History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 4 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

Contract again renewed, 1864.

When the second contract expired in January 1864 fresh arrangements were made whereby the annual subsidy was reduced to 172,914l. and the speed increased on the West India Transatlantic service to 10½ knots an hour. In 1866 it was further agreed that each alternate fortnightly packet should proceed from St. Thomas direct to Colon instead of touching first at Jamaica, thus shortening the route between England and Panama. In 1868 another and, in this case, most important modification, was suggested in the conditions of the contract. Hitherto, the steamers of this company had been propelled, principally, by paddle-wheels, its directors being, perhaps, among the last to see the advantages to be derived from the application of the screw. But, though now convinced of the many advantages of the screw over the paddle, before entering on the large expenditure required for such a change, they naturally wished to know the intentions of Government with regard to the continuation of their mail contracts; the result of this application being the extension of the period till 1874, with, however, the condition, that Government should participate in all profits beyond eight per cent.

Further renewal, 1874.

As a considerable amount of discontent had, in the meantime, again found expression through the medium of the public press with regard to the very large sums of money which this company had received for the conveyance of the mails, and, as different members of the House of Commons had insisted that the service should be thrown open to public competition, the directors were obliged to consider the alternative of either abandoning it altogether, or of conducting the service for a much less amount than they had hitherto received: they wisely adopted the latter course, and, on public tenders being invited, undertook to convey the West India mails for the annual subsidy of 84,750l., not much more than one-third of what they had originally received—a sum, however, subsequently supplemented by 2000l. per annum as a recompense for the ships calling at Plymouth and there landing the mails, instead of at Southampton, their final port of destination.[276]

In subsidizing the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company during the earlier portion of its career to the large extent I have named, the British government were evidently actuated by reasons similar to those, which induced the government of the United States to make the like liberal concessions to the unfortunate Collins line; and there can be no doubt that the original vessels of this company were well adapted for one of the objects Government had then in view—the creation of a fleet of a class of large and strongly built merchant-steamers, which could be made use of in the event of war. Hence, all these vessels were built to carry heavy guns when necessary, so as to be serviceable for the purpose of the navy at a comparatively small subsequent outlay. A drawing is furnished on the following page of one of those ships which, in nearly all respects, resembled the government steamers of the period.

S.S. “FORTH.”

The steam-ship Forth.

Losses of various ships of the company.

The Forth was altogether a very fine vessel of her class, and the largest of any of the original fleet of the company. She was somewhere about 1900 tons gross, or builders’ measurement, 1147 tons register, and 450 nominal horse-power. She was built at Leith in 1841, by Messrs. Menzies and Co., and, as Government reserved its right of purchasing any of these ships at a valuation, she was, like the others, constructed in accordance with a specification from the Admiralty, under the survey and immediate control of officers appointed for this purpose. Indeed, the fleet of the Royal Mail Company consisted of the finest class of vessels of that description built of wood which, previous to 1841, had been sent to sea either for naval or mercantile purposes. Nor were they inferior to any vessels then afloat either in the completeness of their equipment, or in the elegance and convenience of their accommodation for first-class passengers. But, from some cause or other, arising either from those I have already ventured to suggest or from the unavoidable dangers of the ocean, the company at first was most unfortunate in the number of losses they sustained. Nor can it be urged that such disasters were due to any special dangers in their line of navigation, for they had no fogs and ice to fear, like their more northern Transatlantic voyagers: with the exception of occasional hurricanes among the West India Islands, their course was a comparatively safe one, and, yet, no fewer than six of the West India Royal Mail Company’s packets were lost in the first eight years of their career.