President Johnson suitably acknowledged the Royal despatch, and reciprocated the good wishes contained in it. [A most interesting diary of the Atlantic Telegraph Expedition is published in the Annual Register for 1866.]
In 1867 her cable-laying services were interrupted by a charter to a French company, who employed her between Brest and New York, carrying passengers to and from the great French Exhibition. For this service she was fitted with new boilers for the screw engines, and her saloons were altered and redecorated.
After the completion of her charter with the French company, she was taken up by the Telegraphic Construction and Maintenance Company, in whose service she remained for seven years. During this period she succeeded in laying the cable between Brest and Duckburgh, near Boston, Mass., in 1868; between Aden and Bombay in 1870; between Valentia and Heart’s Content, in 1873 and 1874; completing her charter to the Telegraphic Construction Company in July, 1875. The amount received for charter was at the rate of £20,000 per annum, nett form.
The last years of this noble vessel were ignominious. She was chartered in 1886 by “Lewis’s,” who used her for a couple of years as a huge floating advertisement on the Mersey. She afterwards went to several Ports as a “show” ship, and finally returned to the Mersey to be broken up on the 20th November, 1888. Her owners at this time were probably the only persons who ever realized a handsome profit out of her during her varied career. The following is a list of the prices obtained at the sale of the various parts of the hull and equipment:—
Eleven-ton Trotman’s anchor, 33 guineas, in addition to a number of other anchors, which realized £3 to £7 15s. per ton; oak lifeboat, 2 guineas; cutter, 30s.; iron masts, £9 to £17 10s. each; copper steam piping, £2,960; gun metal, £6,400; scrap yellow brass, £1,760; sheet lead, £367 10s.; lead piping, £367 10s.; iron plates forming the hull, £12,600; iron beams, £2 13s. per ton; scrap rivets, £2 6s. per ton; boiler tubes, £49 7s. 6d.[23]
So ended the career of the most celebrated ship of the 19th century.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] “Illustrated London News.”
[23] The above figures are obtained from “Donaldson’s Engineers’ Annual,” 1900, by permission.