Steam-ships

General Steam Navigation Company

To London shipowners belongs the credit of establishing one of the oldest steam-ship companies in the world, the General Steam Navigation Company. It was founded as far back as 1820 and its first steamer, the City of Edinburgh, was built expressly for trade between Edinburgh and London by Messrs. Wigram and Green at Blackwall, and was launched on March 31, 1821. Her engines were by Boulton and Watt, and were of 80 horse-power nominal.

A steam-ship of any kind was a novelty at that time, and the launch of such a large vessel on the Thames attracted the attention of all classes. The Duke and Duchess of Clarence, who were afterwards William the Fourth and Queen Adelaide, accompanied by the Duchess of Kent and a large suite, paid a special visit to the wharf to see her. The royal party expressed themselves as much surprised by the magnificence of the accommodation provided for the passengers as by the noble and graceful proportion of the vessel in which such powerful machinery had been placed. The City of Edinburgh was followed in June 1821 by the James Watt, launched by Messrs. Wood and Co. of Port Glasgow, and at that time described as “the largest vessel ever seen in Great Britain propelled by steam.” Her engines were of 100 nominal horse-power, and drove paddle-wheels 18 feet in diameter with sixteen floats, which were 9 feet in length by 2 feet broad.

The company was incorporated in 1824 and then and for many years afterwards occupied a place second to none in the British mercantile marine as carrier of passengers, mails, goods, and cattle on the leading routes from London to the North, and to the principal commercial ports of Western Europe. The Earl of Liverpool, of 168 tons register and 80 horse-power, was built for the company at Wallis’s yard on the Thames in 1822.

An early picture of this vessel shows her to have been two-masted, carrying on the foremast three jibs, two topsails, and a trysail, and on the mizzen two enormous flags, one several yards long bearing the name of the vessel, and the other, half the size of her spanker, being the company’s house flag, while at the stern she displayed an immense ensign, and at the bows a little Union Jack. Her paddle-boxes were rather forward of amidships, and a tall funnel with a spark-catcher above stood a short distance in front of the mizzen-mast.

In 1833 this company built the Monarch, of which a contemporary newspaper says, under the heading “Gigantic Steamboat”:

“The dimensions of the Monarch, Edinburgh steamer, launched a few days since are as follows:—extreme length 206 feet 1¹⁄₂ inches, width of deck 37 feet, width outside the paddles 54 feet 4 inches, length of keel in the tread 166 feet; length of deck from the stem to the taffrail 193 feet, depth in hold 18 feet. The extreme length given above is within 2 feet of the largest ship in the British Navy; she is larger than any of His Majesty’s frigates, and longer than our 84-gun ships. Her tonnage is somewhat more than 1200 tons, and the accommodation below is so extensive that she will make up 140 beds, and 100 persons may conveniently dine in her Saloons.”

The Trident, built in 1842, was another of the company’s famous ships, and was probably the first steam-ship in which a reigning sovereign went for a lengthy sea voyage. Queen Victoria paid her first visit to Scotland and made the return journey from Edinburgh with Prince Albert and their suite on this vessel. An interesting description of the voyage appeared in “Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands.” The Queen remarked of the accommodation on the Trident “that it was much larger and better than on the Royal George,” which was the royal yacht of the period, and that it was “beautifully fitted up.” The Trident soon lost sight of all the accompanying vessels, except the company’s steamer Monarch, which “was the only one that could keep up with us.” Writing a few days later to the King of the Belgians the Queen says: “We had a speedy and prosperous voyage home of forty-eight hours on board a fine, large, and very fast steamer, the Trident, belonging to the General Steam Navigation Company.”

These vessels, of course, were of wood, but when iron steamers were introduced and paddles gave way to the screw propeller, the company was not slow to see the advantages of the innovations, and to adopt them for its services.

In modern times this company has distinguished itself by its zeal for self-improvement. Every important development in steam-ship construction and engineering has been marked by the company by an addition to its fleet, one of the most recent being the Kingfisher, the first steam turbine-driven passenger steamer on the Thames.

London and Edinburgh Shipping Company

Probably on none of the British coasts was the advent of the steamer hailed with more pleasure than on the east coast. Travel between London and the east of Scotland, before railways were possible, and when the land journey had to be made by stage-coach or on horseback, or a sea journey performed in sailing smacks, was a tedious operation. The smacks were large of their sort, and as comfortable as vessels of that period usually were (which is not saying much), but the North Sea was as turbulent then as now, so that passengers who went down to that part of the sea in smacks usually had an experience which lasted them a lifetime.

The London and Leith service of the present day is maintained by a line of steamers as good as any on the coast. The existing company was not the first to trade between the two ports whence it takes its name, but its history connects it with the earliest attempts to found a regular service between the English and Scottish capitals. This was established in 1802 by the old Edinburgh and Leith Shipping Company, with six smacks. About seven years later there was established a London and Edinburgh Shipping Company, which possessed ten smacks. There had previously been a Leith and Berwick Company, so called because Berwick was a port of call between the Forth ports and London. This was the Union Company, which for fifty years previously had traded from Berwick. It was absorbed by the London and Leith Shipping Company in 1812, and this combination was joined by another in 1815. The existing company is the lineal descendant of the combination of the three.

Before steam was used “it was not an uncommon experience,” says an historical publication issued by the London and Edinburgh Shipping Company, “for a smack to lie windbound in the roads for days before venturing out of the Forth, and instances were more than traditional of a smack with a cabin full of passengers being tossed about on the North Sea for days or weeks, and then forced to come back to Leith for the replenishment of stores, without having been any nearer to London than when she set out.” On one occasion a smack in which there were seven cabin passengers was nine days at sea, the year being 1825, and the month March. Upon leaving Leith for London and getting well into the North Sea they were driven towards Norway for four days, when a “welcome change of wind set in, which drove them back towards Scotland with equal rapidity.” Having sighted the Bell Rock they continued the voyage to London, and made a good run in spite of the loss of some spars and canvas. The passengers were “unhappy” and at times were not allowed on deck for fear of being washed overboard. Another smack was three weeks endeavouring to get to London and then had to return for more stores. Prior to the smacks the voyages were usually made by brigs of anything between 160 to 200 tons, which sailed when their owners thought they had enough cargo and passengers aboard.

Presumably no one sailed by smack who could afford to coach between Scotland and London, but the coach fare in 1824 was £13 and the smack fare £4. Passengers by smack had a fair chance of witnessing a sea-fight, during which the ladies would be locked up in the cabin while the martially-inclined among the passengers might be called upon to assist the crew in repelling the attack of a French privateer. The smacks were superseded by the celebrated Aberdeen schooners or themselves converted to that rig, and the schooners bravely upheld the reputation of sail as long as possible against the all-conquering power of steam. But in 1850 the company introduced steam and the fine clippers were withdrawn. It is this company’s proud boast that it has never lost a passenger.

The Carron Company

The Carron Company, manufacturers of iron goods, maintained a passenger service between Carron and London with sailing sloops long before steam-ships were invented. So long ago as 1779 the company advertised in the Edinburgh Advertiser as follows:

As the sloops carried the company’s famous carronades there can be no doubt that they were well armed. The company can boast a more ancient connection with steam-ship building than any other firm in the British Isles, for they constructed the hull for one of the Miller boats and assisted in the construction of one of Symington’s engines. Miller is reported to have examined Symington’s engines at the Carron works. The company soon ran steamers instead of sailing vessels along the east-coast route and have continued to do so up to the present day, the latest additions to their fleet being the Thames by A. and J. Inglis, and the Carron, 308 feet long, which has her steering gear fitted aft at the rudder head and controlled by hydraulic action on the telemotor principle.

An interesting fact in connection with the Carron Company is that the first set of complete castings for James Watt’s steam-engine were made at their works, and were erected at the house of Dr. Roebuck, who was one of the founders of the company and a personal friend of Watt. A part of the cylinder of this engine marked “Carron 1766” is still preserved at the works. John Smeaton, of Eddystone Lighthouse fame, was also associated with the Carron works.

Dundee, Perth and London Shipping Company

This company dates, like others on the east coast, from the time when the voyage between the Thames and Scotland was only performed by sailing smacks, and of these they ran nineteen. But in 1834 the smacks were removed and paddle-steamers took their place. Their first steamers were the Dundee and the Perth, each boat having a commander as well as a sailing master. They were wonderful vessels for the time, being of 650 tons burden and 300 horse-power. They were advertised as “these splendid and powerful steamers”; the cabins were “airy, commodious” (epithet beloved of steam-ship companies), and “elegant.” The company’s present-day fleet consists of the London and the Perth, each of 1737 tons and 3000 horse-power.

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company

No steamer company holds a more honourable position in the coastal and passenger trade than the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. The vessels in early years were known as “the little Cunarders,” a compliment which they well deserved. The appearance of the vessels of the two companies was much the same, and the red and black funnel has always been a distinguishing feature of both lines. The first boat of the Isle of Man Company was built by John Wood of Glasgow in 1830, and named the Mona’s Isle, a title which has been borne by more than one distinguished successor. She was schooner-bowed, and carried on her paddle-boxes, which were placed well forward, the familiar three-legged sign of Manxland. The engines of the first Cunarder built for the transatlantic service were by Napier, who also built the hull, and this steamer was to all intents and purposes a large edition of the Mona’s Isle, whose engines he had previously built. Her dimensions were 116 feet in length by 19 feet beam, with a depth of 10 feet, and 200 gross tonnage. She cost £7042, and when sold in 1851 after twenty-one years’ service, in which she proved a most profitable vessel, she fetched £580.

But the first steamer seen in Manx waters was the Henry Bell, named after the constructor of the historic Comet; she was on her way from the Clyde to Liverpool to be placed on the service between Liverpool and Runcorn and put in at Ramsey Bay. In May of the following year the Greenock arrived at Douglas, whence she took some passengers to Laxey, and, as a local chronicler puts it, “moved by apparent enchantment.” The Mona’s Isle was thought to be too large and valuable to risk being used in winter, and a smaller boat was therefore ordered from the same builder. This was the Mona, and after her arrival in July 1832, she was engaged in a service between the island and Whitehaven and in taking visitors on trips round the island. Even before the advent of the steamers, the Isle of Man had become a favourite place at which to spend the summer, especially among the people of the north and west counties. If affection for the island could induce so many hundreds of people to brave the discomforts of a voyage from the Mersey to Douglas and back again in the small sailing packets which then were the means of communication, it is little wonder that the advent of the steamers, restricted in dimensions as they were, poor in accommodation, and slow travellers, should have increased her popularity. Occasionally the sailing packet took as long as a week to make the trip, and it was hailed as an extraordinary circumstance that a vessel trading between Douglas and Whitehaven was able to make fifty-two voyages each way in the course of a year. In 1813 also, a sailer took three days and nights to get within sight of Liverpool, and was then driven back by stormy weather to the island.

The Mona had one mast on which she could carry a jib, a forestay-sail, a mainsail, and a topsail, and her funnel was abaft the paddle-boxes, which were amidships. She was faster than her predecessor, and usually did the journey between Liverpool and Douglas in about seven and a half hours. She once reached Whitehaven from Douglas in a trifle over four and a half hours, which was claimed to be one of the fastest pieces of travelling on record. The Queen of the Isle, which was the company’s third ship, was the fastest vessel afloat at the time. These three boats, according to a bill issued in 1834, were known as the Royal Mail and War Office steam-packets, though they never had any connection, so far as the company has been able to ascertain, with the War Office. A Liverpool firm purchased the Mona in 1851 and sold her to the City of Dublin Company, who ran her for several years, until she was hopelessly outclassed in size and accommodation by newer boats. She was then used as a tug, and so spent the remainder of her days.

The first steamer ordered by the company to be built in the island was the first King Orry, by John Winram, with engines by Robert Napier. This boat was the last of the company’s wooden paddle-steamers. She was a very reliable boat but not particularly fast, for she usually took about seven hours for the trip each way. In 1843 the Queen of the Isle was relieved of her engines, sold, and turned into a full-rigged sailing ship and met her fate off the Falkland Islands.

The Ben-my-Chree, a three-masted schooner, the first of the company’s steamers to be built of iron, was fitted with the Queen of the Isle’s engines. The Tynwald, a larger steamer still, followed in 1845, and was herself followed by the Mona’s Queen, a rather smaller vessel but faster, and bearing a figure-head which the carver said was a likeness of Queen Victoria; be that as it may, the vessel was named in commemoration of the visit of the Queen to the island in 1847.

Hitherto the company’s steamers had been of little more than local interest; the Douglas was now ordered and she acquired international fame. This vessel was the first of the Manx boats in which the straight stem was adopted. She was built in 1858; her length between perpendiculars was 205 feet, with a beam of 26 feet and a depth of 14 feet, and a gross tonnage of 700. The Tynwald, which was of the same tonnage was 188 feet long, by 27 feet beam, and 13 feet 6 inches depth. The Douglas was thus longer in proportion to her beam than any of her predecessors, and being powerfully engined, made 17¹⁄₄ knots on her trial trip. She did the passage between Liverpool and Douglas in 4 hours and 20 minutes, and was the fastest sea-going paddle-steamer afloat.

The situation at this time between the Northern and Southern States of the United States of America was becoming strained, and there were already indications of the approaching conflict. After four years’ service the Douglas was sold, through a third party, to the Confederate agents.

In a coat of grey paint, with her upper works altered, carrying two or three guns, and rechristened the Margaret and Jessie, the trim Manx boat became one of the most famous blockade-runners the Southern States possessed. Her career was brief, but exciting. In 1863 she was sighted off Abaco by the Federal steamer Rhode Island, which chased her to Eleuthera in the Bahamas and fired upon her when she was only 250 yards off shore. Shot and shell were rained at her by the gunboat, many of the missiles passing beyond the fugitive and striking the shore. At length a shot penetrated her boiler, and another struck her bows so that she had to be beached. This is her last recorded exploit. Contradictory stories are told of her. One states that she was patched up, refloated, and became a peaceful trader among the islands; another, that she was wrecked where she lay; yet another that she resumed her blockade-running under another name, though this may be explained by the fact that blockade-runners often changed their names and disguises, and that one of them may have had a name somewhat similar; and a fourth story is that she was turned into a sailing schooner and ultimately became a coal-barge.

The next boat built by the company was the no less famous Ellan Vannin, first named the Mona’s Isle. She was an iron vessel built in 1860. Her dimensions were: length 198 feet 6 inches, breadth 22 feet 2 inches, depth 10 feet 7 inches, with a gross tonnage of 380. Her indicated horse-power was 600 and her nominal horse-power 100. She averaged about 12 knots. She was lost with all on board at the mouth of the Mersey in the terrible gale of November 1909. She was originally a paddle-boat, but was converted into a twin-screw steamer in 1883, and was then renamed the Ellan Vannin. Her regularity of passage and her immunity from accident were as noteworthy under her new conditions as under the old, and until she ended her career under circumstances which make her loss one of the most remarkable mysteries of the shipping of the port of Liverpool, she was looked upon as the mascot of the fleet.

Three years later the Snaefell was ordered; she was 326 feet in length, by 26 feet beam, with a gross tonnage of 700, and was propelled by engines of 240 nominal horse-power. She brought down the passage from Douglas to Liverpool to 4 hours 21 minutes.

The Royal Netherlands Steamship Company, being in want of a fast steamer for the conveyance of the mails between Queenborough and Flushing, bought the Snaefell and afterwards chartered the second Snaefell built in 1876, of rather larger dimensions, and with a gross tonnage of 849, and engines of 540 nominal horse-power and 1700 indicated, capable of driving her at an average speed of 15 knots. In 1871 the second King Orry was built. She was 290 feet in length by 29 feet beam, with a depth of 14 feet 7 inches, and of 1104 gross tonnage, and was much the largest steamer the company had possessed up to this time. Her engines were of 622 nominal horse-power, and 4000 indicated, and her speed was 17 knots. Her original length was 260 feet, and another 30 feet were added in 1888. The second Ben-my-Chree was built to the order of the company in 1875, and was 310 feet in length, 1192 gross tonnage, and with a speed of 14 knots. She was the only passenger vessel for some time in the British Isles to be fitted with four funnels, two of which were carried before and two abaft the paddle-boxes. From this peculiarity of her construction she was known to her patrons and to the west of England shipping people as the floating coach-and-four. What advantage was gained by the four funnels is not known, for they held a lot of wind.

The second Mona, a much smaller vessel, followed in 1878 and was the first of the company’s fleet to be fitted with a screw. Three years later the Fenella, which in its general dimensions was almost a sister ship to the second Mona, was built and was the first to be fitted with twin screws. She was so successful that the conversion of the Mona’s Isle into a twin-screw boat followed. The company returned to paddle-wheels for their next vessel, the third Mona’s Isle, which was the first to be built of steel, of which material all the company’s subsequent boats have been constructed. The Mona’s Isle was 330 feet 7 inches between perpendiculars, 38 feet 1 inch beam, 15 feet 1 inch depth of hold, and of 1564 gross tonnage. Her engines were of 1983 nominal horse-power, and 4500 indicated, and her speed was 17¹⁄₂ knots. Two years later the little Peveril was launched, also bearing a name of historical association in the island. She was the company’s first steel twin-screw boat, and was lost in September 1899, not far from where the Ellan Vannin went down. The second Mona’s Queen, only slightly smaller than the second Mona’s Isle, followed in 1885, and in 1888 the sister vessels Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria were added to the fleet.

They were each 330 feet between perpendiculars, 39 feet 1 inch beam, 15 feet 2 inches depth of hold, with a gross tonnage of 1557. The engines of each were of 925 nominal horse-power, and of 6500 indicated, and their average speed was 20¹⁄₂ knots. Both these were paddle-vessels. The third Tynwald was launched in 1891, and is a twin-screw ship. The Empress Queen, the biggest paddle-steamer the company ever possessed, was ordered in 1896 from the Fairfield Company. She is 360 feet 1 inch between perpendiculars, 42 feet 3 inches beam, and 17 feet depth of hold. Her gross tonnage is 2140; her engines, of 1290 nominal horse-power and 10,000 indicated, gave her then a speed of 21¹⁄₂ knots, which has since sometimes been exceeded. The third Douglas and the third Mona call for no special comment, except that the former was the Dora of the London and South-Western Railway, from which the Manx Company purchased her in 1901, and that the last-named steamer was the last paddle-boat ordered by the company. The directors in 1905, finding the need of newer and faster vessels, ordered the steamer Viking, propelled by triple screws driven by turbine machinery, and so successful was she that the third Ben-my-Chree was added in 1908.

It may be questioned if any other of the coasting companies presents in its vessels such an illustration of the development of steam-ships and steam-engines, from the insignificant little tubs no bigger than river barges to the latest examples of the shipbuilder’s art.

The opposition which the Manx Company has had to fight has been severe. Its first steamer, the Mona’s Isle, on her first voyage found herself pitted against the Sophia Jane, the boat which afterwards made the first steam voyage to Australia. It would be more correct to say that in this case the Mona’s Isle was the opposition boat, as the Sophia Jane, which belonged to the St. George Company, was already on the service. The older boat got in first by something less than two minutes. But new steamers seldom attain their best speed at first, and the newcomer soon developed such speed that the old boat was left behind on every voyage afterwards in which they competed, and once came in after a rough trip three and a half hours behind. The rivalry resulted in the usual rate war, and the St. George Company brought its fares down to 6d. single. But neither this step nor the placing of the splendid steamer St. George on the service did the Manx Company any harm. The first race between their vessels was remarkable for an ingenious piece of seamanship on the part of the commander of the Mona’s Isle. The little paddle-boats of those days usually felt a strong beam wind to such an extent that the paddle on the windward side would be out of the water half of the time, and that on the lee side half buried owing to the boat heeling over. The captain, judging that the dirty weather which then prevailed would continue next day, spent the night before the race in shifting the cargo and coal on board his boat to the windward side. When the two vessels left the Mersey in the morning the St. George was in beautiful trim, and the Manx boat was leaning over on one side in a fashion which caused those who did not understand what had been done to laugh at her. When the open sea was reached it was the St. George’s turn to heel over before the gale, and the Mona’s Isle went along practically on an even keel, using both her paddles to the best advantage, while the St. George had one nearly buried and the other beating the air uselessly much of the time. Of course the Mona’s Isle won. This incident is interesting as it shows the daring nature of the expedients which the captains of the little steamers of those times were prepared to adopt.

This rivalry was destined to end in the wreck of the St. George. The Manx captain, having probably a better knowledge of local conditions than the commander of the St. George, foresaw that a south-easterly gale was rising, which always blows inshore at Douglas. As soon, therefore, as he landed his passengers he put to sea again, but the St. George was anchored in the bay, and during the night as the gale freshened she was blown on the Connister Rocks and went to pieces. All on board were saved by the Douglas lifeboat, whose captain was one of the founders of the Royal Lifeboat Institution. The St. George Company maintained the opposition for a little while longer, until another vessel, the William the Fourth, was lost. They then retired from the service altogether.

The St. George Company was itself an opposition line at first to that established by Messrs. Little and Co.; but the last-named firm have maintained their steamship connection with the island until within the last few years. It is little wonder that the Manx Company was started to supersede the St. George Company, for the latter, having no opposition during the winter months, used for that station its slowest and smallest boats, which were devoid alike of adequate comfort and shelter for the passengers.

Messrs. James Little and Co.

This firm, which was established as early as 1812, despatched in 1819 the first steamer which ever carried passengers from the Clyde to Liverpool. This was the Robert Bruce, a small vessel of 98 feet in length; she was soon followed by the Superb, and in 1820 by the Majestic, and two years later by the City of Glasgow. The steamers on the Liverpool and Glasgow service called at Port Patrick and Douglas, and in 1828 Messrs. Little inaugurated their Glasgow and Belfast service with a new vessel, the Frolic. It was for this service also that some years later they ordered, from Messrs. Denny and Co. of Dumbarton, the Waterwitch, which was the first screw steamer built on the Clyde. Another of their most notable boats was the Herald, a Clyde paddle-steamer, built in 1866 and placed by them on the Barrow and Isle of Man service the following year. They afterwards added those fine steamers Manx Queen, Duchess of Devonshire, and Duchess of Buccleuch, which were so successful that the rivalry between them and the Isle of Man Steam Packet boats became very keen, the Barrow route to the Isle of Man being shorter than the Liverpool.

The evident popularity of the Isle of Man services has proved a sore temptation to speculators to start rival lines to those already in existence. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company had a virtual monopoly of the Liverpool and Manx service for close on half a century, but in 1887 two large and fast paddle-steamers, Queen Victoria and Prince of Wales, each of 1657 tons, built by the Fairfield Company for the Isle of Man, Liverpool, and Manchester Company, were started in opposition. Both vessels are stated to have done the journey in a trifle over three hours, and the Prince of Wales once accomplished it in under the three hours. After another season’s conflict the two boats were bought by the Manx Company. Another opposition company tried its fortunes for a season with the Lancashire Witch, a twin-screw steamer, which now, under the name of the Coogee, belongs to the great Australian shipowning firm, the Huddart Parker and Co. Proprietary, Ltd. There have been several other attempts at opposition with boats neither so fast nor so comfortable as those of the established company.

The British and Irish Company, etc.

In 1836 the British and Irish Steam Packet Company was inaugurated. A copy of an old sailing bill of that year makes curious reading. Its reference to the “legal quays” is also interesting as reminding us of a condition of affairs which has now passed away. The “legal quays” were those reserved by the Government for the cross-channel mail steamers, and also those at which special facilities were given to encourage subsidised lines.

This was not, however, by any means the first company to run steamers between Dublin and London, the City of Dublin Company having preceded it by several years, as also did the Cork Steamship Company, and the St. George Company. The first steamers of the British and Irish Company were the City of Limerick, Devonshire, and Shannon, but it would appear from the bill just quoted that the Devonshire and Shannon gave place to, or were supplemented by, the Nottingham and Mermaid.

This bill, according to the company’s handbook, was issued in 1836. The Duke of Cornwall, added to the fleet in 1842, was, like the others, a little wooden paddle-steamer, and schooner-rigged; she was the last of the vessels of this type purchased by the company. Three years later, by which time the superiority of the screw for sea-going steamers had already compelled recognition, the company showed its enterprise by placing two auxiliary screw steamers, the Rose and Shamrock, on its London and Dublin service, each of them proving an unqualified success. That decade will ever be memorable for the introduction of iron vessels with screw propellers. In 1850 the company purchased the Foyle, one of the finest iron steamers in existence at the time, and in the summer of the next year established its regular service between Liverpool and London, with calls both ways at the intermediate south of England ports. It ran for a year a service between London and Limerick with the screw steamer Rose, which was disposed of the next year. Two fine steamers, the Nile and the Lady Eglinton, were secured in 1852, and the chartering of the latter vessel as a troop and storeship by the Government during the Crimean War, and the wreck of the Nile off Cornwall, caused the cessation of the company’s London and Liverpool service.

An interesting connection between the company and the transatlantic service is found in the history of the invariably unsuccessful attempts to inaugurate a service between Galway and America.

The Lady Eglinton made two trips between the Irish port and the St. Lawrence in 1858. This vessel was lengthened in 1865 by 30 feet. One of the company’s boats, a little paddle-steamer named the Mars, which maintained a local service between Dublin and Wexford, was a good sea-boat, and sufficiently speedy for her size to attract the attention of the agents of the Confederate States of America, who purchased her for use as a blockade-runner. In this she was fairly successful for some little time, but accounts differ as to what became of her. It is stated that a blockade-runner of that name was wrecked on one of the keys off Florida in endeavouring to escape from a Federal gunboat. Another version is that the Mars received a hostile shell between wind and water, which exploded inside the ship so that she went down. In 1865 the Lady Wodehouse was built for the company at Dublin by the shipbuilding firm of Walpole, Webb and Bewley, who four years afterwards built the Countess of Dublin. The year 1870 was one of the most important in the history of the company, for it bought the steamers of Messrs. Malcomson’s London and Dublin Line, the Cymba and Avoca, and has since had a monopoly of that service. The Lady Olive, of 1096 tons, acquired in 1879, was the last iron vessel the company had built; all the succeeding vessels have been of steel.

The engines of the earliest boats were of the usual side-lever type. These in time gave place to compound engines, and the modern steel vessels have triple-expansion engines. The present fleet consists of the Lady Olive and the Lady Martin, of 1365 tons gross, the latter, built by Messrs. Workman and Clark at Belfast in 1888, being the company’s first steel ship. The Lady Hudson-Kinahan, of 1375 tons, was built by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company at Troon in 1891, and this company also constructed in 1897 the Lady Roberts, of 1462 tons gross, while the Lady Wolseley was launched in 1894 by the Naval Construction Company at Barrow.

The Powell and Hough Lines

These, like nearly all of the older coastal lines that were associated with the firm of H. Powell and Co., started with small sailers between Liverpool and London, with calls at the various ports on the south coast. The history of the line has been one of continued progress, and it maintains at the present time a regular service of fast steamers between London and Liverpool, calling at Falmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, and Portsmouth. Its earlier steamers, as was only natural in the then imperfect state of steam navigation, were, compared with the present boats, small, but were fully up to the average of the coasting fleet, and in many cases could not be surpassed by any vessels trading on the coast, or even by some making ocean voyages. The Augusta, built in 1856, with a gross tonnage of 188, and 50 horse-power, was a screw steamer, and carried three masts. On the foremast were square sails. The company’s latest vessels are the Masterful and Powerful. The Masterful is of 2600 tons and is built of steel throughout, and the Powerful is of 2200 tons; the improvement in their accommodation compared with that of the boats of fifty years ago is as noticeable as is the increase in size. These vessels are two of the few in the coasting trade fitted with submarine signalling apparatus. The Powell Line also has cargo services between Liverpool and Bristol and a number of ports on the south coast, and between Manchester and Bristol Channel ports and certain south-coast ports.

Associated with this line are the steamers of Messrs. Samuel Hough and Co., the vessels of the two companies sailing as a rule alternately.

Alexander Laird and Co.

The St. George Company withdrew from the Clyde and Mersey trade in 1822, and in 1823 Alexander Laird and Co. began the Liverpool, Clyde, and Isle of Man service with the steamer Henry Bell, built by Wilson of Liverpool. In 1824 Mr. Laird placed on the Glasgow and Liverpool service the James Watt, which had been a couple of years with the General Steam Navigation Company. She was rigged as a three-masted schooner, and had the distinction of being the first steamer entered at Lloyd’s. Laird’s service between Glasgow and Inverness was started in 1825, and in the following year the sailings were changed from fortnightly to weekly.

In 1827 Messrs. T. Cameron and Co. started a service of steamers between Glasgow and the north and west of Ireland, but in 1867 it was taken over entirely by Messrs. Laird and Co.