The success which had attended the Inman and the Allan lines of steamers induced others to follow their example; and various undertakings of a similar character were started in rapid succession. Thus, with the view of availing themselves of recent legislative measures for the encouragement of mercantile associations, a number of Liverpool merchants and shipowners established, in 1863, the National Steam Navigation Company with a capital of 700,000l. The original intention of the promoters of this undertaking was to provide for the large trade they felt assured must arise between this country and the Confederate States whenever the lamentable war then raging in America should have exhausted itself, and when peace returning should have showered down its many blessings on that fertile and teeming land; their first plan, therefore, was to carry on a regular periodical line of first-class steam-ships between Liverpool and the Southern States. The anxiously hoped for peace between the contending parties in America did not, however, arrive so soon as they had anticipated, and, as the requisite capital had been obtained, and their ships were ready for service, they sent forth their steamers to compete for a portion of the passenger and goods trade of the Northern States, which the Cunard, Inman, and Allan lines were now carrying on with great success.
Their splendid ships, and complete success.
The first vessels of the National Company dispatched to ply between Liverpool and New York, were the Louisiana, the Virginia, and the Pennsylvania screw-ships of a gross tonnage, respectively, of 3000 and 3500 tons; at that time being the largest vessels afloat. In 1864, the company added to its fleet the Erin, the Queen, and the Helvetia, each of an increased tonnage. With these six vessels the company was enabled to lay the foundation of so successful a trade that, at the conclusion of the war, the directors found the utmost capacity of their vessels insufficient to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic between the two nations. In 1865, their fleet was again increased by the further addition of the England and the Denmark, of 3723 tons, and these vessels, again, were followed in 1866, by the France, of nearly similar dimensions. In 1868, the Italy, of 4300 tons, was placed on the line, and was the first in that trade in which engines on the compound principle were placed. The Holland, of 3847 tons, followed in 1869. The year 1870 proving to be one of great prosperity to the company, the Egypt and the Spain, of 4669 and 4512 tons respectively, were added to the fleet. These vessels were built by the Liverpool Shipbuilding Company, and by Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead, and are justly considered very fine specimens of naval architecture.
This Company now maintain a weekly service, leaving Liverpool every Wednesday and New York every Saturday; and a fortnightly service from London to New York viâ Havre. Following the example of the Cunard Company, the commanders of the ships are required to navigate at certain seasons within fixed limits of latitude, and to furnish a chart to the Company with the lines of their course during each voyage laid down upon it. Stringent regulations are also issued and enforced, and, to the credit of the Company, they have not during their existence, lost a single passenger through negligence or any accident of the sea.
Old Black Ball line.
It is a curious fact that, as a rule, the owners of the principal American clipper lines of sailing-ships were among the last to see that their vessels, however splendid, were being daily eclipsed by the screw steamers of Great Britain. Thus, conspicuous among the lines which bravely contended against the new motive power, and long maintained itself in full force, may be mentioned the Old Black Ball line, which, when I remember it, a quarter of a century ago, possessed upwards of twenty of the finest sailing-packets I ever saw. They were grand ships of their class, and admirably fitted for the trade in which they were engaged, carrying, during some of the later years of their career, a thousand passengers every week, during the summer months, from our shores to the United States. But even the Black Ball was at last obliged to give in, having previously merged into or formed part of the Guion line of sailing-ships, which in their day were equally celebrated for the regularity of their passages.[250]
The Guion line. 1863.
In 1863, however, Mr. S. B. Guion, the chief owner of the line bearing his name, finding it no longer possible to contend against the screws, though evidently still doubtful of their permanent success, entered into an arrangement to supply, through his old connections and agents in America, the Cunard and National Companies, with emigrants and cargo for their steamers; but in 1866, he and his co-partners, most of whom are citizens of the United States, started a steamship of their own. In August of that year, their Manhattan, built in this country of iron and fitted with the screw, to their orders, sailed from Liverpool for New York, being the pioneer of their new fleet of liners. The Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, vessels each of about 3000 tons, and built of iron, specially for this trade, followed in rapid succession. In 1873, they added the Montana, another fine vessel of 3500 tons, to their fleet, which, in 1874, was further increased by the addition of the Dakota, and two similar vessels, so that the Liverpool and Great Western Steam-ship Company, better known as the Guion line, already possesses a fleet of very fine steam-ships.[251]
Although the American sailing-packets engaged in the trade between Great Britain and the Northern States were, about the year 1860, obliged, in a great measure, to give way to steamers, they maintained their position undisputed for ten years longer between Liverpool and New Orleans; steamers, it was thought, not being able to compete with sailing-vessels in the transport across the Atlantic of such bulky articles as cotton, the chief article exported from New Orleans to Europe. But in 1870, the American merchants and shipowners engaged in the trade of that place found it desirable, if not necessary, to substitute for some of their sailing-vessels a line of screw-steamers similar in many respects, though smaller, to those of the other lines already described, their merchants forming themselves into an association known as the “Mississippi and Dominion Steam-ship Company (Limited).”
Mississippi and Dominion Company.