Great pressure was subsequently brought to bear on Congress in order to obtain a subsidy for an American mail service to Great Britain. Those in favour of the subsidy argued that it was humiliating to their pride as a great maritime people, that foreigners and commercial rivals should wrest from them the virtual monopoly of ocean steam conveyance, especially between the United States and Europe, and they complained that the ocean mails along their southern coasts had been placed in the hands of foreign carriers, sustained and protected by the British Government under the forms of contract to carry the British mails; while the Cunard Line, between Liverpool and Boston, via Halifax, constituted the only medium of regular steam navigation between the United States and Europe.
Britannia. Cunard Steamship Co.
It may be appropriate to state here, that in addition to carrying the British mails from Liverpool to North America, the Cunard Company, early in 1850, obtained a contract from the British Government for the conveyance of the mails between Halifax, New York and Bermuda. The steam packets employed in this service were the Alpha, Beta and Delta, small vessels each of 350 tons and 80 horse-power, and fitted with a proper space for mounting an 18-pounder pivot gun. The arrangements for carrying on the service were as follows:—Twenty-four hours after the arrival of the packet from Liverpool, one of these vessels left Halifax for Bermuda; at the same time another left for St. John’s, while the third conveyed the mails monthly between Bermuda and New York. The payment for these services amounted to £10,600 per annum, equal to 3s. per mile, while on the main line it was 11s. 4d. per mile. The following year the British Government made another contract with the Cunard Company for a monthly conveyance each way of the mails between Bermuda and St. Thomas, upon such days as might be fixed by the Admiralty, the one vessel engaged in it being in all respects similar to those engaged in the Halifax and Bermuda service. The amount of subsidy was £4,100 per annum, or equal to 4s. per mile. This service connected the West Indies with the United States and the North American provinces.
Following the example of the British Government, the United States Congress resolved to subsidise a line of American steamships between New York and Liverpool. The steamers were to be of the highest class, possessing great speed and superior passenger accommodation, and capable, besides, of being converted at a small expense into war steamers. The responsible task of establishing the line was undertaken by Mr. E. K. Collins, of New York, after whom the line was named. Mr. Collins had had considerable experience as a shipowner, being well-known as the head of the Collins Line of sailing packets between Liverpool and New York. Associated with Mr. Collins in his later enterprise were many influential American citizens, and their proposals were favourably received by the American Government, and ultimately an agreement was entered into, by which Mr. Collins and his colleagues undertook to provide five first-class steam vessels and to maintain a weekly mail service between New York and Liverpool, each vessel performing twenty voyages annually, for which service they were to receive $19,250 per voyage. It is evident that the United States Government were prepared to pay most liberally for the performance of the ocean mail service. At par the subsidy represented £4,010 8s. 4d. per voyage. Assured of this substantial income, Mr. Collins sought the assistance of the most competent shipbuilders and engineers of the United States, and on the completion of the contract, arrangements were entered into for the construction of four vessels, to be named the Arctic, Baltic, Atlantic and Pacific, each to be about 3,000 tons register and of 800 horse-power. The principal dimensions of these celebrated steamers were—Length on main deck, 282 feet; depth from the main deck, 24 feet; depth under the spar deck, 32 feet; breadth of beam, 45 feet. They had rounded sterns, three masts with suitable spars; four decks, viz., lower, main, spar, and orlop deck, extending from the engine room forward and aft. They were built chiefly of live oak, planked with pitchpine, and were equal, if not superior, in strength to any wooden steamers afloat. The timbers, which were solid and bolted to each other, were further strengthened by a lattice work of iron bands. All the four steamers were beautiful models, and the Arctic, which was esteemed the finest of the fleet, was familiarly known as the “clipper of the seas.” She was built by Mr. W. H. Brown, of New York, under the superintendence of Mr. George Steers, who modelled the famous yacht America. Her equipment was complete, and of the highest order, while her cabin accommodation surpassed in comfort and elegance any merchant steamer Great Britain then possessed. The engines of the Arctic and her sister ships were of the “side-lever” type, the cylinder having a diameter of 95 inches, with a 9 feet stroke. The boilers of the Arctic and Baltic were peculiar to the Collins Line, and were designed by Messrs. Sewell and Faron, chief engineers of the United States Navy. The latter of these two gentlemen acted as chief engineer of the Company. The boilers were arranged with double furnaces, and lower water spaces connected by a row of vertical tubes, around which the heated gases circulated, with a hanging bridge or plate, which checked their otherwise rapid flow to the funnel, and rendered the combustion more perfect. The average consumption per 24 hours by the Arctic was 83 tons anthracite coal, attaining an average speed of 316·4 knots per day. Her maximum consumption was 87 tons, with a speed of 320 knots in 24 hours.
These vessels were constructed so utterly regardless of expense that to complete them it was found the cost would be very greatly in excess of the estimates. The Government was therefore appealed to for assistance. The appeal was generously responded to. The United States Government not only made an advance to the Company while the ships were being built, but also released it from its obligation to build a fifth vessel as originally contemplated, and increased the subsidy from $19,250 to $33,000 per voyage. But for these benefits increased speed was demanded. “We must have speed,” declared Mr. Bayard, during the debate in Congress, “extraordinary speed—a speed with which they (the Collins steamships) can overtake any vessel which they pursue, and escape from any vessel they wish to avoid; they must be fit for the purpose of a cruiser, with armaments to attack your enemy (if that enemy were Great Britain) in her most vital part, her commerce.” Happily the contest was a commercial and not a national one, and the Collins steamers were never required for the purposes of Mr. Bayard’s hypothesis. They did, however, engage (and for a time with apparent success) in a great contest with the Cunard Company for the commercial maritime supremacy of the Atlantic.
The Atlantic, the first of the Collins Line of steamers to cross the ocean, arrived at Liverpool on the 10th May, 1850. The breadth of beam of this vessel and her sister ships was so great that they were unable to enter any existing docks at Liverpool, and a dock at the north end of the port was constructed specially for their accommodation. The arrival of the Atlantic excited very great interest, which was increased rather than lessened by the presence at Liverpool of the Asia R.M.S., just built for the Cunard Line, and which left for New York on the following Saturday week.
Asia. Cunard Steamship Co.
The following description[19] of the interior decorations of the Atlantic may be taken as a general description of the whole of the Collins steamers, and will be read with interest:—