Steam-ships

by R. A. Fletcher

The “St. Louis” (American Line).

The “Morea” (P. & O. Line).

It is now some years since steel-built vessels propelled by new and economical machinery became the premier cargo carriers in the Australian trade. Recognising that it would no longer be profitable to build sailers to compete against the steam-ships, many of the sailing-ship owners decided to adopt steam-power and to dispose of their sailing ships as the opportunity offered. The principal steamer lines which brought about this change were the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company and the Orient Line. The steam-ships of the Orient Line began to run in June 1877, when the Lusitania, chartered from the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, was despatched from London to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney via the Cape of Good Hope. In the following year the joint efforts of Messrs. Anderson, Anderson and Co. and Messrs. F. Green and Co. founded the Orient Steam Navigation Company. The service at first was to be monthly, but it was soon evident that fortnightly sailings were imperative to meet the demands upon the line by shippers and passengers. The fortnightly service was determined upon in the beginning of 1880, the company obtaining the co-operation of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. Among the earlier vessels were the Cuzco, Garonne, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Lusitania, and Sorata, which were some of the finest that had ever crossed to Australia. The Orient Company afterwards built the steam-ship Orient, an iron vessel, and at that time the largest and finest steam-ship afloat. She remained in active service for no less than thirty years, and was disposed of to be broken up only a few months ago, when she was still as sound as on the day she was launched, her only defect being that she was unequal to modern requirements. The Orient Company also built the Austral, which had the misfortune to sink in Sydney Harbour whilst coaling. She was raised again and continued in active service until a few years ago. The Orient Company for some years carried the mails to Australia with vessels the ownership of which was shared by the founders of the line, Messrs. Anderson, Anderson and Co., and Messrs. R. and H. Green and Co. and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the line being then known as the Orient-Pacific Line. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company bought out the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and for some years the line was known as the Orient Royal Line. The Orient proprietary, however, recently bought out the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and the Orient Company are now the exclusive owners of the service. New vessels have from time to time been added to the fleet, all of which are of steel and propelled by twin screws.

When the Government of the Australian Commonwealth entered into a fresh contract with the Orient Company in 1908, for the conveyance of the mails, for a subsidy of £170,000 per annum until 1920, the company placed orders for the building of five new splendidly fitted steam-ships which are among the largest and fastest travelling to Australia. On the Orient mail route to Australia eleven ports are visited between London and Brisbane, and the journey is thus relieved of the monotony and tedium usually incidental to a long sea voyage. Notwithstanding the many calls made, the voyage to Sydney is made in 43 days, or in 33 days if the railway is made full use of.

Messrs. Geo. Thompson’s Aberdeen Line of steamers is a direct descendant of one of the most famous of the clipper lines. At one time it owned about 25 sailers of the highest class, including the Thermopylæ, Patriarch, and Miltiades; the first named made the fastest passage on record for a sailing ship to Australia, 60 days from London to Melbourne, and with the others afterwards distinguished herself in the tea races. Such was the speed and reputation of the Aberdeen Line clippers that the company did not find it necessary to adopt steam until 1881, but then they decided to be well ahead of the times, and on the advice of the late Dr. Alexander Kirk had the steamer Aberdeen, which they ordered, fitted with the first set of triple-expansion engines that had ever been applied to a large ocean-going steamer. This vessel was followed in 1884 by the Australasian, and then by the Damascus, and other vessels of the same high class were added as required. How great is the care taken of passengers is shown when it is stated that in all its long career not one of the company’s vessels has ever lost a life except through natural causes. The vessels of this line travel by way of the Cape, where a call is made. The steamer Miltiades, added in 1903, accomplished on her maiden voyage the fastest passage ever made up to then from London and Plymouth to Melbourne, and a year or two after, when required at a few days’ notice to take the running of the regular mail boat via the Suez Canal, landed the Australian mails more than 24 hours before time.

The old proprietary of Geo. Thompson and Co. was turned into a limited liability company in 1905, and both Messrs. Ismay, Imrie and Co., who represented the White Star Line, and the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, Ltd., accepted the invitation to become interested in it. Hitherto its largest vessels were the Marathon and Miltiades, each of 6800 tons, but in 1907 the Pericles was launched by Messrs. Harland and Wolff, being named after an old clipper of the line which in her day was one of the finest and fastest ships ever built. The Pericles was a twin-screw steel steamer of over 11,000 tons register with two sets of quadruple-expansion engines, and her scantlings and fittings were in most cases considerably beyond the requirements of the Board of Trade and the Admiralty Transport Department. Her length was 500 feet, and her beam 62 feet. She was unfortunately lost in 1910 by striking an uncharted rock off the West Australian coast.

The first regular cargo line of steamers between England and Australia was established in 1880 by the late Mr. W. Lund, who previously owned a large number of sailing vessels. These steamers were started as cargo boats but carried a limited number of passengers, and as newer steamers were added they became very favourably known for the comfort of their accommodation. The first steamer owned by the Lund, or, as it is better known in the South African and Australian trades, the Blue Anchor Line, was the Delcomyn. In 1909, their largest steamer, the Waratah, a fine screw steamer of 9000 tons, was mysteriously lost with all on board between Durban and Cape Town. The Blue Anchor Line has recently been acquired by the P. & O. Company.

The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, Ltd., is an amalgamation, formed in 1883, of the two historic firms whose names it embodies. The united company ceased a couple of years ago to despatch sailing ships, but the main result of the combination has been the placing on the route of some of the finest passenger and cargo steamers afloat, and the inauguration of a fortnightly service between London and New Zealand. Shaw, Savill and Co. in the early days made London their main port of departure, and just in the same way the Albion Company adhered to the Clyde. The joint concern covers the whole ground. The steamers of the line are built specially for the company, and are expressly designed for the Colonial trade, and are second to none in comfort, celerity, and security combined.