PREFACE.

WHEN the history of the nineteenth century comes to be written, not the least interesting chapter of it will be that which treats of the origin, the development, and the triumphs of Steam Navigation—that mighty combination of inventive genius and mechanical force that has bridged the oceans and brought the ends of the earth together.

During the past few years several important contributions to this class of literature have issued from the metropolitan press. Three of these deserve special mention: (1) “The Atlantic Ferry; its Ships, Men, and Working,” by Arthur J. Maginnis, gold medallist and member of the Institution of Naval Architects, 1892; (2) “Our Ocean Railways, or the Rise, Progress, and Development of Ocean Steam Navigation,” by A. Fraser-Macdonald, 1893; (3) “The History of North Atlantic Steam Navigation, with Some Account of Early Ships and Shipowners,” by Henry Fry, ex-President of Dominion Board of Trade of Canada and Lloyd’s Agent at Quebec, 1896. Each of these writers, in his own way, has treated the subject so thoroughly and satisfactorily, the author feels as though the wind had been taken out of his sails somewhat, and it is not without hesitation that he has yielded to the advice of friends in whose judgment he has implicit confidence, and ventured to follow in the wake of such accomplished writers.

If I am questioned as to motif I cannot better justify the rash deed than by endorsing the sentiment in Byron’s apostrophe:

“And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward; from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers—they to me
Were a delight.”

These pages are of a much less pretentious character than the above-named books. They are but a compilation of materials more or less intimately connected with Steam Navigation, gathered from many sources, during many years, and now woven into homely narrative. They necessarily contain much in common with these other writings on this subject, but they are projected from a different standpoint and embrace a wider field, supplying information not easily obtained, respecting the far-reaching waterways of Canada, her magnificent ship canals, and the vast steam commerce of the Great Lakes.

So numerous are the sources of information drawn upon, it is impossible to make adequate acknowledgment of them all. The agents of Atlantic lines of steamships were particularly obliging in their replies to inquiries made of them. Without in any way making them responsible for the use made of their communications, upon these my remarks on that branch of the subject are chiefly based. Among other publications I have consulted the “Transactions of the Imperial Institute,” London, and of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec; Government reports emanating from Ottawa and Washington; also many pamphlets, magazine and newspaper articles bearing on the subject, not to speak of my capacious scrap-book and some well-thumbed note-books.

Additional authorities will be indicated as the narrative proceeds. Besides these, grateful acknowledgments for valuable assistance are due to Sir Sandford Fleming and Mr. George Johnson, F.S.S., of Ottawa; to Messrs. Douglas Battersby, R. W. Shepherd, and the late Captain Thomas Howard, of Montreal; to Mr. Archibald Campbell, of Quebec; Captain Clarke Hamilton, of Kingston; Mrs. Holden, of Port Dover, Ont., and Mr. T. M. Henderson, of Victoria, B.C.; to members of the Boards of Trade in Montreal, Minneapolis and Duluth; and to the following clergymen: Rev. Dr. Bruce, of St. John, N.B.; Rev. T. F. Fullerton, of Charlottetown. P.E.I.; Rev. James Bennett, of L’Orignal, Ont., and Rev. W. H. L. Howard, of Fort William, Ont.

The illustrations have nearly all been made for this work: the wood-cuts by Mr. J. H. Walker, and the half-tones by the Standard Photo-Engraving Company, Montreal.

J. C.

Montreal, October, 1898.

CONTENTS.

page.
CHAPTER I.
The Dawn of Steam Navigation[17]

CHAPTER II.
Early Years of Steam Navigation[50]

CHAPTER III.
The Cunard Steamship Company[71]

CHAPTER IV.
North Atlantic Steamship Companies[103]

CHAPTER V.
Steam to India and the East[142]

CHAPTER VI.
Steam in the British Navy[166]

CHAPTER VII.
The St. Lawrence Route[192]

CHAPTER VIII.
Steam on the Great Lakes[244]

CHAPTER IX.
Steam Commerce of the Great Lakes[268]

CHAPTER X.
Steam Navigation in all the Provinces
of the Dominion and in Newfoundland  [307]

ILLUSTRATIONS.

STEAM VESSELS.
page
Alberta[285]
Atlantic[105]
Augusta Victoria[133]
Beaver[335]
Britannia[72]
Caledonia[146]
Campania[78]
Canada[226]
Charlotte Dundas[32]
Clermont[42]
Columba[38]
Comet[35]
Corona[329]
Crescent[191]
Duke of Wellington[167]
Empire[255]
Empress of Japan[162]
Great Britain[62]
Great Eastern[63]
Hornet[169]
Jeanie Deans[51]
John S. Colby[363]
Kaiser W. der Grosse[137]
Lake Ontario[230]
Majestic[119]
Manitou[271]
Miller’s Twin Boat[31]
Mississippi Steamer[43]
Nelson[337]
New York[47]
Niagara[74]
Normannia[131]
North-West[273]
Oceanic[117]
Ohio Steamer[45]
Paris[107]
Paris Dining-Room[109]
Paris (Stern View)[108]
Parisian[204]
Passport[327]
Pennsylvania[135]
Pilgrim[16]
Princeton[253]
Priscilla[46]
Quebec[311]
Queen Charlotte[249]
Quetta[150]
Renown[172]
Rhine Steamer[39]
Robert Garrett[49]
Royal William[ 8]
St. Louis[111]
Savannah[53]
Scotia[77]
Sirius[59]
Sovereign[317]
Stanley[352]
Teutonic[174]
Vandalia[251]
Victoria and Albert[184]
Walk-in-the-Water[250]
William IV.[325]
PORTRAITS.
Aird, Captain[215]
Allan, Sir Hugh[208]
Allan, Andrew[296]
Burns, Sir George[93]
Campbell, Captain[233]
Cunard, Sir Samuel[93]
Dutton, Captain[218]
Fleming, Sir Sandford[ 4]
Graham, Captain[211]
Hamilton, Hon. John[331]
Lindall, Captain[223]
Macaulay, Captain[227]
MacIver, David[93]
McMaster, Captain[197]
McLennan, Hugh[296]
MountStephen, Lord[ 4]
Napier, Robert[97]
Napier, Mrs.[97]
Ogilvie, W. W.[296]
Ritchie, Captain[216]
Shepherd, R. W.[322]
Smith, Captain W. H.[194]
Strathcona, Lord[ 4]
Torrance, John[308]
Wylie, Captain[212]

MISCELLANEOUS.
Canal Lock, Canadian[264]
Canal Lock, U. States[278]
Cunard Track Chart[90]
Grain Elevator[289]
Great Republic, Ship[26]
Horse-boat[29]
Map Gulf Ports, etc.[241]
Royal William—Model   [55]
Ship of the Desert[143]
Wind-boat[70]

“PILGRIM,”
Sister to Priscilla of the Fall River Line, 1890.

CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF STEAM NAVIGATION.

Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me As I gaze upon the sea! All the old romantic legends. All my dreams come back to me. —Longfellow.

The up-to-date standard—Old-time sailing ships—The clipper packet-ship—Dawn of steam navigation—Denis Papin on the Fulda—Bell’s Comet—Fulton’s Clermont—American river steamers and ferry-boats.

TRAVEL increases in faster ratio than do facilities for inter-communication. The prophecy surely is being fulfilled in these latter days, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” It is estimated that at least 750,000 persons travel yearly between Europe and America; 99,223 cabin passengers and 252,350 steerage passengers landed at New York from Europe in 1896. The Cunard Line brought the largest number of cabin passengers, 17,999, from Liverpool, and the North German Lloyd Line the largest number of steerage, namely, 38,034, from Bremen.

Notwithstanding the wonderful development of railway and steamship systems, means of conveyance during the summer months often fall short of the demand. Passages by the more popular lines of steamships must be engaged months ahead; in many cases the ships are uncomfortably crowded. At such times sofas take the place of berths, and all the officers’ rooms, from the coveted Captain’s cabin to the second and third stewards’ bunks, are called into requisition and held at a round premium. On Saturday, the 8th of May, 1897, no less than 1,500 saloon passengers left New York for Liverpool on the great ocean greyhounds. The travelling season is comparatively short, the competition is keen, and the enormous expense of building, furnishing and running up-to-date steamships renders it difficult to provide the requisite accommodation on a paying basis. The up-to-date steamship must be built of steel, to combine light weight with strength. It must have triple or quadruple expansion engines to economize fuel. It must be propelled by twin or triple screws, as well for the easier handling of the vessel as for safety in case of a breakdown of machinery, and for attaining the highest possible speed. Our ideal steamship must be able to turn quite round in its own length, and to go through the water at an average speed of at least twenty knots an hour. To attain these results, ships of a very large class are called for—nothing short of from eight to ten thousand tons burthen will come up to the mark. There are many magnificent steamships in the North Atlantic trade and elsewhere but as yet few have in all respects reached the up-to-date standard, and even those that are such this year, a few years hence are certain to be regarded as quite behind the times. There is no valid reason to suppose that the process of development which has been going on during the last fifty years in this direction is to be arrested at the close of the century. The indications, so far as they can be interpreted, are all in the opposite direction. The paddle-wheel ocean steamer reached its zenith with the launch of the Scotia of the Cunard Line in 1862. She was the last of the race.

The wooden steamship, “copper-fastened and copper-bottomed,” etc., etc., is long since a thing of the past. The iron age, which succeeded the wooden, has been changed to steel, and steel may change to something else, and steam to electricity. Who knows? Mr. Maginnis, who is himself an engineer and an architect, speaks with authority when he says that, “Whether the improvements be in the ship or in the machinery, gradual advances will be made in the near future.” The thirst of competing steamship companies for conquest on the high seas—at any cost—and the ambition of ship-builders to improve upon the latest improvements, will not be satisfied with present attainments, even if it can be proved to a demonstration that thousands of additional horse-power and hundreds of additional tons of coal per day would be required to increase to any appreciable extent the maximum rate of speed that has already been reached. In the meantime some idea may be formed of the possible saving in the consumption of fuel when it is stated that, by a system of induced draught, discovered since the last two Cunarders were designed, the number of boilers necessary to generate steam enough for 30,000 indicated horse-power may be reduced to little more than one-half, which, to put it briefly, means a corresponding saving in space, weight and first cost.[1] In fact, well-informed marine engineers do not hesitate to express their opinion that the day is not far distant when Atlantic greyhounds may be coursing across the ocean at the rate of thirty knots an hour, bringing Queenstown and Sandy Hook within ninety-three hours of each other.

It is difficult to form a correct idea, from any verbal or pictorial representation, of the elegance, the convenience and the comfort attaching to the “Express Steamship.” Nothing short of a voyage or voyages in one of these floating palaces would suffice to give an adequate conception of their excellence. And yet, when all is said that can be said in praise of the steamship, some of us “old stagers” can look back, if not with lingering regret, at least with pleasant recollection, to the days of the packet-ship, and even of the sailing vessel of humbler pretensions.

Some of the early emigrant ships were certainly of a mean order, and many emigrants suffered cruel hardships before they reached their destination. It was not an uncommon thing for five or six hundred men, women and children to be huddled together indiscriminately in the hold of a vessel of from 250 to 300 tons, doomed to subsist on coarsest food, and liable to be immured beneath hatches for days or weeks at a time, without medical attendance, obliged to cook their own food, and scantily supplied with water; and all this for eight or ten weeks at a stretch!

In one of his autobiographic sketches the late Bishop Strachan says that he sailed from Greenock in the end of August, 1799, “under convoy,” and such was then the wretched state of navigation, he did not reach Kingston, by way of New York and Montreal, till the 31st of December. In a letter before me an aged friend recites the story of his adventurous voyage from Liverpool to Quebec, some fifty years ago. The ship was a superannuated bluff-bowed East Indiaman, but counted good enough in those days to carry five hundred emigrants across the stormy Atlantic. When ten days out they encountered a hurricane which drove the vessel out of her course. Her three masts fell overboard. The cook’s galley and the long boat, the water casks, and everything else on deck, vanished in the gale. The huge hulk rolled like a log in the Bay of Biscay for several days, the passengers meanwhile being confined between decks in horrible confusion. A passing steamer towed them back to Plymouth, where six weeks were spent in refitting the ship, each adult receiving ten shillings and sixpence per week for board and lodging until the repairs were completed. After seven weeks more of great discomfort “and tyrannical treatment on the part of the captain,” they finally reached Quebec in 107 days after first embarking at Liverpool.

My own experience of sailing ships, though fifty-seven years have elapsed, is still fresh in mind and recalls some pleasant memories. My first voyage to New York was from the Clyde in a new American ship, commanded by one Captain Theobald, a typical New Englander, as fine a man as one could desire to meet. The voyage was uneventful in the ordinary sense of the term, but one’s first voyage in a sailing ship is an event never to be forgotten. It was anticipated with peculiar interest, and regarded with far greater importance than attaches to crossing the Atlantic nowadays. So far from being monotonous, there were incessant changes in sea and sky, in the dress of the ship, and the occupations and songs of the sailors. One day the ship might be bowling along beautifully, decked out in her royals and sky-sails, her studding-sails and stay sails; next day, perhaps, she might be scudding under reefed topsails before an easterly gale, pooping seas that washed the quarterdeck and tumbled like a waterfall into the waist of the ship. Occasionally, a “white squall” coming up would make things lively on deck while it lasted. If becalmed in the right place we caught codfish. For the most part, however, the familiar refrain of “tacks and sheets” would be heard many times a day and in the night watches, as we tacked this way and that way against westerly breezes, thankful if the log showed that we had advanced on our course forty or fifty miles in twenty-four hours.

My second voyage westward in a sailing ship was also a memorable one. The Scotch captain of the good ship Perthshire, in which we sailed from the Tail of the Bank, off Greenock, on June 19th, 1844, was very unlike the Yankee skipper of the previous voyage. Captain S—— was kind and attentive to his passengers, but not at all popular with his crew. As I watched him taking the sun, the first day out, he said, “Young man, you are going to be some weeks on board this ship, with nothing to do but to eat and drink and sleep. Suppose you take a few lessons in navigation? Here is a spare quadrant which you can use.” I jumped at the offer, and very soon mastered at least the outlines of the business. Much was learned in these six weeks—how to find the latitude and longitude at sea; to ascertain the precise deviation of the chronometer from Greenwich time, and of the compass from its true bearing; to measure the trend and velocity of ocean currents, and, failing solar observations, how to consult the moon and the stars. This was not only interesting; it was a fascinating pastime. The captain of a twenty-knot steamship has seldom need to “resolve a traverse;” he steers a straight course for his destination, and can usually estimate within a few hours, or even minutes, when he will reach it. It is quite different with the master of a sailing vessel; after contending with contrary winds and being driven out of his course for weeks at a time, he must often wrack his brains before he can locate his exact position on the chart. To be enveloped in dense fog in the near neighbourhood of Sable Island for several days at a time, as happened to us on this voyage, is a very perplexing position to be in.

For a slight offence Captain S—— would send a man aloft to scrape masts in a gale of wind; for a graver misdemeanour he would clap him in irons; had the lash been permitted, he would probably not have hesitated to use it. As might be supposed, things did not go very well in the fo’castle. At length a climax was reached, when the starboard watch came aft one day and lodged a complaint. Getting little or no satisfaction, they retired sullenly, went below, and refused to work for a whole week. The working of the ship then devolved on the first and second mates, the carpenter and the cook, with such of the cabin passengers as could give them assistance. The steerage passengers, siding with the sailors, would not touch a rope, and things even went so far that one of them was placed in confinement for insolence. Some of us were rather glad of the opportunity thus afforded of running up the rigging and creeping through the lubbers’ hole without being “salted.” When orders were given to shorten sail or shake out a reef, we “lay out” on the yard in sailor fashion; but how much good we did on such occasions will never be known.[2] At any rate, we counted it fine fun, and it gave the fiasco a touch of romance that we slept with loaded pistols under our pillows. But the mutiny ended harmlessly when the pilot came on board. One may cross the Atlantic nowadays without any kind of “adventure” like that to adorn a tale, even without so much as once speaking to the captain.

Not every one has the chance of seeing Jack in his citadel. I was deputed by the captain to interview the strikers and endeavour to pacify them. Armed with a copy of the shipping articles which the men had all signed, and another formidable document printed in very large type, I went down into the dingy cabin at the dinner hour. Such a place as it was! I shall never forget it. It corresponded in minute detail to Dana’s description of his fo’castle in “Two Years Before the Mast.” It was devoid of furniture. There was not even a table to place their food on. In the centre of the floor stood a dirty-looking wooden tub containing a junk of boiled salt beef; near it was a pail full of boiled rice and some hard-tack. The men, about a dozen of them, sat each man on his sea-chest, using his jack-knife to cut and carve with. There were no plates. Imagine the rest. The only grievance they would mention to me was that they had been refused molasses with their rice! Their mind was made up to stay under hatches till the pilot came aboard. They would work for him, but not for the captain; and they kept their word. As I was about leaving, the spokesman of the party, pointing to the mess on the middle of the floor, said with a look that constrained pity, “Mister, how would you like that for your own dinner?” He had the best of the argument. It may be added here that this voyage to New York lasted forty-two days, and the last entry in my log is to the effect that we made as good a passage as any ship from England, “beating the Columbus packet-ship by two days!”

“GREAT REPUBLIC.”
Last of the Clipper Passenger Packets, 1854.

The clipper “packet ship” was a vast improvement on the ordinary sailing ship. It had just reached its highest point of development when the ocean steamship first made its appearance. It was to the upper strata of the travelling community, sixty years ago, the counterpart of the express steamer of to-day. The packet-ship was built for fast sailing, with very fine lines, was handsomely fitted up and furnished, was exceedingly well found in eatables and drinkables, and carried a great spread of canvas. To see one of these ships under full sail was a sight to be remembered—a rare sight, inasmuch as all the conditions of wind and water necessary for the display of every stitch of canvas are seldom met with in the North Atlantic. They not unfrequently crossed in fourteen or fifteen days. In winter they might be three months on a single voyage, but their average would be from twenty-five to thirty days.

There were many separate lines of packet-ships sailing at regular intervals from London and Liverpool, and from Hamburg and Havre, to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other American ports. Among these were the famous Black Ball Line, the White Star Line, the Old and the New Line of Liverpool packets, etc. The New Line was American, and of it E. K. Collins, the promoter of the Collins’ Line of steamers, was the New York agent. The ships were named Shakespeare, Siddons, Sheridan, Garrick, and so forth, hence this was called the “Dramatic Line.” It is refreshing to read one of their advertisements in the Montreal Gazette, as old as November 20th, 1838:

“These ships are of the first-class, upwards of 800 tons burthen, built in the city of New York, with such improvements as to combine great speed with unusual comfort to passengers. Every care has been taken in the arrangement of their accommodation. The price of passage hence is $140, for which ample stores, including wines, etc., will be provided; without wines, etc., $120. These ships will be commanded by experienced masters, who will make every exertion to give general satisfaction. Letters charged at the rate or 25 cents per single sheet.

☛The ships of this line will hereafter go armed, and their peculiar construction gives them security not possessed by any other but vessels of war.”

E. K. COLLINS, New York.
WM. & JAS. BROWN & CO., Liverpool.

The Great Republic, one of the last of the clipper packet-ships, was built in the United States in 1854. She was a four-master of 3,400 tons, 305 feet long, 53 feet beam, and 30 feet in depth. She made the run from New York to the Scilly Islands in thirteen days. She ended her sailing career as a French transport ship, and finally was degraded to a coal hulk. The largest sailing vessel afloat at the present time is the five-masted steel ship La France, built on the Clyde by D. & W. Henderson for French owners. She is 6,100 tons burthen, 375 feet long, 49 feet wide and 33¾ feet depth. Her fore mainmast is 166 feet high. On her first trip from Cardiff to Rio Janeiro she carried 6,000 tons of coal, and attained a speed of twelve and a half knots.