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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fiimAs A des taux de rAduction diffArents. Lorsque ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seui ciichA, II est filmA A partir de i'angie supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant ie nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE HISTORY OP NORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION i X i M < f I < u THF llbiUK. OP ^RTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION ;i '77/ so^rs Accorryr a/- n.ij^f v surrs AND SJ/nviryFRS nv HKN,RY FKN I i..»MAJ,'A ^;!i7-_/j V.^' ^ ',i.r'^, Tn,(! his V..i'i't I : '..« '.Wti. T' 51 !'»• •..:); ";.;»th iiritl niscth tin. !-ii (Ktctl. wji tlie .'ivc-- • !»■./ Hi ,'. I'l 'V* • ;.'iri.i •. cr'lin, so tkortuf ill'! Mili, il'1.11 ■:•'! i'.'iy !,'i.vl li'"'-.'. ^t '!.i;v -v 'juiet, so he ;:■ thcii- ■ii.-iirLvi l.,i\'.v '-■•'•: '•. ■ v. -■i--V' *** ■ ' W Cj V E R ^ 1 ^" T " I L. L I S 'I H A 'J i C N i) O .• i> H 1 P 8 AND PC) ■r*"' RAITS r F •?WNe'=tS I i. UN DOS ^.^i^lPSON. LOW, MARS'] «)V A\: C^MIMNV K. "' I _ 4- A i "ASi ■ *..;•»■ .-.•ntr- THE HISTORY OP NORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF EARLY SHIPS AND SHIPOWNERS BY HENRY FRY EX-PRESIDKNT OF DOMINION HOARD OF TKADE OF CANADA AND Lloyd's agent at qieiihc "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see- the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he connnandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. . . . He inaketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven." — Fsalnt cvii. 23-30. H WITH OVER FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHIPS AND PORTRAITS OF OWNERS ^:^ J LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND COMPANY LIMITED 5t. Dunstan's 1l?ouse Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 1896 .^ / pini'OTHECA ti-jv ens \'^ \ LONDON: PKINTED av WILLIAM CLOWES ASD SONS, Limited, STAMfORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PREFACE. The following pages were originally written, for private circu- lation only, during a period of enforced leisure from ill-health. They have been revised for publication at the earnest request of a few old friends of the Author interested in steam shipping. The only merit claimed for them is that of accuracy, to attain which the greatest pains have been taken. Having been present at the launch of the first steamship built for the North Atlantic trade, the Great Western^ in 1837, and that of the first ocean screw steamship, the Great Britain, in 1843, ^^^ having watched every Atlantic steamship with the deepest interest for fifty-six years, during which he has crossed the Atlantic thirty-seven times in various lines, the Author trusts he may not be considered open to the charge ot presumption in thus acceding to the wishes of his friends. His acknowledgments for valuable assistance are due to Andrew Allan, Esq., of Montreal; the Cunard Steamship Company of Liverpool ; Clement A. Griscom, Esq., of Phila- delphia, U.S. j Sir Edward J. Harland, Bart., M.P. for Belfast; Eugene T. Chamberlain, Esq., of Washington, U.S., Com- missioner of Navigation ; The Hamburg-American Packet Company of Hamburg ; The North German Lloyd Company of Bremen ; George Johnson, Esq., head of the Statistical Vlll PREFACE. Department at Ottawa ; Mark Whitwill, Esq., of Bristol ; Archibald Campbell, Esq., of Quebec; and the Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Limited, of London. He has also consulted ' The History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce,' by the late W. S. Lindsay, of London; 'The Atlantic Ferry,' by A. L Maginnis, M.LN. \., of Liverpool ; * Our Ocean Railways,' by A. Fraser-Macdonald ; and * The Mercantile Navy List,' published by Lloyds. BELMONr, SWEETSBURG, QUE. September, 1895. CONTENTS. <;nAP. L- II,- III.- IV.- V.- VI.- VII.- VIII.- IX.- X.- XI.- XII.- XIII.- XIV.- XV.- XVI.- XVII.- XVIIL- XIX.- XX.- XXI.- XXII.- XXIIL- XXIV.— XXV.- XXV L- - Early Xavigators .... -Early Sailing Ships -History of the Marine Steam Engine -The Steamboat in Canada -Epochs in Atlantic Steam Navigation -Speed Calcl'lations. -The Cunard Line and its Competitors -The Inman Line .... -The Allan Line .... -The White Star Line -The Eastern Steam Navigation Company -The Anchor Line -The Royal Atlantic Steam Navigation Company The National Steam Navigation Company -The Guion Line -The Dominion Line -The Beaver Line ..... -The Hamburg-American Packet Company -The North German Lloyd Company -La Compagnie Gknkrale Transatlantique ■The Netherlands Line •The Red Star Line . -The American Line . The Canadian Pacific Link •The Donaldson Line The "Thomson "Line PAGE I i6 25 31 32 54 55 112 138 161 1S2 187 190 192 195 198 204 207 226 242 250 251 253 254 259 261 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE 1 XXVII. —The Temperley-Ross Line 263 . XXVIII. -Various Lines :— '1 The Boston Line 264 » The American Steamship Company . 264 I The Great Western Line . . 264 The South Wales Line . . 265 The State Line • 265 The Warren Line . . 265 The Wilson Line . . 265 The Leyland Line . . 265 The Bristol City Line . 266 1 The Thingvalla Line . 266 The Johnston Line . . 267 The Monarch Line .... . 267 The Hill Line . 267 The Atlantic Transport Line . . 268 The Manhaiv "t Line . 268 The Lord Line . 268 The Ulster Company . 268 The Furness Line . . 268 The Union Line . 268 The Nouvelle Compagnie Bordelaise . 268 The Marseilles Line . 269 The Fabre Line . 269 The Italian Line . 269 ; The Portuguese Line . 269 The Empresa Insulano Line . 269 The Neptune Line .... . 269 The Chesapeake and Ohio Line . 269 The Petroleum Line . 269 Norwegian Boats . . 269 XXIX. —The World's Tonnage . . 270 XXX.- —British Seamen . 273 XXXI.- —American Shipbuilding. • 277 XXXII. - Conclusion .... . 284 CONTENTS. XI PAGE 263 264 264 264 265 265 265 265 265 266 266 267 267 267 268 268 268 268 268 268 268 269 269 269 269 269 269 269 269 269 270 277 284 NO. I. 2. 3. 4- 5. 6. 7. 8, 9- 10. II. 12. 13. APPENDICES. CuNARD Report, 1S94 United States Trade with Great Britain {Boston Herald) Ocean Travel in 1894 (-^^ew York Post) England's Commerce {Boston Globe) . The " Turret " Boats {Montreal Star) Passage Rates Battersby's Register .... A Month's Sailings (New York and Montreal) Presentation to Captain Murrell Bills of Fare " Lucania's " Great Run .... Improved Train Service at Liverpool . Poor Steamship Business .... INDEX page 289 290 291 292 295 297 302 306 309 310 3" 312 312 315 Il LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. -•o*- OFF " LUCANIA " . A Genoese Carrack Vasco de Gama's "San Gabriel Good Hope Hon. East India Company' 1417 Tons, 26 Guns . " Great Western " "Great Britain" in a Gale Compound Engine . Sir S. Cunard, Bart. . Sir George Burns, Bart David MacIver "Britannia" . Hon. Joseph Howe " EUROPA " "Asia" . Atlantic " Collins SS. " "Persia" " Scotia " "Bothnia " "Gallia" "Servia" "Etruria" "Campania" on the Stocks "Campania's" Saloon . "Campania's" Library . "City of London" Ship "Earl of Balcarras Frontispiece I'AGE Rounding th LuNDY Island E Cape of S 19 39 43 48 56 57 58 59 61 63 67 69 71 75 79 «3 87 91 96 99 103 114 XIV LIST OF I L LUSTRA TIONS. C. A. Griscom, Esq. "Paris". Triple Cylinder Engine "New York" Main Dining Saloon "City of New York" Twin Screws " St. Louis" . Sir Hugh Allan " Moravian" . " Scandinavian " . " Parisian " . Sir E. J. Harland, Bart., M.P. " Oceanic " "Britannic" . " Teutonic " . " Majestic " Saloon "Majestic" Library "Majestic" Smoke-Room "Great Eastern". " Vancouver " "Columbia" . " FuRST Bismarck " " FuRST Bismarck's " Saloon "FiJRST Bismarck's" Chambre de Luxe "Havel" " Havel " Saloon . "La Touraine" " Empress of India " The late William Cramp "Thermopyl^" "Great Republic" page "5 "7 1 20 123 »25 129 139 141 147 151 162 163 167 171 173 174 175 183 199 209 213 217 221 227 231 245 255 280 293 299 \ P MAP. Route Chart of Atlantic. THE HISTORY OF NORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. CHAPTER I. HARLY NAVIGATORS. Thf. close of the 15th, and the early part of the i6th, centuries, seem to have developed a sort of furore for maritime discovery. The Venetians and Genoese had long enjoyed a supremacy in maritime trade, and both had grown immensely wealthy. In A.D. 1202 the Venetians supplied shipping to convey the Crusaders on the fourth crusade, carrying no less than 4500 knights and 20,000 foot, with horses and provisions for nine months, but they made most exorbitant demands in payment, and their galleys secured the lucrative commerce of Greece and Egypt. During the 1 2th and 13th centuries the commerce of Europe was almost entirely in the hands of the Italians, more commonly known as " Lombards." They became the carriers, the manufacturers, and the bankers of all Europe. The Genoese, however, surpassed the Venetians in the art of shipliuilding, and they were, so far as can now be traced, the first to construct a ship approaching to the modern form and rig. In the first half of the i6th century some of their carracks are said to have been of no less than 1500 tons burthen. They were, too, as skilful and even more daring in the management of them than the Venetians. Pisa, one of the most ancient cities of Tuscany, proved in some respects a formidable rival to both the Venetian and Genoese traders ; Tuscany became one of the most distinguished commercial states of Italy ; the merchants of Florence established branch houses in distant foreign countries, and became very rich. Quarrelling with the Pisans the B i: THE IIISIOKY Ol- SOK III A ll.AS llC SIFAM XA riCATJOX. Florentines | iircli.isfd the port of Lej^hoin from the (lenocsc, and tliis acquisition rendered Florence one of the richest cities in Italy, and her commerce },^radually ec|ualled, if it did not surpass, that of \'enice. Her merchants were princes. The Medici alone had at one time sixteen banking' establishments in different parts of Furope. In A.D. 1329 the whole of the customs of Fnghmd A GKNOKSK ( AKKACK. \\ ere farmed to the great commercial house of the Bardi at P'lorence. The trade with the East was opened in a measure by Cosmo de Medici, and was greatly extended and improved by his illustrious grandson Lorenzo.^ She opened up a large trade with Spain and England, and her policy was far more liberal than that of Venice. ' Sec Kobcoe's ' Life of Lorenzo de Medici.' 10S\ fsc, and cities in surpass, ci alone nt parts Kngland Florence. Ilosmo de illustrious pain and Venice. EARLY NAVja.lTORS. 3 Many eyes were now tunieil to tlie Mast as the source of fabulous wealth. Hitherto it had only been known by the way of the Red Sea and the caravans which crossed the great desert. In the days of Solomon we learn that : " Every three years once came the shii)s of Tarshish bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks" (z Chronicles ix. 21). The Portuguese were the first to attempt i. passage by sea. The initiatory steps for the accomplishment of this great purpose were taken by Prince Henry (if Portugal, who, on that account, was appropriately called "the navigator." He was the fifth son of King Dom John I. ; his mother was an English Royal lady, the daughter of John o' Ciaunt, and he was therefore the nephew of King Henry IV. of England, and grandson of Edward III. Prince Henry was a most enlightened prince, fond of mathematics and navigation, and long meditated voyages of discovery. In 1417 two very indifferent vessels were sent South, but returned unsuc- cessful. In 1418 they discovered Madeira by accident, but it was only in 1441 that Cape Blanco was reached. Cape de \'erde Islands were discovered in 1446, and the Azores in 1449 or 1457. In 1471 the Equator was first passed, and in 1481 a fort and trading-station were established on the coast of Guinea. Dom John II. was also conspicuous for maritime enterprise. In 1487 Diaz discovered the Cape of Good Hope, but proceeded no further, and perished in a storm in 1500. \'asco de Gama, another Portuguese, sailed from Lisbon 9th July, 1497, with four vessels, reached the Cape and Eastern Africa early in 1498, and Calicut, on the Malabar coast, in May, and returned to Lisbon in 1499. He sailed on his second voyage in 1502 with twenty ships, was patronised by the King, and blessed by the Church ; made a third voyage as " Viceroy of India," and died at Cochin in 1525. Columbus, a noble-minded man, and a few others, conceived the idea that "Cathay," or India, could be reached by sailing west. Columbus was born at Genoa in 1437, and after vainly seeking aid from his native province, Portugal and England, entered the service of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who equipped three ships, and he sailed from Palos in August 1492. Being un- acquainted with the variation of the needle, he went south, and discovered one of the Bahama Islands in October, and afterwards Hispaniola, but it was only on his third voyage in August, 1498, that he discovered the mainland of America, and, after cruel treat- ment from his enemies, died at Valladolid in 1506. Amerigo Vespucci was also an Italian, having been born at V, 2 ••' — -Vt' - 4 7//E Ills n )/0 J • OF NOK Til A TI. A XTIC S TEA M AW I ■/(/. / TWX. Florence in 145 1, and from him it is supposed America took its name. lie went to Spain and met Columbus at Seville, when the latter was preparing for his second voyage. Amerigo sailed with Hojeda, a Spaniard, as pilot in 1499, and on his return entered the service of J'ortugal ; sailed on his second voyage in ijor, and third in 1503, discovering All Saints Bay in Brazil, and then re-entered the service of Spain as master-pilot, and died in 15 16. Magellan (or Magalhaens), a I'ortuguese, did not discover the strait named after him until 1519, when in the service of Charles V. of Spain, on his way to the Moluccas, and was killed at the Philippine Islands by natives in 1521. In the meantime, Cortez, a Spaniard, born in 1485, had visited Cuba in 151 1 with Velasquez, and in 15 18 commanded an expedi- tion to Mexico, where he seized Montezuma, overran the country, perpetrated horrible cruelties, returned to Spain, and died in 1554. Pizarro and Diego d'Almagro, both Spaniards of the lowest character, reached Panama in 1524, and accompanied by Lucque, a priest, visited Peni, and murdered Athualpa, the last of the Incas, in 1531. Pizarro founded Lima in 1535, murdered Almagro in 1537, and was himself assassinated in his own palace at Lima in 1541. Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, did not leave St. Malo until 1534, and entering the St. Lawrence, discovered the Island of St. John (now Prince Edward), Bay de Chaleurs, Quebec, and Montreal ; but Cortereal is said to have touched at Labrador in 1500, calling the land "Terra Verde," and to have entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and touched Acadian shores. Serj ''t de St. Just was also in Canadian waters in 15 18, and in 1527. Thomas Thorne, of Bristol, is also said to have visited them, but how far to the west is not known. Sir John Hawkins (born in Devon, 1521), Sir Francis Drake (born in Devon, 1545), and Sir Walter Raleigh (born in Devon, 1552), were, after Cabot, the most cclel:)ratcd English navigators of the l6th century. All three took part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Hawkins was a most intrepid, daring man, serving principally in the West Indies, but disgraced his name and country by carrying slaves from Africa to the West and selling them. He died in 1595. Drake's career was a marvellous one. His first voyage was to the West Indies in 1570. He afterwards fitted out three frigates at his own expense and sailed on his celebrated voyage round the world in 1577 with five small ships ; reached Lat. 48° N. (near VASCO l)i: GAMA'S "SAN GAHRIKL" UOLXUING the CAl'E OK GOOD HOPE. Ttv tf nKS' I .i i EARL y A' A VIGA TORS. British Columbia;, thence to the East Indies, doubled the Cape of (jood Hope, and returned to I'lymmith in 15S0, after capturing many Spanish jjalleons ; visited the West Indies in 1585, capturing many phices and ships ; he entered Cadiz in 1587 with tliirty sail and destroyed the shipping there, and died at sea in 1596. Raleigh, after serving in France, the Netherlands, New foundland, and Ireland, founded Virginia and Guiana, fell into disgrace and was contined in the Tower of London for twelve years ; was then released and returned to (lUiana, but was cruelly beheaded by King James I. in 1618. Tasman (Abel Jan) was a Dutch navigator who made many important discoveries in the South Seas in the 17th century ; he discovered New Zealand in 1642, but did not land. In the same year he discovered Van Diemen's Land (now named Tasmania, after him). Dampier, who published his celebrated '\'oyagcs round the World,' in four volumes, was only born in Somerset in 1652, and died in 17 12. James Cook, another celebrated English navigator, was born in Yorkshire in 1728, and was present at the capture of (Quebec in 1759, in the Mercury ; was afterwards made lieutenant, and made his well-known voyages in the South Seas (the account of which was edited by Dr. Kippis), exploring New Zealand, etc., and was killed by natives at Owyhee in 1779. He was the first to land in New Zealand, 8th October, 1769, near Gisborne. George Vancouver served with Cook, endeavoured to find a passage from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic, and published an account of it. Died in 1798. Behring was a Dane in the service of Russia in Northern Seas, and perished on a desolate island in Behring's Straits in 1741. This preliminary sketch of early navigators will suffice to pre- pare the way for the claim made on behalf of Sebastian Cabot, a native of Bristol, England, one of the noblest seamen that ever trod a ship's deck : not only a brave and skilful sailor, but a man of considerable scientific attainments for his age, and withal, a man of eminent piety. That claim is that Cabot, and not Columbus, was the real discoverer of the Continent of America. Now for the proofs. Sebastian Cabot was the son of John Cabot, a skilful Venetian pilot who had settled in Bristol, where Sebastian was born in 1475, or, according to some authorities, in 1477.^ The street where he 1 Some authorities say Sebastian was born in Venice. 8 THE HISTOR V OF NOR TH A TL ANTIC STEAM NA VIGA TION. \ II resided was, and is still, called Cathay, and is well known to the writer by that name. It is near the celebrated St. Mary Redcliff Church. The early voyages of the Cabots are wrapped in doubt owing to the mysterious disappearance of Sebastian's ' Mappes and Dis- courses,' to which he refers. Sebastian held the same view as Columbus, that Cathay ccu i be reached by the N.W., and all his early voyages took that route. The first record of the family is that John Cabot, a Venetian, was made a citizen of Venice in 1476. There is some doubt as to whether John made any voyage of discovery himself, and one writer affirms that he did not. The weight of evidence, however, is in favour of his having, at least, performed the first authentic voyage with Sebastian, and it is generally admitted that he died in 1498, before the second expedition sailed. The fame of John, however, has been eclipsed by that of his illustrious son Sebastian, whose career I propose to trace. On a map of Sebastian's travels, preserved in the Bibliothfeque of Paris, dated 1544, it is stated in Latin and Spanish that "John and Sebastian Cabot together discovered the new land on June 24th, 1494" (probably an error for 1496), and that Cabot himself "made this figure extended in plane. ..." In confirmation of this, it is stated in the first volume of 'Spanish State Papers,' under date July 25th, 1498 : "The people of Bristol sent out every year two or three light ships in search of the island of Brazil and the seven cities, according to the fancy of that Italian Cabot ; and they have done so for the last seven years." Whatever may have been the character and results of these early voyages, we have no well authenticated account of them until 1496, when King Henry VII. of England granted, on the 5th March, a patent to " John Cabot, a Venetian by birth, who had settled at Bristol, and to his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, giving them authority to sail to all parts, countries, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banner and ensign, v ith four ships of what burden or quantity so ever they be, and as many marines or men as they will have with them in the said ships upon their own proper costs and charges." ^ They were also to enjoy the privilege of exclusive resort and traffic to all places they might discover, re- serving one-fifth of the clear profit of the enterprise to the Crown. There has been much dispute as to the date of Cabot's first authentic voyage, whether it took place in 1496 or 1497. Many of ' ' Rymal' (I'ajclera), vol. xii. p. 595. I 1 F.AKf.)- x.ir/c.iroRs. 9 the accounts, too, evidently confuse the record of his lirst voyage with the second, made in 1498 or 1499. The highest English authority on these early voyages is Richard Hakluyt, born at Eyton, Herefordshire, in 1553. He was pre- bendary of Bristol Cathedral, and afterwards rector of Wethering- set. He wrote ' Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation' in three volumes, a most valuable and trustworthy work. He says : — "A great part of the continent of Anieriui, as well of the islands, was first discovered for the King of England by Sebastian Gabotc, an Englishman, born in Hristowe, son of John Gabote, in 1496 ; nay more, Gabote discovered this large tracte of prime lande livo years before Culuinbus saw any part of the continent. " And again : "All that mighty tracte of lande from 67 degrees X., to the latitude almost of Florida, was first discovered out of lingland bv the commandment of Henry VII." And again : "He" (Cabot) "sailed so far toward the west that he had the island ot Cuba on his left hand in manner in the same degree of longitude. " Mr. Gerald E. Hart of Montreal, a student of Canadian history, who owned a valuable library of historical books, says: "An analysis of the e\idcnce of old maps and documents convinces me that Cabot sailed from Bristol in 1496, and was consequently the real discoverer of the continent of North America." Mr. Hart also advanced authorities to show that to the discovery of the island by Cabot and his English squadron, was due the name of Cape Breton. England had not then lost her old name of Britannia, and in Spanish manuscripts of the time her people were calk'd " Bretons." Rev. Mr. Hai\ey, author of the ' History of Newfoundland,' says : — "The most reliable account of Cabot's first voyage is contained in a letter of Eorenzo ras([ualigo, \'enetian AnibaMsador in London, addressed to his brother, and preserved in the ' Calendar of \'enetian State Papers.' It is dated London, August 23rd, 1497, and contains the following remarks: — "The \'enetian, our countryman, wiio went with a ship from Bristo' in quest of new islands is returned, and says that 700 leagues hence he discovered land, the territory of the Grand Cham. He coasted for 300 leagues and landed. He was three months on the voyage, and on his return he saw two islands to starboard, but would not land, time being precious, as he was short of ]3ro- visions. The king has also given him monev wherewith to amuse himself till n > I O THE ins TOR J ' OF NOR TH A TL ANTIC STEAM NA VIGA TION. then (spring of 1498), and he is now at Bristol witii his wife, who is also a. Venetian, and with his sons. His name is Juan Cabot, and he is styled ' Tlie Great Admiral.' " Rev. Dr. Howlcy of Newfoundland, quotes a letter froni Don Raimondo Soncini, envoy of the Duke of Milan at the court of Henry ML, who was well acquainted with the Cabots, to the same eflect. Mr. Harvey also quotes Hakluyt (vol. iii., p. 27) : "In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his son .Sebastian (with an English fleet set out from Hristol), discovered that lande which no man jjefore that time had attempted, on the 24th June, about S o'clock in the morning. This land he called ' Prima Vista,' that is to say, 'first seen.' That island which lieth out before the land he called the Island of St. John, upon this occasion, as I think, because it was discovered upon the day of Jolm the Baptist." Mr. Harvey holds that " Triina Vista " \\as Cape North in Cape Breton, and that Cabot did not discover Labrador until his second \oyage. Here note. ist. Pasqualigo docs not say that the round voyage only occupied three months. He probably meant the outward vo\age, as the vessel was small. 2nd. If he coasted 300 leagues it is highly improbable that he could have made the round voyage in three months. His sighting the two islands too (doubtless the Azores), proves that he had gone south from " Prima Vista." 3rd. He ivas short of provisions when he sighted the Azores, and it is not at all likely that this would be the case if he had only been absent from Bristol less than three months. 4th. If he only discovered land on the 24th June, 1497, it is hardly possible that he could have been back in Bristol before August loth, when we know the king gave him ;^io from the privy purse. 5th. As the patent was granted on the 5th March, 1496, it is not likely that Cabot delajed sailing for fourteen months, nor that if he only left Bristol in May, 1497, he could have been back previous to August loth. On the whole, I come to the conclusion that John and Sebastian left Bristol in the ship Matthew of 200 tons in 1406, and discovered Cape Breton on June 24th ; that he proceeded south, coasting along the continent, and returned to Bristol early in 1497. Columbus only sighted the mainland of America on the ist August, 1498, on this third voyage, having" discovered one of the Bahama Islands in 1492. IGA TION. EARL Y NA VIGA TORS. II It is clear therefore thai Cabot is enliilecl to the hoiiour of being the Jirst to rediscover that portion of the continent now known as the United States of America. Also that he discovered what is now known as part of Canada, at least 38 years before Cartier entered the St. Lawrence. Cartier did not leave St. Malo until 1534 He is no doubt entitled to the merit of exploring the vSt. Lawre .ce and to have discovered Quebec and Montreal. Moreover, on the same day that Cabot discovered " Prima Vista," he discovered St. John Island near Cape Breton, but, which some writers say may have been either Prince Edward, or Newfoundland. As to the term " New-found-land," it must be remembered that all the '' newland " discovered at that time was so named, and Cabot himself could not ha\e been aware that what we now know as " Newfoundland" was an island. I say rediscovered, because if the Icelandic " Sagas" are to be believed, Greenland was discovered by Icelanders in a.d. 982 and the continent of America in A.D. 1000. In the royal librarj- at Copenhagen a richly illuminated MS., the 'Codex Flateyensis,' contains the history of " Eric the Red," and of his son " Leif the Happy." It was written by two monks at F'latoe in Iceland, in two volumes, on fine parchment, between A.D. 1370 and A.D, 1380. It states that both father and son left Iceland in A.D. 982, and, sailing west, discovered Greenland. Leif returned to Iceland, and went thence to Norway, where he was persuaded by King Olaf Tiygefsen to embrace Christianity and go back as its missionary to this newly discovered country. When on his voyage there he was driven by adverse winds to the coast of America, as far south, it is believed, as Massachusetts, designated in the Codex " Vin- land," or " Wineland," probably because Lief and his companions had found wild grapes growing in abundance there. There is a tradition too in Iceland that Columbus, hearing of these " Sagas," visited Iceland in 1477, and Icelanders point out with pride the very spot where he landed. ^ A second patent was granted to Cabot by the king m 1498, the school-books say on the 3rd February, but BiJdle (in his ' Life of Cabot ') says he discovered the original in the Rolls Court, London, and that it was dated 3rd July, 1498. An expedition ot three hundred men was fitted out, and the merchants of Bristol sent small stocks of goods. Cabot brought back " hawkes," " wild cattes," and "popingays." On this second authentic voyage Cabot appears to have gone further north, and to have met much ice, but ' ' Our Ocean Railways,' by A. Frascr-Macdonald. tfC^r; mm m w^ ^ ^w^m tmrn^fi , 1900mm- m^^-rsm I m i 1 2 77/ /r nrsTOR v of nor th a tl antic STEA.U XAJ'/CA tion. there is some doubt as to whether it occurred in 1498 or 1499. The records of the city of Bristol have this entry in 1499 : — "This yearc Sebastian Cabot born in HristoU, proffered liis services to King Henry for discovering new countries, which had no greate or favourable entertainment of tiie King, but he, with no extraordinary preparation, set fortli from Bristol!, and made greate discoveries." ' If the second patent was only granted on the 3rd July, 1498, it seems i)robable that Cabot's second voyage only occurred in 1499. Kohl, the German geographer, says, " The Portuguese Galvano, one of the original and contemporary authorities on Cabot's voyage of 1498, says, that having reached Lat. 60° N., he and his men found the air very cold, and great islands of ice. Then they sailed back again to the south." Peter Martyr, as quoted by Zeigler, said that " Cabot sailing continually from England towards the N., followed the course so far that he chanced upon great flakes of ice in the month of July, and, keeping clear of these, he followed the coast by the shore, bending towards the S." Ramusio in the preface of the third vol. of his ' Voyages,' says, " Cabot had written to him that he had reached 67 i° N. Lat., and he speaks of its general sterility and abundance of Polar bears." Mr. Harvey insists that all three refer to the second voyage and not to the first, when no mention is made of ice. Navarette, in describing from the records in the Spanish archives the voyage of Hojeda, who sailed from Spain 20th May, 1499, says, "What is certain is that Hojeda in his first voyage found certain Englishmen in the neighbourhood ot Caqaibaco." Where this was is not clear, but it would seem that Cabot must either have made his second voyage in 1499, or have left a small colony out of the three hundred men he took with him. In 1 501 Henry \' 1 1, granted a third patent to three merchants of Bristol and three Portuguese to proceed in search of lands, and in 1502 a fourth, but no mention is made of Cabot, and we lose sight of him for some years. The disappearance of Cabot's " mappes and discourses," which he had prepared for publication, may account for his having been unnoticed. In Peter Martyr's testimony to Cabot he says, " Cabot did not leave England till after the death of Henry VII, in 1509."'- In 1512 Cabot entered the service of Spain and resided at Seville. In 1515 we find him "a member of the Council of the Indies," uith expectation of commanding an expedition to India, but the death of King Ferdinand in 15 16 caused Cabot to return to ' Seyer's ' Memoirs of Bristol,' \). 11. " ' Decades' 11, Chap. 12. /•;. I RLV XAVIGA TORS. 13 England, where he was appointed to prepare a similar expedition, but this was a failure through the cowardice of Sir Thomas Pert. Robert Thorne, a celebrated Bristol merchant, urged Henry VIII. to prosecute such voyages to the world of "gold, balmes and spices." The dreadful sweating sickness of 15 17, however, spread death and dismay throughout the kingdom. In 1520 Cabot returned to Spain with Charles V. and was appointed "Pilot master to the Spanish monarchy." In 1524 Spain and Portugal quarrelled about the limits assigned by the Papal Bull, and held a conference. At the head of the list stands " Sebastian Cabot " and " Ferdinand Columbus," when it was decided in favour of Spain. In 1525 Cabot was appointed chief of an association formed at Seville to prosecute trade with the East, with Robert Thorne of Bristol. In 1526 Cabot left with an expedi- tion for the East via the Straits of Magellan, but owing to a mutiny he put into La Plata and explored the river as well as the Parana, but he was attacked near the present site of Buenos Ayres. Charles sent a fresh expedition to his aid, and in 1531 Cabot returned to Spain as "Pilot Major." Henry VIII. died in 1546, and in 1549 Cabot returned to Bristol an old man, under King Edward VI., who patronised him liberally. Charles V. tried in vain to induce him to return to Spain. He was employed in investigating the variation of the compass, and is said to have published a map of the world, and a work entitled ' Navigazione nelie parte Septentrionale.' He was also engaged on other means for improving navigation, and was frequently consulted on all such matters. He advised a new expedition of three ships to go by the northern route ; and notwithstanding the opposition of the " steel yard" (Germans), who had a monopoly, the "Merchant Adven- turers' Company " was formed,^ with Cabot as governor, and an expedition was despatched in 1553 under Sir R. Willoughby and R. Chancellor. Cabot drew up their celebraied instructions in thirty-two articles. They reflect the highest credit on his sagacity, good sense, and comprehensive knowledge, and they are full of admirable advice and soundest principles. Beyond special and minute instructions as to navigation, the most rigid attention is enjoined to the moral and religious dutie:. of the crews. eturn to ' No blasphemy of God, or swearing, ribaldrie, filtliy tales or ungodly talke ; neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other devilish games, whereby ensueth povertie, strife, variance, brawling, fighting and oftentimes murtlier, to the utter destruction of the parties, and provoking of God's most just wrathe and 1 Tliis Soeietv still exists in Bristol. •■ . » »<> !1 F' 14 THE HISTORY OF XOKTFf ATLANTIC STEAM JVAVICATION'. sword of venijeance. These ami all such like pestilences and contagions of vices and sinnes to be eschewed, and the offenders once monished and not reforming, to he punished at the discretion of the Captain. It is likewise ordered that morning and evening prayer to be reade and said in every ship daily . . . and the Rible or paraphrases to be reade devoutly and Christianly to God's honour, and for his grace to be obtained, and had by humble and heartie prayer of the navigantes accordingly." The expedition met with many disasters, and both commanders perished, but in 1557 it returned with a Russian ambassador who met with a very hearty reception. Queen Mary left all such matters to her husband Philip, and the miserable wretch reduced Cabot's pension one-half, and shortened his life. From this time Cabot sank into comparative insigni- ficance. Sixty-one years had elapsed since the date of his first commission, and the powers of nature failed. Mr. NichoUs says : — ^ " His last public appearance recorded was, his dining on board the pinnace S':af/irift, Captain Burroughs, at Gravesend, April 17, 1556, but he is known to have been alive April 27, 1557, when Philip compelled him to resign his pension. It further appears that Eden (see his 'Taisnerus' in the British Museum) was present at his death ; but he has not noted either the place or date thereof." He must, however, have been eighty years of age. What a contrast does his career present to that of the early Portuguese and Spanish navigators, whose lives were marked by cruelty, rapine, and murder ! Vasco de Gama cut off the hands, ears, noses and lips, not only of his captives, but of a Brahmin priest, who was sent by the king as an ambassador, to sue for peace under a safe conduct from De Gama, and another he roasted over a slow fire. Cortez is estimated to have killed 100,000 Mexicans on his invasion, and he committed the most horrible cruelties. Pizarro treacherously strangled and burnt Athualpa, whose part he had professed to take, and afterwards strangled his fellow-countryman and companion Almagro. The Portuguese, too, have always been noted for their barbarous cruelty to the African negroes. Columbus was also a marked contrast to these sanguinaiy wretches ; a man of the highest character and noblest purposes, but he was manacled and imprisoned by a Spanish rival. Sebastian Cabot may be justly regarded as one of the most illustrious navigators the world has ever seen, and though history 1 ' Life of Cabot,' p. 186. Nicholls was librarian of Bristol library. i ■ EARL V A\l VIGA TORS. 15 has failed to do him justice, Enghmd owes him a debt of imperish- able gratitude. One of his biographers writes : — " He ended, as lie had l)egun, his career in the service of his native country ; infusing into h?r marine a spirit of lofty enterprise, a high moral tone, and a system of inflexible discipline, of wliich the results were not long after so conspicuously displayed. " Lord Campbell says of Cabot : — "He was tlie author of our maritime strength, and opened the way to those improvements which have rendered us so great, so eminent and so flourishing."' Mr. \V. S. Lindsay says of him : — "The exact date of his death is not known, nor has any record been left where he was buried. He, nho with Columbus, had presented a new world to his sovereign, died like him, neglected, if not despised ; and at last so thorouglily unknown, that England cannot point to the spot of earth where rests all that was mortal of one of her best and bravest seamen. " " The old city of Bristol is but little altered since the days of Cabot. The street in which he lived, and the quays from which he embarked may still be seen by the visitor, and the lovely, tortuous little Avon down which he sailed on his memorable voyages, still winds its way to " Kingroad " and the Bristol Channel. New trades have been created ; ships from America, India, and all parts of the world now crowd those quays, but the citizens still revere the name, and cherish the memory of Sebastian Cabot. * ' Lives of the Admirals.' 2 ' History of Merchant Shipping,' vol. ii., p. 86. PWIom these Acts, which were only repealed in 1849, may be dated the decline of the maritime supremacy of the Dutch and the rise of the British. The Dutch, seeing that these stringent laws could only be aimed at them, at tirst sought to effect a treaty with England, but secretly determined to fight for their supremacy at sea. They got together one hundred anu fifty vessels, and placing Martin Van Tromp in command, declared war in 1652. Desperate and sanguinaiy struggles ensued, with varying fortunes to both sides. Blake was the great English admiral, assisted by Monk, Ayscough, Prince Rupert, Spragge, and the Earl of Sandwich. The Dutch had Martin Van Tromp and his son Cornelis, De Ruyter, De Witt, Van Ness and others. Six great actions were fought in 1652-3 on the English coasts. The English won three, the Dutch two, and one was indecisive. The Dutch suflcred severely, not only in the loss of warships, but by the capture of their fleets of merchant- men, and the diminution of their trade. So. on the 5th April, 1654, a treaty of peace was concluded, but Cromwell refused to abate one jot of the new laws, and he demanded, and received, an admission of the English sovereignty of the seas. Cromwell died in 1658, and his laws were ignored, but Charles II. was compelled to re-enact, and virtually to confirm, Cromwell's Navigation Acts in the first year of his reign. The Dutch, fearing their maritime downfall, and urged on by the intrigues of France, in 1664 were ripe for a fresh war. but endeavoured to gain time. Charles, however, seized 130 of their ships, homeward bound, before the formal declaration of war, and they were condemned as lawful prizes. War was consequently IGA TION. ilcl measures mc power of _> supremacy ppinj;. This ssed in 165 1. tion, or iiimiui- jitliiT l'',mj;lan(l iil)s, ow!R'(l by .nv belonged to e giowtli, pro- lireat Hritain II SHt/i s/iip:- as Zi'erc produced, 849, may be utch and the inly be aimed ., but secretly ■ got together an Tromp in I sanguinary Blake was ough, Prince Dutch had er, De Witt, It in 1652-3 Dutch two, , not only in f merchant- April, 1654, ed to abate received, an rotnwell died as compelled igation Acts urged on by ;sh war, but 130 of their of war, and consequently ^ I I • i jl i .'^^^1 sh « tei i • ■ " be 1 - 1 v F^^l EARLY SAILIXC. S//irS. 31 ;ij,Min doclarccl, ami a ^'rcat battle was foiiKlu off Harwich, 3rcl June, 16C5. The Dutch lost i<; shi|)s and 6000 men ; the En^'lish 4 and about 1500 nu-n. In i^^/) France declared war aj^ainst ]Cn;;laiid. and Denmark was subsidised to assist the allies with a fleet. In June, 1666, a bloody struj;j,de took place off the coast of I'laiulers, when the English losc 2 admirals, 23 ^reat ships, 6ocx> nun. and 2600 prisoners ; and the Dutch lost 4 admirals, 6 ships, and 281S0 men. Another ^'reat battle was fouj,dit on the 24th July, when the En^;lish beat Dc Ruyter, drivinj,' him into port, and afterwards burnin^,^ 100 merchant ships. Negotiations were opened for peace at Breda, but the Dutch, believing Charles to be trilling, despatched De Ruyter to the Thames. He destroyed the fortifi- cations of Sheerness, burnt three ships, and then burnt three ntorc near Chatham. The Londoners were greatly alarmed, and sunk seventeen ships at Woolwich and Blackwall, fearing he would sail up to London Bridge. De Ruyter retired, but scoured the English coast until the treaty of Breda was signed in July, 1667. Thus terminated this bitter and bloody struggle. England suffered much, but Holland still more, and her trade was i)ermanently crippled, while England's steadily increased, and London succeeded Amster- dam as the chief emporium of the commercial world. To go back, in 1591, Thomaa Cavendish, an Englishman, undertook a voyage to the East Indies, which led to the formation of the great East India Company, in 1600, by London merchants, assisted by Robert Thorne, of Bristol, the largest and most impor- tant commercial undertaking recorded in history. This great company lasted two hundred and fifty-eight years. It commenced with five vessels, 130 to 600 tons, and gradually increased their size to 1507 tons. The company had a monopoly of English trade with India and China, and made vast sums, but their expenditure was on a lavish scale. They ultimately conquered and held a large part of India. At one time they had a footing in Japan too. They had many conflicts with the Dutch and Portuguese, and in the next century were harassed by French ships of war and privateers, and had to arm and increase the size of their ships in order to fight successfully. Between 1700 and 18 19 forty-four of the company's ships were captured by the enemy, although they were often victorious. They charged enormous freights, as much as ;^3o per ton measurement for tea, and their captains made large fortunes. They were the first to build large English merchant- ships. In 1858 the company was finally dissolved, and their territories transferred to the Crown, the trade to India having been thrown open in 1814, and in 1832 the China trade followed. i u 1 1 23 THE HISTORY OF NORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. Up to 165 1, as we have seen, English maritime commerce was pretty well monopolised by the Dutch, the English being busily engaged in domestic troubles and fighting for political freedom. A well-known writer of about 1666, Sir Henry Petty, estimated the tonnage of all Europe at 2,000,000 tons, of which he apportions 900,000 tons to the Dutch, 500,000 to the English, 100,000 to the French, 250,000 to the Hamburghers, Swedes, and Danes, and 250,000 to vSpain, Portugal, and Italy. But between 1666 and 1688 Dr. Charles Davenport says that the British tonnage had doubled. Such had been the effect of Cromwell's Navigation Laws. France, her old enemy, sought to maintain supremacy over both the Du»^ch and the English, and by means of her navy and privateers, played havoc with British ships, but on May 12th, 1692, Admiral Russell defeated the French in the great battle of La Hogue ; and the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, led to great prosperity. During these years, however, England was gradually increasing her colonial possessions, and thus extending her empire. The Pilgrim Fathers landed in New England, November 9th, 1620, and laid the founda- tions of a great nation. Jamaica, Barbadoes, and other West India islands, the Bermudas, the Bahamas, Nova Scotia, the (Gambia, the Gold Coast Settlements, and St. Helena, were all conquered or settled in the 17th century. The English revolution occurred in 1688, and from that time the trade of the plantations, or colonies, steadily and rapidly increased. British ships, however, were still very small. In 1701-2 a return shows the number of ships owned in the principal ports was as follows : — Average Size Number of Ships. Tons . 'ions. London . 560 84,882 157 Bristol , . . 16s 17.338 105 Yarmouth 143 9.914 69 Exeter . 121 7,107 58 Hull . 115 7.564 65 Whitby . no 8,292 75 Liverpool 102 8,619 84 Scarborougli . 102 6,860 67 The Dutch Indiamen were evidently copied from the Genoese carracks, and the early English ships were built on much the same model, with high poops and forecastles. Cabot's ship was only 200 tons ; Drake went round the world in the Pelican, of ICO tons, and four smaller vessels ; Frobisher started for China ^_^ roA T/O.V. mmcrcc was being busily freedom. ;y, estimated e apportions 0,000 to the Danes, and )66 and 1688 liad doubled, ws. France, :h the Du»^ch teers, played liral Russell ue ; and the During these her colonial ;rim Fathers I the founda- other West Scotia, the :na, were all [n that time and rapidly n 1701-2 a ;il ports was veragc Size. 'I'ons. 157 105 69 58 65 75 84 67 he Genoese 1 much the s ship was Pelican^ of I for China EARLY SAir.INC, SHIPS. 23 vi'i the north-west, in 1576, with the Gabriel and Michael, of only 25 tons, and discovered Greenland. Within the memory of the writer ('1838-50) ships of 300 tons traded to India and China, and barques of 200-300 tons to the West Indies, while the trade of Quebec was carried on chiefly by brigs of 150 to 300 tons. Now Great Britain owns many iron sailing-ships of 2000 to 3000 tons, and one four-masted ship of 3336 tons. To return, we must pass rapidly over the i8th century, the great modern development of British shipping not having commenced till the 19th. Scotland was united to England in 1707, which gave an im- mense impulse to the commerce of the former. War often caused serious losses to British shipping, and during the reign of George I. (1714-27) hordes of privateers and buccaneers infested the seas whenever war was declared, j^lundering legitimate com- merce. Many new colonies were added, and the century was remarkable for English maritime expeditions, which added to the geographical knowledge of mankind, and promoted the peaceful arts of commerce. Among these were those commanded by Dampier in 1699; Anson in 1740; Byron in 1764; Wallis, and Carteret, and Cook. Gibraltar was captured in 1704; Canada in 1759-60 ; Honduras in 1783 ; and the Straits Settlements in 1785 ; New South W;iles was colonised with convicts in 1787 ; and Sierra Leone in the same year. But now another great maritime power came into existence. The American colonies demanded, and at length obtained, sever- ance from the Mother Countr>^ In 1776 they signed the " Declaration of Independence," and after coercive measures had failed, it was finally acknowledged on the 30th November, 1782, but the treaty was only signed on 3rd March, 1783, and ratified by Congress 4th January, 1784. Though they could not interfere with the foreign or coasting trade of Great Britain, except to and from their own ports, they rapidly produced some of the finest sailing- ships in the world. They were singularly fa\oured by Nature for maritime affairs. They had great forests of oak and pitch pine, both eminently suitable for shipbuilding. New York and New England possessed numerous deep-water h; rbours, and the latter had a large, hardy, seafaring population. The early New York packet-ships were splendid specimens of naval architecture, 800 to 1800 tons, and most of them with three decks. They almost monopolised the trade between England and the United States for many years ; they often made rapid passages in the spring and summer, but ia win.?r they had to contend with such heavy 24 THE HIS TOR \ ' OF X( )/? Tff A TL A KTIC S TEA M NA VIGA TION. wcstr ly gales that they sometimes occupied sixty, seventy, eighty, and even ninety days to reach New York. Many of them carried one thousand emigrants, but after a long and bitter struggle with iron screw steamships they finally disappeared in i860. In 1793 commenced the terrible struggle with Napoleon, lasting with sliort intervals until 1815, paralysing British trade, and involving Great Britain in an enormous debt, heavy taxation, suspensior, of specie payments, and a commercial panic ; at the close of thi.i war the debt stood at ;^9oo,ooo,ooo, or 14,500,000,000 ! Then the war with the United States lasted from 181 2 to 18 17. In 1849 the discovery of gold in California led to a great demand for extreme clipper ships, and the United States turned out the largest and the finest wood>.^n sailing ships afloat. In 1851 a similar discovery in Australia led to great activity among British and Colonial shipbuilders. Quebec, St. John, N.B., and Nova Scotia, all turned out large wooden clippers up to 1800 tons. During the war with Napoleon, too, Ceylon, T"'nidad, Malta, British Guiana, Cape Colony, Mauritius, and Ascension were added to the British Colonial Emp"re. The repeal of Cromwell's Navigation Laws in 1849 gave the Americans access to the whole foreign and colonial trade of Great Britain, and they became , severe competitors with the British, jO that at one time, in 1861, they owned (including river and lake tonnage) slightly more tonnage than Great Biitain and Ireland, say 5,400,000 t ns. But during the terrible Civil War a few privateers fitted out by Southerners, chief of which was the celebrated Alabama^ so crippled American commerce by burning Northern ships at sea, that United States shipowners rapidly transferred their tonnage to neutral flags or sold them. But all this while two revolutions were quietly going on, both of which greatly favoured Great Britain above every other nation, and ultimately placed her in her present proud position. Iron and steam were the agents. Steam tonnage replaced sailing vessels, and iron and steel wooden hulls, and to the history of these two great revolutions we must now turn. \\ IGA TION. ( 25 ) CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THE MARINE STEAM ENGINE. Eminent naturalists, such as Owen, Darwin, and Paley, have often pointed out that many of the inventions of man are but feeble imitations of the wonderful works of Nature. This is true as regards the steamship. The tail of the fish embodies the principle of the oar and the screw propeller, and it has long been a proverb among sailors that '* a cod's head and a mackerel's tail " form the best possible design for a fast-sailing ship. The web foot of the duck was the prototype of the paddle wheel. The cuttlefish is propelled by ejecting a fluid from a tube, exactly as is H.M.S. IVateriuitch, or Dr. Jackson's Evolution} The swan extends her wings as sails to catch a favouring breeze. The combined action of the paddle wheel and screw propeller will be found in the micro- scopic insects Parmnacium caudatnm and Paramaciinn com- pressiini, and even the bulkheads of the modern iron steamship have their exact counterpart in the shell of the little nautilus, while the spider's web is composed of four thousand strands, and is fifty per cent, stronger in proportion than our steel wire rope. The idea generally entertained that the power of steam is a modern discovery has been proved to be erroneous, for it was known 120 B.C., when Hero of Alexandria experimented with it and published an account of his " ^olipile " in his treatise on pneumatics. Mr. Bourne states that the principle of the " ^Eolipile " is the same as that embodied in Avery and Ruthven's engines for the pro- duction of rotary power. The works of Woodcroft show that as early as the 13th century Roger Bacon spoke "of a vessel which, being almost wholly submerged, would run through the water against waves and winds with a speed greater than that attained by the fastest London pinnaces." In 1601 Baptista Porta, of Naples, published many 1 Darwin. 26 THE HISTOR Y OF NOR TIT A TL ANTIC S TEAM NA VIGA TION. i K, .'5 I tw 1 I i l^ I;, i curious experiments on the power of steam and its condensation. In 1615 Solomon dc Caus shows that he was well acquainted with the power of steam. In 16 18 David R.nisay obtained a patent for an invention " to make boates for carriages running upon the water as swift in calmes and more safe in stormes than boates full sayled in great windes," and in 1630 he patented a plan "to make boates, ships, and barges to goe against the wind and tide." ' In 1637 Francis Lin patented a similar plan, and in 1646 Edward Ford proposed another. In 1661 the Marquis of Worcester, a wonderful man, was certainly the first to make an actual steam engine : he refers to " a boat that roweth or letteth even against wind and stream," and he speaks of " water rarefied by fire." In the same year, Kooke described windmills, in 'vhich we have all the main features both of the screw propeller and feather- ing wheel.'-^ Papin, who was driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and elected F.R.S. in 168 1, describes in 1690, '"a steam cylinder in which a piston descends by atmo- spheric pressure, when the steam below it is condensed," and as one of its uses he mentions, " the propulsion of ships by rames and volatiles," or paddle wheels.'^ He certainly first suggested the vacuum. Thomas Savery, one of the most ingenious men of his age, proposed in 1696, a mode of raising water by "the impelling force of fire," adding, " it may be very useful to ships."* Thomas Newcomen, a working blacksmith of Dartmouth (Devon), greatly improved Savery's engine in 1705, and Papin used it to propel a steamboat on the Fulda. Jonathan Hulls, of Campden (Gloucestershire), in 1736 made some practical progress, and secured a patent for propelling a steam- boat by a 5\:':>am engine driving a ster)i tvhecl,^ which was the first steamboat authentically recorded ; although his boat was hardly fitted for the purposes of commerce, many such have since been used in the United States and Australia. But it was not until the 5th January, 1769; when James Watt, a native of Greenock, obtained his patent, that any steam engine could be effectually adopted in marine propulsion. Watt was a mathematical instrument maker, and his first connection with the steam engine arose from his having been requested by the Professors of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow to > Woodcroft. = Bourne. * ' 'I'lie Miners' l^'riend.' ^ Woodcroft, jip. 16, 17. '•• Woodcroft. 'IGA TION. HISTORY OF THE MARINE STEAM EXGINE. 27 repair a model of one of Newcomen's engines in 1764.. Anionj; iiis various improvements in the steam engine, the most important were the separate condenser, and the double-acting engine for causing the steam to act above the piston as well as below it. These rendered the power of the engine much more effective, and caused considerable economy. He also invented the crank, and in 1781 the ''sun and planet motion" ; this did not answer, but his partner, James Pickard, in 1780 patented a method of working a mill with a rotary motion by means of the present connecting rod, crank and flywheel, constituting the second important improvement in the steam engine. There seems little doubt, however, that Watt was the real inventor of the crank, but neglected to take out a patent. > Joseph Bramah, a man of genius, in 1785 obtained a patent and proposed to propel vessels through the medium of either a paddle wheel or a screw propeller, but there is no record of his having put it into practice. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, Scotland, in 1787 published a pamphlet on the subject of propelling boats by means of paddle wheels turned by men, and spent some ^30,000 in experiments. A tutor in his family, Mr. James Taylor, urged Mr. Miller to apply steam to drive the wheels of his boat, and at last he was induced to employ a young, hardw^orking operative engineer, William Symington, who soon produced the desired results. The engine was placed in a small pleasure boat only twenty-five feet long, and tested on Loch Dalswinton, 14th Novem- ber, 1788. Although the cylinders were only four inches in diameter, it drove the boat at the rate of five miles an hour. After a few days it was taken out, and is now in the Patent Office Museum, London. In 1789 it was resolved to repeat the experi- ment on a larger scale on the Forth and Clyde Canal. A double engine, with 18-inch cylinders, was built at the Carron Ironworks, fitted on board another of Miller's vessels, and tried on Dalswinton Loch in December, 1789, with great success, making 61 to 7 miles an hour. More than ten years elapsed before Symington found another patron. In 1801 Lord Dundas employed him to fit up a steamboat to tow barges on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and called her the Charlotte Dundas, after his daughter. Having availed himself of Watt's improvements, Symington patented his new engine 14th ]\Iarch, 1801, and in the opinion of most impartial writers, she was the first practical steamboati- In March, 1802, ' Muirhead's ' Life of W.att.' -' John Fitch, the son of a Connecticut farmer, wlio was born in 1743, was a genius and a prophet. He was engaged at the same time as Symington in experimenting on steamboats ; but he was far less of a practical engineer than 28 THE HISTORY OF XOR TH A TLANTIC STEAM XAT/Cl T/O.V. I i ;' ' she went on her trial trip and was most successful. Her cylinders were 22 inches with 4 feet stroke. The Duke of Bridyewater gave him an order to construct eight similar vessels, but the Duke died before the details of the agreement were completed. The Charlotte Dundas was laid up out of fear that she would injure the banks of the canal. Poor Symington, being in great poverty, at length received £1^0 from the i'rivy Puise, and now, in the year i8gi, a bust of him has at length been placed in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art I Mr. Woodcroft says : " Symington had the undoubted merit of having combined for the first time those improvements ivhich constitute the present system of steam navigation.^'' It is a singular fact that Watt discouraged Symington, predicting the failure of his engine, and threatening him with legal penalties if it succeeded. In 1800 Henry Bell, of Helensburgh, opposite Greenock, laid before the Government his invention for the impro\ement of steam navigation, but it was not until -January, 18 12, that he completed the Comet. She was the first passenger steamljoat built in Europe ; 40 feet keel, lOv feet beam, and only 4 H.P. She was built for Bell by John Wood & Co., of Port Glasgow, and ran between Glasgow, Greenock, and Helensburgh three times a week. Two claims have been made by Americans for priority. John C. Stevens spent thirteen years (1791-1804) and $20,000 in experi- ments, and in 1804 tried small twin-screw propellers near New York ; but he admitted that, on the whole, his attempts were unsuccessful. Robert Fulton, also an American, a \ery ingenious and enter- prising civil engineer, built the Clermont and ran her on the the young Scotch mechanic. He first proposed to use vertical oars, worked by cranks, turned by a horizontal steam engine. In 1786 he tried his machine at Shepherdstown, Pennsyh'ania, in a boat of nine tons. In 1787 he built another boat, 45 x 12 feet, with a 12-inch cylinder, the mode of propulsion being somewhat similar, in which he is reported to have made the trip from Philadelphia to Burlington, at an average rate of ieven miles an hour. In 1790 he completed another and a larger boat, propelled in a different manner. But the grasshopper paddles, which he now employed, were not adapted for the general purposes of navigation. It is evident that his plans were eit' ^r not adapted for practical purposes, or that the machinery was too complicated, or too expensive. He once wrote: "This, Sir, whether I bring it to perfection or not, will be the mode of crossing the Atlantic in time for packets and armed vessels. " A remarkable prophecy. But all his plans failed ; he was generally deemed to be crazy, and died in 1798. / ■/(;./ Tiox. Her cylinders Igcwiiter gave he Duke died The Charlotte : the banks of received ;^i5o ist of him has II of Science bted merit of '/ncnts which t is a singular ! failure of his succeeded, reenock, laid nent of steam he completed ilt in Europe ; ! was built for ran between 'cck. iority. John oo in experi- near New tempts were and enter- her on the oars, worked he tried his ons. In 1787 the mode of have made the seven miles in a different ^ed, were not that his plans linery was too ir, whether I lantic in time all his plans /nSTORV Captain Rogers, writton to a Connecticut paper in 1838. y/tjA r/o.v. Nii/i, Captain ■ct lo-inorrow, 2 2iul. She which settles s off Cork on ) steam," but pears to have n^ the run in in^ which the affords ample she sailed for on 13th Sep- e loth October used on any len, as the \og the bar, and lils — jjot under town." tmi'lete failure. : was employed )rk, and subse- d all the facts er builder, and bee Exchange (e ' History of William was id her engines, ary's Foundry, !, and was sold lines, and they J-om Greenock, |in a published Quebec, near :ampbell for a lax, N.S. Her JMontreal, and 338. £J'OC//S /.V .t TLANTiC STEAM XA I 'IGA r/OX. 35 she was sold in London to the .Spanish (lovernment as a warship or transport. Her dimensions were 146 feet keel, 176 feet over all ; beam, 27 feet 4 inches, and 43 feet 10 inches ouiside the paddle boxes ; depth, 17 feet y inches, very nearly the same dimensions as the C'ni/i'tl A'ini;'t^"'"- The diary of the (Hiebec Exchange, as published in the Montreal Gazette, shows that she was launched on Friday, April 29th, 1831. in the presence of His Excellency Lord Aylmer, and named by Lady Aylmer after the reigning king, the band of the 32nd Regiment attending. .She arrived at Montreal, May 2nd, and sailed from (Quebec, August 24th on her first trip to Miramichi, 1'. E. Island, and Halifax. .She finally left (Quebec for London at 5 A.M. of August 4th, 1833, under the command of Captain McDougall, straininj^ all till' ti.'ay, but calling at I'ictou for coal, and at Cowes, arriving at Gravesend, Sejnember iith. These are the ' icts. Mr. Miles gave the date as the 18th, and Mr. McCord as the 5th, both doubtless .[uoting from untrustworthy authorities. Thus are historical errors perpetuated. The facts contaii. " in the following article relating to these early ships may be accepted as indisputable : — "ROYAL WILLIAM." SOMK 1 ACTS AHOUT TinC MrTI.K CKAKT. Quebec has the honour of building the first steamer that crossed the .It/nutic — t'uilt by a Scotchman. A writer in ' Chambers' Journal ' says : " In many quarters the idea seems still to prevail that the tirst steanu-r to cross the Atlantic was the Savannah, which in 1819 made the voyage from tlie port of the same name in (Jeorgia to I^iverpool in twenty-five days. The Savannah, however, was not a steamshi]), and was under sail more than two-thirds of the way across. .She was a full- rigged ]iacket ship, and had on her deck a small steam engine, by means of which motion was given to the craft in smooth water when the wind failed. The log is full of such entries as: 'At 8 A.M. tacked ship to the westward ; ' 'Took in the mizzen and foretop-gall.ant sails;' 'Got the steam up, and it came on to l)low fresh — we took wheels in on deck in thirty minutes ; ' ' Stoijped wheels to clean the clinkers out of the furnace ;' 'Started wheels,' and so on. In 1838, the Sirius and the (ircat Western successfully made the journey from England to .\merica ; but five years before that date, Canadian enterjirise accom])lished the feat of bridging the Atlantic Ocean with a little vessel pro]Del]ed wholly by steam. This was the Royal William, whose beautiful model was exhibited at the British Naval lixhibition in London, where she attracted the attention and curiosity of the first seamen in the empire. The D 2 t, 3u Tin- IILSTORV OF XORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. J'oyal Williivn — named in honour of tlie reigning sovereign — was built in the city of Quebec by a Scotclinian, James Goudie, who had served his time and learned his art at Greenock. The keel was laid in the autumn of 1830, and her builder, then in his twenty-second year, writes : ' As I had the drawings and the form of the ship, at the time a novelty in construction, it devolved u]5on me to lay off and exjiand the draft to its full dimensions on the floor of the loft, where I made several alterations in the lines as improvements. The steamship being duly commenced, the work progressed rapidly, and in May following was duly launched, and before a large concourse of people was christened the Royal Williatii. She was then taken to Montreal to have her engines, where I continued to superintend the finishing of the cabins and deck- work. When completed she had her trial trip, which jitoved quite satis- factory. Being late in the season before being completed, she only made a few trips to Halifax.' The launching of this steamer was a great event in (Quebec. The (jovernor-General, Lord Aylmer, and his wife were present, the latter giving the vessel her name. Military bands sujjplied the music, and tht shipping in the harbour was gay with bunting. The city itself wore a holiday look. The Royal William, propelled by steam alone, traded between Quebec and Halifax. Whi'o at the last-named place she attracted tlie notice of Mr. Samuel (^unard, afterwards Sir Samuel, the founder of the great trans- continental line whicli bears his name. It is said that the Ro\al IVilliatii convinced him that steam was the coming force for ocean navigation. He asked many questions about her, took down the answers in his note-book, and subsequently became a large stockliolder in the craft. The cholera of 1832 paralysed l;usiness in Canada, and trade was at a standstill for a tin e. Like other ('i.terpris<\s at this date, the Royal William experienced reverses, and she WPS doomed tc be sold at sheriff's sale. Some Quebec gentlemen bought her in, .md resolved to send her to England to be sold. In 1833 the eventful voyage to Britain was made successfully, and without mishap of any kind. The Royal William's proportions were as follows: builder's measurement, 1370 tons ; steamboat measurement, as per .Act of I'arlianient, 830 tons ; length of keel, 146 feet ; length of deck from head to taffrail, 176 feet ; breadth of beam inside the paddle boxes, 29 feet 4 inches ; outside, 43 feet 10 inches ; depth of hold, 17 feet 9 inches. On the 4th of -August, 1833, commanded by Captain John M'Dougall, she left Quebec, I'id IMctou, Nova Scotia, for London, under steam, at five o'clock in the morning. She made the passage in twenty-five days. Her supply of coal was 254 chaldrons, or over 330 tons. Her captain wrote : ' She is justly entitled to be considered the first steamer that crossed the Atlantic by steam, having steamed tiic '.vhole way across.' About the end of September, 1833, the Royul Williaiii was disjiosed of for ten thousand pounds sterling, and chartered to the Portuguese Govern- ment to take out troops for Dom Pedro's service. Portugal was asked to purchase her for the navy, but the admiral of the fleet, not thinking well 'if the scheme, declined to entertain the proposition. Captain M Dougall was master of the steamer all this time. He returned with, her to London with invalids and disbanded Portuguese soldiers, and laid her up at Dcptford Victualling Oftice. In July, orders came to fit out the Royal William to run between Oporto and Lisbon. One trip was made between these jiorts, and also a trip to Cadiz for sjiecie for the Portuguese Government. On hi;; return to Lisbon, Captain M'Dougall was ordered to sell the steamer CA TIOX. \s built in the his time and I of 1830, and the drawings n, it devolved in the floor of •enients. The ', and in May of people was al to have her bins and deck- ;d quite satis- e only made a great event in ire present, the music, and the wore a holiday etween Quebec the notice of lie great trans- ^■ioyal Williiun avigation. He note-book, and ;holera of 1832 a tin e. Like 1 reverses, and itlemen bought 533 the eventful of any kind, measuren'.ent, lent, 830 tons ; feet ; breadth feet 10 inches ; ;ommanded by iva Scotia, for de the passage over 330 tons, first steamer e way across.' IS disposed of iguese Govern- ;al was asked thinking well in MDougall !ier to London p at Deptford 'oval W'iUiam between these Government. ;ell the steamer EPOCHS IS ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. 37 to the Spanish Government, through Don Evanston Castor da Perez, then tlie .Spanish ambassador to the court of Lisbon. The transaction was completed on the loth cf September, 1834, when \.hc Royal Mllliavi became the Ysabfl Si'giiiida, and the first war steamer the Spaniards ever jjossessed. She was ordered to the north coast of S]iain against Don Carlos. Captain M'Dougall accepted the rank and pay of a conmiander, and, by special proviso, was guaranteed six hundred pounds sterling per annum, and the contract to supplv the scjuadron with jjrovisions from Lisbon. The Ysabel Segitiid,i ])roceeded to the north coast ; and about the latter part of 1834, she returned to Gravesend, to be delivered up to the British Government, to be converted into a war steamer at the Imperial Dockyard. The crew and officers were transferred to the A'oya/ Tar, chartered and armed as a war steamer, with six long thirty-two pounders, and named the Keyna iioveniadoza, the name intended for tlie City of lidiiibtirgh steamer, which was chartered to form part of the sciuadron. When complet d, she relieved the Royal Tar, and took her name. In his interesting letter, irom which these facts are drawn, to Robert Christie, the Canadi m historian, Captain M'Dougall thus completes the story of the pioneer Atlr.ntic steamer; The Ysabel Segimda, when completed at Sheerness Dockyard, took out General Alava, the Spanish ambassador, and General Evans and most of his staff officers, to Saint Andero, and afterwards to St. Sebasti.Mi, having hoisted the Commodore's broad pennant again at Saint Andero ; and was afterwards employed in cruising between that ])ort and I'uente Arabia and acting in concert with the Legion against Don Carlos until the time of their service expired in 1837. She was then sent to Portsmouth with a part of those discharged from the service, and from thence she was taken to London and detained in the City Canal by Commodore Henry until the claims of the officers and crew on the Spanish Government were settled, which was ultimately accomplished by bills, and the officers and crew dis- charged from the Spanish service about the latter end of 1837, and Ysabel Segutida, delivered up to the Spanish ambassador, and after having her engines repaired, returned to Spain, ar.d was soon afterwards sent to Bordeaux, in France, to have the hull repaired. But on being surveyed, it was found that the timbers were so much decayed, that it was decided to build a new vessel to receive the engines, which was built there, and called by the same name, and now (1853) forms one of the royal steam navy of Spain, while her predecessor was converted into a hulk at Bordeaux. This, in brief is the history of the steamer which played so important a role in the maritime annals of Canada, England, and Spain. Her model is safely stored in the rooms of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, where it is an object of profound veneration. At the request of the Government, a copy of the model has been made, and will form part of the Canadian exhibit to the World's Fair at Chicago."! The honour, however, of building the first steamship expressly for the Atlantic trade, to cross ivithout rc-coaling^ unquestionably ' The article in 'Chambers' Journal' was founded on a lecture delivered by -Archibald Campbell, Esq,, before "The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec," and on a work entitled 'Quebec Past and Present,' written by J. M. Lemoine, Esq., F.R.S.C. .1 t f i 38 T//E HISTORV OF NOR TH A TLANTIC STEAM NA VIGA TIOK. belongs to Bristol, England, and the writer saw her launched on the 19th July, 1837. This was the Great Western, thus refuting the opinion of Dr. Lardner, given in a lecture at Liverpool, and reported in the J.iverpool Albion of December 14th, 1835, iri which he said — "As to the project, however, whicli was announced in the newspapers of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was, he had no liesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making a voyage from Xe^o York or Liverpool to the moon. The vessels which would ultimately be found the best adajJted for the voyage between this country and the United States would be those of 800 tons, which would carry machines of 200 H. P." Mr. Macgregor Laird ridiculed this in the Albion of December 28th, over the signature " Chimera." In the eighth and last edition of his book on the "steam engine," Dr. Lardner, however, declares that he never stated that a " steam voyage across the Atlantic was a physical impossibility P This, of course, does not tally with his Liverpool lecture. The Great Western was designed and built by William Patterson, of Bristol, of wood, for the " Great Western Steamship Company," and was launched July 19th, 1837. She was of unusual strength, her bottom being solid, and her frame secured with iron diagonal bracing. Her dimensions were 212 x 35*4 x 23*2, 1340 tons gross, and 679 tons net,' with a round stern, and Neptune for a tigure-head. Her engines, by Maudslay & Sons, of London, were 440 H.P. nominal, cylinders of 732- inches with 7 feet stroke. Lieutenant James Hosken, R.N., was her first commander, and afterwards B. R. Matthews. She sailed from Bristol on the ' There have been three systems of measurement in vogue in Great Britain. 1st. Builders, or the old measurement (O. M.) under the law of 1773, a very rough calculation. 2nd, New Measurement (N. M.) of 1834, amended by 6 iS: 7 Vict. ch. 84, and consolidated by 8 & 9 Vict. c!i. 89 : and 3rd, new- new, measurement (X. N. M.), the present law enacted in 1854. The last was devised by Moorsom, and is by far the most scientific of the three ; the ship being gauged in sections, just like a cask of wine. Under the law of 1834, engine, boiler, and coal spaces are deducied from the gross tonnage for dock dues, wharfage, ^ ■ :'; P n « 10 -% Q =: w t/3 Ill I EPOCHS IN ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. 41 8th April, 1838, and arrived at New York on the 23rd, direct, in fifteen days. Her best day's run was 243 knots, and her average 208, or equal to 8' 2 knots per hour, burning 655 tons of coal. Commenting upon the arrival of the Sirius and Great Western^ the New York Courier and Enquirer of April 24th, 1838, said — " Wliat nitiy be the ultimate fate of this excitement — wliether or not the expenses of e(|uipment and fuel will admit of the i'ni])Ioyment of tliese vessels in the ordinary packet service — we cannot pretend to form an opinio:". ; but of the entire feasibility of the passage of the Atlantic by steam, as far as regards safety, comfort, and despatch, even in the roughest and most boisterous weather, the most sceptical nmst now cease to doubt." The New York papers of 24th April, 1838, advertise her thus — "British Steam Packet Ship Great Western, James Hosken, k.N. Com- mander, having arrived yesterday from Bristol, which place she left on 8th inst. at noon, will sail froiT New York for Bristol on Monday, May 7th, at 2 P.M. She takes no steerage passengers. Rates in the cabin, including wines and provisions of every kind, 30 guineas ; a whole stateroom for one person, 50 guineas. Steward's fee for each passenger, £i lo.r. sterling. Children under thirteen years of age, half-price. No charge for letters or papers. The captain and owners will not be liable for any package, unless bill of lading has been given for it. 100 to 200 tons can be taken at the lowest current rates. Passage or freight can be engaged, a plan of cabin may be seen, and further particulars learned by applying to Richard Irvin, 98, Front Street." She left New York 7th May, and arrived back on the 22nd. While she was fitting out, the Sirius, Lieutenant Roberts, R.N., commander, built by Menzies, of Leith, 703 tons, 320 H. P., engines by Wingate, 178 feet x 25 1- x i8{, trading between London and Cork, left London for New York, and arrived a few hours before her ; but Mr. Johnson is in error in saying that she steamed from London to New York in 183- days. She re-coaled at Cork, sailing//-^;;;/ thence 4th April, and was eighteen days from Cork to New York, running out of coal, and burning spars, resin, etc. In the Marine Ne7us of April 4th, 1838, published in New York, the agents of the Sirius advertise her as a "new and powerful steamship, 700 tons burden, 320 H.P." continues — The advertisement "This vessel has superior accommodations, and is fitted with separate cabins for the accommodation of families, to whom every jrossible attention will be given. "Cabin, $i4o*oo, including provisions, wines, etc. " Second cabin, gSo'oo, including provisions." She left New York ist May and arrived i8th. The Great THE HISTORY OF NORTH ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. (I ' '\ i \ i Western ran regularly for nine seasons, lying up in winter ; and although the passage-money was so high, fifty guineas, she was a great favourite. Her best time East is said to have been lo days, lo hours, 15 minutes.' The company tendered to carry the niails, but failed to get the contract, and were ultimately beaten off by the heavily subsidised Cunard boats. She was sold to the Royal Mail Company for ^25,000, ran for ten years between South- ampton and the West Indies, and was finally broken up at Vauxhall in 1857. Her success immediately led to several other attempts, but only one endured for any length of time. The Sir ins did not attempt a second voyage ; but in July, 1838, Liverpool despatched another Royal William, the same size as her namesake, for New York. She belonged to th(^ City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, was 817 tons, built by Wilson & Co., 175 X 27 X 17*6 feet, with engines of 276 H.P., by Fawcett & Preston. She was a failure in point of speed, having occupied 19 days going west, and 14^ going east. In October, 1838, the Liverpool Transatlantic Steam Company purchased from Sir John Tobin, and despatched the Liverpool from that port. She was 1 1 50 tons and 468 H.P. (235 x 35 x 21 feet), but was slow and crank, and occupied 162- days on her first passage from Cove of Cork, having put back there on the 30th October. She was afterwards improved and her tonnage increased by 393 tons. On the 7th December, 1839, the President was launched on the Thames with great t'clat. She was built by Curling & Young, 2366 tons, and 540 H.P. Her career was very brief, for in March, 1 841, she left New York, and was never seen or heard of again. It was supposed that she struck an iceberg. Two other boats were temporarily employed, the Oriental, 1670 tons and 440 H.P., and the British Queen, 2016 tons and 500 H.P. (234 x 40). All these boats, howe\'er, were soon eclipsed by the subsidised Cunard boats, which for many years defied all competition. Second Epoch. Wood to Iron. The "Great Western Steamship Company," in 1S40, decided on building a larger ship, and consulted the celebrated engineer, I. K. Brunei. With his usual boldness he advised an iron ship of 3000 tons, and Mr. Patterson was commissioned to build her. This was the Great Britain, which, when completed, was the most ' One writer says it was "about 135 days." ■ I l^/GA TION. EPOCHS IN ATLANTIC STEAM KAVIGATIOtV. 4S 1 winter ; and ;iis, she was a been lo days, irry the mails, beaten off by to the Royal twecn South- broken up at several other if time. The n July, 1838, same size as 1 the City of by Wilson & '., by Fawcelt Lving occupied >ber, 1838, the sed from Sir lat port. She ; was slow and ; from Cove of »er. She was 3 tons. inched on the g & Young, for in March, of again. It boats were 140 H.P., and All these unard boats, D, decided on ed engineer, iron ship of ;o build her. kvas the most magnificent ship then afloat. She was a beautiful model, with round sides ; a special graving dock was buiit for her, so as to avoid launching, and she was designed, like the Great IVcsicni, for a paddle ship. During her construction Mr. T. P. Smith brought his screw-boat, the Archimedes^ to Bristol, and a scries of experiments there convinced Brunei, and although the frames of the paddle-boxes were already up, he decided to alter her to a screw. She thus excited tho deepest interest throughout Europe. It is said that no engineer could be found willing to build her engines of 1500 l.H.P. by contract, and that the company had to construct them, To forge her main shaft James Nasmyth invented his celebrated steam-hammer, and the screw-shaft was driven bv IN A GALK OKI" I.L'NDV ISLAND. four endless chains over a great driun. There were four c}lindcrs. 88 inches diameter with 6 feet stroke. On the 19th July, 1 843. Prince Albert came down from Windsor to christen her, and Her Majesty land many thousands of people visited her afterwards in London. I She was 322 x 51 x 32, 2984 tons gross. On her completion she drew a little more water than was expected, and her sides Ijeing round it was found impossible to get her through the locks of the j^liarbour basin. Ultimately, after some delay, the coping-stones of "i the lock were removed, and she was released. Her success as a I steamship was perfect ; but after a few trips to New York she ran I ashore in Dundrum Bay, Ireland, on the 22nd September, 1846, y through the culpable neglect of Captain Hosken (a lieutenant of "% I 44 THE IIlSrOR Y OF NOR TIf A TLANTIC STEAM NA I '/CA 770 V. ;! 1 i I the Koyal Navy !), and remained there all winter without receiving serious damage. The following summer she returned to Liverpool, and was sold to Gibbs, Bright & Co., who altered her rig, supplied her with new direct-acting engines of only 500 H.P., and ran her in the Melbourne trade for about twenty-one years. In 1882 she was converted into a sailing ship, as sound and as strong as when she was first built. She is now a coal hulk at the Falkland Islands.' Thore were many, however, who w< re not «jon>'inced of the suitability of iron for ships, and more who had no faith in the value or the screw. Both, therefore, made slow progress for some years after IJ'4.3. As far bad as 1809 Trevethick proposed an iron ship, and in 1 81 5 Dickenson patented an invention for iron boats, but the prejudice ag.iinst iron was so strong, and especially on the part of the Admiralty, that it came to nothing practical. In 1818 the first iron vessel was built by Thomas Wilson, at Faskine, ii miles from Glasgow, the Vulcan, and fifty-seven years afterwards she was still carrying minerals on the Clyde! In 1821 the first iron steamship, the Aaron Manby, was built at Horsley, for the joint account of Mr. Manby and Captain, afterwards Admiral, Sir Charles Napier, followed by two or three other small vessels, ohortl) afterwards an engineer at Paris commenced to build, but failed. The Shannon Steam Packet Company built one in 1824, and Fawcett and Preston soon afterwards built several small iron vessels at Liverpool, and the Thames followed suit. In 1832 Lairds, of Birkenhead, were the first to build an iron steamship for ocean navigation, the Elbitrkah, of only 55 tons, to ply on the River Niger. In 1834 they built the Garry Oiven, 125 x 21 •6, with two engines of 90 H.P. ; and in 1837 two for the East India Company, for the Indus, of 350 tons ; and in the same )ear the Rainbinv, of 600 tons and 180 ILP.,for the London General Steam Navigation Company, the largest irc:i steamship hen afloat. From this it may be seen -vhat a bold experiment the Great Britain was in 1840. Two of the objections to iron steamships, the deviation cf the compass and the rapid fouling of their bottoms, were both eventually overcome, the former by Gray's floating compass, and the latter by anti-fouling composition for paintii.g the bottom. ' William Patterson was a modest, unassuming man, but with a genius for shipbuilding. He afterwards built a magnificent wooden steamship, thi. Demirara, of 3000 tons. She stranded in going down the River Avon, and this ruined him. iAr/a.iT/ov. -ithout receiving eel to Liverpool, her rig, supplied , and ran her in In 1882 she was ng as when she :land Islands.' tn\inced of the no faiih in the ogress for some •on ship, and in boats, but the y on the part of In 1 8 18 the first skine, 1 1 miles afterwards she 21 the first iron By, for the joint s Admiral, Sir r small vessels. :ed to build, but ilt one in 1824, veral small iron suit. In 1832 •n steamship for to ply on the en, 125 X 21 •6, the East India same )ear the General Steam p hen afloat. nent the Great on steamships, f their bottoms, Gray's floating on for paintii.g with a genius for n steamship, the River Avon, ,nncl EFOC/IS IS ATLANTIC STEAM NAVIGATION. 45 Third Epoch. The Screiv Propeller. It is impossible to decide who was the inventor of the screw propeller. It has been claimed by many. Mr. McGregor says "the use of the screw propeller may be of an indefinite antiquity." It has even been claimed for the Chinese as far back as 1680. In 1745 Masson describes an apparatus for working an oar at the stern of a vessel so as to give it a sculling motior. In 1746 Bougner mentions that revolving arms, " like the vanes of a windmill," were tried for the propulsion of vessels. Watt suggested it in 1770. In 1/79 Matthew Wasbc;oiigh, of Bristol, took out a patent for one. In 1785 Joseph Bramah speaks of one, " similar to the fly of a smoke-jack,'' and in 1798 he tested it in a boat. In 1800 Edward Shorter patented a " perpetual sculling machine," having the action of a two-bladed propeller, which was tried in 1802 in H.M.'s ships Dragon and Superb} In 1804 Stevens, of New York, crossed the Hudson in a small boat propelled by two screws and took her to the Delaware. In 1815 Richard Trevethick patented " ••. worm or screw re- volving in a cylinder at the head, side^, or stern of a vessel." In 1826 Woodcroft patented a mode for "propelling boats and vessc'-, but gave no specification. In 1832, however, he pro- longed his patent and fully described his " increasing pitch screw propeller," which, when tried, proved very successful ; and in 1844 he patented his " varying pitch screw propeller,' which was certainly in advance of any other at the time. In 1823 a Captain Delisle tried two on a small scale in France, and Sauvage tried another in 1832. In 1833 Robert Wilson, a Scotch engineer, says he brought under the notice of the Admiralty a screw, " perfect in all its details," which was rejected.'- But in 1836, John Ericsson, a Swede settled in London, fully demonstrated the value of the screw. He first tried it in a model boat only twenty inches long, and then had a boat built 45 x 8 feet, in which he fitted his engine, and hco propellers of 5 feet 3 inches, both being on the same shaft. This was the Francis B. Ogdcn. The result was far beyond his most sanguine expectations, for she made ten miles an hour, and afterwards towed a large packet ship, the Toronto, at the rate of five miles an hour. Next he towed a barge with the ' Woodcroft. - 'The Screw Propeller,' by R. Wilson, i860. f' a n : (I ! 1 i 5 I \ I il 11 • 46 Ttf/-: /ns T( )A' y or nor tii a tl a x tic s tea m na vie, a tion. Lords of the Admiralty and three admirals on board at the rate of ten miles an hour ; but scientific theorists, and many engineers, declared that it was constructed on erroneous principles, and its failure certain, while the admirals decided that the ship would not steer. In 1836, too, Thomas I'ettit Smith, six weeks before Ericsson, patented "a screw or worm made to .^volve rapidly under water in a recess or open space, formed in that part of the afterpart of the vessel commonly called the dead-rising, or dead wood of the stern." His first tri.al, in a boat of sjx tons with a 6-inch cylinder and 15-inch stroke, was so successful that on the 29th July, 1839, the " Screwship Propeller Company " was formed to purckase the patent. The Company tried it on a larger scale, 14th October, 1839, in the Archimedes, of 237 tons (125 x 22 x 13), with a cylinder of 37 inches and 3 feet stroke, 45 H.P. The screw consisted of two half-threads, 8 feet pitch, and 5 feet 9 inches in diameter. The engine made 26 and the screw 138 revolutions per minute, with multiplying gear. Mr. Smith expected a speed of 12 '60 miles an hour, but she only made 9*25, showing considerable loss by "slip." Her engine, however, was not sufficiently powerful for the size of the boat. These experiments decided the practical value of the screw. Bnmel adopted it for the Great Britain in 1842, and the Admiralty ordered the Rattler, of 888 tons, to be built at Sheerness. She was launched in April, 1843, ^n at very high pressure into a small cylinder, and thence by expansion iiito a large one, and thence, in the triples, to a still larger one, before it passes into the condenser. The Mongolian's cylinders, for example, are 30, 50, and 80 inches in diameter respectively, with 5 feet stroke. The FricslancVs are 35 i , 56, and 89 inches, with 4J feet stroke. Of course they do not do three times the work of the old engines, but, as the cranks are set at different angles, much greater power is obtained. Steam is now used in marine steel boilers up to 200 lbs. pressure to the square inch, instead of at 13 lbs. in the early boats ; but as it requires very little more coal to raise 200 lbs. than 13 lbs. the consumption of coal has been gradually reduced from about 5i lbs. to I V lbs. per I.H.P. per hour. Experts tell us that to convert a quantity of water at 32° into lo lbs. of steam recjuires one cwt. of coal ; into 40 lbs. it requires only i'oi2 ; and into 90 lbs. only 1*024 lbs. One of Napier's engines, in the Russian ship of war ^inope, recently consumed only i'45 lbs. per hour at full power, and the Empress of Japan, of the C, P. R. line, consumed only 1 ■ 56 lbs. on her trial trip. " Forced draught " has also been intro- duced, which causes a more perfect combustion of the fuel ; but much depends on the quality of the coal, the work of the firemen, ' Sir John Burns. ■SST'^Sff-WH" f!l ": I J! If 48 THE HISTORY OF NORT/f ATLANTIC STEAM NAVlGATtOy. and the character of the boilers. Warm water is also returned from the condenser to the boilers, which is another economy, and the steam is " super-heated " to increase its power. The Daventry^ by usinjf an "evaporator," '.las raised the water to 170" Fahr., and the Enchantn'ss, by means of a "feed-heater," has raised it to 210°, which must economise the consumption of coal. COMl'ULNl) KNGINK. Some one professes to ha\c discovered a means of returninj; steam to the boilers, which, if successful, would of course produce another revolution in steam engines. Quadruple cylinders have also been adopted in a few ships. There is still plenty of room for further reduction in the consumption of coal, as, according to Mr. Merrifield, F.R.S. ('Text-books of Science'), no steam y/G.i T!ON. also returned economy, and 'he Daventry^ -o" Fahr., and s raised it to EPOCHS IX ATI. A XT IC STEAM XAVIGAIIOX. 49 •i I tnijinc, :'s yet, does onc-tifth of the work which, theoretically, it oiiK'ht to do if all the heat produced by the combustion of the coal 7i'(V<- utilised. It will doubtless soon be reduced to i lb. per I.H.l*. per hour, or even less. The early screws could only run about 3000 knots at full speed without re-coaling, but compound engines now enable them to run about 10,000 knots, and still more at reduced speed. Large steel boats of moderate power and speed now carry immense cargoes of dead weight, so that sailing ships have no chance against them. Thus, the RossmorCy 4360 tons gross, carries 6800 tons of ca.go, besides coal, and steams 12 knots with engines of only 2500 \.\ .1'., or about 500 nominal. The CeorjL^idn, of 5800 tons gross, is said to carry 7000 tons of cargo besides coal, or nearly 60 per cent, over her tonnage ; and the White Star freight-boat CVt'/V recently cleared from New York for Liverpool with the following enormous cargo : — 144,000 hiisliels of fjrnin. 9,000 bales of cotton. 896 hi-ad of cattlf. 1, 130 tons Hour, cojiper, moats and liay. 3,000 boxes cheese. 2,600 b.irr(!ls oil nnd wax. 2,000 bak:s liidcs. • Iron and wooden sailing ships only carry 40 to 45 per cent, over their tonnage. Steamships, however, have been greatly overdone, and freights have been reduced to ruinous rates. Thus, wheat has been carried from Montreal to Liverpool at 4v cents per bushel (formerly 25 to 30 cents), and iron from Glasgow to New \'ork at 2.i-. 6 ' i !. 54 THE HIS TOR V OF XOK TH A TLA XTIC S TEAM XA I'/GA TION. CHAPTER VI. SI'EKD CALCULATIONS. Some confusion often occurs in the minds of non-jjiofcssional people as to the speed of steamships. Every ship lias, in fact, three standards of sped, and it may be as well to state them clearly ; I. There is the builder's trial ot speed on the tiieasircd mile, which is her maximum under the most favourable circumstances ; fme weather, smooth water, light draught, clean bottom, fresh- mined coals, and picked firemen. 2 There is her sea speed in fine weather, which will always be less, except when running before a strong, fair wind, owing to mixed or inferior coals, foul bottom, head sea, or careless firemen. Supposing her speed on the measured mile to be ly knots, her sea speed will rarely exceed 17 to 172. 3. There is her avcrai^c sea speed on a long voyage, which, in ordinary weather, will probably not exct^ed 16 to iC^, and in continuous bad weather, with strong head winds and sea, may be much less. To ascertain her average sea speed, therefore, it is necessary to take a series of voyages. The C//j' of Paris made 21 "y knots on her builder's trial, but stie has never averaged o\er 20*7 on her quickest sea passage, and her average speed is barely 20 knots, although she has only pole masts and no yards. The Teutonic made 21 on her trial trip, but only 20 "349 on her celebrated passage of 5 days 16 hours 31 minutes, and her a\erage speed is !ci;s. 'JGA 7 ION. ( 55 ) CHAPTER VII. THE CUNARD IJNE AND ITS COMPETITORS. It is now time to turn to the history of the various lines of steam- sliips, and first I take the most remarkable and successful line the world has ever seen, in which Canada has again had a considerable share, viz., "The British and North American Royal Mail Steam- ship Co.," familiarly known as the " Cunard Line." Mr. Johnson, however, is not correct in terming it the first Atlantic line, as the " Great Western Steamship Co." was formed at Bristol, and went into operation two years in advance of it. The combination of talent, energy, foresight, and pluck which originated and carried on this wonderful company with a success quite unparalleled was very remarkable. Two Nova Scotians, both mon of great ability and energy, share the honour of originating it, and three Scotchmen of equal ability, assisted in working it out. Samuel Cunard was a member of a well-to-do Quaker family which had emigrated from Wales to America early in the 17th century and settled in Philadelphia. When the United States declared their independence, the family emigrated to Halifax, N.S., where Samuel wi's born in 1788. After serving in a merchant's office he accepted a partnership in a shipowning firm of Boston, Mass. In 1815 he proposed to the Admiralty to undertake, at his own risk, the conveyance of mails between Boston, Newfoundland, and Bermuda, and carried out his scheme most satisfactorily to the British Government.' As early as 1830 he contemplated the establishment of a line of steamships to run between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston. The arrival of the Royal William at Halifax from Quebec in 1831 gave a fresh impetus to the idea, and we find him taking the greatest interest in her, and acting as a director of the company. Mr. Cunard acted as agent in Halifax for the "Hon. East India Company," d in 1838 he proceeded to ' A. Fraser-Maccloi>fild, ji. 80. m $6 THE HISTOR Y OF NOR TH A TL ANTIC STEAM NA VIC, A TION. England and consulted Mr. Mclvill, the Secretary of the East India Company, which had just launched the Hugh Lindsay, and asked Mr. Melvill to favour him with an introduction to any ship- builder likely to join him in carrying out his project. Mr. Melvill gave him a letter to Robert Napier, of Glasgow, one of the most celebrated marine engineers the world has ever seen. This was the first fortunate step, as we shall see. Napier introduced him to two other remarkable men — George Burns (whose father had been for seventy-two years minister of the C/y^/yp^ a^n^/ _ Barony Parish, Glasgow), and David Mclver, of Liverpool. In 1824 Mr. Cicorgc Burns had engaged in steam navigation between Glasgow and Belfast, and in 1829 between Glasgow and Liverpool. Mr. David Mclver was at that time associated with a rival com- pany trading between Glasgow and Liverpool, but a little later both companies were amalgamated, and thereaiccr the Burns's and Mclver's worked together. Mr. Burns, in recalling this important epoch in his life, said that " it was not long before we began to see daylight through the scheme, and I entertained the proposal !i IGA TIOX. THE CUNARD LIXE AXD ITS COMPETITORS. V cordially, and invited Mr. Cunard to dine with me." Mr. Mclvcr, however, at first, was dead against it, and after dinner advised that Mr. Cunard should be told "that the thing would not suit them." They breakfasted with Mr. Cunard next morning at Robert Napier's house, went further into the details of the scheme, and agreed to co-operate with Mr. Cunard in finding capital and ships should he succeed in obtaining a mail contract. David Mclver ^,w--' ->'• ■■'■ U! Jn died in 1845 and was succeeded by his brother Charles, also a very remarkable man, with a singularly sound judgment of men and business and of tremendous energy. Such was the combination. Cunard was a clever manager of men, and superintended the Go\ornment contracts and the management of the House of Commons in London. Burns superintended the construction of the ships in the Clyde ; Mclver managed them in Liverpool, and Mr. Cunard's sons in Haiifax. Napier's engines were the ' ir " " — - ^^ 5 S 77//; //ISTOR V OF XOR Til A TLA STIC STEAM NA VIC A T/OX. ])crfcction of workmanship, so much so that an American cnjjincci* told the writer that tlie C(tiiiliria\'- engines were so superbly finished that they '* ouj^ht to l)e jnit under a ;^dass case." While Cunard was ne}.';otiatin}^ with tlie ]5ritish Ciovernment. by ;i singular coincidence, Hon. Jol 'ph Howe, Jud>jc Halilnuton C Sam Slick"), and t ot) ■ Hau);onians who h;;:l left Halifax for Loudon . m llie jr .; /,/ i-. liJif-'. on board H.M. lo-tjun briir . 1 Jttu^-ljT — '^l^^c^e^ /v*?^ 'Jyrian with the mails, were overtaken by the Sin'i/s steamship from New York, which slopped, took on board the mails, and was soon out of sight. Howe went on board the Sin'iis, and was so impressed by the incident that he at once foresaw that Halifax would be "nowhere" without steamships, and held many warm discussions with his friends. The result was that on their arrival he and Haliburton went to Ihistol. and conferred with the directors ICA TIOX. :an engineer rbly tinishcd crnment. !)}• Halilnutoii left Halifax lo-giin hn>;- ;.* c steamship Is, and was md was so lat Halifax lany waww heir arrival he directors of th of si for I How Mcc llicv THE CUSARD USE AND ITS COMPETirOKS. 6l ui the (Irciit Western Company, who offered at once to run a line of steamships to Ilahfax if the (lovernment would ^'nint a subsidy for the carria«;e of tlic mails. Cunard, hearing' of the efforts of Howe and Halilnirton, met them in I 'Midon with his own proposals. Mectinjj two New Brunswickers there, Messrs. Bliss and Crane, they made stronj( representations to the (lovernment, and on the IU)N. JUSKl'lI IIOWK. 24th August Howe prepared a letter on the subject addressed to Lord Glenelg, signed by himself and Mr. Crane.' The outcome of it was, that in October the Admiralty advertised for tenders. The Great Western Steamship Company tendered and antici- pated no serious opposition, but, much to their chagrin, ]\h-. ' Geo. Johnson, in Montreal CttzcUi: t. ;! 02 riir. iitsroii v or sok tii a rr.Axric steam kai-iga tion. M ;' Cunard's tcndcT \v;is accepted, and a contrail si^iKcl 1)\ Saimiil Cimard, (Icor^^c lUirns, and Daviil iMchcr. The ori^'inal conditions were that for the sum /^55,(too sterling; per anmnn, the\ were to sui)pl> three suitable sleanisliips to run twice a month lor eight months, and once a month in winter, twenty round voyages a year for ten years to Halifax and IJoston ; afterwards it was thought desirable to have tixed days for departure on both sides of the Atlantic, anil for over forty years the boats left Li\ erpool on Saturdays, and Boston or New York on Wednesilays. Hy a subse(|uent arrangement they agreed to provide four boats instead of three, and, subject to some other conditions, the subsid\ was raised to about ^81,000 per annum.' (Mr. Cunard, in his e\idencc before a committee of the House of Commons in KS46, stated it at ^3295 sterling per round voyage.) They then built on the Clyde four wooden paddle boats, all alike. The Acadia was built by John Wood ; the Britannia by R. Duncan ; the Caledonia by C. Wood ; and the Columbia bj- Robert Steele. They were 207 feet long, 34 feet beam, and 24*4 feet deep, 1155 tons gross, and 619 net, their dimensions and model being very similar to the Great Western. All four engines were constructed by Robert Napier on the "side lever " principle, with ^z'i inch cylinders, 6 feet 10 inches stroke, 425 H.P. nominal, and 740 H.P. indicated ; consuming 38 tons of coal per day, or 4" 7 lbs. per I.H.I*, per hour. Their average speed varied from 8*3 to 8" 7 knots per hour.- On the 4th July, 1840, the Britannia commenced the service from Liverpool, and was 14 days 8 hours to Boston, or excluding 12 hours at Halifax, 13 days 20 hours.'' Mr. Cunard went out in her, and during his stay in Boston is said to have received no less than 1873 invitations to dinner.^ The Bostonians were very enthusiastic over the new ship, and gave a banquet in honour of the e\ent. In F'ebruary, 1844, the Britannia was frozen up in Boston harbour, when to sa\e her from delay the citizens, at their own expense, and with the aid of thousands ot volunteers, cut a channel through the ice seven miles long and set her free ! Their punctuality, comfort, and freedom from accident gave great satisfaction to (he public. The Great Western Company succeeded in getting a Parliamentary intiuiiy into the contract, but the committee reported in favour of the Cunard Company and added that '' the service had been most efficiently performed." ' Lindsay's ' History of MiM-chant Shipping.' - John liurns. 3 The Acadic, hosM'vor, chil it in 11 days 4 hoiirb afterwards. ■• A. I'rascr-Nhiedonald. Ul. ir engines '.^ Ih^^ r-r V Vj r'f a | ;<•' •/m_ '^■'i". ,\ '^^^M Kml * f Bnnj ■ .■\-vi t iiil'El Wm ■- " X. .'*- 1 i ill rt .'fa li i'^?! it if THE CUNARD LINE AND ITS COMPETITORS. 65 A small boat to run between Pictou and Quebec, the Unicorn, was, however, the first Atlantic boat to reach Boston on 2nd June, 1840. The only loss the company met with for thirty years was the Columbia, wrecked on Cape Sable, but, happily, no loss of life or mails occurred. She was replaced in 1843 by the Hibernia, 219 x 35*9 x 24*2, 1422 tons gross, 791 net, and 500 H.P. nominal, 1040 I.H.P., and about half a knot faster. In 1845 the Cambria, a sister ship, was added, and proved faster still, averaging 9*6 knots. She was known as the " flying Ca,:ibria.''^ The Americans were, naturally, chagrined at the loss of their passenger and fine goods traffic, but courageously held on to their famous sailing packets (then among the finest in the world), increasing their size and speed. But it was all in vain ; they were doomed, and were gradually driven out of the trade. In 1845 they resolved to try an auxiliary steam engine, and built the Massachusetts, a wooden ship of 751 tons, 161 X 31*9 X 20. Her engine was designed by Ericsson and fitted with his lifting screw, the blades of which turned up when under sail. The engine was very compact, 170 H.P., sufficient to drive her nine knots in a calm, consuming only 9 tons of anthracite coal per day. Her total cost was only ;^ 16,000 sterling. Auxiliary engines, however, have never been successful in merchant ships ; and after making two voyages to Liverpool, she was sold to the United States Government and re-named the Farralones. About 1870 the Government sold her, v.hen her machinery was removed, and she again changed her name to the Alaska. But Americans are not easily beaten, and although they were not yet prepared to run against the Cunard Line, they established a line of their own between New York, Southampton, and Bremen ; and in June 1847 they started their first ship, the Washington, on the same day that the Britannia left Boston, boasting that " she was bound to win the race." She Avas 1750 tons gross, and her engines were said to indicate 2000 H.P. Her cylinders were the same diameter as the Britannia^s, 72 inches, but they had 10 feet stroke, and her boilers could carry 30 lbs. of steam. Nevertheless the Britannia won the race by two full days. The London Times described the Washington as an " elongated three-decker, and about as ugly a specimen of steamship building as had ever been seen at Southampton." She was followed by a similar boat^ the Hermann, but after a short trial both were withdrawn. In the next year (1848), the increasing wants of the trade ill • ■ H I ! I I u / 1 . I 1 i ( I \ ( 1 i 66 THE //IS TOR V OF NOR Til A TLAXT'lC STEAM NA VIGA TIO.V. induced the British (iovcrnment to niiikc a new contract with the Cunard Company for a weekly line. The new subsidy was no less than ^156,000 sterling per annum, and it was arranged that the bo;its should run alternately to New York direct, and to Halifax and Boston. To fuUil this contract the company built four larger and faster wooden boats on the Clyde, all nearly alike in dimensions and power, the America, Eiiropa, Canada, and Niagara. The Enropa was built by John Wood, and the others by Robert Steele. The exact dimensions of the Canada were 251x38x25*7, 1825 tons gross, 1 00 1 net, cylinders 90 x 8 feet stroke, 689 H.P. nominal and 2000 indicated, by Napier, the boiler carrying 13 lbs. steam. Her average speed was 10*5 knots.^ In 1850 also the company contracted to supply branch boats at Halifax of 350 tons and 80 H.P., to carry the mails to St. John's, Newfoundland, and to Bermuda, and in 185 1 St. Thomas was added. The total subsidy was then no less than ^178,000 sterling per annum, and this the company enjoyed for many years. The Europa was afterwards lengthened, and the Niagara and Canada converted into sailing ships. The Americans also subsidised a fortnightly line to Southampton and Havre. The Frankliti and Humboldt were built to carry it out, but they were both wrecked. They were replaced by the Arago and Fulton in 1856, but both were ultimately withdrawn. The " Collins " Line. Hitherto the United States Government had been opposed to all subsidies on principle, but Americans now became intense!) jealous of the British, and the Senate made several official reports complaining of *' The Oueen of the Ocean levying her imposts upon the industry and intelligence of all the nations that frequent the highway of the world." In 1849 they decided to subsidise a line of steamships of extreme speed, that should "run the Cunarders off the Atlantic," ;ind "sweep the sciis in war." How they succeeded we shall soon see. The Government made a contract with Mr. E. K. Collins, of New York, to build five (afterwards reduced to four) iirst-class wooden steamships of about 3000 tons, to perform twenty round voyages each year, at $19,250 (/4000 sterling) per voyage. They ' John Burns. ) TION. t with the IS no less that the 3 Hahfax nd faster jions and e Enropd L'le. The 1825 tons nominal )S. steam. ich boats mails to . Thomas ) sterling irs. The d Canada thampton o carry it :l by the drawn. )posed to intense]) 1 reports imposts frequent isidisc a run the -." How ollins, of irst-class ty round z. They i'" 2 n f wer was Ste( W. H ^JJ THE CUNARD LINE AND ITS COMPETITORS. ■69 were named the Arctic, BaltiCy Atlantic, and Pacific. The Arctic was considered the finest ship. She was designed by George Steers, of New York (of America yacht fame), and built by W. H. Brown, of New York, at a cost of $700,000. They were good models, with solid frames of live oak, planked with pitch pine, and strengthened with diagonal iron straps, 282 x 45 x 32, 2856 tons gross. The engines were designed by Faron (a Government engineer), after a careful study of the Cunard boats, and built by the Novelty and Allaire Companies ; side lever, cylinders I f! COLLINS SS. "ATLANTIC." 95 inches, with 9 feet stroke, 800 H.P. nominal, and the boilers carried 17*5 lbs. of steam and consumed 87 tons of coal per day.^ Mr. Faron was sent to England to spy out the Cunard Com- pany's engines and boilers, and nothing was left undone to ensure success. The cabins, too, were superior in elegance and luxury* to any British ship, and the state-rooms were fitted with electric bells, but the discipline was far inferior to the Cunard ships. , Their cost, however, so far exceeded the estimate that the Government not only had to make the company an advance, but, influenced by the frequent appeals of Senator Bayard, agreed to 1 C. B. Stuart. i"-' !'f!*l \ '1 ' 3 If ■'^' III !1 1; 70 THE IIISTOR Y OF NORTH A TLANTIC STEAM KA VIGA TIOX. t'' increase the subsidy to $33,000 per voyage, or $858,000 per annum, for only twenty-six \oyages (which was more than double that paid to the Cunard Company at first), but they demanded increased speed. In 1849 tliey commenced to run the Atlantic, sailing 27th April, and at first they certainly fulfilled the expectations of their most sanguine friends. They slightly exceeded the Cunard boats in s])eed ; they reduced the freight of fine goods from £7 \os. to ^4 per ton, and they were generously patronised by Americans, carrying, in 1852, 50 per cent, more passengers to New York and 30 jjer cent, more to Liverpool than their opponents. The Arctic's best run west was 9 days 13 hours from Liverpool, and 9 days 13 hours 30 minutes going east, her maximum speed being 13*3 knots per hour. Extraordinary interest was manifested In the competition on both sides of the Atlantic, and heavy bets were constanth' made. To meet it the Cunards ordered two ships from Robert Steele, the Africa and the ylsia, Ijuili of oak and double-planked, and launched in 1850, 266 x 40 x 27*2, 2226 tons gross, 1214 net ; engines by Nipier, cylinders 96^- inches, with 9 feet stroke, 824 H.r. nominai, consuming 76 tons of coal per clay.^ They were iiuignificent ships for iheir day, but, owing either to their models or their boilers, they were not quitf.^ as fast as the Collins boats, their best passage west being 10 days 10 hours 50 minutes, and east 10 days. But the Cunards were not to be \anquished. With indomitable energy they produced shii,- which were not only superior in speed to the Collins ships, but also in regularity and safety. In 1852 they launched the Arabia, built by Steele, also of wood, 285 x 40" 8 X 27*2, 2402 tons ",ross, 1474 net, with engines by Napier of far greater power than any of the jirevious ships ; her cylinders were 103 inches, with 9 feet stroke, 938 H.P. nominal, but 3250 indicated, consuming no less than 120 tons of coal jjer day.^ She had very fine lines, and was extremely fast in smooth water, her 'naximum speed, when light, being 15 knots; but in a head sea she buried herself, and the engines being too powerful for her hull she worked herself to pieces. J^Lventually she was Ijroken up. Her sister ship, La Plata, was sold before she was completed, to replace the luirnt Aiiia .on, running to the West Indies. And now at length the Cunards resolved to abandon wood, and ordered from Naj)ier an iron ship of great size and power, which was launched in 1855, and started on her first Aoyage in January, 1856. This was the celebrated Persia, which became a great 'John liums. %^ sailing Steele, THE CUNARD LINE AND ITS COMPETITORS. 73 favourite with passengers and distanced everything. Her dimen- sions were 376 x 45*3 x 29*9, 3300 tons gross, 2079 net ; cylinders 100 inches, with 10 feet stroke, 917 H.P. nominal, but 4000 indi- cated, consuming no less than 150 tons of coal per day.' But they still adhered to the paddle wheel. She made the western passage in 9 days 21 hours 41 minutes from Liverpool, and the eastern in 9 days 2 hours and 55 minutes, her average speed being 13 "95 knots ; but the writer has seen her make i6i when light, and 360 knots in 24 hours. Her average time in 1856 was 24 hours less than the Collins ships. By a clause in their original contract with the Government, the Cunard Company were bound to construct their vessels of sufficient strength and capacity to act as gunboats if required. Though they were never called upon to fight, in another capacity their services proved of great value during a national emergency. Thus, in 1855, during the Crimean War, eleven of the company's ships were employed as transports. They carried troops, horses, and military stores to the Crimea, and wounded soldiers back to Scutari hospitals, and thus rendered service of inestimable value to the State. So many of their ships being taken from the mail route the Collins line, for a time, took the Cunard days of sailing alternately, and thus kept up the weekly communication with the United States. The later history of the Collins ships, however, was a very sad one. While the world was a[)i)lauding the apparent triumph of Amovica in the great ocean race, Charles IvK Tver wrote to Mr. Cunard: "The Collins Company are pretty much in the situation of finding that breaking our windows with sovereigns, though very fine fun, is too costly to keep up ; " and this prediction was soon verified. On the 27th September, 1854, when 60 miles S.E. of Cape Race, the Arctic, Captain Luce, bound to New York with 233 passengers (of whom 150 were first-class) and a crew of 135, was in collision with a small Frencli iron steamship, the Vesta, during a dense fog. The Vesta was sa'sed by her collision bulkhead, and reached St. John's, Newfoundland. The Arctic launched a boat to save the passengers and crew of the Vesta, but it was soon found that the Arctic herself h;id received fatal injui'es, and in four hours she sank. As it was blowing a gale at the time some of her boats were destroyed in launching ; others, which got clear of the sinking ship, were never again heard of, and only two, with 31 of ' John Burnsj I . I \ fA )■■ ^ 74 I iih: Ills I OK V <>/' \ OH III .1 17 ixric .sr/:.t i/ .y.ti-/i;.tTi(Kv. tlic ( ri'w iiiul i-l |i.issiii;^cis, rscapi'd. Ainoii^ tliosi' w Iki pi-rislii'd wtic llic uili- (il Mr. Collins, tliiir only son, mid a diiUj^liliT. Si'Miity luo nun niid lour woiiuii soiij^lit rrfiij^c on n r;d'l, li;islily ronstructcd, hul oni- by one tlicy wi-ri- swept away, and at ci^lit o'cloi k till- following mornin;.; oni- hnnian licini; alont' was left, and attrr rtl.iinin;.; his placi- lor a day ah, I a li, df alu-r all his companions liad pcrislu'd, \\v was sa\i'd by a passing; \c'ssil.' 'riu- w ritir licard llu- account of the wreck honi Captain l.ucc. who went down with his ship, but rosi- to the surfaci', and was pickitl up and landed at (hu'bi'c. As many ollhe passen^;;ers wen- wi-althy Americans, there was terribli' j^riel throu'^hout the United Stati's over the disaster. On the J^rd Jaiui.iry, r.S^fi, the l\jiijii\ Captain ]''.ldrid};e. left Liverpool wuh 4^ passi'iij^ers and a crew of 141. rumiin.L;' ai;ainsl the luu /'(V.\7(/, and was never heard olaj^.iin. .She w.is supposed to h.ne struck an iciberj;, .is the J\'rs/ij did. Alllioui;h the I'ollins Company was \irtually baid; alloat,"' but failed to ;4et . I subsidy. II;' r.in her anil a smaller boat, the .W'ltli StiU\ lor sonu' linu' to .Southampton and ll.ivri'. but as the /\/si(i beat the lormer by 13 hours, the oUl man was so annoyed that he made her a present to the United States Ciovernment during the civil w.ir of iS()i-5, and she was afterwards a sailin.i;' ship, and known as the Three Urcthcrs. She is now a coal hulk at Ciibi.ilt.ir. To return to the Cunards. They were not altoi;ether satisfied with the I\rsiiJ. She proved weak in the jjili^es, and it cost ^'40,000 to strenL;theii them. She was. too, very hard upon coals. So they tleterminetl to surpass her on the same lines. Straiv^ely eiU)Ui;h, they were still vvecUled to the padille wheel Ioul; after others had ab.mdoneil it for the screw. -' 'I'lu' . li/rialic w.is sold to the tjahvav LiiK>, and is now a hulk in .\frica. Mi aflcr 11 11 :r i