CHAPTER IX

DEVELOPMENT OF IRON SHIPBUILDING After the launching of the _Great Britain_ in 1845, steam-ship building was carried on with great activity, though the change from wood to iron and from paddles to the screw was gradual. Many wooden vessels, both steamers and sailers, continued to be built, as the prejudice against iron for ship construction died slowly. The screw propellers were at first simply auxiliary to sail. This was due to three causes: mistrust of the propeller, the cost of continually running it, and the difficulty of carrying sufficient coal. Describing the gradual evolution of the steam-ship in its early days, Mr. John Ward, a director in Messrs. Denny’s famous firm, in his Presidential Address to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, in 1907, said: “The necessities of the screw propeller after its general adoption demanded a much greater increase of engine revolution than constructors in the early days, or for some years after, deemed it prudent to adopt. Thus a great variety of design, including beam, steeple, oscillating, and other forms of machines were used, all with gearing between the engine and the propeller. But a few direct-acting engines appeared very early, and gradually, as engineers gained confidence, the latter type became universal, and assumed the form of the inverted cylinder in the so-called steam-hammer engine which was the universal type for mercantile purposes until the end of the century. “John Elder we may look upon as the father of multiple-expansion engines. He, together with his partner Charles Randolph, was trained in the marine school of Mr. Robert Napier, Vulcan Foundry, Glasgow. In 1852 they commenced business, and by 1856 had constructed several four-cylinder compound engines. Randolph, Elder and Co. entered into a contract for a set of engines, the coal for which, on trial, would not exceed 3 lb. per indicated horse-power per hour. The trial ... worked out at 2¹⁹⁄₂₀ lb.” In regard to coal consumption, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s boats _Callao_, _Lima_, and _Bogota_, after being brought home from the Pacific coast to be re-engined, all showed a consumption of from 2 to 2¹⁄₂ lb. (per indicated horse-power) of best Welsh coal. The _Bogota’s_ speed with the old engines was 9·75 knots and the coal consumption not less than 38 cwts. per hour. On her outward voyage with new engines she “gave a mean speed of 10·47 knots with 19 cwts. of coal per hour.” The steam-pressure was 22 lb. and the horse-power was about 950 indicated. “These early fathers seemed to see into the future. Walter N. Neilson, in his Presidential Address (1859), refers to the ‘three grand requirements (of marine engines) as--a safe and suitable boiler for 100 lb. and upwards; a good arrangement of engine to receive the initial force of the steam without shock or liability to derangement, and carry out expansion to the greatest practical limits; and, lastly, an efficient surface condenser. “John Elder was among the first to adopt the surface condenser and the cylindrical boiler, and he thus in the ’fifties brought to a successful issue these three grand requirements. We must go back to these early days to realise what it meant to make a boiler which would be safe for 100 lb.; steel plates of the present day weighing tons were then represented by puddled iron plates weighing hundredweights. This led John Elder to try a water-tube boiler, practically the modern Yarrow boiler, also a spiral tube boiler, but probably none of these was successful owing to the salt-water difficulty, evaporators not being introduced till many years afterwards.” As the adaptability of iron for constructional purposes became more generally recognised, it led to the proposal that steamers should be built on the longitudinal principle instead of with an ordinary keel and a series of transverse ribs. The use of iron also enabled shipbuilders to increase the safety of their vessels considerably by means of transverse bulkheads, the number of these being increased until, even as early as 1838, the iron steamers then being built for the Glasgow and Liverpool line were each divided into five sections, any three of which were estimated to be sufficient to keep the steamer afloat if the other two should become waterlogged through collision. Several vessels were constructed on modifications of the longitudinal system, the chief among them being the _Great Eastern_. In 1853 James Hodgson of Liverpool issued a circular on the advantages of iron sailing ships, in which he pointed out not only the greater strength obtained by using iron but the comparative cheapness of construction. The circular stated that a wooden ship of 1000 tons would cost £16 10_s._ per ton, and an iron ship £13 10_s._ per ton, both fitted for trade to the East. The wooden ship would not carry more than 1500 tons, whereas an iron ship built from the same external lines would carry 1800 tons, and this difference at £5 per ton out and home, added to allowances for insurance, depreciation, and interest, would make a difference in favour of the iron ship of £2295. [Illustration: THE “SARAH SANDS,” 1846.] What was true of sailing ships was equally true of steamers, and Hodgson had shown this some years before the publication of his circular, when he built the _Sarah Sands_. The _Sarah Sands_ afforded an excellent example of the strength of iron ships if well and substantially built. She grounded on the Woodside Bank in the Mersey when carrying 1000 tons dead weight, and remained high and dry until the tide flowed again, during which time she did not sustain the slightest damage. She experienced several mishaps at one time and another, which demonstrated not only the superior manner in which she was put together, but also the superiority of iron ships over wooden ones, for it is difficult to suppose that a wooden vessel would have withstood all these casualties without sustaining serious damage. The _Sarah Sands_ was built in 1846 at Liverpool; she was 182 feet between perpendiculars, 33 feet beam, 32 feet deep, and of 1400 gross tonnage. Her engines were of 300 indicated horse-power and were built by Messrs. Bury, Curtice, and Kennedy of Liverpool. She had two oscillating cylinders of 50 inches diameter and a stroke of 3 feet, working upwards to the crank shaft, and a still greater novelty was the application of a direct coupling between the crank shaft and the screw shaft. Her boilers were of the wet-bottomed type, and had six furnaces besides return tubes, the steam pressure being 9 lb. She was four-masted and heavily canvassed, carrying courses, topsails, and topgallant sails on the main and mizzen masts, while she was fore and aft rigged, including topsails, on the fore and jigger masts; her head sails included a large fore staysail and two immense jibs. She made her first voyage from Liverpool to New York in January 1847, in connection with the Red Cross Line, and remained in this service until the end of 1849, when she was transferred to the American coastal route between Panama and San Francisco, being probably the first iron screw vessel to go round South America. The discovery of gold in Australia caused her to be sent to Sydney with a crowded passenger list of gold-seekers, and she was thus the first iron screw steamer to cross the Pacific to Australia; she afterwards came back to Liverpool and was again placed on the New York trade, and in 1854 was sent to Canada and was the first iron screw steamer in that trade also. On her return passage she struck the rocks in the St. Lawrence, near Belle Isle, and remained fast four days and nights. When she returned to Liverpool it was found that she had not started so much as a rivet, which says a good deal for the strength of her construction. This was destined to have another unnecessary proof, for as she left the graving dock she capsized owing to her ballast having been removed and not replaced, but again she was none the worse. Next she was employed as a transport for troops to India in 1857, and caught fire in her saloon, but as the hull was of iron the fire was subdued and she put into Mauritius with the whole after-part burnt out. This ended her career as a steamer, for she returned to England under sail and was converted into a sailing ship, and in the following year met with a disaster which even her tough frame could not withstand; she struck on the rocks near Bombay and went to pieces. In 1850 several boats were designed for mail service in any weather for a run not exceeding sixty miles and on which sleeping accommodation was not required. One of the best of the type was _Her Majesty_, built and engined by Robinson and Russell in 1850 for the Portsmouth and Ryde station. She was an iron paddle-steamer. The engines had two oscillating cylinders 27 inches in diameter with 30 inches stroke, and made 58 revolutions per minute. Her tubular boiler, 9·75 feet long, 11·25 feet wide, and 6 feet high, developed steam at 20 lb. pressure. The heating surface was 1234 square feet. Engines, boilers, and water weighed 30·5 tons. The paddles were 11·16 feet in diameter and each had nine fixed floats. There were three masts and the sail area was 64 square yards. Her speed was 12·8 knots; displacement, 93 tons; length, 127 feet; extreme beam, 26 feet. The steamer _Crœsus_, for the Australian trade, launched at Mare’s yard, Blackwall, in June 1853, for the General Screw Shipping Company, was the largest vessel yet built for the firm. She was of 2500 tons, with engines by Messrs. G. and J. Rennie, of 400 horse-power. Messrs. Maudslay, like Messrs. Penn and other eminent engineers, had been in the habit of having the ships for which they contracted built by other firms, while they themselves supplied the engines. They decided to do their own shipbuilding, and accordingly opened a yard at East Greenwich. The first vessel launched there was the _Lady Derby_, of 530 tons gross, built for the General Iron Screw-Collier Company. Those were the days when Thames shipbuilding was at its zenith. While trade was good, freights high, and shipowning was profitable, shipowners did not mind paying high prices for their vessels; but as the north-east coast, the Mersey, and the east and west coasts of Scotland developed their iron shipbuilding facilities, and by reason of their proximity to the coal and iron fields were able to obtain these commodities at lower prices than the Thames shipbuilders could secure them, they were able to underbid the Thames shipbuilders and secure the industry, with the result that there is now but one shipbuilding establishment of importance in the Thames equipped to turn out a large warship or liner. Its competitors and neighbours of half a century ago vanished one after another. Some have passed out of existence, others have become merely repairing yards, and two or three have gone elsewhere and prospered. The one survivor is the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company, which, on the site made historic by Mr. Penn’s enterprise, proudly endeavours to hold its own and maintain the traditions of the river. Mare’s shipbuilding yards on the shores of Bow Creek, near its entrance to the Thames, started in a very small way, but within seventeen years it extended until it was employing nearly 400 hands. In 1845, a large portion of the Essex side of the yard was a marsh, covered with water at high tide. By 1854 it was one of the principal shipbuilding yards in the world. The wages of the workmen at Blackwall averaged for eighteen months £5000 per week, and some weeks it was £1600 more. The yards of Messrs. Green, Messrs. Scott Russell, Messrs. Dudgeon, Messrs. Maudslay, Messrs. Samuda, Messrs. Yarrow, and Messrs. Thorneycroft, to mention only a few, besides a host of smaller builders, employed their thousands of hands; but never a keel is laid there now. The banks of the river which rang to the stroke of the shipwrights’ hammers are silent; the slips are unoccupied or devoted to other uses, the furnaces are cold; the machinery is sold or dismantled, and fragments of it may yet be seen rusting ingloriously on the scrap-heap. Dawn now brings no activity to the shipbuilding yards of the Thames, and dusk adds nothing to their stagnation. Steam-ship repairing work is nearly all that London river sees now. If, as sailors say, ships have spirits that return to the yards where the vessels were built, when those ships are lost or broken up, there must be many homeless phantoms haunting the banks of the historic stream, seeking rest and finding none, and perchance, as did certain of the ships they represent, going down the river with the tide never to return: a ghostly fleet bearing many mysteries which shall not be solved till the day when the insatiable sea is called upon to surrender all it has taken captive. The general superiority of iron screw steamers over those of wood led to the introduction of a number of types designed to meet the requirements of special trades. James Hodgson, who, in addition to the _Sarah Sands_, built the _Antelope_, the first iron screw steamer to leave Liverpool for the Brazils, introduced the tubular type of iron vessels. _The Carbon_, a vessel of this type, was built by him for the Eastern Archipelago Company in 1855. In the construction of this boat he proposed to dispense with the ordinary side frames altogether. He stated in his synopsis that calculations of the strength of thirty frames, in a ship that had answered exceedingly well, showed that a partial bulkhead or frame projected from the side of the vessel to the extent of only 20 inches was more than equal in strength to the thirty frames, if it were supported on two bearings at a given distance and weighted on the upper side in the middle. This frame, of 20 inches deep, would carry more than the whole of the thirty frames, and when the bulkhead was extended across to the other side of the ship there would be a great preponderance of strength in favour of the bulkhead. But, in dispensing with frames, it might, in some cases, be necessary to increase the plating for the sides, to give some additional strength. Since the strength of the materials increased as the square of the thickness, the addition of one-eighth to five-eighths of an inch plate increased the strength to resist a blow sideways, or in a lateral direction, by nearly 50 per cent. The strength of the vessel was further increased by placing the bulkhead in the widest part of the ship, amidships, and by other bulkheads placed midway between the midship bulkhead and the bow and stern, should it be deemed advisable; and also by the interposition of stiffening plates. Other strengthening means were also recommended. The vessel would be, he contended, “capable of sustaining a considerable pressure, either externally or internally, having round, swelling, or convex sides, with a ridge or rib on the lower side which answers the purpose of a keel.” Vessels of this type were expected to be much more economical to build, and no more expensive to run than those built on the ordinary lines. It was disputed whether a tubular vessel being without frames, floors, &c., would be strong enough for all purposes. An accident to Mr. Hodgson’s tubular cargo vessel, _The Carbon_, however, seemed to justify his contentions, for she stranded badly when being launched, so that her stern was submerged at high water. She was towed up the slip again, and refloated, and it was found that only two plates required repairs. _The Carbon_ was running until quite recent years in the east coast coal trade to London. Another important development in construction was due to Mr. J. Scott Russell, who has been described, like Sir I. K. Brunel, as a man before his time. Mr. Russell’s services to steam navigation in his exposition of the wave-line theory of ship construction were of incalculable benefit to the science. His object was to diminish the resistance offered by the water to the passage of the ship, and the modifications he made in the lines of the hull not only effected this to a very remarkable degree, but also increased the seaworthiness and speed of the vessels. He designed a number of small vessels suitable for special trades or to meet particular requirements. One introduced about 1855, for North Sea work, was an iron screw steamer with a long parallel middle body which made a capacious ship, the fore and after parts being designed in accordance with his wave-line theory. Another of his cargo vessels, having a greater length of parallel middle body and wave-line ends, had the screw propeller abaft the rudder, which was entirely below the propeller shaft, there being a loop in the rudder stock through which the propeller shaft passed. A second vessel of this type, but rather longer in proportion to its beam, was designed for the Baltic trade, and had the peculiarity that its forecastle extended as far as the midship deck-house. [Illustration: THE “CITY OF GLASGOW” (INMAN LINE, 1850).] The period from 1845 to 1880 is remarkable for the progress made in steam-ship building prior to the general adoption of steel for the construction of ocean vessels. The early history of the Cunard Line has already been related. Before the last wooden Cunarders were built, the Inman Line appeared on the scene with a service of iron steamers with screw propellers, the first being the _City of Glasgow_, launched in 1850 by Tod and McGregor on the Clyde, for a transatlantic service they themselves intended to establish with Glasgow as its headquarters. The side-lever engine of the ordinary type was modified for this vessel, as it was fitted with two beams working across the ship. The cylinders were on one side of the ship, and on the other was a large wheel which geared three to one with ordinary teeth into the propeller-shaft pinion. Her machinery was placed low down in the hold so as to leave her decks as free of encumbrances as possible. She was a three-decked vessel of 1069 tons gross, 227 feet long by 33 feet beam and 25 feet depth; and her engines of 350 horse-power drove a two-bladed screw of 13 feet in diameter and 18 feet pitch. She was designed to carry 52 passengers in the first class; 85 in the second class, and 400 in the steerage, and a crew of about 70. The hull was divided by five water-tight bulkheads into six compartments, and as a further provision for the safety of her passengers and crew she carried six lifeboats. Her fresh-water tanks contained no less than 13,000 gallons. She was barque-rigged, of almost yacht-like lines, and had a graceful clipper bow. The _City of Glasgow_ made a few voyages between Glasgow and New York in the spring and summer of 1850. Mr. William Inman of Liverpool had meanwhile been preparing for the establishment of a line of steamers between Liverpool and America. His idea was that modern iron vessels, equipped with screw propellers, were bound to supersede paddle-wheel vessels, and also that there was money to be made in the emigrant trade. His decision to place fast steamers in this trade, however, was as much philanthropic as commercial, for he was profoundly moved by the reports of the sufferings and inconveniences experienced by emigrants in sailing ships, no less than by the accounts of the fearful mortality among them. The carrying of emigrants was, at that time, confined to sailing ships, many of which were wholly unsuited to the purpose. The steamer companies catered chiefly for those who could afford to pay well. Mr. Inman determined to cater for the emigrant traffic also, and for forty-two years the line bearing his name was pre-eminent in this branch of the work of the Atlantic ferry. Practically the only steamer which met the requirements he had in mind was the _City of Glasgow_, and in the autumn of 1850 she was acquired by the founders of the Inman Line. “It was on December 10, 1850, that the Liverpool and Philadelphia Steamship Company was established. Their agents were Messrs. Richardson Bros. and Co., who had already a number of packet ships of their own. They were the chief owners of the _City of Glasgow_, and their junior partner was Mr. William Inman, who managed the shipping department of the business.” This extract from the “Official Guide” of the Inman and International Steamship Company Ltd., published about 1888, is of interest in view of the various accounts of the inception of the company which have been made public. The first sailing of the _City of Glasgow_ for her new owners took place on December 17, 1850, from Liverpool for Philadelphia. She was under the command of Captain Matthews, who formerly had charge of the _Great Western_. In June 1851, the _City of Manchester_, by the same builders and also of iron, was purchased by the Inman organisation. She was of 2125 tons and carried “overhead” or “steeple” geared engines of 350 horse-power. Her cylinders and proportion of gearing, however, were identical with those of the _City of Glasgow_. In October 1851 the _City of Pittsburg_ was built at Philadelphia and was the first American-built screw-propelled steamer in the North Atlantic service. The _City of Philadelphia_ was delivered by Messrs. Tod and McGregor in 1853, being of slightly greater tonnage than her predecessor from the yard; but she was eclipsed by the _City of Baltimore_ ordered the same year, the dimensions of the last named being: 326 feet in length, 39 feet breadth, 26 feet depth, 2472 tons gross and 1774 net. This vessel took the place of the _City of Glasgow_, which in March 1854 disappeared in mid-ocean with 480 souls on board. In September of the same year the _City of Philadelphia_ was wrecked off Cape Race, but there was no loss of life. “Inman’s iron screws,” as they were dubbed, were attracting attention, and it was recognised as merely a question of time when steamers of this type would prove successful rivals to the paddle-boats. Mr. Inman became sole managing director in October 1854, as the result of the offer of the British Government to charter certain of the steamers as transports during the Crimean War, the use of the vessels for this purpose being disapproved by Messrs. Richardson, who were Quakers. About this time the company purchased the _Kangaroo_ from the Pacific and Australasian Company, and ordered the _City of Washington_ from Messrs. Tod and McGregor. The _Kangaroo_ was 257 feet in length, 36 feet in breadth, 27 feet depth, and had a gross tonnage of 1719 tons. The _City of Washington_ was 358 feet in length, 40 feet in breadth, and 26 feet depth, with a gross tonnage of 2870 tons. The Crimean War saw a great demand by the Allies for transports, and as the French Government offered better terms than the British Government, the _City of Manchester_ was chartered to the French, and was followed by the _City of Baltimore_, and six months later, when she had concluded her trial trips, by the _City of Washington_. Upon the termination of their engagement as transports these vessels returned to the Liverpool and Philadelphia service. For some time Mr. Inman had been considering the advisability of making New York his American port instead of Philadelphia, and when the _Kangaroo_, with all her passengers on board, was frozen up in the Delaware and her departure for Liverpool was delayed for five weeks, he inaugurated, in December 1856, a monthly service to New York with the _City of Washington_. Two months later the Inman sailings were increased to fortnightly, the sailings in the alternate weeks being undertaken by the Collins liners. This arrangement was very short-lived, for in the same month the Collins Line service was withdrawn. In 1857 also, the title of the organisation was changed to “The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company,” to mark the extension of the service to New York. In October 1857 Mr. Inman’s Company bought up the Glasgow and New York Steamship Company, and placed two of the vessels, the _Edinburgh_ and the _Glasgow_, in the trade between Liverpool and New York. By 1860 the demands upon the resources of the line were such that the first _City of New York_ was ordered from Tod and McGregor. She was 336 feet in length, by 40 feet beam, and 28 feet depth, and was of 2360 tons gross. Her engines were of the horizontal, trunk type, and she was the first vessel of this line in which engines of this design were installed. The rivalry between the Inman and Cunard Lines was intense, and neither company produced a steamer which the other did not seek to surpass, but the Inman Company forged ahead both in the matter of speed and passenger accommodation and became for a time the premier company on the Atlantic. The White Star Line, however, entered the “ferry” with vessels of a different type, and the competition between the three great companies became keener than ever. The first _City of Paris_ was added to the fleet in 1866. Her Cunard rival was the _Russia_. The _City of Brussels_, of 3081 tons, began her sailings in October 1869. She was the last of the Inman Line to be fitted with the long wooden deck-house which was a conspicuous feature of so many ocean-going steamers. Her average speed was between 14 and 15 knots, which was slightly increased when she was re-engined in a few years’ time. In December 1869 she made the voyage from New York to Queenstown in 7 days 20 hours 33 minutes, a record which remained unbeaten until September 1875, when the _City of Berlin_ made the westward passage in 7 days 18 hours and 2 minutes, and the homeward run in 7 days 15 hours 48 minutes. The _City of Brussels_ was the first vessel, apart from the _Great Eastern_, in the North Atlantic trade, in which McFarlane Gray’s steam-steering gear was introduced. The dangers inseparable from the North Atlantic traffic led to the adoption by the company in 1870 of the “lanes” or routes across the ocean as suggested by Lieut. Maury of the United States Navy, a more southerly course being taken during the months from January to August, to avoid the icebergs from the northern regions. The Cunard and other steam-ship companies adopted the system about the same time. The _City of Berlin_ was contracted for by Messrs. Caird and Co. in 1873, and when she was launched the Inman fleet counted up thirty-one vessels with a total of 76,766 tons. The rivalry between the builders of the great ocean-going liners, no less than between the firms owning the ships and the officers of the ships themselves, was very great, and Messrs. Caird were successful in their endeavour to turn out a vessel which should be admitted to be the finest ocean-going steamer afloat. The rapid acquisition of one first-class vessel after another placed the Inman Company in the front rank. This steamer was 489 feet long on the keel, and 513 feet over all, by 45 feet beam and 36 feet depth. Her speed was about 16 knots. She was of 5491 tons gross and 3139 tons net. She had a pair of engines of the inverted direct-acting compound type, with high- and low-pressure cylinders, and of 1000 nominal horse-power, but on her trial trip the indicated horse-power was 5200, and this was sometimes exceeded in her voyages. Her low-pressure cylinder was 120 inches in diameter, and the high-pressure was 72 inches. Her twelve boilers were heated by thirty-six furnaces, the boilers being so arranged that any number of them could be cut off. It was pointed out by the _Nautical Times_ that while the nominal horse-power of the _City of Bristol_, added to the fleet in 1860, was as one to ten as regards the gross tonnage, that of the splendid _City of Berlin_, put on the line in March 1875, was as one to five and a half. She could accommodate 400 passengers, of whom 200 were in the saloon, 100 in the second cabin, and the remainder in the steerage, and her crew numbered 150. Electricity as a means of lighting was introduced into the transatlantic trade on this steamer in November 1879. All the Inman vessels hitherto launched were ship-rigged, and all had the graceful clipper bows for which the line was famous, the Inman fleet being unequalled for beauty. At times, as they were overhauled, they were barque-rigged, and one or two were given a three-masted schooner rig. [Illustration: THE “CITY OF ROME” (INMAN LINE, 1881).] In June 1881 the beautiful _City of Rome_ was launched at Barrow for the company, and sailed on her maiden voyage in the following October. She was constructed of iron throughout, and was 560 feet in length by 52¹⁄₂ beam and 37 feet depth, and was of 8144 tons gross. This was the first of the company’s steamers to have three funnels, and being placed between the main and mizzen masts at regular spaces they served to add to the appearance of the vessel. Her machinery marked another important innovation as, although the engine was on the three-crank system, it had three high-pressure cylinders of 46 inches diameter each, and three low-pressure cylinders of 86 inches diameter each, arranged on the tandem method, and the piston had a stroke of six feet. The eight boilers worked up to 90 lb. pressure, with forty-eight furnaces so arranged that a water-tight bulkhead was fitted fore and aft and formed the coal bunkers, but this arrangement was modified afterwards. This splendid vessel did not come up to expectations in the matter of speed and was returned to the builders. In 1875 the company was converted into the Inman Steamship Company, Ltd. The _City of Rome_ was the last steamer the founder of the line ordered, and he died before her completion. No further additions were made to the fleet of the Inman Company. After the company and fleet were acquired by the International Navigation Company in 1886, the new firm also bought the _City of Chicago_ while she was on the stocks for the Dominion Line. This vessel was the only one under the Inman flag to have a straight stem. She ran for several years, and was then lost on the south coast of Ireland. [Illustration: THE “CITY OF CHICAGO.”] [Illustration: THE “PERSIA” AND “SCOTIA” (CUNARD, 1856 AND 1862).] The first iron steamer built by the Cunard Company was the _Persia_, and she deserves more than a passing mention because of the association with her of David Kirkaldy, Napier’s draughtsman, to whom modern steel shipbuilding owes the discovery of the way to toughen steel and remove its brittleness. Kirkaldy’s drawings of the _Persia_ are stated to have been the only steam-ship designs ever exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was also the first on the Clyde to give the question of trial performances the attention it deserved. The first trial trips recorded by him, on the _Larriston_, on September 22 and October 18, 1852, were printed when the Admiralty asked for particulars of the respective behaviour of a Smith’s and a Griffith’s propeller. But he was not allowed to continue his researches in this direction, and even the _Persia_ left the Clyde without a single diagram having been taken, for although Kirkaldy was in the engine-room during the entire trial, he had not permission to record her performances. He obtained data concerning many vessels “so as to be able to deduce the variations of behaviour and relative economy, and trace such to their respective origins, _e.g._, whether any variation was due wholly or in part to the difference in the shape of the vessels, in the propellers, in the engines, or in the boilers. The utility of these investigations was signally demonstrated in the case of two vessels, _Lady Eglinton_ and _Malvina_ ... the former proved a great success on her trial trip, and the latter a comparative failure. He was able to trace the cause of the failure and in great measure to rectify it. He clearly foresaw that the time was surely approaching when his employers would require to estimate for and construct vessels to fixed requirements as to draught, speed, and economy of working.”[87] [87] “Illustrations of David Kirkaldy’s System of Mechanical Testing,” by Wm. G. Kirkaldy. The drawings of the _Persia_ were made for his own pleasure, and the first intimation of their existence was the announcement in the papers that they had been admitted to the Academy. By Napier’s instructions they were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 together with drawings of the steam-ships _Europa_, _America_, _Niagara_, and _Canada_. Napier received a gold medal and the Legion of Honour as exhibitor, and Kirkaldy received a medal as draughtsman. The drawings of these four ships were placed in the Louvre Museum after being presented to the Emperor Napoleon. The _Scotia_, the second and last of the Cunard iron paddle-steamers, followed in 1862. She was 379 feet in length, of slightly greater beam and depth than the _Persia_, and of 3671 tons, and her engines of 4900 indicated horse-power gave her a speed of nearly 14¹⁄₂ knots. The _Persia_ was sold in 1868, and was converted into a sailing ship. The _Scotia_ was kept in the service as long as possible, as she was a favourite with the public, but her very limited cargo space and her immense consumption of coal made it impossible to run her except at considerable loss. She was consequently withdrawn in 1875, and sold to the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance company, which had her re-engined and turned into a twin-screw boat. She remained in the service of this company for many years, and was used for cable-laying purposes. These were not, however, the Cunard Company’s first iron steamers, as they had already had for some time two smaller vessels of iron in their Liverpool and Continental service. By this time the Cunard directors were convinced, by the success of the Inman steamers, and by the advice of the engineers whom they consulted, that the paddle-steamer had reached its utmost point of development. Henceforth they built screw steamers, the first being the _China_, launched in 1862, and followed by the _Java_ in 1865, and the _Russia_ in 1867. [Illustration: THE “CHINA” (CUNARD, 1862).] [Illustration: THE “RUSSIA” (CUNARD, 1867).] The _Russia_, and the Inman steamer _City of Paris_, the finest commercial vessels afloat, left New York on the same day in February 1869, within about an hour of each other and arrived at Liverpool with only thirty-five minutes difference between them. They made the run across the Atlantic, with the twenty minutes’ stop at Queenstown, in about eight days, eighteen hours. The _City of Paris_ started first, and got in at 3.45 A.M., and the _Russia_ at 4.20. The vessels were in company for four days. Once the _Russia_ passed the _City of Paris_, but the Inman liner took the lead again, and at another part of the voyage the Cunarder recovered her lost ground. As racing, however, was strictly forbidden by the rules of the two companies, and the ships’ logs showed that no extra pressure of steam was used, it is supposed that in this, as in many other cases of supposed ocean racing, the race existed mainly in the imagination of the passengers, who for lack of anything else to do worked themselves up into a frenzy of excitement about it. The captains, of course, merely concerned themselves with putting in all the seamanship they knew. Pictures published at the time show that both vessels were under full sail, and even carried stunsails. The _China_, after some years’ service, was sold and converted into the sailing ship _Theodor_, and proved as fast after the change as when a steamer. She foundered at sea in 1908. In 1866 another competitor appeared on the North Atlantic. The fate of the Collins and Galway Lines did not deter Mr. S. B. Guion from inaugurating a rival service to that maintained by the Cunard and Inman Lines, and for a time it seemed as if he would be successful in wresting from the splendid vessels of these companies the premier position on the Atlantic. The steamships which he placed on the service between Liverpool and New York were at that period superior in size, speed, and luxury to any of their competitors. He started the service with the _Manhattan_, and thus inaugurated in 1866 what may be called the great race of the greyhounds of the Atlantic. The _Manhattan_ was built by the Palmer Company of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and was the first of seven steamers comprising the line. Her length was 343 feet, her beam 42 feet 6 inches, and her depth 28 feet, and her register was 2866 tons. She had accommodation for 72 passengers in the first class, and 800 in the second class, and besides taking 1000 tons of coal could carry 1500 tons of cargo. A feature of this vessel was the attention paid to the comfort of the second-class passengers, the cabins for this class being on the main deck and thoroughly ventilated, wherein they showed a marked improvement on the many other vessels carrying emigrants. She was fitted with low-pressure inverted direct-acting surface condensing engines, designed by Messrs. J. Jordan and Co. These had cylinders of 60 inches in diameter, with a piston stroke of 42 inches. The _Chicago_ and the _Merrimac_, sister ships, followed from the same builders. The _Chicago_ was wrecked in a fog on the rocks near the entrance to Cork Harbour, and, a contrast to some of the disasters to Atlantic liners, not a life was lost, the whole of the passengers and crew, numbering 130, being landed by the ship’s boats within an hour of the accident. The earlier Guion liners were brig-rigged steamers, and some of them carried the new American double topsails on both masts. Other boats which formed a part of the earlier fleet of the Guion Line were the _Nebraska_, _Minnesota_, _Colorado_, _Idaho_, and _Nevada_. In 1870 these were augmented by the _Wyoming_ and _Wisconsin_, also built and engined by Messrs. Palmer. These were each 366 feet long, 43 feet broad, 34 feet deep, and of 3238 tons register. Among other distinctive features they had the first compound engines on the transatlantic route. These had one vertical high-pressure cylinder of 60 inches in diameter, and one double-trunk horizontal low-pressure cylinder of 120 inches in diameter, both working on the same crank, and having a stroke of 42 inches. Great expectations as to speed were entertained when the _Montana_ and _Dakota_, from the Palmer yards, were brought into the service in 1872. They exhibited a new design in hull and machinery as they had an abnormal slope of side, flush steel plating, and water-tube boilers. These vessels each had a length of a little over 400 feet, with a breadth of 43³⁄₄ feet and a depth of 40³⁄₄ feet. Like the _Wyoming_ and _Wisconsin_, they had compound engines, one high-pressure cylinder of 60 inches diameter, working inverted on a forward crank, and two low-pressure cylinders working horizontally on the after crank. The _Montana’s_ boilers were constructed of a series of cross-tubes 15 inches in diameter and were intended to carry a head of 100 lb. of steam, but in consequence of an explosion when at 70 lb. pressure, they were replaced by ordinary tubular boilers with a pressure of 80 lb. of steam. The _Dakota_ was wrecked on the Welsh coast in May 1877, and a similar fate befell the _Montana_ three years later. Seven years passed and then the _Arizona_ was brought into the Guion service. She was of iron and was built and engined by Messrs. John Elder and Co. of Glasgow. Her dimensions were: 450 feet long, 45¹⁄₈ feet broad, 35³⁄₄ feet deep, with a register of 5147 tons. She differed from the earlier boats of the line by being four-masted, carrying square sails on the fore and main masts, having two funnels, and having her saloon accommodation amidships; in all these particulars, as well as in the straight cutwater, she bore a strong resemblance to her rivals of the White Star Line. [Illustration: MODEL OF THE “CITY OF PARIS,” 1866.] Although there was no deviation in her hull from the existing type, her machinery displayed some novel features. Her engines were compound with three crank shafts, each having one cylinder. The high-pressure cylinder was 62 inches in diameter, and was placed in the centre, between the low-pressure cylinders each of 90 inches, and all had a piston stroke of 66 inches. Steam was generated in seven boilers capable of withstanding 90 lb. pressure, and furnished with thirty-nine furnaces, which had an average coal consumption of 125 tons per day, or in round figures 25 per cent. in excess of her fastest rivals, which were then in the White Star Line. On her homeward voyage from New York in July 1879, the _Arizona_ succeeded in breaking the record, and repeated the feat on her outward passage in May 1880, when she made the passage from Queenstown to New York in 7 days, 10 hours, 47 minutes, thus proving herself for two years in succession the fastest boat on the Atlantic. While on her homeward passage in November 1879, the _Arizona_ collided at full speed with an iceberg. Although she gave the berg a direct blow she is one of the few vessels that have managed to survive after such an experience. It was stated at the time that there was a projecting spur of ice from the berg under water, and on this the ship slid. Her weight caused the berg to rock, and it was to this circumstance alone that she owed her safety, for the rocking of the huge mass of ice enabled her to slip off the spur into deep water again. A tremendous quantity of ice, dislodged by the shock, crashed down upon her deck, doing a considerable amount of damage, and she had only drifted a few hundred yards from the berg, after the impact, when an immense portion of it fell at the spot where only a few moments previously the ship had rested. This is one of the narrowest escapes recorded in the annals of the sea. Fortunately, her collision bulkhead withstood the enormous strain, and the vessel received a magnificent, though entirely undesired, testimonial to the soundness and stability of her construction. She put into St. John’s, Newfoundland, and was found to be so badly damaged that she had to have entirely new bows. The success of the _Arizona_ led to the building of the _Alaska_, which proved another triumph for Messrs. John Elder and Co., for the speed she developed won her the title of the Atlantic Greyhound, her homeward passage in June 1882 being less than seven days. This remarkable run was, however, eclipsed by the _Oregon_, the last vessel added by the Guion Company prior to its dissolution; she sailed from Liverpool to New York on October 6, 1883, and accomplished the passage from Queensland to Sandy Hook in 6 days 10 hours 9 minutes. The _Oregon_ was an iron vessel built and engined by Messrs. John Elder and Co., on similar lines to, but of greater dimensions than, the _Arizona_ and the _Alaska_. She was no less than 500 feet in length, 54 feet wide, 40 feet deep, and registered 7375 tons. Her engines were compound and consisted of one 70-inch high-pressure cylinder placed in the centre, and two low-pressure 104-inch cylinders, with a 6-foot stroke; her boilers had a steam-pressure of 110 lb., and her average daily consumption of coal was 310 tons. [Illustration: THE “OREGON” (CUNARD AND GUION LINES, 1883).] From about this time the passenger service across the Atlantic began to assume proportions and a degree of importance to which it had never before attained. Hitherto the steamers engaged on the transatlantic route had depended considerably on their cargo capacity as a means of meeting expenses, but with the demand for larger and faster vessels--and faster vessels could only be made larger--there was developed an express passenger boat which depended almost wholly on its passenger accommodation and carried a much smaller amount of cargo than some of the older and smaller vessels then engaged in the trade. The Guion Line did not wholly meet these requirements, and on the death of Mr. S. B. Guion, the line gradually dropped out of existence, the remaining vessels of the famous fleet of steamers being dispersed in various directions. Some years before this happened, however, the White Star Line began to build steamers for the Atlantic. The White Star Line has always been the line of big ships. In its sailing-ship days it owned some of the finest wooden clippers afloat, famous alike for their size and speed. When Mr. T. H. Ismay in 1867 took over the management of the line and formed with some friends the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, there were already in existence the Cunard, Inman, Guion, and National Lines, which had secured such control of the Atlantic trade that it seemed almost rashness for the new line to venture to compete with them. “Nothing venture, nothing win”; the line now holds a position second to none in the world for the magnificence and size of its steamers. All its vessels have been built by Messrs. Harland and Wolff at Belfast. The first of the fleet was the _Oceanic_, launched on August 27, 1870, which started on her maiden voyage and the inaugural voyage of the fleet on March 2, 1871. Several vessels of the same type followed in rapid succession, all having the straight stem, four masts, and single funnel which were the distinguishing marks of the White Star steamers in those days. The _Oceanic_ was 420 feet long, 41 feet beam, 31 feet deep, and had a registered tonnage of 3707. These steamers were somewhat differently designed from the other boats on the North Atlantic. The high bulwarks and narrow wooden deck-houses were dispensed with, and instead another iron deck was added with open iron railings round it, there being thus nothing to hold any water that might come on board. The saloons were amidships and extended the entire width of the vessel, and the staterooms were placed before and after the saloon and were better lighted and ventilated than those of any other steamers. The engines also were of a novel type; they were compound, four-cylindered, and arranged tandem, with two high-pressure cylinders each 41 inches diameter and two low-pressure each 78 inches in diameter, working on two cranks and having a stroke of five feet. The engines were arranged fore and aft, and each formed a complete engine in itself, so that either could be worked in case of accident to the other. The _Oceanic_ inaugurated the era of the modern type of express ocean liner. After a few voyages some alterations were made in her, which added to her efficiency, her masts being shortened, and a whaleback being built over her stern. In 1875 she was transferred, together with her sisters the _Belgic_ and _Gaelic_, to the Pacific to inaugurate the White Star steam service between Hong-Kong, Yokohama, and San Francisco. Two famous sister ships the White Star Line had were the _Germanic_ and _Britannic_, built in 1875 and 1874 respectively; they were each 455 feet long, 45 feet broad, 33 feet 9 inches deep, and of 5004 tons register. The hulls were built at Belfast, but the engines were by Maudslay, Sons and Field and similar to those of the _Oceanic_. With a speed rather above 16 knots, they were the first to reduce the passage to below seven days. Numerous experiments were made with a lifting propeller in the _Britannic_, but they were not a success and the principle was never tried in any more of the company’s boats. The company sought also to improve the lighting of their steamers. The old system of lighting a ship by candles was seldom more than enough to make the darkness visible, and oil lamps were not always much better; so an attempt was made to install a gas-lighting apparatus. It worked very well while the vessel was in port, the experiment being made on the _Adriatic_ in 1872, and the _Celtic_ in 1873; but there was a certain amount of leakage through the working of the ship in a sea-way and the experiment was abandoned. Oil lamps were then installed in these steamers and remained in use until superseded by electric light. Another White Star experiment was with the oscillating saloon, intended to keep berths and staterooms level while the ship was rolling, but this was no more a success on the broad Atlantic than it was on the English Channel when tried in the steamer _Bessemer_. Other lines which have played a conspicuous part in the North Atlantic trade are the State, the Beaver, and the National Lines, all of which owned some very fine steamers. The last named was founded to run a line between Liverpool and the ports of the Confederate States when the war should terminate, but it proved a financial failure and the promoters then decided to enter the Liverpool and New York trade. Its three vessels, _Louisiana_, _Virginia_, and _Pennsylvania_, were the largest cargo-carriers on the ocean, being of nearly 3500 tons gross. Three larger steamers, _The Queen_, _Erin_, and _Helvetia_, were added in 1864, and three more in the next two years. The _Italy_, of 4300 tons, was regarded as a wonderful ship on account of her size, and is stated to have been the first of her type in which compound engines were fitted. Other and larger steamers were added to the fleet to meet its extensive requirements, until it sustained not only a weekly service each way between Liverpool and New York, but also had regular sailings from London to New York, calling at Havre. Its steamers were not beautiful or fast, but were very steady, made cargo-carrying a feature, and conveyed a great number of emigrants. Then the National Line surprised every one by bringing out in 1884 one of the most beautiful and graceful steamers ever seen on the Atlantic, and certainly the fastest of her day--the _America_, which, as she was built of steel, belongs properly to a later period of ship construction. She was 5528 tons gross, built and engined by Messrs. J. and G. Thomson, and was sold in a few months to the Italian Government. Some years later the line began to decline and it is now a part of the “Combine,” only two or three vessels being under its flag. [Illustration: THE “AMERICA” (NATIONAL LINE, 1884).] The first mail steam-ship line between Liverpool and Canada was started by McKean, McLarty, and Lamont of Liverpool in 1852 under contract with the Government, but the effort was a failure, and in the next year H. and A. Allan undertook the work. Their first steamer was the _Canadian_ in 1853, followed by the _Indian_, _North American_, and _Anglo-Saxon_, and as the Grand Trunk Railway was completed next year to Portland, this town became the winter terminus of the line and Montreal the summer terminus. Upon the completion of the intercolonial railway in 1876, connecting Quebec with Halifax, the Nova Scotian port became the winter terminus of the Allan Line. By 1882 the service had increased to such an extent that the sailings were made weekly instead of fortnightly. In 1862 the Allans established a line between Glasgow and Montreal; a few years afterwards sailings were made between London and Canada, and more recently still Continental calls were added. The Donaldson Line, established in 1855, has for many years maintained a service between Glasgow and Montreal, its vessels ranging from sailers to some of the finest steamers entering the St. Lawrence River. Its present service is performed with the twin-screw steamers _Athenia_ and _Cassandra_, and nine single-screw boats; and another twin-screw boat, the _Saturnia_, is shortly to be delivered, and will be of about 8000 tons, the largest in the company’s fleet. The salient feature of the Donaldson Line passenger steamers is the carriage of one class of cabin passengers only, called second cabin. This enables travellers to enjoy the best the ships afford, the accommodation being equal to that on many long-distance steamers, such as those that go to Australia. Its first steamer to Montreal was the _Astarte_ in 1874, upon the withdrawal of the line from the South American trade in which it had been engaged up to then; and its Canadian service, fortnightly at first, became weekly in 1880. A line to Baltimore, Maryland, was established in the winter of 1886-7, and the winter service to Canada began with the Baltimore boats calling at Halifax on their west-bound voyages. No further attempt was made by the Americans to establish a line of steamers across the Atlantic until 1871, but in that year Messrs. Cramp of Philadelphia received orders for four large steamers of over 3000 tons each, and these with some English vessels maintained the service of the American Line. In 1884 the Red Star Line took over the line and ran the boats as cargo steamers. They were again transferred in 1893 to another American Line which three years later sold them. In the meantime, the later American Line ordered a number of vessels and, besides buying up the Inman Line, absorbed the Inman and International, which owned the steamers _City of Paris_ and _City of New York_. The new owners dropped the words “City of,” and also had two steamers built in America to comply with the Act of Congress under which the line was formed. The screw propeller was naturally not long in commending itself to the builders of ships for the long voyages to India and Australia. Mr. John Dudgeon, in an article published in 1856 on steam expansion and the suitability of expansion engines for long voyages, was almost prophetic in his remarks on the relative value of the screw propeller and the paddle-wheel. In the article he said: “The application of this property in steam to Australian screw steam navigation, would, if adopted, effect a radical change in the whole question. When we find that vessels of the magnitude of the _Great Britain_ have to run thousands of miles out of their course to get a fresh supply of coal, it becomes a question whether that state of matters may not be amended. I therefore propose that vessels of, say, 2000 tons be built and fitted with engines working up to 1100 horses actual power, which would ... consume 1609·5 lb. of coal per hour, and with this power the vessel would steam at least 10 knots an hour ... equal to 19 tons 4 cwt. per day and a speed of 240 knots; 500 tons of coal would therefore be enough for a run of twenty-five days, and 6000 nautical miles. Should it be deemed prudent to carry a reserve stock, coal for an additional 1500 miles would still not seriously interfere with the carrying properties of a large vessel, while it would obviate the necessity of having any stoppage but the Cape between Great Britain and Port Phillip. A vessel of 2000 tons builders’ measurement will carry at least 2000 tons dead weight, over and above her own weight of ship and machinery. Presuming that she takes coal for 9000 miles, or 750 tons, we still have a balance of 1250 tons for cargo and, in a well-arranged vessel, room for 350 passengers. Now I apprehend that as regularity and multiplied means of communication are the prime wants in all commercial matters, we should do better to sail such ships as these, with frequent departures, than if we were to build vessels of double the size, and have double the time to wait for a full freight and a full complement of passengers. No doubt that in a vessel double the size we may manage to carry coal for the whole distance to Port Phillip, but I apprehend that the delay of waiting for freight and passengers would more than balance the delay of coaling at the Cape. It must also be cheaper to send out coals in vessels adapted for the trade of carrying coal, than to occupy the valuable room in even a large vessel which ought to be appropriated to the carriage of that class of goods which will pay for rapid steam communication. The sole question at issue is: Can a vessel of from 2000 to 3000 tons be worked with an economy equal to a vessel of from 4000 to 6000 tons? I contend that not only is such the case, but that the balance of returns, and convenience to the public, must be in favour of the moderate-sized vessel. With such Leviathan vessels there is, first, the double outlay upon one ship and corresponding interest of capital; secondly, there is a double risk in case of losing the ship; a correspondingly higher premium of insurance; additional risk of not having full cargo; additional time required for procuring freight, stowing, and loading vessel, and the almost impossible feat to be performed of finding a sufficiently large body of passengers ready to go at the same time; the impossibility of entering the ordinary docks in the kingdom necessitating the use of a port of embarkation at a distance from the main channel of business. The whole of these weighty objections then have to be balanced by the economy theoretically presumed to be attainable by the increased capacity of vessels for carrying coal, cargo, and passengers. It appears obvious that coal-carrying can be done cheaper by auxiliary vessels, where the station is in a direct line, than by the vessel carrying them herself. It is only when the power of carrying coal is so small or the consumption is so large, that the vessel is forced to make a great number of stoppages, and make considerable detours to arrive at coaling stations, that stopping to coal becomes so serious an evil.” The writer goes on to contend that the propeller should be placed outside the rudder, so that a coarse pitch may work with proper effect, “as it is clearly proved that working the propeller in the deadwood destroys a large portion of its useful effect, so much so that an increase in the pitch of a propeller to the extent of one-third does not show more slip (when used behind the rudder) than the two-thirds when used before it.” He further contended that the proportion of stroke to diameter should be greater in an engine that is to drive a screw propeller direct than what is required for applying the same power to a paddle-wheel, and it would soon be found that as an instrument of propulsion, even for great speed, the screw would not be inferior to the most approved patent paddle-wheel. One has only to read a declaration of this character, by one of the leading shipbuilders of his day, and then compare the situation, the difficulties of which appeared to him wellnigh insuperable, but every one of which has passed away, with the frequent sailings of the enormous vessels which journey the whole of the way between England and Australia under steam alone without stopping, and carry passengers by the hundred, to realise the phenomenal developments which have marked the progress of the last fifty years. Races between steamers fitted with the rival modes of propulsion were not uncommon, but did not always take place with official sanction, though the results were carefully noted. One most exciting race was held by arrangement in the Channel to test the relative capacities of twin-screw and paddle boats in March 1865, the competitors being the twin-screw steamer _Mary Augusta_ and the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company’s new steamer _La France_, said to be the fastest boat in the Channel service. The screw boat left Greenhithe early in the morning and steamed down to Dover to wait the departure of the mail steamer. The latter, when time was taken, was about three cables’ length ahead of and on the weather bow of the _Mary Augusta_. The screw drew level, but a hot bearing developed in her starboard engine, necessitating that engine making fewer revolutions and causing her to steer badly. She continued to gain however, her rival, according to a contemporary record, “emitting such immense volumes of steam and smoke from her two funnels as satisfactorily proved that the engines were having more steam than they could make use of, and that _La France_ could never at any time or under any circumstances during her yet short career have been driven with more purpose to win than at the present.” After the heated bearing was cooled the _Mary Augusta_ resumed her full speed and the race was her own from that moment, and she reached Calais Pier three and a half miles ahead. The _Mary Augusta_ returned to England at full speed without entering Calais Harbour. The time occupied by her in the double run from Dover to Calais and back was 2 hours 45 minutes 10 seconds, a rate of speed never equalled by any screw steamer before. She went to the Thames at full speed in a violent north-east gale and was back at Gravesend at a quarter-past nine the same evening. We will now continue the history of the steam-ship services to the East, Africa, and South America. The P. & O. steamer _Himalaya_ has already been mentioned. She was built of iron, was launched at Mare’s shipyard at Blackwall in May 1853, and was originally intended to carry paddle-wheels driven by engines of 1200 horse-power, but at an early stage in her construction it was decided that she should be a screw boat. Her engines, by John Penn and Son, were of 700 horse-power. This steamer was 340 feet between perpendiculars and 46 feet 2 inches beam, and of 3550 tons. One notable steamer the company had was the _Delta_, launched in 1859 by the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company, and described as the handsomest of her class yet built on the Thames. She was a clipper-bowed vessel, carrying stump bowsprit, had two masts, and was fore and aft schooner-rigged. Her masts and her two funnels raked aft considerably, and gave her the appearance of possessing great speed. She was 350 feet in length over all, with a beam of 35 feet 3 inches. The engines, by Penn of Greenwich, were previously in the _Valetta_, from which they were taken to make room for machinery of less power. The change was of benefit to the _Valetta_, as she did equally well with her new engines. At her trial in Stokes Bay the _Delta_ averaged rather more than 14¹⁄₂ knots an hour, stated to be a greater speed than had been attained there by any previous vessel. She was double the tonnage of the _Valetta_ and carried 300 tons more coal, and had 1200 tons more displacement. Her engines, of 400 nominal horse-power, gave an indicated horse-power of over 1600. [Illustration: THE “DELTA” LEAVING MARSEILLES FOR THE OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL.] The company kept abreast of the times in its steam-ships, and without displaying any recklessness was not behind in adopting innovations likely to be advantageous. Its experiences with the compound engine were not such, however, as to encourage it to take the lead with new inventions. Its first essay in this direction was in the _Mooltan_, built in 1860, and by 1864 several steamers had been constructed with the new and costly engines. “But the result was a grave disappointment. The economy was undoubted; but the machinery, although it had been fitted by one of the most eminent firms in the country, regardless of cost, was found to be unreliable. The accidents were numerous, and although comparatively slight, they occurred so frequently that the efficiency of the mail service was in danger of being impaired. The result was that several of the ships thus fitted had these costly engines replaced by less complex machinery, involving the company in serious loss. The _Mooltan_ was an example of a vessel fitted with appliances in advance of the age. Not only were her engines of the new type, but she was likewise fitted with hydraulic steering gear and refrigerating machinery; and all these appliances had eventually to be removed, because they could not be relied on to work satisfactorily throughout a long voyage. It was not until 1869 that the company succeeded in building a steamer with high and low pressure machinery which could be considered thoroughly successful.”[88] [88] P. & O. Company’s Handbook. The African Steamship Company was incorporated in 1852 to carry out a contract with the British Government for conveying the mails monthly to the principal ports of the west coast of Africa and to Madeira and Teneriffe, and also to establish a line of steamers between Sierra Leone and the West Indies. The contract for the mails was entered into by Mr. Macgregor Laird in December 1851, and was for ten years from the ensuing December, commencing with an annual payment of £23,250 and diminishing by £500 a year during the continuance of the contract, thus averaging £21,500 per annum. Five steamers were built for this service by Laird of Birkenhead; they were of iron and were screw-propelled vessels. By 1860 the company was in difficulties and it was proposed to wind it up, but the directors were persuaded to try a service between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa, with excellent results to all concerned for a time, but the control of the company was not too efficient in London and the concern dwindled until, in 1891, it passed into the possession of Elder Dempster and Co., and then progressed even more rapidly than it had previously declined. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, who it will be remembered launched their first steamers in 1841, adopted the screw propeller in 1849 when they launched the _Esk_. They were the first to adopt screw propulsion for the conveyance of mails. The company assisted the Panama Railroad Company in 1850 by lending them 125,000 dollars towards the completion of the railroad across the isthmus, and in January 1851 opened a mail service from Southampton to Brazil and the River Plate. Several of their steamers were chartered as transports during the Crimean War. The _Dee_ was chartered in 1860 to the French Government to convey the “Irish Brigade,” which had been raised in Ireland to fight for Pope Pius IX. against Garibaldi, from Havre to Cork on their return from Italy. In the following year the Confederate States commissioners, Messrs. Slidell and Mason, were taken by force in West Indian waters by the Federals from the R.M.S.P. _Trent_. The “_Trent_ affair,” as the ensuing international crisis was called, ended in January 1862, when the company’s _La Plata_ arrived at Southampton with the two commissioners on board. The _Shannon_, one of their steamers, arrived at Southampton in August 1864 from the West Indies with a record consignment of specie, consisting of gold and silver to the value of £1,511,426 in 2207 packages, which was transferred to the Bank of England in forty-one waggons. In 1869 the R.M.S.P. transatlantic steamers extended their voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Ayres, thus avoiding transfer to smaller vessels at Rio de Janeiro; the _Douro_ being the steamer inaugurating this extension. The steam-ship _Victoria_, built of iron in 1852 for the Australian Royal Mail Steam Navigation Company, gained the prize of £500 offered by the colonies for the fastest voyage to Australia. Her time from Gravesend to Adelaide was sixty days, including two days’ stay at St. Vincent. She was designed by Messrs. I. K. Brunel and J. Scott Russell for a speed of ten knots under full steam, and to provide as much passenger accommodation and space for high-priced cargo as her coal requirements would permit. She was 261 feet on the water-line and registered 1350 tons. The entrance and run of the ship were of the wave-like form, while the central 45 feet were parallel; the bilges were round, the topsides tumbled home, and there was no external keel, so that she was very heavy in a seaway. The hull was in twelve water-tight compartments, and longitudinal bulkheads were carried through from the engine and boiler rooms so as to separate the coal from the machinery. The engines were of the oscillating type. The ship had four masts and a sail area of 1540 square yards. Under steam alone the engines at full power made 59 revolutions per minute and gave a speed of 11 knots, with a coal consumption of 37 tons per 24 hours. Under sail alone, with the screw held vertically, the speed was 5¹⁄₂ knots, but when the screw was allowed to run freely the speed increased to 7¹⁄₂ knots. Her average speed was nearly 11³⁄₄ knots. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s operations were confined to the west coast of South America until 1865, when, in pursuance of a supplemental charter, it extended its sphere to the River Plate. Steamers were specially built for the service, and in 1868, the _Pacific_, after being about three years on the coast, sailed for Liverpool from Valparaiso to inaugurate the new mail service. Six other iron screw vessels were added and the venture proved so profitable that it was determined to make the sailings fortnightly, and the steamers _Chimborazo_, _Aconcagua_, _Garonne_, _Cuzco_, and _Lusitania_ were built. All these steamers were afterwards in the Orient Line’s service to Australia, together with the _John Elder_, which was one of the earlier batch of boats on the Liverpool-Valparaiso route. Seven more steamers were added in 1871, and by 1873 the number of new vessels totalled eighteen. They were all clipper-bowed barque-rigged steamers and were very handsome craft. After this the company went in for the straight stem and pole-masted type of steamer. The rivalry in the various over-sea trades was very great, and no sooner did one shipowner secure a vessel which surpassed its competitors than other owners sought to improve upon it. The sailing ships were soon obliged to give way to the steam auxiliary vessels, especially when craft like the _Lightning_ appeared. The _Lightning_ was built by the Hendersons of Glasgow, and so pleased were her owners, Messrs. Apcar of Calcutta, and their representative, Captain Durham, with her, that he ordered the _Thunder_. The _Thunder_ was built by Mr. Lungley at his yard on the Thames and engined by Messrs. Dudgeon, and was an improved edition of her predecessor. The _Thunder_ was launched in December 1859, and soon demonstrated that she was the fastest steamer yet provided with a screw propeller. She was a handsome vessel, ship-rigged, with clipper bows, and her masts and funnels had a slight rake which gave her a very attractive appearance. Her length was 240 feet between perpendiculars, beam 30 feet, depth 22¹⁄₂ feet, and her tonnage, builder’s measurement, was