Steamships and their story

by E. Keble Chatterton

PREFACE

The exceptionally kind reception on the part of both Press and public which greeted the appearance of my history of the sailing ship last year, and the numerous expressions of appreciation that have reached me from so many parts of the world, have encouraged me to attempt in a similar manner to set out the story of the steamship from the earliest times to the present day.

I am by no means unaware that between the sailing ship and the steamship there is a wide difference, as well in character as in their respective development. But that is no reason for supposing that the steamship is less interesting in her history or less deserving of admiration in her final presentation. Around the sailing ship there hovers eternally a halo of romance; that is undeniable even by the most modern enthusiast. But, on the other hand, the sailing ship in the whole of her career has not done more for the good of humanity than the steamship within a century or less. It requires but a moment of thought to realise the truth of this statement; and for that reason alone, the history of the steamship makes its appeal not to a special class of reader, but to all who interest themselves in progress, in the development of their own country and empire, in the welfare of the world generally, and the evolution from stagnation to beneficial activity and prosperity. There are but few civilised people nowadays who have not been brought into contact with the steamship in one way or another. Perhaps sometimes it has been unwillingly, though at other times to their great gain. In some of those moments which have seemed to drag on wearily during the enforced idleness of a voyage, the inquiring mind has over and over again exhibited a desire to know something of the nature of the fine creature which is carrying him from one distant country to another. He has desired to know in plain, non-technical language, how the steamship idea began; how it developed; how its progress was modified, and what were the influences at work that moulded its character as we know it to-day. Further, he has felt the desire to show an intelligent interest in her various characteristics and to obtain a fair grasp of the principles which underlay the building and working of the steamship. As a normal being himself, with mind and sympathy, he has wished to be able to enter into the difficulties that have been overcome so splendidly by the skill and enterprise of others, both past and present. If he talks to the professional sailor or marine engineer, they may not, even if they have the inclination to unbend, be able easily to separate their explanation from the vesture of technicality, and the inquirer is scarcely less satisfied than before. It is, then, with a view of supplying this want that I have aimed to write such a book as will interest without, I trust, wearying, the general reader.

The plan on which I have worked has been to give the historical continuity of the steamship from the most reliable and authoritative material obtainable, and to supplement and correct a number of false statements by comparison with the latest researches. At the same time, my object has been not merely to ensure absolute historical accuracy, but to show how in a special manner and peculiar to itself the steamship is every bit as romantic, and equally deserving of our affectionate regard, as her predecessor the sailing ship, whose sphere of utility she has succeeded so materially in limiting. After having been brought safe and sound through gales of wind, across many thousands of miles of ocean, past cruel coast, and through treacherous channels, until at last the fairway and the harbour of safety have been reached, no one who has any heart at all can step ashore without feeling that he is parting from one of the noblest and best friends that a man ever had. True, there are some people, as an officer on one of the crack liners once remarked to me, who, as soon as ever the big ship is tied up alongside the landing-stage, hurry ashore from her as if she were a plague-ship. But such, let us hope, are the few rather than representative of the majority who have been brought into intimate relationship with the steamship.

Nor only to the history and the glamour of the great steam-driven vessel have I confined myself. The sea is not merely a wide ocean, but contains within its mighty bosom many smaller areas such as channels and bays wherein the steamboat is able to ply as well for pleasure as for profit; and besides the big, brave sisters with their enormous displacement and their powerful engines, there are other children which run across smaller sea-ways, and these, too, are not to be passed over lightly. Then there are fleets of special steamships which in a quiet, unostentatious manner do their noble work, and are none the less efficient, even if they escape the limelight of general publicity. I shall seek to show in the following pages not merely the conditions which in the past have hindered or helped the ship-maker, but to indicate the modern problems which have still to be faced and overcome.

The difficulty that awaits an author who writes on a technical subject for the benefit of the non-technical, average reader, is always to make himself intelligible without being allowed the full use of the customary but technical terms. In order that, as far as possible, the present volume may be both a full and accurate account of the steamship, in all times and in all the phases of her development, whilst yet being capable of appreciation by those to whom technicalities do not usually appeal, I have endeavoured whensoever possible to explain the terms employed.

The story of the steamship may at the first mention seem to be bereft of any interest beyond that which appeals to an expert in marine engineering. Pipes and boilers and engines, you are told, are not suggestive of romance. To this one might reply that neither were sails and spars during the first stages of their history; and I shall hope that after he has been so kind as to read the following pages, the reader may feel disposed to withdraw the suggestion that the steamship is a mere inanimate mass of metal. On the contrary, she is as nearly human as it is possible to made a steel shell, actuated by ingenious machinery; and, after all, it is the human mind and hand which have brought her into being, and under which she is kept continuously in control. It would be surprising, therefore, since she has been and continues to be related so closely to humanity, if she should not exhibit some of the characteristics which a human possesses.

It is fitting that the history of the steamship should be written at this time, for if final perfection has not yet arrived, it cannot be very far distant. It is but three or four years since the Lusitania and Mauretania came into being, and only during the present year have they shown themselves to possess such exceptional speed for merchant ships. On the 20th of October, 1910, will be launched the Olympic, whose size will dominate even the Mauretania. Much further than a 45,000-ton ship, surely, it cannot be possible to go; and the likelihood is that with the commercial steamship’s manifested ability to steam at the rate of over thirty-one land miles per hour, we are in sight of the limitations which encompass her. As to the future of transport, changes happen so quickly, and possess so revolutionary a character, that it is hardly safe to prophesy; but it is significant that the week before this preface was written, an aeroplane succeeded in flying, in perfect ease and safety, the 150 miles which separate Albany from New York; and thus, just a century after Fulton had convinced the incredulous by traversing the same course through water in his steamship, the latest means of travelling from one place to another has caused to look insignificant the wonderful record which Fulton, in his Clermont, was the first to set up. If, then, as will be seen from this volume, the steamship has done so much within a hundred years, what, we may legitimately ask, will be accomplished by the airship or aeroplane before another century has come to an end? Those who have the temerity to give expression to their opinions, suggest that the steamship will ultimately be made obsolete by the flying craft. If that be a true forecast, it is perhaps as well that the steamship’s story should be told here and now whilst yet she is at her prime.

Of the matter contained within this volume, much has been obtained at first hand, but much has also been derived from the labours of others, and herewith I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness. I would especially wish to mention in this connection: “A Chronological History of the Origin and Development of Steam Navigation, 1543–1882,” by Geo. Henry Preble, Rear-Admiral U.S.N. (1883); certain articles in the “Dictionary of National Biography”; “Ancient and Modern Ships: Part II., The Era of Steam, Iron and Steel,” by Sir George C. V. Holmes, K.C.V.O., C.B. (1906); “The Clyde Passenger Steamer: Its Rise and Progress,” by Captain James Williamson (1904); “The History of American Steam Navigation,” by John H. Morrison (1903); “The History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation,” by Henry Fry (1896); “The American Merchant Marine,” by W. L. Martin (1902); “The Atlantic Ferry: Its Ships, Men, and Working,” by Arthur J. Maginnis (London, 1893); “Ocean Liners of the World,” by W. Bellows (1896); “Life of Robert Napier,” by James Napier (1904); “Handbook on Marine Engines and Boilers,” by Sir G. C. V. Holmes (1889); “The Royal Yacht Squadron,” by Montague Guest and W. B. Boulton (1903); “The Rise and Progress of Steam Navigation,” by W. J. Millar (1881); “Practical Shipbuilding,” by A. Campbell Holms; “The Boy’s Book of Steamships,” by J. R. Howden (1908); “The Steam Turbine,” by R. M. Neilson (1903); “Our Ocean Railways, or Ocean Steam Navigation,” by A. Macdonald (1893); “Life of R. Fulton and a History of Steam Navigation,” by T. Wallace Knox (1887); “Life on the Mississippi,” by Mark Twain; “American Notes,” by Charles Dickens; “The Orient Line Guide,” by W. J. Loftie (1901); “The History of the Holyhead Railway Boat Service,” by Clement E. Stretton (1901); the “Catalogue of the Naval and Marine Engineering Collection in the Science Division of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington” (1899); “Catalogue of the Mechanical Engineering Collection in the Science Division” of the above (1907); “The Progress of German Shipbuilding” (1909); “Leibnizens und Huygens Briefwechsel mit Papin,” by G. W. Von Leibnitz (1881); “British Shipbuilding,” by A. L. Ayre (1910); “Lloyd’s Calendar.” In addition to the above, I have laid myself under obligation to a number of articles which have appeared at one time and another in the newspapers and periodicals within the last century, and especially to certain contributions in the Century Magazine, the Yachting Monthly, the Engineer and in Engineering. For the rest, I have relied on material which I have myself collected, as well as on much valuable matter which has been courteously supplied to me by the various shipbuilding firms and steamship lines.

My thanks are also due for the courteous permission which has been given to reproduce photographs of many of the steamships seen within these pages. To the authorities at South Kensington I am indebted for the privilege of reproducing a number of the exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wish also to thank the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company for permission to reproduce the Royal William; Mr. James Napier for [the illustration of the British Queen]; the Cunard Steamship Company for the various photographs of many of their fleet; also the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, Messrs. Ismay, Imrie and Co., Messrs. Anderson, Anderson and Co., the American Line, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Company, the Liverpool Steam Towing and Lighterage Company, Messrs. L. Smit and Co., the Ymuiden Tug Company, Messrs. Lobnitz and Co., Renfrew, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, Liverpool, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Messrs. William Doxford and Sons, Sir Raylton Dixon and Co., Messrs. Cochrane and Sons, Selby, the Fall River Line, Messrs. A. and J. Inglis, Messrs. Thos. Rhodes and Co., the Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Messrs. Camper and Nicholson, Messrs. Cammell, Laird and Co., the Great Western Railway Company, the London and North Western Railway Company, the London and South Western Railway Company, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company, Messrs. Harland and Wolff, and Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co. To the Right Hon. the Earl of Stanhope, to the New Jersey Historical Society, and also to the proprietors of the Century Magazine I wish to return thanks for being allowed to reproduce certain illustrations connected with Fulton’s early experiments in steam navigation, and to the Yachting Monthly for permission to reproduce the diagrams of steam yachts and lifeboats.

Finally, I have to apologise if through any cause it should be found that in spite of extreme carefulness errrors should have found their way into this narrative. The nature of the subject is necessarily such that to have erred herein would have been easy, but I have been at great pains to prevent such a possibility occurring.

E. Keble Chatterton.

June, 1910.