The Princess had now established beyond dispute her claim to be one of the fastest Channel steamers leaving the port. The ensuing winter she proved herself to be also one of the best sea-boats. The terrible gale of January 20th to 22nd, 1843, was one of the most severe that ever visited these coasts. The Mona’s Isle, from Liverpool to Douglas, was 24 hours on the passage. At Cork the posts on the quays were carried away. The Princess was at sea during this storm, and fully proved her excellent qualities as a sea-boat. She left Greenock at 11-30 p.m. on Friday, and arrived at Liverpool at 5 p.m. on Saturday without the slightest damage. This celebrated steamer was replaced in 1856 by a second Princess Royal, also a paddle steamer. After running in the Liverpool and Glasgow service for about four years, Princess No. 2 was sold to the General Steam Navigation Company, of London.
The third Princess Royal, built in 1861, was a screw steamer, the first screw owned by the Glasgow and Liverpool Royal Steampacket Company. In 1861, civil war broke out in the United States. The Federals (Northerners) established a strict blockade of all the Southern ports on the Atlantic seaboard. A cotton famine ensued, and fast steamers were in great demand for blockade running. Amongst other Liverpool steamers purchased for this purpose was the new Princess. She was sold in 1862, and her new owners changed her name. We are informed that she was captured on her first trip as a Confederate blockade runner, and converted by her captors into a Federal cruiser. Her immediate successor, the fourth Princess Royal, after running for a number of years between Liverpool and Glasgow, was sold to a firm to trade in the West Indies. For the present the Royal Steampacket Company is without a Princess Royal, the fifth steamer of that name having been sold in 1901 to foreign buyers. The service is meantime maintained by the Princess Louise, or other steamer of the fleet.
About the year 1870, the Royal Company opened up a new steamship service from Liverpool to the West Highlands, North of Scotland, and east coast ports. Owing, in large measure, to the natural attractions of the route, and the excellence of the accommodation and cuisine provided on the steamers, this is every year becoming a more popular and favourite trip. The first steamer employed on the West Highland and east coast route was a small cargo steamer, but in a very short time it was found necessary to place the Princess Alice, a much larger steamer, carrying passengers as well as cargo, on the route. The earlier vessels on this service were steamers of 300 to 400 tons, with limited accommodation for about 20 passengers, but now the steamers employed have accommodation for 100 to 140 saloon passengers, and an average cargo-carrying capacity of nearly 1,000 tons each. Some idea may be gained of the growth of the passenger and cargo traffic, by comparing the earlier vessels with the new Princess Maud, built in 1901. This steamer is of steel, and her dimensions are:—Length, 256 feet 6 inches; breadth, 36 feet 6 inches; depth, 17 feet 1½ inches. Gross tonnage, 1,450 tons. The vessel is handsomely fitted up for passengers, the large dining saloon being furnished in solid oak, artistically carved. One hundred first-class passengers can dine at one sitting, and there is sleeping accommodation in deck rooms and state cabins for 140 passengers. The steamer is fitted throughout with electric light, patent berths, sea-water baths, ample lavatories, and every modern convenience that can contribute to the comfort of passengers. The Princess Maud was placed on the service early in 1902, and will no doubt enhance the reputation in which this line is held by tourists. In addition to the bi-weekly service between Liverpool and Aberdeen, Leith, and Dundee, the Royal Steampacket Company run a regular service of steamers between Aberdeen, Newcastle, Hull, and other east coast ports, and Bristol, Cardiff, and Swansea, calling also at Southampton and Plymouth. During the summer months this service embraces a fortnightly trip round the United Kingdom with one of the larger passenger steamers, and this has now become a favourite cruise for summer holiday seekers, occupying as it does about twelve days.
When the Manchester Ship Canal was opened in 1894, the Royal Company began at once to despatch their steamers from Manchester to Glasgow, as well as to the west, north, and east coasts of Scotland. In addition to having the management of the various services mentioned, Messrs. Langlands have, for a great many years, been the agents of Messrs. Alex. A. Laird and Co. as regards the steamers trading between Liverpool, Larne, and Westport.
The agency of the company’s steamers at Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leith, Dundee and Hull, is in the hands of Messrs. M. Langlands and Sons, who have been closely identified with the development of the company’s business, and are largely interested in its success.
Chapter XIV.
Messrs. James Little & Co.
Towards the end of July, 1819, Messrs. James Little & Co., who had commenced business seven years previously, despatched from Greenock, on her maiden voyage to Liverpool, the first passenger steamer that ever sailed from the Clyde to the Mersey. Her name was the Robert Bruce, and she was described in her advertisements as being “an elegant new Steam Packet, having most excellent accommodation for passengers.” As a matter of fact, she was a small wooden paddle steamer, 98 feet long, or about twelve feet longer than the Cluthas that ply up and down Glasgow Harbour, but with twice their beam. She called at Portpatrick and Douglas (I. of M.) on her voyages to and from the Clyde, and occupied about thirty hours on the run from Greenock to Liverpool. The following letter from the Captain (Patterson) to Messrs. Little, written on the 1st September, 1819, indicates how different are the conditions under which passengers travel by steamers at the present date and those which existed in the early stages of steam navigation. Captain Patterson dated his letter from Troon, and stated:—
“I have to inform you that we were taken with a heavy gale of wind from the N.W. yesterday about two o’clock, just as we had got outside the Cumbraes, with a heavy sea; about six o’clock the sea came more to the westward, and, from the very heavy sea on our beam, we made so much lee-way that we could not stand out-channel nor fetch Lamlash. I, therefore thought it best to bear up for this port, and got in safe last night with the loss of our bowsprit, but no other damage. Our engines worked very well, only the wheels had little effect owing to the heavy sea. It has continued to blow a gale all night, and still looks very bad. The ship Nereus got here an hour before us, dismasted. I will get another bowsprit as soon as possible, and will proceed when it moderates. The passengers were all sick, but are now well.
“I am, &c.,
“John Patterson.