116 Report of the House of Commons on Steam-Boats. 



engines; the names of the builders and of the engine-makers; 

 the date of their being laimched, and also the station where 

 they ply ; from this list it appears, that in the space of a very 

 few years the public have been accommodated, in all direc- 

 tions, with this safe, rapid and oeconomical mode of convey- 

 ance. 



The experience of what steam-boats have performed, is fully 

 sufficient to place beyond all doubt their safety even in the 

 most tempestuous weather. The Rob Roy plied two winters 

 between Greenock and Belfast, and last winter between Dover 

 and Calais ; the Eclipse plied the whole of last winter between 

 Glasgow and Belfast, and the Cambria between Liverpool and 

 Bagilt ; a steam-boat has plied regularly, through all seasons, 

 between New York, the Havannah and New Orleans ; all the 

 other steam-boats which have been used at sea have been ex- 

 posed to numerous severe gales. But the trial which the 

 Holyhead steam-boats went through diu'ing the last tempes- 

 tuous winter, from the nature of the service requiring them 

 to go to sea at a fixed hour every day, proves that steam-boats, 

 when properly constructed, are able to go to sea when sailing 

 vessels could not, and that in some respects they possess, in 

 very bad weather, advantages over sailing vessels. The fol- 

 lowing extracts from the evidence of Captain Rogers are quite 

 conclusive as to the power and safety of steam-boats at sea. 



" Q. Have you had full trial of the steam-packets, with re- 

 spect to gales of wind ? — A. Yes, in every way. 1 crossed in 

 the Meteor, on the 5th of February, in the heaviest sea I have 

 seen during eight years I have been on the station. — Q. Have 

 the steam-packets sailed regularly during the whole winter ? 

 —A. Except a very few days ; I have seen them go several 

 times when sailing packets could not. — Q. Have you found 

 that the steam-packets built under the inspection of the Navy 

 Board are as safe as any vessel you ever navigated ? — A. Cer- 

 tainly. — Q. Is there any danger, in your opinion, to be ap- 

 prehended from them as steam- vessels ? — A. No. — Q. Are 

 you of oi)inion, that in the event of the engine failing, with the 

 assistance of sails and the anchor you may keep a packet in 

 perfect safety ? — A. There is no doubt of it ; by putting two 

 cables together, which she has on board, she would ride out 

 any gale in the channel as easy as a glove. — Q. Are the Com- 

 mittee to understand your opinion to be, that in any weather, 

 however severe, the steam-boats will stand that weather as well 

 as any sail-boat ? — A. Yes, in any wind ; the more wind the 

 better for the steam-boats; that is where they show their su- 

 periority.— Q. In the heaviest gale that could blow, you would 

 rather be in a steam-packet than a sailing-packet ? — A. Yes ; 



that 



