CHAPTER IV.

Struggle between Great Britain and United States for the Atlantic carrying trade—English shipowners cleave to Protection—“Baltimore clippers” and “American liners”—The _Savannah_, the first American Atlantic steamer, 1819—The _Curaçoa_, 1829—The _Royal William_, 1833, from Quebec—The _Sirius_ and _Great Western_, 1838—Successful voyages of these vessels—Details of _Great Western_—The _Royal William_, second of that name, the first steam-ship from Liverpool, 1838, followed by the _Liverpool_—Origin of the Cunard Company—Contract for conveyance of mails—Conditions—Names and particulars of the first steamers in this service—The _Britannia_—Comparative results of different vessels—Building (1839) and loss (1841) of the _President_—Building of the _Great Britain_ in 1843—Advantages of iron ships—American auxiliary screw steamer _Massachusetts_, 1845—American line of steamers to Europe, 1847—First ocean race won by the English—Not satisfied with Cunard line, the Americans determine to start one of their own—Reasons for so doing—American shipowners complain justly of the “Protective” policy of their own Government—Nevertheless adopted—Collins line established—Original terms of subsidy—Dimensions of their steamers—Mr. Faron’s visit to England—Details of the build of these vessels—Engines—Frame sustaining engines and dead weight—Cost of steamers greatly increased by demand for increased speed—Further details of competing lines—Speed obtained and cost—Great competition, 1850-1852—Results of it. [Sidenote: Struggle between England and the United States for the Atlantic carrying trade.] Having furnished a general outline of the rise and progress of propulsion by steam on the rivers, coasts, and lakes of the United States of America, and traced its advance in Great Britain to the period when the superiority of the screw over the paddle-wheel, and of iron over wood, had come to be generally acknowledged, I shall now ask my readers to accompany me while I endeavour to describe the great contest between these two countries for the carrying trade of the Atlantic. It is a grand story to tell, one far more worthy of record than the wars for maritime supremacy between Rome and Carthage, or than, perhaps, some wars of more recent times which, without any apparently useful object, have stained land and sea with the blood alike of the victor and the vanquished, rendering desolate many a once happy home. The war I have now to relate was a far nobler conflict, consisting as it did in the struggle between the genius, scientific skill, and industry of the people of two great nations, commenced, too, and, continued throughout without bloodshed and with a fair field, neither country having, in the direct trade, any special legislative advantages. [Sidenote: English shipowners cleave to Protection.] Though the Americans still retain the whole of their river, lake, and coasting trade, including even the distant voyage between New York and California, for the immediate benefit of their own shipping, the vessels of both nations conduct on equal terms the intercourse between the mother-countries, and have done so for more than half a century. But when, towards the close of the War of Independence, the struggle for supremacy commenced, the shipping of both England and America were, in all branches of their maritime commerce, under the leading-strings of their respective legislators. England would not then allow American vessels to trade with most of her vast possessions and, while thus nursing her shipowners, prevented the mass of her people from deriving the advantages invariably flowing from a natural and wholesome competition. Nor did she, indeed, confer any real benefit on this favoured class: on the contrary, she taught them to lean on Protection, instead of depending on their own skill and industry. The consequences were apparent in even the earlier results of this struggle. Having ample fields for employment exclusively their own, English shipowners did not enter with their wonted energy, into the direct carrying trade between their own country and America, which was so rapidly developed after the Americans had become independent; they remained satisfied with those branches of commerce expressly secured to them by law, just as the boy too frequently does who, receiving a small patrimony by his parents, cares not to exert himself to increase it and, consequently, leaves others not so highly favoured, to surpass him in the race of competition for wealth and independence. Thus the shipowners of Great Britain did not care to continue their vessels in the trade with America in a competition, on equal terms, with those of that country, especially when they found they would have to produce a superior class of vessel and to use extra exertions, to make this trade pay as well as did their protected branches of oversea commerce without the additional trouble of “improvements.” It was otherwise with the shipowners of the United States, for there was then no other branch of oversea trade where the laws of nations allowed them to compete on equal terms with foreign vessels. [Sidenote: “Baltimore clippers,” and “American liners.”] Although possessing the advantage of vast forests of timber for the construction of their ships, the American shipbuilders were obliged to import their iron[164] from Great Britain, their hemp from Russia, and many other articles necessary for the equipment of their vessels from other and distant countries; they did not, therefore, especially as skilled labour was higher at home than in Europe, engage in the vigorous though peaceful struggle, I am about to describe, with any special advantages, but, being equal in energy and industry, they had the incalculable advantage of being obliged to depend on themselves. They, consequently, set to work to construct that description of merchant-vessel likely to yield the most remunerative returns, adopting the best mechanical contrivances within their reach, so as to reduce navigation to the smallest cost consistent with safety and efficiency; and the world soon saw the results of their labours in their celebrated “Baltimore clippers” and the still more celebrated “American liners,” which for a considerable period almost monopolised the carrying trade between Great Britain and the States. Yet, strange to say, though the superiority of the merchant-vessels of the United States soon became only too apparent, scarcely any improvements were adopted by Great Britain, or indeed, by any other nation, until wiser statesmen than had hitherto guided the councils of this country swept away the whole paraphernalia of her Navigation Laws, and left her shipowners to rely entirely on their own resources. I have already shown that this superiority consisted mainly in the fact that American ships could sail faster and carry more cargo, in proportion to their registered tonnage, than those of their competitors; but their improvements did not rest here. In considering the current expenses of a merchantman, manual labour is one of the most important items, and, herein, our competitors, by means of improved blocks and various other mechanical appliances, so materially reduced the number of hands that twenty seamen in an American sailing-ship could do as much work, and probably with more ease to themselves, than thirty in a British vessel of similar size. With such ships we failed successfully to compete; and although we have since far surpassed them in ocean steam navigation, the Americans were the first to despatch a steamer, for trading purposes, across the Atlantic. [Sidenote: The _Savannah_, the first American Atlantic steamer, 1819.] In 1791, when the steam-boat was in its infancy—indeed, when it was hardly known—Mr. Fitch[165] of Windsor, Connecticut, boldly predicted that sailing-vessels would soon be superseded in the carrying trade between Great Britain and America by steamers, though it was not till 1819, that the American steam-ship _Savannah_, of 300 tons, arrived at Liverpool from Savannah, Georgia, in thirty-one days, partly steaming and partly sailing;[166] but as her horse-power was too small, while she was otherwise unsuited for ocean navigation, she did not prove commercially remunerative. The questionable success of the _Savannah_, combined with the fact that about this time, and for some years afterwards, men of science[167] were demonstrating, at least to their own satisfaction, that the navigation of the Atlantic by steam power alone, was the dream of a visionary, prevented, for ten years, the renewal of this bold experiment, the American sailing-vessels continuing to retain the bulk of this carrying trade. [Sidenote: The _Curaçoa_, 1829; the _Royal William_, 1833, from Quebec.] [Sidenote: The _Sirius_ and _Great Western_, 1838.] The next step in Transatlantic steam navigation was the dispatch, in 1829, of an English-built vessel, the _Curaçoa_, of 350 tons and 100 horse-power, which made several successful voyages between Holland and the Dutch West Indies. On the 18th of August 1833, a steam-ship named the _Royal William_[168] sailed from Quebec and arrived at Gravesend on the 11th of September, having been detained three days at Nova Scotia on her way to England. But it was not until 1838 that the practicability of profitably employing vessels propelled by steam on an Atlantic voyage was fully tested. In that year, an advertisement appeared announcing that the “steam-ship Sirius, Lieutenant Roberts, R.N., Commander, would leave London for New York on Wednesday, the 28th of March, calling at Cork Harbour, and would start from thence on the 2nd of April, returning from New York on the 1st of May.” Thus a company of merchants was found sanguine enough to test the practicability of regular steam navigation with the United States, by advertising, not merely the days of sailing from England, but, also, those of arrival and departure from America. Circumstances, however, delayed the departure of the _Sirius_ until the morning of the 4th of April, when she started, at ten o’clock, with ninety-four passengers. Although not built for Transatlantic navigation, having been previously employed by the St. George Steam Navigation Company in their trade between London and Cork, the _Sirius_ was much superior in size to either of the three vessels which had previously made the voyage, being about 700 tons register with engines of 320 horse-power, constructed by Thomas Wingate, of Glasgow.[169] But the _Sirius_ was soon surpassed by the _Great Western_, which three days afterwards (the 7th of April, 1838) followed her with goods and passengers for New York. As the _Great Western_, the marvel of the period, was the first steam-ship specially constructed for the now vast trade between Great Britain and the United States, it may interest my readers to know that she was built of wood by Mr. Patterson, of Bristol, according to his own design, and that her dimensions were 212 feet in length between the perpendiculars, 35 feet 4 inches breadth of beam, and 23 feet 2 inches depth of hold; registering 1340 tons, builders’ measurement.[170] Her engines (on the side lever principle) were 440 horse-power, constructed by Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of London, having cylinders 73½ inches in diameter and 7 feet stroke, making twelve to fifteen revolutions per minute.[171] She was commanded by Captain Hosken. In the interval between the sailing of the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_ and their arrival at New York, much doubt prevailed as to the probability of their accomplishing the voyage in safety, and this uncertainty was increased by the arrival at ports in Great Britain, of vessels from America, without having encountered either of them; it was forgotten for the moment, that, in the immensity of the ocean, vessels may easily miss each other although traversing the same zones. They were however at length spoken with by the _Westminster_, an American sailing packet, the _Sirius_ on the 21st April, within six hours’ sail of her destination, and the _Great Western_ on the 22nd. The former reached New York on that day after a passage of seventeen days; the latter completed the passage in two days’ less time, having arrived (without any accident in either case), on the 23rd of that month. [Sidenote: Successful voyages of these vessels.] The safe arrival of these ships at New York was hailed with immense acclamation, thousands of persons having gathered early in the morning to bid them welcome, and, as this, too, is a matter of historical interest, I shall trouble my readers with the substance of the accounts of their arrival as they appeared, at the time, in the public journals.[172] [Sidenote: Details of the _Great Western_.] The _Sirius_ sailed on her homeward voyage on the afternoon of the 1st of May, her advertised time, and the _Great Western_ on the 7th of that month. The former reached England on the 18th of May, the latter on the 22nd, being respectively, sixteen and fourteen days on the passage. The whole distance run from Bristol to New York, by the _Great Western_, was 3125 knots,[173] her average speed being 208 miles each day, or 8·2 per hour, consuming 655 tons of coal. Her return passage was accomplished at an average of 213 knots each day, or close upon 9 knots an hour, with a consumption of 392 tons of coal (the difference of consumption arising no doubt in a great measure from the prevalence on her homeward passage of westerly winds); her average daily consumption on this occasion varied from 27 tons, with expansive gear in action, to 32 tons without it.[174] As the _Sirius_ was not intended for the American trade she made only the one voyage across the Atlantic and, on her return to Liverpool, was dispatched to London to open up steam communication between that city and St. Petersburg, where she was for some years successfully employed. [Sidenote: _Royal William_, the second of that name, the first steamship from Liverpool, 1838.] But another steam-vessel was soon engaged to take the place of the _Sirius_. On the 6th of July, 1838, a paragraph in the public journals[175] announced the interesting fact that the enterprising merchants of Liverpool, who now hold the great bulk of the Anglo-American trade in their hands, had dispatched their first steam-ship, the _Royal William_, though the second of that name, to New York.[176] Although the practicability of steam navigation across the troubled waters of the Atlantic had now been triumphantly established, other steam-ships having followed the _Royal William_ in rapid succession, many years elapsed before the magnificent sailing-vessels which American energy and skill had created, were driven from the trade. [Sidenote: followed by the _Liverpool_.] In October 1838, Sir John Tobin, a well-known merchant of Liverpool, seeing the importance of the intercourse now rapidly increasing between the old and new worlds, dispatched on his own account, a steamer to New York. She was built at Liverpool, after which place she was named, and made the passage outwards in sixteen and a half days. It was now clearly shown that the service could be performed, not merely with profit to those who engaged in it, but with a regularity and speed which the finest description of sailing-vessels could not be expected to accomplish. If any doubts still existed on these important points the second voyage of the _Great Western_ set them at rest, she having on this occasion accomplished the outward passage in fourteen days sixteen hours, and the homeward passage in twelve days fourteen hours, bringing with her the advices of the fastest American sailing-ships which had sailed from New York long before her; and thus proving the necessity of having the mails in future conveyed by steamers. But this idea so far from being new was coexistent with the