Europa and America. Cunard Steamship Co.
In 1843 the Company added to their fleet the Hibernia, and in 1845 the Cambria, each of 1,040 I.H.P. and of 1,422 tons gross, with an average speed of 9¼ knots. On the expiration of the Postal Contract the Government stipulated that the existing mail service should be doubled, that the steamers of the Company should be capable of carrying guns of the largest calibre, and that a steamer should leave Liverpool every Saturday (calling at Holyhead if required) for New York and Boston alternately; the Boston steamer to call at Halifax, and the New York steamer to do so also, if required by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. In consideration of these augmented services the annual subsidy was increased to £173,340, at which figure it remained for twenty years (1847 to 1867). To meet the new requirements, the America, Niagara, Canada and Europa, of 1,825 tons, and 2,000 I.H.P., with an average speed of ten and a quarter knots, were built and added to the fleet. A few years later the Collins Line, heavily subsidised, was started with the avowed object of “sweeping the Cunarders off the Atlantic.” This opposition lasted until 1858, when, having lost two ships, and being refused any further subsidy by the United States Government, the Collins Company collapsed, and the remaining ships were withdrawn. During the continuance of this opposition the Cunard Company added steadily to their fleet larger and more powerful steamers. The Asia and Africa were built in 1850, and were each 266 feet by 40 feet by 27·2 feet, of 2,226 tons gross, with engines of 2,400 I.H.P., and of an average speed of 12·5 knots. These were followed in 1852 by the Arabia, the last of the wooden paddle steamers. She was 285 feet long, 40 feet 8 inches broad, and 29 feet deep. Her engines indicated 3,250 H.P., and her average speed was 13 knots per hour. Three years later, 1855, the first iron mail steamship was built for the Cunard Company. She was named the Persia, and was nearly one hundred feet longer than the largest of her predecessors. Her principal dimensions were—Length 376 feet, breadth 45 feet 3 inches, depth 31 feet 6 inches. Her gross tonnage was 4,000 tons, and her engines indicated 4,000 H.P., giving a speed of 13·8 knots per hour. In 1853 the Company established (primarily as auxiliaries to their Atlantic service) branch lines between Liverpool and Havre, and Liverpool and the principal ports in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Levant, Bosphorus, and Black Sea. For these branch lines the screw steamers Sydney, Australian, Andes and Alps were built in 1852, followed by the Jura in 1854 and the Etna in 1855. War having been declared against Russia the four last-named steamers, in addition to the Cambria, Niagara, Europa and Arabia, were engaged by the Government as troopships. The Cunard Company had in 1854 purchased the steamer Emeu, and she was immediately chartered to the Government. The Emeu was the first troopship to arrive out at the commencement of the Crimean War, and in the seventeen months following she conveyed upwards of 17,000 troops to the Crimea. A few years later (1862) the famous Scotia (the last of the paddle-wheel steamers) was built. In 1878 she was sold to the Telegraph Construction Company, who converted her into a screw steamer. The same year (1862) the Cunard Company ordered their first screw steamer for the Atlantic trade. This was the China S.S., now converted into a four-masted barque and named the Theodor. She was followed in 1864 by the Cuba, in 1865 by the Java, and in 1867 by the Russia, of 2,960 tons gross and 3,100 I.H.P. After sailing for many years under the Cunard Flag, the Russia was sold to the “American Line.” Her new owners lengthened her, gave her a fourth mast, and altered her name to the Waesland. She finally sank off Holyhead, after colliding with the S.S. Harmonides, on the 5th March, 1902.
Scotia. Cunard Steamship Co.
The Company’s Postal Contract having expired on the 31st December, 1867, a new contract was entered into with the Postmaster-General for one year, whereby the Cunard Company undertook to despatch a steamer from Liverpool to New York, calling at Queenstown, returning from New York every Wednesday, also calling at Queenstown. The payment for this service was £80,000, which sum was further reduced the following year to £70,000 per annum for several years. Under the last contract, which was for the period named, the Company guaranteed to sail a steamer from Liverpool (calling at Queenstown) to Boston every Tuesday, in addition to the mail service from Liverpool to New York every Saturday. The last-mentioned contract expired on the 31st December, 1876, on which date a new system of postal remuneration came into operation based on the amount of correspondence carried per voyage, under which system the Cunard Company has carried the mails to the present time. It will thus be seen that the continuity of their mail service has continued unbroken for upwards of sixty years. The invention of compound engines was the latest evolution of marine engineering engaging attention in 1869-70. The Directors of the Cunard Company quickly realised that the saving effected by the use of compound engines was so considerable, without reduction of speed, that their adoption was an imperative necessity. This decision was arrived at too late to furnish with the new style of engines the Abyssinia and Algeria, each of about 3,300 tons and 2,480 I.H.P., just completed by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, and placed on the New York station; but the Batavia, then on the stocks to the order of another company, was purchased and supplied with machinery on the new principle; and an order was given to the same builders (Messrs. Denny, Dumbarton) for a similar vessel of rather larger tonnage to be named the Parthia. A further extension of the Company’s business took place in 1872, by the establishment of a direct line of steamers between the Clyde and the West Indies. The Trinidad and the Demerara, two sister ships of about 2,000 tons each, were built that year, and placed on the station, but after about twelve months’ trading they were withdrawn, and sent to supplement the Company’s service in the Mediterranean. During the succeeding six years the fleet was increased by the addition of seven large steamers, all fitted with compound engines, the last and largest of which was the Gallia, of 4,809 tons and 5,300 I.H.P.
Russia. Cunard Steamship Co.
In 1878 it was considered expedient to consolidate the interests of the partners by registering the Company under the Limited Liability Acts, and a Joint Stock Company was formed with a capital of £2,000,000, of which £1,200,000 was issued and taken up by the families of Cunard, Burns and MacIver. No shares were offered to the public until 1880, when a prospectus was issued intimating that “it was now proposed to issue the balance of the capital.” The available shares were rapidly subscribed for, the representatives of the three founders retaining a large financial interest in the Company. About this period steel was engaging the attention of shipbuilders as a substitute for iron. The Cunard Directors were so convinced of the superiority of the former, especially where speed was a desideratum, that they ordered a steel steamship from Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, to be larger and more powerful than any steamer previously built, the Great Eastern alone excepted. This monster vessel, which was named the Servia, was completed in 1881. Her dimensions were—Length 515 feet, breadth 521/10 feet, depth 37 feet. Her gross tonnage was 7,392. Her engines were compound—with seven steel boilers—and developed 10,000 I.H.P., producing a speed of 17 knots per hour. She was fitted in the most substantial and beautiful manner for the accommodation of 480 cabin and 750 steerage passengers, and embodied all the most modern appliances conducive to comfort and safety. She was the first of the Cunard Fleet to be equipped with incandescent electric lamps. The same year, the Catalonia, 4,841 tons and 3,200 I.H.P., was built for the Boston service, and two more for the same service in the following year. These were the Pavonia, of 5,587 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., built by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson; and the Cephalonia, 5,517 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., by Messrs. Laird Brothers, Birkenhead.
A second steel steamship was built in 1883 for the New York Mail Service. This was the Aurania, built by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, and her dimensions are 470 feet by 572/10 feet by 372/10 feet. Her tonnage is 7,269, and she is fitted with compound engines of 9,500 I.H.P., and attaining a speed of 17½ knots per hour. She was taken up by the Government as a transport in October, 1899, and so valuable did she prove for this service that she was retained until the early part of 1903. In 1884 the Directors purchased the celebrated iron steamship Oregon, built by Messrs. John Elder & Co. She was 501 feet by 542/10 feet by 38 feet, and of 7,375 tons and 13,500 I.H.P.; speed 18 knots per hour. On her first and second voyage she did not distinguish herself, but on her third voyage she made the passage from Queenstown to New York in 6 days 10 hours 9 minutes, thereby excelling all previous records, and earning for herself the title of “The Greyhound of the Atlantic.” Towards the close of 1884 the Umbria—the first of two steel steamships ordered from Messrs. Elder—was delivered, and she was followed early in 1885 by her sister ship the Etruria. The following description of the Etruria applies also to the Umbria: Length 5016/10 feet by 572/10 feet by 382/10 feet; gross tonnage 7,718 tons. The promenade deck, which extends over the full breadth of the ship for nearly 300 feet amidships, is reserved for the sole use of the first-class passengers. The vessel easily accommodates 550 first-class passengers and 800 third-class. The state rooms are replete with all the fittings usual in first-class vessels of the most modern type, and a number of them are arranged en suite for family use. The hull is divided into ten watertight compartments, and most of the bulkheads are carried to the upper deck, while they are fitted with waterproof and fireproof doors, which afford access to all parts of the ship. The engines indicate 14,500 H.P., and are compound, having three inverted cylinders—one high-pressure 71 in. in diameter and two low-pressure, each 105 in. in diameter. The average speed of both steamers may be set down at 18½ knots per hour. The fastest passage of the Etruria was when she established a new record by making the passage from Queenstown to New York in 5 days 20 hours 55 minutes, the Umbria’s best record being 5 days 22 hours 7 minutes. The next important addition to the fleet was the Campania, launched from the yard of the Fairfield Shipbuilding Co., Govan, on the 8th September, 1892. Five months later—February, 1893—there was launched from the same yard her sister ship the Lucania. From the official description of the Campania, it appears that her length over all is 620 feet, extreme breadth 65 feet 3 inches, depth from upper deck 43 feet, gross tonnage 12,950 tons. The bulkheads are sixteen in number, and they will enable the vessel to float with any two, or in some cases three, of the compartments open to the sea. Although fitted with twin screws, there is an aperture in the stern frame similar to that in a single screw steamer. This is provided that the propellers may work freely, though they are fitted close to the centre line of the ship, in order to prevent damage to or from the quay walls. In the accommodation for passengers all the latest improvements are to be found, and everything calculated to render ocean travelling more comfortable and enjoyable is introduced. The grand saloon, drawing room, library and smoking rooms are noble in their proportions, and suggest the stately chambers of a palace rather than accommodation within the steel walls of a ship. It is worthy of special notice that comfort has been studied in every detail, and perhaps nothing exemplifies this more than the fact that in all the principal rooms there are coal fire-grates, the first that have ever been used on board ship. There are four sets of generating plant, capable of supplying throughout the ship 1,350 16-candle power incandescent electric light, and in addition a powerful searchlight, for facilitating the navigation into port, &c. Wire to the length of 40 miles runs through the ship. The grand saloon is a magnificent hall in the modified Italian style, 100 feet long by 63 feet broad, with seats at table for 430 passengers. In the centre, a great crystal dome rises through the two decks above to a height of 33 feet.
