Steamships and their story

by E. Keble Chatterton

From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

THE “EMPRESS” LEAVING DOVER HARBOUR.

From a Photograph. By permission of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Co.

Another ingenious vessel on this service was the Castalia. She was a twin-ship composed of a couple of hulls. Those who crossed in her about the year 1876 found her very comfortable, and she was so steady that comparatively few of her passengers were sea-sick, but her drawback was that she was not fast. The genesis of this double-hulled ship was in order to obtain greater steadiness, and the experiment was first tried by fastening two Woolwich steamers together, having first removed the inside paddle-wheels. Following up this, the same principle was exemplified in a ship called the Express, which had been constructed for a firm that became financially embarrassed, and she was accordingly taken over instead by the owners of the Castalia, and became the famous Calais-Douvres, which most of my readers will well remember. She was certainly a fast ship, but her life was not devoid of adventures. In May, 1878, she collided with Dover Pier through her steering-gear going wrong, her main engines having previously broken down. She was subsequently repaired and did well until 1887, when, worn out by active service, she was withdrawn, having proved an expensive boat to run, and obtained an unenviable reputation for a large coal consumption. The Castalia was withdrawn in 1878, and became a floating small-pox hospital on the Thames, where she remained for about twenty years, and was finally towed therefrom to Dordrecht by one of that fleet of Dutch tugs which we shall mention in a later chapter as being famous for the towage of big docks. In the course of time new and improved Channel steamers continued to be put on this Dover-Calais route, and in 1899 an amalgamation of interests owned by the South Eastern and the London, Chatham and Dover Railways took place, so that now the two fleets are under one management. Within recent years they have shown a very enterprising spirit by leading the way in placing turbine steamers on their route, and [the illustration on the opposite page] shows their turbine steamer Empress clearing out of Dover Harbour. In general character we may take the appearance of this vessel as typical of the more modern cross-channel steamers which now ply also on other routes owned by the various railway companies. The fine service of steamboats, for instance, possessed by the Great Western, Great Eastern, the Midland, the London and North Western, the Great Central, and the London and South Western consists rather of miniature liners of a very up-to-date type. Not merely wireless telegraphy and turbines have been introduced into the cross-channel steamers, but every conceivable regard for the comfort of the passengers has been taken commensurate with the size of the ships, and the special work which they are called upon to perform.

We have addressed ourselves especially to the services between Dover and Calais and between Holyhead and Dublin, for, owing to their geographical character, these two are naturally the most important and the most historic. The custom of railways being owners of steamships has continued, the chief exception being the Great Northern Railway. The Newhaven to Dieppe route is of comparatively modern origin, and it was not until 1847 that the London to Newhaven line was completed. During the following year there were three steamers running to Dieppe from this port, but at first the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was thwarted owing to legal difficulties, and properly their service dates from 1856, for at one time they were compelled to run a service under different ownership from their own. The model shown [opposite page 226] shows the packet steamer Lyons, which was built in 1856 for the Newhaven-Dieppe service. She was a paddle-boat of 315 tons displacement.

Between England and the Channel Isles connection in the pre-steamship days was kept up by sailing cutters. After that the Admiralty conveyed the mails from Weymouth to Jersey and Guernsey by ships of the Royal Navy, and one of these—the Dasher—was until recent years employed in watching the oyster fisheries off Jersey. But in 1835 a steam packet service was started from Southampton to Havre, twice a week, and between the Hampshire port and the Channel Islands, which was owned by the South of England Steam Navigation Company, while a rival came forward in the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, which ran to the Channel Isles. One of the earliest steamers belonging to the former company was the Atalanta, of which we give an illustration [opposite page 226]. She was afterwards lengthened, and as thus altered she appears in our illustration. Her days were ended as a coal hulk in Jersey.

From 1838 to 1845 the mail service between England and the Channel Isles was carried on from Weymouth, but in the latter year this service was transferred to the South Western Steam Packet Company, and remained exclusively with the Southampton steamers until 1899, when the joint running of the Channel Islands service by the steamers of the London and South Western from Southampton, and of the Great Western Railway from Weymouth, once more caused mails also to be carried from Weymouth. It was in the year 1860 that the South Western Railway, following the prevailing custom, took over their fleet from the South Western Steam Packet Company, and under the railway ownership this service has continued ever since. The origin of the Weymouth service was on this wise. An opposition company had been floated by the Channel Islands merchants under the title of the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company, and this continued until 1888, when the service was taken up by the Great Western Railway Company. For a time the keenest competition between the two railway companies as steamship owners continued, but after eleven years an amicable arrangement was come to whereby they agreed to work a joint service, which agreement is still in force. To-day, notwithstanding the losses which have been sustained by sad disasters involving loss of life, notably the memorable instance of the Stella, which foundered on the Casquets in March, 1899, this fleet is able to keep up an uninterrupted service carrying passengers, mails, and freight, whilst during the summer season extra cargo steamers have to be put on for the conveyance of the big potato trade, fruit and flowers. These vessels, by reason of their route, cannot be expected always to avoid accidents. Those who know the treacherous character of the Channel Islands coast-line, and the continuous stream of traffic which is going up and down the English Channel, will readily appreciate what it means to take a small steamship from port to port in thick weather. It was only in April of 1910 that one of the London and South Western Railway boats, the Laura, while on her way from Southampton to Cherbourg, collided when about twenty miles south of the Needles, with a Norwegian sailing vessel named the Sophie, bound up channel from South America to Hamburg. Here again the wireless telegraph gear came in useful, for it chanced that the Royal Mail Liner Asturias was in the vicinity, and she at once telegraphed for assistance. These Channel Islands steamers all carry sufficient coal for the voyage there and back, with an additional amount adequate for all ordinary contingencies. From Southampton also the same owners carry on a steamboat service to Havre, Cherbourg, Honfleur, Roscoff, and St. Malo; while from Jersey to St. Malo and from Jersey to Granville two twin-screw steamers are employed.

Between Harwich and the Hook of Holland, the Great Eastern Railway keep up an important steamship connection, and employ in their ships not merely wireless telegraphy, but the submarine signalling which is mentioned as being a characteristic of the modern Atlantic liner. Their turbine steamer, the St. Petersburg—a sister ship to the same company’s Munich and Copenhagen—which was only put into active service in 1910, began a steamship connection that is carried on entirely by turbine craft. It is, indeed, owing to the advent of the turbine that the notable improvements in our cross-channel steamers have been made within the last few years. Not only has this system obtained for the ships a greater popularity because of the absence of vibration, but it has also enabled the owners to avail themselves of the greater accommodation for cargo and passengers, as well as giving greater speed to the ships under economical conditions of working.

One of the most notable cross-channel steamers is the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s Ben-my-Chree, which can do 25 knots per hour and carry 2,500 passengers. On this route the turbine has very decidedly justified itself also. A breakdown causing the disablement of the turbine steamer is as yet unknown, and it is worth noting that from the now celebrated Channel steamer Queen, a turbine steamer of only 8,000 horse-power, which was ordered only as recently as the year 1900, to the Mauretania, with her 70,000 horse-power, is a step that shows how thoroughly satisfactory the turbine has proved itself in so short a space of time. In the case of a liner a breakdown is a serious enough item, but in the case of a channel steamer it is an occurrence of sufficiently grave a nature as to be guarded against with every precaution. The chances of a shaft breaking in the case of a turbine steamer are very remote, and will probably continue to be so, with the steady nature of the working of the turbine, the worst likely accident being the breaking of one of the many blades.