Steam-ships

by R. A. Fletcher

One introduced about 1855, for North Sea work, was an iron screw steamer with a long parallel middle body which made a capacious ship, the fore and after parts being designed in accordance with his wave-line theory. Another of his cargo vessels, having a greater length of parallel middle body and wave-line ends, had the screw propeller abaft the rudder, which was entirely below the propeller shaft, there being a loop in the rudder stock through which the propeller shaft passed. A second vessel of this type, but rather longer in proportion to its beam, was designed for the Baltic trade, and had the peculiarity that its forecastle extended as far as the midship deck-house.

The “City of Glasgow” (Inman Line, 1850).

The period from 1845 to 1880 is remarkable for the progress made in steam-ship building prior to the general adoption of steel for the construction of ocean vessels.

The early history of the Cunard Line has already been related. Before the last wooden Cunarders were built, the Inman Line appeared on the scene with a service of iron steamers with screw propellers, the first being the City of Glasgow, launched in 1850 by Tod and McGregor on the Clyde, for a transatlantic service they themselves intended to establish with Glasgow as its headquarters. The side-lever engine of the ordinary type was modified for this vessel, as it was fitted with two beams working across the ship. The cylinders were on one side of the ship, and on the other was a large wheel which geared three to one with ordinary teeth into the propeller-shaft pinion. Her machinery was placed low down in the hold so as to leave her decks as free of encumbrances as possible.

She was a three-decked vessel of 1069 tons gross, 227 feet long by 33 feet beam and 25 feet depth; and her engines of 350 horse-power drove a two-bladed screw of 13 feet in diameter and 18 feet pitch. She was designed to carry 52 passengers in the first class; 85 in the second class, and 400 in the steerage, and a crew of about 70. The hull was divided by five water-tight bulkheads into six compartments, and as a further provision for the safety of her passengers and crew she carried six lifeboats. Her fresh-water tanks contained no less than 13,000 gallons. She was barque-rigged, of almost yacht-like lines, and had a graceful clipper bow. The City of Glasgow made a few voyages between Glasgow and New York in the spring and summer of 1850.

Mr. William Inman of Liverpool had meanwhile been preparing for the establishment of a line of steamers between Liverpool and America. His idea was that modern iron vessels, equipped with screw propellers, were bound to supersede paddle-wheel vessels, and also that there was money to be made in the emigrant trade. His decision to place fast steamers in this trade, however, was as much philanthropic as commercial, for he was profoundly moved by the reports of the sufferings and inconveniences experienced by emigrants in sailing ships, no less than by the accounts of the fearful mortality among them. The carrying of emigrants was, at that time, confined to sailing ships, many of which were wholly unsuited to the purpose. The steamer companies catered chiefly for those who could afford to pay well. Mr. Inman determined to cater for the emigrant traffic also, and for forty-two years the line bearing his name was pre-eminent in this branch of the work of the Atlantic ferry.

Practically the only steamer which met the requirements he had in mind was the City of Glasgow, and in the autumn of 1850 she was acquired by the founders of the Inman Line.

“It was on December 10, 1850, that the Liverpool and Philadelphia Steamship Company was established. Their agents were Messrs. Richardson Bros. and Co., who had already a number of packet ships of their own. They were the chief owners of the City of Glasgow, and their junior partner was Mr. William Inman, who managed the shipping department of the business.” This extract from the “Official Guide” of the Inman and International Steamship Company Ltd., published about 1888, is of interest in view of the various accounts of the inception of the company which have been made public. The first sailing of the City of Glasgow for her new owners took place on December 17, 1850, from Liverpool for Philadelphia. She was under the command of Captain Matthews, who formerly had charge of the Great Western.

In June 1851, the City of Manchester, by the same builders and also of iron, was purchased by the Inman organisation. She was of 2125 tons and carried “overhead” or “steeple” geared engines of 350 horse-power. Her cylinders and proportion of gearing, however, were identical with those of the City of Glasgow.