action for the establishment of a regular overland mail service,
the Court of Directors were compelled to take the matter into their
serious consideration; but they had determined to leave for future
consideration the important question whether the communication should
be, in the first instance, from Bombay or from Calcutta, or according
to the combined plan suggested by the Bengal Steam Committee, in which
case the net charge should be divided equally between the Government
and the East India Company, so as to include the expense of the land
conveyance from the Euphrates and the Red Sea respectively to the
Mediterranean. After reviewing the relative advantages on the one hand
and the physical difficulties on the other of the two routes, with
the view of securing a regular communication throughout the year, the
Committee suggested an extension of the line of Malta packets to such
ports in Egypt and in Syria as would enable the communication between
England and India to be tested experimentally by both routes.
[Sidenote: Admiralty packets extended from Malta to Alexandria.]
In accordance with these recommendations the Admiralty extended,
in February 1835, the service of their mail-packets from Malta to
Alexandria; while the Court of Directors sent out instructions to the
Governor-General of India to forward the _Hugh Lindsay_ at appointed
periods to Suez. The character of the Euphrates route was also still
further explored by Colonel Chesney,[317] under the direction of the
East India Board, to whom this work had been entrusted, and, not long
afterwards, the home authorities established a dromedary post from
Baghdad to Damascus and Beyrout for the transmission of such mails as
might be sent by that route.
The beneficial effects of these arrangements were soon felt in India,
as would appear by a despatch from the Bombay Government to the Court
of Directors (September 1836), wherein it is stated “that the three
last overland mails have brought despatches from London to Bombay in
thirty-eight, forty-five, and sixty-four days, and those intended for
Calcutta have been forwarded in ten days more.” But as the despatch of
the 16th of September, which conveyed this information by way of Egypt,
did not reach England till the beginning of the following year, owing
to various delays between Bombay and Suez, it was resolved to place
larger and more powerful steamers on the Red Sea route—chiefly, as it
would seem, because neither the _Hugh Lindsay_ nor the _Enterprize_
could perform the passage against the south-west monsoon.
[Sidenote: Steamers of the Indian Navy.]
The result was that the Court of Directors placed on this station (that
by the Euphrates presenting greater difficulties) two vessels of much
superior power, the _Berenice_ and _Atalanta_, which had been laid down
in 1835 for their naval service. The particulars of these vessels and
of their cost, as well as those of the steamers on the Red Sea service
which followed, will be found in the Indian navy list supplied by the
East India House to Lord Jocelyn’s Committee of 1851, from which see
extract.[318]
A regular steam service having now been established between England and
her Eastern empire by ships of the East Indian navy on the one side of
the Isthmus of Suez, and by the Admiralty packets on the other, I shall
glance at the various means of transit across this neck of land, before
describing the great mercantile steam lines which now maintain the
communication throughout.
[Sidenote: Modes of transport across the Isthmus of Suez.]
[Sidenote: Great exertions of Waghorn in the establishment of this
route.]
At the outset they were of the most original and multifarious
description, and the few passengers who then made the overland passage
found their way as best they could on camels, dromedaries, or donkeys.
Towards the improvement in all its stages of this rude mode of
transport there was no one more conspicuous than Thomas Waghorn. He was
the moving genius of the whole undertaking, and its most zealous and
successful agitator. Whatever may be said of his prudence, or however
much we may lament his failings, his industry was unwearied and his
zeal unbounded. It may be that he was only a convert to a scheme long
contemplated by others; but, when once undertaken, his efforts never
ceased until the object he had in view was accomplished. Though the
first resting-places across the desert were constructed at the expense
of the Bombay Steam-fund Committee by Hill and Raven,[319] under the
orders of Colonel Barr,[320] the route itself was organized by Waghorn,
and he was the first _who undertook and carried on by a regular
system for three years the conveyance of the mails across the Isthmus
of Suez_.[321] Sir Gardner Wilkinson (‘Modern Egypt,’ pp. 306-7)
and various other competent witnesses bear ample testimony to this
important fact, and it is one which must ever hold a prominent place in
the records of the origin of the modern overland route to India.
Though camels are capable of carrying a weight of from 9 to 10 cwt.
each at a rate of 2½ miles an hour[322] for twelve or sixteen consecutive
hours, it became necessary to adopt other modes of transit as the
traffic increased. Two-wheeled vans drawn by four horses, and fitted
to carry eight persons, were therefore introduced to transport the
passengers from Suez to Cairo, whence they were embarked in sailing
boats on the Nile to Alexandria; Mr. Waghorn subsequently organizing,
in connection with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company, a line of small steamers which took the place of these boats.
In course of time caravansaries and hotels were substituted for the
original stations and resting-places on the route. These were completed
in February 1843, and received the passengers from the _Hindostan_
steamer on her first trip in the regular mail service from Calcutta,
Madras, and Galle to Suez, by which time this branch of the business
had been undertaken by the Egyptian Transit Company. But, in the
organization of all these important works, Mr. Waghorn took the leading
part, and their completion, under many difficulties, was in a great
measure due to his indefatigable exertions.
So early as 1834, Muhammed Ali, seeing the advantages to be obtained
by a railway between Cairo and Suez, instructed Mr. Thomas Galloway to
make arrangements for its construction, and, with this object in view,
the rails, locomotives, and plant, were ordered from England;[323]
but, owing to the opposition of France, the formation of this line was
continually postponed,[324] and subsequently abandoned. A railway
was, however, commenced in 1852 by Robert Stephenson from Alexandria
to Cairo, and completed in 1857. Subsequently, it was continued from
that city to Suez, branching off at Benha to Zaga-Zig, and following
the course of the old canal to Suez, by which a considerable saving of
distance was effected over the Cairo route as originally proposed. The
line throughout was completed and opened for traffic in 1870.
[Sidenote: Suez Canal.]
But the grand work, the greatest and grandest connected with maritime
commerce, either in ancient or modern times, was the cutting of the
Suez Canal, between the town so named at the head of the Red Sea and
the shores of the Mediterranean at a place in the Bay of Pelusium,
now known as Port Said: this gigantic undertaking is about 100 miles
in length, and runs in nearly a straight line almost due north from
Suez, passing through various lakes, marshes, or swamps, the principal
of which are called Birket Menzaleh, Birket-el-Timsah, and the Bitter
Lakes.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING SUEZ CANAL, WITH SURROUNDING COUNTRY AND THE
POSITION OF THE OLD CANALS.]
Previously to the commencement of this great work, at least two
erroneous impressions had prevailed: of these the first, that the
Mediterranean was from 25 to 30 feet below the level of the Red Sea
at Suez,[325] has been exploded by the completion of the canal;
but, as the second (reflecting on the originality of M. de Lesseps’
undertaking), though a much less important one, seems still to exist, I
may state that the course of his canal is quite different from that of
the fresh-water one said to have been navigable in the reign of the
Pharaohs (its course is still traceable here and there), which ran from
a point on the Nile a little below Cairo in a north-easterly direction,
towards Lake Timseh, and, thence, almost due south by the west side
of the Bitter Lakes to Suez. This canal had no connection, or rather
water communication, with the Mediterranean except by the easternmost
branches of the Nile below Cairo, and, though the Nile at that city
is ten feet above the Red Sea at Suez, it may be doubted whether this
ancient canal was ever used except during the rainy season, though
Herodotus states there was width on it for two triremes to row abreast.
Certainly, no mention, direct or indirect, records the passage of any
craft worthy of the name of a ship between the Mediterranean and Red
Sea.[326] The great ship-canal (see map, p. 364), now in use, does not
go near Cairo or the Nile, but cuts through the narrowest part of the
isthmus at a point about 100 miles east of Alexandria.
[Sidenote: Popular errors on this subject.]
[Sidenote: M. de Lesseps.]
A popular error also prevails that this vast undertaking was only
contemplated a few years ago. Nor do these popular errors here end, for
everybody supposes that M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, to whose genius and
energy the world is indebted for this great work, was an _engineer_,
whereas he was really a _diplomatist_,[327] and was obliged to make
himself master of the art of engineering to be in some measure able
to cope with the host of engineers, professional and theoretical, who
opposed his marvellous scheme.
The idea of a canal across the Isthmus of Suez by the route adopted by
M. de Lesseps is a very old one. So far back as A.D. 638-40, Amrou,
soon after the conquest of Egypt,[328] wrote to his master the Khalif
Omar recommending the establishment of a communication between the two
seas, the intervening country being, as he describes it, “an undulating
green meadow with ploughed fields—such is the delta of the Nile; a
dusty desert, a liquid and clayey plain, a black slush—such is the
isthmus to cut through.” But the Khalif objected to the piercing of
the isthmus, “fearing it would open out the country to the influence
of foreigners,” a fear that prevailed also with one or two leading
statesmen of our own country and in our own time.
Though the project had been occasionally mentioned, the work itself
was never seriously contemplated except in one instance [329] until
M. de Lesseps, about the year 1840, conceived a definite plan for
carrying it out. Scientific men, indeed, in most parts of the world,
considered the undertaking altogether impracticable. They alleged that
the difficulties of the desert could never be surmounted, and that
nothing stable could be erected on treacherous sands doomed by nature
to sterility and desolation.[330] Indeed, Sir Daniel Lange,[330] the
oldest and most earnest friend and colleague of M. de Lesseps in this
country, and, from its commencement until now, the representative of
the Suez Canal in England, remarks that so general was this opinion,
that the captains of the small craft who first received orders to
proceed to Pelusium with materials for the prosecution of the work,
smiled with incredulity, but resigned themselves to what they thought a
fool’s errand.
[Sidenote: His great scheme.]
[Sidenote: Not fairly considered in England.]
Nor were these doubts surprising, for the site of ancient Pelusium
is upon a low flat shelving sandy coast where sea and land seem to
blend with each other, and where the long roll of the surf over a flat
beach forbids even the approach of a boat. No wonder therefore that
the indefatigable M. de Lesseps was unable for years to induce either
governments or individuals to provide the requisite means; indeed, his
own countrymen, when he issued the prospectus in 1857, were nearly if
not quite as lukewarm about it as foreigners, while in England on the
other hand, a great outcry was created, mainly by Lord Palmerston,
against the project on political grounds. It is not, however, my
province to enter upon these; but, surely, England, with her vast
possessions in the East and with the command of the sea, was far more
interested than any other nation in removing Egypt from the envy it had
long been of powerful European nations, and, in cutting a ship canal—a
great highway—through it, which would be open to the vessels of all
nations like the Sound or the Dardanelles. Indeed, every increased
facility for reaching our Indian possessions must be a far greater gain
to us than to any other nation.
But strange to say the political opposition raised by England[332]
proved the chief means of enabling M. de Lesseps to raise the requisite
capital, and secured him support he would otherwise not probably
have obtained. Foreign capitalists, especially in France, now came
forward to subscribe, not that they had much faith in the commercial
success of the canal, but because they felt grieved or annoyed that
an undertaking, which could not fail to benefit mankind, even if it
did not pay the original subscribers, should be opposed on narrow and
jealous grounds by one of the most conspicuous, if not in all matters
the most enlightened, of English statesmen.
[Sidenote: Commencement of M. de Lesseps’ works, 1857.]
But, even with the requisite capital at command, M. de Lesseps had a
most arduous and herculean task to perform. It was necessary, remarks
Sir Daniel Lange, previously to entering on a work of such magnitude,
to prepare dwellings, storehouses, factories, forges, and a lighthouse;
indeed, all the accessories indispensable for putting in motion the
huge mechanical appliances intended to be used. All this was done in
the newly erected “Town of Port Said.” But before this place could be
formed, the marshes had to be raised 10 feet above the sea-level, so
as to form an area of sixty-seven acres of solid land; and from this
basis piers had to be carried out into the open sea, the western one
for a distance of one and three-quarter miles, and the eastern a mile
and one-third in length, composed of not less than 250,000 blocks
of concrete, weighing about thirty tons each. Between these piers a
harbour was formed with a surface of 132 acres, the excavations from it
amounting to 4,669,943 cubic mètres.[333]
[Sidenote: General details.]
But among the many obstacles encountered, none were half so formidable
as the formation of the channel through Lake Menzaleh, which extended
21 miles from Port Said to Kantara. The sands and other insurmountable
obstacles which had been prophesied were as nothing to this work,
arising from the fact that the mud and slush had actually to be thrown
up by the hands alone (just as children in their amusements make
mud-heaps) of the thousands of natives employed to form a dyke;[334]
indeed, had it not been for the powerful Egyptian sun, which dried
up the mud so exposed in a few hours, the task would have been
impracticable, as ordinary mechanical appliances must have failed to
overcome such an obstacle.
When something like an opening had been made through many miles
of “black slush,” and clear water began to flow in, rafts were
constructed, and on these the men slept under tents made of mats. In
this work, about fifteen thousand fishermen from the neighbourhood
were employed, a class of men who, from time immemorial, had been
accustomed, in their ordinary avocations, to spend a large portion of
their time half immersed in the water.
When a passage of sufficient dimensions had been scooped out with their
hands, dredging-machines were introduced. By degrees this trench was
widened until it reached the dimensions of 330 feet wide, and 26 feet
deep; the sides, from the rapid drying of the mud, soon becoming almost
as solid as walls of masonry and quite as durable.
It was between these new banks that floating dredging-machines of a
novel construction, with shoots 220 feet in length, were placed, thus
enabling M. de Lesseps to dispense with the previously expensive mode
of conveying the silt raised by the dredgers in hopper-barges to sea;
the new machines discharged the stuff excavated from the channel over
the embankments on to the low and marshy land on either side:[335] by
these means two good results were attained; the channel of the canal
was economically cleared, and the mud thus excavated employed in
greatly strengthening its banks on each side.
The cutting of the channel through Birket-el-Ballah, which was more of
a swamp than a lake, for a distance of twelve miles, though in itself a
very difficult work, was comparatively easy to the excavation of Lake
Menzaleh, nor were there any serious obstacles to encounter except in
clearing a passage through various mounds of earth extending for a
distance of 6 miles, all of which had to be removed or pierced. This
difficulty, however, was overcome, after a passage had been cut, by the
aid of an ingenious machine called an elevator, which lifted the soil
to a height of 56 feet, and carried it along a kind of railed bridge to
the places of deposit on either side of the excavated mounds. Eighteen
of these elevators, with 700 boxes, were employed on that portion of
the works where the banks of the canal were too high to allow the earth
cut from the channel to be otherwise disposed of. One of these mounds,
that of El Guisr, 61 feet in height, presented a most formidable
rampart, which had to be removed in order to allow the waters of the
Mediterranean to flow into the vast local depression immediately beyond
it known as Lake Timsah, by Ismailia, the interior port of the canal,
so named in honour of the Khedive. Here a flourishing new town has been
built, surrounded by gardens growing in a fruitful soil, on a site for
many centuries a bleak and sterile desert.
In the work of removing these mounds, or cutting through them, so as to
form the channel of this great maritime highway, where ships of 4000
tons now safely navigate, every conceivable description of machinery
suitable for the purpose had to be prepared beforehand, together with
not less than 20,000 workmen, including a perfect army of Fellaheen,
the usual designation of the rural population which the Government of
Egypt had agreed to supply, and various tribes of Arabs and Bedouins
from the countries bordering the Syrian deserts. These men were
divided into gangs, and their work apportioned with great order and
regularity; in each division a notice in Arabic was posted indicating
the quantity of earth to be dug, and the wages paid per cubic mètre
for its completion. Nor were the wants and social comforts of these
men overlooked. Large encampments were provided, and arrangements
made for an abundant supply of provisions and fresh water, the latter
alone during some portions of the work having to be brought twenty
miles, thus affording constant employment to 2000 camels, each of which
carried about 50 gallons or about 500 pounds weight of fresh water.
From Timsah to the Bitter Lakes the excavations through the district
called Serapeum, were hardly less formidable. “Historians,” remarks Sir
Daniel Lange,[336] “tell us that these lakes were in ancient times, the
limit of the Gulf of Suez. One thing is certain, that the shells and
fossils found here are of the same species as those in the Red Sea.
The conjecture the least contradicted is, that an earthquake caused the
upheaving of these parts and the sea to recede to Suez, leaving the
lakes and interior basin which in process of time have evaporated.”
[Sidenote: Partial opening of Canal April 18th, 1869.]
These lakes are 16 and 9 miles in length, respectively: the first
descending from the heights of Serapeum, being 34 feet below sea-level,
and the second 24 feet. In both, isolated water lines of high and low
tides are easily discerned, with remains of gravel, and of a horizontal
bank of agglomerated fossil shells about 7 feet thick. M. de Lesseps
found them completely dried up, with the exception of the lowest
portion, which still retained enough humidity to make the earth moist
and in some parts swampy. To fill these deep basins, water was drawn,
by means of sluices from the Red Sea and from the Mediterranean; and,
on the 18th of April, 1869, when these were opened in the presence of
the Khedive of Egypt, the waters of the two seas, for the first time
embraced each other, though it was not till the 15th of August that the
great maritime canal was open throughout. The inauguration of their
complete union was celebrated at Suez, and, on the 28th September,
M. de Lesseps steamed from sea to sea in fifteen hours, having
accomplished by his genius and unwearied industry one of the greatest
engineering works the world has ever seen, and given to posterity, as a
great benefactor of the human race, another imperishable name.
[Sidenote: Finally opened by Empress Eugénie, November 17th, 1869.]
On the 17th of November, this important maritime canal was formally
opened for ships of all nations with much state by the Empress Eugénie
of France, in the presence of numerous distinguished men from all
countries.
The cost complete, was somewhat about 20,000,000_l._ sterling,
consisting of 8,000,000_l._ subscribed capital, 4,000,000_l._ debenture
stock, and 8,000,000_l._, in further loans and indemnities paid by the
Khedive for retrocession of lands, &c.
To the traffic now engaged upon it I shall hereafter refer. In the
meantime, I must trace the rise and progress of the first mercantile
steam-ship company which developed the trade of England with her Indian
possessions by way of the Isthmus of Suez.
FOOTNOTES:
[293] Various plans for reaching India by means of railway
communication throughout have been proposed. So early as 1850, Sir R.
Macdonald Stephenson brought this matter fully under the notice of
the Government. In the _Calcutta Review_ for March 1856 his views are
given at length; and his article therein, “The World’s Highway,” was
republished in the same year by Weale. In 1859, the same publisher
brought out a pamphlet by Sir Macdonald, entitled “Railways in Turkey,
&c.,” with beautifully executed plans (the most complete yet in
existence) showing the course of these lines from Constantinople to
Aleppo, Baghdad and Bussorah, thence along the shores of the Persian
Gulf to Bunder Abbas, and thence to Kurachi, Hydrabad, in Scinde
and Bombay. Sir R. Stephenson estimated the distance from London to
Bombay viâ Paris, Vienna, and Constantinople at somewhere about 5200
miles. He bestowed many years’ labour on this important subject; and
had hoped to make it a great international highway, constructed under
the supervision of the different states interested. Though unable to
overcome the difficulties such a combination would entail, the works he
proposed, or others somewhat similar, are being rapidly carried into
execution by different persons who have obtained concessions from the
respective Governments; more than 2000 miles of the World’s Highway
is already made, and when complete the journey from London to Bombay
by rail would, at the rate of 30 miles an hour, be accomplished in
less than seven and a half days. See also plan of route by Mr. R. H.
Galloway, published by Wyld, 1875, in which the distances are given.
[294] Full details of this meeting will be found in the _Bengal
Hurkara_, December 19th, 1823.
[295] The dimensions of the _Enterprize_ were 122 feet length of
keel and 27 feet breadth of beam; her paddle-wheels were 15 feet in
diameter. She was 479 tons register, 120 horse-power. She was supplied
with a _copper_ boiler in one piece, weighing 32 tons and costing
7000_l._ Her total cost was no less than 43,000_l._!
[296] The greatest run the _Enterprize_ made by sail in twenty-four
hours, was 211 miles, the least 39 miles; the greatest by steam
assisted by sail, 225 miles, the least 80 miles; the greatest heat
in the engine-room during the voyage, was 105 degrees, that of the
air at the same time being 84 degrees and a half; the total distance
was 13,700 miles, and the consumption 580 chaldron of coals, being 9
chaldrons per day for 64 days, the rest being under sail; “the speed
of the engines, in calm weather, was 8 knots an hour, the log giving
9 from the wash of the paddles.” Evidence, Mr. T. L. Peacock, Select
Committee on Steam Navigation to India, 1834.
[297] Despatches of Sir Miles Nightingall, 1819; Mount-Stuart
Elphinstone, 1823-26; Lord William Bentinck, 1828 to 1835; “Annual
Register;” Colonel Chesney’s Report, 1832; Proceedings of the Royal
Asiatic Society; Captain F. Head’s “Eastern and Egyptian Scenery,”
1833; J. A. St. John, “Egypt and Muhammed Ali,” 1833; Report of the
Committee of the House of Commons “On Steam Navigation to India,” 1834;
“Egypt in 1837,” by T. Waghorn; Ibid. 1838; Waghorn and Co., “Overland
Route to India,” 1844 and 1846; “On Steam Navigation to India,” by
Captain Grindlay, 1837; Report of the Committee of House of Commons “On
Steam Navigation to India,” 1837; Mr. W. D. Holmes’ plan in connection
with the Bengal Steam Committee, 1839; “Modern Egyptians,” by Sir
Gardner Wilkinson, 1843; “Facts connected with the Origin and Progress
of Steam Communication between India and England,” by J. H. Wilson,
Commander, Indian Navy, London, 1850; Letter from Mr. R. W. Crawford,
M.P. for London, to the _Times_, November 22nd, 1869; and from Mr. R.
H. Galloway to the _Illustrated London News_, 23rd October, 1872, as
well as other communications on the same subject to various journals
and periodicals.
[298] See “Facts connected with the Origin and Progress of Steam
Communication between India and England,” by J. H. Wilson, Commander
Indian Navy, London, 1850.
[299] Captain Wilson says (page 7), writing of this journey, “He (Mr.
Mount-Stuart Elphinstone) started from Bombay on the 15th November,
1827, in the Honourable Company’s brig _Palinurus_, and was accompanied
by Mr. C. Lushington, secretary to the Government of Bengal, Mrs.
Lushington, Mr. Steele of the Bombay Civil Service, and Messrs. Wallace
and Gordon of the Bombay Medical Service. Mrs. Lushington published
an interesting account of the journey, thus creating a considerable,
though limited, public interest in the route.”
[300] See his evidence before Committee of the House of Commons, 1834,
on steam navigation to India; and his book, “Eastern and Egyptian
Scenery, &c.,” with notes, maps, and plans, &c., intended to show the
practicability of steam navigation from England to India.
[301] Mr. Waghorn, born at Chatham in the year 1800, was brought up
in the Royal Navy, where he served four years. He was afterwards,
for twelve years a pilot in Bengal in the service of the East
India Company, somewhat later rejoining the Royal Navy, wherein he
remained till he passed as Lieutenant. Mr. Waghorn had piloted the
_Enterprize_ soon after her arrival in India, and from that time
devoted his especial attention to steam-vessels. In his evidence
before the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1834 (page
209), he says with regard to himself, “I was selected in 1827 by
the Indian Government (Calcutta Steam Committee) for the purpose of
establishing steam navigation between England and India.... My first
object was the Cape of Good Hope.... I went to London, Liverpool, and
to Manchester; I stated my plans in various parts of the kingdom, and
all the success I received after three years’ toil, was the _loan_ of
two fifty horse-power engines from the East India Company.” In 1842
he recommended the European route now in use by way of the Adriatic,
dying, at length at Pentonville, January 7th, 1850, utterly broken
down, and leaving his widow without any means beyond a small pension
allowed to her by Government and the East India Company.
[302] See “Annual Register,” October 1829.
[303] Mr. Waghorn, in his evidence before the Committee of 1834, says
that, had he met the _Enterprize_ at Suez as he expected, he would have
conveyed his despatches from London to Bombay in fifty-three days.
[304] In the _Bombay Courier_ of the 10th April, 1830, there will be
found the following _notice_ from Mr. Waghorn: “The undersigned feels
it his duty to state, for the information of the public throughout
the Presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Bengal, that he is not in any
way connected with any scheme for steam-packet navigation with India,
except that which he had the pleasure to lay before the Madras and
Calcutta Committees in the year 1828, and that any use of his name in
reference to it in any prospectus, &c., is perfectly unauthorized by
him.
“His motive in wishing this to be generally known is that it may not be
supposed by those, on whom he depends for encouragement and support,
that he has in any degree departed from his former engagements.”
(Signed) “Thomas Waghorn.”
See also _Bombay Gazette_, 21st April, 1830, where there will be found
the report of a public meeting held on the 17th of that month, where
Mr. Waghorn advocated the Cape route in preference to that viâ Red Sea.
[305] Mr. Taylor was one of the earliest proposers and founders of
the Red Sea route, and had, in 1823, been associated with Lieutenant
Johnston, who subsequently commanded the _Enterprize_, and with
the Calcutta Steam Committee, from whom he seceded because they
relinquished the Red Sea route for that of the Cape of Good Hope.
Indeed, he was the first to adventure capital on this route, and is
said to have lost not less than 12,000_l._ in an endeavour to combine
steam-tugs and sailing-vessels.
[306] Prospectus of an establishment of steam-vessels, dated 1st
December, 1829.
[307] Letter from Mr. J. W. Taylor, to Sir John Malcolm, Governor of
Bombay, 1st December, 1829.
[308] Letter from the Bombay Government (the Marine Department) to the
Court of Directors, dated 18th April, 1830.
[309] Letter from the Court of Directors to the Governor in Council
at Bombay, Public Department, 14th March, 1832. To this opinion of
the Court I may add that Mr. Peacock, the “senior assistant examiner
in the East India House,” in his evidence before the Committee of
1834 (pp. 3 and 4) when asked, if he thought any returns might be
anticipated for postages and passengers to justify an expenditure of
100,000_l._ per annum in establishing and maintaining a quarterly steam
service overland by way of Suez between England and India, would pay,
replied: “_I think nothing to pay the expense; something certainly,
but not above one-fourth of the amount_.” The gross earnings of the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company alone between 1856 and
1874, inclusive of the amount received for the conveyance of mails,
passengers, and cargo, amounted to 41,546,818_l._
[310] The _Hugh Lindsay_ sailed _for_ Suez on her first experimental
voyage on the 20th of March, 1830, the day before Mr. Waghorn arrived
at Bombay in the _Thetis_; and she continued in that service under
command of Captain Wilson, making one voyage annually, during the
north-east monsoons till April 1836, when Captain Wilson was appointed
Controller of the dock-yards at Bombay as an acknowledgment of his
services, for it is unquestionable that he did much to “educate” the
Governments of England and India on the importance of the overland
route, as appears by the official correspondence of the period.
[311] See note (310), p. 352.
[312] For an account of the voyages of this ship in detail see Report
of the Committee of the House of Commons, 1834.
[313] Cossier, which is about 100 miles from the Nile, was one of the
ports of departure for the vessels of ancient times engaged in trade
with the East.
[314] The reasons for preferring the Euphrates route, are given at
great length in the _Bombay Gazette_, 7th August, 1833.
[315] To question 64, p. 6 (Committee, 1834) “Would there be any
_political_ or other advantages in our opening the line of the
Euphrates?” Mr. Peacock replies: “I think it would be highly
serviceable, if possible, to prevent Russia pre-occupying it and
excluding us; it would be exceedingly easy for Russia to follow the
steps of Trajan and Julian, construct fleets in Armenia, and float them
to Bussorah; they have the possession, at least the command, of the
Armenian part of the Euphrates now.”
“Would there not (question 65) be more danger to be apprehended from
the Russians from their making use of the Oxus and Caspian, than by
making use of Bussorah, where they would be met by the nation which
happens to have the pre-eminence at sea?”—“But the pre-eminence at
sea,” Mr. Peacock replies, “is not a talisman; it is to be kept up by
constant watchfulness, and the exertion of adequate force. I know there
is danger by the Oxus, but there is also danger by the Euphrates, and I
would stop both doors, if I could.” In reply to further questions (66)
he says: “The first thing the Russians do, when they get possession
of, or connection with, any country, is to exclude all other countries
from navigating its waters;” and in reply (question 67) to “How the
establishment of steam along the Euphrates would serve in any respect
to counteract Russia?” he says, “It would give us a vested interest
and a right to interfere;” adding “they (the Russians) have been long
supposed to have designs on Baghdad; they have had emissaries there a
good while; the Pashalic of Baghdad is a very valuable possession, and
would pay for protecting it, either to them or to us.”
Mr. William J. Bankes (and others) entertained similar opinions.
In reply to (question 2626) “What is your opinion of the political
advantages between the one and the other?” he says, “It is _very_
much in favour of the Euphrates.” “Will you state in what respect?”
(question 2627) “I think by anticipating the Russian, you will exclude
him; I think he will afterwards, perhaps, do that by force which you
could now, perhaps, do by treaty.”
[316] For Colonel Chesney’s elaborate report on the advantages of the
Euphrates route, I must refer my readers to the Appendix of the Report
of the Committee of 1834.
[317] In furtherance of these instructions Colonel Chesney made a most
elaborate survey, and wrote a voluminous book with maps, for which he,
some time afterwards, was compensated by a grant of 4000_l._
[318] Return of the number, cost, ages, power, tonnage, and speed of
steam vessels forming the Indian Navy, distinguishing the vessels
employed on the Bombay mail line, so far as the same can be made out.
(They were all built of wood, and propelled by paddle-wheels):
---------------+-------------+----------+------+--------+-----+--------------
Names of | Cost. | Ages. |Horse |Tonnage.|Speed| ——
Vessels. | | |Power.| | |
---------------+-------------+----------+------+--------+-----+--------------
| | | | |Knots|
| | | | | per |
| | | | |Hour.|
| £ s. d.| | | | |
_Acbar_ |76,373 9 8 |built 1841| 350 | 1,143 | 8½ | } Employed on
_Ajdaha_ |80,515 16 5 |built 1847| 500 | 1,440 | 8 | } the Bombay
_Atalanta_ |36,651 17 10 |built 1835| 210 | 616 | 7¼ | } Mail Line.
_Auckland_ |43,052 3 2 |built 1840| 220 | 946 | .. | } General
| | | | | | } Service.
_Berenice_ |40,123 11 6 |built 1835| 230 | 664 | .. | {
| | | | | | { Employed on
_Feerooz_ |67,219 0 0 |built 1846| 500 | 1,440 | 8⅔ | { the Bombay
| | | | | | { Line.
_Medusa_ (iron)| 9,972 18 1 |built 1840| 70 | 432 | .. | }
_Moozuffer_ |81,576 9 6 |built 1846| 500 | 1,440 | .. | } General
_Queen_ |44,409 17 11 |built 1839| 220 | 760 | .. | } Service.
_Semiramis_ |43,447 12 8 |built 1840| 300 | 1,000 | .. | }
_Sesostris_ |52,388 8 2 |built 1839| 220 | 876 | .. | }
| | | | | | { Employed on
_Victoria_ |39,820 15 6 |built 1839| 230 | 714 | 6⅝ | { the Bombay
| | | | | | { Mail Line.
---------------+-------------+----------+------+--------+-----+--------------
[319] Hill was an engineer, and Raven a wheelwright in the service
originally of Galloway Bey, and, subsequently, in that of the Pasha of
Egypt, Muhammed Ali, who, when they were in difficulties to carry on
their work, rendered them pecuniary assistance.
[320] Mr. Waghorn, in his evidence before the House of Commons
Committee of 1837, says (question 53), “I can send Mr. Hill and other
men of the service at an hour’s notice from Cairo,” &c., by which it
appears they were then, at least, under his orders.
[321] In a note I received from Sir Daniel Lange (12th March, 1875),
he remarks: “M. de Lesseps often told me how he met Waghorn struggling
with man and beast in the desert to carry his mails across, and that it
served as an example to him in after-life with the Suez Canal.”
[322] See evidence before Committee of 1834 by Mr. Peacock, pp. 2 and 3.
[323] Messrs. Galloway Brothers (see evidence before Committee of
1837) had established at Boolak (a suburb of Cairo) an extensive iron
manufactory, and were in a position to carry out the Pasha’s railway,
for which they had imported plant by his orders to the value of
200,000_l._ Whether any portion of this was used by Mr. Stephenson, who
subsequently constructed the railway, does not appear.
[324] Pamphlet by Mr. R. H. Galloway (pp. 15 and 17), published by
Willis, Sotheran, and Co., London, 1871.
[325] Evidence of Major Head, Mr. T. T. Peacock, and others, before the
Select Committee of 1834.
[326] The truth about these ancient canals seems to be as follows:
1. According to Herodotus, Pharaoh Necho commenced one from the Nile
to the Red Sea (ii. 158) which he says was completed by Darius the son
of Hystaspes (iv. 39). This canal, we may fairly presume, was open
when Herodotus was in Egypt, as he states it was four days’ journey
in length, and wide enough for two small triremes to row abreast; it
is doubtless the one attributed by Aristotle, Strabo, and Pliny to
Sesostris—an identification confirmed by the fact that, in recent
times, tablets bearing the name of Rameses (Sesostris) have been
found on the site of its present dried up bed. As far as can be now
ascertained, it would seem that this canal left the Nile at or near
the city of Bubastis (now Tel Basta). The discovery of a Cuneiform
inscription of Darius near Suez, gives colour also to the traditional
story which refers to him. Diodorus, notices the proverbial opinion of
the height of the waters of the Red Sea (i. 33) and adds, that this
canal was completed by Ptolemy when he built Arsinoe.
2. There is no doubt that this canal continued in some use under the
Roman Emperors, as Trajan formed a new connection for it by a cutting
at Babylon (Old Cairo) (Ptol. Geogr. iv. s. 54), and, further, Sir
Gardner Wilkinson has shown that the whole line from the Nile to the
Gulf was restored by the Khalif Omar, and was in use for a century and
a half after his time. The work of Necho appears also to have included
a canal from the head of the gulf to the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, as
of this considerable remains still exist.
3. It may be further remarked, that the bed of the Bitter Lakes was,
even in the time of Strabo (xvii. p. 804), filled with Nile water, as
the same fish were noticed in both. At the same time, we may be sure
that nothing like a ship (in our sense of the word) ever passed through
the isthmus until M. de Lesseps completed his great work.
[327] Ferdinand de Lesseps in his youth was attached to the Consulate
at Lisbon, and then, in 1828, to the Consulate-General at Tunis. In
the following year he was appointed Vice-Consul at Alexandria, and
in 1832 he was advanced to be Consul at Cairo, where he remained for
seven years. In 1842, he received the appointment of Consul-General
at Barcelona; in 1848 he went to Madrid as French Minister
Plenipotentiary; and later on, to an important mission in Rome, after
which he retired to Berri (France) to mature his plans for the Suez
Canal, which had been the almost constant subject of his thoughts since
his residence in Cairo.
[328] See a very interesting paper read by Mr. (now Sir Daniel) Lange
before the Society of Arts, London, April 27th, 1870.
[329] It is fair to recollect that my old friend and colleague on the
Harbour of Refuge Commission, Captain Vetch, R.N., more than thirty
years ago (and therefore before M. de Lesseps) proposed a ship canal
from Suez to Tineh, on the Mediterranean, a distance of about 75
miles, to be carried out by British capital. At that time the idea
of the height of the water at Suez above that of the Mediterranean
prevailed. Captain Vetch therefore calculated that, with a canal 180
feet wide at the top, 96 feet at the bottom, and 21 feet in the depth,
the steady descent of the water along this gradient would produce
scourage sufficient to clear away the sand and mud accumulated at the
Mediterranean end. No doubt Captain Vetch’s observations and details
tended to satisfy M. de Lesseps of the feasibility of some such canal.
[330] Some preparatory steps had also been taken which, by getting rid
of unscientific hypotheses, facilitated in some degree M. de Lesseps’
views. Thus, at the suggestion of the Viceroy, the English, French, and
Austrian Governments had sent in 1847 a joint commission of scientific
men to take the various levels on the isthmus of Suez, especially as
regarded the relative heights of the water in the two seas. Mr. Robert
Stephenson represented England; M. Talabot, France; M. Negretti,
Austria; and Linant Bey, the Pasha. Stephenson watched the rise and
fall of the tide at Suez and Negretti at Tineh, the result being the
demonstration that the two seas have exactly the same level within a
few inches. A full account of the plan developed by M. Talabot from
the observations of this commission will be found in the “Révue des
Deux Mondes,” and there seems little doubt that, but for the determined
opposition of Mr. Robert Stephenson, whose imagination (to the day of
his death) was perpetually haunted with ideas of the sand, silt, and
mud with which he maintained _any_ canal must be filled up, the great
work, which was the glory of M. de Lesseps, would have been carried out
by English enterprise some years earlier than 1869.
[331] Sir Daniel Lange was knighted after the opening of the Suez
Canal. He is a native of London, and the holder of various foreign
honours. He unsuccessfully contested Midhurst in 1868.
[332] Not however by all her statesmen, for Mr. Gladstone, Lord
Russell, Sidney Herbert, Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Mr. Milner Gibson, and
others strenuously objected to any hostile interference on the part of
Government with the project.
[333] My readers will find an excellent account of the early works of
the Suez Canal, in a little book published by Mr. A. K. Lynch, entitled
“A Visit to the Suez Canal,” Lond. 8vo. 1866, with several excellent
lithograph drawings of Port Said, Ismailia, and other places on it. A
French mètre is 39 English inches or 1-19th more than an English yard.
[334] Herodotus (132) speaks of the vast amount of forced labour
employed in the construction of the great Pyramids; hence various
writers, recalling the hardships these “slaves” had to endure,
protested against the employment of “similar bodies of men” in the
construction of the Suez Canal, commenting on the scandalous treatment
to which they were subjected. But I have enquired minutely into this
question, and I cannot find any just grounds for these complaints. On
the contrary, the men employed appear to have been free labourers,
fairly remunerated according to the work they performed, and, on the
whole, kindly treated.
[335] Besides the dredging-machines and men employed, there were at
work upon the canal during the last six months of 1864, 42,929 camels,
9350 horses, 2489 mules, and 2835 donkeys.
[336] Paper read to Society of Arts, p. 7.
CHAPTER X.
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company—Its founders and
origin—Messrs. Willcox and Anderson—Mr. James Allan—How the
Peninsular mails were originally conveyed—Proposal of Peninsular
Company for their conveyance—Contract concluded August 29th,
1837—Conveyance of mails to India previously to 1839—Government
applies to the Peninsular Company and accepts their proposals,
though reluctantly—Proposed direct line from Falmouth to
Calcutta—First vessels hence, on Indian postal service to
Alexandria—Original postal service from Suez to Bombay—Contract
for mails between Suez and Calcutta, September 1842—Further
proposals made by the East India Company and Government, but
finally rejected by the East India Company—Further contracts
for mail service to China and Singapore—Peninsular and Oriental
Company undertake the line between Bombay and Suez, 1854—House of
Commons Committee on Australian mail service, 1849—Eastern Steam
Navigation Company and Peninsular and Oriental Company tender
for it, but the Peninsular and Oriental succeed—The _Himalaya_
built—New contract with Peninsular and Oriental Company, January
1853—Failure of service during the Crimean War—Proposals for
an independent Australian mail service—Tender of European and
Australian Company accepted—Their entire failure—Speech of
Lord Overstone, March 24th, 1859—Royal Mail Company undertakes
the Australian service and fails—New tenders invited—That of
Peninsular and Oriental Company accepted, 1859—Consolidation
of services in the Peninsular and Oriental Company—Its present
condition and fleet of ships—Terms of the contract now in
force—Revenue and expenditure—Coals required—Descriptions
of vessels—Screw steamer _Khedive_—Particulars of this
ship—Uniform and regulations of the company.
[Sidenote: Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.]
The career of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company,
the first commercial undertaking which conveyed the mails overland
to the East is interesting and instructive. It is the more so, as the
impression that this company owed its origin to Government grants, and
that it has been entirely maintained by subsidies for the conveyance
of the mails, is not supported by facts. Indeed, during the earlier
portion of its career, the company, by agreeing to carry the Peninsular
mails, shortly after it had been started, for a sum considerably less
than the cost of maintaining the Admiralty packets then employed, with
a speed, too, and regularity previously unknown, conferred an undoubted
boon on the public.
Whether the company would have continued to maintain its career of
prosperity without Government subsidies is a problem too speculative
for me to solve; but it may well be questioned whether the grants of
public money subsequently voted to it year by year, in so far as they
prevented wholesome competition, and tended to damp the individual
energy which brought it into existence, have been of much service
towards its success. During one portion of the company’s career, when
the advantages of the overland route had been fully established,
it might, and I think it would, have been to its advantage to have
been relieved from every incumbrance as to time and speed. Free from
these, and the many other conditions required by Government, the
company would probably have done better for its shareholders had it
been, also, at liberty to build and sail its ships as it pleased,
despatching them on such voyages and at such rates of speed as paid it
best; and, in support of this opinion, I may remark that various other
shipping companies with no assistance whatever from Government have
yielded far larger dividends than the Peninsular and Oriental, and,
further, that private shipowners, who never had a mail bag in their
steamers, have realized large fortunes. With these remarks, I shall
now endeavour to furnish a brief history of this important undertaking
from its commencement, and to show that its rise was by slow degrees,
and altogether unlike that of the Royal West India Mail Steam Packet
Company, with which it has been frequently compared.
[Sidenote: Its founders and origin.]
[Sidenote: Messrs. Willcox and Anderson.]
In the year 1815, Mr. Brodie McGhee Willcox,[337] then a young man
with no influence and but limited pecuniary means, opened an office
in Lime Street, London, and commenced business on his own account as
a shipbroker and commission agent. To assist him in his business he
shortly afterwards engaged as clerk a youth from the Orkney Islands,
Arthur Anderson,[338] subsequently his partner, whose only capital was
a plain but sound education, good moral and Christian training, a clear
head and great industry. In 1825, the firm adopted the title of Willcox
and Anderson, and removed their offices to 5 St. Mary Axe, where they
carried on their business till it was absorbed into that of the great
company whose progress I am about to describe. Originally, it was
simply a small shipping commission business, with the addition of the
part-ownership of a few vessels chiefly trading with the Peninsula,
with which they in time opened up, first a regular sailing, and then a
steam line of communication, this service having been started solely
by Mr. Willcox. At first, Messrs. Willcox and Anderson had a good
deal of up-hill work, but they were plodding and industrious, and,
consequently, overcame every difficulty, soon insuring that success
which industry, honesty, and economy must ever command.
[Sidenote: Mr. James Allan.]
In 1834, the Dublin and London Steam Packet Company, one of the early
undertakings of that description, of which Messrs. Bourne of Dublin,
the well-known stage-coach contractors for the conveyance of the
mails in Ireland, were the chief proprietors, chartered one of their
vessels, the _Royal Tar_ (see illustration, p. 380), to Don Pedro, and
subsequently for the Queen Regent of Spain, through Messrs. Willcox
and Anderson as brokers. Soon afterwards, M. Mendizabal, at that time
Spanish Minister in London, induced Messrs. Bourne to put on a line of
steamers between London and the Peninsula, for which Messrs. Willcox
and Anderson were appointed agents. A small company having been thus
formed to carry out this undertaking, Mr. James Allan,[339] a native
of Aberdeen, then a clerk in the office of the Dublin and London
Steam Packet Company, was sent to London to assist Messrs. Willcox
and Anderson in the management of the ships. He afterwards became
secretary, and when the company had materially extended its operations,
Mr. Allan, on the death of Mr. Carleton in 1848, was appointed a
managing director in conjunction with Messrs. Willcox and Anderson.
[Illustration: THE “ROYAL TAR.”]
[Sidenote: How the Peninsular mails were originally conveyed.]
Previously to September 1837, the Peninsular mails were conveyed by
sailing post-office packets which left Falmouth for Lisbon every week,
“wind and weather permitting.” Their departures and arrivals, as must
ever be the case with sailing-vessels, were very irregular, and it was
no unfrequent occurrence for the mail from Lisbon to be three weeks
old on its arrival at Falmouth. The mail communication with Cadiz and
Gibraltar was, however, carried on by a Government steam-packet, and,
though of course with greater regularity than the service performed by
the sailing-packets, was, nevertheless, much slower than any of the
steamers under the management of Messrs. Willcox and Anderson, who,
feeling themselves in a position to effect considerable improvements
in the transmission of the mails, submitted an offer to Government for
a more regular transport of letters. But this proposal was coldly
received, and their suggestions at first disregarded. Vested interests
here, as in so many other cases, for a time prevented any improvement.
The Peninsular Company, however, continued to prosecute their
undertaking with vigour, the speed and regularity with which their
steamers performed their passages soon attracting public attention.
Loud complaints of the inefficiency of the transmission of the mails
by sailing-packets at length arose, and, indeed, were so earnest and
persistent on the part of the merchants engaged in the trade, that
Government at last considered it expedient to inquire officially of the
managers of the Peninsular steamers if they had any plan or proposals
to submit for an improvement of the mail service, as, if they had,
their views would now receive favourable consideration.
[Sidenote: Proposal of Peninsular Company for their conveyance.]
A fresh proposal was, consequently, made for a weekly mail between
Falmouth, Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, for which purpose
efficient steam-vessels were to be supplied, to perform the service,
monthly, between these ports, and at a lower rate than half the cost to
the country of the steam and sailing-packets of the Admiralty.
Though Government now received the proposals of the company with favour
and were prepared to act on the plan submitted for consideration,
the company was informed that the service, nevertheless, must be put
up to public competition. An advertisement was, accordingly, soon
afterwards issued, inviting tenders from owners of steam-vessels for
the conveyance of the mails between Falmouth and the Peninsula, in
conformity with the plan submitted by the Peninsular Company; so that
the managers of this struggling undertaking had to compete against
others for the due performance of this service, though on plans
drawn up by themselves at the request and with the entire approval
of Government. But though another company, which had a short time
previously started under the name of the British and Foreign Steam
Navigation Company, tendered for the conveyance of the mails, it was
soon found that they were not able to carry out the service either
within the time or on the conditions required. Time was, however,
allowed them to perfect their arrangements, and, a month afterwards,
fresh advertisements were issued by the Admiralty for the conveyance of
these mails.
[Sidenote: Contract concluded, Aug. 29th, 1837.]
The British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, however, having
again failed to show that they had adequate means for the efficient
performance of this service, Government entered into private
negotiations with the Peninsular Company with the view of reducing the
amount required by them, and, on the 29th of August, 1837, a contract
was concluded by which this company agreed to convey, monthly, the
whole of the Peninsular mails for 29,600_l._, a sum subsequently
reduced to 20,500_l._ per annum. The service was performed with much
regularity, and it may be considered to have been the nucleus of the
great company which now conveys the mails to all parts of the Eastern
world. The _Iberia_, built by Messrs. Curling and Young, was the first
steamer despatched with the Peninsular mails. She sailed in September
1837, the benefits thus conferred on those who were engaged in the
trade becoming at once apparent. Another step in advance soon followed.
[Sidenote: Conveyance of mails to India previously to 1839.]
The mode in which the mails were conveyed to and from India up to
September 1840, was by means of steamers plying monthly between
Bombay and Suez, and thence by Government steamers from Alexandria
to Gibraltar, where they met the mails brought out by the Peninsular
Company from England. As the steamers of this company had to call
at Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, and Cadiz in their passages to and from
Gibraltar, and as the Government packets employed between that
port, Malta, and Alexandria were of inferior power and speed, the
transmission of mails by this route was necessarily slow, and
generally occupied from three weeks to a month between England and
Alexandria.[340]
But, however imperfect this mode of transmission, it would probably
have continued for many years longer had not circumstances occurred
rendering an alteration imperative. In 1839, the British Government
having entered into a convention with the French Government for
the sending of letters to and from India through France by way of
Marseilles, an Admiralty packet was stationed to ply between that
port and Malta. Thence, these letters, together with the larger and
heavier mails forwarded by the Peninsular and the Admiralty packets viâ
Gibraltar, were conveyed from Malta to Alexandria by another of Her
Majesty’s ships.
That portion of the mails forwarded through France was despatched
from the post-office on the fourth of every month, while the heavier
portion continued to be sent from Falmouth every fourth Saturday by the
Peninsular packets. As might have been expected, this plan was soon
found to work awkwardly, inasmuch as the mail sent viâ Gibraltar every
four weeks was in advance of that viâ Marseilles each calendar month,
and had, therefore, to await at Malta the arrival of the Marseilles
packet.
Irregularities such as these, increased as they were by each successive
mail, together with the fact that the British despatches then ran
some risk of loss in their transit through France, led Government
to consider the advisability of establishing some quicker means of
conveyance, viâ Gibraltar, for the main portion of the mails.
[Sidenote: Government applies to the Peninsular Company,]
The managers of the Peninsular Company having been again applied to,
submitted for the approval of Government a proposal to establish a
line of superior steamers to run direct from England to Alexandria,
and _vice versâ_, touching only at Gibraltar and Malta; the steamers
to be of sufficient power to perform this voyage in not more than
three days beyond the time then occupied in the conveyance of the
mails viâ France, and at a cost not exceeding what was required for
the maintenance of the small and inefficient Admiralty packets then
similarly employed.
[Sidenote: and accept their proposals, though reluctantly.]
Their plan having met the approval of Government, public advertisements
were again issued for tenders to carry it into effect, and no less
than four competitors tendered for the contract at sums ranging from
34,200_l._ to 51,000_l._ per annum. As the tender of the Peninsular
Company was not only the lowest, but contained, also, an offer to
convey at a reduced rate all officers travelling on the public service,
and _bonâ fide_ Admiralty packages gratuitously, it was accepted by the
Government.
[Sidenote: Proposed direct line from Falmouth to Calcutta.]
The tender, however, was accepted with reluctance, various people of
influence having, strange to say, almost convinced Government of the
desirability of subsidizing a line of steam-vessels between Falmouth
and Calcutta _viâ_ the Cape of Good Hope, which was intended not merely
to supersede to a great extent the sailing-vessels then employed, but
to convey the Indian mails: indeed, it will be found by reference to
the public journals of the period, that a steamer of then unusual
size had been constructed specially for the purpose.[341] It was,
however, wisely decided that no dependence could be placed on the due
performance of the service within the “thirty days” stipulated; nor
am I aware that the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, has yet been
performed by vessels of any description in a space of time so limited.
[Sidenote: First vessels hence on Indian postal service to Alexandria.]
The vessels offered by Messrs. Willcox and Anderson and approved by
the Admiralty, were the _Oriental_ of 1600 tons and 450 horse-power,
as also the _Great Liverpool_ of 1540 tons and 464 horse-power, which,
originally intended for the Transatlantic service, was now despatched
with the mails from England to Alexandria, thus combining the two
mail services, and constituting the Peninsular and _Oriental_ Steam
Navigation Company.
To complete the service, the directors were requested to provide a
subsidiary vessel of not less than 250 horse-power, and another of 140
horse-power, for the Malta and Corfu branches, which they did at a cost
of 10,712_l._ per annum less than the charge to the country for the
Admiralty packets previously employed.[342]
[Sidenote: Original postal service from Suez to Bombay.]
Up to this period, as we have seen, the mails between Bombay and Suez
were conveyed by steamers belonging to the East India Company. It soon,
however, became apparent that these vessels were as unsuited to the
Indian portion of the service, as those of the Admiralty had proved
to be for that between Alexandria and England. But so reluctant were
the Directors of the East India Company, to allow “interlopers” into
their service, that some years still elapsed before their vessels were
superseded by others of greater speed, and in all other respects more
adapted to the increasing wants of the public.
[Sidenote: Contract for mails between Suez and Calcutta, September
1842.]
Although the Home Government was so strongly impressed with the
necessity of establishing a line of steamers between Calcutta and
Suez, as well as from Bombay, it was only after considerable pressure
had been brought to bear on the Court that the East India Company
reluctantly consented to a contract with the Peninsular Company for
this special service; and, on the 24th September, 1842, its new
ship _Hindostan_, of 1800 tons and 520 horse-power, was sent from
Southampton to open a line between Calcutta, Madras, Ceylon, and Suez.
It may be desirable to state here that this originally small concern
had, two years previously, been formed into a joint stock company with
a charter of incorporation from the Crown, which enabled the directors
to obtain the additional capital required for the Indian services; and,
as they had now received the co-operation of most of those parties who,
under the designation of the East India Steam Navigation Company, had
been endeavouring to effect the same objects, they proceeded with all
possible speed to fulfil the conditions and carry out the objects of
their charter of incorporation.
[Sidenote: Further proposals made by the East India Company and
Government,]
[Sidenote: but finally rejected by the East India Company.]
[Sidenote: Further contracts for mail service to China and Singapore.]
Though the _Hindostan_ proved vastly superior to the vessels of only
250 horse-power employed by the East India Company in the mail service
between Bombay and Suez, which cost no less than 105,200_l._ per annum
to maintain, the Court of Directors declined to listen to the further
suggestions of the Home Government to transfer this branch of the
postal service into the hands of any private undertaking and, indeed,
retained it until 1854. In the meantime Government entered into another
contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Company for a monthly service
from Ceylon to Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong. For the service
between Suez, Ceylon, Madras, and Calcutta, the company received
115,000_l._ per annum or at the rate of 20_s._ per mile, and, for the
latter, 45,000_l._ per annum or about 12_s._ per mile.
When it became known that the Peninsular and Oriental Company had
engaged to perform a service to India and the leading ports of China
at the average rate of 17_s._ per mile in vessels of 500 horse-power,
while the service between Suez and Bombay was costing upwards of 30_s._
per mile in vessels of not half that power, and, at the same time, of
greatly inferior speed and accommodation, the public naturally demanded
that the Bombay branch of the service should be placed in the hands of
persons competent to carry it out more efficiently and economically
than had been done by the East India Company.
[Sidenote: Peninsular and Oriental Company undertake the line between
Bombay and Suez, 1854.]
But the Court of Directors successfully resisted all such demands until
the Parliamentary Committee of 1851 reported that this service—in
point of economy, the comfort of the passengers, and the requirements
of trade—could be performed to greater advantage by private enterprise
than by the vessels of the Indian navy. It is, however, questionable
if the Directors would even then have given up the service had not the
Bombay mails been, soon afterwards, lost in a native sailing-craft into
which they had been transferred at Aden, the East India Company having
no steamer ready to convey them thence to Suez. The Peninsular and
Oriental Company having been applied to, then found that, by means of
the arrangements they had entered into for the performance of the other
services, they could undertake this particular branch for the sum of
24,700_l._ per annum, or at the rate of 6_s._ 2_d._ per mile, thereby
effecting a saving of about 80,000_l._ as compared with the expense
incurred in the far less efficient service of the Indian navy.
In the meantime Government had, on the 6th January, 1848, given
notice to the company to terminate their contract between Southampton
and Alexandria on the 18th January of the following year, and, soon
afterwards, advertised for tenders for the execution of this service.
But, the other tenders being less advantageous to the public than the
terms on which the Peninsular and Oriental Company was willing to
continue the service, a new contract was entered into, for three years,
at 24,000_l._ per annum or at the rate of 6_s._ 9_d._ per mile.
[Sidenote: House of Commons Committee on Australian mail service, 1849.]
[Sidenote: Eastern Steam Navigation Company and Peninsular and Oriental
Company tender for it, but the Peninsular and Oriental succeed.]
Meantime also, the increasing trade with Australia created demands for
greater facilities of intercourse with the mother-country and more
regularity in conveyance of the mails, so that the Committee of the
House of Commons, appointed in 1849 to inquire and report on the then
existing system of mail communication with the East, was instructed
also to consider the best mode of conveying the mails between India
and our Australian colonies. In this Report, dated July 1851, these
different services were divided into five distinct heads,[343] one of
which, recommended the establishment of a line between Singapore and
Sydney. In reply to the advertisements issued on the recommendation
of the Committee, two tenders were delivered on the 26th February,
1852, one by the Peninsular and Oriental Company for the whole of the
services (their contracts of 1844 and 1849 being about to expire)
with the addition of a branch line between Bombay and Point de Galle,
not named in the conditions, for the annual sum of 199,600_l._, to be
reduced by 20,000_l._ per annum six months after the completion of
the railway across the Isthmus of Suez; and the other, by the Eastern
Steam Navigation Company, for a line once a month between England,
Calcutta, and Hong Kong for the annual sum of 110,000_l._, or for
100,000_l._ should Trieste be substituted for Marseilles as the port of
embarkation, and a further contract for the service between Singapore
and Sydney on an annual subsidy of 166,000_l._ (which, however, was not
mentioned in their tender), being 276,000_l._ for both services.
Although the tender of the Peninsular and Oriental Company was
evidently much more favourable to the public interest than that of the
Eastern Steam Navigation Company, the latter, nevertheless, petitioned
Parliament to appoint another Committee to inquire into the whole
subject, to which, however, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer
declined to accede, at the same time furnishing (as appears from the
Parliamentary debates) valid reasons for the course he considered it
his duty to adopt.[344]
[Sidenote: The _Himalaya_ built.]
Though a good deal of complaint was about this time raised against
Government with regard to favours said to be conceded to the Peninsular
and Oriental Company, yet they seem to have hitherto fought their way,
step by step, against much opposition, and to have redeemed their
character for speed, [which was somewhat overshadowed by the superior
performances of the Cunard and Collins line of steamers, then in the
midst of their great Transatlantic race], by the construction of the
_Himalaya_,[345] a steamer of larger dimensions than any other then
afloat, and of extraordinary speed.
Nor did the Company receive any favour at the hands of Government when,
about this period, they were seriously embarrassed for the want of a
sufficient supply of coal[346] at their Eastern stations, and an appeal
was made for a temporary relaxation of some portion of the service.
Indeed, when the Company, on that account, found it impossible to carry
on a portion of the second monthly service between India and China,
the Government threatened to inflict the penalty of 35,000_l._ for its
non-performance, and would have enforced the strict fulfilment of the
conditions of the contract in all its details, had other arrangements
not been made to meet the emergency.
[Sidenote: New contract with Peninsular and Oriental Company, January
1853.]
On the 1st January, 1853, the company entered into a fresh contract
with Government, whereby they undertook to carry mails twice each way
in every month between England and Alexandria, and twice each way in
every month between Suez, Calcutta, and Hong Kong. Two vessels were
also to be furnished to run between Marseilles and Malta, twice each
way, in each month. The company further engaged to carry mails between
Singapore and Sydney, once each way each alternate month. Tables of
routes were attached and formed part of the contract. There were also
certain stipulations as to proper machinery; a medical officer was to
be placed on board each vessel, and provision was made for carrying
pivot and broadside guns.
The vessels on the main line were required to attain a speed on trial
of 12 knots an hour, the others 10½ without the aid of sails, or they
were not eligible for employment. The average speed of each vessel
throughout the voyage was required to be not less than 10 knots an
hour, excepting in the case of those between Singapore and Sydney,
which were to make the passage at a rate not less than 8½ knots. If
the company failed to provide vessels ready to put to sea from any of
the ports, viz., Southampton, Alexandria, Suez, Calcutta, Hong Kong,
Singapore, and Sydney, at the time appointed, the forfeit in each case
was stipulated to be 500_l._, and a further sum of 500_l._ for every
successive day up to the fourteenth day inclusive which might elapse
before the vessel actually put to sea. And, if any vessel, in breach
of the contract, delayed starting or put back or deviated, except from
stress of weather, without the sanction of Government, the company was
to forfeit 200_l._ and a further 200_l._ for every day’s delay, unless
from circumstances not under its control.
The Admiralty agent had power to survey the vessels, and the Admiralty
itself, to compel such alterations as might be needed so as to keep
pace with the advancement of science; while there were various
provisions for the conveyance of naval, military, or civil officers,
baggage, and victualing, as in other contracts.
In the event of accidents occurring to any of the vessels, the mails
were to be conveyed by Her Majesty’s or by the East India Company’s
ships: and an abatement made from the contract service money, at
the rate of 6_s._ 2_d._ per nautical mile. For a consideration, the
Admiralty reserved the privilege of changing the port in the channel,
with the right also of purchasing the vessels at a valuation; or
of chartering them at a rate to be mutually agreed on or settled by
arbitration. Any submission to be made a rule of court. In the possible
case of an entire stoppage of the route through Egypt, the Admiralty
were to act as the case might require; the whole postage remaining at
the disposal of the Postmaster-General.
[Sidenote: Failure of service during the Crimean War.]
But these mail services were soon seriously disturbed. The urgent
requirements of Government for the means of conveying troops to the
Black Sea and the Baltic on the outbreak of the Crimean War, obliged
the company towards the close of 1854 to discontinue the branch line
to Australia, and to reduce the Bombay and China service to a monthly
instead of a fortnightly line.[347]
The withdrawal of the company’s steamers from the mail service between
Singapore and Sydney, which had so recently been established, again
created a large amount of discontent amongst the merchants in England
connected with the trade and still more with the Colonists. The company
was charged with selfish motives, and though obliged to relinquish the
annual subsidy of 17,475_l._ for the performance of their service, it
was alleged that the profits of the company, by the employment of its
ships in the war, much more than compensated it for the reduction of
the mail revenue. Thus considerable prejudice was raised against the
company, and, in the discussion of the plans for the renewal of the
service after the war, it became clear that the colonists were anxious
to have, if possible, a mail service of their own and altogether
independent of the Peninsular and Oriental Company; hence, when the
company offered to enter into a contract for the monthly conveyance of
the mails between Ceylon and Sydney by steamers of an average speed of
10 knots an hour, touching at King George’s Sound and Melbourne, at
an annual subsidy of 84,000_l._, the offer was peremptorily declined,
though a greatly enhanced subsidy was subsequently paid, for the worst
performed mail service that was ever undertaken.
[Sidenote: Proposals for an independent Australian mail service.]
In the meantime liberal grants of money having been voted by the
legislative assemblies of the different colonies towards the
maintenance of a postal communication with the mother-country,
advertisements were issued by the Admiralty, in May 1856, inviting
tenders for a “monthly direct and _independent_ service” between Suez
and Australia.
The conditions of tender contained many clauses of a novel character.
The ships to be employed were to be full power screw steam-vessels
of not less than 2200 tons each; the tenders were to specify the
maximum number of days to be consumed on the passages; and a “penalty
of 100_l._ to be incurred when the contractors failed in providing
a vessel, in accordance with agreement, ready to put to sea at the
appointed hour; and also the sum of 100_l._ for every successive day
which should elapse until such steam-vessel should actually proceed to
sea; _and also_ (_from whatever cause arising_) 50_l._ for the first
day, and a sum increasing by 50_l._ per day for every succeeding day,
that is to say, 50_l._ for the first day, 100_l._ for the second day,
150_l._ for the third day, and so on.”
Four tenders were lodged in reply to this advertisement, but only
two, that of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and that of a new
undertaking, the European and Australian Steam Navigation Company,
were considered by the Government: the former offering to perform
the service, provided the new and very onerous penalty clause was
omitted, for 140,000_l._; and the latter accepting all the clauses,
but requiring 185,000_l._ per annum for the work to be performed, and
stating that, should their tender be accepted, it was intended to lay
on an independent line of steamers between England and Alexandria, and
to perform the service between Suez and Melbourne in thirty-nine days
outwards and thirty-five days homewards.
[Sidenote: Tender of European and Australian Company accepted.]
As the Peninsular and Oriental Company “declined to be held responsible
in penalties for failure as to the length of a voyage arising from
causes _beyond their control_,” and submitted that such penalties were
unnecessary as the vessels they offered “had already been surveyed,
and tested for an average speed of ten knots an hour at sea,” the
Government accepted the tender of the European and Australian
Company.[348]
So very large a concession as 185,000_l._ per annum for the work to
be performed created at the time considerable surprise, and led to a
good deal of discussion in the public press as well as in Parliament.
With such an enormous subsidy the directors of the new undertaking
would have had no difficulty in raising the requisite amount of capital
in the open market for a service apparently so tempting, but they
considered the margin for profit so ample that, instead of offering
their shares to the public, they raised among themselves and their
friends all the money that was considered necessary, anticipating no
doubt a very handsome return upon the outlay.
[Sidenote: Their entire failure.]
But the whole undertaking proved one of the most ruinous of its kind
on record, the Galway steam navigation scheme not excepted. A volume
might be written, and to advantage, on the mistakes committed by the
directors, all of whom were business men of wealth and position,
though few of them were conversant with maritime affairs, or with the
difficulties they had to encounter at every stage, and with the causes
which ultimately led to the loss of some of their ships. Suffice it to
say that, when the company had to commence operations in March 1857,
its ships were not ready, and the directors were obliged to enter into
arrangements with the Royal Mail (West India) Steam Packet Company and
other companies for the performance of the service; and indeed, when
their own ships were ready, they either broke down or were found unfit
to perform, within the specified time, the work they had undertaken.
In less than two years the whole capital of this new company was
lost, but as the result has been fully described by Lord Overstone
in a speech he delivered in the House of Lords on the 24th of March,
1859,[349] I prefer reproducing his statement, especially as it remains
unquestioned, to offering any remarks of my own.
[Sidenote: Speech of Lord Overstone, March 24th, 1859.]
“This company,” his Lordship remarked, “originated very much through
the success of some influential parties in Glasgow, who realized
a large sum by chartering two screw steamers to Government during
the Crimean War. These vessels were named the _European_ and the
_Columbian_, and the company was named the ‘European and Columbian
Company.’ Soon after the close of the Russian War, Government
advertised for tenders for the Australian mail service. One given in by
the European and Columbian Company was preferred to a cheaper one by
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, the annual subsidy for carrying
the mails being 185,000_l._ with monthly services, the contract to
endure for five years. The penalty for the non-fulfilment of the
contract was heavy, increasing prodigiously with each day’s delay.
In consequence of this great undertaking it was necessary to enlarge
the company, and greatly to increase the number of its vessels; and,
accordingly, a new company was formed on the limited principle, under
the name of the ‘European and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited)’
whom Government accepted for the contract. The nominal capital was
500,000_l._, but I believe not more than 420,000_l._ were subscribed,
the balance being purposely reserved, as the promoters expected it to
command a large premium. The list of proprietors is one of the best I
have seen of any company, all the shareholders, eighty-four in number,
being selected men, residing chiefly in Glasgow and neighbourhood,
London, Liverpool, and Manchester. 400,000_l._ were ultimately paid
up. The first meeting of the new company was held on the 3rd of
September, 1856; but it was, of course, some months before their plans
got developed, and time was lost in negotiation with other companies
to sell their contract for a bonus, or to get some other advantage.
As this was not arranged, the _European_ and _Columbian_ were taken
over from the old company; other vessels were chartered for immediate
requirements; a vessel called the _Oneida_, by which 60,000_l._ were
ultimately lost, was purchased; and two other vessels contracted for
at 100,000_l._ and 120,000_l._ It was soon apparent that the company
had started with too small a capital, and that there was a total want
of experience in the management.... After borrowing considerable
sums upon the security of their vessels and otherwise, the directors
found that it was necessary to make arrangements with another company
to work the service, which they ultimately did with the ‘Royal Mail
(West India) Company.’ An arrangement for an amalgamation of the two
concerns was also very nearly completed, when the shareholders of the
latter company refused to confirm the bargain made by the directors.
This and the events of last autumn (1857) brought matters to a crisis,
so that almost within a twelvemonth of the formation of the company,
it was known that they were practically insolvent, and they have since
placed themselves under the Act, and gone into voluntary liquidation.
Besides the loss of 400,000_l._ of capital, the debts, including
mortgages, appear to be about 270,000_l._, against which they have the
steamers, subject to some disputed claims of the Royal Mail Company,
in whose hands some of them are. There is some hope that the steamers
may realise sufficiently to pay the debts, but, in the present state
of shipping and aspect of the questions with the Royal Mail Company,
this seems to be doubtful. The following appear to be the heavier items
of expense and loss: Abandoning steamers, 25,000_l._; placing steamers
on stations, 37,000_l._; loss on voyages, 70,000_l._; interest,
management, and depreciation, 77,000_l._; loss on _Oneida_ and expense
of bringing home, 61,000_l._: total 270,000_l._; but there will be a
further heavy loss in realising the four steamers still belonging to
the company, and the plant they have at Sydney, King George’s Sound,
Aden, and Point de Galle. These stand in the books at about 370,000_l._”
[Sidenote: Royal Mail Company undertakes the Australian service and
fails.]
When, in February 1858, the shareholders of this unfortunate
undertaking were obliged to seek the protection of the Limited
Liability Act under which it had been formed, the Royal Mail (West
India) Company entered into arrangements with Government to carry
out the service on the terms of the contract, provided it was
guaranteed against loss to an extent not exceeding 6000_l._ per month.
Differences, however, soon arose between this company and the Admiralty
which resulted in a lawsuit, whereby it appeared that the West India
Company had sustained a loss far in excess of 6000_l._ per month, and
that the service had altogether cost the country close upon 260,000_l._
per annum during its brief existence.[350]
[Sidenote: New tenders invited.]
[Sidenote: That of Peninsular and Oriental Company accepted, 1859.]
In September 1858, Government again advertised for tenders “for
the monthly conveyance of the mails between Great Britain and the
Australian Colonies, with a branch between Marseilles and Malta.”
Two offers were made, one by the Royal Mail (West India) Company for
250,000_l._ per annum, and the other by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company for 180,000_l._ The latter was accepted, and the new service
commenced in February 1859.
[Sidenote: Consolidation of services in the Peninsular and Oriental
Company.]
It may be desirable here to explain that this company had previously
undertaken a monthly service between Mauritius and Aden for a subsidy
of 24,000_l._ per annum, and, an arrangement having been made that
the route for the Australian mails should be _viâ_ Mauritius, the
performance of the mail service to both places was included in the
180,000_l._ But that route was soon afterwards abandoned, and a fresh
agreement entered into between Government and the Peninsular and
Oriental Company for a monthly line between Galle and Sydney, which,
in conjunction with the Calcutta, Suez, and China lines, brought the
Australian Colonies into direct communication not only with England,
but also with India and China, and in fact with all the chief ports
of the Indian seas. The subsidy for this service was 134,672_l._ per
annum, the contract remaining in force until February 1866.
When fresh tenders were invited, the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
having in this instance no competitor (though tenders were publicly
invited), became again the contractors, agreeing to perform a monthly
service for 120,000_l._ or a semi-monthly service for 170,000_l._ per
annum, with boats which should attain a speed of 12 knots per hour on a
measured mile, as a guarantee for an average speed of 10 knots per hour
from port to port.
As there was a good deal of controversy about this time as to the
average rate of speed of the vessels belonging to the principal mail
companies, the table in the footnote[351] of the passages of steamers,
for some years just previously to that period, belonging to the
largest subsidized lines may be interesting and instructive.
[Sidenote: Its present condition and fleet of ships.]
From the thirty-fourth annual report of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, ending 30th of September, 1874, we learn that the paid-up
capital amounted to 2,700,000_l._ and 800,000_l._ of debenture stock,
also that it was the intention of the directors to call up in the
course of the following year 10_l._ per share of their new stock,
thus increasing the paid-up capital to 2,900,000_l._ apart from the
debenture stock, so that the whole capital of the company would be
4,300,000_l._, of which 600,000_l._ would remain unpaid. This large
amount of capital is distributed over more than 2000 shareholders,
resident in almost every part of the world, and of whom more than
one-third are ladies. Of this capital 3,757,000_l._ consists of stock
in ships; 221,000_l._ of freehold and leasehold property in England,
and docks and premises at Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore, Hong Kong,
and other stations; and 413,000_l._ in stock of coals and naval and
victualing stores. Its fleet consists of fifty sea-going steamers,
measuring 122,000 tons, and of 22,000 horse-power.[352] Of these
steamers thirty-four are employed in the Mediterranean, Adriatic,
India, and China services; four in the Australian service between
Ceylon, Melbourne, and Sydney; five in the China and Japan local
services; two are used solely as cargo vessels; and five are either
under repair or alterations, being reserved to supply the place of
others in case of accidents. The company also possess twelve steam-tugs
of from 31 tons and 15 horse-power to 271 tons and 120 horse-power,
stationed for its use in Egypt, Aden, Bombay, Hong Kong, Shanghai,
and Yokohama; and three cargo and coalhulks of 4417 tons, while it
gives also permanent employment to 12,600 persons, exclusive of coal
labourers and coolies on shore.
If my readers will cast their eyes on the map they will, by noting the
ports at which these steamers call, form some idea of the extent and
value of the services performed by this company. From England, crossing
the Bay of Biscay along the shores of the Peninsula, to Gibraltar—the
extreme limit of the original undertaking—its steamers now traverse
the Mediterranean to Egypt, with a branch from Venice and Brindisi, and
through the Canal to Suez, whence the most important line of steamers
leave weekly for Bombay, with a further line from Bombay to Galle, and
another direct from Suez to Galle, at which station the different lines
diverge, one proceeding to Madras and Calcutta; another stretching far
away across the Indian Ocean to King George’s Sound, Melbourne, and
Sydney; and a third crossing the Bay of Bengal and through the Straits
of Malacca, calling at Singapore, and traversing the China seas to
Hong Kong, and, thence, to Swatow, Amoy, Foo-chow-foo, and Shanghai,
stretching onwards to Yokohama, where the steamers of this line meet
those of the Western world.
[Sidenote: Terms of the contract now in force.]
The principal conditions of the company’s present mail contract,
as compared with that of 1870, are as follows:—The company is now
required to despatch steamers weekly to convey the mails from and to
Southampton and the various ports in the East by way of the Suez Canal;
the Brindisi, or accelerated mail, to be conveyed as heretofore to and
from Alexandria and by railway across Egypt; the company to have the
option of substituting either Liverpool or Plymouth for Southampton
as their mail port; the arrival of the outward mails at Eastern ports
to be accelerated by twenty-four hours, and the penalties for late
deliveries at terminal points to be quadrupled and made absolute,
except in case of shipwreck or damage to machinery. The subsidy payable
for the performance of these and other services is to be reduced from
450,000_l._, the sum agreed by the contract of 1870, to 430,000_l._ per
annum, such sum to include the whole of the mail services rendered by
the company.[353]
It is not my province to inquire whether these services could not be
performed for a smaller grant of public money than that now paid.
Opinions differ widely on such matters, and, as the steamers now
traversing every sea increase in numbers, the feeling becomes more
general, that a considerable saving might be effected in the conveyance
of all the ocean mails. But the vast establishment this company is
obliged to maintain, and the all-important and onerous duties it has
to perform, at stations far apart and many thousand miles distant
from headquarters, involves an outlay so great and embraces a risk so
hazardous, that such a company may, on the other hand, well consider if
the grant it receives, however large, is more than an equivalent for
the services performed, especially, too, when we consider the stringent
conditions of its contract.
[Sidenote: Revenue and expenditure.]
From whatever cause it may have arisen, the fact is apparent, that
though the annual gross receipts of the company are enormous, its
expenditure[354] is so great that less balance is left for the
shareholders than is usually divided among those of undertakings of a
similar character, which receive no assistance from Government, but are
free to employ their ships in whatever branch of commerce they can be
most profitably engaged.
[Sidenote: Coals required.]
Coal, as may be supposed, is one of the company’s heaviest items of
expenditure, and one, also, that has greatly increased during the last
few years; but when the price was comparatively moderate, the accounts
of this company, from 1856 to 1865 inclusive, showed an expenditure for
coal alone of no less than 5,250,000_l._ sterling, or, on the average,
525,000_l._ per annum: moreover, a large stock must be constantly
kept[356] to meet the demands of the steamers employed on their various
lines of communication; to maintain this stock, the company employ
170 sailing-ships annually, a trade which, in itself, would have been
considered of no mean importance in the days of our forefathers.
[Sidenote: Description of vessels.]
It has not been the least interesting portion of my labours, to
describe the different modes of commercial intercourse with India from
the dawn of history, and, from the scanty fragments of very ancient
records, to attempt to afford information, however imperfect, of the
ships of the first traders by sea to the far East, their dimensions,
the routes they followed, the length of their voyages, and something
about their crews and internal economy. I have also traced their
progress, as best I could, through the period of the Roman Empire to
the Middle Ages, when the vessels of the proud Italian republics, in
connection with the Muhammedans, retained for centuries in their hands
that rich and ever envied commerce, thence onward to the period when
the Portuguese and the Dutch were masters of the Indian seas, and,
still further, to our own days, when a company of traders ruled alike
the land and ocean of these vast and much prized territories; and I
have, at the same time, given minute details of the ships and maritime
services of this once all-powerful company.
[Sidenote: Screw steamer _Khedive_.]
I now supply the following illustration of one of the most modern
vessels, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, engaged in
that trade (she was built for the new line of commerce through the Suez
Canal, by Messrs. Caird and Company, of Greenock, by whom her engines
were also constructed); so that my readers may see the progress made
in the mode of conducting maritime intercourse with India from the
earliest period to our own time.
The _Khedive_ is built of iron and propelled by the screw, combining
all the qualities which modern science can suggest to secure with
safety the greatest speed and capacity with the smallest current
expenses.[357]
[Illustration: THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL COMPANY’S STEAMER
“KHEDIVE.”]
It would weary my readers were I to furnish a specification of the
hull and outfit of the _Khedive_, more especially as somewhat similar
specifications are to be found in numerous treatises on modern
shipbuilding, with which I do not profess to deal, and as it would,
in itself, occupy forty or fifty pages of this volume. It may be
sufficient to state, in the concluding words of the contract, “that
the whole of the materials and workmanship are to be of the best
quality, and the vessel, with the exception of bed and sofa mattresses,
curtains, plate, cutlery, glass, china, linen, and bedding, to be
entirely fitted and ready for sea at the cost of the contractors;” the
contract price for the ship thus fitted complete for sea, including
her machinery, was 110,000_l._, or a little more than 33_l._ per ton
builders’ measurement.
Of course the price of all ships, as previously stated, depends on
their class, power, and equipment, so that the cost of one vessel
ready for sea may be very different from that of another ship. For
instance, sailing-ships, when new, range from 8_l._ to 22_l._ per ton,
and steamers from 15_l._ to as high as 40_l._ or even 45_l._ per ton
if the engines be very powerful, highly finished, and mounted, and if
the passenger accommodation be of an unusually superior and extravagant
description.
In comparing this ship with the illustrations I have given of vessels
of even comparatively modern times, my readers will be struck with the
difference. Instead of the great hull towering high out of the water,
with poops and top-gallant forecastles resembling the towers or castles
on shore from which they derive their name, we have the long, low,
yacht-looking craft offering the least possible resistance to the winds
and waves against which she has to contend, yet affording more safety,
as experience has shown, and far more comfort, with vastly increased
capacity, in proportion to her register, for cargo and passengers, than
the ships of any nation of any previous age.
[Sidenote: Particulars of this ship.]
In other respects it would be useless to attempt a comparison. We have
nothing in ancient times to compare with the steam-ship, unless it
be the row-galley, and to propel a vessel of the size and weight of
the _Khedive_ at the rate of four miles an hour through the smoothest
water would require at least 2000 rowers. I may however state, for the
information of my readers, that the _Khedive_ will perform the voyage
from Southampton to Bombay in thirty days (an abstract from her log
will be found, Appendix No. 22, pp. 637-8), or in one-third of the time
which Dr. Vincent, when he wrote at the commencement of this century
on the commerce of the East, considered extraordinarily short between
Bombay and England; indeed, is short, too, for a sailing-vessel of
even our own times. A list of her crew, arranged according to their
different departments, is furnished herewith.[358]
[Sidenote: Uniform and regulations of the company.]
Following the example of the old East India Company, the directors of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, as well as of many other similar
undertakings, require their officers to wear uniform. They also issue
regulations for the guidance of the engineers and for the general
management of their ships (especially with reference to safety and
economy). These regulations are similar in many respects to those of
other companies, though not so complete as those of the Cunard, nor, we
fear, from various accidents which have occurred, so rigidly enforced.
Upon this all-important point—the _safety of the ship_—it would be
impossible to impress too strongly upon shipowners the duty they owe
to the public, since, by the vigorous enforcement of such regulations,
numerous valuable lives might be saved and many terrible calamities
prevented. To uniforms I have no objection, but such matters are of
very secondary consideration to the safety of the vessel, and while
holding the opinion that polite and well-dressed officers are an
acquisition, especially to a passenger ship, their acts of courtesy
must never be permitted to interfere in the slightest degree with their
paramount duties as seamen, which require them, considering the varied
and increasing dangers to which steam navigation is exposed, _to be
ever on the alert_.
I have ventured to offer these few concluding remarks because some of
the losses of the vessels of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, which
occurred in fine weather and in smooth water, might have been avoided.
The directors have, however, since then issued (March 14th, 1874) to
the commanders of their ships more stringent instructions, and have
intimated that any neglect of duty, especially as regards “lookouts,”
will be “severely visited.”[359]
FOOTNOTES:
[337] Mr. Willcox was born at Ostend, but of English and Scotch
parentage, his second Christian name, McGhee, being that of
his maternal grandfather. He, however, spent his boyhood at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he received the chief portion of his
education. He represented the borough of Southampton for some years in
Parliament, and died, 1862, at the age of 79.
[338] Mr. Anderson became member for his native borough, which he
represented from 1846 to 1852. He took a great interest in developing
the northern fisheries, and especially in forming a Shetland fishery
Company, and in improving the condition of the people there. He died in
1868 at the age of 77.
[339] When I commenced business in London, Mr. Allan was one of my
earliest friends, and our friendship remained unbroken until his death
in September 1874. I can therefore, of my own knowledge, speak of
the difficulties he had to encounter, and of the numerous obstacles
to be overcome in establishing the vast business with which he was
so long and so intimately associated. To establish agencies at the
leading ports of India and China, open depôts for coals, erect docks
and factories for the repairs of their ships, to bring the whole
into systematic and harmonious working order, and, above all, to
keep agencies remote from each other and far from home, under proper
control, required a master mind of no common order, the more so that
the system he organized was then entirely new. Mr. Allan was, however,
in every way equal to this arduous duty; his industry was unwearied,
his love for truth ever conspicuous, and, with these he combined the
most unassuming and pleasing manners. His only failing consisted in
believing all other men to be as upright as himself.
[340] The mean rate of the sailing-packets on the average for a
considerable number of voyages to the Mediterranean had been 2·7
miles per hour, the average length of the voyage from Falmouth to
Malta, Corfu, and back to Falmouth being three months. The first of
the Admiralty _steam_-packets, the _Meteor_, left Falmouth on this
service 5th February, 1830, and she performed the round in about half
the time of the sailing-packets. The _African_, _Carron_, _Columbia_,
_Confiance_, _Echo_, _Firebrand_, _Hermes_, and _Messenger_ followed
and were regularly employed in this Mediterranean mail service. The
average length of the voyages of steamers during a period of two and a
half years to Corfu and back to Falmouth, was about forty-seven days
including all stoppages—twice at Cadiz, Gibraltar, and Malta—which
consumed about thirteen out of the forty-seven days engaged on the
voyage.
[341] “Scarcely has the wonder created in the world by the appearance
of the _Great Western_ and _British Queen_, begun to subside, when we
are called upon to admire the rapid strides of enterprise by the notice
of an iron steam-ship, the first of a line of steamers to ply between
England and Calcutta, to be called _The Queen of the East_, 2618 tons,
and 600 horse-power. This magnificent vessel is designed by Mr. W. D.
Holmes, engineer to the Bengal Steam Committee, for a communication
between England and India. Great praise is due to Captain Barber, late
of the Honourable East India Company’s Service, the agent in London for
the Steam Committee in Bengal, who has afforded every encouragement
to Mr. Holmes in carrying forward his splendid undertaking. When
these vessels are ready we understand the voyage between Falmouth and
Calcutta will be made in thirty days.”—_Times_, 11th November, 1838.
[342] See Evidence, Committee of House of Commons, 1840, question 1411.
[343] 1st Line.—A line from England to Alexandria and back monthly,
leaving England in the beginning of every month, and calling at
Gibraltar and Malta, with a branch from Marseilles to Malta and back,
conveying between those two ports the mails which are carried across
France.
2nd Line.—A similar line from England to Alexandria and back monthly,
leaving England in the middle of every month, with a similar branch
between Marseilles and Malta.
3rd Line.—A line from Suez to Calcutta and Hong Kong and back monthly.
This line will take the mails which have left England in the beginning
of each month, and will touch at Aden and Point de Galle, whence one
steamer will proceed by Madras to Calcutta, and another by Penang to
Singapore and Hong Kong.
4th Line.—A similar line from Suez to Calcutta and Hong Kong and back
monthly, conveying the mails which have left England in the middle of
the month, and proceeding in like manner to Point de Galle, and thence
by Madras to Calcutta, and by Penang to Singapore and Hong Kong.
5th Line.—A line from Singapore to Sydney and back. Every alternate
month a steamer to leave Singapore on the arrival of the outward packet
at that port with the mails which have left England in the middle of
every alternate month, and to leave Sydney so as to meet at Singapore
the homeward packet, which will arrive there from China after the
lapse of two months. These steamers are to touch both ways at Batavia,
Swan River (or King George’s Sound, as may hereafter be determined),
Adelaide, and Port Phillip.
[344] See “Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates,” May 28th, 1852.
[345] The _Himalaya_ was 340 feet in length, 44½ feet width of beam,
and her engines were 2050 indicated horse-power. She was 3540 tons
O.M., and cost 132,000_l._ complete for sea. The company at the same
time built the _Candia_, of 1898 tons, at a cost of 69,200_l._ and
the _Nubia_, _Pera_, and _Colombo_, each of 1840 tons O.M.; also the
_Simla_ and _Bengal_, of 2417 tons and 2232 tons respectively, as well
as the _Valetta_ and _Victis_. The whole cost of these vessels, added
to their existing fleet, and destined to carry out the double service
of a semi-monthly communication with the East, involved an outlay of
650,000_l._
[346] Shipping was so scarce that the average price of coal delivered
at the different stations of the company rose from 36_s._ 8_d._ to
60_s._ 3_d._ per ton, and was with great difficulty obtained at even
these exorbitant rates.
[347] During the Crimean War this company had eleven of their steamers,
measuring 18,000 tons, engaged in the transport service, which conveyed
during the continuation of hostilities, 1800 officers, 60,000 men, and
15,000 horses.
[348] About this time, the unfortunate mutiny in India naturally
creating great anxiety that every possible means should be used to
increase our communication with that country, combined with the rapidly
increasing commercial intercourse, led to a modification and at the
same time to the increase of the existing services. Hence, in November
1857, arrangements under the contract of 1854 were made to extend the
line between Bombay and Aden to Suez and to establish, in connection
with it, a fortnightly service between Marseilles and Alexandria; the
arrivals and departures of the Bombay mails being made to alternate
with those of the Calcutta line, instead of being coincident with them
as had previously been the case, so as to afford a weekly communication
with India which has ever since been kept up. It was at the same time
considered desirable to increase the voyages of the Marseilles packets,
which were now running with the Calcutta and China mails, from Malta to
Alexandria as their port of destination, for transit to Suez by means
of the railway, which had by this time been opened across the isthmus.
[349] See “Hansard” for March, 1859, and the _Times_ of the 25th of
that month.
[350] See report of proceedings, Court of Queen’s Bench.
[351] In the case of the Cunard line the average has been calculated
upon a parliamentary return extending from January 1862 to April 1866,
as is also the return of the average speed of the vessels of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company during the same period.
CUNARD COMPANY.
_Liverpool and Boston Line._
Knots. Fath.
109 voyages outwards, average speed 9 2
112 voyages homewards, average speed 10 2
_Liverpool and New York Line._
109 voyages outwards, average speed 11 1
113 voyages homewards, average speed 11 7
PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY.
Knots. Fath.
On the Australian Line 9 7
On the Calcutta and Suez Line 9 7
On the Bombay and Suez Line 9 2
On the Southampton and Alexandria and Marseilles
and Alexandria Lines 10 0
The following averages are taken respectively from the reports
published in 1865 of the British Royal Mail (West India) Company, and
of the French Messageries Maritimes Company:
Knots. Fath.
Between Southampton and West Indies 10 5
Between Southampton and Brazils 9 5
The French Company give an average speed on their line to India of 9
knots 4 fathoms per hour for the years 1863 and 1864, but add “it is,
for a general average, rather high.”
[352] See Appendix No. 23, p. 639.
[353] The details of the different rates per mile which have hitherto
been paid to the Peninsular and Oriental Company were as follows:—
_s._ _d._
The first India and China contract (1844 to 1853)
was paid for at 17 1 per mile.
The second (1853 to 1866) was first taken at 6 2 per mile.
and was afterwards reduced to 5 5 per mile.
The first portion of the Bombay service, namely,
between Bombay and Aden, distance 79,872
miles per annum, was taken in 1854, at 6 2 per mile.
The extension of this service to Suez increased
the distance to 142,656 miles per annum, and
reduced the rate to 4 2 per mile.
And the subsequent arrangements in the Mediterranean
brought the payment for the complete
fortnightly line, now existing, down to the
average of 2 7 per mile.
The Australian service between Ceylon and Sydney
was paid for, from 1861 to 1865, at 21 5 per mile.
The same service was taken in 1865, at 19 0 per mile.
And the directors offered to double it for a sum
that would reduce the rate to 13 6 per mile.
India, China and Japan contract 6 7 per mile.
Australian, Ceylon to Melbourne 14 4 per mile.
[354] The following return gives the annual receipts and expenditure
of the Company from 1856 to 1874 inclusive, by which it will be seen
that, while the revenue was less in 1874 than in 1860, the expenditure
had increased, and that there was a deficiency in 1867 of no less than
177,047_l._
-----+------------+--------------+-----------
| Revenue. | Expenditure. | Balance.
-----+------------+--------------+-----------
| £ | £ | £
1856 | 1,691,589 | 1,494,435 | 197,153
1857 | 1,877,420 | 1,645,748 | 231,772
1858 | 1,884,493 | 1,714,374 | 170,119
1859 | 2,176,590 | 2,006,363 | 170,227
1860 | 2,350,361 | 2,247,328 | 103,033
1861 | 2,288,289 | 2,131,432 | 156,857
1862 | 2,223,969 | 2,064,865 | 159,104
1863 | 2,296,305 | 2,060,849 | 235,454
1864 | 2,346,203 | 2,120,554 | 225,649
1865 | 2,136,076 | 1,976,999 | 159,077
1866 | 2,243,076 | 2,094,493 | 148,583
1867 | 2,084,393 | 2,261,440 | 177,047[355]
1868 | 2,485,965 | 2,313,817 | 172,148
1869 | 2,559,627 | 2,390,518 | 169,109
1870 | 2,317,016 | 2,174,672 | 142,344
1871 | 2,092,656 | 1,923,881 | 168,775
1872 | 2,122,756 | 1,953,551 | 169,205
1873 | 2,173,371 | 2,007,761 | 165,610
1874 | 2,186,663 | 2,047,899 | 138,764
+------------+--------------+
| 41,546,818 | 38,630,909 |
-----+------------+--------------+-----------
[355] Deficiency.
[356] About 90,000 tons of coal are usually kept in stock at their
different coaling stations, distributed somewhat in the following
proportions:
Tons.
Southampton 2,000
Malta 5,000
Alexandria and Suez 6,000
Aden 20,900
Bombay 8,000
Point de Galle 12,000
Madras 500
Calcutta 4,000
Singapore 8,000
Hong-Kong 10,000
Shanghai 6,000
Yokohama 2,200
King George’s Sound 4,000
Sydney 1,200
[357] The dimensions of the _Khedive_ are as follows:—Length, 380
feet; breadth, 42 feet; depth, 36 feet. Her builders’ measurement is
3329 tons; her gross register, 3742 tons; and her net register, 2092
tons. So far as regards capacity, she is fitted so as to accommodate
with the space and style now required for Eastern travel (how different
to the space allotted to passengers in the ships of Nearchus!) 164
first-class and 53 second-class passengers. Besides this, she has
store-rooms of various kinds to hold 380 tons, rooms for mails and
baggage to contain 142 tons; bunkers to hold 846 tons of coals
calculated at 45 cubic feet per ton, and holds which can receive 2003
tons of cargo of 50 feet to the ton.
Her _average_ speed is 10 knots per hour on a consumption of 32 tons
of coal per diem, but “she can be driven at a much higher speed with a
proportionate increase of expenditure of fuel.” The contract specifies
a speed to be guaranteed on trial of not less than 13 ½ knots an hour
on the measured mile, with dead weight on board of coals or cargo to
the extent of 1500 tons.
Her engines are compound, “vertical direct acting,” of 600 nominal
horse-power, with 4 feet 6 inches length of stroke. The diameter of
her cylinders is 69 and 96 inches respectively, and that of her screw,
which consists of four blades, 17 feet 6 inches; its pitch being 22
feet 6 inches and 24 feet. She has 4 boilers and 16 furnaces. The
fire-bar surface is 320 square feet, and the heating and condensing
surface 11,720, and 6059 square feet respectively. The loaded pressure
is 55 pounds on her boilers.
[358]
Europeans. Natives.
{ Commander 1
{ Officers 5
Navigating { Surgeon 1
{ Carpenter 1
{ Boatswain 1
{ Quartermasters 3
{ Carpenter’s mate (Chinese) 1
{ Gig’s crew (do.) 6
{ Seamen (Lascars) 43
{ Assistants of different sorts 6
Engines { Engineers 6
{ Coal trimmers, &c. 49
{ Purser 1
{ Clerk, Head Steward, Cook, Baker, }
{ Butcher, Pantryman, Storekeeper, } 8
Cabins { and Barman }
{ Stewards 22
{ Stewardesses 2
{ Purser’s department 21
-- --
Total Europeans 51 Natives 126
[359] For fleet of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company,
Jan. 1875, see Appendix No. 23, pp. 639-40.
CHAPTER XI.
Changes produced by the opening of the Suez Canal—Sailing
fruit-clippers—Introduction of steamers into the Mediterranean
trade, 1840—Establishment of various steam lines, 1850—That of
Messrs. Frederick Leyland and Co., &c.—Their fleets—Messageries
Maritimes Company—Its origin and management—First
contract for the conveyance of the oversea French mails,
1851—Extension of contracts, 1854-56—Brazil line, 1857—Vast
extent of its fleet—Largest vessels—Trade viâ the Suez
Canal—Presumed advantage of auxiliary engines—Not borne out
by the results—Conveyance of the Australian mails—Peculiar
conditions of contracts—Failure of the service—Stringent
penalties—Australian steam services—Mr. Alfred Holt’s line
of steamers to China—Its success—Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey,
and Company—Messrs. Green and Company—Messrs. Rathbone
Brothers—Messrs. George Smith and Sons—Letter from Mr. George
Smith—Messrs. Smiths’ ships and their voyages to and from
India—Changes in the mode of conducting commerce with India and
China—Number of vessels through Suez Canal since its opening, and
their nationality.
[Sidenote: Changes produced by the opening of the Suez Canal.]
Not the least interesting of the many changes in maritime commerce
brought about by the opening of the Suez Canal, has been the
restoration, though as yet to a limited extent, of the earliest
commercial intercourse recorded in history between the Mediterranean
and the once far East, and of the trade the merchants of the Levant and
the Adriatic carried on with India by the agency of the Muhammedans in
Egypt during the Middle Ages.
Directed to a different route by the re-discovery of the passage to
the Eastern world by way of the Cape of Good Hope, this ever envied
trade has, since the close of the fifteenth century, been conducted
as we have seen from the Atlantic and northern ports of Europe, and
during more recent years, from those of Great Britain. Consequently,
the vessels belonging to the Mediterranean ports have been obliged to
seek other and much less remunerative employment, which, since the
decline of the great Italian Republics, has dwindled into comparative
insignificance. Nor has the Mediterranean trade itself occupied a
position of any importance during the last three centuries, indeed
it has only revived since steam-vessels have given new life to those
inland seas, which, throughout all time, have been so familiar to
the mariner. It has been, hence, confined chiefly to that carried on
between the inhabitants of the different countries bordering on the
shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, who, having little or no
encouragement to export their surplus produce to other nations, never
thought of employing vessels of a superior class to those which for
ages had sufficed for their coasting trades.
[Sidenote: Sailing fruit-clippers.]
The first measure, which gave renewed existence to the maritime
commerce of these peoples, was the repeal of the British corn laws,
encouraging, as this did to an extent hitherto unknown, the importation
of wheat from the ever luxuriant lands of Egypt, and from the numerous
corn-growing countries bordering the shores of the Black Sea, the
Marmora, and the steppes of Russia. Soon afterwards, the repeal of
the duties on the fruits grown in such rich abundance in the islands
of the Levant and along the coasts of the Mediterranean, gave new
life to another branch of trade which had long lain dormant, and,
while the former afforded greatly increased employment to the ships
of all nations, the latter encouraged the production of vessels so
superior to those previously in use, as, in speed, to outrival the once
celebrated Baltimore clippers.
[Sidenote: Introduction of steamers into the Mediterranean trade, 1840.]
Curiously enough, however, the introduction of these fast fruit
schooners, seldom exceeding in size 200 tons register, retarded the
introduction of steamers to the trade of the Mediterranean till a much
later period than would otherwise have been the case, considering
their early and rapid extension in all other branches of commerce.
Growers and merchants engaged in the fruit trade, as was the case with
the shippers of tea from China at a still later period, were under
the impression that steam would injure the flavour of their fruits;
hence, for a time, declined to ship their produce in vessels propelled
otherwise than by sails. They likewise preferred to export their
raisins, figs, and currants in small quantities, convinced that they
would thus obtain higher prices and a readier market, and consequently
engaged vessels of 80 and 100 tons rather than those of greater
dimensions. Many of my readers cannot fail to recollect the fleets
of beautiful small Mediterranean clippers which were wont to crowd
our docks at certain seasons of the year. Moreover, as these vessels
made their voyages with extraordinary rapidity and regularity, the
inducements to employ vessels propelled by steam were less urgent than
in most other branches of trade.
[Sidenote: Establishment of various steam lines, 1850.]
Although steamers occasionally visited the Mediterranean, it was not
till 1840 that any attempt was made to establish a line or succession
of voyages in the trade with Great Britain, much less among the islands
of the Levant, and along the shores of the Black Sea and the Adriatic.
Among the earliest attempts may be mentioned that of the _Rattler_, of
350 tons and 50 horse-power, despatched by Messrs. Vivian, Jones, and
Chapple, of Liverpool. About 1840 the Peninsular Company also extended
the operations of their steamers to Malta and Alexandria, and soon
afterwards to Corfu, the Levant, and Constantinople. In 1845 Mr. A.
Mongredian, of Liverpool, attempted to establish a regular line between
that port and the Levant with the steamers _Osmanli_ and _Levantine_,
but being unsuccessful, they were transferred in 1849 to Messrs.
McKean, McLarty, and Lamont, who employed them between Liverpool,
Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, Palermo, and the Adriatic,
where they appear to have yielded more remunerative returns.
[Sidenote: That of Messrs. Frederick Leyland and Co., &c.]
From about this period, steam in those trades, as it has done
everywhere else, made its way when fairly established; and, afterwards,
increased with extraordinary rapidity, affording greatly improved
facilities for the development of ancient branches of maritime
commerce, which had long lain dormant, as well as for the creation
of others hitherto unknown. Various associations and companies were
now formed to carry on the trade of those inland seas by means of
steam-vessels from both London and Liverpool. Among the most important
belonging to Great Britain, were the lines of steamers sent forth
by Messrs. Bibby, Sons, and Company, now Messrs. Frederick Leyland
and Company, and by Messrs. Burns and McIver; while the Austrian
Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Company trading from Trieste, and the
French Messageries Maritimes from Marseilles, were the chief foreign
undertakings established to carry on the coasting trade in which the
protective character of the Austrian and French navigation laws
conferred on them exclusive privileges.
[Illustration: S. S. “BAVARIAN.”]
[Sidenote: Their fleets.]
In the trade from Liverpool, including the Peninsular service,
Messrs. Frederick Leyland and Company alone now employ no less
than twenty-three large iron steamers, seventeen of them varying
in size from 1500 to 3000 tons gross register, bound direct to the
Mediterranean ports. These are all propelled by the screw, and are
surprising specimens of purely cargo steamers. In this respect,
considering their capacity in proportion to their admeasurement,
tonnage, and small current expenses, these vessels are, perhaps,
unsurpassed by any steam-ships afloat. For instance, the _Bavarian_,
of which an illustration may be seen on the previous page, takes 4800
tons of cargo exclusive of her coal bunkers, though of only 3052 tons
gross register, and is navigated by the comparatively small number of
forty-eight persons all told.[360] The steamers of this firm and of
Messrs. Burns and McIver, as well as those of various other companies,
now run in regular lines from London, Liverpool, and elsewhere, to the
numerous ports of the Mediterranean, Levant, Adriatic, and Black Sea.
Gibbon, in his brilliant description of the Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, speaks of the terror of its Senators lest the supply of
corn should fail in meeting the requirements of the once all-powerful
capital, and create, as usual, violent tumults among the people; but,
with the fleet alone of Messrs. Leyland and Company at their command,
all apprehension on this score would have vanished, as either of the
three vessels I have mentioned could, with the present appliances for
loading and discharge, have transported from Egypt to Rome in the
course of twelve months, no less than 500,000 quarters, or 4,000,000
bushels, while the whole fleet could have taken 10,000,000 quarters,
had Egypt been able to produce within the year that quantity of grain.
Such are a few of the changes the application of the motive power of
steam has produced within our own time.
[Sidenote: Messageries Maritimes Company.]
But much the largest maritime undertaking engaged in the trade of the
Mediterranean and elsewhere, is that of the Messageries Maritimes,
recently the Messageries Imperiales, monopolizing, as this does,
nearly the whole of the steam tonnage of France. Indeed, apart from
the vessels owned by this association, and one or two other highly
subsidized shipping companies in that country, the French may be said
to have no steamers.[361] Their protective policy, combined with the
depressing influence which large grants of public money to special
undertakings must ever exercise on individual energy, has effectually
overpowered all private enterprise of this description. It may be true,
as has been frequently alleged, that the French people have no natural
aptitude for maritime pursuits, and that their children, who are not
employed in their vineyards, or in the manufacture of those special
articles for which they have long been celebrated, take naturally
to the fife and the drum with somewhat of the same avidity that the
boys of England seek enjoyment in navigation; but, certain it is
that, owing to restrictive laws and enormous subsidies to favoured
individuals, the French people, generally, have never yet been allowed
the opportunity of showing what they could do in the peaceful paths of
maritime commerce.
[Sidenote: Its origin and management.]
The Messageries Maritimes, their greatest shipping undertaking,
though exceedingly well managed, is after all, a pure creation of the
Government—one, too, nursed with the greatest care from its infancy,
and maintained throughout by large grants from the public purse, which
were materially increased on the accession of the third Napoleon to the
Throne of France, who, throughout the whole of his reign, displayed
a marked anxiety to promote and encourage maritime undertakings.
Previously, indeed, to 1851, the company had been chiefly engaged as
carriers by land, and was under contract for the conveyance of the
mails throughout a considerable portion of France.
[Sidenote: First contract for the conveyance of the oversea French
mails, 1851.]
In July of that year this company entered upon its first oversea
contract with Government for the conveyance of the French Mails to
Italy, the Levant, Greece, Egypt, and Syria, and in 1852 spontaneously
added to their services the principal ports of Greece and Salonica.[362]
[Sidenote: Extension of contracts, 1854-56.]
In 1854, the managers of the Messageries Company concluded arrangements
with the Minister of War for the transport of all troops and military
stores between France and Algeria, besides the conveyance of the
mails, and, having very materially increased their fleet owing to the
requirements of the Crimean campaign, they were, in 1855, enabled to
open between Marseilles, Civita Vecchia, and Naples, a direct weekly
line of steamers, independently of the postal service, principally
intended to meet the requirements necessary to be maintained between
the War Department and the army of occupation at Rome.
[Sidenote: Brazil line, 1857.]
When the Crimean War happily came to a close, and the military lines
of steamers to the Black Sea were no longer necessary, the directors,
in 1856, employed their disposable vessels in increasing the frequency
of services to Algeria, and in establishing a postal service between
Marseilles and the ports of the Danube and along the east coast of
the Black Sea, for which they obtained a contract from Government in
1857. In that year they, likewise, entered into arrangements for the
conveyance of the French mails between Bordeaux, the Brazils, and La
Plata.
[Sidenote: Vast extent of its fleet.]