PAPER A.
LIST OF AMERICAN OCEAN STEAMERS.
The mail service has 8 lines, and 21 steamers in commission, of 48,027 registered tonnage. Much of this tonnage belongs to supply ships, as for instance those of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. (See Section I.)
Collins Line, 3 steamers, 9,727 tons.
Adriatic, 4,14474/95 tons: Atlantic, 2,84966/99 tons: Baltic, 2,7331/95 tons.
Havre Line, 2 steamers, 4,548 tons.
Arago, 2,240 tons: Fulton, 2,308 tons.
Vanderbilt Bremen Line, 3 steamers, 6,523 tons.
North Star, 1,86760/95 tons: Ariel, 1,29528/95 tons: Vanderbilt[H], 3,36054/95 tons.
[H] Independent, running between New-York, Southampton, and Havre, in connection with the Bremen steamers.
United States Mail Steamship Company, 6 steamers, 8,544 tons.
Illinois, 2,12365/95 tons: Empire City, 1,75121/95 tons: Philadelphia, 1,2381/95 tons: Granada, 1,05890/95 tons: Moses Taylor, 1,200 tons: Star of the West, chartered, 1,1721/95, (contracting for a new ship.)
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 13 steamers, 16,421 tons.
Golden Gate, 2,06735/95 tons: Golden Age, 2,280 tons: J. L. Stephens, 2,189 tons: Sonora, 1,616 tons: St. Louis, 1,621 tons: Panamá, 1,08731/95 tons: California, 1,08564/95 tons: Oregon, 1,0999/95 tons: Columbia, 77734/95 tons: Republic, 850 tons: Northerner, 1,010 tons: Fremont, 576 tons: Tobago, 189 tons.
Charleston, Savannah, Key West, and Havana, 1 steamer, the Isabel, 1,115 tons.
New-Orleans and Mexico, 1 steamer, the Tennessee, 1,1491/2 tons.
The Coasting Service has 8 lines, and 23 steamers, of 24,071 tons registered tonnage.
New-York, Havana, and New-Orleans, 2. The Black Warrior, 1,5561/95 tons: Cahawba, 1,6431/95 tons = 3,199 tons.
New-York, Havana, and Mobile, 1. The Quaker City, 1,4283/95 tons.
New-York and Savannah, 4. Alabama, 1,26113/95 tons; Florida, 1,26113/95 tons: Augusta, 1,31061/95 tons; Star of the South, (propeller,) 9601/95 tons = 4,793 tons.
New-York and Charleston, 4. Columbia, 1,347 tons: Nashville, 1,220 tons: James Adger, 1,151 tons; Marion, 962 tons = 4,680 tons.
New-York and Virginia, 2. Roanoke, 1,071 tons: Jamestown, 1,300 tons = 2,371 tons.
Philadelphia and Savannah, 2. Key Stone State and State of Georgia, each about 1,300 tons = 2,600 tons.
Boston and Baltimore, 2. Joseph Whitney, 800 tons: Unknown, 800 tons = 1,600 tons.
New-Orleans and Texas. The Charles Morgan, Texas, Mexico, and Atlantic, averaging 600 tons each=2,400 tons.
New-Orleans and Key West. The General Rusk, 600 tons, and the Calhoun, 400 tons = 1,000 tons.
There are also several propellers running: between New-York and Charleston, New-York and Portland, and between Philadelphia and the South. They are all, however, small, and irregular in their trade. The Calhoun is not a regular steamship.
Steamers lying up, 18. Registered tonnage, 24,845 tons.
| Queen of the Pacific, | 2,801 | 92/95 | tons. |
| Washington, | 1,640 | 71/91 | tons. |
| Prometheus, | 1,207 | 61/95 | tons. |
| St. Louis, | 1,621 | 14/45 | tons. |
| Brother Jonathan, | 1,359 | 52/95 | tons. |
| Oregon, | 1,004 | 89/95 | tons. |
| Southerner, | 900 | tons. | |
| Herman, | 1,734 | 45/95 | tons. |
| Northern Light, | 1,747 | 91/95 | tons. |
| Uncle Sam, | 1,433 | 44/95 | tons. |
| California, | 1,058 | tons. | |
| Northerner, | 1,012 | tons. | |
| Ericsson, | 1,902 | 1/95 | tons. |
| Star of the West, | 1,172 | 33/95 | tons. |
| Daniel Webster, | 1,035 | tons. | |
| Orizaba, | 1,450 | 62/95 | tons. |
| Panamá, | 1,087 | tons. | |
| Fremont, | 576 | tons. |
The registered tonnage of these vessels was furnished me by Mr. S. P. Ingraham, of the New-York Custom-House.
PAPER B.
The following paper, prepared by Mr. Pliny Miles from the reports to which we have alluded, presents the British steam mail service in full detail.
"The following tabular statement gives the particulars of the ocean mail service of Great Britain, now carried on almost exclusively by steamships. The numbers in the margin, running from 1 to 15, will point out the different lines in the recapitulation at the close.
The following are the names of the steamers in service in each line, with the amount of tonnage, the horse power of each, the draught of water, the number of the officers and crew attached to each one, and, when it could be obtained, the date that each vessel was surveyed and approved for the service. Where the date of survey of a vessel is unknown, it is placed as near as possible with others surveyed at the same time, the vessels in each line being arranged in chronological order:
RECAPITULATION.
| Lines. | Number of steamers. | Horse Power. | Tonnage. | Number of men. | Service commenced. | How often. | Annual Compensation. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total, | 121 | 42,254 | 140,139 | 8,137 | $5,114,700[I] | ||
| 1 | 4 | 790 | 2,089 | 91 | 1833 | 2 a week | $4,250 |
| 2 | 4 | 1,284 | 2,408 | 115 | 1850 | 2 a day | 125,000 |
| 3 | 2 | 300 | 850 | 42 | 1840 | 1 a week | 6,000 |
| 4 | 4 | 973 | 2,782 | 200 | 1852 | 3 a month | 102,500 |
| 5 | 35 | 12,850 | 46,053 | 2,877 | 1853 | 2 a month | 1,121,500 |
| 6 | 9 | 6,418 | 18,406 | 922 | 1850 | 1 a week | 866,700 |
| 7 | 2 | 300 | 1,151 | 60 | 1854 | 1 a month | 73,500 |
| 8 | 20 | 9,308 | 29,454 | 1,667 | 1851 | 3 a month | 1,350,000 |
| 9 | 6 | 640 | 1,765 | 96 | 1854 | 1 a day | 77,500 |
| 10 | 5 | 797 | 1,852 | 107 | 1848 | 3 a week | 20,000 |
| 11 | 7 | 2,396 | 5,719 | 378 | 1852 | 2 a month | 125,000 |
| 12 | 1 | 60 | 250 | 16 | 1856 | 1 a day | 6,500 |
| 13 | 7 | 850 | 5,951 | 320 | 1852 | 1 a month | 106,250 |
| 14 | 5 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 575 | 1856 | 1 a month | 205,000 |
| 15 | 7 | 3,290 | 13,410 | 671 | 1857 | 1 a month | 925,000 |
[I] There are some lines not here noticed, which swell the sum to $5,333,985.—T. R.
PAPER C.
PROJET OF FRANCO-AMERICAN NAVIGATION.
Mr. Wm. Iselin, of Havre, kindly furnished me the following:
"The French Government has offered the following contracts:
"Havre to New-York, 26 voyages a year, fr.3,100,000, or $620,000.
"Bordeaux to Rio Janeiro, touching at Lisbon, Goree, Bahia, or Pernambúco, and a branch line from Rio Janeiro to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, 24 voyages a year, fr.4,700,000, or $940,000. The Government now requires 13 departures from Bordeaux and 13 from Marseilles at the same price.
"Nantes to St. Thomas, thence to Guadalupe, and thence to Martinique, with the following branch lines:
"No. 1. St. Thomas to St. Martha or Carthagena, and thence to Aspinwall.
"No. 2. St. Thomas to Porto Rico, thence to Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico.
"No. 3. From Martinique to Cayenne.
"The subvention offered is fr.6,200,000, or $1,400,000.
"The total amount of subvention offered for the 3 lines is therefore 14 millions of francs per annum, or $2,800,000.
"The Messageries Impériales have given a tender for the Brazil lines.
"William Iselin of Havre, in connection with Mr. Calley St. Paul, for the Havre and New-York line; the necessary capital of $3,200,000 is subscribed; their intention is to have a weekly departure from Havre to New-York, by making the fortnightly departures of the French boats alternate with American Havre and Bremen boats.
"For the line from Nantes to the West-Indies the Company Gautier is said to have given a tender; but it is doubtful if they can make up their capital."
The Messageries Impériales is one of the largest and strongest companies in all Europe. They have the following different lines: the Italian, the Constantinople direct, the Levant, the Egyptian, the Syrian, that of the Archipelago, the Anatolia, the Thessalian, the Danubian, the Trebizond, the Algiers, the Oran, and the Tunis lines, and forty-seven sea-steamers. They have already obtained the Brazilian service.
Mr. Iselin and others have proposed for the United States line, and will doubtless get it.
The Company Gautier may not get the West-India service, it is said. They had the line from Havre to New-York, with the steamers Alma, Cadis, Barcelona, Franc-Contois, Vigo, and the Lyonnaise, and without subvention. They found it impossible to run it without subsidy, and hence, sought a new home for their steamers. They attempted to run from Havre to New-Orleans; but this again failed, after four voyages. They had also the 1,800 ton ether ships, "François Arago," and "Jacquart," which broke down. These ether engines were built on the principle of De Tremblay; but the Company are now substituting steam for the ether engines. Thus, the experience of this Company proves two important positions which I have taken; that ocean mail steamers can not run on their receipts, and that many of the gazetted improvements on steam propulsion and the ordinary methods are valueless.
The Compagnie Gautier have a contract with Spain, for semi-monthly voyages between Cadiz and Havana, and receive $25,000 per round voyage for each steamer. They are all English built, iron vessels, of about 1,800 tons each. Lyons is the home of the Company.
PAPER D.
STEAM LINES BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA.
Collins, steamers Adriatic, Atlantic, and Baltic; (running:)
Havre, steamers Arago, and Fulton; (running:)
Bremen, steamers North Star, and Ariel; (running:)
Havre, in connection with the Bremen. Steamer Vanderbilt; (laid up:)
Cunard, steamers Persia, Arabia, Asia, Africa, Canada, America, Niagara, and Europa; (running:)
Cunard, screw-steamers Etna, Jura, Emue, Lebanon, and Cambria, (side-wheel; all running:)
Glasgow, screw-steamers Glasgow, Edinburgh, and New-York; (running:)
Bremen, steamer Ericsson; run temporarily by Mr. Sands; (laid up:)
Liverpool and Portland, screw-steamers Khersonese and Circassian, General Williams and Antelope; the two latter about 1,500 each, running via St. John's, N. F., the two former chartered for the East-Indies:
London and Montreal, screw-steamers; (names not known:)
Liverpool and Quebec, screw-steamers; (names not known:)
Liverpool and New-York, screw-steamers City of Manchester, City of Baltimore, City of Washington, and Kangaroo, (running;) (line ran to Philadelphia and was withdrawn:)
Hamburg and New-York, screw-steamers Borussia and Hammonia; building two more steamers, each 2,000 tons, in the Clyde, for same line; (running:)
Antwerp and New-York, screw-steamers Belgique, Constitution, Leopold I., Duc de Brabant, and Congress. Taken off and chartered to British Government for transporting troops. Names altered:
London, Cork and New-York, screw-steamers Minna and Brenda; (laid up:)
Havre and New-York, screw-steamers Barcelona, Jacquart, Alma, and François Arago, withdrawn, and running from Spain to Cuba. (See Paper C.)
Bremen and New-York. The North Dutch Lloyds are building four screw-steamers in the Clyde, of near 3,000 each, to run between Bremen and New-York:
The Continent, Southampton and New-York. Croskey's lino consists of the following screws, of about 2,300 tons each: the Argo, Calcutta, Queen of the South, Lady Jocelyn, Hydaspes, Indiana, Jason, and Golden Fleece. (Most of these steamers have been withdrawn from the route, and five of them are chartered for troops for India.)