FOOTNOTES:
[164] The Americans are now rapidly developing their large natural resources of iron. “The iron ores of the United States” (London Times, 28th of May, 1875), “are plentiful and various, though some kinds are wanting; thus the ‘spathose’ or spar-like iron ore, scarce even in Europe, is very rare; and the ironstone of the liassic and oolite seams, which furnishes about one-third of our British pig-iron, appears to be wholly absent. On the other hand, the specular iron ore, the brown and red hematites, the clay and blackband ironstones, are good and abundant; and some of the deposits of magnetic iron ore—as at Lake Champlain, and at Cornwall, in Pennsylvania—are very remarkable. At Cornwall the deposit consists of a solid hill of ore, measuring roughly 500 feet in diameter, rising from the ground level to a height of 350 feet, and proved by borings to a depth of 180 feet below ground level. The iron mine at Port Henry—at the south-west corner of Lake Champlain, in the State of New York—is worked in a huge prism of ore, about 200 feet square, and descending at an angle of 26 to 40 degrees, to an unknown depth, the superincumbent rock being supported by pillars of solid ore, 40 feet square at the base and about 20 feet at the top, with a height of considerably more than 100 feet.”
[165] Ante, p. 42.
[166] “Encyclopædia Britannica” (eighth edition), vol. xx. p. 639, “Steam Navigation.” The Savannah was full rigged as a sailing-vessel with auxiliary steam power, and her paddles were removable.
[167] Dr. Lardner, in his “Encyclopædia” and elsewhere, had more than once expressed the opinion that no steam-ship would ever be able to make so distant a voyage as that of crossing the Atlantic, without recoaling. Having entered on details with regard to this important question in a lecture he delivered at Liverpool in December 1835, I consider it desirable to give the following extract from it, as reported in the Liverpool Albion of the 14th of that month, the matter being one of considerable historical interest:
“Steam Communication with America.—Dr. Lardner then proceeded to observe that one of the grandest projects which had ever occupied the human mind was at present in the progress of actual accomplishment. He meant that of constructing a great highway for steam intercourse between New York and London. Part of the highway was in process of formation. It consisted of several stages—that of the railroad from London to Birmingham; that from Birmingham to Liverpool, and the steam intercourse with Dublin; but there was another stage—that from Dublin to Valentia—which had as yet hardly been thought of. Ireland was a country which, with all her political disadvantages, was blest by nature with a vast number of physical advantages, and among the rest he might reckon a vast number of excellent harbours. No country in the world could boast of so many fine and spacious ports, bays, and roadsteads. She had many harbours on her west coast, which would serve admirably as stations for steam conveyance across the Atlantic; but Valentia had been selected as the extreme westerly point suitable for that purpose. It was a fine anchoring ground by an island of that name on the coast of Munster. The distance from Dublin to this point was under 200 miles, which might be traversed in about eight hours. The nearest point of the Continent of North America to this point of Ireland was St. John’s in Newfoundland. The distance between the two was about 1900 miles, thence to Halifax in Nova Scotia there would be another run of 550 miles, and from that to New York would not exceed the admissible range; but touching at Halifax would be desirable for the sake of passengers. The only difficulty would be as to the run from Valentia to St. John’s; and the voyage from Dublin to Bordeaux and back, a distance of between 1600 and 1700 miles, with the same stock of coals, came very near this distance. It must be observed that westerly winds blew almost all the year round across the Atlantic. They were produced by the trade winds being the compensating cause that restored the balance which these served to destroy, according to that beautiful principle in nature which always provides a remedy for any derangement in the deranging cause itself. As a last resource, however, should the distance between Valentia and St. John’s prove too great, they might make the Azores a stage between, so that there remained no doubt of the practicability of establishing a steam intercourse with the United States. As to the project, however, which was announced in the newspapers of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was, he had no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to the moon. The vessels which would ultimately be found the best adapted for the voyage between this country and the United States would be those of 800 tons, which would carry machines of 200 horse-power, and would be able to stow 400 tons of coal. To supply a 10 horse-power, daily required an expenditure of a ton of coals, and, consequently, 200 horse-power would require 20 tons of coal daily; but if the vessel carried 400 tons of coal only, it would not be practicable to undertake a voyage which would require the whole of that quantity. They must make an allowance of 100 tons for contingencies. Thus, in reckoning the average length of the voyage which might be undertaken by such a vessel, we might safely calculate upon 300 tons of coal, which would be sufficient for fifteen days, and it might fairly be concluded that any project which calculated upon making longer voyages than fifteen days without taking in a fresh supply of coals, in the present state of the steamboat, must be considered chimerical. Now, the average rate of speed of the Mediterranean packets was 170 miles per day, and the utmost limit of a steam voyage might be taken at 2550 miles; but even that could not be reckoned upon.”
It is, however, fair to the scientific memory of Dr. Lardner to state that, in the eighth and last edition of his “Steam-engine, Railways,” &c., 1851, pp. 294-309, he declares that he never stated that a “steam voyage across the Atlantic was a physical impossibility:” the more so, that he was of course well aware of the previous voyages of the Savannah and Curaçoa; what he did say (especially at the meeting of the British Association at Bristol in 1836) was “that the long sea voyages which were contemplated could not be maintained with that regularity and certainty which are indispensable to commercial success by any revenue which could be expected from traffic alone, and that, without a government subsidy of a considerable amount, such lines of steamers, although they might be started, could not be permanently maintained.”
[168] The Royal William was between 400 and 500 tons, built at Three Rivers, Canada, and her engines, constructed in England, were fitted into her at St. Mary’s Foundry, Montreal. She only made this one Atlantic passage and was subsequently sold to the Portuguese Government.
[169] It is only due to the memory of the late Mr. MacGregor Laird, who, with his brother, the late Mr. John Laird, M.P. for Birkenhead, did so much to encourage Ocean steam navigation in its infancy, to state that the Sirius was placed on the Transatlantic service on his recommendation, and that, so early as 1836, he was chiefly instrumental in founding the British and American Steam Navigation Company which chartered this vessel from the St. George Company. See letter from Mr. A. Hamilton of St. Helen’s Place, London, “the friend and executor of the late Mr. MacGregor Laird,” which appeared in the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette of the 15th May, 1873: in this paper, also, appears a copy of a letter which Mr. Laird, under the signature of “Chimera,” addressed to the Liverpool Albion on the 28th December, 1835, in reply to Dr. Lardner’s fallacious prognostications that a steam voyage across the Atlantic was “perfectly chimerical,” from which I take the following extract:
“By what process of reasoning Dr. Lardner has fixed the ultimate size of steam-vessels for the Atlantic at 800 tons and 200 horse-power does not appear, which is the more to be regretted, as it must be a peculiar one, from the size of the vessels very little exceeding that of several in the coasting trade, and the power being much less; but I am not bound to take this for granted, particularly as all my experience has proved that we as yet have never had to complain of the size of the vessel if the power has been proportionately increased; on the contrary, the Dublin boats have crept up from 250 to 500 and 600, and the Clyde from 200 to 400 tons, and other lines in the same proportion. In reasoning, therefore, upon a line of steam communication between Great Britain and New York, I must reason from analogy, and fortunately Dr. Lardner gives me the data. The Leeds, it appears, makes the voyage to and from Bordeaux, a distance of 1600 miles, with one supply of coals. The Leeds is, I believe, 420 tons and 140 horse power, and her displacement between her light and load marks will be about 80 tons to one foot, or perhaps only 70. Now, the distance from Liverpool or Portsmouth to New York is 3000 nautical miles or 3500 statute miles, a little less to Liverpool. Suppose the Leeds be trebled in capacity, so that her displacement should exceed 200 tons per foot draught, it is not necessary to treble her power, as double power propels more than double bulk: but allow her 300 horse-power, her light draught of water would be about 11 feet with her machinery on board, and with 800 tons of dead weight on board, about 15. I take the consumption of coals at 30 tons per day, and a mean speed of 10 miles per hour, and at an expenditure of 525 tons of common coal, or 420 of Langennich, I land my passengers in New York, Portsmouth, or Liverpool in something less than fifteen days. I have not allowed anything in this calculation for the saving of fuel that would accrue in these large engines by working them expansively, but have taken the consumption at 9½ lbs. per horse per hour, and with common coal I would have a surplus of 275 tons dead weight for passengers and goods. One objection will, I am aware, be made, viz., that my average speed is too great, and if I admitted that the beau idéal of a steam-vessel was embodied in one of His Majesty’s Mediterranean steam-packets the objection would be fatal; but what is the fact? (no less wonderful than true), the average speed of private vessels far exceeds them; and, to prove that the average speed of 10 miles per hour is not ‘chimerical,’ I may state that the average speed of the Dundee and Perth, in all weathers, winter and summer, fair or foul, exceeds 11 miles per hour; that the average speed of the Monarch is 10½ miles per hour; and that the Medea steam-frigate averaged more than 10 miles per hour on her voyage to Malta. Now, I am of opinion that the Dundee, Perth, Monarch, and Medea are to be, and will be, beat, but not by vessels of 800 tons and 200 horse-power. I hope, Mr. Editor, I have proved that it is easier to go from Portsmouth or Liverpool to New York than to the moon; that it is more convenient to go direct than through the first ‘gem of the sea;’ and the last, though not the least consideration, that if we wish to go at all by steam, we had better not wait for the Valentia Railway.”
[170] Builders’ measurement, or O.M., is the measurement of a vessel according to the old law of 1773 (13 George III., Chap. LXXIV.) which prescribed as follows: “The length shall be taken on a straight line along the rabbet of the keel of the ship, from the back of the main stern-post to a perpendicular line from the fore part of the main-stem under the bowsprit, from which substracting three-fifths of the breadth, the remainder shall be esteemed the just length of the keel to find the tonnage; and the breadth shall be taken from the outside of the outside plank in the broadest place in the ship, be it either above or below the main wales, exclusive of all manner of doubling planks that may be wrought on the sides of the ship; then multiplying the length of the keel by the breadth so taken, and the product by half the breadth and dividing the whole by ninety-four, the quotient shall be deemed the true contents of the tonnage.”
Though another Act was passed in 1834 (Act 5th & 6th William IV. Chap. LVI.) which was again amended by the 6th & 7th Victoria, Chap. LXXXIV., and consolidated by 8th & 9th Victoria, Chap. LXXXIX., known as the “new measurement, or N.M.” the old law remained in use with all shipbuilders in their contracts until 1854, when the law (proposed and carried out by Moorsom) now in force, was passed. By this law, the internal cubic contents of a ship are ascertained, and the register tonnage (on which all fiscal dues are levied) ascertained by certain calculations which produce as nearly as possible the same results in the old measurement of all ships built since 1854 (see ante, vol. iii. note, p. 310), and thus the necessity is avoided of altering the rates charged upon shipping, for light, dock and other dues; under the present law, which is generally approved, an allowance is made for the space occupied by the engines in steam-vessels, so that the register tonnage on which all dues are levied is the gross admeasurement, less the space occupied by the propelling power. The mode of arriving at this, adopted by different nations, has of late been a question of much discussion with reference to the dues charged on vessels passing through the Suez Canal.
[171] The “Principle of Construction” of this vessel is clearly stated in the following note given in Mr. Brunel’s life at p. 234: “To enable the ship to resist the action of the heavy Atlantic waves, especial pains were taken to give her great longitudinal strength. The ribs were of oak, of scantling equal to that of line-of-battle ships. They were placed close together and caulked within and without before the planking was put on. They were dowelled and bolted in pairs; and there were also four rows of 1½ inch iron bolts, 24 feet long, and scarfing about 4 feet, which ran longitudinally through the whole length of the bottom frames of the ship. She was closely trussed with iron and wooden diagonals and shelf-pieces which, with the whole of her upper works, were fastened with bolts and nuts to a much greater extent than had hitherto been the practice.”
[172] “Arrival of the ‘Great Western’ and ‘Sirius’ Steamers at New York.—At three o’clock P.M., on Sunday, the 22nd of April, the Sirius first descried the land, and, early on Monday morning, the 23rd, anchored in the North River immediately off the battery. The moment the intelligence was made known, hundreds and thousands rushed early in the morning to the battery. Nothing could exceed the excitement. The river was covered during the whole day with row-boats, skiffs, and yawls, carrying the wondering people out to get a close view of this extraordinary vessel. While people were yet wondering how the Sirius so successfully made out to cross the rude Atlantic, it was announced about eleven A.M. on Monday, from the telegraph, that a huge steamship was in the offing. ‘The Great Western!—the Great Western!’ was on everybody’s tongue. About two o’clock P.M. the first curl of her ascending smoke fell on the eyes of the thousands of anxious spectators. A shout of enthusiasm rose on the air.... During the first part of the passage of the Sirius she made slow progress, her speed varying from 4 knots 4 fathoms per hour to 7; the latter portion was at the rate of 8 to 11 knots. Thus the grand experiment has been fairly and fully tested, and has been completely successful. The only question now in the case is that of expense. Can steam-packets be made to pay?”
[173] Sixty knots are equal to sixty-nine geographical or statute miles.
[174] The Great Western ran regularly between Bristol and New York till the end of 1846. In 1847 she was sold to the West India Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and was long one of their best vessels. In 1857 she was broken up at Vauxhall, being no longer able to compete profitably with the new class of steamers which, by that time, had been placed on the different Transatlantic lines.
[175] “Departure of the first Steam-ship from Liverpool to New York.—On Thursday evening the Royal William, the property of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, set sail on her first voyage for New York. The Royal William was announced to sail for New York at half-past six o’clock. At that time Prince’s Pier was lined towards the river with a dense crowd from top to bottom, and the rigging of the shipping in the Prince’s Dock was densely manned with sailors. Every conceivable standing place on George’s Pier was crowded to excess. The deck of the vessel was crowded with passengers and their friends, and those whom curiosity had taken there. Exactly at half-past six o’clock the anchor was weighed, and, immediately, as the noble vessel began to move she was greeted with the enthusiastic cheering of thousands of spectators, which were responded to by those on board, whilst from Woodside, Birkenhead, Rock Ferry, the Pier, and the steamboats in the river on all sides, scores of cannon thundered forth the rejoicings of their possessors.... She is built by Messrs. Wilson and her engines are from the manufactory of Messrs. Fawcett and Preston. The vessel is 817 tons burthen, and her engines are 276 horse-power, and work expansively at a 5 feet 6 inch stroke. The consumption of coal is 14 cwt. 2 lbs. per hour. She has furnaces which completely ignite the smoke, and are a saving of 33 per cent. in the consumption. The smoke from the chimney top is scarcely perceptible. She has fuel on board for 4500 miles; almost sufficient to take her out and bring her back again. Her length is 175 feet; breadth of beam 27 feet; and depth of hold 17 feet 6 inches. She is also fitted with four water-tight wrought-iron bulk-heads for safety from foundering and fire. She is fitted up with floats, which neutralize the vibration. Her paddle-wheels are 24 feet in diameter, and, owing to the great depth of the vessel in the water from the large quantity of coal on board, the paddles are 6 feet in the water. In smooth water the vessel sails 11½ knots an hour. Her cabins, which are exceedingly neatly fitted up, contain accommodation for eighty passengers. There are two principal cabins and several private cabins. Thirty-two passengers went out in her.”
[176] The Royal William made her first passage from Liverpool to New York in nineteen days and the passage home in fourteen and a half days.
[177] Mr. George Burns, whose family had for many years held a highly respectable position in the city of Glasgow (his father having been for the very long period of seventy-two years the minister of the Barony parish of that city), entered into partnership with his elder brother, James, in 1818, and in that year founded the great business firm still carried on in Glasgow. In 1824 they became owners, along with the late Hugh Matthie of Liverpool, of six sailing-vessels trading between that port and Glasgow, and in the same year they engaged in steam navigation between Glasgow and Belfast. They next substituted steam for sailing-vessels in the Glasgow and Liverpool trade and, in 1830, amalgamated this business with that of the Messrs. MacIver of Liverpool, with whom they afterwards made arrangements to establish the line of steamers with the United States of America from Liverpool, suggested by Mr. Cunard. The business thus created was, in its various branches, carried on by Messrs. G. and J. Burns in Glasgow, by Messrs. D. and C. MacIver in Liverpool, and by Messrs. S. Cunard and Co., in Halifax, N.S., under the superintendence of Mr. Cunard at Boston, and, subsequently, when New York was embraced in the line, under the management of his son Mr., afterwards Sir Edward, Cunard, Bart. Mr. David MacIver died a few years after the formation of the Cunard line. Mr., afterwards Sir Samuel, Cunard, Bart., and his son, Sir Edward, who died more recently, have been succeeded by Mr. William Cunard, now managing the affairs of the company in London and Mr. George Burns, alone, survives of the Glasgow firm, the business of which is now carried on by his two sons, Mr. John Burns (whose abilities and philanthropy are alike conspicuous), and his brother, Mr. James Cleland Burns, and that in Liverpool by Mr. Charles MacIver (a gentleman of remarkable energy and ability) and his sons.
[178] Mr. Cunard in his evidence before the Select Committee “On Halifax and Boston Mails” (Parl. Paper, 1846, No. 563), stated that 3,295l. per voyage was paid for the service. And, in 1874, Mr. John Burns, in his examination before the Royal Commission “On Unseaworthy Ships,” said, in reply to question 16,982: “The original contract of the Cunard Company which was made by my late partner, Sir Samuel Cunard, was made with the Admiralty, and under the Admiralty all the ships were inspected by Admiralty officers, and there were certain restrictions in the contract as to allowing them to be used in time of war. These ships were all wooden ships and they had to carry naval officers on board, and to do other things which caused a good deal of trouble and expense to us. In the last contract which we negotiated we said that we would take less money, if certain of these restrictions were taken away from us. Therefore, we are now under a contract of 70,000l. a year, and carry no naval officers on board.”
| Name. | Length between Perpendiculars. | Extreme Breadth. | Depth of Hold. | Nominal Horse-Power. | Burden in Tons. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feet. | Ft. | In. | Ft. | In. | |||
| Britannia | 207 | 34 | 4 | 22 | 6 | 423 | 1,156 |
| Acadia | 206 | 34 | 6 | 22 | 6 | 425 | 1,136 |
| Caledonia | 206 | 34 | 6 | 22 | 6 | 425 | 1,139 |
| Columbia | 207 | 34 | 2 | 22 | 4 | 425 | 1,138 |
[180] Built on the Clyde by Mr. R. Duncan, in 1840. Left Liverpool on her first voyage, July 4th, 1840.
| Material of vessel | Wood |
| Length, keel and forerake | 207 feet |
| Breadth of beam | 34 feet 4 inches |
| Breadth over paddle boxes | 54 feet 8 inches |
| Depth of hold | 22 feet 6 inches |
| Depth over planking | 24 feet 8 inches |
| Tonnage, builders’ measurement | 1,156 4594 |
| Tonnage, new measurement | 1,15513100 |
| Tonnage, of engine-room | 53570100 |
| Tonnage, register | 61943100 |
| Length on deck | 203 feet 7 inches |
| Breadth of deck | 31 feet 9 inches |
| Depth of hold | 22 feet 2 inches |
| Length allowed for engine space | 70 feet 7 inches |
| Draught, mean, one-half of coals consumed | 16 feet 10 inches |
| Area of midship section at mean draught | 520 |
| Displacement at mean draught | 2,050 tons |
| Kind of engines | Side-lever |
| Collective H.P., nominal, per Admiralty | 403 |
| Cylinders, diameter | 72½ inches |
| Stroke of piston | 6 feet 10 inches |
| Diameter of paddle-wheel over floats | 27 feet 9 inches |
| Number of floats on one wheel | 21 |
| Dimensions of floats | 8 ft. ⨉ 2ft. 10 in. |
| Kind of boilers | Flue (4) |
| Number of furnaces | 12 |
| Grate, 6 ft. 2 in. ⨉ 3 ft. | 222 square feet |
| Total heating surface in boilers | 2,698 square feet |
| Coals consumed outwards to Boston viâ Halifax | 440 tons |
| Coals consumed homeward from Boston viâ Halifax | 450 tons |
| Mean draught of water, ship leaving Liverpool | 17 feet 2 inches |
[181] Report of Committee of House of Commons, August 1846.
| Vessel’s Name. | Tonnage. | Horse-Power. | Proportion of Tonnage to Power. | Remarks. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acadia (Cunard Company) | 1,136 | 400 | 1 h.p. = 2¾ tons | Exceedingly fast. |
| Oriental | 1,670 | 440 | 1 h.p. = 4 tons | 10¼ knots when deep on trial trip. |
| Great Western | 1,340 | 450 | 1 h.p. = 3 tons | |
| Great Liverpool | 1,543 | 464 | 1 h.p. = 3⅓ tons | |
| British Queen | 2,016 | 500 | 1 h.p. = 4 tons | Fast when light, and light stern breeze. |
| President | 2,366 | 540 | 1 h.p. = 4½ tons | Slow under any circumstances. |
| Liverpool (before alterations) | 1,150 | 404 | 1 h.p. = 2½ tons | Slow and crank. |
See Fincham’s “Naval Architecture.”
[183] Letter from E—— in the Civil Engineer and Architects’ Journal, January 1841.
[184] She was constructed of iron, and expressly for the Transatlantic trade. Her dimensions were, length of keel, 289 feet; 296 feet between the perpendiculars; and 322 feet over all. Her extreme breadth, 51 feet, with 32 feet 6 inches depth of hold, her main load draught of water being 16 feet; and her measurement 2984 tons, with engines of 1000 horse-power.
[185] The Great Britain was launched on the 19th of July 1843. The machinery was constructed in the works of the company, as no engineers could be found willing to undertake the task by contract. But, by putting the engines into the vessel at the works, it was found that she was so deeply immersed as to be unable to pass out of the dock, and she was, consequently, detained for some months until the requisite alterations could be made for her release. Soon after her experimental trip, made on the 12th December, 1844, she was placed on the American station. Her career, however, was prematurely brought to a close by an accident (stranded on the coast of Ireland) which, though occasioning a serious loss to her enterprising owners, proved at this early stage the great strength and value of iron ships. During the whole winter that she lay on the beach at Dundrum Bay, coast of Ireland, she sustained very little injury, and though frequently altered and under repair since then, the Great Britain is still successfully employed in the trade between Liverpool and Australia, and to all appearance is as sound a vessel as she was when launched thirty-one years ago.
[186] Mr. R. B. Forbes, of Milton, Massachusetts, in forwarding to the author the lithograph of his ship, remarks: “The lower yards and the topgallant yard are in the same position as in the ordinary rig; but the topsail and topgallant sail are so divided as to make three sails instead of two. The topsail being exactly of the size of an ordinary double reefed topsail, the yard being parrelled to the heel of the topmast, where the topmasts are fidded forward of the lower mast-head; and to the head of the lower mast where the topmasts are (as they ought to be) fidded abaft the mast-head; this renders it necessary to have the lower mast-heads longer, by several feet, than in the old rig. The next sail above the topsail, representing the upper half of the topsail of the old rig and a fraction of the old topgallant sail, is called the topgallant sail, and the old rig topgallant sail is in the new rig called the royal, while the royal of the old rig becomes the skysail of the new rig. As I consider it important to have the sail as much in the body of the ship as possible, and at the same time to dispose of the canvas and spars that the sails can be used in different places, I make the foreyard of the same length (excepting a slight difference in the yardarms) as the main topsail yard; the fore topsail yard the same as the main topgallant yard, the fore topgallant yard the same as the main royal yard, and so on with the mizen, so that the yards and sails on the fore fit on the main one stage higher up, those on the mizen fit on the fore one stage higher and on the main two higher.”
[187] In a letter which I had the pleasure of receiving from Mr. Forbes (November 1874) that gentleman further remarks: “On the 15th September, 1845, I sailed for Liverpool in the steam-propeller ship Massachusetts: she made one other voyage to that port and, in June 1846, she was chartered to carry troops to the Gulf of Mexico. She was afterwards bought by our government and bore the flag of General Scott to the siege of Vera Cruz. She long continued in the navy department, and was known as the Farralones. Three or four years ago our government sold her when her machinery was removed, and she is now running and is called the Alaska.”
| Name. | Date of Sailing. | Date of Arrival. | At | Advantages to credit of Massachusetts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | Oct. 22 | Nov. 18 | Holmes Hole | * |
| Shenandoah | Oct. 22 | Dec. 3 a 4 | Sandy Hook | 13 days |
| Adirondack | Oct. 22 | Dec. 3 | Sandy Hook | 13 days |
| Henry Clay | Oct. 23 | Nov. 26 | Sandy Hook | 5 days |
| Columbiana | Oct. 23 | Nov. 30 | Boston | 11 days |
| St. Patrick | Oct. 23 | Dec. 1 | New York | 11 days |
| St. Petersburg | Oct. 13 | Nov. 27 | Boston | 18 days |
[189] Mr. Forbes, one of the owners of this ship, is a remarkable man, and has, during the long period of sixty years, taken so useful and active a part in the development of the maritime resources of his country, that a brief note of his career, for which he has furnished the materials, cannot fail to interest my readers. In 1811, when a boy of only seven years of age, he and his mother were captured at sea on their passage to France, and, again, in 1813, on his return passage. In 1817 he adopted the sea as a profession; and by his genius and industry he obtained the charge of an Indiaman, before he had reached the age of twenty years, and by 1830 he was in command of a ship of his own engaged in the trade with the East. He retired from the sea in 1832, and, in 1839, he became the principal partner in one of the largest mercantile establishments in China—the still well-known house of Russell and Co. In November 1844 his Midas (propeller schooner) left New York for China: she was the first American steam-vessel that went beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and the first to ply on the waters of China. He was also interested in the propeller barque Edith, which left New York for Bombay and China, on January 18th, 1845. She was the first American steamer despatched to British India, and the first square-rigged propeller to China under that flag. In April 1845 he, with others, built an iron paddle-wheel steamer, nearly 300 feet in length, which they named the Iron Witch: she was designed by Ericsson for great speed, to ply on the River Hudson, but as she did not prove fast enough to compete with the regular Albany boats, her engines were transferred to a wooden vessel named the Falcon; the Falcon was the first American steamer that plied to Chagres in connection with the California route, as the Iron Witch had been the first iron passenger steamer that plied on the North River. In 1845 Mr. Forbes launched the first iron steam-tug, built for mercantile purposes in New England, designed so far back as 1838. In 1847 he loaded the ship Bombay with a full cargo of ice for Bombay, the first cargo taken there, a small quantity having previously gone in the Paul Jones in 1843. At that period it used to be a joke that the Americans had nothing to offer in return for the produce of India except ice, apples, and bills! On the 28th of March, 1847, he sailed from Boston to Cork in the sloop of war Jamestown with 800 tons of provisions, nobly contributed by citizens of Boston and other inhabitants of New England for the famine-stricken Irish—an act in itself which constituted a grand and imperishable monument of their goodness. In 1847 he sent to China on the deck of a ship, a small iron propeller called the Firefly, the first vessel of the kind to ply on the Canton river. He states that when in China in 1839-40, he sent the first cargo of tea to England in an American ship, the Oriental. In 1857-8 he built and despatched from Boston, an iron paddle-wheel steamer, called the Argentina, of 100 tons for the survey of the La Plata, which ascended the Parana beyond where any steamer had previously navigated. In 1861 he despatched the iron propeller Pembroke for China, where she was sold. She held the only “letter of marque” issued by the United States’ Government during the great civil war. Such are a few of the leading points in the active life of Mr. R. B. Forbes, of whom his country may be proud, who still in his fresh old age continues his career of usefulness. He now builds boats for the “good boys” of his native town, and I had great pleasure in executing for him the other day an order for no end of miniature blocks, dead-eyes, anchors, and cables.
[190] “We have to say that, if the Britannia beats the Washington over (and they both, we understand, start the same day), she will have to run by the deep mines, and put in more coal. We shall have, in two years’ time, a system of Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific steamers in operation that will tell a brilliant story for the enterprise of Brother Jonathan. We are bound to go ahead, and steam is the agent of the age. We expect yet to see the day when a traveller will be able to leave New York, and going eastward all the time, will be enabled to make the circuit of the earth, coming in by Huascualco, in the summer interval between two sessions of Congress, spending a month or two in the Mediterranean on the way.”
[191] “The Washington is stated to be of 2000 horses’ indicated power, and is 1750 tons Government measure, or 2000 tons carpenters’ measure; so her steam power is to her tonnage as one to one, while the Britannia has only one horse-power to 2¾ tons.[193] To go a little, however, more into detail: both vessels have two cylinders, I believe, of the same diameter, viz., 72 inches, and both have side beam engines; the stroke of the Washington is 10 feet; her boilers are able to carry (they say) 30 lbs. of steam; but, if we allow her only 23 lbs. ⨉ 13 vacuum, she will be still double the power of the Britannia with 5 lbs. ⨉ 13 lbs. i.e., = 900 horses’ power (450 ⨉ 2). I am now speaking of full steam, or at least both cutting off at the same point. The Herald (New York) says the Washington’s wheels are 39 feet in diameter, and 7½ feet dip; but the latter is of course an error, and probably means 7½ feet face; she has two boilers 36 feet ⨉ 15 on the plan; there are three furnaces, each 7 feet ⨉ 4 feet 6 inches ⨉ 6 = 189 feet. Well then, there you have data from which you may calculate how many horses’ power can be got off that great surface with anthracite and blowers. Her recipient heating surface must be large; she has flues, perhaps 12 inches in diameter.”
[192] The proportion was actually one to two as against one to two and three-quarters.
[193] “In point of size she looked like an elongated three-decker, with only one streak round her; but about as ugly a specimen of steam-ship building as ever went through this anchorage. She did not appear to make much use of her 2000 horse-power either, but seemed rather to roll along than steam through the water. She excited considerable curiosity, although her performance, as compared with the Britannia, had evidently taken the edge off the feeling with which the vessel would have been viewed had a different result been obtained in her favour.” (Spithead correspondent of the Times.)
[194] In 1840 and 1841 the British Government entered into contracts, to which I shall hereafter refer, for the conveyance of the mails with the West Indies and also with the Pacific Steam Navigation Companies; and, early in 1850, they concluded a contract with the Cunard Company for the conveyance of the mails between Halifax, New York, and Bermuda in small vessels of 350 tons and 80 horse-power, fitted with a proper space for mounting an 18-pounder pivot gun. One of these vessels left Halifax for Bermuda and another left for St. John’s within twenty-four hours after the arrival of the packet from Liverpool; a third conveyed the mails monthly between Bermuda and New York, the subsidy being 10,600l. per annum, or at the rate of 3s. per mile; on the main line it was 11s. 4d. per mile.
In 1851, the British Government made another contract with the Cunard Company for a monthly conveyance of the mails between Bermuda and St. Thomas each way upon such days as might be fixed by the Admiralty, the provisions as regards the size, power, and armament of the vessels being the same in all respects as those in the other subsidiary service, only that the price was to be equal to 4s. per mile, or 4,100l. per annum. This service connected the West Indies with the United States and the North American provinces. The departure of the one vessel engaged in it took place immediately after the arrival of the homeward mail West India packet, so that she carried the correspondence of the West Indian Colonies and of Her Majesty’s officers on the station from that island to Bermuda.
[195] Vide Official Reports from the Senate, 1850 and 1852, passim.
[196] The general dimensions of these celebrated steamers were: length of keel, 277 feet; length on main deck, 282 feet; depth from the maindeck, 24 feet; depth under the spar deck, 32 feet; breadth of beam, 45 feet. They had rounded sterns, three masts with suitable spars; a lower deck, main deck, and spar deck, as well as an orlop deck extending from the engine-room forward and aft. The area of transverse section of the Arctic, for instance, was 772 square feet. Launching draught aft, 10 feet; average displacement per inch, from launching to load line, 20½ tons; area of load line, 9369·10 square feet; whole displacement to its circumscribing parallelopipedon, 601 per cent.; weight of hull, 1525 tons; weight of spars and rigging, 34 tons; ordinary load line aft, 20 feet; ordinary load line forward, 19½ feet.
[197] I have not room for these very valuable historical documents, so much wanted in our own merchant navy, but the reader interested will find them in extenso in note, Appendix O, in Mr. C. B. Stuart’s work, “On Naval and Mail Steamers;” U.S., published in New York, 1853.
[198] A description in detail of these boilers is given in the note, Appendix O, already mentioned.
[199] The respective diameters of wheels in these steamers from outside to outside of floats, were as follows, viz., Arctic, 35 feet 6 inches; Baltic, 36 feet; Atlantic, 35 feet; and Pacific, 35 feet. Those of the Arctic and Atlantic had thirty-six floats; the Baltic, thirty-two; and the Pacific, twenty-eight.
The average performances of the engines of the Arctic were as follows: pressure, 16·9 pounds; revolutions, 15·8 per minute with an average consumption of 83 tons of anthracite coals per day of twenty-four hours, giving an average speed of 316·4 knots per day. Her maximum pressure was 17·5 pounds; revolutions, 16·7 per minute; consumption, 87 tons, and speed 320 knots per day. The consumption of coal per day in the Asia (Cunard line) was, on an average, 76 tons, and her speed with this consumption 303 knots per day.
[200] The plates of this splendid engine will be found in the second volume of Tredgold’s “Steam-Engine,” and well deserve the attention of professional readers. Mr. Victor Beaumont’s account of the ship and engine will be found in the same volume.
[201] See Reports of Proceedings in Congress.
[202] The comparative cost of driving a steamer on the average of 7 knots up to an average of 9 knots is very small compared to what it would be to increase the speed from 9 to 11 knots an hour, and it becomes enormous when that rate is increased (as the resistance increases with the square of the velocity), but my readers must take the very large sum mentioned as the extra cost of one extra day’s saving of time with very considerable qualifications, as the statement was made in Congress with the object of obtaining for the Collins line further assistance either in the shape of a vote of money or an enhanced annual subsidy.
[203] From a return which appeared in the New York Herald on the 1st of January, 1853, the number of persons carried in the course of eleven months, January to November inclusive, 1852, was:
| By Collins line to Liverpool, | 2,420, | to New York, | 1,886. |
| By Cunard line to Liverpool, | 1,783, | to New York, | 1,186. |
[204] The dimensions of the Africa, built of wood by Messrs. Steele and Company, of Greenock, were as follows:
| Builders’ Measurement. | Ft. | In. | |
| Length of keel and fore rake | 267 | 0 | |
| Breadth of beam | 40 | 6 | |
| Depth of hold | 27 | 6 | |
| Tonnage | 2128 78-94ths | ||
| New Measurement. | |||
| Length on deck | 265 | 0 | |
| Breadth on ditto at midships | 37 | 2 | |
| Depth of hold at ditto | 27 | 2 | |
| Tonnage | 2226 24-100ths | ||
She had a pair of side-lever engines, by Robert Napier of Glasgow, of 814 horse nominal power. Diameter of cylinders, 96 inches by 9 feet stroke; paddlewheels, diameter, extreme, 37 feet 7 inches, and 30 feet 10 inches effective; twenty-eight floats, 9 feet 2 inches by 3 feet 2 inches, three sets of twenty-eight arms, eight floats in the water at 19 feet draft of water. Four flue boilers, twenty furnaces; bunkers to hold 890 tons of coals; thirty-eight hands in the engine-room. The Africa was built of the best British oak, and planked double outside and inside, and the space between the frames was filled up, from the keel to the gunwale, with rock-salt, to preserve the vessel from the dry rot. The number of her berths enabled her to carry 180 passengers. She was manned by a full crew of chosen men, giving about one-third to each department. She was estimated to carry 900 tons of coal; and she had capacity for the transit of 600 tons of cargo, not including the stores of ship and passengers. Fitted up for carrying guns, the Africa could at any time be transformed, from the peaceful original, into an Admiralty ship of war. The saloons and berths were fitted with an evident regard at once to elegance and utility: there was nothing the most refined taste could desiderate, as there was nothing wanting which could add to the comfort, convenience, and pleasure of the passengers.
[205] See [Appendix No. 8, p. 601]. I give the authorities from whom these returns were obtained, and all the figures on both sides of the question, so that my readers may judge for themselves, but, having had the log-books of the Cunard Company examined with great care, I can vouch for the accuracy of the conclusions in my text.
[206] Mr. C. B. Stuart computes the power of the Asia at eight hundred and sixteen H.-P., and the Atlantic and Pacific at only eight hundred each. On further comparing these steamers it will be found that for each square foot of immersed section the Atlantic had 110100 horse-power; the Pacific, 112100; and the Asia, 126100, thereby giving the latter an important advantage over the others. In the judgment of the Americans, therefore, whatever superiority may have been exhibited in their vessels over those of the British in speed, is justly ascribed to their models, effective boilers, and ability in their preparation.