In the America, launched from the yard of Messrs J. & G. Thomson, near the close of 1883, and presently being fitted for sea, the National Steamship Company (Limited), of Liverpool, have embodied the results of their careful study of the development and changes in the mode of conducting the American trade. From such experiments—for they can hardly be considered anything else—as the rapid passages of the Alaska, the City of Rome, and other “greyhounds of the Atlantic,” the company see it is no longer possible or profitable to have “composite” vessels—i.e., those intended to carry a large cargo as well as passengers,—but that practically one class of vessels must be built for the passenger traffic and another for the conveyance of cargo. The vessel represents an attempt to solve the problem of producing a ship which shall have large passenger accommodation and a high speed, with a comparatively small first cost and a reasonable consumption of coal. She is built of steel, and of the following dimensions:—Length, 440 feet; breadth, 51¼ feet; depth of hold, 36 feet; gross tonnage, about 6,000 tons. Her engines are of the inverted three-cylinder type, the high pressure cylinder being 63-ins. diameter, the two low pressure cylinders being 91-ins. each, while the piston stroke is 66-ins. Six double ended boilers and one single ended, having in all 39 furnaces, are fitted. The power expected to be developed is about 9,000 indicated. The speed guaranteed by the builders of the America is 18 knots an hour, and confidence is entertained by all concerned as to this result being attained.[2]
It is abundantly evident, notwithstanding what has already been achieved, that the brisk competition among transatlantic companies for the “fastest steamer afloat” has not yet exhausted itself. The determination some time ago publicly expressed by Mr John Burns, the able chairman of the Cunard Company, to maintain a leading position, has since taken decidedly active shape in the contract entered into and now being carried out by Messrs John Elder & Co.: that is, the construction of the two huge and powerful steamers of unprecedented speed, already referred to near the beginning of this work. They are each of 8000 tons burthen, 500 feet in length, 57 feet broad, by 40 feet depth of hold. Engines of 13,000 horse-power will be provided, which, it is computed, will drive the vessels at a speed of 19 knots an hour. With the establishment of these remarkable steamships in this most important service, the prospect is near of a transatlantic passage lasting only six days, if not indeed considerably under that period.
Communication with our South African colonies is another service in which modern progress, as regards high speed, has been conspicuously manifest. The steamers engaged in this service—belonging to the Union Steamship Coy. and Messrs Donald Currie & Co.—had special attention directed towards their powers as to fast steaming were exerted to the utmost them during the Zulu War of 1879, at which juncture in the transport of our soldiery. In the autumn of 1878 the Pretoria, belonging to the Union Coy., made the outward passage to the Cape, via Maderia, in 18 days, 16 hours, including 4½ hours detention. The passage home was made in the autumn of 1879 by the same vessel in 18 days, 13¼ hours, including about 5¾ hours stoppages. These passages are fairly representative of the best performances of the vessels engaged in this service, and they have not since been much excelled. In midsummer, 1880, the Durban, another of the Union Line vessels, accomplished the homeward run via Maderia in 18 days, 9 hours, including about 6½ hours stoppages. The Drummond Castle, belonging to Messrs Donald Currie & Co.’s Castle Packet line, has made the homeward run in 18 days, 18 hours, or, excluding detentions, in 18 days, 13 hours. The Hawarden Castle, of the same line, has made the fastest outward run on record. In the autumn of 1883 she accomplished it in 18 days, 15 hours, including five hours detention at Maderia, leaving the actual steaming time 18 days, 10 hours. The distance traversed by vessels on this service is some 6,000 miles, and the average speed attained is about 13 knots per hour. In the case of one of the Union Coy.’s vessels, the average speed attained has been as high as 13·8 knots per hour over the greater portion of the voyage, the indicated horse-power developed being about 2,570, and the consumpt of coal about 52½ tons per day. For a considerable time recently the Companies have found it more remunerative to drive their vessels at moderate speed, but in times of emergency, such as the outbreak of hostilities in our colonies, their qualities as transports traversing long distances at high speed are eminently efficient.
The employment of steamships in long voyages and at high rates of speed, for which, not so long ago, it was generally supposed sailing ships were only adapted, has been eminently successful. By the opening of the Suez Canal the passage to China was shortened from about 13,500 miles to about 9800 miles, that to India from over 10,000 miles to 6000. Although steamers were running to China via the Cape of Good Hope, before the opening of the Canal, and doing the service most admirably, it is subsequent to that great change, and indeed quite recently that the most noteworthy advances have been made in shortening the time occupied on these important services. The passage is now made by steamers under ordinary circumstances in less than thirty days, which sailing ships under the most favourable conditions took three and a half to four months to accomplish. The average speed attained by the steamers prior to the short route never exceeded ten knots; steamers now frequently average twelve knots over the whole distance, except during their passage through the Canal.
The Stirling Castle, built in 1882 by Messrs Elder & Co., for Messrs Skinner & Co.’s China fleet, attained a speed of 18·4 knots on her official trial. During 1883 she proved herself to be the fleetest vessel ever engaged in the China tea-carrying trade, arriving in the Thames several days ahead of the China mails, although the latter came part of the way overland. The run from Woosung to London was made in 27 days 4 hours steaming time. Other vessels belonging to this Company, and vessels of the other lines on this important service, although not equalling the performances of the Stirling Castle, are exemplifying almost daily the immense superiority of steamers over sailing ships for regularity and despatch in long passages.
As the distance to Australia—i.e., some 12,000 miles as ordinarily taken—is only about 900 miles less via the Suez Canal than by the Cape of Good Hope, steamers are employed on both routes. On the 12th May, 1875, the St. Osyth left Plymouth for Melbourne via the Cape, called at St. Vincent for coal, and thence steamed continuously to Melbourne, reaching her destination on the 27th June. Her full steaming time was about 43½ days, the average speed attained being over 11½ knots per hour. This passage, although considered most remarkable at the time, has since been surpassed. The Lusitania, of the Orient line, in 1877 made the passage to Melbourne in 40¼ days, including a detention of 1¼ days at St. Vincent while coaling. Her actual steaming time was almost exactly 39 days, her average speed being only a trifle under 13 knots. The Cuzco, of the same line, during the summer of 1879, made the homeward passage from Adelaide to Plymouth in 37 days 11 hours, including all detentions. In the Orient, which was the first vessel specially designed and constructed for the Australian direct steam service, a most noteworthy step in advance was made. She was launched in September, 1879, from the yard of Messrs Elder & Co., and on her completion was tried for speed, when she attained a maximum average speed of 17 knots per hour. She has made the passage from Plymouth to Adelaide, via Suez Canal, in 35 days 16 hours, and the same voyage via Cape of Good Hope in 34 days, 1 hour, steaming time.
