Chapter VIII.
St. George Steam-Packet Co. incorporated, 1822.—Swift passage of the Hero, steam yacht.—Liverpool owned steamers highly commended in Parliamentary Report, 1822.—Aaron Manby, iron steamer.—First steamer between Hull and the Continent, 1823.—City of Dublin Steam-Packet Co. founded, 1823.—H.M.S. Lightning.—General Steam-Packet Co. and the Belfast Steam-Packet Co. established, 1824.—Keen competition, Glasgow and Belfast service, 1825.—Advertising extraordinary.—G. & J. Burns commence business, 1825, as steamship owners.—Competition on the Liverpool and Dublin station.—First steamer from the Thames to Hamburg.—The Enterprize sails for Calcutta.—Rapid growth of Steam Navigation.—Sailing ship owners petition Parliament, 1826.—The Erin.—Liverpool and Kingstown Royal Mail Service.—City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. establish a Passenger Service between England, Ireland and France, 1827.
The year 1822, witnessed the first operations of what was destined to become one of the most famous of the early Steam-Packet Companies. Projected the previous year, the St. George Steam-Packet Company immediately contracted with Mr. Thomas Wilson, of Liverpool, for two large and powerful steamers, the St. Patrick and the St. George. The former was intended to trade between Dublin and Liverpool, and Dublin and the Bristol Channel; and the latter between Liverpool, the Isle of Man, and the River Clyde, Mr. Alex. A. Laird, the founder of the well-known firm of Alex. A. Laird & Co., being the agent at Greenock. The St. Patrick was launched at 10-30 a.m. on the 21st April, 1822. This event excited great interest in the town of Liverpool, as she was, if not the first steamer ever built in the port, certainly the finest specimen of the ship-building craft produced there up to that date. Her sister ship, the St. George, launched the following day, rapidly won for herself a reputation for comfort and speed. After running about six months she made a voyage from Dublin to Liverpool in 11½ hours, the shortest time on record. Eighteen months later she made a passage from Liverpool to Dublin in 10 hours 40 minutes, beating her previous record by 50 minutes. The third steamer was the Prince Llewellyn, to ply between Liverpool, Beaumaris, Bangor, and Carnarvon. The St. George Steam-Packet Co. continued until 1844, when it was re-constructed, the Cork Steamship Co. taking over its various services and seven of its steamers.
Mr. David MacBrayne’s Steamer, Inverary Castle. See Paragraph page [43].
The steam-yacht Hero is credited with a phenomenal speedy voyage on the 26th July, 1822. She is reported to have steamed from London to Margate in 6½ hours, being at the rate of 14 miles an hour.
A report relative to steam navigation was laid before the House of Commons (August, 1822). All the steam-packets belonging to Liverpool were named in a manner highly honourable to their owners, commanders and constructors.
“On Thursday, 9th May, 1822, a large party of distinguished naval officers, engineers, &c., embarked at Parliament Stairs, London, on board the Aaron Manby, iron steamboat, which immediately got under weigh and proceeded to Battersea Bridge; she then descended to Blackfriars, and manœuvred for several hours between the two bridges in a very superior style. This steamboat was built at the Horsley Iron Works, near Birmingham, by Mr. Manby, and put together at Rotherhithe. She is the most complete specimen of workmanship in the iron way that has ever been witnessed, and draws one foot less water than any steamboat that has ever been built. She is 106 feet long and 17 feet broad, and is propelled by a 30 h.p. engine and Oldham’s revolving bars. This boat will leave London in a few days for Paris, the first instance of a direct communication between the capitals of France and England. Amongst the gentlemen present were Admirals Sir William Hope, Sir Pulteny Malcomb and Sir James Wood Gage; Captains Dundas and Napier; Mr. Manby, the inventor; Mr. Williams, the patentee of the revolving bars, &c.”—“London Courier,” 15th May, 1822.
On or about the 24th March, 1823, the steam-packet Yorkshireman arrived at Hull from Antwerp, and was only 31 hours on the passage. This vessel is noteworthy as being the first steam vessel to sail from Hull to the Continent.
In the month of February of this year (1823) Mr. C. W. Williams, of Dublin, placed an order with Mr. Wilson, of Liverpool, for the pioneer steamer of the future famous City of Dublin Steam-Packet Company, the City of Dublin, a vessel of 130 h.p. It was an express stipulation with the builder, that this steamer should be constructed of such materials, and in such a manner, as to withstand the severity of the winter navigation. The City of Dublin differed from her competitors in two respects, (1) in carrying general cargo in addition to live stock and passengers, and (2) in maintaining the service uninterruptedly throughout the twelve months.
A month later, Mr. Wilson was again applied to, to build a second vessel for the company, but in consequence of his having that very morning (5th March, 1823) contracted to build the steam-packet Henry Bell for the Liverpool and Glasgow trade, it was not till some days later the contract was signed for building the Town of Liverpool, to be commenced as soon as the Henry Bell was launched.
The City of Dublin sailed from Dublin on her maiden voyage to Liverpool on Saturday, the 20th March, 1824. She anticipated, by about six months, the operations of the Dublin and Liverpool Steam Navigation Co., whose first steamer, the Liffey, 305 tons burthen, and 110 h.p., did not sail until the 13th September following. In December of the same year (1824) the Mersey joined the Liffey, and in the July following the Commerce was added to the Navigation Co.’s fleet. The Commerce was considerably larger than either of her predecessors, and was launched from the yard of Messrs. Grayson and Leadley, Trentham Street, Liverpool.
Her (late) Majesty’s steamship Lightning sailed from Algiers for home on the 27th July, 1824, calling at Gibraltar and Lisbon. She remained at Lisbon two days taking in coal, and finally arrived at Plymouth nineteen days after leaving Algiers. The Lightning was one of the first vessels in the British Navy to be supplied with steam power.
Two still existing and influential Steamship Companies were established this year. The General Steam Navigation Co., of London, and the Belfast Steam-Packet Co., afterwards merged into the Belfast Steamship Co., Limited, of Belfast.
The competition between the Steam-Packet Companies engaged in the Scotch and North of Ireland passenger trade had become so keen, that in the summer of 1825 the steamers from Belfast to Glasgow lowered their fares to 2s. for 1st cabin, 6d. for 2nd cabin, and carried deck passengers for nothing.
On the Dublin and Liverpool station competition was nearly as severe, one steamer sailing in the autumn of 1825 with upwards of 700 passengers carried at 6d. each.
Under these adverse circumstances, the proprietors of the Dublin and Liverpool Steam Navigation Co. deemed it prudent to make terms with their more powerful competitor, the City of Dublin Steam-Packet Co. The managers of the latter company, early in the following year (1st February, 1826), purchased the Navigation Co.’s steamers, and increased the capital of their own company to £250,000, in shares of £100 each.
The Press communications exchanged between the owners of the rival steam-packets must have been extremely entertaining to the citizens of Glasgow of that period. The following extraordinary literary effusion, from the owners of the steamboat Swift, was published in the “Glasgow Herald,” of the 30th June, 1825:—
“The great superiority of the Swift over the Cock Boat that is puffed off as sailing direct from the Bromielaw is now so well known at Glasgow and Belfast as scarcely to require to be noticed in this advertisement, but for the sake of strangers coming from a distance it may be proper to state that her power and size are double, and her speed so much greater, that when the two vessels start together the Swift runs the other out of sight in five or six hours. Her hours of sailing are so adapted to the tide, as to ensure the shortest possible passage, by arriving at Greenock and Glasgow about high water, and at Belfast as soon as there is water up to the quay.”
The following crushing reply of the owners of the steamer referred to as “the Cock Boat,” appeared in the next issue of the same newspaper.
“The fine new Steam-Packet George Canning continues to sail for Belfast every Tuesday and Friday. She is the only Steam-Packet that sails direct from Glasgow, therefore, her passengers are not subjected to the delay, inconvenience and risk, attending change of vessel and transhipment of luggage.
“The George Canning has crossed the Channel upwards of 60 times, and has in every instance accomplished her passage without putting into any intermediate ports.
“If the writer of a contemptible article in the Swift’s advertisement of Friday last, means the George Canning, he has the merit of stating a gross falsehood, knowing it to be such; and, therefore, written for the express purpose of deceiving the public!!!
“The author of the paragraph alluded to is challenged to produce a single instance of the Swift having ever accomplished her passage from Belfast in so short a period as the George Canning.
“The public will be surprised to learn, after reading the Swift’s advertisement, particularly ‘strangers coming from a distance,’ that the Swift and the Canning have never yet sailed together either from Belfast or Glasgow; therefore, the author of the Swift’s advertisement is left to state when and where the Swift ran the vessel alluded to out of sight.”
The rivalry between these two steamers terminated the following year, when the Swift was sold to the London, Leith and Edinburgh Shipping Company, and sailed for Leith, via Oban, Fort William and Inverness, on the 27th June, 1826. The George Canning was offered for sale by auction in June, 1831, but was evidently withdrawn. She appears to have been sold subsequently by private treaty, and sailed, after repairs, for St. Malo, Brittany, in June, 1833.
The well-known firm, G. & J. Burns, of Glasgow, commenced business as steamship owners in 1825. The style of the firm at that time was James and George Burns, and their offices were at 45, Miller Street, but in February, 1842, they changed the style of the firm to G. & J. Burns.
The first steamer employed by this firm was the new steampacket Ayr, of 76 tons, built by John Wood & Co., of Port Glasgow, and having two engines of 30 h.p. each, by John Nelson, Glasgow. The Ayr was employed in the Glasgow and Ayrshire and Galloway trade. On the 20th March following (1826) Messrs. Burns despatched their first steamer from Glasgow to Belfast. She was a new steamboat named Fingal. Her length was 116 feet, her beam 21 feet 6 inches, and her depth 12 feet 4 inches. She had two engines of 50 h.p. each. She could accommodate thirty passengers with sleeping berths, had several horse boxes on deck, and carried 180 tons of cargo. The rates for passage were, in the cabin, 20s., and on deck, 3s.; and the days of sailing from Glasgow, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Three years later (March, 1829) Messrs. Burns began their Liverpool and Glasgow service. The pioneer steamer of this service was the Glasgow, a small steamer, 120 tons deadweight, and fitted with two engines of 30 h.p. each. The Messrs. Burns have ceased for many years to have any connection with the Glasgow, Ayr and Galloway trade, but on the other two stations, Belfast and Liverpool, they have maintained continuous services for nearly eighty years. They were also largely interested in the Glasgow and West Highland Passenger Services, but sold their interests in 1851 to Messrs. David Hutcheson & Co. These services are now conducted by the fleet of splendid steamships owned by the Messrs. MacBrayne of Glasgow.[12]
On Saturday, the 30th June, 1825, a steam-packet sailed from the Thames for Hamburg, the first that had ever made that voyage.
The following month (16th August) the first steamer sailed from England (Falmouth) to Calcutta, via the Cape. This was the wooden paddle-steamer Enterprize, 470 tons burthen, 120 h.p. Further particulars of this vessel are given in Chapter IX. (Steamship Routes to India and the East).
Some idea of the marvellously rapid growth of steam navigation may be gathered from the fact that in the year 1825, just ten years after the arrival of the first steamers on the Thames and Mersey, there were 44 steam vessels on the stocks at Liverpool of from 250 to 500 tons each; while in London no less than 45 companies had been formed to establish steam-packets in every quarter of the globe. Owners of sailing ships became alarmed for their future, and at a meeting held in Swansea, on the 14th December, 1826, a resolution was passed to send a petition to the House of Commons, praying for the intervention of Parliament to protect sailing vessels against the further increase of steamers.
Amongst those steamers referred to as building at Liverpool was the Erin, the largest steamer (up to date of launching) ever built in Liverpool. Her principal dimensions were, length 161 feet, breadth 44 feet. Her tonnage was 500 tons gross, and she was propelled by engines of 180 h.p., by Fawcett and Co. She was launched from Mr. Rathbone’s yard in February, 1826, and was intended to trade regularly between London and Belfast, calling at Southampton, Plymouth and Falmouth. Her owners were the Belfast Steam Navigation Co., and she cost £20,000.
Her (late) Majesty’s Steam-Packets, for the conveyance of mails and passengers between Liverpool and Kingstown, commenced sailing on the 29th August, 1826. Captain John Emerson, R.N. (late Commander of the St. George steam-packet), was appointed Captain of one of these Royal Mail Steamers, of which there were four, all built at Liverpool, and each of 300 tons burthen.
The City of Dublin Steam-Packet Company commenced a regular steamship passenger service between England, Ireland and France in June, 1827. The route was from Belfast to Dublin, thence to Bordeaux. Passengers from the North of England were carried by the Company’s steamers between Liverpool and Dublin, connecting at the latter port with the steamer to France. The pioneer steamer of the service was the Leeds, which sailed on her first voyage from Belfast on Sunday, 17th June, and from Dublin on the following Wednesday, continuing to sail at fortnightly intervals during the season. The venture was so successful that the Directors of the Company, the following April, added the steamers Sheffield and Nottingham to the service, and increased the sailings to the 1st, 10th and 20th of each month.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] For a special account of this Firm, see Part II. of this Volume.