In the early spring of 1850 Messrs. Tod and MacGregor, iron shipbuilders and engineers, Glasgow, launched the iron screw steamer City Of Glasgow, a vessel of 1,600 tons and 350 horse-power. During the spring and summer of that year she made several voyages between Glasgow and New York, but in the latter part of the year she was purchased by the Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steamship Company, and sailed from Liverpool to Philadelphia on the 17th December, 1850. This vessel was the pioneer of what is better known as the “Inman” Line. This ill-fated vessel left port on 1st March, 1854, with four hundred and eighty persons on board, and was never again heard of. In 1851 the Inman Company purchased the steamship City of Manchester, built also by Tod & MacGregor. Her registered tonnage was 2,125 tons; her length 274 feet, and her breadth 38 feet. She had a clipper bow and bowsprit, four masts square rigged on the fore and main masts, with her funnel between the main and mizzen masts. Other iron screw steamers, all having the beautiful clipper bow for which this line was noted, were quickly added to the fleet, comprising the Kangaroo, City of Baltimore, City of Washington, City of Boston, City of Bristol, City of Limerick, City of Lincoln, City of London, City of Durham, City of New York, City of Paris, City of Antwerp, City of Brooklyn, City of Brussels, City of Montreal, City of Chester, City of Chicago, City of Richmond and City of Berlin.
During the first five years of its existence, the Inman Company maintained a fortnightly service between Liverpool and Philadelphia, but in 1857 it enlarged the area of its operations by making New York one of its ports of arrival and by establishing a fortnightly line thither. On the collapse of the Collins Line, Mr. Inman at once assumed their dates of sailing, and increased the service to once a week, and was appointed to carry the United States mails between England and America. Nor were the Inman steamers, though screws, less swift than their predecessors. Their later steamers far surpassed the swiftest steamers of the Collins Line, and one of these, the City Of Paris, in 1869 conveyed H.R.H. Prince Arthur to America in six days twenty-one hours, the quickest passage (up to that date) ever made to any port of the New World from Cork.
Mr. Inman specially directed his attention to the conveyance of emigrant passengers across the Atlantic, and he and Mrs. Inman, greatly to their credit, made a voyage in one of their earliest emigrant steamers, expressly for the purpose of ameliorating the discomforts and evils hitherto but too common in emigrant ships. The following table shows how successful he was in catering for the emigrant passenger trade:—
Passengers Landed at New York from the United Kingdom
In 1870:—
| Cabin | ||||
| Line. | Trips. | Passengers. | Steerage. | Total. |
| Inman | 68 | 3,635 | 40,465 | 44,100 |
| National | 56 | 2,442 | 33,494 | 35,736 |
| Guion | 55 | 1,115 | 27,054 | 28,569 |
| Anchor | 74 | 1,637 | 23,404 | 25,041 |
| Cunard | 70 | 7,638 | 16,871 | 24,509 |
Of the vessels named in the preceding page the City of Washington and City of Boston met with the sad fate that overtook the President and the Pacific. They sailed, but never reached the desired haven, and in course of time were posted “missing.” Two of them, the City of London and the City of Limerick, were sold to Messrs. W. H. Ross & Co., and sailed for some time between London and New York. The City of Antwerp was purchased by Messrs. William Johnston and Co., who changed her name to Thanemore and employed her for several years in their Liverpool and Baltimore trade. By a strange fatality, each of the three steamers last named, sailed from its respective port and was never afterwards heard of. The first two disappeared in 1881, and the third in 1890. The City of Richmond was sold to a firm who were the first to employ ocean liners for ocean pleasure cruising, and for two or three summers she sailed from Newcastle to the Norwegian fjords.
Upon the death of Mr. William Inman, which occurred in 1881, the management of the line was taken over by Messrs. Richardson, Spence & Co. Since then it has undergone several changes. Its title of Inman Line was discontinued, and that of “American” Line adopted, and its British headquarters transferred from Liverpool to Southampton. It is now (1903) one of the group of Atlantic steamship companies included in the “Morgan” combine.
In 1863, a number of Liverpool merchants and shipowners, anticipating a large trade would arise between this country and the Confederate States of North America on the termination of the civil war then raging, formed themselves into a company under the title of the National Steam Navigation Co., with a capital of £700,000. It was the intention of the promoters of the company to establish a regular service of first-class steamships between Liverpool and the Southern States. The requisite capital was quickly subscribed, and three steamships were promptly acquired; but, alas! the hoped-for peace did not arrive as soon as the promoters anticipated. Under these circumstances the Directors decided to enter into competition with the Cunard and Inman Companies for a share of the passenger and goods trade to and from the Northern States. The pioneer vessel of the new company was the Louisiana, which vessel sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in the year 1863. She was followed by the Virginia and the Pennsylvania, each of these vessels being between 3,000 and 3,500 gross tonnage, and consequently they were the largest cargo carriers afloat at that time. During the following year (1864) three new steamers of still larger tonnage were added to the fleet. These were named respectively The Queen, Erin and Helvetia. So successful were these vessels that twelve months later (1865) two more steamers were built for the Company, viz., the England and Denmark, both of 3,723 tons gross, and these were followed in 1866 by the France, a vessel of about the same tonnage.
A great advance in the size of the Company’s steamers was made in 1868, when the Italy, a steamer of 4,300 tons, was placed on the line. Not only was the Italy the largest transatlantic liner at that date, but she was also the first in which compound engines were fitted. A somewhat smaller steamship, the Holland, of 3,847 tons gross, was built in 1869. The following year two very large and powerful vessels were added to the fleet. These were the Egypt, of 4,669 tons gross, and the Spain, of 4,512 tons; both steamers were built on the Mersey, the former by the Liverpool Shipbuilding Co., and the latter by Messrs. Laird, of Birkenhead.
The Company now possessed a sufficiently large fleet to maintain a regular weekly service between Liverpool and New York, sailing from Liverpool every Wednesday, and from New York every Saturday; and a fortnightly service from London to New York, via Havre.