276 



PROSPECTS OF STEAM-NAVIGATION. 



about twenty and tLe eastern sixteen days their steam-machinery working S 

 for about one third the time of the voyage. 



On comparing these vessels with the Great Western, it is to be considered 

 that, in order to enable the latter vessel to make an average speed of ten miles, 

 she is provided with four-hundred-hors.e power ; while the power proposed to 

 be given to the ship now in preparation being only that of one hundred and 

 seventy-three horses, would give a speed of seven and a half knots per hour, 

 which is equivalent to nine statute miles. Such is the result of a calculation 

 made on the ordinary and admitted principles of mechanics. It appears, then, 

 that by the small sacrifice of twenty-five per cent, of the speed, the power of 

 the machinery is reduced in the proportion of forty to seventeen ; and the con- 

 sumption of fuel, and the space occupied by it and by the machinery, are di- 

 minished in a greater ratio than six to one.* 



Let us consider for a moment the effect which the successful establishment 

 of such a line of steamships would have upon the intercourse between this con- 

 tinent and Europe. The average passage of the Great Western to New York 

 has been fifteen days and nineteen hours. That of the Cunard ships to Boston 

 has been thirteen days. It appears, therefore, that these vessels at present 

 bring occasional intelligence to New York, the one in sixteen and the other in 

 fourteen days. The proposed line of steamships will accomplish the same 

 passage in twenty days ; but as they must, if successful at all, be as numerous 

 as the present London and Liverpool liners, they will be continually dropping 

 into this port, keeping up a never-ceasing streajn of intelligence, not more than 

 twenty days later from Europe. Instead, therefore, of the present mail-steam- 

 ers, bringing, as they do now, intelligence in winter often thirty days later, 

 and in summer fifteen days later, their functions will be limited to the convey- 

 ance of news occasionally five or six days later. In a word, it is evident 

 that the line of packet-ships now contemplated will to a great extent strip the 

 present mail-steamers of their great importance, not merely as respects intelli- 

 gence, but also correspondence. A great epoch is indubitably at hand. 



One of the numerous advantages attending these arrangements is, that the 

 machinery is capable of being applied to any of the present packet-ships with- 

 out any serious suspension of their operation, or any injurious expenditure. 

 If the experiment about to be made shall therefore be attended with that suc- 

 cess which we confidently anticipate, a brief period will be sufficient to con- 

 vert the entire fleet of packet-ships between New York and Britain into steam- 

 liners uniting the expedition, certainty, and regularity, with all their present 

 capabilities for commerce and cargo. 



* This great reduction of bulk of fuel is realized chiefly by using the expansive principle to a 

 considerable extent 



