chair. Various
routes were then considered. At the meeting it was announced that
the proposal of a more speedy communication with England by means of
steam-vessels had met with the cordial approval of Lord Amherst in
Council, who was prepared to recommend towards the promotion of the
enterprise a “gift of 20,000 rupees” by way of premium “to whoever,
whether individuals or a company, being _British_ subjects, should
permanently, before the end of 1826, establish a steam communication
between England and India, either by the Cape of Good Hope or Red
Sea, and make two voyages out and two home, occupying not more than
seventy days on each passage.” For this object somewhere about 80,000
rupees were raised in India, of which 12,000 were subscribed by the
Rajah of Oude; and, on the news reaching England, another meeting
was held in London, at which more money was collected, sufficient on
the whole to justify the promoters to order as an experiment, the
construction of the _Enterprize_, the first steamer destined to double
the Cape of Good Hope.
[Sidenote: The _Enterprize_, first Steamer to India, by Cape, 1825.]
Captain Johnston having completed the object for which he had been
despatched to India, returned to England in the _Eliza_ by way of the
Cape, and, on his arrival in London, the _Enterprize_,[295] which had
been laid down in the yard of Gordon and Co., Deptford, was two-thirds
finished. On her completion she was placed under his command, and
sailed for Calcutta on the 16th of August, 1825, where she arrived
on the 7th December following. Although 113 days on the passage,
she was only 103 days under way, as ten were spent in stoppages to
replenish her stock of coal; but her greatest average speed, during any
twenty-four hours, not exceeding 9·36 miles per hour, accounted for by
the large quantity of coals she was obliged to carry,[296] disappointed
the expectations of the seventeen passengers who had embarked in her.
(An illustration of this vessel is furnished on p. 340.)
[Sidenote: Sold in Calcutta to East India Company.]
The voyage of the _Enterprize_, ought to have convinced the advocates
of the ocean route that it was not advisable, commercially, to
persevere in such an undertaking, moreover, though this steamer was
admittedly unsuited for so distant a voyage, other considerations,
especially at that early period of steam navigation, made it doubtful
whether vessels thus propelled, and by a route so long as that round
the Cape, could yield remunerative returns. However, the _Enterprize_,
though she did not receive the 20,000 rupees premium, was sold when she
arrived at Calcutta, to the Indian Government for 40,000_l._, who then
required every ship they could get for the first Burmese war. She was
at once appropriated by the East India Company, who employed her in
carrying despatches from Calcutta to Rangoon, a service in which she
proved of great value in aiding the operations of that campaign.
[Sidenote: Other steamers follow.]
The success thus far of the _Enterprize_ encouraged the introduction of
steam-vessels into the local trade of India; the comparatively narrow
seas, excellent harbours, and safe inlets, as well as the many large
and important navigable rivers of that part of Asia affording almost
as large and remunerative fields for the employment of such vessels
as the coasts, rivers, and lakes of North America. To this branch
of commerce I shall hereafter refer. In the meantime I must ask my
readers to accompany me in an attempt to trace the means of more rapid
communication between Great Britain and her vast dominions in the
East, with some notice of the persons to whom we are indebted for the
advantages we have thus derived.
[Sidenote: Pioneers of overland route, viâ Egypt.]
As in other important changes and inventions, I find in my researches
many claimants for originality; and though it may appear scarcely
necessary to wade through the mass of papers[297] published by persons
claiming for themselves or their friends the merit of an overland
route which has existed since the dawn of history, I shall endeavour
to furnish within a brief space the leading facts relating to the
routes which, in our own time, have produced such marked changes in our
commercial intercourse with India.
[Sidenote: Sir Miles Nightingall, in 1819, and Mount-Stuart
Elphinstone, in 1823, return home by this route.]
Though not so much frequented as that by the Euphrates route,
travellers have found their way from time immemorial between Europe and
India through Egypt, availing themselves of native vessels for the Red
Sea or along its coasts to the once far-famed lands of Yemen and thence
to the ever coveted “Cathay” of the East. The first authentic record,
in recent times, however, of any journey from India to Great Britain
by the Isthmus of Suez, with the object of ascertaining whether that
route could be renewed as a pathway of commerce, or, if not, for the
transmission of despatches, was a passage made in 1819, by Sir Miles
Nightingall, then Commander-in-chief of the Bombay army (for whom,
however, no claim of originality has been made), who, on relinquishing
that command, returned to England viâ the Red Sea accompanied by Lady
Nightingall.[298] Sir Miles and his wife left Bombay in the East India
Company’s cruiser _Teignmouth_, and after many troubles reached Suez
and thence found their way home.
But the first distinct official proposal of this route as one
practicable for the regular conveyance of despatches and the mails
was made by the Hon. Mount-Stuart Elphinstone, who, when Governor of
Bombay in 1823, recommended steam communication between that place and
England, remarking that the passage “_might be done in thirty-four
days, all stoppages included_.” The Court of Directors, however,
paid no heed to this suggestion; and as these sagacious rulers of
our Eastern Empire paid quite as little attention to his further
communication to them on the same subject in 1826, he thought it
advisable to give them a practical illustration of the value of this
route by returning home, when he relinquished the Government of Bombay
in the following year, with his staff and other friends, by way of the
Red Sea and Mediterranean.[299]
His immediate successor in the Government of Bombay, Sir John Malcolm,
by returning home viâ Suez (to which reference shall hereafter be
made), followed up the good work of his predecessors; and was zealously
seconded by his brother, Sir Charles Malcolm, then superintendent of
the Indian Navy; while another brother, Sir Pulteney Malcolm, naval
commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, also took an active part in
promoting the isthmus of Suez route.
The fact of such men having thus personally and practically directed
their attention to the subject, naturally led merchants and
others interested in the trade of India to direct their attention
with increased vigour to the best means of obtaining more rapid
communication with the East. In their researches they were materially
assisted by the report of Major C. F. Head,[300] who made the voyage
from India to England through the Red Sea early in the year 1829, as
again in 1830, being, at the same time, still further encouraged by
the successful performances of the _Enterprize_ and other steam-ships
by this time employed in India. Nor did they relax their efforts,
dragging with them the Court of Directors, until this great object was
accomplished by the establishment of a regular overland mail service.
[Sidenote: Mr. Thomas Waghorn visits England to promote the Cape route,
1829-30.]
[Sidenote: Returns to India by way of Trieste and the Red Sea.]
Among the most zealous supporters of steam communication with the East,
and subsequently one of the most arduous and conspicuous agitators of
the overland route, was Mr. Thomas Waghorn.[301] He had been a mate in
the Bengal pilot service, and, having piloted the _Enterprize_ on her
arrival at Calcutta, at once saw the advantages to be derived from the
extension of steam-ships to India. In 1827 he became associated with
the committee which had been formed in Calcutta for the prosecution
of steam communication with England, and in the following year was
accredited by that association to persons in authority at Madras,
Ceylon, the Mauritius, the Cape, St. Helena, and London. Failing,
however, to obtain sufficient patronage for a regular service by
way of the Cape of Good Hope, he resolved to return to India by the
Isthmus of Suez, as he had heard that the _Enterprize_ was to be
despatched up the Red Sea. With that object in view, he waited upon
Lord Ellenborough, then President of the Board of Control, and also
upon Mr. Lock, at that time Chairman of the Court of Directors of the
East India Company, and offered to act as a courier to the East. His
services having been accepted,[302] he left London on the evening of
the 28th of October, 1829, crossed the continent of Europe to Trieste,
and arrived at Alexandria on the 27th of November, at 8 A.M., passing
through five kingdoms of Europe in nine and a half days; three days
and seventeen hours of this arduous journey having been spent in
stoppages. His orders were to meet the _Enterprize_ at Suez, and to
convey in her despatches for Sir John Malcolm, then governor of Bombay,
but, this steamer having broken down on the passage, did not reach her
destination.
Though much disconcerted by this misfortune, Mr. Waghorn at once hired
an open native boat, and, without chart or compasses, sailed down the
Red Sea to Jiddah, a distance of 628 miles, in six days, and, passing
on thence, arrived at Bombay, March 21st, 1830, in the East India
Company’s sloop _Thetis_, which had been sent to meet him.[303]
[Sidenote: Still advocates Cape Route, 1830.]
Though Waghorn was probably convinced in his own mind by the experience
thus obtained of the superior advantages of the Red Sea route so far
as regarded speed, he continued to advocate the establishment of a
line of steam-vessels by the Cape in preference to any other,[304] no
doubt feeling that, in supporting the views of the people of Calcutta,
he was honestly performing his duties to those persons by whom he was
employed. But whatever may have been the cause, he did not publicly
support the overland route until some time afterwards. However, when
free to act as he pleased, he took up the cause of the Red Sea route
with his usual warmth and energy, and advocated it with more vigour
and, certainly, with greater success than he had done that by the Cape
of Good Hope.
[Sidenote: Mr. Taylor’s proposal.]
In the meantime other persons were steadily pursuing their endeavours
to induce the East India Company to adopt the overland route, and
among these may be mentioned Mr. J. R. Taylor,[305] who had long
been as zealously labouring to form a company in London for the
establishment of a regular communication by means of steam-vessels on
the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. “The experience,” he remarked,[306]
“afforded by passages made by steam-vessels in certain parts of the
route selected, justifies the expectation that intercourse between
the two countries may thus be effected in from fifty-four to sixty
days;” and, in his letter forwarding a copy of his prospectus to
Sir John Malcolm, he adds, “I beg leave respectfully to inform
your Excellency, that the requisite number of steam-vessels being
already built and equipped, a commencement may be made on the line of
communication within three months from the period, when the assent of
your Excellency’s Government to my proposition may be made known to
me. If, then, I should be honoured by such assent, it is my intention,
within the period already specified, to be the means of introducing
into British India such a number of first-rate steam-vessels,
unexceptionable in point of size and equipment, as will enable me
to propose myself to become a general carrier to all the Indian
Governments, both for England and in India, and will admit of those
Governments maintaining a constant and regular communication with Great
Britain, and all principal parts of British India, on the first and
fifteenth of every month.”[307]
[Sidenote: Reply of Bombay Government,]
The result of this and other communications addressed by Mr. Taylor
to the Government of Bombay, was an official letter from them to
the Court of Directors stating that while they considered the Court
alone “competent to pass a decision on his proposals,” they strongly
commended the project he was endeavouring to accomplish. “We beg to
add our opinion that no doubt can exist of the practicability as well
as the utility of extending steam navigation to Egypt from Bombay;
and that we should consider it a most fortunate circumstance if our
attempts to promote this desirable object shall, by indicating such
to be the case, induce men of enterprise and capital to embark in an
undertaking of the nature proposed by Mr. Taylor.”
[Sidenote: and discussion of the question.]
“The plan proposed by Mr. Taylor,” they continued, “evidently requires
great and combined means to give it even a prospect of success; we
are of opinion that his calculations are far too sanguine and that
his plan is on too large a scale. These are, however, objections to
his scheme which may be easily obviated. In the first instance, we
must give our opinion as relates to India that the undertaking may
and should be conducted on a more limited scale, and subsequently
extended according to circumstances. In transmitting these proposals
for your consideration, we cannot avoid expressing our decided opinion
that almost incalculable advantages may be anticipated from a well
established steam communication by the Red Sea, and our earnest hope
that, unless other proposals from individuals have been entertained
and their plans put in progress, and in case Mr. Taylor’s schemes are
viewed as either inexpedient or impracticable, that every support
will be afforded by your Honourable Court to maintain this desirable
communication by vessels in the public service.”[308]
[Sidenote: Supineness of Court of Directors.]
But the temper of the Court of Directors was still strikingly in
contrast with the earnestness of the Bombay Government. They do not
seem to have cared much about the development of the commercial
resources of their empire, and so the recommendations of the Governor
and Council at Bombay were laid aside for future consideration; indeed,
it was not until, after nearly two years, that they even acknowledged
the letters they had received. The expense, they averred, exceeded the
amount they cared to risk; while, in the proposed undertaking, they
had evidently little confidence, as they urged that “the loss from
defective vessels and engines is as likely to occur as ever.” They,
nevertheless, at last affirmed that they were not insensible to the
advantages of rapid communication with India nor of the importance of
steam for that purpose.
[Sidenote: Their views.]
“We are also disposed to believe,” they added, “that a steam
communication by the Red Sea, and still more, if it should be found
practicable, by the Persian Gulf and the River Euphrates, would open
the way to other improvements, and would ultimately redound to the
benefit of this country as well as of India; and, if our finances were
in a flourishing state (they were always poor, though ever rolling in
wealth), we might probably feel it a duty to incur even the enormous
outlay which we have specified (100,000_l._). In the present condition
of our resources, we cannot, however, think the probable difference of
time in the mere transmission of letters a sufficient justification
for the expense. We cannot anticipate that the return in postage and
passengers would pay more than a very small portion of the charge.” But
happily, after other observations, they concluded by saying that, “at
the same time we deem the subject too important to be lost sight of or
hastily dismissed.”[309]
[Sidenote: Official report of the first voyages of the _Hugh Lindsay_,
1830.]
In the meantime the _Hugh Lindsay_ (a war steam-vessel, built of teak
at Bombay in 1829 for the service of the East India Company), had
fortunately been despatched[310] by the Bombay Government under command
of Captain J. H. Wilson, from Bombay to Suez and back—a voyage, I may
add, which was twice repeated before the Court of Directors gave any
instructions on the subject, though one, too, materially tending to
solve some at least of the difficulties they had contemplated. It was
on the second of these occasions that Sir John Malcolm and his suite
made the overland passage to England.
“When it was determined,” remarks Captain Wilson, “that the _Hugh
Lindsay_ should attempt the voyage to Suez, it became necessary to
put on board double the quantity of coal the vessel was built to
carry, to do which, a great part of the space originally intended for
accommodation was appropriated to the stowage of coal; water also
was necessary, sufficient for use until the vessel should reach land
in the event of a break-down between Bombay and the first depôt; as
also stores and provisions for the whole voyage to and from the Red
Sea.”[311]
Captain Wilson, however, accomplished the passage from Bombay to Aden,
a distance of 1641 miles, in ten days nineteen hours, though only six
hours’ coals remained on board when he arrived at that port. At Aden
the _Hugh Lindsay_ obtained a fresh supply, coal depôts having been
established in anticipation of her arrival at that place, as well as
at Jiddah, Cossier, and Suez. Other difficulties, however, had to be
overcome, as scarcely a day passed without it being necessary to stop
the engines to put the paddle-wheels in order, the boards of which were
constantly getting loose. At Aden, Captain Wilson was detained five
days and twenty hours in receiving the necessary supply of coal, owing
to the want of means at the place for shipping it and other obstacles.
The passage from Aden to Mocha roads, where he had despatches to land,
was accomplished in twelve hours, and thence to Jiddah, a distance of
557 miles, in four days twelve hours. Here his vessel was detained
four days and a half in obtaining a supply of coals; in five days
more he reached Suez, having performed the voyage from Bombay to Suez
in twenty-one days six hours’ steaming, or, including stoppages, in
thirty-two days sixteen hours.
Had a steamer been ready at Alexandria the mails (consisting of 306
letters, the postage on which amounted to 1176 rupees), which could
have been conveyed thence in three days, would in twenty-five more days
have reached England. Thus, in spite of the delays at the depôts, the
communication between India and England could have been accomplished
in sixty-one days. The return passage of the _Hugh Lindsay_ to Bombay
occupied thirty-three days, including stoppages of nineteen days,
or fourteen days’ steaming; and, under all the circumstances, the
whole voyage was considered far from unsatisfactory;[312] one of the
subsequent voyages, to Cossier[313] (300 miles below the Isthmus), was
accomplished in twenty-two days, including five days’ detention at the
coaling stations.
Yet, though the practicability of the Red Sea voyage during the
north-east monsoon was now demonstrated, it was not certain that the
passage could be made irrespectively of the seasons; nor could any
argument be drawn from the performances of this pioneer ship, as
her construction and power were not suited to contend against the
south-west monsoon between Ceylon or Bombay and the Arabian Gulf.
[Sidenote: Report of Committee of 1834.]
Again, as a large number of persons connected with the East India
Company, and various merchants interested in trade with the East,
many of whom had advocated the Cape route, were now in favour of
the Euphrates route, though the public in general preferred the
establishment of a mail service by way of Egypt, the discussions,
ultimately arising, led to the appointment of the Parliamentary
Committee of 1834, the resolution of the House simply requiring its
members “to inquire into the means of promoting communication with
India by steam.”
But the report of the Committee, after a very full inquiry, was not
definite on the point of the really best route. It was, however,
resolved, and the Committee could hardly have done otherwise,
notwithstanding the lukewarmness of the Court of Directors, that
a regular and expeditious communication with India by means of
steam-vessels was an object of great importance both to Great Britain
and to India; that the practicability of steam navigation between
Bombay and Suez _during the north-east monsoon_ had been established
by the _Hugh Lindsay_; but that further experiments were necessary to
establish the practicability of the Red Sea route at all seasons of the
year. They further recommended that a grant of 20,000_l._ should be
made “with the least possible delay,” to examine and test the (steam
capabilities of the Euphrates route; the line contemplated being that
from Scanderoon on the coast of Syria to Aleppo, and thence to Bir on
the Euphrates, the distance between these towns (170 miles) being not
greater than that across Egypt.
From the evidence adduced and from the correspondence in the public
journals of the period,[314] it is, however, evident that political
rather than commercial reasons favoured the Euphrates route. It was
then thought, looking to the probability of the opening up of the
Indus, to the state of our relations with Persia, and to the necessity
of maintaining a squadron, as we then did, to protect our interests in
the Persian Gulf, that this line could, while increasing the safety of
our East Indian possessions, be maintained at less cost than the Red
Sea one.[315]
[Sidenote: Decision of House of Commons Committee influenced by
political considerations.]
The other reasons assigned in favour of the Euphrates route were the
comparative cheapness with which this object could be accomplished, the
channel of the Persian Gulf and the River Euphrates being preferable
to that of the Red Sea for steam communication between Bombay and the
Mediterranean; moreover, in the then existing state of things it was
thought that the route by Syria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia would be
safer than by way of the Red Sea and Egypt. In reference to the dangers
which might be encountered from the wandering tribes of Arabs who had
so long infested a large portion of the Euphrates route, it was stated
that arrangements could easily be made by negotiations with the Porte,
Mohammed Ali, or the chiefs of the tribes, who, at a small annual
cost, would insure the necessary protection, while it was held that
an armed mail-steamer with only letters and ordinary stores on board,
would offer no attraction to marauders, as it was not then contemplated
to carry either treasures or valuable merchandise by the overland
route.[316]