[14] In the case of river steamers of moderate size there is not the same restriction on the position of the wheel, and as a matter of fact, as in the case of stern-wheelers, it is altogether at one end.
[15] It is now claimed for the twin-screw ship that she is not only capable of entering shallower harbors, but that she is in every way much safer, and it is most unfortunate that, owing to an act of carelessness, this was not conclusively shown in the recent accident to the City of Paris. But there is safety in the twin-screw beyond that which is rendered possible, as in the cases of the City of Paris and Majestic, by the division of the engine-rooms, viz., the fact that if one engine breaks down it is improbable that the other would do so at the same time, and that the vessel, although somewhat crippled in speed, would still be able to pursue her voyage; also, that in the event of accident to the steering apparatus the passage could be continued and the direction of the ship guided by regulating with one or both of the engines. Each of these features is pronounced, and the advantages have been proved on many occasions.
[16] See the [chapter] on The Development of the Ocean Steamship.
[17] Through the courtesy of Mr. George W. Esslinger, assistant to Captain John E. Moore, landing agent.
[18] There are several other lines, like the Liverpool, Brazil & River Plate, and John Norton’s Son, which usually send out from four steamships a year to one a month, but which are doing very little just now, owing to the disorganized condition of trade in the River Plate region. Reciprocity with Brazil is counted upon to increase their trade.
There is one line of steamships from New York direct to Indian, Chinese, and Japanese ports by way of the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. It is operated by Edward Perry & Co., and case oil forms the bulk of the trade. About one vessel a month is sent out, and this vessel has a tonnage of about 3,000 gross.
Carter, Hawley & Co., and Carter, Macy & Co., had during the year 1891 about 25 steamships consigned to them from China and Japan, the tonnage of which was about 60,000 gross. Inward these vessels are tea-laden, but on the return trip they are usually chartered by other firms for general cargo.
[19] Certain kinds of freight admit of peculiar packing, of which an instance occurs to me in the loading of American cheeses. The side-ports of the ship are opened, and a series of inclined chutes are arranged so that the cheeses roll by their own weight from the truck on the pier through the open port, and are switched off on side chutes, which carry them to their final resting place, where men stow them in solid layers. Some vessels, not provided with side-ports, hoist the packages on deck in nets and lower them down the hatchways. Some of these products of the American dairy return to us as English manufacture—the “Cheshire” and “Double Gloucester.”
[20] The table is from Lloyd’s Register, 1890-91.