After getting out of the dock at last she left for London, where she arrived in January 1845 after a stormy voyage which tested her thoroughly. She remained five months at Blackwall, being visited by the Queen and Prince Albert, and left in June of that year with about eighty passengers for Liverpool, calling at a number of ports en route. She left the Mersey for New York on July 26 with from forty-five to sixty passengers (accounts differ) and about 600 tons of cargo. The voyage lasted 14 days 21 hours, and her average speed was nine and a half knots, but the engines were only worked at about 600 horse-power. New York was disappointed with her, as her six low masts contrasted unfavourably with the tall graceful masts of the American ships. She made the return journey in a day less.
On a subsequent voyage she broke one of the blades of her propeller, but as she made between ten and eleven knots, using both propeller and sail, it was decided when she was docked for repairs that her new propeller should have four blades only. In September 1846 she ran on the rocks in Dundrum Bay on the coast of Ireland, and was not refloated until August 1847. Thanks to her strong construction she was able to withstand a winter’s storms and a stranding of eleven months.
After being brought to Liverpool, she lay for some time at the North Docks and, as the Great Western Steamship Company thought the repairs would be too costly, she was purchased by Messrs. Gibbs, Bright and Co., formerly agents for the company, and they decided to refit her. The rolling plates attached to the sides of the hull were removed. An oak keel was bolted through upon the iron plates which had done duty for a keel when she was first built, to prevent rolling. Her bottom for about 150 feet had to be entirely renewed. The bows and stern were strengthened by double angle-iron framing secured by three tiers of iron stringers 2 feet 3 inches wide and five-eighths of an inch thick. Ten new keelsons were placed in the ship running her entire length, half as deep again as those formerly used. The various alterations resulted in the cargo capacity being increased by about 1000 tons, partly through the space saved by new boilers and partly through the construction of a deck-house 300 feet long and 7 feet 6 inches high. New bulwarks were erected higher than the previous ones. The number of masts was now reduced to four.[86] Two of the lower masts were iron cylinders and the two centre masts were ship-rigged, carrying royals. The fore and jigger were fore and aft rigged, but whereas the topsail of the foremast was shaped like a lugsail that of the jigger was carried on a gaff, according to a contemporary picture. The old engines were of 1000 nominal horse-power, but it is a question if they ever worked over 600 horse-power; the new engines were nominally 500 horse-power. Her new pair of oscillating engines were by John Penn and Son, engineers, Greenwich, and had cylinders 82¹⁄₂ inches diameter and 6 feet stroke. By the use of cog-wheels the screw shaft made three revolutions to one of the engine.
[86] According to a description and picture in the Illustrated London News she had five masts, the first, fourth, and fifth masts being fore and aft rigged, but the fifth mast is probably an incorrect addition to the picture. If she had five masts the number must soon have been reduced.
The screw was three-bladed, 15 feet 6 inches diameter, and 19 feet pitch. There were six boilers, and her bunkers held 700 tons, and other accommodation enabled her to stow 510 tons more. To lessen the vibration experienced from the screw and machinery, eight new wrought-iron beams were placed transversely through the vessel, locking her sides together. The bases on which the machinery rested were made stronger, and she was further strengthened by massive iron entablature beams to the engines, buttressed by a framing of teak wood, each piece being 20 inches wide and 3 feet deep, running on either side of the engines transversely and diagonally to the sides of the ship. This solid timber extended 17 feet 6 inches on each side of the engine. The whole of this framing was bolted together and to the sides of the ship by wrought-iron bolts. The new arrangement of the boilers gave her a lessened coal consumption.
Little more need be said about this steamer. She made one voyage afterwards to New York and back, and being then acquired by Messrs. Antony Gibbs and Sons was placed in the Australian trade at the time of the gold fever, and continued a regular voyage between England and Australia for many years. She was afterwards patched up afresh and had her engines removed, but was then such a failure that though she got as far as the Falkland Islands, leaking badly, she was abandoned to the underwriters, and is now ingloriously ending her days as a coal hulk.
CHAPTER IX
DEVELOPMENT OF IRON SHIPBUILDING
After the launching of the Great Britain in 1845, steam-ship building was carried on with great activity, though the change from wood to iron and from paddles to the screw was gradual. Many wooden vessels, both steamers and sailers, continued to be built, as the prejudice against iron for ship construction died slowly. The screw propellers were at first simply auxiliary to sail. This was due to three causes: mistrust of the propeller, the cost of continually running it, and the difficulty of carrying sufficient coal.
Describing the gradual evolution of the steam-ship in its early days, Mr. John Ward, a director in Messrs. Denny’s famous firm, in his Presidential Address to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, in 1907, said: