Arrival of Sirius P. S. at New York, 23rd April, 1838.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] There is some doubt as to whether this vessel was a steamer or a sailing brig. “The Liverpool Mercury” speaks of her as the “ill-fated steamer, Rival”; but the “Glasgow Herald” only refers to her as the “brig Rival.”
Chapter XII.
Pioneers of Transatlantic steam navigation.—Valentia Transatlantic S. N. Co. incorporated, 1828.—Dr. Lardner’s famous speech on Steam Navigation.—The Royal William, first steamer from Canada to England, 1833; sold to Spanish Government and re-named Ysabel Segunda.—The British Queen S. N. Co.—Launch of the British Queen, 1838.—Sirius, first passenger steamer from Europe to America, 1838.—Great Western, 1838.—Arrival of both steamers at New York on same day.—The Royal William, first Atlantic liner from Liverpool to New York, 1838.—The Liverpool.—The President launched, 1839; lost, 1841.
A Quarter of a century had elapsed since the launch of Bell’s Comet on the Clyde. In the interval, all the chief ports of Great Britain and Ireland, and several of the continental ports, had been connected by steampacket services. So early as 1828 it had been proposed to establish steam communication between the West of Ireland and America, and an Act of Parliament for incorporating the Valentia Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company was obtained. The proposed capital was £24,000, in shares of £50 each. The first steamer was estimated to cost £21,000. She was to be a vessel of about 800 tons burthen, driven by engines of 200 h.p., and was expected to make six round voyages per annum. She was to accommodate 50 cabin and 50 steerage passengers, and to carry 200 tons cargo, exclusive of bunkers. It appears from the following extract from the “Liverpool Albion” of the 14th December, 1835, that although the projectors of the Valentia Company advertised in 1828 that the company was “to commence immediate operations,” its first sailing had not taken place seven years later. The scheme fell through for want of support, but in 1835 it was started afresh in conjunction with the railway from London, the Post Office Packets, and the Valentia Railway. The extract is valuable also as containing Dr. Lardner’s famous dictum concerning the possibility of direct steam navigation between Liverpool and New York:—
“Steam Communication with America.
“Dr. Lardner then proceeded to observe that one of the grandest projects which had ever occupied the human mind was at present in the process of actual accomplishment. He meant that of constructing a great highway for steam intercourse between New York and London—between the capital of the New World and that of the Old. Part of the highway was in process of formation. It consisted of several stages—that of the railroad from London to Birmingham; that from Birmingham to Liverpool, and the steam intercourse with Dublin; but there was another stage—that from Dublin to Valentia, which had as yet hardly been thought of. Ireland was a country which, with all her political disadvantages, was blest by nature with a vast number of physical advantages, and amongst the rest he might reckon a vast number of excellent harbours. No country in the world could boast of so many fine and spacious ports, bays and roadsteads. She had many harbours on her west coast which would serve admirably as stations for steam conveyance across the Atlantic; but Valentia had been selected as the extreme westerly point suitable for that purpose. It was a fine anchoring ground by an island of that name on the coast of Munster. The distance from Dublin to this point was under 200 miles, which might be traversed in about 8 hours. The nearest point on the continent of North America to this point of Ireland was St. John’s in Newfoundland. The distance between the two was about 1,900 miles; thence to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, there would be another run of 550 miles, and from that to New York would not exceed the admissible range; but touching at Halifax would be desirable for the sake of passengers. The only difficulty would be as to the run from Valentia to St. John’s; and the voyage from Dublin to Bordeaux and back, a distance of between 1,600 and 1,700 miles, with the same stock of coals, came very near this distance. It must be observed that westerly gales blew almost all the year round across the Atlantic. They were produced by the trade winds being the compensating cause that restored the balance which these served to destroy, according to that beautiful principle in nature which always provides a remedy for any derangement in the deranging cause itself. As a last resource, however, should the distance between Valentia and St. John’s prove too great, they might make the Azores a stage between, so that there remained no doubt of the practicability of establishing a steam intercourse with the United States. As to the project, however, which was announced in the newspapers, of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was, he had no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to the moon. The vessels which would ultimately be found the best adapted for the voyage between this country and the United States would be those of 800 tons, which would carry machines of 200 horse-power, and would be able to stow 400 tons of coal. To supply a 10 horse-power daily required an expenditure of a ton of coals, and, consequently, 200 horse-power would require 20 tons of coal daily; but if the vessel carried 400 tons of coal only, it would not be practicable to undertake a voyage which would require the whole of the quantity. They must make an allowance of 100 tons for contingencies. Thus, in reckoning the average length of the voyage which might be undertaken by such a vessel, we might safely calculate upon 300 tons of coal, which would be sufficient for 15 days, and it might fairly be concluded that any project which calculated upon making longer voyages than 15 days without taking in a fresh supply of coals, in the present state of the steamboat, must be considered chimerical. Now, the average rate of speed of the Mediterranean packets was 170 miles per day, and the utmost limit of a steam voyage might be taken at 2,550 miles; but even that could not be reckoned upon.”
In justice to the memory of Dr. Lardner, it is only fair to state that, in the eighth edition of his “Steam Engine, &c.,” 1851, pp. 294-309, he denies that he ever stated that “a steam voyage across the Atlantic was a physical impossibility.”