Chapter V.
1816 to 1818.—Rivals to the Thames, the Defiance (1815), Majestic and Regent (1816).—Loss of the Regent (1817).—Liverpool Steam-boats: the Runcorn Packet, the Princess Charlotte, Liverpool to Eastham (1816). Regulator and Etna, Liverpool to Tranmere (1817).—Parkgate to Bagillt, N.W., the Ancient Briton (1817).—First Spanish Steamer, Royal Ferdinand (1817).—Siberian Steam-boats (1817).—Loss of the Regulator (1818).—David Napier.—Greenock and Belfast Steamer, Rob Roy.—First Steamer between England and Ireland, the Hibernia (1816).
The successful voyage from the Clyde to the Thames achieved by Captain Dodd, and the less-known one by the Runcorn Packet from the Clyde to the Mersey, gave a great impetus to steam-packet building, and created active opposition, especially on the London and Margate service. The Thames, after being refitted, opened the service in July, 1815. She had a monopoly of the station for about three months, when the Defiance was put on in opposition. The following year saw the Majestic placed on the River Thames, and this vessel was probably the first steamer employed in towing ships. She towed, on Wednesday, 28th August, 1816, the large Indiaman, the Hope, from Deptford to Woolwich at the rate of three miles per hour against the wind.
On the 29th June of the same year, a new steamboat, named the Regent, was tried on the Thames. She was built under the supervision of the eminent engineer Brunel, by Maudsley (founder of the famous engineering firm of Maudsley and Field). Her burden was 112 tons, and she was propelled by engines of 24 horse power. On her trial trip she steamed from Blackfriars Bridge to Battersea Bridge in 30 minutes, and back through London Bridge in 52 minutes. Her machinery was remarkably light. Her engines, paddle-wheels, and all connections necessary to give and convey the motive power, weighing only five tons. The Regent had a very short existence. On the 2nd July, 1817, she left London for Margate, with between 40 and 50 passengers on board. Although it was blowing a gale, all went well until the vessel arrived off Whitstable, about 18 miles from Margate. The Regent was keeping well out in mid-channel, and was about three miles from land, when she was discovered to be on fire amidships. The force of the wind had carried away the funnel, and the wood-work at the bottom of the funnel (nearly breast high from the deck for the protection of the passengers), caught fire. The vessel’s life-saving equipment consisted of one small boat, barely sufficient to accommodate her crew; and the only available means of extinguishing the fire was by hand buckets, dipped overside. To add to the alarm of the passengers, the buckets one after the other were either broken against the side of the steamer, or carried away by the turbulent waves. The passengers bore themselves bravely, as Britons should in the face of danger, and did not give way to panic. Perfect discipline appears to have been maintained amongst the crew. Seeing that he had no means of keeping the fire under, the Captain collected all the passengers forward and headed the Regent for the nearest shore with the intention of beaching her. This he succeeded in doing without the loss of a single life, but the vessel herself was almost totally destroyed.
On the Mersey, also, progress had been made since the arrival of the first steamer, the Packet, to and from Runcorn.
In July, 1816, the steam-packet Princess Charlotte commenced the Liverpool and Eastham service, and continued to sail twice each way daily. The fare charged to Eastham and back was 1s. At Eastham the steamer connected with coaches to and from Chester, Shrewsbury, Holyhead, and many other places.
The Liverpool and Tranmere Steam Ferry was opened by the steam-packet “Etna” sailing from the West-side Queen’s Dock. She was shortly afterwards opposed by the steam-packet Regulator, running in connection with coaches from Tranmere to Parkgate, thence by steam-packet Ancient Briton to Bagillt, North Wales. During a gale on Monday, 12th January, 1818, the Regulator was sunk near the Liverpool Pierhead, but all on board were rescued.
| INTERNATIONAL CODE FLAGS. | ||
| Answering Pennant. | ||
| A | R | |
| B Powder Flag. | J | S I require a Pilot. |
| C Assent—Yes. | K | T |
| D Negative—No. | L Cholera, Yellow Fever, or Plague Flag. | U |
| E | M | V |
| F | N | W |
| G | O | X |
| H | P Blue Peter.—About to proceed to Sea. | Y |
| I | Q Quarantine Flag. | Z |
| African S. S. Co. | Allan Bros. & Co. |
| American Line. | Anchor Line. |
| Adelaide S. S. Co. | John Bacon. |
| Bates & Son. | Belfast S. S. Co. |
| Booth S. S. Co. | Bibby Line. |
Meantime other continental nations were awakening to the advantages of steam navigation.
On the 30th May, 1817, there was launched at Seville the Royal Ferdinand, the first steamer built in Spain. And, about the same date, Mr. Wesewelodsky, a man of great wealth, and owner of several rich mines in Siberia, built two steamers for navigating the River Kama. These vessels were 51 feet and 100 feet long, respectively. Mr. Wesewelodsky travelled with his steamers from his mines to Casan, a distance of 1,000 versts, and accomplished the voyage in 105 hours.
[11]“England owes to David Napier the establishment of deep-sea communication by steam-vessels, and of Post Office steam-packets. As a first step, he endeavoured to ascertain the difficulties to be encountered. For this purpose he took passage at a stormy period of the year on a sailing packet, which formed one of a line, and the only means of intercourse between Glasgow and Belfast; a passage which often required seven days to accomplish what is now done by steam in as many hours. The captain of the packet found a young man, whom he afterwards knew as Mr. Napier, during one of his winter passages to Belfast, constantly perched on the bow of the vessel, fixing an intent gaze on the sea when it broke on the side of the ship, quite heedless of the waves and spray that washed over him. He only ceased from this occupation at intervals, as the breeze freshened, to ask the captain whether the sea was such that it might be considered a rough one, and, when told that it was by no means unusually rough, he returned to the bow of the vessel and resumed his study of the waves breaking at her stem. When the breeze began to freshen into a gale, and the sea to rise considerably, he again enquired of the captain whether the sea might now be considered a rough one, and was told that as yet it could not be called very rough. Disappointed, he returned again to his station at the bow, and resumed his employment. At last he was favoured with a storm to his contentment, and when the seas, breaking over the vessel, swept her from stem to stern, he found his way back to the captain and repeated his enquiry, ‘Do you call it rough now?’ The captain replied he could not remember having faced a worse night in the whole of his experience, a reply which delighted young Napier, who muttering, as he turned away, ‘I think I can manage if that is all,’ went down to his cabin. Napier saw then the end of his difficulties, and soon satisfied himself as to the means of overcoming them. His next enquiry was as to the means of getting through the water with least resistance. To determine this, he commenced a series of experiments with models of vessels in a small tank of water, and soon found that the round full bluff bow adopted for sailing vessels was quite unsuited for speed with mechanical propulsion of a different nature. This led him to adopt the fine wedge-like bows by which the vessels built under his superintendence were afterwards so distinguished.”
Napier established regular steam-packet communication between Greenock and Belfast by means of the Rob Roy, a vessel of 90 tons burden and 30 horse power. After plying for two years between these ports with great regularity and success, the Rob Roy was transferred to the English Channel as a packet between Dover and Calais. Cross-channel steamboats between England and Ireland were first introduced in 1816, when the steam-packet Hibernia was built by a company to carry passengers between Holyhead and Howth. The Hibernia was 112 tons burden, 77 feet keel measurement, and 9 feet draft. She was lugger rigged, and capable of making the passage by sails only. Her average passage, Holyhead to Howth, was about seven hours, and her passengers frequently had the satisfaction of arriving in Dublin considerably in advance of the Mail packets.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] “History of Steam Navigation,” Adm. Prebble, U.S.N.