History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 4 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

CHAPTER VI.

Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company—City of Glasgow, 1850—City of Manchester, 1851—Speed of City of Paris and City of Brussels—Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve and facilitate cheap emigration to the United States—Large number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers—City of Chester, 1873—City of Berlin, 1875—Ocean steamers to Canada, 1853—First mail contract, 1852—Allan line of steamers, 1856—Extent and capacity of its fleet—Speed of these vessels—Galway line a failure—Loss of Connaught, 1860—Rapid passage of Adriatic, 1861—Struggles between sailing-clippers and iron screw-ships—National Steam Navigation Company, 1863—Their splendid ships—Old Black Ball line—The Guion line, 1863—Mississippi and Dominion Company—White Star line, 1870—Strict regulations for safety—Britannic and Germanic—Their great speed—Details of Britannic and form of her screw—Difficulty of estimating real cost of steamers—Pennsylvania Company, 1873—Anchor line from the Clyde, 1856—Prodigious range of their trade operations—The Victoria—Hamburg American Steam Packet Company—North German Lloyd’s.

Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company.

The year 1850 proved somewhat remarkable in the history of steam navigation. But among the various undertakings commenced in the course of that year, the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company, better known as the Inman line, was perhaps the most important.

City of Glasgow, 1850.

Mr. William Inman, the managing owner, by whose energy their present large fleet of iron screw-steamers was created, had for some time given his attention to the application of the screw, for the purpose of propelling ocean-going steamers. Impressed with its superiority over the paddle-wheel, he entered into communication with the late David Tod, of the firm of Tod and Macgregor, iron shipbuilders and engineers in Glasgow, who had formed, in common with the owners of the Great Britain, the idea of starting a continuous service of voyages across the Atlantic with vessels built of iron and driven by screws, an experiment at that time considered rather hazardous, and, with that object, had in 1850 launched the City of Glasgow, a vessel of 1600 tons, and 350 horse-power. Subsequently, she was purchased by the Inman Company, and sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia on the 17th of December, 1850, continuing in that service for many years.

City of Manchester, 1851.

In 1851, the Inman Company purchased the steam-ship City of Manchester, of which the following is an illustration, built also by Messrs. Tod and Macgregor,[228] and with these vessels a fortnightly service between Liverpool and Philadelphia was established and continued up to the year 1857. Between 1851 and 1856 the City of Baltimore, the Kangaroo, and the City of Washington, all iron screw-ships, were added to this line.

“CITY OF MANCHESTER.”

In the year 1857 the Inman Company enlarged the area of their operations by making New York one of their ports of arrival, and establishing a regular fortnightly line thither. In 1860 they increased the service of their steamers to once a week; in 1863 to three times a fortnight, and in 1866 they sent forth their steamers twice every week during the summer months.

Speed of City of Paris, and City of Brussels.

To some extent the failure of the Collins line proved the fortune of the Inman, for, when that unfortunate undertaking collapsed, Mr. Inman at once assumed their dates of sailing, and carried the United States’ mails between England and America for some time afterwards with great regularity. Nor were the vessels of the Inman line less swift than their predecessors. Indeed, their City of Paris,[229] of 3081 tons gross register, and 500 nominal horse-power, and their City of Brussels, of 3747 tons, and 600 horse-power, far surpassed the fastest steamers of the Collins Company, and they in turn were surpassed by the City of Richmond.[230]

Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve and facilitate cheap emigration to the United States.

But whatever advantages may have been derived by carrying the United States’ mails, Mr. Inman, apart from these, specially directed his attention to the conveyance of emigrant passengers (who found in his ships greater comfort, and a much more rapid means of reaching the United States than could be obtained in the fastest of the American sailing packets), and thus laid, at the outset, the foundation for the future prosperity of the company he had formed. It was he who first gave to the masses from the overcrowded cities of Europe, more economical and rapid means than they had hitherto enjoyed of reaching a country where their labour was in demand, and, by wise and judicious arrangements in his steamers, supplied what had hitherto been to a great extent wanting, the more complete separation of the sexes on the voyage to the land of their adoption. While reaping the reward to which his meritorious services were justly entitled, he conferred a boon worthy of remembrance on myriads of poor people, and I should ill perform the duty I have undertaken, were I not to specially notice his exertions on behalf of those of the industrious working classes, who felt it necessary to seek for themselves and their children, the means of obtaining honest employment in other and in distant lands.[231]

Large number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers.

In 1856 and 1857, the Inman Company conveyed in their steamers eighty-five thousand passengers, to and from the United States of America, or about one-third of all the persons who crossed the Atlantic in steamships during these two years; and that this company long maintained the favourable prestige they had at first secured, may be seen by the official returns of emigrants landed in New York for the year 1870.[232]

City of Chester, 1873.

In 1873 this Company added two magnificent screws to their fleet, the City of Chester, of which an illustration will be found on the following page, and the City of Richmond, each of 4700 gross, or 3000 net register tonnage, and 800-horse power. These vessels were built by Messrs. Caird and Co., of Greenock, and by Messrs. Tod and MacGregor, of Glasgow, and are each 453 feet 6 inches in length over all, with a beam of 43 feet, and a depth of hold of 36 feet. They are spar-decked, have iron masts and solid iron bulwarks, and they are ship-rigged. In midships, there are long rows of centre and side houses, for a portion of the passengers and crew, and where accommodation is likewise afforded for the steering gear which is wrought by manual labour or steam power. There are also “the galley-saloons,” providing cooking apparatus sufficient for 1500 persons; while five of the side houses are devoted to the purpose of male and female hospitals. The engines of these vessels are compound with inverted cylinders and surface condensers; the large cylinder being 120 inches, and the smaller one 76 inches in diameter; the length of stroke of the piston is 5 feet; and their speed on trial was 16 knots an hour.[233]

S.S. “CITY OF CHESTER.”

City of Berlin, 1875.

But the Inman Company has recently launched from the yard of Messrs. Caird and Company a still larger and more magnificent vessel, the City of Berlin, being the longest and perhaps the largest merchant steam-vessel afloat, the Great Eastern alone excepted. Her dimensions are: length over all, 520 feet; breadth 44 feet; and depth to spar deck, 37 feet; her gross register is 5500 tons; she is supplied with two direct-acting high and low pressure engines (compound condensing) of 900 nominal, but indicating, as proved on trial, 4799 horse-power; her cylinders being 120 and 72 inches diameter respectively, with a piston stroke of 5 feet 6 inches; she has twelve boilers and thirty-six furnaces; and she has accommodation for 202 first-class passengers, and 1500 intermediate passengers and emigrants.[234]

A list of the Inman Company’s vessels on the 1st of January, 1875, will be found in the [Appendix].[235]

The success which had attended the British steamers engaged in the trade with the United States, led to further projects for extending this beneficial agency to the British North American Colonies, and induced the attempt to introduce a regular line of steam-ship communication between Liverpool and Canada by means of the natural estuary of the St. Lawrence. Magnificent, however, as this river unquestionably is, when looked on as an artery of commerce between the rich agricultural and mineral districts along its margins, and the vast tracts of fertile country around its lakes, its navigation is attended with many difficulties and presents numerous dangers. Not the least of these arises from the ice, which, on breaking up, is apt to choke the river, and at the same time to cause the elimination of quantities of watery vapour, which, partially condensed by the surrounding low temperature, is converted into dense fog, so thoroughly impervious to the sun’s rays, as to bewilder the most skilful mariner, and incalculably to increase the dangers to which voyaging in these waters is otherwise exposed.

Ocean steamers to Canada, 1853.

But the indomitable spirit of British shipowners refuses to recognise dangers or to acknowledge difficulties save with a resolution to combat and overcome them; and so it has fared with the suggestion made in June, 1852, for applying steam-ships to carry on the mail and other rapid traffic with British North America. Previously, the trade between this country and Canada, had been carried on by a superior class of sailing-ships, many of which during its early history were commanded by their owners or their sons. Among these early merchant traders to Canada, Mr. Alexander Allan, the father of the family that gives its name to the present Allan line of steamers, had a prominent place.[236] When the success of screw-steamers upon the Atlantic had been assured, the members of the Allan family turned their attention to the advantages to be derived from their employment of such vessels, and established a line of them to run between Liverpool, Quebec, and Montreal during the period of open navigation, and between Liverpool and Portland when the St. Lawrence is icebound.[237]

First Mail Contract, 1852.

Before, however, their vessels were finished, the Canadian Government advertised (June, 1852) for the conveyance of their mails between this country and Canada in summer, and Portland in winter. For this service a contract was concluded with Messrs. McKean, McLarty, and Lamont of Liverpool, who formed a company and opened the line in the spring of 1853, with a vessel of 500 tons register named the Genova: the line was continued for about eighteen months by means of the steamer Cleopatra, of 1467 tons, and two smaller vessels, the Ottawa and Charity, and the Canadian, the first steamer built for Messrs. Allan, who had chartered her to the company.

Allan Line of Steamers, 1856.

Extent and capacity of its fleet.

But the service, which was conducted with varying regularity, proving unprofitable, was transferred to the Allans, who undertook with the fleet they were building, specially for this trade, to carry on a fortnightly service to Quebec in summer, and a monthly voyage to Portland (Maine) in winter, for the annual subsidy of 24,000l. The Crimean war, however, occurring in 1854, offered more remunerative employment to the steamers of the fleet of both contractors. And, consequently, the regular mail service by the Allan line (which at the first was designated the Montreal Ocean Steam-ship Company) was not commenced until April, 1856. Since then it has been maintained with unbroken regularity, with the exception of various serious losses, which might almost have been anticipated in the early history of the service, considering the dangerous character of the navigation. From a fortnightly line in summer, and a monthly line in winter, the operations of the company have been expanded into a regular weekly service, supplemented by an additional fortnightly mail service between Liverpool and Halifax, extending during summer to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and continued, monthly, during winter by means of an iceboat, between Halifax and St. John’s, when the latter port cannot be approached by ocean steamers.

Steamers of the Allan fleet also trade between Liverpool and Baltimore, and a weekly line of this company is maintained between Glasgow and Canada in summer. A list of the Allan steamers will be found in the [Appendix]:[238] and I must add that they are now unsurpassed in their efficiency and regularity by any of the Atlantic lines.

Their steamer, the Hibernian, built in 1861, was the first in the Atlantic trade, where the deck-houses were covered by a promenade deck, stretching from stem to stern, which prevents a sea, when it breaks on board, from filling the passages between the deck-houses and bulwarks. Indeed, so highly was the plan approved by Government, that the unproductive spaces under this deck were made, by order of the Board of Trade, the subject of a special exemption from tonnage measure by the deck-shelter clause of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. Other Atlantic lines adopting this protection obtained like privileges, but, difficulties arising in connection with ships of somewhat different construction which however claimed the same exemption, Government was obliged to abolish all such immunities.

Speed of these vessels.

Some of the vessels of this line are remarkable for their speed. For instance, in October, 1872, the Polynesian on her first voyage, made the passage between Quebec and Londonderry in seven days eighteen hours and fifty-five minutes; while her sister ship, the Sarmatian, was engaged by Government to convey the 42nd Highlanders to the Gold Coast, in the recent Ashantee war.

The Hungarian, one of the earliest of these steamers, made the passage from Quebec to the Rock Light in nine days six hours and thirty-five minutes, or from land to land in six days. Another, the Peruvian, completed one of the fastest round voyages on record in any Atlantic line; on the 16th of December, 1864, she left Moville (port of call, near Londonderry in Ireland, for the Allan boats) at 6.24 P.M., discharged her cargo at Portland (State of Maine, United States), took in her homeward cargo, and sailing, arrived back at Moville on the 10th of January, 1865, at 9.15 A.M., thus making the passage out and home, including detentions at Portland, while discharging and loading her cargoes, in twenty-four days fifteen hours.

In the limited space at my disposal it would be impossible for me to notice all the lines of steamships now traversing the ocean, and I must, therefore, in a great measure, confine my remarks to those which have led the way and have become either famous by their success or conspicuous by their failure, so that my readers may, it is to be hoped, learn in their day and generation, wisdom from them both, seeing, in the former, what they ought to imitate or if possible improve on; in the latter, what they had better avoid and condemn. Thus, in the Parliamentary Report[239] on the “Royal Atlantic Steam Navigation Company,” better known as the “Galway line,” will be found an account of the brief career of one of the most unfortunate and disastrous of these undertakings.

Galway line a failure.

Having in view the success of the three British lines of steamers to which I have just referred, but at the same time paying no heed to the warning presented by the Collins Company in their endeavours to traverse, with unusual speed, the fickle and stormy Atlantic, a company of English and Irish gentlemen, most of whom had little knowledge and, certainly, no experience of the business they were about to undertake, proposed to the British Government, in January 1859, to carry Her Majesty’s mails from Galway to Portland, Boston or New York, viâ St. John’s, Newfoundland, or otherwise, for the sum of 3000l. per voyage, “such voyage being the passage out and home.” The great attraction, however, of the offer lay in the further condition that “they would undertake to convey telegraphic messages from the United Kingdom to British North America and the United States in six days, casualties excepted,” the Atlantic cable being then only in contemplation: that is, they offered to make the passage between Galway and St. John’s, Newfoundland, at all seasons of the year, in the unprecedented short time of six days. A contract based on this proposal was entered into on the 21st April, 1859, to which a table was annexed[240] of the time in which this company further agreed to deliver letters at New York and at Galway. With the object of carrying out this contract, the “Royal Atlantic Steam Navigation Company concluded, on the 10th June, 1859, an agreement with Messrs. Palmer of Newcastle, for the construction of two ships at a cost of 95,000l. each, and, on the 15th June, they entered into another contract with Messrs. Samuelson of Hull, for the construction of two other ships at a cost of 97,500l. each. These vessels were to be built according to lines, plans, and specifications approved by the Admiralty, and were to be delivered within eleven months from the date of the agreements, the commencement of the postal service according to contract having been fixed for June 1860.”[241]

The dimensions of these ships were 360 feet long, 40 feet beam, and 32 feet depth of hold. They were each 2800 tons measurement, with engines of about 850 nominal horse-power; in model and equipment they were somewhat similar. Indeed, the Connaught and the Hibernia, built by Messrs. Palmer, were “precisely the same;”[242] a clause in their agreement with the company requiring, “that each of the said vessels when completed was, on a fair and proper trial thereof, to accomplish a speed at the rate of 20 statute miles per hour in smooth water, and to consume not more than 8800 pounds of fuel per hour.”[243] But, on the trial of the Connaught, the Government inspector reported that the speed of this “vessel was about thirteen knots; the average revolutions of the engines, 16·6; the average pressure of steam in the boilers being 22½ lbs. on the square inch, and the vacuum in the condensers 24½ inches.”[244]

Loss of the Connaught, 1860.

Difficulties and differences of various kinds having arisen, none of these vessels were delivered within the time agreed upon, and the company was consequently obliged to start the service with a hired vessel—the Parana—which sailed from Galway on the 27th of June, 1860, arriving at St. John’s in seven days thirteen and a half hours, and at New York in eleven days seventeen and three-quarter hours after her departure, or fifteen hours and three-quarters behind the contract time for the delivery of the mail bags at her final destination, and one day thirteen and three-quarter hours beyond the stipulated time for delivering the telegraph messages at St. John’s. The Connaught followed, in her case direct for Boston, on the 11th of July, and was twenty-two and a half hours over time in reaching that place. But serious disasters soon befell these steamers: the Connaught was totally lost on her second voyage in October, of this year when approaching Boston, she having, on this occasion, been one day and twenty and a half hours behind time in reaching St. John’s. One voyage had, consequently, to be omitted altogether. The second ship belonging to the company, the Hibernia, encountering a severe gale on her way from the Tyne to Galway was so thoroughly disabled that she never entered the service at all,[245] while their third new ship, the Columbia, which sailed for the United States on the 9th of April from Galway, returned in May disabled by ice,[246] after making the slowest passage outwards of any of the fleet, having been ten days seven and a half hours in reaching St. John’s, and seventeen days twenty and three-quarter hours before she arrived at Boston.[247]

Rapid passage of the Adriatic, 1861.

The steamship Prince Albert was chartered to take the place of the Connaught, and in February 1861 the Company purchased the Adriatic, one of the most famous ships of the Collins line. The transfer of this ship to the British flag does not seem to have reduced her speed or detracted from her celebrated sea-going qualities, for she made the run from Galway to St. John’s in six days, the specified time, and, having completed the passage to New York in one day fifteen hours and a quarter less than the contract time, returned from St. John’s to Galway in five days nineteen hours and three-quarters, perhaps the quickest passage on record from port to port across the Atlantic.[248]

But, having, within six months, lost one of their vessels, while another was disabled by storm, and a third rendered unfit for the mail service in her encounter with ice off Newfoundland, the Company, finding it impossible to raise fresh capital in the face of such disasters, had no course left but to abandon their undertaking and terminate their contract in May 1861. The return[249] of the earnings and costs to Government of the Galway line of mail steamers shows a heavy loss to the public, but, though I have no means of knowing the amount of the losses of the company itself during its brief career, these must have been far greater; indeed, it was currently reported that the shareholders lost in eighteen months nearly all, if not the whole, of their capital.

Struggles between the “clippers” and the iron screw-ships.

But, however disastrous the results to the American shareholders of the Collins line on the one hand, or to the British shareholders of the Galway line of steamers on the other (both these undertakings being, it should be remembered, largely subsidized), the ardour of private and unsubsidized energy in no way abated. The ocean race for supremacy in the carrying trade of the Atlantic was still maintained; and the struggle continued with quite as much spirit as ever between the American owners of sailing-clippers and the British shareholders of iron screw-steamers. It was a brave fight: but the wooden clippers of America had no chance against the iron screws of Great Britain, although the race was not then so unequal as might appear, arising from the fact that the current expenses of the clippers were far less then than those of the steamers, while their capacity for cargo was far greater. Indeed, for a time, it was questionable whether the clippers did not yield their owners quite as good returns on the capital invested as the steamers. The wooden clipper, however, had reached perfection, (the world having never previously seen a more splendid class of sailing-ships than the “Yankee liners of that day,”) whereas the screw, being still in its infancy, moved onwards with the progress of science, improvements in machinery tending to reduce the current expenses and to increase the capacity of the ship by reducing the consumption of fuel, so that the sailing-ships were obliged to succumb. At last, the screw-steamers slowly but surely obtained an almost complete supremacy, and have now no competitors (except among themselves) in the more valuable portion of the carrying trade across the Atlantic.

National Steam Navigation Company, 1863.

The success which had attended the Inman and the Allan lines of steamers induced others to follow their example; and various undertakings of a similar character were started in rapid succession. Thus, with the view of availing themselves of recent legislative measures for the encouragement of mercantile associations, a number of Liverpool merchants and shipowners established, in 1863, the National Steam Navigation Company with a capital of 700,000l. The original intention of the promoters of this undertaking was to provide for the large trade they felt assured must arise between this country and the Confederate States whenever the lamentable war then raging in America should have exhausted itself, and when peace returning should have showered down its many blessings on that fertile and teeming land; their first plan, therefore, was to carry on a regular periodical line of first-class steam-ships between Liverpool and the Southern States. The anxiously hoped for peace between the contending parties in America did not, however, arrive so soon as they had anticipated, and, as the requisite capital had been obtained, and their ships were ready for service, they sent forth their steamers to compete for a portion of the passenger and goods trade of the Northern States, which the Cunard, Inman, and Allan lines were now carrying on with great success.

Their splendid ships, and complete success.

The first vessels of the National Company dispatched to ply between Liverpool and New York, were the Louisiana, the Virginia, and the Pennsylvania screw-ships of a gross tonnage, respectively, of 3000 and 3500 tons; at that time being the largest vessels afloat. In 1864, the company added to its fleet the Erin, the Queen, and the Helvetia, each of an increased tonnage. With these six vessels the company was enabled to lay the foundation of so successful a trade that, at the conclusion of the war, the directors found the utmost capacity of their vessels insufficient to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic between the two nations. In 1865, their fleet was again increased by the further addition of the England and the Denmark, of 3723 tons, and these vessels, again, were followed in 1866, by the France, of nearly similar dimensions. In 1868, the Italy, of 4300 tons, was placed on the line, and was the first in that trade in which engines on the compound principle were placed. The Holland, of 3847 tons, followed in 1869. The year 1870 proving to be one of great prosperity to the company, the Egypt and the Spain, of 4669 and 4512 tons respectively, were added to the fleet. These vessels were built by the Liverpool Shipbuilding Company, and by Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead, and are justly considered very fine specimens of naval architecture.

This Company now maintain a weekly service, leaving Liverpool every Wednesday and New York every Saturday; and a fortnightly service from London to New York viâ Havre. Following the example of the Cunard Company, the commanders of the ships are required to navigate at certain seasons within fixed limits of latitude, and to furnish a chart to the Company with the lines of their course during each voyage laid down upon it. Stringent regulations are also issued and enforced, and, to the credit of the Company, they have not during their existence, lost a single passenger through negligence or any accident of the sea.

Old Black Ball line.

It is a curious fact that, as a rule, the owners of the principal American clipper lines of sailing-ships were among the last to see that their vessels, however splendid, were being daily eclipsed by the screw steamers of Great Britain. Thus, conspicuous among the lines which bravely contended against the new motive power, and long maintained itself in full force, may be mentioned the Old Black Ball line, which, when I remember it, a quarter of a century ago, possessed upwards of twenty of the finest sailing-packets I ever saw. They were grand ships of their class, and admirably fitted for the trade in which they were engaged, carrying, during some of the later years of their career, a thousand passengers every week, during the summer months, from our shores to the United States. But even the Black Ball was at last obliged to give in, having previously merged into or formed part of the Guion line of sailing-ships, which in their day were equally celebrated for the regularity of their passages.[250]

The Guion line. 1863.

In 1863, however, Mr. S. B. Guion, the chief owner of the line bearing his name, finding it no longer possible to contend against the screws, though evidently still doubtful of their permanent success, entered into an arrangement to supply, through his old connections and agents in America, the Cunard and National Companies, with emigrants and cargo for their steamers; but in 1866, he and his co-partners, most of whom are citizens of the United States, started a steamship of their own. In August of that year, their Manhattan, built in this country of iron and fitted with the screw, to their orders, sailed from Liverpool for New York, being the pioneer of their new fleet of liners. The Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, vessels each of about 3000 tons, and built of iron, specially for this trade, followed in rapid succession. In 1873, they added the Montana, another fine vessel of 3500 tons, to their fleet, which, in 1874, was further increased by the addition of the Dakota, and two similar vessels, so that the Liverpool and Great Western Steam-ship Company, better known as the Guion line, already possesses a fleet of very fine steam-ships.[251]

Although the American sailing-packets engaged in the trade between Great Britain and the Northern States were, about the year 1860, obliged, in a great measure, to give way to steamers, they maintained their position undisputed for ten years longer between Liverpool and New Orleans; steamers, it was thought, not being able to compete with sailing-vessels in the transport across the Atlantic of such bulky articles as cotton, the chief article exported from New Orleans to Europe. But in 1870, the American merchants and shipowners engaged in the trade of that place found it desirable, if not necessary, to substitute for some of their sailing-vessels a line of screw-steamers similar in many respects, though smaller, to those of the other lines already described, their merchants forming themselves into an association known as the “Mississippi and Dominion Steam-ship Company (Limited).”

Mississippi and Dominion Company.

This company now trades between Liverpool and New Orleans in the winter when the cotton crops are shipped and, in the summer season, between the former port and Canada with passengers and general cargoes. Like the Guion line, their ships are chiefly, if not entirely, owned by Americans and managed by them. On their passages to the south, they usually call at Bordeaux, Corunna, Lisbon and Havana, and thus secure a considerable number of the emigrant passengers who find their way from the southern portions of Europe to that portion of the New World where the climate is not unlike their own, and where the character of the labour is more in accordance with their habits and abilities than would be that of the Northern States.

White Star line, 1870.

But another important line of steamers has been added, which in speed has since surpassed, and in other respects is equal to, any of the great Transatlantic lines now competing for the traffic of the New World. The White Star Line, under the management of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, and Co. who have adopted the name of a once celebrated line of sailing-packets,[252] commenced running their steamers from Liverpool to New York in 1870: they now maintain a weekly communication with these ports, with extra boats available for intermediate sailings as the requirements of the trade demand, the regular days being Thursday from Liverpool (calling at Queenstown, Ireland, on Friday), and from New York on Saturday.

THE WHITE STAR S.S. “BRITANNIC.”

Strict regulations for safety, &c.

These vessels, which are nearly uniform in size and speed, were designed and built with a view of affording the public an extra supply of steamers, such as would best attain the three-fold purpose of safety, speed, and comfort; and certainly their performances have realised the objects and expectations of their enterprising owners. Built of iron with watertight and fire-proof compartments, they afford in their strength every guarantee for safety, nor are their owners behind their rivals in the caution exercised to avoid the ordinary dangers of rapid navigation.[253] But speed with them, as with all well-regulated navigation companies, appears to be only a secondary consideration, for, not satisfied with a general regulation, Messrs. Ismay and Imrie, in their own interest, as well as in that of the public, have wisely issued to the commanders of their ships a special manuscript letter[254] reminding them, in the most distinct manner, that the safety of the ship under their charge and of all on board of her must ever be their first consideration. That their ships have attained an average rate of speed hitherto unrivalled, combined with great regularity, may be seen by their logs.[255] Their Adriatic[256] has far surpassed the famous American steamship of that name which once belonged to the Collins line, she having attained the extraordinary speed of 455 statute miles in one day.[257] Nor has the comfort of the passengers been in any way neglected.

Britannic and Germanic.

At [page 278] I furnish a drawing of their newest vessel; and for the information of my nautical readers I may state that the Britannic and Germanic[258] are similar in all respects. These vessels were built of iron by Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast.[259]

Their great speed.

The engines of the Britannic are by Maudslay, Sons, and Field; they are 760 nominal, but indicated 5090 horse-power on the trial trip. They have four inverted cylinders, the high pressure above the low; the diameters of the cylinders are 48 inches and 83 inches respectively, and the length of stroke 5 feet. The pressure of steam is 70lbs. per square inch, and the boilers, eight in number, are fired at both ends with thirty-two furnaces. The propeller has four blades, and is 23 feet 6 inches in diameter, with 28 feet to 31 feet 6 inches pitch. The mode of lifting the screw is novel, as may be seen by [the drawing on the following page].

Details of Britannic, and form of her screw.

The plan is that of Mr. Harland, the senior partner of the firm by whom the Britannic was built. His reasons for introducing this new principle (which he styles, “a lifting-propeller”) are, that in long ships, the pitching in a heavy sea way and the vertical motion of the waves tend to expose the upper portion of the screw as usually fitted, the evil effects arising from this being the ‘racing’ of the engines and its attendant dangers, together with a diminished speed of the vessel.[260]

It is possible, also, that a further advantage may be derived from the fact that, as one-half of the propeller works below the vessel’s bottom,[261] there is a somewhat denser medium of water for it to work against, consequently affording (but to what extent, my limited scientific knowledge will not allow me to offer an opinion) the means of obtaining, as I conceive, an increased power of propulsion.[262] But into such questions as these I will not enter, as I prefer stating the facts and furnishing an account of what has been done, leaving others more competent than I am to deal with them. As scientific men may consider another question of still greater importance, the best form for the midship section of a steamship, to which I have already referred, I furnish (see [page 281]) a sketch, drawn to scale and supplied by her owners, of the midship section of this magnificent vessel, and, without further comment, give an account of her performances on her first voyage across the Atlantic.[263]

“The average speed of the Britannic is fifteen knots per hour on a consumption of 75 to 80 tons of coals per day, and her approximate cost, built without contract, is 200,000l.”[264]

These steamers run in connection with the Erie Railway from New York (as do also other of the lines) booking their passengers through to all parts of the United States, as far as Aspinwall and San Francisco, and also to Canada. As their arrangements and scale of provisions for steerage passengers are, in nearly all respects, the same as that of the other Transatlantic lines, a copy is furnished for the information of my readers, together with the conditions on which alone passengers are received.[265]

Difficulty of estimating the real cost of steamers.

Recently an American Company have with great spirit sent forth from their own country, a line of steamers to trade between Philadelphia and Liverpool.[266] They consist at present of the Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, each of about 3100 tons gross, or about 2000 tons nett register; they are all built of iron, on the Delaware (U.S.), and are fitted with screw-propellers. The Pennsylvania, launched 1873, cost, according to the statement of her owners, “ready for sea, about 600,000 dollars” (120,000l.); who add that, “if built on the Clyde of as good materials, the saving would have been trifling.” In any attempt, however, to estimate the cost of a steamship I may state, for the information of non-nautical readers, that the outlay on one vessel, even of a similar grade or class, when built for the conveyance of passengers as well as cargo, gives but an imperfect idea of the cost of another vessel, of the same tonnage but not so appropriated. If we take simply the hull, the power of the engines, and the ordinary outfit for a sea-going ship of a particular class, the comparative cost of constructing such a vessel in different countries, or even at different ports in any one country, may be easily ascertained, but, in a passenger-ship so much depends on the quality of the outfit and furnishing, and, especially, on the cabin accommodation, varying as these do almost as much as from a cottage to a palace, I should certainly mislead my readers were I to attempt to supply a comparative cost of passenger-ships built in America and in England.

Pennsylvania Company, 1873.

The vessels of this line are each 355 feet in length, with 43 feet beam, and 33 feet depth of hold. They have each accommodation for 76 first class, and for 800 intermediate and steerage passengers. The actual steam-power of each of these vessels is given as “2800 horse-power indicated,” but this furnishes, as I have before stated, but a vague idea of the nominal power on which the cost is based, as the actual power depends on the dimensions of the engines, the mean pressure on the piston, and the speed with which the engines move. On the other hand, nominal horse-power is fixed by certain arbitrary rules.

Though the Philadelphia line of steamers has much to contend against, owing to duties imposed by the American Government on all articles required for their construction and outfit, and may, consequently, find it difficult to rival successfully the steam-ships of Europe engaged in the Transatlantic trade, they are supported, if not owned, by one of the largest railway undertakings in the United States of America. The lines of this company cover more than 6000 miles of communication within the interior, extending over States which produce the breadstuffs of the north as well as the tropical fruits of the south with a teeming and almost virgin soil, sufficient in itself to produce cargoes for a fleet of ships far in excess of that it as yet possesses, and affording fields of remunerative employment for hundreds of thousands of persons now huddled together in many of the over-peopled countries of Europe.

Indeed, from the accounts which reach us, the valley of the Mississippi in itself still affords room, and, in time, will give profitable employment for 100,000,000 persons, and if the industrious and frugal of our own people and of Europe, are unable to gain a living by honest means in the land of their birth, they will find, sailing daily from the port of Liverpool, alone, at the present moment, as also from other ports, steam-ships[267] of the finest description, ready to convey them in a hitherto incredibly short space of time, to the United States of America, and at a cost very little more than they would require for their maintenance at home, during a similar period of time to that occupied on the passage.

Anchor line from the Clyde, 1856.

But, besides the magnificent lines of steamers which now connect, viâ Liverpool, the Old and New Worlds together by a ferry, easier of accomplishment, and attended with less danger than was even the passage between England and France half a century ago, there are other important lines of steamers from Glasgow and London, as well as from various continental ports, which I must notice. Not the least important of these is the Anchor line from the Clyde, one of the many extraordinary developments, during recent years, of our maritime power, and entirely due to individual energy. Within only a few years Messrs. Henderson Brothers, the managing owners of the Anchor line, have created a fleet of steamships of 71,328 gross tons and of 15,147 horse-power.[268]

Prodigious range of their trade operations.

Though this line was established by Messrs. Handyside and Henderson in 1856 (their vessels then sailing from Glasgow to Quebec and the Mediterranean ports), it was not until 1865 that their owners commenced regular communication, every fortnight, between Glasgow and New York. Since then the service has been gradually increased, and a steamer is now dispatched, at all seasons, weekly each way, and, during summer, twice, and occasionally three times a week, according to the demands of the trade. Like many other gigantic concerns, this one had a very humble beginning. Commencing with only one or two vessels, they were steadily and rapidly increased on the well-founded anticipation of a successful trade. With the increase of the New York branch of the service, that of the Mediterranean increased also. Indeed, it supplies the main or American line with a considerable portion of its most valuable employment, and now runs weekly to Lisbon, Gibraltar, Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, and Palermo; fortnightly to Trieste and Venice; and monthly to Algiers, Tunis, Malta, and Alexandria, thus connecting the whole of the ancient trade of Spain, of the Italian Republics, and of far-famed India itself, with the New World through the medium of the Suez Canal[269] and the Mediterranean.

The Anchor Company also despatches steamers, weekly, during the season of open navigation, to Christiania, Christiansund, and Gottenburg, thus securing another valuable feeder to the New York line of steamers. The Scandinavian and other passengers from the extreme north of Europe are brought across from Gottenburg, to Granton (near Edinburgh) in two days, or from Christiansund in a day and a half, and, as Granton is only about two hours by rail from Glasgow, they can embark on board the Anchor line of steamers for the United States or for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, on the third day after leaving their homes in the far north.

The steamers of this firm also sail from Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, Palermo, Marseilles, and Gibraltar, once a fortnight, direct for New York, and every month from Trieste and Venice—once the great emporium of commerce in the East—to the still greater commercial emporium of the West; and every fortnight, during the six autumn and spring months, or fruit season, Messrs. Henderson likewise dispatch steamers direct from Malaga, Almeria, Valentia, and Denia to the United States.

ANCHOR LINE S.S. “VICTORIA.”

The Victoria.

In their Victoria may be seen a good specimen of a business ship, perhaps not so swift or so elegantly fitted as some of her competitors from Liverpool, or equal to their own latest ships, the Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Anchora,[270] but a vessel well adapted for the trade on which she is employed. The Victoria is a sister ship to the California, launched from the shipbuilding yard, on the Clyde, of Messrs. Alexander Stephens and Sons, who have constructed a great many vessels for the Anchor Company. She is like all the other steamers now engaged in the Transatlantic trade, built of iron and propelled by the screw.[271] Though of larger capacity, she is said to have cost, complete for sea, somewhere about 100,000l. or 20,000l. less than the American iron screw ship Pennsylvania, to which reference has just been made, which was built about the same time on the Delaware.

Hamburg American Steam Packet Company.

But besides the fleets we have specially named there are other equally fine British steamers, plying between London and New York and Boston direct, and also viâ Southampton and Havre; together with various other lines of first-class steamers engaged in the American trade belonging to France, Hamburg, and Belgium, though most of these are British built: for instance, the Hamburg and American Steam Packet Company have a large fleet of high classed steamers, comprising the Suavia,[272] Pomerania, Thuringia, Hammonia, Westphalia, Silesia, Cimbria, Frisia, and Holsatia, which leave Hamburg every Saturday throughout the year for New York; and another line of eight equally fine steamers, which trade with the West Indies and Mexico every month from Hamburg, calling alternately at Grimsby and Havre.

North German Lloyd’s Company.

There are also the steamers of the North German Lloyd’s, an old established company, trading between Bremen, Baltimore, and New York viâ Southampton and Havre; while, besides those engaged in the trade with the United States, two lines of French steamers, most of which were built in England, now maintain a weekly intercourse between the ports of that country and the West Indies and Brazil.