372 STEAM NAVIGATION BY THE RED SEA. 



inches, which, tried on the second voyage, has been fovmd 

 an improvement, owing perhaps to the depth of water she 

 drew when overloaded with ten days' coal, which is three 

 if not four days' more than this fine man-of-war steamer 

 was built to carry. The Hugh Lindsay steamed from 

 Bombay to Cosseir, a distance of 2700 miles, in sixteen 

 days and twelve hours, which is an average of seven knots 

 an hour. The passage from Bombay to Cosseir will, from 

 1st September to 1st June, be always made in twenty-one 

 days, including the taking in of coals ; and to Suez in twenty- 

 three davs. Mr. Barker, his majesty's consul-general in 

 Egypt, thinks that, with a relay of dromedaries, packets 

 raii^ht be sent by the Desert from Cosseir to Alexandria in 

 six'or seven days ; and this would prevent the possibility 

 of stoppage from the inundation of the Nile. It would also 

 save four°or five days' coal in going to Suez and returning, 

 and the expense and trouble of depositing and shipping it 

 at a place where vessels must anchor five miles from the 

 shore. At Cosseir they lie close to the town, and have in 

 all weather safe anchorage, besides plentiful supplies, good 

 water, and a land carriage for packets and passengers. 

 With respect to the latter, few will go this route that do not 

 desire to see Upper Egypt ; this they could not do without 

 much trouble and expense if they went to Suez. 



With regard to passengers, they should not be counted 

 upon as ever likely to remunerate government for the ex- 

 pense of steam-vessels between Bombay and Egypt. These 

 vessels should be built as packets. There cannot be a better 

 model than the Meteor, or the Admiralty yachts, which are 

 about 300 tons, with round sterns, and the cabins lighted by 

 sky-lights. The vessels for the Red Sea might have about 

 two feet beam more than the Meteor, and two sixty, instead 

 of two fifty-horse power engines. This would greatly 

 increase the speed. They might carry eight or ten passen- 

 gers with very limited accommodation, and they could be 

 provided with a plain table by the commander of the vessel 

 for half the price charged (the same as his majesty's steamers 

 to Malta), the other half going in part payment of coals. 

 No other plan will succeed. As to passengers, there is not, 

 and will not be for many years, any intercourse between 

 India and England bv this route that will make passengers 

 profitable ; and no extra expense is warrantable on thus 



