MARITIME CONVEYANCE. 



For nearly fifty years after the successful appli- 

 cation of steam to marine propulsion, the paddle- 

 wheel continued to be the sole means of propulsion 

 used. Attempts were made by Mr Stevens in 

 America, by Mr Woodcroft, and others, to use a 

 modification of the Archimedean screw, but with- 

 out much practical success. Even during the 

 eighteenth century, numerous writers had pointed 

 out how a screw might be used to propel a vessel. 

 The credit of practically introducing the screw- 

 propeller, however, belongs to Mr F. P. Smith. 

 This gentleman was not an engineer, and in no 

 sense can be called the inventor of the screw-pro- 

 peller, but he had great perseverance, and was 

 backed up by sufficient capital to enable him to 

 bring his labours to a successful issue. In 1837, 

 he and Captain Ericsson made many successful 

 experiments ; but it was not till 1840, after the 

 marked success of the Archimedes (232 feet long, 

 and 80 horse-power), that government was at last 

 induced to take up the matter. The first govern- 

 ment vessel fitted with a screw was the Rattler, 

 and from the experiments made with her was 

 gained much of the information which has enabled 

 shipbuilders and engineers to bring screw-pro- 

 pulsion to its present state of perfection. From 

 an engineering point of view, screw-propellers are in 

 all respects superior to paddles, but they have the 

 one defect, that they cause a more uncomfortable 

 motion of the ship a disadvantage as regards the 

 carrying of passengers. This, however, has not 

 proved of sufficient importance to prevent their 

 taking almost entirely the place of paddles. 



The two largest British steam-ship companies 

 are the Cunard Steam-ship Company, and the 

 Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation Com- 

 pany. These two great enterprises were started 

 in the same year, 1840 the one to trade to the 

 West, and the other to the East and they have 

 continued to grow apace and abreast ever since 

 that time. At present, the gross registered ton- 

 nage of the Cunard Company is about 90,000 ; 

 that of the latter is over 150,000 tons. 



We may take the Cunard line first, as its first 

 voyage was made two years previous to that of 

 the P. O. Company, although their incorpora- 

 tion took place in the same year. In 1838, govern- 

 ment made known its intention of establishing a 

 line of mail-steamers between England and Hali- 

 fax, and threw the contract for building and work- 

 ing the vessels open to competition. The contract 

 was eventually obtained by the late Sir Samuel 

 (then Mr) Cunard, Mr George Burns of Glasgow, 

 and the late Mr David M'lver. They started 

 four steamers, the first (the Britannia) leaving 

 Liverpool on the 4th of July 1840, and reaching 

 Boston in 14 days 8 hours, bringing news one month 

 later than had been brought by the immediately 

 preceding vessel. There were great and well- 

 founded rejoicings in Boston, banquets and firing 

 of guns ; and Mr Cunard, who was in the Britannia, 

 is said to have received 1800 invitations to dinner 

 in 24 hours ! The Company, which started with 

 four steamers, now possesses between 40 and 50.* 

 Their paddle-steamers Scotia and Persia (the 

 former 3871 tons) were for long considered un- 

 rivalled ; but lately, screw-steamers of even larger 

 dimensions have been added to the fleet ; of these, 

 the Bothnia and Scythia are each 4400 tons gross 

 register; the Gallia, laundhed in 1878, is 5000 



* Ocean-going steamers only ; not including steam-tenders, c. 



tons and has done the passage from New York 

 to Queenstown inj days 21 hours. The Arizona 

 did the same voyage in 7 days 8 hours.* The 

 Russia's passage in 8 days 28 minutes was till 

 then the fastest passage ; the return voyage from 

 Queenstown to New York being done in 8 days 6 

 hours and 56 minutes. The Cunard Company run 

 weekly steamers to New York, Boston (these carry 

 the mails), the Mediterranean, and Havre. They 

 have also established steamers between Liverpool 

 and Glasgow tri-weekly, between Glasgow and 

 Belfast daily, with the mails ; and between Glas- 

 gow and Londonderry. 



The Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation 

 Company was incorporated in the year 1840, and 

 has since that time, in spite of opposition and 

 competition, kept its place as the carrier of our 

 Eastern mails, and forms the principal means of 

 communication with our Indian Empire, China, 

 and Japan. Before its establishment, letters took 

 from three weeks to a month to reach Alexandria 

 from Southampton. Their first vessel, the Hindo- 

 stan, left Southampton in September 1842, to 

 open the line by plying between Calcutta, Madras, 

 Ceylon, and Suez. The Peninsular and Oriental 

 Company have, like the Cunard Company, steadily 

 increased their fleet in size and efficiency, and 

 they have at the same time been able frequently 

 to reduce their fares and the cost of conveying 

 mails. The latest mail contract made between 

 the company and the government came into 

 operation on Feb. I, 1880 : it lasts till Jan. 31, 

 1888. According to its provisions, the annual 

 subsidy for carrying the mails is fixed at 370,000, 

 or ,50,000 a year less than the previous con- 

 tract. The Company's steamers take in (besides 

 the Mediterranean and Indian Service) Singa- 

 pore, the ,. Chinese ports, and Yokohama ; and 

 in the south, Melbourne and Sydney ; the 

 voyages from Southampton to Yokohama and 

 Sydney being respectively 11,264 a d 11,623 miles 

 in length. The mere statement of these figures 

 does not give any adequate idea of the difficulties 

 which are entailed in dealing with such enormous 

 distances. The service must be so arranged that 

 mails leaving places so far apart as Yokohama, 

 Calcutta, and Sydney on their appointed days 

 must yet all reach Point de Galle together, in 

 order that they may be forwarded to Suez. The 

 steamers are thus at the same time in different 

 quarters of the globe, subject to variations of 

 wind and weather which cannot be foreseen, and 

 (once they have left port) entirely without means 

 of communication with their destination, or, 

 indeed, often with land of any kind. Under 

 these circumstances, the wonder is, not that 

 irregularities occasionally occur, but that we 

 should have got so accustomed to the punctual 

 delivery of letters from the other end of the 

 world, that we wonder what has happened if 

 they are not on our tables at breakfast-time on 

 the usual day, and would think something very 

 unusual had happened if they were two days 

 late. 



The * Anchor ' line of Transatlantic, Peninsular, 

 Mediterranean, and Oriental Steam-packet Ships 

 was established in 1854. It has more than quad- 

 rupled its fleet since the last edition of this work 

 appeared that is, since 1858 and now possesses 

 more than 30 steamers at work, representing 



* Mean time in both cases. 



455 



