The first iron steamer built by the Cunard Company was the Persia, and she deserves more than a passing mention because of the association with her of David Kirkaldy, Napier’s draughtsman, to whom modern steel shipbuilding owes the discovery of the way to toughen steel and remove its brittleness. Kirkaldy’s drawings of the Persia are stated to have been the only steam-ship designs ever exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was also the first on the Clyde to give the question of trial performances the attention it deserved. The first trial trips recorded by him, on the Larriston, on September 22 and October 18, 1852, were printed when the Admiralty asked for particulars of the respective behaviour of a Smith’s and a Griffith’s propeller. But he was not allowed to continue his researches in this direction, and even the Persia left the Clyde without a single diagram having been taken, for although Kirkaldy was in the engine-room during the entire trial, he had not permission to record her performances. He obtained data concerning many vessels “so as to be able to deduce the variations of behaviour and relative economy, and trace such to their respective origins, e.g., whether any variation was due wholly or in part to the difference in the shape of the vessels, in the propellers, in the engines, or in the boilers. The utility of these investigations was signally demonstrated in the case of two vessels, Lady Eglinton and Malvina ... the former proved a great success on her trial trip, and the latter a comparative failure. He was able to trace the cause of the failure and in great measure to rectify it. He clearly foresaw that the time was surely approaching when his employers would require to estimate for and construct vessels to fixed requirements as to draught, speed, and economy of working.”[87]
[87] “Illustrations of David Kirkaldy’s System of Mechanical Testing,” by Wm. G. Kirkaldy.
The drawings of the Persia were made for his own pleasure, and the first intimation of their existence was the announcement in the papers that they had been admitted to the Academy. By Napier’s instructions they were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 together with drawings of the steam-ships Europa, America, Niagara, and Canada. Napier received a gold medal and the Legion of Honour as exhibitor, and Kirkaldy received a medal as draughtsman. The drawings of these four ships were placed in the Louvre Museum after being presented to the Emperor Napoleon.
The Scotia, the second and last of the Cunard iron paddle-steamers, followed in 1862. She was 379 feet in length, of slightly greater beam and depth than the Persia, and of 3671 tons, and her engines of 4900 indicated horse-power gave her a speed of nearly 14¹⁄₂ knots. The Persia was sold in 1868, and was converted into a sailing ship. The Scotia was kept in the service as long as possible, as she was a favourite with the public, but her very limited cargo space and her immense consumption of coal made it impossible to run her except at considerable loss. She was consequently withdrawn in 1875, and sold to the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance company, which had her re-engined and turned into a twin-screw boat. She remained in the service of this company for many years, and was used for cable-laying purposes. These were not, however, the Cunard Company’s first iron steamers, as they had already had for some time two smaller vessels of iron in their Liverpool and Continental service.
By this time the Cunard directors were convinced, by the success of the Inman steamers, and by the advice of the engineers whom they consulted, that the paddle-steamer had reached its utmost point of development. Henceforth they built screw steamers, the first being the China, launched in 1862, and followed by the Java in 1865, and the Russia in 1867.
The “China” (Cunard, 1862).
The “Russia” (Cunard, 1867).
The Russia, and the Inman steamer City of Paris, the finest commercial vessels afloat, left New York on the same day in February 1869, within about an hour of each other and arrived at Liverpool with only thirty-five minutes difference between them. They made the run across the Atlantic, with the twenty minutes’ stop at Queenstown, in about eight days, eighteen hours. The City of Paris started first, and got in at 3.45 A.M., and the Russia at 4.20. The vessels were in company for four days. Once the Russia passed the City of Paris, but the Inman liner took the lead again, and at another part of the voyage the Cunarder recovered her lost ground. As racing, however, was strictly forbidden by the rules of the two companies, and the ships’ logs showed that no extra pressure of steam was used, it is supposed that in this, as in many other cases of supposed ocean racing, the race existed mainly in the imagination of the passengers, who for lack of anything else to do worked themselves up into a frenzy of excitement about it. The captains, of course, merely concerned themselves with putting in all the seamanship they knew. Pictures published at the time show that both vessels were under full sail, and even carried stunsails.