166 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ Vou. IIL. 
every day in the year. It was moreover affirmed in the discussion that 
“a 26-knot speed is not beyond the scope of advancing improvements.” 
As the narrowest part of the Atlantic extends from Great Britain to 
Newfoundland, the distance could be traversed by a 26-knot ship in 63 
hours. Even a 22-knot ship (and this rate is about the present limit) 
could perform this part of the voyage in 75 hours. Thus it appears that 
enormous as has been the steamship development in the past, practical 
men do not consider it has reached its final stage. The ratiopor 
increase may in future be diminished, but with all the evidence of 
progress before us, is it unreasonable to expect that a few years hence 
(assuming Newfoundland within the Canadian confederation) improved 
steam-ships will bring the shores of the Dominion within less than 
three days from the shores of the Mother Country, and that the pas- 
sage will be made with the regularity of a daily ferry? 
As Canada has acted a primary part in inaugurating the ocean steam 
service as it now exists, and which is su full of promise for the future, 
it appears to me becoming that we should cherish the memory of her sons, 
who, by their energy, skill and enterprise prominently aided in_ its 
development. Of those whose lives were closely identified with its first 
inception, the last survivor, Mr. James Goudie, lately died, and his death 
suggests that before the year comes to a close, steps should be taken 
to pay honor to the men who built and sent to sea the first regular 
steam-ship “to battle with the billows of the Atlantic.” Is it not our 
duty to remember gratefully our fellow-country-men, who had the 
courage to undertake, and who successfully accomplished an enterprise, 
great in its conception and yet immeasurably greater in its consequences? 
It is no mere figure of speech to claim that these early efforts to which 
I will now allude, in no small degree assisted in inaugurating a system of 
inter-communication by sea, which has revolutionized commerce, and 
advanced the cause of civilization in the four quarters of the globe. 
A paper was read last year before the Literary and Historical Society 
of Quebec by one of the Vice-Presidents, Mr. Archibald’ Campbell, on 
the passage made by the steamship “ Royal William,” nearly 60 years 
ago. Mr. Campbell enters into full particulars of the event, furnishes a 
diagram of the vessel together with letters from various individuals, com- 
prising the ship architect, the builder, the captain and others in support 
of the claim that the first ocean steamship was built in Canada. Among 
other authorities, he refers to Mr. Kivas Tully, who, he states, “de- 
livered a most valuable lecture in Toronto thereon before the Canadian 
Institute in 1877.” Mr. Tully’s paper cannot be found, but with the aid 
of the Assistant Secretary of the Institute, who has examined the 
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