The success which attended the voyages of the Great Western, and the manifest superiority of that steam-ship over the brigs which were then thought good enough to carry the mails across the Atlantic, induced the Government in October 1838 to invite tenders for the conveyance of the mails to America by steam vessels. Circulars were distributed broadcast, and one of them reached Samuel Cunard, a merchant of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who, as already stated, had entertained for many years the idea that the mails might be conveyed across the Atlantic more speedily than the “coffin brigs,” as the Government’s vessels were contemptuously termed, could carry them. From the year 1830, Cunard had been actively endeavouring to forward his scheme, but so little was thought of the powers of the steam-ship that the local merchants condemned his ideas as visionary and refused their co-operation. Accordingly he came to London but met with as little sympathy and financial support there as at Halifax. Fortunately for him and for the world, he was able to take a letter of introduction from the Secretary of the East India Company to Mr. Robert Napier, at that time the foremost steam-ship builder on the Clyde, and probably in the world. Mr. Napier had just achieved a remarkable success in the construction of one of the earlier Isle of Man boats, the Mona’s Isle, and the experiences through which she passed in triumph in one or two of her earliest voyages had greatly increased the fame of her builder. Mr. Napier himself used to say that he was largely indebted for his prosperity and reputation to the name made for him by the Mona’s Isle. He introduced Cunard to John Burns of Glasgow, who was already extensively engaged in the steamer coasting trade between Scotland, England, and Ireland, and he in turn introduced Cunard to his Liverpool partner, David MacIver. After hearing Cunard’s explanation of his project, the partners decided to support it, and such was their reputation for enterprise and for achieving success in everything they undertook that, through their instrumentality, the whole of the capital required, amounting to £270,000, was obtained. Backed up by Burns and MacIver, and with the promised support of Napier, Cunard was among those who tendered to the Admiralty for the conveyance of the mails once a fortnight between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston. A tender was also offered by the Great Western Steamship Company, on whose behalf it was urged that their Great Western was already in existence and was prepared to undertake the work at once, and that the Cunard Company would either have to charter steamers or wait till they could be built. But the Government accepted the Cunard tender and a contract was signed for seven years, it being stipulated that four suitable steamers should be employed instead of three as originally required, and further, that the dates of arrival and departure should be adhered to. In consideration of these more onerous conditions the subsidy was increased from £60,000 to £81,000 per annum. The first four vessels of the Cunard Line, or as it was then formally known, “The British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company,” were practically sister ships. There was little choice between them in size or power of engines, nor was there much difference in their internal arrangements. These vessels were built on the Clyde, the Britannia by R. Duncan, the Arcadia by John Wood, the Caledonia by C. Wood, and the Columbia by R. Steel. The orders were placed with four different builders so that the steamers might be ready as soon as possible. They were all launched in 1840, and all were fitted with the ordinary side-lever engines by Robert Napier, who had brought this type of engine to a high pitch of perfection. The Britannia was 207 feet long by 34 feet 4 inches broad, with a moulded depth of 24 feet 4 inches, and had a tonnage of 1154; her engines indicated 740 horse-power and gave her an average speed of 8¹⁄₂ knots on a coal consumption of 38 tons per day. Her cargo capacity was about 225 tons. Each of these vessels was fitted to carry 115 cabin passengers but none in the steerage. All were adapted for the transport of troops and stores in time of war. The first steamer actually sent across the Atlantic for the Cunard organisation was the Unicorn, which left Liverpool on May 16, 1840, for Halifax and Boston, and was then employed for several years between Picton and Quebec, in connection with the liners, and carried both mails and passengers. The first departure under the mail contract, however, was on Friday, July 4, 1840. That a Friday should be selected for the inauguration of the service, even though it was “Independence Day” in America, was received with much shaking of the head by those who clung to the sailors’ superstition concerning the unlucky nature of Friday, but nothing untoward happened, and the choice of “Independence Day” for the first departure of the new line was hailed in America as a most graceful compliment. The voyage to Boston lasted 14 days 8 hours. The mail service was continued with conspicuous regularity for three years, when it was found that the traffic had increased to such an extent that the four steamers were no longer able to cope with it. Accordingly in 1843 the Hibernia was added, and in 1845 the Cambria, sister ships of 210 feet in length between perpendiculars, 35 feet 9 inches beam, 24 feet 2 inches moulded depth, 1422 tons gross, and with engines of 1040 indicated horse-power, and an average speed of 9¹⁄₄ knots.
In 1844 the Britannia, on arriving at Boston in February of that year in a particularly severe winter, became ice-bound. When the day came for her departure for Liverpool, the Bostonians showed their appreciation of the line and of the regularity of communication it maintained with England by cutting at their own expense a channel seven miles long and a hundred feet wide through the ice to liberate her, her sailing being only two days behind time. In 1847, even with the two extra ships, the company was unable to cope with the demands made upon it, and the commerce between the two countries had increased to such an extent that the Government felt bound when the time came for the renewal of the contract to require that the service should be doubled. It was stipulated that the company should provide a vessel of not less than 400 horse-power nominal and capable of carrying guns of the largest calibre. Its steamers were to leave Liverpool, calling at Holyhead if required, every Saturday for New York and Boston alternately, the Boston steamer touching at Halifax, and the New York one to do so also if required by the Admiralty. For these augmented sailings the subsidy was raised to £173,340 per annum, at which figure it remained to the end of 1867. This change necessitated the building of four new ships, namely, the Niagara, Canada, America, and Europa. They were 251 feet long between perpendiculars, 35 feet beam, 26 feet 3 inches moulded depth, and of 1825 tons gross register, and had engines of 2000 indicated horse-power, which gave them an average speed of 10¹⁄₄ knots. In 1850 the Asia and Africa were added to the fleet; they were sister ships, 266 feet between perpendiculars, 40 feet beam, 27 feet 2 inches depth, and of 2226 gross tonnage, and had engines of 2400 indicated horse-power, with an average speed of 12¹⁄₂ knots. In 1852 the Arabia was built, 285 feet between perpendiculars, 8 inches more beam, with a depth of 29 feet, and a gross tonnage of 2402. Her engines developed 3250 horse-power and gave her an average speed of 13 knots.
The “Britannia” (Cunard, 1840).
The building of the Arabia marks the close of the first period in the history of the Cunard Line for, in 1855, the company began to build iron ships. She was intended to be a reply to the steamers of the Collins Line. For some reason or other the Americans made very few attempts to enter upon the transatlantic steam-ship trade until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century. Probably they were satisfied with the performances of their sailing clippers, as they had good reason to be, for the clippers often made faster passages than the early Cunarders. From 1838 to 1847 every Atlantic liner flew the British flag, but in 1845 the United States Congress passed an Act authorising contracts to be made with owners of American vessels, steamships preferred, for the regular transportation of the United States mails.
As an American writer says:
“This Act of 1845 is all-significant as the beginning of American steam-ship service in the foreign trade. Not until national protection was offered in the form of generous subsidies could our enterprising merchants and sailors see their way clear to enter into the rivalry with the State-aided steam fleets of Europe. The mail subsidy legislation of 1845 was a wise step and indispensable, but it was too long delayed. Congress should have acted five years before, when the first Cunarder, floated and maintained by a liberal subsidy from Parliament, came across the ocean, beating the time of our celebrated packet ships. Individual resource could never compete with the great treasury of the British Empire.”[64]
[64] “The American Mercantile Marine,” by W. L. Marvin.
In 1847 the Americans made a determined effort to establish a fortnightly service between New York and Bremen, calling at Southampton or Cowes. This venture was known as the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, and though it had a contract for carrying the American mails in return for a subvention of 200,000 dollars, it ceased operations in little more than a year. It had two wooden paddle-steamers, the Washington and Hermann, built by Westervelt and Mackay for Mr. Edward Mills. Both were barque-rigged and carried a great spread of canvas.