63*8 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



Steamboat-owners confined themselves to voyages along the coast and 

 to near ports on adjacent islands. 



The matter, however, was frequently broached in the public prints 

 and many projects were mentioned. 



THE SECOND STEAM VESSEL TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC. 



In 1827, 8 years after the return of the Savannah to America, a com- 

 pany composed of merchants from Amsterdam and Rotterdam was 

 formed to inaugurate steam navigation with the Dutch West Indies. 

 The steamship Guracoa* 350 tons, was constructed for the company on 

 the Clyde, and made the initial trip successfully, sailing from Antwerp 

 August 12, 1828. This voyage was repeated during the year, but the 

 line was not a commercial success. 



THE THIRD TRANSATLANTIC STEAMSHIP. 



The Royal William, 360 tons, 160 feet long, 44 feet beam, schooner- 

 rigged, was built at Quebec in 1831 and engined at Montreal. The fol- 

 lowing year she crossed the Atlantic and arrived safely in London. 

 There she attracted the attention of the agents of the Spanish Govern- 

 ment, who purchased her, changing her name to Isabella II. 



She was the first Spanish war vessel. 



Such was the condition of affairs when, in 1833, Dr. Junius Smith, 

 an American who had resided for 30 years in London, entered with en- 

 thusiasm upon the scheme of establishing a steamship line between 

 England and New York. After much arduous labor the British and 

 American Steam Navigation Company was capitalized at £1,000,000, 

 the subscription books being opened in July, 1836. 



The stock was rapidly subscribed, and a few months later a contract 

 was entered into for a steam frigate of 1,700 tons burthen, to have two 

 engines of 225 horse-power each, at a cost of about £60,000. 



The firm who was to engine the vessel, however, failed, and a new 

 contract was entered into with Robert Napier, of Glasgow, which re- 

 sulted in the completion of the 2,400 tons steamship British Queen, in 

 the spring of 1839 — a twelvemonth later than the first steamship 

 ordered was expected to be delivered. 



In the meantime the City of Kingston, the fourth steamship to cross 

 the Atlantic, had arrived in New York from Cork, Ireland, 2d April, 

 1838 ; and the Great Western, a 1,300-ton steamship, with 200 horse- 

 power engine, designed by Brunell, the celebrated engineer, had been 

 constructed and launched by the Great Western Railway, of England, 

 at a cost of about £50,000. 



The British and American Line being anxious to be foremost in the 

 field, leased the Sirius, a 700-ton ship, and had her hastily overhauled 

 for a transatlantic trip. The Sirius sailed from Cork at 10 o'clock on 



* The same burthen as the Savannah. 



