In relating this incident, my friend added that he was not less taken aback by the naïveté and apparent innocence with which these remarks were made, than by the story itself.
CHAPTER VI.
Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company—City of Glasgow, 1850—City of Manchester, 1851—Speed of City of Paris and City of Brussels—Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve and facilitate cheap emigration to the United States—Large number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers—City of Chester, 1873—City of Berlin, 1875—Ocean steamers to Canada, 1853—First mail contract, 1852—Allan line of steamers, 1856—Extent and capacity of its fleet—Speed of these vessels—Galway line a failure—Loss of Connaught, 1860—Rapid passage of Adriatic, 1861—Struggles between sailing-clippers and iron screw-ships—National Steam Navigation Company, 1863—Their splendid ships—Old Black Ball line—The Guion line, 1863—Mississippi and Dominion Company—White Star line, 1870—Strict regulations for safety—Britannic and Germanic—Their great speed—Details of Britannic and form of her screw—Difficulty of estimating real cost of steamers—Pennsylvania Company, 1873—Anchor line from the Clyde, 1856—Prodigious range of their trade operations—The Victoria—Hamburg American Steam Packet Company—North German Lloyd’s.
Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company.
The year 1850 proved somewhat remarkable in the history of steam navigation. But among the various undertakings commenced in the course of that year, the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company, better known as the Inman line, was perhaps the most important.
City of Glasgow, 1850.
Mr. William Inman, the managing owner, by whose energy their present large fleet of iron screw-steamers was created, had for some time given his attention to the application of the screw, for the purpose of propelling ocean-going steamers. Impressed with its superiority over the paddle-wheel, he entered into communication with the late David Tod, of the firm of Tod and Macgregor, iron shipbuilders and engineers in Glasgow, who had formed, in common with the owners of the Great Britain, the idea of starting a continuous service of voyages across the Atlantic with vessels built of iron and driven by screws, an experiment at that time considered rather hazardous, and, with that object, had in 1850 launched the City of Glasgow, a vessel of 1600 tons, and 350 horse-power. Subsequently, she was purchased by the Inman Company, and sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia on the 17th of December, 1850, continuing in that service for many years.
City of Manchester, 1851.
In 1851, the Inman Company purchased the steam-ship City of Manchester, of which the following is an illustration, built also by Messrs. Tod and Macgregor,[228] and with these vessels a fortnightly service between Liverpool and Philadelphia was established and continued up to the year 1857. Between 1851 and 1856 the City of Baltimore, the Kangaroo, and the City of Washington, all iron screw-ships, were added to this line.
