West Indian Station.—Details.
This is a complicated and important department, and the working details thereof must be planned as follows:—
1.—First Packet for the Month.
Immediately on the arrival of this packet at Barbadoes, a steamer of 240-horse power should start for St. Thomas direct (430 miles), with the mails from England, &c. for that island, Santa Cruz and Tortola, and for Porto Rico, St. Domingo, the Bahamas, All Cuba, Jamaica, Carthagena, Chagres, Panama, Honduras, Vera Cruz, and Tampico. This boat could reach and clear St. Thomas in two days.
The steamer alluded to having landed the mails for St. Thomas, St. Cruz, and Tortola, should then proceed to St. John's, Porto Rico, and there land the British and Colonial mails; to Cape Nichola Mole (Hayti), and there land the British, the Colonial, and the Bahama mails; to St. Jago de Cuba, and there land the British and Colonial mails; to Kingston, Jamaica, and there land the British, the Colonial, the Chagres and Carthagena mails; to Savannah la Mar, Jamaica, and there land the British and Colonial mails for all the western parts of Jamaica,[4] for Trinidad de Cuba and Honduras; and thence to Havannah, with the mails for that place, and Vera Cruz, &c.
At the end of the second day this steamer may start on her return, with the return mails from the Havannah, and the return mails from the preceding packet from Vera Cruz and Tampico, forwarded and brought up as after mentioned, and, proceeding, call at Savannah la Mar for the same, from the western parts of Jamaica, Trinidad de Cuba, and Honduras; at Kingston for the general Jamaica mails, and those from Santa Martha, Carthagena, and Chagres from the same packet, and from Panama, &c. from the preceding packet; at St. Jago de Cuba for the return mails, and thence to Cape Nichola Mole, where it will deliver the whole European mails to the packet arrived there, as will presently be pointed out; from Cape Nichola Mole the steamer will proceed to St. Thomas, calling at St. John's, Porto Rico, with and for Colonial mails, and thence to Barbadoes (calling at all the Islands going up, and carrying up the British mail for Tortola from St. Thomas, left by the downward steamer) to wait to receive a following mail from Great Britain.
On the arrival of the downward steamer at Cape Nichola Mole, from St. Thomas, a fast-sailing schooner to be despatched to Nassau with the Bahama mails, calling, in going and returning, at Crooked Island. This schooner, it is calculated, could be back at Cape Nichola Mole in time to meet the packet at her departure for England with the return mails; if it could not, then the packet could take Crooked Island in her way, and there pick up the Bahama return mails for Great Britain.
Two schooners would be sufficient for this station for the Bahama service, should it be desirable that these islands should have mails twice each month.
On the arrival of the steamer at Kingston, Jamaica, with the outward mails, another steamer to be despatched with the mails for Santa Martha, Carthagena, Chagres, and Panama, calling at Chagres first, and with the return mails from Panama, the South Sea, and Chagres, return to Kingston by Carthagena and Santa Martha. One powerful steam-boat would be in time for the same packet; thus:—to Chagres, 550 miles, two and a half days; to Carthagena, 290 miles, one and a half day; stop there one day; to Santa Martha, ninety miles, one day; to Jamaica, 420 miles, three days; in all, nine days.
The mails for Honduras and Trinidad de Cuba by the outward packet having been brought up to Montego Bay, Jamaica, as has been already stated, a good schooner should proceed thence to Trinidad de Cuba, 172 miles, one and a half days; thence to Honduras, 520 miles, three and a half days; stop three or more days; back to Montego Bay, by Trinidad de Cuba, 692 miles, ten days; in all, eighteen days. Two schooners will perform this work, giving two mails each month.