31. Off Southend she was discovered to be on fire, and the heat and

smoke were so great that all the engine-room staff had to take refuge on deck. Fortunately they had forgotten to stop her engines, and the vessel was beached on the Chapman Sands, her decks were cut into, and volumes of water were poured upon the flames. The fire was soon extinguished, and the damage was found to be much less than was feared. She floated on the tide and resumed her voyage under her own steam to Bristol. The fire was due to the ignition of the felt packing round the boilers. Owing to this adventure the _Great Western_ did not sail from Bristol for New York quite as early as was expected, and it was this delay which enabled the _Sirius_ to gain pride of place. The _Great Western_ left for New York three days after the departure of the _Sirius_ from Cork. Her average speed to New York was 208 knots per day, and she used 655 tons of coal on the voyage. Another account, published in 1840, says that of her 660 tons of coal only 452 were used when she reached New York. On her homeward voyage her speed was nearly 9 knots an hour as against the 8·2 knots outward, but she burnt only 392 tons of coal, the difference being accounted for by the fact that on the outward voyage she experienced very rough weather. Although she made a much faster passage than her little rival, it is but fair to remember that she was nearly twice her size, and with engines developing more than twice the horse-power. A contemporary writer thus describes the _Great Western_: “The officers, crew, and engineers are about sixty in number. The saloon is 75 feet long, 21 feet broad, exclusive of recesses on each side, where the breadth is 34 feet and the height 9 feet. The decorations are in the highest degree tasteful and elegant, and the apartment may vie with those of the club-houses of London in luxury and magnificence. The splendour of a saloon is, however, a matter of very inferior consequence, and it is higher praise to state that the more essential parts of the vessel and all her machinery are examples of mechanical skill and ingenuity which cannot be surpassed.” [Illustration: THE “GREAT WESTERN.” FROM A PRINT OF 1837.] The saloon was decorated with about fifty panels, the larger ones, according to a contemporary description, representing “rural scenery, agriculture, music, the arts and sciences, interior views and landscapes, and parties grouped, or engaged in elegant sports and amusements; the smaller panels contained beautifully pencilled paintings of Cupid, Psyche, and other aerial figures.”[61] Every berth and cabin had a bell communicating with the stewards’ room, the method of communication being described as follows for the instruction of travellers: “When the attendance of the steward is required, the passenger pulls the bell-rope in his berth, which rings the bell in the small box (in the stewards’ room) and at the same time by means of a small lever forces up through a slit in the lid a small tin label with the number of the room painted requiring the services of the steward, and there remains, until the steward has ascertained the number of the room and pushed it down again. Thus, instead of an interminable number of bells there are only two. This arrangement, which is alike ingenious as it is useful, is deserving the notice of architects.”[62] [61] _The Mirror._ [62] _Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal._ From the same publication it appears that the floors are of great length and overrun each other. “They are firmly dowelled and bolted, first in pairs and then together by means of 1¹⁄₂-inch bolts about 24 feet in length, driven in four parallel rows. The scantling is equal in size to that of our line-of-battle ships; it is filled in solid and was caulked within and without up to the first futtock heads previously to planking, and all to above this height of English oak. She is most closely and firmly trussed with iron and wooden diagonals and shelf-pieces, which with the whole of her upper works are fastened with screws and nuts to a much greater extent than has hitherto been put in practice. Her engines are the largest marine engines yet made. The boilers are constructed with several adaptations for the economy of steam and fuel on an entirely new principle. There are four distinct and independent boilers, any number of which can be worked as circumstances require. The wheels have the cycloidal paddles. The figure-head is a demi-figure of Neptune with gilded trident, and on each side are dolphins in imitation bronze.” The _Sirius_ made two transatlantic voyages as advertised, and was utilised henceforward for the trade for which she was built, namely, carrying passengers and goods between ports on the coast. She traded chiefly between Liverpool, Cork, Glasgow, and London, and occasionally to St. Petersburg, and at last, in June 1847, she was wrecked in Ballycotten Bay. While the _Sirius_ and _Great Western_ had been monopolising the attention of the public, the directors of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, who had already formed a company to join in the transatlantic traffic, determined upon making their start with the new paddle-steamer _Royal William_. This was not the Canadian _Royal William_, but a boat built in 1836 by Wilson of Liverpool, with engines by Fawcett and Preston, and one of a quartet intended to compete with the Government steamers carrying the mails between Liverpool and Kingstown. She was a faster vessel than any of the Government boats. One voyage, in which she created a record which stood for some time, was when she was engaged between London and Dublin, and did the 260 miles run from Falmouth to Kingstown in 23 hours. She was slightly shorter than the _Sirius_, but her capacity was 817 tons gross, and her engines of 276 horse-power. Although she had accommodation for eighty passengers, she had on board only thirty-two when she started from Liverpool on Thursday, July 5, 1838. She carried no cargo, all the space apparently being used for fuel. “Coal filled her bunkers, her holds, and even her well-deck, so that her paddles were buried six feet, her sponsons were submerged, and it was possible, by leaning over the bulwarks, to wash one’s hands in the water that surged at the vessel’s sides.”[63] Her departure from Liverpool was celebrated in a manner befitting the occasion; the spectators gathered by thousands, and every cannon on either side of the river that could be used to fire a salute was requisitioned, while the steamers and large sailing ships anchored in the river, many of which carried guns, joined in the salute. The outward voyage lasted nineteen days, but she did the passage back in fourteen and a half days. [63] Kennedy’s “History of Steam Navigation.” While she was being got ready, the directors accepted an offer from Sir John Tobin to run a steamer, which was built for him, alternately with the _Royal William_. She was named the _Liverpool_, and was of 1150 tons, carrying engines of 404 horse-power. She sailed on October 20, 1838, and had got about one-third of the way across the Atlantic when it was found necessary to turn back on account of bad weather. She accordingly took refuge at Cork. A stay of ten days was made there, and she eventually arrived at New York on November 23. The _British Queen_, as befitted her name, was launched on the Queen’s birthday in 1838, and made her first voyage from London to New York in July 1839. She was commanded by Lieutenant Roberts, formerly of the _Sirius_, and was at that time the largest and fastest steam vessel afloat; and with Roberts in charge, it is not to be wondered at that she did some good work. Lieutenant Roberts, writing to a friend from New York, says in the course of a letter dated June 1, 1840: “I can only state there is not a faster seagoing vessel in the World, and time will tell. We have beat the _Great Western_ every voyage this year and [word illegible] last year; therefore whoever gave you the idea of our Speed and Power were perfectly ignorant of Steam and Steam Vessels. I have made the passage from Portsmouth to New York shorter than ever performed, only 13 d. 11 h. from Pilot to Pilot. Let _Great Western_ do that if she can, though she has ten hours’ shorter distance to run. I sail at 1 P.M. this day with full cargo and every berth taken, and sincerely do I wish to make a short passage.” He adds: “I intend trying for some shore berth ... but will not leave till I command the first iron vessel to steam across the Atlantic.” This was not to be, however, for he was in command of the _President_ when that ill-fated vessel left New York with one hundred and thirty-six passengers on March 12,