for the Havre and New-York line; the necessary capital of
$3,200,000 is subscribed; their intention is to have a weekly
departure from Havre to New-York, by making the fortnightly
departures of the French boats alternate with American Havre and
Bremen boats.
"For the line from Nantes to the West-Indies the Company Gautier
is said to have given a tender; but it is doubtful if they can
make up their capital."
The _Messageries Imperiales_ is one of the largest and strongest
companies in all Europe. They have the following different lines: the
Italian, the Constantinople direct, the Levant, the Egyptian, the
Syrian, that of the Archipelago, the Anatolia, the Thessalian, the
Danubian, the Trebizond, the Algiers, the Oran, and the Tunis lines,
and forty-seven sea-steamers. They have already obtained the Brazilian
service.
Mr. Iselin and others have proposed for the United States line, and
will doubtless get it.
The Company Gautier may not get the West-India service, it is said.
They had the line from Havre to New-York, with the steamers Alma,
Cadis, Barcelona, Franc-Contois, Vigo, and the Lyonnaise, and without
subvention. They found it impossible to run it without subsidy, and
hence, sought a new home for their steamers. They attempted to run
from Havre to New-Orleans; but this again failed, after four voyages.
They had also the 1,800 ton ether ships, "Francois Arago," and
"Jacquart," which broke down. These ether engines were built on the
principle of De Tremblay; but the Company are now substituting steam
for the ether engines. Thus, the experience of this Company proves two
important positions which I have taken; that ocean mail steamers can
not run on their receipts, and that many of the gazetted improvements
on steam propulsion and the ordinary methods are valueless.
The _Compagnie Gautier_ have a contract with Spain, for semi-monthly
voyages between Cadiz and Havana, and receive $25,000 per round voyage
for each steamer. They are all English built, iron vessels, of about
1,800 tons each. Lyons is the home of the Company.
PAPER D.
STEAM LINES BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA.
COLLINS, steamers Adriatic, Atlantic, and Baltic; (running:)
HAVRE, steamers Arago, and Fulton; "
BREMEN, steamers North Star, and Ariel; "
HAVRE, _in connection with the Bremen_. Steamer Vanderbilt; (laid up:)
CUNARD, steamers Persia, Arabia, Asia, Africa, Canada, America,
Niagara, and Europa; (running:)
CUNARD, screw-steamers Etna, Jura, Emue, Lebanon, and Cambria,
(side-wheel; all running:)
GLASGOW, screw-steamers Glasgow, Edinburgh, and New-York; (running:)
BREMEN, steamer Ericsson; run temporarily by Mr. Sands; (laid up:)
LIVERPOOL AND PORTLAND, screw-steamers Khersonese and Circassian,
General Williams and Antelope; the two latter about 1,500 each,
running _via_ St. John's, N. F., the two former chartered for the
East-Indies:
LONDON AND MONTREAL, screw-steamers; (names not known:)
LIVERPOOL AND QUEBEC, screw-steamers; " " "
LIVERPOOL AND NEW-YORK, screw-steamers City of Manchester, City of
Baltimore, City of Washington, and Kangaroo, (running;) (line ran to
Philadelphia and was withdrawn:)
HAMBURG AND NEW-YORK, screw-steamers Borussia and Hammonia; building
two more steamers, each 2,000 tons, in the Clyde, for same line;
(running:)
ANTWERP AND NEW-YORK, screw-steamers Belgique, Constitution, Leopold
I., Duc de Brabant, and Congress. _Taken off and chartered to British
Government for transporting troops. Names altered:_
LONDON, CORK AND NEW-YORK, screw-steamers Minna and Brenda; (laid up:)
HAVRE AND NEW-YORK, screw-steamers Barcelona, Jacquart, Alma, and
Francois Arago, _withdrawn, and running from Spain to Cuba_. (_See
Paper C._)
BREMEN AND NEW-YORK. The North Dutch Lloyds are building four
screw-steamers in the Clyde, of near 3,000 each, to run between Bremen
and New-York:
THE CONTINENT, SOUTHAMPTON AND NEW-YORK. Croskey's lino consists of
the following screws, of about 2,300 tons each: the Argo, Calcutta,
Queen of the South, Lady Jocelyn, Hydaspes, Indiana, Jason, and Golden
Fleece. (_Most of these steamers have been withdrawn from the route,
and five of them are chartered for troops for India._)
PAPER E.
The following numerous extracts from the Senate Reports of 1850 and
1852, and also from the letter of Judge Collamer, then Post Master
General, as well as from a letter by the Hon. Edwin Croswell, will
present in detail a strong corroboration of the views which I have
taken in the preceding Sections. I copy first from the Report of 1852.
The Committee was composed of Hon. Thomas J. Rusk, Chairman, and
Messrs. Soule, Hamlin, Upham, and Morton. The Report says:
"Your Committee desire to have it understood at the outset, that,
regarding the ocean mail service as the offspring of the wants of
all of the producing classes of the country, they have not felt at
liberty to consider the propositions which have been presented to
them, in any other point of view than as connected with and
subservient to the general policy of the government, which
embraces alike every section of the country, and can not know nor
recognize any personal or local influence.
"The system of ocean steam navigation was adopted by the
Government for the joint purpose of extending and advancing the
commercial and other great interests of the country, and, at the
same time, providing a marine force which might be easily made
available for the protection of American rights, in the event of a
collision with foreign powers. The attainment of this double
object was the motive which, in the opinion of Congress, justified
the advance of public funds in aid of private enterprise,
inasmuch as it was calculated to insure to the country the
acquisition of a powerful means of maritime defense, with little
or no expense, eventually, as the money so advanced was to be
reimbursed in money or in mail service at the option of the
parties concerned, while commerce and the arts would be promoted
during the time of peace.
"At the time when this system was commenced, the ocean mails along
our whole Southern coast were in the hands of foreign carriers,
sustained and encouraged by the British Government, under the
forms of contracts to carry the British mails; while the Cunard
line between Liverpool and Boston, _via_ Halifax, constituted the
only medium of regular steam mail communication between the United
States and Europe. In this way the commercial interests of the
United States were, on the one hand, entirely at the mercy of
British steamers which plied along our Southern coast, entering
our ports at pleasure, and thereby acquiring an intimate knowledge
of the soundings and other peculiarities of our harbors--a
knowledge which might prove infinitely injurious to us in the
event of a war with Great Britain; and on the other, of a foreign
line of ocean mail steamers, which, under the liberal patronage of
the British Government, monopolized the steam mail postage and
freights between the two countries. Under such a state of things,
it became necessary to choose whether American commerce should
continue to be thus tributary to British maritime supremacy, or an
American medium of communication should be established through the
intervention of the Federal Government, in the form of advances of
pecuniary means in aid of individual enterprise. It had been found
to be impossible for our merchants to contend successfully, single
handed, against the joint efforts of the British Government and
British commercial influence. Our noble lines of packet ships
which had far outstripped the sailing vessels of all other
nations, in point of beauty and swiftness, had been superseded by
the introduction of steamers, the power and capacity of which
recommended them, as the best means of inter-communication by
mail, and of transportation for lighter and more profitable
freights, and American interests were becoming every day more and
more tributary to British ascendency on the ocean.
"Under the circumstances above stated, it was impossible for
Congress to hesitate for a moment which course to pursue, and it
was determined to adopt a policy which, while it would be in
strict accordance with the spirit of our free institutions, should
place the country in its proper attitude, and render its commerce
and postal arrangements independent of all foreign or rival
agencies.
"Of the correctness of this determination, experience has
furnished the most ample evidences in the results which thus far
have attended the prosecution of the system. The line between
New-York and Chagres _via_ New-Orleans and its auxiliaries, have,
by their superiority in point of swiftness and accommodation,
already superseded the British steamers which had previously plied
along our Southern maritime frontier, and the United States mails
for Mexico, South-America, and our possessions on the Pacific are
no longer in the hands of foreign carriers, but are transported in
American steamers of the first class, convertible, at a very small
expense, into war steamers, should occasion require, which have
commanded the admiration of the world by their fleetness and the
elegance of their accommodations for the travelling public. Our
Southern ports are, consequently, no longer frequented by British
steamers, commanded by officers of the British crown, whose
legitimate business it is to collect intelligence respecting the
approaches to and defenses of the harbors which they visit, to be
made available for their own purposes, in the event of the
existence of hostile relations.
"A similar result has, to a certain extent, attended the
establishment of the American, or Collins line, between New-York
and Liverpool. Previously to the commencement of this line, the
transportation of the United States mail matter, as well as the
finer and more destructible descriptions of merchandise, requiring
rapidity of transmission to and from Europe, had been monopolized
by the British Cunard line; and the British Government had, within
the short space of six years, from the postage on this route
alone, derived a _clear income_ of no less than five million two
hundred and eighty thousand eight hundred dollars, after deducting
the amount paid to the concern under the contract to carry the
mails.
"Since the establishment of the Collins line, notwithstanding the
combined efforts of the British Government and commercial
interests to confine their freights and postages to the Cunard
line, the revenue to the Post Office Department of the United
States has amounted to several hundreds of thousands of dollars
per annum, whilst a large proportion of the money for freights has
been received by American citizens. The effects of this measure
have, it is true, thus far been but partial, because the trips of
this line have been but twice a month, while those of its rival
have, for a considerable portion of the time been weekly. During
the intervals between the trips of the American line, the postages
and freights must, of necessity, enure to the advantage of the
British, and, consequently, the evil referred to has been but
partially remedied."
Speaking of the large steamers built, the Report says:
"It is not to be supposed that engines of such vast dimensions
could have been constructed in a country where there were, as yet,
no workshops adapted to the purpose and where labor is very high,
as cheaply as in a country where every appliance of the kind
already existed and where the prices of labor are proverbially
low. Nor can it be reasonably imagined that vessels of this
description could have been navigated on as good terms, by men
taken from this country, where there was little or no competition
in this peculiar branch of maritime service, as by those who were
easily to be found in a country in which the density of population
and consequent competition for employment, caused the wages to be
small.
"An attempt seems to have been made, in certain quarters, to
create an impression that the aid heretofore extended by the
Government to the individuals engaged under contracts to carry the
ocean mail, has been induced by feelings of personal friendship,
on the part of members of Congress. Such is not the case. The
friends of the system of ocean mail steam navigation, have, so far
as your Committee are advised, considered this important subject
as a matter of great national concern and independently of the
very secondary motive of individual interest. The question
presented to their minds has not been whether A, B, or C should
have a privilege extended to him, but whether the commerce,
manufactures, and agriculture of the country would be benefited by
the performance of a public service through the instrumentality of
individual enterprise, under proper conditions and restrictions.
As matters stood at the period when the system was adopted, Great
Britain was exerting herself, successfully, to make the United
States, in common with the rest of the world, tributary to her
maritime supremacy. She possessed the monopoly of steam connection
between the United States and Europe, the West-Indies and
South-America. There was not a letter sent by ocean steam
conveyance, in these quarters, which did not pay its tribute to
the British crown, and not a passenger nor parcel of merchandise
transported, by the agency of steam, upon the ocean, which did not
furnish profit to the British capitalist. Great Britain asserted
her right to be the 'queen of the ocean,' and, as such, she levied
her imposts upon the industry and intelligence of all of the
nations that frequented that highway of the world.
"In this condition of affairs, the law instituting the system of
American ocean mail steam transportation in its present form was
enacted, as the best, if not the only means of correcting a great
evil, and, at the same time, building up a naval force which
should be available for national defense in the event of a war.
The system so instituted was deemed to be not only calculated to
draw forth and reward the enterprise of American citizens, but it
avoided the difficulty of keeping upon hand, in time of peace, a
large and, for the moment at least, useless military marine, which
could only be preserved in a condition for effective service by a
vast annual outlay of the public money.
"_It was right and proper, then, in the opinion of your
Committee, that these ocean steam facilities should exist, through
the intervention of the Government, more especially as they were,
in all probability, beyond the reach of private means._
"The transportation of the ocean mails, with the greatest possible
advantage to the important interests of the country at large, is
an object of paramount importance; but which, however desirable,
can only be effected at great expense. It is a matter of
comparatively small moment at what precise time this expense is to
be paid, provided that the end in view can be attained with
certainty. The temporary loan of a part of the means required,
under proper securities for reimbursement, appears to be the
readiest mode by which the purpose can be effected. How is this
security to be acquired? Simply, by taking due care that the funds
advanced shall be faithfully and honestly applied to the object
for which they are intended, and then holding a lien upon the
ships, for the construction of which they are appropriated, in
such a manner as to insure the reimbursement of the sums advanced
in the form of mail service or money; or, should circumstances
require, of ships suitable for national purposes, as war steamers.
This has been done. In all cases the contractors for the
transportation of the ocean mails, have been required to cause
their ships to be built and equipped under the immediate
superintendence of experienced naval officers and under the
direction of naval constructors, appointed by the Government, in
such manner as to be convertible, at the smallest possible
expense, into war steamers of the first class.
"Nor has experience caused any regret, on the part of the friends
of the system, further than that in some cases, owing to the
increase in the tonnage and power of the ships and other
circumstances, the expenses incurred by the contractors have
outrun the receipts, and they have incurred heavy losses, which
might even prove ruinous, if they were forced to sell the property
acquired in this form. It should always be borne in mind, however,
that in these cases, the increase of expenditure thus incurred has
been caused by a laudable ambition on the part of the proprietors
of these lines to do even more than they were required to do under
their contracts, with a view to secure the confidence of the
Government and the public. It should also be remembered that in
thus increasing the cost and consequent value of their ships,
these companies have enlarged the security of the Government for
the money loaned, and promoted the safety and comfort of
passengers. It has, in no instance, been charged that the
companies referred to have, in any way, misapplied the aid
extended to them, or given to it an improper direction. The
products of their expenditures, even admitting them to have been
greater than they might have been, show for themselves, in placing
the American steam mail service, as far as it has gone, at the
head of all others, in point of accommodation, elegance, strength,
and swiftness. Nor is this all. The establishment of these lines
is not to be regarded merely with reference to the immediate
profits arising from the system, in connection with the
transportation of the mails. Millions of money have been saved to
American citizens, which, in the absence of these ocean steam
lines, would have gone to fill foreign coffers. The Committee will
refer to one fact in illustration of the truth of this
proposition. Before the Collins line was established, the Cunard
line was receiving L7 10_s_ sterling per ton for freights; at
present (1852) the rate is about L4 sterling. By whom were these
L7 10_s_ sterling paid? By the _American consumer_, in most
instances, upon articles of _British manufacture brought to this
country by a British line_. At present the American consumer pays
but L4 sterling per ton; and, presuming that the American merchant
makes his importations in the American line, this freight is paid
to our own people and goes to swell the sum of our national
wealth. Thus, it will be seen that, formerly, the American
consumer paid _very nearly twice as much for the service_, and
enriched the British capitalist; whereas, at present, he not only
saves _one half of the former cost of freight to himself_ but, in
paying the remaining half, benefits his fellow citizen, who in
return aids in consuming perhaps the very merchandise which he has
imported.
"Under these circumstances, can any reasonable man doubt the
propriety, even in a pecuniary point of view, of sustaining the
present system, which, at its very commencement, has given such
ample proofs of its usefulness? Your Committee think not, and do
not hesitate to give it as their opinion that, _merely as a matter
of dollars and cents_, the service in question should be liberally
sustained by Congress, and will in the end make ample returns.
"But your Committee regard this proposition as one, the mere money
feature of which is of minor consequence, when brought into
comparison with other more important considerations. The question
is no longer whether certain individuals shall be saved from loss
or enabled to make fortunes, but whether the _American_ shall
succumb to the British lines, and Great Britain be again permitted
to monopolize ocean mail steam transportation, not only between
Europe and America, but throughout the world. We are aspiring to
the first place among the nations of the earth, in a commercial
point of view--a place which belongs to us as a matter of
right--and are we to suffer ourselves to be overcome by British
commercial capitalists under the auspices of the British crown?
Shall it be said that, at the very moment when our steamships are
admitted to excel those of any other people on the face of the
globe, our enterprising citizens have been forced to relinquish
the proud position they have attained, for the want of a few
thousands of dollars, when the national treasury is full to
overflowing? Let this end be attained and our great commercial
rival will have postages and freights all her own way, while we
shall be compelled to contribute, as heretofore, to her undisputed
supremacy.
"With a view to a full and fair understanding of this important
subject, your Committee have communicated, through their Chairman,
with the Executive Departments of the Government and the
presidents of the various companies engaged in carrying the ocean
mail by steam, and will now proceed to lay before the Senate the
results of their careful inquiries. It may not be improper here
again to note, by way of illustration, the benefits to be derived
from ocean steam mail transportation, when in successful
operation, as manifested in the case of the British Cunard line,
under the auspices of the British Government. During the first six
years of its existence, the line above named received from the
Government no less than $2,550,000, while the Government received
from the Company, in the form of postages, the enormous sum of
$7,836,800, or $5,826,800 net revenue.
"The Government has paid to the line, (the Collins,) for mail
service, in the two years, $770,000, and has received from the
line $513,546.80. If the receipts be deducted from the outlay, the
balance against the Government is $256,453.20 for the whole time,
or $128,226.60 per annum.
"Thus it appears, that from a fair statement of the account
current between the line and the Government, the latter is out of
pocket, at the end of the two first years of the undertaking and
under circumstances the most disadvantageous to the line,
$256,453.20, or in other words, has paid $128,226.60 per annum,
for carrying the ocean mail by steam over about six thousand miles
of the greatest commercial thoroughfare in the world, for which,
as yet, it has received nothing in return. But your Committee
would ask, what has _the country_ received in return for this
$256,453.20? They will furnish the answer. The country has
received through the proprietors of this line, in the form of
freights and passage money, a no less amount than $1,979,760.85,
in cash; and, if the reduction in the prices of freight formerly
paid to the British line be taken into account, nearly as much
more, by saving the difference in freights and passage money, to
say nothing of the general advantages derived by all of our
producing interests from the existence of this American line,
which, as your Committee believe, are incalculable. The money
account will then stand as follows: Government debtor to
$256,453.80; Country creditor to $1,979,760.85 _in cash_; and if
the former be deducted from the latter, the balance in favor of
the country will stand $1,723,307.05, _in cash alone_, leaving out
of view the duties on increased importations caused by the
establishment of the American line."
Speaking of the Pacific Mail Steam Company, the Report says:
"It will be seen from the above, that the total cost of the six
vessels which have been accepted by the officers whose duty it was
to supervise them and decide whether they had been built in
accordance with the requisitions of the law and terms of the
contract, and whose decision is presumed, by your Committee, to be
conclusive in the premises, has been $1,555,069, and that their
aggregate tonnage is 7,365 tons, instead of 5,200 tons, the amount
agreed for. In addition to these ships, as your Committee are
informed, the company has in the Pacific seven steamers, with an
aggregate tonnage of five thousand tons, not yet accepted by the
Government. The additional steamers are, and have been, always
kept ready to replace the mail steamers in the event of detention.
The cost of these additional steamers has been, it is stated,
about two thirds of that of the accepted steamers of the same
class, say about $1,036,712, making in all an outlay for
steamships alone, of $2,518,337.
"It appears that the whole number of passengers, of all classes,
transported by the Pacific Mail Ship Company, the line in
question, previously to December 31, 1851, from Panama northward,
has been 17,016, and from Oregon southward, 13,332. The prices of
passage have constantly fluctuated, but, on the date above named,
the 31st of December, 1851, the average rates were, for the first
cabin, two hundred and twenty-two dollars; second cabin, one
hundred and sixty dollars, and steerage, one hundred and seven
dollars, between Panama and San Francisco. In the early stages of
emigration the prices were increased in consequence of the
enormous prices of labor and supplies on that comparatively
unsettled coast, but were subsequently reduced. At the
commencement of the undertaking, the Company incurred, of
necessity, vast expenses in the selection of proper harbors for
taking in provisions, water, coal, etc., and in the construction
of _depots_; and even at present, coal and supplies of every
description are sent to the Pacific _via_ Cape Horn, a distance of
from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand miles.
"The freights from Panama northward, have been small in amount,
and confined to the lighter descriptions of articles sent by
express, while the mails have been very large, amounting in some
instances to one hundred and fifty bags, each, and, together with
coal, water, etc., occupying all of the space not required for
passengers. From California, the freights southward, have
consisted of treasure, amounting, it is supposed, to the value of
seventy millions of dollars, but it is extremely difficult to
compute the worth accurately, as a large portion of the gold,
etc., sent has been in the possession of passengers, and the value
does not appear in the manifests."
In noticing the Panama Railroad and the California lines, the Report
says:
"Nearly two millions of dollars have already, as your Committee
are informed, been expended on this important work, by a company
possessed of ample means, and the completion of it can not fail to
open the way for a vast commerce, between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, and at the same time cause our fellow-citizens in
California and Oregon no longer to be regarded as exiles. This
road being once opened, the passage of the Isthmus, now so much
dreaded, will be effected with perfect ease and comfort in a
couple of hours, instead of two or three days, as at present, and
families, instead of individuals, will be enabled to seek homes in
the fertile valleys of our possessions on the Pacific coast. The
value of the lines of ocean steamers, of which your Committee have
been speaking, to the commercial and other great interests of our
country and the world at large, can not well be estimated until
this road shall have been finished and put into full operation.
When such shall be the case, the trade between California and
Oregon, as well as that of China and the islands of the Pacific
and Indian oceans and the Atlantic States and Europe, which now
passes around Cape Horn, a distance of some fifteen thousand
miles, will be enabled to take a direct course across the Isthmus
of Panama, the passage of which will require but two or three
hours. The United States mail, from San Francisco to New York, has
already been transported within the space of twenty-five days and
eighteen hours, a day less than the time claimed to have been
taken by any other route, at a period, too, when there were but
seven or eight miles of the road in operation. On a late occasion,
five hundred government troops were sent to California by this
route, and were placed at the point of their destination in a
little more than thirty-five days, without any serious desertion
or accident of any kind. A similar operation by the way of Cape
Horn would have occupied six months at least. The store-ship
Lexington, which sailed from New-York for San Francisco, during
the last year, arrived at the latter place on the last day of
February, 1852, after a passage of _seven months and one day_. In
a country the military establishment of which is so small as that
of the United States, facilities of concentrating troops at points
distant from each other, in a short time, are of incalculable
value, and may be said to add manifold to the efficiency of the
military force.
"From what has been already said, it will be seen that the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, independently of the associate line on
this side of the Isthmus, and without taking into view the cost of
the railroad, has expended in the construction of mail steamers
alone $2,518,337; and if to this be added $2,606,440.45, the
expense incurred for a similar purpose by the Company on the
Atlantic side of the Isthmus, the entire cost of steamships, to
the two companies engaged in the transportation of the California
and Oregon mails, has been $5,124,777.
"It is no more than sheer justice that your Committee should state
that the California lines, east as well as west of the Isthmus of
Panama, have proved themselves worthy in all respects of the
confidence of the country. In no single instance has an accident
occurred involving loss of life or serious injury in any way to
the travelling public. Such is the strength of the vessels
employed, that on two several occasion when, owing to dense fogs
and under-currents, cooperating with the defectiveness of the
charts of the Pacific coast, one of the ships of the Aspinwall
line struck, at one time, upon a soft bottom, and, at another,
upon a hard sandy bar, she was steamed off, after thumping,
without the slightest injury whatever. Facts such as these are the
more important, inasmuch as several steamers have lately been lost
on the same coast with a great sacrifice of human life, evidently
owing to a want of the strength necessary to resist, effectually,
the force of the winds and waves. In the opinion of your
Committee, the security afforded to travellers by the strong
fastenings and heavy timbers of the ocean mail steamers, built as
they are, under the supervision of naval officers, who are
selected on account of their thorough acquaintance with and
experience in such matters, and made capable of sustaining heavy
armaments, is a matter of the greatest moment. Experience has
shown that, in the race after gain, our countrymen are, perhaps,
more regardless of risk to human life than the people of any other
country in the world. Scarcely a day passes without fresh
evidences of the truth of this proposition. The river, as well as
the sea-going steamers, are generally built with reference to
speed and lightness, coupled with smallness of draft of water, and
hence, in case of touching the ground, or of violent storms, it is
found that if one portion of the frame gives way, the breaking up
of the entire structure follows with a rapidity that is but too
well calculated to show the slight manner in which these vessels
are constructed. Your Committee think that the additional
expenditure of a few hundreds of thousands of dollars is a matter
not worthy of consideration, when brought into comparison with the
loss of life, and would rather see even millions devoted to the
construction of _strong steamers_, than witness the sudden and
heart-rending ruptures of the dearest ties of our nature, caused
by the accidents that so frequently occur. Such is their feeling
of stern disapprobation of the reckless indifference respecting
the safety of passengers, daily manifested by some of the
proprietors and officers of steam lines, that they are resolved,
so far at least as they are concerned, not in any way to
countenance, directly or indirectly, such a course of proceeding.
In the extension of the system of ocean mail transportation which
they propose to recommend, care will be taken, that the steamers
which carry the Government mails shall be regarded as national
ships, to a certain extent, and as such, under the charge of the
law-making power, and be so built as to secure safety to
travellers; and that, in all contracts, this consideration shall
be regarded as one of paramount importance."
Regarding a few sailing-ship owners in New-York and Boston, who had
memorialized Congress against the Collins and other lines, the Report
says:
"The memorialists are loud in their complaints respecting the
alleged improper interference of the Government with matters that
should be left, as they say, entirely to individual enterprise,
which in their opinion becomes paralyzed under the effects of
Government patronage bestowed upon some to the exclusion of
others. If the authors of this memorial will take a fair and
dispassionate view of the matter, they will, as your Committee
think, be convinced that they are wrong in their supposition, and
that the Government has not gratuitously meddled in concerns with
which it should have nothing to do. The merchants and ship-owners
referred to seem to forget, in the first place, that the system of
ocean steam mail navigation is intended to secure adequate
protection for our commerce from foreign aggression in the event
of war; and in the second, that it was instituted at a moment when
the fine packet ships, to which the memorialists refer with such
becoming pride, had in fact been driven from the ocean to a
certain extent by the overwhelming power of a British mail steam
line, sustained by the British Government, which had monopolized
ocean mail and passenger steam transportation, as well as the
freights of lighter and more perishable descriptions of
merchandise. If, as these gentlemen have stated, the sailing ships
have been made to succumb, it has been under the force of an
agency more certain and not less powerful than the one named by
them--wielded by foreign capitalists and directed by a foreign
government claiming for itself the supremacy of the ocean. The
Cunard line of ocean steamers had been in possession of a monopoly
of freights, letter postage, and passage money for years, in
despite of the attempts of the memorialists to resist,
successfully, before the Government of the United States, seeing
that American interests were made tributary to foreign capital,
aided by a foreign government, adopted the wise course of
correcting the evil by kindred means, and placing, at least, to a
certain extent, American interests under the auspices of American
intelligence and enterprise. What would have been the condition of
the New-York lines and other ships had not the Government of the
United States thought proper to extend its aid to the
establishment of the Collins line? Would it have been any better
than at present? or rather would it not have been infinitely
worse? Had the Cunard line continued to prosper, as it must have
done in the natural course of things, would it not in all
probability have increased its number of ships until it would have
monopolized every description of ocean transportation? Would not
the trade with the United States have been entirely carried on in
British steamers, navigated at small expense, and therefore able
to do the carrying trade at low prices? Again, what would have
been the condition of the Southern coasting business, so far as
mails, passengers, and light freights, at least, are concerned,
had the fourteen British steamers then employed been permitted to
operate, unchecked by the American line of mail steamers, between
New-York and Chagres? Would it not have been entirely at the mercy
of the commissioned agents of the British crown, who so well know
how to avail themselves of opportunities to promote their own
interests by advancing those of their government? To carry the
inquiry further, what would have been the condition of our
possessions on the Pacific coast, visited as they would have been
by British steamers--for where is the spot on the inhabited or
inhabitable globe to which they do not bear the union jack of old
England--had not the Aspinwall line been established? Such is the
universal pervasion of the money power in British hands, that at
present, as is well known, the Cunard line has extended a branch
to Havre, to transport goods to England almost free of cost, with
a view to appropriate to itself the freights from that quarter,
and thus not only crush the American line of steamers to Havre,
but be enabled to underbid the Collins line, and, if possible,
again monopolize the trade with the United States over that route.
Would all this have raised the prices of freights in American
sailing vessels, and given an advantage to the memorialists in
question, who had at one time monopolized to themselves the
freights, postage, and passage money in sailing ships? or would
not, on the contrary, such a state of things have operated so to
give a British tendency to trade everywhere, and to furnish
freights to British ships, at prices at which the American ship
owners could not afford to navigate their vessels?
"What, the Committee would ask, has the Government of the United
States done in the premises? Having under its charge the control
and direction of the United States mails upon land and sea, it has
thought proper to say that it would pay for the transportation of
the mails in _American steamers_, which can, if necessary, be
converted, at a small expense, into war steamers, and adopted, if
need be, into the navy proper, at an appraised value, and thereby
become efficient protectors of American commerce in the event of a
war. This is the head and front of the Government's offending, and
has, forsooth, aroused the ire of the commercial monopolists of
New-York, Boston, and elsewhere, because they can not any longer
enjoy the gains which, for more than a quarter of a century, they
had wrested from the mass of consumers throughout the land, north,
south, east, and west. Your Committee must say that, in their
opinion, such complaints come with a bad grace from such quarters,
and it is to be feared that victorious steam will ere long,
without the aid of the Federal Government, supersede the sailing
ships of the memorialists, through the instrumentality of the
discoveries daily in progress, whereby the navigation of vessels
propelled by that power will be made a matter of comparatively
small cost."
Speaking of steam communication with Para and Rio de Janeiro, the
Report further says:
"When the almost unbounded capacity for trade of the basins of the
La Plata and Amazon is taken into view, embracing as it does a
great variety of useful products which may be advantageously
exchanged for the manufactures and agricultural productions of our
own country, the mind is at a loss what limit to assign to the
trade to which civilization and the extension of commercial
facilities must eventually give rise. Nor are the advantages of
this great prospective commerce to be confined to the immediate
intercourse between this country and the regions to which we
refer. While the prevalence of certain winds, and the form of the
coast of South-America, are favorable to a direct trade with the
continent of North-America, they are such as to compel the
commerce with Europe to pass along our shores, and thus constitute
our Atlantic seaports so many stopping places at which the ships
of the old world may touch in their voyages to and fro. Heretofore
the policy of the governments which occupy the regions watered by
the La Plata and the Amazon, and their respective tributaries, has
been so exclusive in its character as to trammel, if not entirely
prevent, their intercourse with distant nations. The different
sovereignties which have sprung into existence since South-America
became independent of European control, have been so jealous of
each other that they have appeared to try which should be most
succesful in expelling foreign commerce, lest it might bring to
some one of them benefits which others did not and could not
possess. A wiser policy, however, appears to be about to prevail
since the fall of Rosas, and there is good reason to believe that,
hereafter, the commerce of those communities with the rest of the
world, will be placed upon a more liberal foundation. Should such
be the case, Rio de Janeiro can not fail to become the great
centre of a largely increased trade in the southern hemisphere."
"Should it be preferred to limit the extent of the American line
to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, the largest river in the
world, there is at present a Brazilian line between that point and
Rio de Janeiro, which, with the lines between Rio and the mouth of
the La Plata, will render the connection complete.
"Of the Amazon, it is proper to state that it is navigable by the
largest vessels, and presents a line of shore of not less than
six thousand miles, abounding in every description of product,
with climates of all temperatures and soils adapted to all sorts
of vegetable growth. As the regions through which this vast river
passes are peopled by communities to which manufacturing is
unknown, it will at once be seen what an immense market will be
opened to American industry in the various departments of the
useful arts. The proposed connection would, together with the
intercourse by steam, which will inevitably be established on the
Amazon, draw to that river the trade of the interior, which at
present passes over the Andes on the backs of sheep and mules to
the Pacific ocean, and constitutes a large portion of the
commodities that are transported around Cape Horn. With a view to
this river navigation, Brazil has already entered into a boundary
treaty with Peru, by which she has engaged to establish steamboat
navigation on the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, and is
preparing to put seven steamers upon the river, where none have
heretofore been.
"The experience of the world has shown that nations do not become
commercial or manufacturing, so long as the products of the soil
are sufficiently abundant to yield them wealth; and, hence, it may
be reasonably inferred that the carrying trade to and from
South-America will, if proper measures be taken, fall into the
hands of American ship-owners. By way of ascertaining what the
extent of this trade will be, if reference be had to the interior
or back country as the standard of the commercial resources
furnished by rivers, it will be found that the total area drained
by the rivers of the world is as follows:
_Sq. Miles._
Europe, emptying into the Atlantic, 532,940
Africa, emptying into the Mediterranean, 198,630
----------
Total Old World, 1,731,570
==========
Asia, emptying into the Pacific, 1,767,280
Asia, emptying into the Indian ocean, 1,661,760
----------
Total Asiatic, 3,429,040
==========
North-America, including St. Lawrence and
Mississippi emptying into the Atlantic, 1,476,800
==========
South-America, emptying into the Atlantic--
Amazon and its confluents, 2,048,480
La Plata and all others, 1,329,490
----------
Total South-American 3,377,970
==========
Total American to the Atlantic, 4,854,770
==========
"From the above statement it will be seen that the proposed line
of steam communication will bring within thirty days of each
other, the commercial outlets of navigable streams which drain a
back country greater in extent than that which is drained by all
of the navigable streams which empty themselves into the Atlantic,
the Pacific, and the Indian oceans, from those portions of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, which are accessible to American commerce.
Settlement and cultivation will, in the course of time, make these
American river basins as rich in products as those of the old
world.
"The question next arises, who are to be the carriers of the trade
which is hereafter to spring out of these American river basins,
the English or the Americans? If Great Britain be suffered to
monopolize commerce as she has heretofore done by her steam
navigation, her people will enjoy this great boon; but if, on the
contrary, the United States take advantage of circumstances as
they should, the prize will be won by Americans."
"Your Committee would remark, in concluding this Report, that,
regarding as they do the existence and rapid extension of the
system of ocean mail steam navigation, as absolutely essential to
the dignity and permanent prosperity of the country, and as the
only means, consistent with the genius and policy of our free
institutions, of acquiring a maritime strength, which, by keeping
pace with the improvements of the age, shall place us upon an
equal footing with other civilized countries of the world, without
the necessity of an overgrown and expensive naval establishment
proper, in time of peace, they would feel themselves derelict in
the performance of their duties, did they not recommend the
measure, with the earnestness which its importance demands.
"Circumstances indicate, with a clearness not to be misunderstood,
that in any future struggle for superiority on the ocean, the
contest will be decided by the power of steam. With a view to this
result, England has applied herself with even more than her wonted
energy to the construction of a regular steam navy which shall be
superior to all others. The number of ships which Great Britain
has of this kind, is at present two hundred and seventy-one, and
there are no less than nine royal war steamers in progress of
construction, to say nothing of the mail and other steamers which
are being built. The course thus pursued by the great commercial
rival of the United States, renders a corresponding energy and
activity on our part absolutely necessary, in a national point of
view; a steam navy must be provided for future emergencies in the
way proposed by the Committee, or war steamers must be built at an
enormous outlay of public money and kept ready in the navy yards,
or in commission, at an expense which is appalling to every lover
of judicious economy, or the stripes and stars of our country,
which have heretofore floated so triumphantly on every sea, must
grow dim, not only before the 'meteor flag of England,' but the
standards of the secondary powers of Europe. If members of
Congress are prepared to adopt either of these latter two
alternatives, let them say so, and let a system which promises,
under an honest and faithful discharge of duty on the part of the
executive branch of the Government, to realize the most sanguine
expectations of its friends, be at once abandoned. Let Great
Britain be again the guardian of our commercial interests and the
beneficiary of American trade. Let the Liverpool, Bremen, Havre,
California, and other lines, which have furnished twenty-four as
noble sea steamers as ever floated, be abandoned to their fate,
and let the Cunard line and other British steam mail lines and
royal steamers supply their places on the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, and our Southern seas.
"Your Committee would again repeat that the question to be
considered is not one of mere dollars and cents, or whether
certain individuals are to be sustained, or not, but one of
infinitely greater consequence--whether this proud republic shall
now and hereafter exist as a power competent to maintain her
rights upon the ocean. The present condition of political affairs
in Europe is such as, in the opinion of many, to threaten a
general war among the nations of that quarter of the globe, and
the United States should stand ready, and able too, to protect the
rights of her citizens upon the ocean, in such an event. Were such
a crisis to take place to-morrow, or the next year, or within the
next five years, is the country prepared for it? The steam navy
proper amounts to sixteen steamers of all classes, which, together
with the twenty-four ocean mail steamers in the employ of the Post
Office Department, would give us a steam naval force not exceeding
forty in all. Is this the position we should occupy, while Great
Britain has at command upwards of three hundred war and mail
steamers? France has, it is believed, upwards of a hundred, and
the secondary powers of Europe have naval steam armaments in
proportion, most of them exceeding our own. This question will be
decided by the continuation or rejection of the system under
consideration, which, with all the difficulties attendant upon new
enterprises and under the most embarrassing circumstances, has
gone very far to sustain itself, and promises, at no distant
period, to become a source of large revenue to the Government, and
incalculable commercial advantages, pecuniarily and otherwise, to
the country."
The following is copied from the Report made by Mr. Rusk in 1850, and
published in Special Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1852.
Speaking of the services of the mail steamers in our system of
defenses, the Report says:
"The truth is, that, in the opinion of your Committee, the temper
of the times requires that we shall keep pace with the rapid
improvements of other nations in their commercial and military
marine, and that the only choice is, whether it is to be done by
constructing vessels for the packet service, at a boundless
expense to the Government, or by aiding private enterprise, and
thus not only eventually avoiding expense, but adding largely to
the revenues of the country. It will be seen from the above
extract from Mr. King's speech, that, in the course of five years,
the balance in favor of the Government from the Cunard line alone
was $5,286,000. The New-York and Liverpool and Bremen lines will
come in for a large, if not by far the greater, share of the
postage and freightage heretofore enjoyed by the Cunard line; and
the line to Chagres, for the advantages that have, up to the time
of its partial commencement, been in the exclusive possession of
the British packet establishment in that direction. Nor are the
freightage and postage moneys the only sources of profit. In
proportion to the increase of these facilities will be the
extension of trade, and consequently the Government will receive
the duties payable upon all foreign merchandise brought into the
country. Besides, persons _in transitu_ will leave much money in
our cities and along their routes, to say nothing of the porterage
and costs of transportation of goods. To benefit our people is to
benefit our Government; as the more we enrich the former, the more
able are they to contribute to the support of the latter.
"To construct ships and keep them in our navy-yards, subject to
the injuries of time and casualties, does not consist with the
notions of the American people, on the score of economy; nor is it
in accordance with received opinions in regard to the propriety of
placing excessive patronage in the hands of the General
Government. At the same time, it is in perfect unison with the
spirit of our free institutions that the arts of peace shall be
made tributary to the purposes of defense, and the same energies
which extend the commerce and manufactures of our country shall,
in the event of necessity, be capable of being made use of for our
protection. While the crowned heads of the Old World keep in
constant pay vast armies and navies sustained by the heart's blood
of the oppressed people, for the protection and preservation of
their unhallowed power, it is the proud boast of our country that
our soldiers are our citizens, and the sailors, who, in time of
peace, spread the canvas of our commercial marine throughout the
world, are the men who, in time of war, have heretofore directed,
and will continue to direct, our cannon against our foes."
"The simple fact that the ships employed in it [the mail service]
_may hereafter, if the Government thinks proper_, be purchased and
commissioned as regular war steamers, to be officered and manned
as ships of war, should not and can not prevent the construction
of steam or sailing vessels for ordinary naval purposes. Your
Committee are of opinion that, so far from being an impediment to
the proper increase of the Navy, the prosperity of the ocean steam
packet service must operate in favor of an enlargement of the
naval force, the necessity for which is increased in proportion to
the extension of our commercial relations with foreign countries.
The routes upon which lines of steam packets can be sustained and
made profitable to the owners are comparatively few, when we take
into view the infinitely diversified ramifications of trade. Great
Britain, with her vast colonial and general commerce, had, in
1848, but fifteen lines in which national or contract vessels were
employed, including the home stations, as they are called, or
points of connection between the British islands. Nor has the
ocean steam packet system hindered, in the slightest degree, her
progress in the construction of steam or sailing vessels for the
naval service. In speaking of steam vessels available for naval
service, Captain W. H. Hall, of the British Navy, in the course of
his examination before the special Committee of the House of
Commons, hereinbefore referred to, says: 'I some time ago sent to
the Admiralty a plan for making the whole of the merchant steamers
available in case of need; and if there were an Act of Parliament
that these ships should be strengthened forward and aft to carry
guns, it might be then done with a very trifling expense; that
would give this country more power than any other country in the
world. We have nearly one thousand steam vessels, half of which,
at least, might be made available in case Government required
their services. Our mercantile steamers are some of the finest in
the world, and five hundred of them might be turned to account.
They should all be numbered and classed, so that Government would
merely have to ask for the number of vessels they wanted, when
they might go to Woolwich, or other places, and put the guns on
board, and then they would be ready for service.'
"Here is the opinion of a _captain in the British Navy_ with
reference to the availability of steam vessels for national
defense; and what a lesson does it teach to us in America, where
steam navigation is found penetrating every portion of the Union,
and spreading itself on our maritime and lake frontier in every
direction! Here is found no expression of apprehension lest the
mercantile steamers might interfere with the growth or efficiency
of the Navy to which the witness belonged. This opinion, moreover,
is expressed in a country where, according to the testimony before
the Committee already named, there were, in 1848, 174 _war
steamers, with an aggregate horse-power of_ 44,480 _horses_; and
where Mr. Alexander Gordon states, in a letter addressed to the
same Committee, the Steam Navy had then cost the country
L6,000,000 sterling, or $30,000,000, '_exclusive of all
reinstatements and expenses during commission_;' the same
gentleman also alleging that the annual repairs amounted
to L108,000
Annual cost for coals, 110,000
Depreciation at a moderate allowance, 600,000
---------
Making the total amount of annual cost, L818,000
Or $4,094,000
===========
"The regular employment of the best engineers on board of contract
vessels, and the great experience they would acquire from being
constantly on active duty, would furnish to the naval service, in
the event of a war, a corps that would be invaluable. In speaking
of the superiority of the engineers on board of contract vessels
in the employ of the British Government over those on board of the
Queen's ships, a witness before the select Committee of the House
of Commons says: 'Last year there was a universal complaint of the
inferiority of the engineers and all persons connected with steam
employed in her Majesty's service. It was explained, and very
easily explained, by the superior advantages in the merchant
service, and particularly the high wages paid. In all contract
steam packets, they have men on board the vessels who are
competent to superintend any alterations or repairs in the
machinery which may be required.'"
Secretary Graham said on this subject to the Senate Committee, 20
March, 1853:
"While their discussions [mail steamers] justify the conclusion
that vessels of this description can not be relied on to supersede
those modelled and built only for purposes of war, it is
respectfully suggested that a limited number of them, employed in
time of peace in the transportation of the mails, would be found a
most useful resource of the Government on the breaking out of war.
"If conforming to the standards required by these contracts, their
readiness to be used at the shortest notice, their capacity as
transports for troops and munitions of war, and their great
celerity of motion, enabling them to overhaul merchantmen, and at
the same time escape cruisers, would render them terrible as
guerrillas of the ocean, if fitted with such armaments as could be
readily put upon them in their present condition."
Post Master General Collamer also said on this subject, June 27, 1850:
"There are three modes which have been mentioned of transporting
the mail. The first is by naval steamships, conducted by the Navy,
as a national service. This will occasion so enormous an expense
that it is not probable the project will be entertained.
"The next mode suggested is the sending the mails, from time to
time, by the fastest steamers which are first going. This has one
advantage: it gives occasional aid to the enterprising; but there
are many and great objections to it:
"1st. It is entirely inconsistent with fixed periods of departure
and arrival.
"2d. It makes all connections on or with the route uncertain.
"3d. A price must be fixed, to prevent undue exactions of the
Government; and yet no one would be under obligation to take the
mail at the price, so that it would be uncertain of going at all.
"4th. It would be impracticable to send agents with all those
mails, to take care of them and make distributions, except at an
enormous cost.
"5th. There would be constant difficulty with slow and unsafe
boats.
"6th. The great object of obtaining steamships, so constructed,
under the inspection of the Navy Department, as to be suitable for
war vessels, and subject to exclusive appropriation and use as
such, would be sacrificed.
"The third project is the making of contracts, for a stated term
of years, _upon proposals advertised for in the ordinary method
adopted for mail-coach service_. This would not answer for ocean
steam service, unless provision were made for security, in the
strength, capacity, and adaptation of the vessels, with their
machinery, etc."
Regarding our steam service in the Gulf, and in reviewing the contract
made by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Hon. Edwin
Croswell, and associates, in a letter to the Chairman of the Senate
Postal Committee, presented the following important reflections:
"As early as the year 1835, the attention of the British
Government was directed to the plan of changing the mode of
conveying the mails by the ships of the East-India Company and the
Government, and adopting the contract system with individuals and
companies, with a view to combining the essential properties of a
naval and commercial steam marine.
"In consequence of the Report of the Commissioners appointed by
Parliament to inquire into the management of the English Post
Office Department in 1836, the mail steam packet service was
transferred to the Admiralty. The Report stated the conviction of
the Commissioners of Inquiry that 'the advantages which a System
of contract must generally secure to the public over one of the
establishment, however well conducted, were such that they wish
they could have felt justified in recommending that it should be
universally and immediately adopted.'
"The Secretary of the Admiralty stated that, 'in acting upon this
opinion, the Admiralty entered into contracts for conveying the
mails by steam vessels to and from Spain and Portugal, and
subsequently between Alexandria and England, with the Peninsular
and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Contracts were also entered
into for the conveyance of the mails between England and
North-America, and England and the West-Indies and Mexico.' That
'the execution of all these contracts, with the exception of the
latter, had given general satisfaction. But for this exception,
the extent and complication of the plan at its commencement
afforded some apology.' That 'the spirit in which the steam
contractors had generally executed their contracts merited notice,
as they had in almost every instance exceeded the horse-power
stipulated in their agreements, and thus insured an accuracy in
the delivery of mails which experience has shown, if the letter of
the contract had been adhered to by them, would not have been the
case.' And that 'the contract system had been generally
satisfactory to the Admiralty and the public, and had tended
largely to increase the steam tonnage of this country, (England,)
to encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the
regulation and economical management of steam.'
"Such, certainly, were among the valuable results of the system;
but these were not the only considerations that led to its
adoption. The English Government, with the forecast for which that
far-reaching power is distinguished, saw the advantages which an
extended steam marine would give to its commerce over that of
every other nation in the world. It saw also the value of
connecting this great branch of the national service with the
commercial and practical skill of the country. It soon formed and
matured its plan, embracing within its scope nearly the entire
commercial world. Steam lines, as stated in the preceding extract
from the Admiralty Report, were established, radiating from
England to all the prominent European ports, to the Mediterranean,
to Egypt, the East-Indies and China, the West-India Islands,
South-America and Mexico, the ports in the Gulf of Mexico and
Havana, the United States and the English colonial possessions in
North-America, and to the islands and ports in the Pacific ocean.
This vast chain of intercourse was not only completely
established, but it became a matter of national policy to enlarge,
strengthen, and maintain it. By it much of the commerce of the
world by steam, and nearly all the letter-carrying by steam
between this continent and the European ports, and even the
distant parts of our own territory, were engrossed by British
ships."
"Important national considerations, aside from the design to
engross for British bottoms and British capital the trade and
intercourse of the commercial world, and especially with the
American continent and islands, entered into the Government plan.
It was ascertained to be a far less expensive mode of maintaining
a naval steam force adapted to the purposes of Government, and to
any emergency that might require these ships for other than mail
purposes, than to build, equip, and keep in service national
steamships of war. The experiment has proved its adequacy to the
intended object; and it continues not only to receive the approval
of the Admiralty and Government of England, but to be continually
undergoing enlargement and expansion."
"The West-India mail steam line was proposed to the British
Government in April, 1839, by sundry merchants of London. A
charter was granted to the contractors in that year, under the
title of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. It embraced the
following routes:
"1. _Outward Atlantic Route._--From Southampton to Madeira,
Barbados and Grenada--steamer, every 15 days.
"2. _Trinidad Route._--From Grenada to Trinidad and
Barbados--steamer, every 15 days.
"3. _Demarara Route._--From Grenada to Courland Bay,
(Tobago)--steamer, every 15 days.
"4. _Northern Islands Route._--From Grenada to St. Vincent, St.
Lucia, Martinique, Dominique, Guadalupe, Antigua, Montserrat,
Nevis, St. Kitt's, Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John's, (Porto
Rico)--steamer, every 15 days.
"5. _Jamaica and Mexican Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, (Hayti,)
Kingston, Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico--steamer, every 30 days.
"6. _Jamaica and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel,
Kingston, St. Iago de Cuba, St. Juan's, (Porto Rico,) and St.
Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
"7. _Bermuda, Havana, and Jamaica Route._--From St. Thomas to
Bermuda, Nassau, Havana, Kingston, Jacmel, St. Juan's, and St.
Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
"8. _Homeward Fayal Route._--From St. Thomas to
Southampton--steamer, every 30 days.
"9. _Laguayra Route._--From Grenada to Laguayra, Porto Cabello,
and St. Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
"10. _Panama and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Kingston (Jamaica)
to Santa Martha, Carthagena, Chagres, and St. Juan de
Nicaragua--steamer, every 30 days.
"11. _Honduras Route._--From Havana to Balize, (Honduras)--sailing
schooner, every 30 days."
"The contract system, combining the efficient features of an
extended commercial and Government steam marine, was thus adopted
after full investigation on the subject by the Board of Admiralty,
the Treasury, and the different Government Departments, including
the Post Master General. The merits and benefits of this system
have been tested by England. That Government was the first to
engage in it, and, as we have already stated, fully approve, and
are constantly extending it. The Committee of Inquiry of
Parliament, as we have already quoted, say truly that it 'had
tended largely to increase the steam tonnage of that country, to
encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the
regulation and economical management of steam.' After an
examination of it in the most scientific and practical manner,
that Government regards it as altogether more economical for the
nation, and for the general public interests, than the exclusive
employment of Government vessels. The ships built by the contract
companies have far exceeded in speed and other essential qualities
the ships constructed by Government. A far greater amount of
service was obtained, at a cost much less than would be incurred
by Government in building, equipping, manning, and running
national vessels for even a partial performance of the same
service. Individual and associated skill, enterprise, and capital
were called into requisition, and, aided by Government means,
contributed to enlarge, extend, and fortify the naval and
commercial power of England.
"The practical operation of this great system of steam lines was
to place within the reach of English vessels, of a semi-national
character, and ready to be converted into ships of war, our entire
Southern coast and harbors, besides yielding to them the foreign
trade, commerce, and letter-carrying, by steam, to and from all
parts of our country. To meet and counteract this state of things,
became the object and duty of the American Congress and
Government. It was the more obvious at that time particularly,
engaged as we were in a war with Mexico, and our only means of
coast defense of any force being a single steamer, and she not
capable of entering the Southern harbors, while English steam
fleets literally filled and occupied our waters. To counteract, so
far as was demanded by the requirements of our own commerce, and
the defense of our coast, a monopoly so formidable, which had
grown up under the direct and liberal cooperation of the English
Government, and the supposed superiority of English machinery,
required the aid of Congress; for it was evident that unaided
American enterprise and capital could not cope with it.
Accordingly, at the close of the session of 1847, the Congress of
the United States passed an act authorizing the Secretary of the
Navy to contract with sundry parties and different steam lines for
the construction of ocean steamships, as part of the plan of a
combined naval and commercial steam marine, in connection with the
mail service."
After enumerating the various lines established by Congress, he
further says:
"These (with the previously authorized line from New-York to
Bremen) were the various parts of a complete and important plan
adapted to the growing wants of the public service, and for
providing an adequate steam marine, whenever the exigencies of
the country might require it, and for facilitating intercourse and
the transmission of the mails between remote parts of our own
country and other nations. For the due performance of it in all
its ramifications, it required a large aggregate of capital,
skill, and intelligent enterprise. After a lapse of nearly three
years, portions of the undertaking have gone into efficient
operation; and already the fruits of it--its utility, and its
advantages and benefits to the American government and
people--have been demonstrated. When the various parts shall be
completed, and the plan in all its features shall be in full
operation, its immediate practical results, aside from its
prospective effectiveness in furnishing a class of war steamers
for any ultimate purpose of the American Government, will be found
fully to justify the action of Congress and the participation and
favor of the Government, and confirm the public confidence in its
great utility and value."
"When it came to the knowledge of the English government that
Congress had entered into contracts establishing steam lines to
Chagres, Havana, and New-Orleans, its first movement to counteract
or discourage the proposed American line in that direction was to
run branches of the Royal West-India mail line from Bermuda to
New-York, and from Jamaica to New-Orleans and Mobile. Now that the
American line to Chagres has gone into full operation, and the
news from the Pacific comes by this line to New-York, and thence
to Liverpool, some fifteen days sooner than the same news brought
by the British line,[J] the English government has revised,
enlarged, and extended its West-India line. It has entered into a
new contract with the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, a material
feature of which is to run a mail line direct from Southampton to
St. Thomas, and thence to Chagres and back, twice a month, with
steamers of larger capacity and power, and with a proposed speed
of from twelve to fourteen miles per hour. For this line, five or
six new steamships are, under the contract, to be built, while the
old vessels are to form branches from this main line or trunk to
other of the routes of this great and extended plan of steam
intercourse and letter-carrying; at the same time that government
will withdraw its branches to the Balize, Mobile, and New-York,
extend its line to Rio de Janeiro, and enlarge its line in the
Pacific, from Panama to Valparaiso, converting it from a monthly
to a semi-monthly route. These movements show not only the
immediate results of American enterprise in ocean steamships, and
the important consequences, aside from any purposes of coast and
harbor defense, to which it has already led, but the strong public
reasons on the part of our Government to foster, continue, and
encourage it. It has already counteracted the best efforts of the
large and long-established English steam lines, and transferred
the commerce and letter-carrying so long exclusively enjoyed by
them to American ships. If promoted and favored by the Congress of
the United States, it will still meet and counteract the new
efforts of the English Government to recover the ground which
American skill, enterprise, and capital, aided by the Government,
have won from them.
[J] "By the contract of 1846 with the West-India Royal Mail
Steam-Packet Company, the voyage from Chagres to Southampton is
performed in 33 days. By the United States Mail Steamship Company
the voyage from Chagres to New-York, and thence to Liverpool, is
performed in 22 days.
"In relation to the comparative cost to the two governments by
which these lines of ocean steamers, in connection with the naval
and mail service, are maintained, it will be seen that the British
Government pays as much for its single West-India and Chagres line
as the American Government pays for all its lines--Liverpool and
New-York, New-York and Bremen, New-York and Havre, New-York,
Havana, New-Orleans, and Chagres, and Panama and San Francisco.
The entire annual payments by the British Government amount [This
was in 1850.--T.R.] to $3,180,000. Those by the American
Government, when all its lines shall be in full service, will be
$1,215,000. The British-West India Mail Steam-Packet Company are
paid $3.08 per mile for mail service: the United States Mail
Steamship Company, $1.88 per mile."
The Committee presented some few queries to Commodore M.C. Perry on
the capabilities of the postal steamers for war purposes, to which he
replies thus:
"I now proceed to reply to the first division of the inquiry, as
follows:
"Question first: 'Whether the steamships employed in the
transportation of the United States mail, under contract with the
Navy Department, or any other steamships employed in the
transportation of our foreign mails, are, in all respects,
suitable for immediate conversion into steamers for war purposes,
capable of carrying the armament or battery appropriate to the
class specified in the contract?'
"In answer to the foregoing (first) question, I am of opinion that
they are _not_ 'in all respects suitable.'
"Question second: 'And if not suitable for such immediate
conversion, whether they could be altered so as to make them
efficient war steamers?'
"Answer: The following named Atlantic steamers maybe converted, by
slight alteration, into war steamers of the first class:
"_Of Collins's line._ The Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic.
"_Of Law's line._ The Ohio, Georgia, and Illinois.
"_Of Mortimer Livingston's line._ The Humboldt and Franklin.
"_Pacific steamers--of Aspinwall's line._ First class, the Golden
Gate. Second class, the Panama, Oregon, California, and Columbia.
"The foregoing vessels of the respective contracts are variously
constructed as to materials, fastening, strength, and model.
"Question third: 'And if so, what alterations would be necessary
to be made, and at what expense, to make them war steamers of the
first class:'
"Answer: If these vessels had been originally constructed
comformably to the _spirit_ (though it was not called for by the
letter) of the contracts, as they should have been, and all
English mail steamers now are, _in anticipation of their possible
conversion, into war vessels_, the cost of converting them would
be much less.
"Most of them were completed before I was ordered to their
supervision; but I lost no time, after entering upon the duty, in
calling the attention of the contractors to this important
consideration, an observance of which would not have added more
than one per cent upon the cost of construction.
"In altering these vessels so as to make them available for war
purposes, the most simple, expeditious, and economical plan would
be to razee them, or cut off their upper decks and cabins forward
and abaft the wheel-houses; not by tearing them to pieces and
defacing the costly ornamental work, which, though of no value to
the Government, still need not be destroyed.
"The razeeing should be effected by sawing the top timbers, and
cutting off by sections the whole of the upper dock, excepting the
space between the wheel-houses, thus leaving the greater part of
the main deck exposed and for the accommodation of the armament,
and enough of the sides above that deck to answer for bulwarks and
side-ports.
"Below, it would only be necessary to remove the state-rooms not
wanted for the accommodation of the officers, and convert the
after-hold and fore and main orlops into magazines, store-rooms,
shot and shell lockers, etc., etc.
"According to my calculation, the cost of the conversion of either
of the before mentioned vessels, exclusive of armaments, repair of
machinery and ordinary repair, would not, or certainly _ought_
not, exceed, for steamers of the first class, $20,000, and for
those of the second class, $15,000; and it could be readily done
for this at any of our navy yards, provided that _useless_
alterations were not made.
"It should be taken into view that those mail steamers, if called
into service as war vessels, would be considered as forming an
auxiliary force to the regularly constructed ships, and hence the
impolicy of expending much money on them. The requisites of sound
hulls and powerful engines, with efficient armaments, should
alone be considered, leaving superfluous ornament out of the
question.
"The armaments of the respective vessels would, of course, be a
separate cost; and to arrange the guns on the upper deck, it would
only be required to close up three or four of the hatches or
sky-lights; to strengthen the deck by additional beams and
stanchions; to cut ports, and construct the pivot and other
carriages; probably it might be desirable to shift the capstan and
cables.
"With respect to the description and weight of the respective
armaments, I am clearly of opinion that the first-class steamers
already named could easily carry each _four_ 10-inch Paixhan guns
on pivots, two forward and two aft, of the weight of those in the
Mississippi; _ten_ 8-inch Paixhans, as side-guns, ditto.
"The _second-class_ steamers could with equal ease carry each
_two_ 8-inch Paixhans on pivots, one forward and one aft, and
_six_ 6-inch ditto, as side-guns.
"With the additional strengthening recommended, I am perfectly
satisfied that the armaments suggested would not, in the least,
incommode the vessels. Indeed, the weight of armament would be
actually less than that which would be taken away by the removal
of the upper decks and cabins, and the miscellaneous articles
usually stowed on one or the other of two decks--such, for
instance, as ice, of which not less than forty tons is generally
packed in one mass; nor would the munitions and provisions
required for the war vessel be of greater weight than the goods
now carried as freight, saying nothing of the provisions and
stores carried by the steamers for an average of 150 to 250 souls,
including crew and passengers.
"It may again be remarked, that steamers thus brought into service
would be far inferior to regularly constructed and appointed war
vessels; yet in the general operations of a maritime war, they
would render good service, and especially would they be useful,
from their great speed, as dispatch vessels, and for the
transportation of troops, always being capable of attack and
defense, and of overhauling or escaping from an enemy."
Captain Skiddy, the Special Naval Constructor appointed by the
Government to superintend the building of all the mail packets, says
in a letter to Com. Perry:
"In reply I will commence with the first-class ships, which are
the 'Atlantic,' 'Pacific,' 'Baltic,' and 'Arctic,' of Collins'
Liverpool line; the 'Franklin' and 'Humboldt' of Mortimer
Livingston's Havre line.
"These ships, although equal in strength, probably, to any
steamships afloat, are not suitable for _immediate_ war purposes,
but can be made efficient in four or six weeks, capable of
carrying the armament or battery of a first-class frigate--say
four ten-inch guns and twelve eight-inch guns. These alterations
would consist of a removal of the deck-houses, spar or upper deck,
forward and abaft the paddle-wheel boxes, fitting the after and
forward bulwarks in sections, cutting port-holes, fitting hammock
cloths or nettings, putting in extra beams and knees, and
stanchions, moving the windlass below, building magazines,
shell-rooms, officers' rooms, etc., etc. The cost of all these
alterations and fixtures would not exceed ($15,000 or $20,000)
twenty thousand dollars each ship. These ships would then be
relieved of about one hundred and fifty tons weight, or nearly
double the weight of guns and carriages, with less resistance to
water and wind, adding an increase to their already great speed."
In the case of all these steamers, that is, of the Havre and Bremen,
the Collins, the Aspinwall, and the Pacific lines, Commodore Perry
reported that they "_were capable of being easily converted into war
steamers of the first class_."
PAPER F.
OCEAN STEAM LINES OF THE WORLD.
------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
LINE. |SERVICE. |Ships.|Tonnage.
------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
Cunard, Paddle-wheel, |Liverpool, New-York, Boston, and| 8| 12,000
|Halifax, | |
" Screw, | " " " " | 4| 4,800
North Atlantic Steamship Co., |St. John's and Portland, | 3| 4,800
European and American S. S. |Bremen, Antwerp, Southampton, & | 4| 10,000
Co.,|New-York, | |
" " " " |Bremen, Antwerp, Southampton, to| 4| 9,000
|Brazil, | |
London and Canada, |London and Montreal, | 2| 1,870
Liverpool and Canadian, |Liverpool and Quebec, | 4| 5,000
Liv., Philadelphia, and | " " New-York, | 4| 8,700
New-York,| | |
Glasgow and New-York, |Glasgow and New-York, | 3| 6,200
Belgian Transatlantic, |Antwerp and New-York, | 4| 8,800
" " | " " Brazil, | 5| 6,500
Hamburg and American, |Hamburg and New-York, | 4| 7,300
" " Brazilian,[K] |Hamburg and Rio de Janeiro, | 2| 4,500
Genoa and Brazilian, |Genoa, " " | 4| 8,000
Royal Mail Co., |Southampton, West-Indies, | 18| 21,510
| Central America,| |
| South-America,| |
" " | " Per., Rio, Bahia, | 4| 6,820
| and La Plata,| |
Pacific Steam Navigation Co., |Panama to Valparaiso and | 7| 5,719
|intermediate, | |
Peninsular and Oriental Co., |Portugal, Spain, Malta, | 39| 49,416
|Alexandria, East-Indies, China, | |
|and Australia, | |
Europ. and Australian Royal |Southampton, Alexandria, Suez, | 7| 15,500
Mail Co.,|and Sydney, | |
Australian Royal Mail Co., |Transport and other, | 4| 7,800
Rotterdam and Mediterranean, |Rotterdam, Leghorn, and Trieste,| 4| 1,900
North of Europe Steam |African, | 4| 3,200
Navigation Co.,| | |
McIver's, |Liverpool and Mediterranean, | 10| 9,000
" | " " Havre, | 2| 2,000
Bibby's, |Liverpool and Mediterranean, | 11| 11,700
Fowler's, | " " " | 6| 7,500
Dixon's, | " " " | 4| 8,800
Liverpool and Australian, | " and Australia, | 2| 7,000
London " " |London and " | 4| 7,500
African, | " Liverpool, and Africa, | 5| 5,000
Union Screw Co., |Southampton and Cape Good Hope, | 3| 1,800
Luzo-Brazileira, |Lisbon and Brazil, | 4| 8,000
Austrian Lloyds, |Very large Mediterranean | | Unknown
|service, | |
Messageries Imperiales, |Mediterranean, Black Sea, | 50| "[L]
|Levant, | |
W. Hartlepool Steam Navigation|Hartlepool, Hamburg, and St. | 6| "
Co.,|Petersburg, | |
Danube Steam Navigation Co., |Vienna, Galatz, and | 6| "
|Constantinople, | |
Hamburg and Spanish, |Hamburg, Southampton, and all | 2| 2,000
|Spanish ports, | |
East-India Company, |Suez and India, and the Bombay | 12| 11,471
|Mail lines, | |
Spanish and Cuban, |Cadiz, Havana, and Mexico, | 5| 9,000
Companhia Brazileira, |Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon and| 7| 5,500
|La Plata, | |
Collins Company, |New-York and Liverpool, | 3| 9,727
Havre Steam Navigation Co., | " Southampton, and Havre,| 2| 4,548
Cornelius Vanderbilt, | " " " Bremen,| 3| 6,523
United States Mail Steamship |New-York, Havana, Aspinwall, & | 6| 8,544
Co.,|New-Orleans, | |
Pacific Mail Steamship Co., |Panama, California, and Oregon, | 13| 16,421
New-York and New-Orleans, |New-York, Havana, and | 2| 3,198
| New-Orleans,| |
New-York and Alabama, | " " " Mobile, | 1| 1,300
Charleston and Havana, |Charleston, Key West, and | 1| 1,115
|Havana, | |
Savannah Steamship Co., |New-York and Savannah, | 4| 4,793
New-York and Charleston St. S.| " " Charleston, | 4| 4,680
Co.,| | |
" " Virginia, | " Norfolk, and Richmond, | 2| 2,371
Philadelphia and Savannah, |Philadelphia and Savannah, | 2| 2,600
Boston and Baltimore, |Boston and Baltimore, | 2| 1,600
Texas Steamship Co., |New-Orleans and Galveston, | 4| 2,400
Southern Steamship Co., | " " Key West, | 2| 1,000
Mexican Steamship Co., | " Tampico and Vera Cruz,| 1| 960
------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
[K] Building another steamer of 2,500 tons for the Brazil line.
[L] These vessels average about 250 horses' power each. Their tonnage
is large, probably 1,200 tons each.
There are several other lines of ocean steamers in Europe; but it is
almost impossible to ascertain anything definite about them. The list
above embraces all of the most important companies of the world. The
lines are continually changing, while the vessels are passing into new
hands almost every week.
PAPER G.
The following official letter from Hon. Horatio King explains itself.
Post-Office Department, }
Washington, Nov. 12, 1857. }
Sir: In answer to your letter of 10th inst., I have to inform you,
that the ocean mail steamship lines now under contract with the
Government for the conveyance of mails, are as follows, namely:
1. The New-York and Liverpool (Collins) Line, performing twenty
round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of $385,000.
Length of route, 3,100 miles.
2. The New-York and Bremen Line, _via_ Southampton, performing
thirteen round trips per annum, for the gross amount of United
States postages, (sea and inland.) Length of route, 3,700 miles.
3. The New-York and Havre Line, _via_ Southampton, performing
thirteen round trips per annum for the gross amount of United
States postages, (sea and inland.) Length of route, 3,270 miles.
4. The New-York, Havana, New-Orleans, and Aspinwall Line,
performing twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual
compensation of $290,000. Length of routes 2,000 miles from
New-York to Aspinwall _direct_; 2,000 miles from New-York to
New-Orleans _via_ Havana; and 1,200 miles from Havana to
Aspinwall; making in all, 5,200 miles.
5. The Astoria, San Francisco, and Panama Line, performing
twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of
$348,250. Length of route, 4,200 miles.
6. The Charleston, Savannah, Key West, and Havana Line, performing
twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of
$60,000. Length of route, 669 miles.
7. The New-Orleans and Vera Cruz Line, performing twenty-four
round trips per annum, at $1,210.93 the round trip. Length of
route, 900 miles.
The contracts on these lines expire as follows, namely:
New-York and Liverpool (Collins) Line, 27th April, 1860.
New-York and Bremen Line, 1st June, 1858.
New-York and Havre Line, 1st June, 1858.
New-York, New-Orleans, and Aspinwall Line, 1st Oct., 1859.
Astoria and Panama Line, 1st Oct., 1858.
Charleston and Havana Line, 30th June, 1859.
New-Orleans and Vera Cruz Line, 30th June, 1858.
I am very respectfully your obedient servant,
HORATIO KING.
To DR. THOMAS RAINEY.
PAPER H.
THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND AMERICAN NAVIES.
The following list is kindly furnished me by Hon. Wm. A. Harris, of
Washington. The French list is taken from the "_Tableau General des
Batiments a Voiles et a Vapeur composant les Flottes de la Marine
Imperiale Francaise_."
SAILING VESSELS.
SHIPS OF 120 GUNS.--Ocean, Friedland, Ville de Paris, Valmy.
SHIPS OF 100 GUNS.--Hercule, Temmasses, Tage Turenne.
SHIPS OF 90 GUNS.--Jena, Suffren, Bayard, Breslau, Hector,
Achille, Eole, Santi-Petri, Tilsitt, Sceptic, Castiglione.
SHIPS OF 86 GUNS.--Diademe, Neptune, Jupiter.
SHIPS OF 82 GUNS.--Marengo, Trident, Ville de Marsailles, Alger,
Triton, Duperre, Genereux, Latour d'Auvergne, Saint-Louis.
FRIGATES OF 60 GUNS.--Iphigenie, Independante, Didon, Uranie,
Belle-Poulle, Surveillante, Andromaque, Forte, Minerve, Melpomene,
Perseverante, Renomme, Vengeance, Etrepienante, Victoire,
Semiramis, Guerrierre, Pallas, Semillante.
FRIGATES OF 52 GUNS.--Alceste, Calypso, Sirene, Atlante,
Andromede, Nereide, Zenobie, Sybille.
FRIGATES OF 50 GUNS.--Reine Blanche, Cleopatre, Danae, Virginie,
Poursuivante, Pandore, Nemesis, Bellonne, Amazone, Astree, Junon,
Hermione, Dryade, Circe, Flore.
FRIGATES OF 46 GUNS.--Thetis, Armide, Grigone, Margicienne,
Africane, Penelope, Medee.
FRIGATES OF 40 GUNS.--Constitution, Psyche, Clorinde, Heliopolis,
Jeanne d'Arc, Algerie, Resolue, Tiris, Ceres, Armorique.
CORVETTES OF 30 GUNS.--Ariane, Thisbe, Heroine, Alemene,
Embuscade, Sabine, Aventure, Favorite, Jeanne-Hochette, Corneline,
Circe, Cybele.
CORVETTES OF 28 GUNS.--Arethuse, Bayonnaise, Arthemise, Galatee,
Serieuse, Eurydice, Capricieuse, Constantine.
CORVETTES OF 24 GUNS.--Brillante, Naide, Creole, Danaide,
Triomphante.
CORVETTES OF 20 GUNS.--Camille, Bergere, Iguala, Coquette, Echo.
CORVETTES OF 16 GUNS.--Diligente, Cornelie, Egle, Perle, Oritie.
CORVETTES OF 14 GUNS.--Astrolabe, Zelee, Prevoyante, Expeditive,
Recherche, Active, Indienne, Sarcelle, Prudente, Indefatigable,
Emulation.
BRIGS OF 20 GUNS.--Ducouedic, Palinure, Cygene, Alcibiade, Adonis,
Hussard, Chasseur, Griffon, d'Hassar, Meleagre, Acteon, Bisson,
Lapeirousse, Cassard, Oreste, Pylade, Nisus, Euryale, Beaumanvir,
Chevert, Droupot, Alacryti, Voltigeur.
BRIGS OF 18 GUNS.--Mercure, Dragon, Faune, Genie, Faucon,
Grenadier, Entreprenant, Fanfaron, Janus, Victor, Olivier, Zebre,
Obligardo, Alerte, Cuirassier.
BRIGS OF 10 GUNS.--Volage, Surprise, Fleche, Alcyon, Comete,
Sylphe, Dupetit-Lhouars, Bougainville, Argus, Fabert, Lutin, Cerf,
Messaeer, Papillon, Rossignol, Agile, Geyer, Inconstant, Zephir,
Railleur, Russee, Lynx.
BRIGS OF 8 GUNS.--Allouette, Alsacienne, Malouine, Tactique,
Virgie, Eglantine, Panthere.
CORVETTES DE CHARGE 32 GUNS, 800 HORSE POWER.--Proserpine, Adour,
Abondante, Oise, Caravane, Allier, Agathe, Fortune, Aube, Egerie,
Rhin, Somme, Meurthe, Mosselle.
SLOOPS OF 28 GUNS, 600 TONS.--Perdrix, Loire, Provencale,
Marsouin.
SLOOPS OF 20 GUNS, 550 TONS.--Robuste, Giraffe, Chandernagor,
Cormoran.
SLOOPS OF 16 GUNS, 300 TONS.--Hecla, Dore, Cyclope, Vulcain,
Lamproie, Volcan, Bucephale, Licome, Lezard, Mahe, Lionne.
SLOOPS OF 12 GUNS, 200 TONS.--Anna, Pintado, Menagere.
SLOOPS OF 8 GUNS, 150 TONS.--Pourvoyeur, Seudre.
SLOOPS OF 6 GUNS, 90 TONS.--Vigilant, Pilote, Ile d'Oleron,
Mayottais.
SCHOONERS OF 6 GUNS.--Merange, Estafete, Gazelle, Hirondelle,
Topaze, Beaucir, Euroquoise, Decidee, Jouvencelle, Tonguille,
Amaranthe, Fauvette, Legere, Encelade, Etoile, Fine, Doris,
Brestoise, Mouche, Bella Helene, Eugenie, Tafne, Parisienne,
Gentille, Ibir, Mignonne, Souris, Egle, Iris, Papeiti, Sultan,
Agathe, Touronnaise, Daphne, Levrette, Bose, Dorade.
CUTTERS OF 4 GUNS.--Rodeur, Furet, Moustique, Espeigle, Moutin,
Favori, Levrier, Eperlan, Renard, Eclair, Goelund, Chamois,
Emeraude, Esperance, Cupidon, Orglae, Aigle d'Or, Colibi,
Antilope, Seybouse, Pluvier, Ecureuil, No. 1, Ecureuil, No. 2,
Mirmidon, Capelan, Corvril, Boberach, Palmer, Belette, Colombe,
Cigorle, Tafnal, Amiral, Papillon.
SAILING SHIPS CHANGED INTO STEAMSHIPS.
SHIPS OF 120 GUNS.--Montibello 650, Souverain 650, Desaix 650,
Louis XIV. 650, Bretagne 960.
SHIPS OF 100 GUNS.--Fleurus 650, Ulm 650, Dugay-Etains 650,
Annibal 650, Eyleau 650, Prince Jerome 650, Navarin 650,
Austerlitz 650, Wagram 650, Massena 650.
SHIPS OF 90 GUNS.--Inflexible 450, Dugueschin 450, Donnawerth 600,
Fontenoy 600, Charlemagne 450, Duquesne 450, Tourville 450,
Alexandre 600, Jean-Bart 450.
STEAM VESSELS.
SHIPS OF 90 GUNS, 960 HORSE POWER.--Napoleon, Imperiel, Algesiras.
FRIGATES OF 650 HORSE POWER.--Mogador, Isly.
FRIGATES OF 540 HORSE POWER.--Descartes, Vauban.
FRIGATES OF 450 HORSE POWER.--Gomer, Asmodee, Labrador, Magellan,
Montezuma, Cacique, Panama, Eldorado, Pomone, Albatros, Sane,
Orenoque, Ch. Columb, Canada, Ulloa, Darien, Caffarelli.
MIXED FRIGATES--(New Construction.)
800 HORSE POWER, 50 GUNS.--Imperatrice Eugenie, Indomitable,
Foudre, Audacieuse.
CORVETTES OF 400 HORSE POWER.--Infernal, Reine Hortense,
Bertholet, Catinat, Rolland, Phlegeton, Laplace, Primaugnet,
Dassas.
CORVETTES OF 320 HORSE POWER.--Prony, Caton, Colbert.
CORVETTES OF 300 HORSE POWER.--Patriote, Eumenide, Gorgone,
Tanger, Coligny, Tisiphone.
CORVETTES OF 220 HORSE POWER.--Espadon, Veloce, Lavoisier,
Cameleon, Gassendi, Pluton, Archimede, Duchayla, Phoque, Elan,
Caiman, Titan, Cassini, Chaptal, Newton.
ADVICE VESSELS.
OF 200 HORSE POWER.--Monette, Heron, Laborieux, Eclaireur, Phenix,
Lucifer, Biche, Goeland, Promethee, Souffleur, Milan, Aigle,
Megere, Sentinelle.
OF 180 HORSE POWER.--Petrel, Reguin, Epervier, Dauphin.
OF 160 HORSE POWER.--Ardent, Crocodile, Phare, Fulton, Meteore,
Chimere, Vantour, Styx, Acheron, Cerbere, Tartare, Phaeton, Cocyte,
Tonnerre, Gregois, Grondeur, Euphrate, Tenare, Australie, Narval,
Bruddon, Solon, Etna, Sesostris.
OF 120 HORSE POWER.--Castor, Brazier, Flambeau, Vedette,
Passe-Partout, Pelican, Ramier, Salamandre, Ariel, Daim, Flambart,
Marceau.
OF 100 HORSE POWER.--Anacreon, Averne, Tantale, Galilee.
OF 80 HORSE POWER.--Galibi, Voyageur, Marabout, Alecton, Rubis,
Eperlan.
OF 60 HORSE POWER.--Antilope, Chacul, Liamone, Var.
OF 40 HORSE POWER.--Grand-Bassam, Ebrie.
OF 30 HORSE POWER.--Basilic, Serpent, Pinogouin, Guet n'Dar.
OF 20 HORSE POWER.--Oyapock, Acbar.
FLOATING BATTERIES.
Devastation, Lave, Tonnate, Foudroyante.
GUN BOATS.
Stridente, Mitraille, Etincelle, Bombe, Eclair, Flamme, Alarme,
Coulevaine, Doilleuse, Alerte, Meurtriere, Bourasque, Raffale,
Fusee, Foudre, Fleche, Grenade, Mutine, Tourmente.
MIXED TRANSPORTS.
Ariege, Adour, Durance, Loiret, Gironde, Marne, Aube, Rhin,
Charente, Nievre, Rhone, Tarn, Mosselle, Yonne, Saone, Loire,
Isere, Dordogne, Allier, Meurthe, Finestere, Meuse, Oise, Somme,
Garone.
GENERAL RECAPITULATION.
SAILING VESSELS.
Guns.
31 ships of all sizes, mounting an aggregate of 2,866
61 frigates do do 3,028
49 corvettes do do 1,024
57 brigs do do 1,006
14 corvettes de charge do do 448
28 sloops do do 444
38 schooners do do 228
33 cutters do do 132
--- -----
317 sailing vessels, carrying a grand aggregate of 9,176
STEAM VESSELS.
27 ships of all sizes, mounting an aggregate of 2,680
21 frigates do do do 336
4 frigates, (new construction,) do 200
34 corvettes of all sizes do 939
76 advice boats do do 456
4 floating batteries do 64
19 gun boats do 76
25 mixed transports do 150
--- -----
220 steam vessels, mounting an aggregate of 4,901
ORDINARY CLASSIFICATION OF NAVAL OFFICERS.
2 admirals in time of peace, and 3 in time of war; 13 vice
admirals; 22 rear admirals; 113 captains of ships of the 1st and
2d classes; 235 captains of frigates; 679 lieutenants of ships of
the 1st and 2d classes; 550 ensigns of ships; 109 midshipmen of
1st class; 165 midshipmen of the 2d class.
With respect to the classes of midshipmen, the admiral minister of
marine regulates yearly the number of young gentlemen who may be
received in the service.
According to the navy list for 1856, (July,) the effective force
of the navy of Great Britain was at that period:
Guns.
Sailing vessels, 269, carrying an aggregate of 9,362
Steam vessels, 258 do do 4,518
--- ------
Total, 527 do do 13,880
The classification of officers was:
In service. On half pay. Retired. Total.
Admirals, 21 15 --- 36
Vice-admirals, 27 19 --- 46
Rear-admirals, 51 55 129 235
Captains of ships, 396 60 318 774
Commanders, 551 64 286 901
Lieutenants, 1,139 668 --- 1,807
NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.
SHIPS OF THE LINE, (10.)
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Pennsylvania, | 120 | Philadelphia, | 1837
Columbus, | 80 | Washington, | 1819
Ohio, | 84 | New-York, | 1820
North-Carolina, | 84 | Philadelphia, | 1820
Delaware, | 84 | Norfolk, | 1820
Alabama, | 84 | |
Virginia, | 84 | |
Vermont, | 84 | Boston, | 1848
New-York, | 84 | |
New-Orleans, | 84 | |
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
FRIGATES, (18.)
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Independence, | 56 | Boston, | 1814
United States, | 50 | Philadelphia, | 1797
Constitution, | 50 | Boston, | 1797
Potomac, | 50 | Washington, | 1821
Brandywine, | 50 | Washington, | 1825
Columbia, | 50 | Washington, | 1836
Congress, | 50 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1841
Cumberland, | 50 | Boston, | 1842
Savannah, | 50 | New-York, | 1842
Raritan, | 50 | Philadelphia, | 1843
Santee, | 50 | |
Sabine, | 50 | |
St. Lawrence, | 50 | Norfolk, | 1847
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
SLOOPS OF WAR, (19.)
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Constellation, | 22 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1854
Macedonian, | 22 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1836
Portsmouth, | 22 | Portsmouth, N.H. | 1843
Plymouth, | 22 | Boston, | 1843
St. Mary's, | 22 | Washington, | 1844
Jamestown, | 22 | Norfolk, | 1844
Germantown, | 22 | Philadelphia, | 1846
Saratoga, | 20 | Portsmouth, N.H. | 1842
John Adams, | 20 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1831
Vincennes, | 20 | New-York, | 1826
Falmouth, | 20 | Boston, | 1827
Vandalia, | 20 | Philadelphia, | 1828
St. Louis, | 20 | Washington, | 1828
Cyane, | 20 | Boston, | 1837
Levant, | 20 | New-York, | 1837
Decatur, | 16 | New-York, | 1839
Marion, | 16 | Boston, | 1839
Dale, | 16 | Philadelphia, | 1839
Preble, | 16 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1839
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
BRIGS, (3.)
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Bainbridge, | 6 | Boston, | 1842
Perry, | 6 | Norfolk, | 1843
Dolphin, | 4 | New-York, | 1836
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
SCHOONER.
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Fenimore Cooper,| 3 | Purchased, | 1852
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
STEAMERS.
_Screw Steamers, 1st class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Franklin, | 50 | |
Merrimack, | 40 | Boston, | 1855
Wabash, | 40 | Philadelphia, | 1855
Minnesota, | 40 | Washington, | 1855
Roanoke, | 40 | Norfolk, | 1855
Colorado, | | |
Niagara, | | |
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
_Screw Steamer, 2d class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
San Jacinto, | 13 | New-York, | 1850
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
_Screw Steamers, 3d class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Massachusetts, | 9 | Transferred from |
| | War Dep't. |
Princeton, | 10 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1851
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
_Side-wheel Steamers, 1st class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Mississippi, | 10 | Philadelphia, | 1841
Susquehanna, | 15 | Philadelphia, | 1850
Powhatan, | 9 | Norfolk, | 1850
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
_Side-wheel Steamer, 2d class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Saranac, | 6 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1848
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
_Side-wheel Steamers, 3d class._
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Michigan, | 1 | Erie, Pa., | 1844
Fulton, | 5 | New-York, | 1837
Alleghany, | 10 | Pittsburgh, Pa., | 1847
Water Witch, | 2 | Washington, | 1845
John Hancock, | 2 | Boston, | 1850
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
STEAM TENDERS.
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Despatch, | | Purchased, | 1855
Engineer | | Purchased, |
Arctic, | | Purchased, | 1855
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
STORE-SHIPS.
----------------+-----+---------------------------
Name. |Rate.| Where | When
| | built. | built.
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
Relief, | 6 | Philadelphia, | 1836
Supply, | 4 | Purchased, | 1846
Warren, | | Boston, | 1826
Fredonia, | 4 | Purchased, | 1846
Release, | 2 | Purchased, | 1855
----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
The United States Navy has 64 Captains, 96 Commanders, 311
Lieutenants, 69 Surgeons, 43 Passed Assistant Surgeons, 37
Assistant Surgeons, 64 Pursers, 24 Chaplains, 12 Mathematicians,
24 Masters, 24 Passed Midshipmen, 30 Midshipmen, and 145
Probationary Midshipmen and Students.--_Taken from the Navy
Register of 1857._
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| TRANSCRIBERS NOTE. |
| |
| |
| Obvious typographical errors have been corrected silently. |
| |
| Mathematical symbols in the original text have been transcribed |
| as follows: |
| ^ is used to represent 'to the power of' |
| Square/cube root symbols have been written in words. |
| ("The square root of ...") |
| |
| Tables have been reformatted as necessary to limit width of |
| lines. |
| |
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