Although it is true, as I have already pointed out, that the North Atlantic has been the cockpit wherein the great steamship competition has been fought out, yet it is not to that ocean alone that all the activity has been confined. Because of the limitations which the Suez Canal imposes it is not possible to build steamships for the Eastern routes of such enormous tonnage as are customary for the North American passages.

In the course of our story we have seen the beginnings of the principal steamship companies trading not merely to the west, but in many other spheres. In tracing the history of steamship companies as distinct from that of the steamship herself, we are immediately confronted with difficulties, for the company may be older than steamships of any sort; or, again, the company may be of comparatively modern origin, yet from the first possessed of the finest steamships, of a character surpassing their contemporaries. For instance, one of the very oldest lines is the Bibby Line to Rangoon. This was founded as far back as 1807, yet it was not until 1851 that it adopted steam. The White Star Line, as we have seen, was previously composed of sailing vessels, and its first steamship, the Oceanic, did not appear until 1870, but when she did make her appearance, she surpassed anything else afloat by her superior virtues. To take, therefore, a chronological survey of the establishment of the steamship organisations would be to convey nothing satisfactory to us in our study of the evolution of the steamship, but nevertheless, we may pertinently set forth some of the more venerable but no less active steamship lines of the present day.

In addition to those already mentioned whose coming certainly was intimately connected with the evolution of the steamship, we might mention Messrs. George Thompson and Company’s Aberdeen Line, which at one time was famous for its fine fleet of sailing ships. This line was established in 1824, the year of incorporation of the General Steam Navigation Co. Six years later the Harrison Line arose, though the Allan Line, which dates back to 1820, did not run its first steamer until 1854. The well-known Hull firm of Messrs. Thomas Wilson and Sons appeared in 1835, and the African Steamship Company three years earlier. In 1849 the City Line, now amalgamated with the Ellerman Line, was founded, as also were Messrs. Houlder Brothers. The Anchor Line came in 1852, and the Castle Mail Packets Company, which is now amalgamated with the Union Line to form the Union-Castle Line. The British East India Company dates from 1855, and the Donaldson Line a year earlier. The year 1856 saw the inauguration of Messrs. J. T. Rennie and Sons’ Aberdeen Line to South Africa, and in 1866 the Booth Line was first started, whilst the Collins Line had been formed in 1850, the Inman Line the same year, the North German Lloyd in 1858, the Compagnie Transatlantique in 1861, the National Line in 1863, and the Guion Line (originally Williams and Guion) in 1866. Some of the last-mentioned are now extinct, and have been dealt with in another chapter. Within the last few months the P. and O. Company have absorbed the Lund Line, and the shipping interests of the late Sir Alfred Jones have been consolidated by Lord Pirrie, whose name is so well known by his close connection with the firm of Harland and Wolff. During 1910 another Atlantic service was inaugurated by the appearance of the Royal Line, which the Canadian Northern Railway Company is running between Bristol and the Dominion. Their two ships the Royal Edward and the Royal George were originally built under different names for an express service between Marseilles and Alexandria, but that venture was not found profitable. They have recently been modified to suit the North Atlantic route and are representative of the finest examples of the modern steamship, though not so large as the biggest liners. Propelled by turbines driving triple screws, they have all the luxury of the most up-to-date ships, with lifts, wireless telegraphy, special dining-room for children, cafés and many other up-to-date features. The Royal Line is thus another instance of a new steamship organisation stepping right into the front rank at the first effort. If it is alleged that some of the older lines engaged on the South Atlantic and Eastern routes have not shown that same progressive spirit which the North Atlantic companies have exhibited, at least recent ships have shown that everything is being done which can be expected, short of reaching the mammoth dimensions of the Atlantic liners. Passengers voyaging to Australia, India, South Africa, and South America, for example, realise that they are destined to remain at sea for a long period, and the question of the utmost speed is not of primary importance. Owing partly to the American spirit of speed and the much shorter distance which separates the two continents, the voyage between England and New York has become rather an elongated channel passage than a journey in which one settles oneself down for weeks, and the incentives to make it shorter still are never for a moment wanting.

The recent additions to the P. and O. fleet are indicative that progress is not confined to any one route. A new epoch in the history of this company began when the first of their “M” class was added. Reckoning them historically from 1903 these are the Moldavia, Marmora, Mongolia, Macedonia, Mooltan, Malwa, Mantua, and the Morea. The smallest of these, the Moldavia, is of 9,500 tons; the largest are the last three mentioned, which are of 11,000 tons, and though wireless telegraphy has not played the same conspicuous part as on the Atlantic, yet this is now being installed in all the P. and O. mail steamers on the Bombay and Australian routes. Two new steamers, also of the “M” class, are being built, to be called respectively the Medina and the Maloja, which will be thus fitted. It is no doubt owing to the slowness with which Australia, India, and Ceylon have adopted land installations that a corresponding reluctance has been found in the case of the steamships to adopt what is so significant a feature of the modern steamship. The illustration facing page 216 shows one of this “M” class, the Mooltan, coming to her berth in the Tilbury Dock, whilst the opposite illustration will afford some idea of the starting platform in her engine room. Her measurements are: length 520·4 feet, beam 58·3 feet, and depth 33·2 feet; her tonnage is 9,621, with an indicated horse-power of 15,000. She was built in 1905 by Messrs. Caird and Company, of Greenock. It was owing to the increase in size of the new P. and O. ships that the comparatively recent transfer was made of the company’s mail and passenger steamers from the Royal Albert Dock to Tilbury.

The Union-Castle fleet is composed partly of those ships which belonged at the time of amalgamation to the old Castle Line, and partly of those which were of the Union Line. In addition to these, new steamships have been since brought out to swell the list. The depression in South Africa consequent on the Boer War necessitated a careful consideration before the addition of other mail steamers, but the Balmoral Castle (see opposite page 220), which was completed in 1910, and her sister the Edinburgh Castle, are the largest and most powerful vessels employed in the South African trade. This Balmoral Castle has a gross tonnage of about 13,000, with an indicated horse-power of 12,500, and is fitted with twin-screws. Fitted, of course, with water-tight bulkheads and cellular bottom, every modern improvement has been taken advantage of in her internal arrangement with regard to the service for which she was built. The Balmoral Castle has a deck space larger than that usually given in this line, the first and second class having practically the whole of the boat deck; whilst by joining the poop and promenade deck the third class have their deck space doubled. She is installed with the modern loud-speaking telephones between the bridge and engine-room and the extremities of the ship. Wireless telegraphy has not been installed, but a room has been specially built and equipped if it is decided hereafter to adopt this apparatus. On the fore-mast head a Morse signalling lamp has been placed for long distance signalling, and a semaphore after the Admiralty pattern on the bridge for short distance signalling. She is propelled by two sets of quadruple-expansion engines, and has ten boilers.

The White Star Line, in addition to their regular mail and passenger service across the North Atlantic, have three special freight and live-stock steamers—viz. the Georgic, of 10,077 tons, the Cevic of 8,301 tons, and the Bovic of 6,583 tons—all of these having twin-screws. Besides these they possess four ships engaged on the New Zealand route, five on the Australian trade, besides two smaller ships for freight.

We have already mentioned the Ivernia and Saxonia as belonging to the intermediate, economical types which the Cunard Company own in addition to their bigger liners. They also carry on a Mediterranean service from New York to Gibraltar, the Italian and Adriatic ports, to Algiers and Alexandria. The North German Lloyd Company also own a number of smaller steamships employed in intermediate service to ports other than those served by their fast liners, the largest being of about 6,000 tons.

The American Line, which was formerly the old Inman organisation, own besides the Philadelphia, already discussed, the New York, the St. Louis, and St. Paul, but the last two, each being only 11,629 tons, are the largest of their small fleet. Besides the Anchor and the Allan Lines and the new Royal Line the Canadian Pacific Railway now maintains a long connection by steamship and railway from Liverpool right away to Hong Kong through Canada. The Empress of Britain, with her quadruple-expansion engines and twin-screws, is one of the finest steamships on the Canadian route.

We could continue to deal singly with all the steamship lines which have now sprung into existence, with the fine ships of the Atlantic Transport Line, whose Minnehaha, in the spring of 1910, had the misfortune to run on to the Scillies during her voyage from America to this country. We might instance the Holt Line, the Nelson Line, and other enterprising organisations, but such matter would hardly come within the scope of our subject, which shows the manner in which the steamship has developed into so useful an institution. Since we have now been able to witness the manner in which the steamship has been adapted for service across the deep, wide ocean, let us, before we close this chapter, take a glance at the way in which she has also become so indispensable for those shorter but no less important cross-channel passages.

At an earlier stage we saw that the cross-channel steamship service owed its inauguration almost exclusively to that shrewd Scotsman, Napier, who, after devoting a great amount of patient study to the subject, evolved the Rob Roy. But we must not omit to give credit also to others whose work in this connection has been of such historic importance. From about the second decade of the eighteenth century there had been a service between Holyhead and Dublin, carried on by means of sailing packets, as there was, indeed, between Scotland and Ireland, as well as England and the Continent. Then had come the first steam service when the Talbot, of 156 tons, built in 1818 at Port Glasgow, for David Napier, began running in the following year between Holyhead and Dublin. In 1819, also, was inaugurated the Liverpool and Dublin service, and in 1823 one of the oldest steamship companies still in existence, the Dublin Steam Packet Company, was formed. It must be recollected that the journey between London and Dublin was a long and tedious one, for there was no railway, and considerable sums of money were expended in order to improve the road between Holyhead and the English capital. The sailing packets took on the average about twenty hours to cross the Irish Channel. The Royal William, already alluded to when we discussed the first Atlantic steamers, was one of the early steamships of this City of Dublin fleet. In 1836, when George Stephenson proposed the construction of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, he intended that the company should also provide ships between the latter port and Ireland, but the various steamship companies opposed this until 1848. The London to Liverpool railway was opened in 1838, and so, since the Liverpool to Dublin route was the quickest way to get from London to Ireland, Holyhead was given the cold shoulder for the next ten years. But when the continuous railway was opened between London and Holyhead, the popularity of the Welsh port returned, and the directors and principal shareholders of the Chester and Holyhead Company, who had formed themselves into a small independent company, ordered four new vessels, the Cambria, the Anglia, the Hibernia, and the Scotia. Of these the first is illustrated herewith. These ships were 207 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 14 feet deep, with a draught of 8 feet 10 inches. They had a gross tonnage of 589, carried 535 passengers, and possessed the remarkable speed of 14 knots. Instead of the slow passages of the old sailing packets these four ships lowered the average voyage to 3 hours 34 minutes. In 1859 this Chester-Holyhead railway was amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway, and in 1863 the latter introduced a new type of craft, with the same speed as before, but of 700 tons. Both a day and a night service were presently instituted, and this service has continued to be one of the most efficient and the fastest of all the cross-channel ferries from this country. Of four new vessels which were built for the Holyhead-Kingstown service in 1860 we may mention the Leinster. She was a large vessel for those times, with a displacement of 2,000 tons, and constructed of iron. The illustration facing this page shows a capital model of her engines, which were of the oscillating type, and since we have previously described this kind it is hardly necessary to deal with them now, further than to remark that they gave the ship a speed of nearly 18 knots.

Coming now further south, it will be remembered that Napier’s Rob Roy, which had first plied between Greenock and Belfast in 1818, was in the following year transferred to the Dover and Calais route, and was thus the first regular steamship to open the mail and passenger service between these ports. This was followed for a long time by other steam “ferries,” some of which were Government mail packets, and others were privately owned. The General Steam Navigation Company, which had been formed in 1820, and commenced its steam coastal trade, was not long before it had inaugurated a service between London and Hamburg, and by 1847 it had steamships running between London and the following ports:—Hamburg, Rotterdam, Ostend, Leith, Calais, Havre, as well as from Brighton to Dieppe, and Dover to Boulogne. These were all paddle-steamers until the screw was introduced in 1854. In April of 1844 their paddle-steamer Menai was advertised to leave Shoreham Harbour, calling at Brighton Chain Pier—or rather Brighthelmstone, as it was then still known—and thence proceeding to Dieppe. She was thus the first channel steamer to run between these places.

It was not until the old stage-coach had given way to the railroad that the numbers of travellers between England and the Continent increased. By June of 1843 the South Eastern Railway had reached Folkestone, and in February of the following year it had also joined Dover. The London, Chatham, and Dover Line was of later date, and did not reach Dover until 1860, where they were able to put to the best use their capable fleet of passenger boats which steamed to Calais. But in 1845 the South Eastern Railway had, like the Chester and Holyhead Line, formed themselves into a separate company, to run a line of steam packets, owing to the fact that the successors to the Rob Roy were deemed unsatisfactory, and endless objections were made by the complaining passengers who reluctantly crossed the choppy waters of the English Channel. Previous to this date the South Eastern Railway were wont to hire steamships to carry their passengers between England and the Continent to Boulogne, Calais, and Ostend. When their line had joined up Dover they started running from there to Calais with their own boats in two hours, twenty-eight minutes, calling at Folkestone on the way for twenty-eight minutes. The first of these steamboats were the Princess Maud and the Princess Mary. The run from Dover to Ostend took four and a half hours.

In 1848 the Admiralty, which had been responsible for the steam mail packets service (as also we have seen earlier in this book they had charge of the transatlantic mails), handed over their charge to the Post Office. But neither of these Governmental branches was able to make a success of this, and after a time the Post Office withdrew their mail packets and in 1854 put the carrying out to contract. A Mr. Churchyard was accepted as the contractor, and his agreement continued until 1862. It will be recollected that two years previous to the latter date the London, Chatham and Dover Company had connected their line to Dover, and they obtained the contract in succession to Churchyard for carrying the mails from Dover to Calais. At the same time the South Eastern Railway Company withdrew their steamboat service to Folkestone. It should be mentioned that the General Steam Navigation Company had also withdrawn from this route owing to the competition on the part of the railway companies, who were in a superior position by being able to run their passengers on both their own railways and their own steamboats.

The general character of these early cross-channel steam-craft was very similar to that of the Cambria. Some of the steamboats employed on this Dover-Calais route have been marked by the possession of exceptional features. It was in 1875 that the Bessemer was designed with the object of making the dreaded passage across the Straits of Dover less disagreeable and free from the infliction of sea-sickness. To this end she was given a unique apparatus which was to swing with the motion of the vessel, and in such a manner that the passengers would always be kept on a level, however much the ship might roll. She was built double-ended, so that she would not have to be turned round when she reached the French port. But emphatically she resulted in a complete failure, for not only was this ingenious deck found to be unworkable, and had to be fixed, but the Bessemer collided with Calais Pier, and succeeded in knocking away about fifty yards thereof.

Another ingenious vessel on this service was the Castalia. She was a twin-ship composed of a couple of hulls. Those who crossed in her about the year 1876 found her very comfortable, and she was so steady that comparatively few of her passengers were sea-sick, but her drawback was that she was not fast. The genesis of this double-hulled ship was in order to obtain greater steadiness, and the experiment was first tried by fastening two Woolwich steamers together, having first removed the inside paddle-wheels. Following up this, the same principle was exemplified in a ship called the Express, which had been constructed for a firm that became financially embarrassed, and she was accordingly taken over instead by the owners of the Castalia, and became the famous Calais-Douvres, which most of my readers will well remember. She was certainly a fast ship, but her life was not devoid of adventures. In May, 1878, she collided with Dover Pier through her steering-gear going wrong, her main engines having previously broken down. She was subsequently repaired and did well until 1887, when, worn out by active service, she was withdrawn, having proved an expensive boat to run, and obtained an unenviable reputation for a large coal consumption. The Castalia was withdrawn in 1878, and became a floating small-pox hospital on the Thames, where she remained for about twenty years, and was finally towed therefrom to Dordrecht by one of that fleet of Dutch tugs which we shall mention in a later chapter as being famous for the towage of big docks. In the course of time new and improved Channel steamers continued to be put on this Dover-Calais route, and in 1899 an amalgamation of interests owned by the South Eastern and the London, Chatham and Dover Railways took place, so that now the two fleets are under one management. Within recent years they have shown a very enterprising spirit by leading the way in placing turbine steamers on their route, and the illustration on the opposite page shows their turbine steamer Empress clearing out of Dover Harbour. In general character we may take the appearance of this vessel as typical of the more modern cross-channel steamers which now ply also on other routes owned by the various railway companies. The fine service of steamboats, for instance, possessed by the Great Western, Great Eastern, the Midland, the London and North Western, the Great Central, and the London and South Western consists rather of miniature liners of a very up-to-date type. Not merely wireless telegraphy and turbines have been introduced into the cross-channel steamers, but every conceivable regard for the comfort of the passengers has been taken commensurate with the size of the ships, and the special work which they are called upon to perform.

We have addressed ourselves especially to the services between Dover and Calais and between Holyhead and Dublin, for, owing to their geographical character, these two are naturally the most important and the most historic. The custom of railways being owners of steamships has continued, the chief exception being the Great Northern Railway. The Newhaven to Dieppe route is of comparatively modern origin, and it was not until 1847 that the London to Newhaven line was completed. During the following year there were three steamers running to Dieppe from this port, but at first the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was thwarted owing to legal difficulties, and properly their service dates from 1856, for at one time they were compelled to run a service under different ownership from their own. The model shown opposite page 226 shows the packet steamer Lyons, which was built in 1856 for the Newhaven-Dieppe service. She was a paddle-boat of 315 tons displacement.

Between England and the Channel Isles connection in the pre-steamship days was kept up by sailing cutters. After that the Admiralty conveyed the mails from Weymouth to Jersey and Guernsey by ships of the Royal Navy, and one of these—the Dasher—was until recent years employed in watching the oyster fisheries off Jersey. But in 1835 a steam packet service was started from Southampton to Havre, twice a week, and between the Hampshire port and the Channel Islands, which was owned by the South of England Steam Navigation Company, while a rival came forward in the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, which ran to the Channel Isles. One of the earliest steamers belonging to the former company was the Atalanta, of which we give an illustration opposite page 226. She was afterwards lengthened, and as thus altered she appears in our illustration. Her days were ended as a coal hulk in Jersey.

From 1838 to 1845 the mail service between England and the Channel Isles was carried on from Weymouth, but in the latter year this service was transferred to the South Western Steam Packet Company, and remained exclusively with the Southampton steamers until 1899, when the joint running of the Channel Islands service by the steamers of the London and South Western from Southampton, and of the Great Western Railway from Weymouth, once more caused mails also to be carried from Weymouth. It was in the year 1860 that the South Western Railway, following the prevailing custom, took over their fleet from the South Western Steam Packet Company, and under the railway ownership this service has continued ever since. The origin of the Weymouth service was on this wise. An opposition company had been floated by the Channel Islands merchants under the title of the Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company, and this continued until 1888, when the service was taken up by the Great Western Railway Company. For a time the keenest competition between the two railway companies as steamship owners continued, but after eleven years an amicable arrangement was come to whereby they agreed to work a joint service, which agreement is still in force. To-day, notwithstanding the losses which have been sustained by sad disasters involving loss of life, notably the memorable instance of the Stella, which foundered on the Casquets in March, 1899, this fleet is able to keep up an uninterrupted service carrying passengers, mails, and freight, whilst during the summer season extra cargo steamers have to be put on for the conveyance of the big potato trade, fruit and flowers. These vessels, by reason of their route, cannot be expected always to avoid accidents. Those who know the treacherous character of the Channel Islands coast-line, and the continuous stream of traffic which is going up and down the English Channel, will readily appreciate what it means to take a small steamship from port to port in thick weather. It was only in April of 1910 that one of the London and South Western Railway boats, the Laura, while on her way from Southampton to Cherbourg, collided when about twenty miles south of the Needles, with a Norwegian sailing vessel named the Sophie, bound up channel from South America to Hamburg. Here again the wireless telegraph gear came in useful, for it chanced that the Royal Mail Liner Asturias was in the vicinity, and she at once telegraphed for assistance. These Channel Islands steamers all carry sufficient coal for the voyage there and back, with an additional amount adequate for all ordinary contingencies. From Southampton also the same owners carry on a steamboat service to Havre, Cherbourg, Honfleur, Roscoff, and St. Malo; while from Jersey to St. Malo and from Jersey to Granville two twin-screw steamers are employed.

Between Harwich and the Hook of Holland, the Great Eastern Railway keep up an important steamship connection, and employ in their ships not merely wireless telegraphy, but the submarine signalling which is mentioned as being a characteristic of the modern Atlantic liner. Their turbine steamer, the St. Petersburg—a sister ship to the same company’s Munich and Copenhagen—which was only put into active service in 1910, began a steamship connection that is carried on entirely by turbine craft. It is, indeed, owing to the advent of the turbine that the notable improvements in our cross-channel steamers have been made within the last few years. Not only has this system obtained for the ships a greater popularity because of the absence of vibration, but it has also enabled the owners to avail themselves of the greater accommodation for cargo and passengers, as well as giving greater speed to the ships under economical conditions of working.

One of the most notable cross-channel steamers is the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s Ben-my-Chree, which can do 25 knots per hour and carry 2,500 passengers. On this route the turbine has very decidedly justified itself also. A breakdown causing the disablement of the turbine steamer is as yet unknown, and it is worth noting that from the now celebrated Channel steamer Queen, a turbine steamer of only 8,000 horse-power, which was ordered only as recently as the year 1900, to the Mauretania, with her 70,000 horse-power, is a step that shows how thoroughly satisfactory the turbine has proved itself in so short a space of time. In the case of a liner a breakdown is a serious enough item, but in the case of a channel steamer it is an occurrence of sufficiently grave a nature as to be guarded against with every precaution. The chances of a shaft breaking in the case of a turbine steamer are very remote, and will probably continue to be so, with the steady nature of the working of the turbine, the worst likely accident being the breaking of one of the many blades.

Moreover, the turbine has proved that it gives increased reliability to the steamship, which, in the case of the short cross-channel voyages, is a matter that cannot lightly be regarded. In the case of the Ben-my-Chree just mentioned, the mean time in performing the distance from Liverpool Bar lightship to Douglas Head differed only by a minute in one season from that of the previous year, a fact that is highly significant. It is the time that is wasted in manœuvring to get alongside the quay and clearing away that detracts from the smartness of the voyage, although in this connection it may be stated that bow rudders are in use in certain cross-channel craft in order to enable this manœuvre to be accomplished with greater celerity.

It is curious how the channel service of a steamship line presents difficulties and problems of its own no less than those demanded by the ownership of ocean-going steamships. Obviously the short-voyage ship is limited as to size. What she has to accomplish must be done quickly. Not only must she get out of one harbour and into the other with the greatest economy of time, but she must get up her full speed at once. Then, again, owing to the demands of the passengers for special comfort a great strain is put on the patience of those responsible, as well as on the designer of the ship. Cross-channel steamers which have a fairly long night passage require a good deal of their limited space to be usurped by extra state-room accommodation, and the modern demand for single-berthed cabins means rather more than the average passenger realises. The figures work out something as follows in the case of a four-berthed room the measurement of the space occupied comes to about seven-eighths of a ton per passenger. In the single-berthed cabin it becomes nearly two and a quarter tons per passenger. All this means that the ship has less available space for earning her living, since fewer passengers and less cargo can thus be carried.

Again, the passenger is spoiled nowadays. If a line has turbines and wireless telegraphy, submarine bells, the latest conceivable luxury, speed and other virtues, he is sufficiently well informed to appreciate these things to the disadvantage of another service, scarcely less efficient, but perhaps a little less advanced in accordance with the very latest inventions and improvements. An old ship that has done years of good service and earned a reputation for punctuality and reliability has to be scrapped before her time just because a rival service has held out the tempting bait of the latest steamship features. On the other hand, there was room for an approach to be made towards more satisfactory conditions. The short crossings on some of the cross-channel steamers were in the past no unmixed joy. The bad sea-boats which some of these proved themselves to be, driven at a speed that made them vibrate from stem to stern, wet and generally uncomfortable, badly ventilated and equally inefficiently lighted, they certainly belonged to the days that are past. What the future has in store this deponent knoweth not; but if the internal combustion engine should ever become sufficiently popular for big ships, certainly in no service is it likely to be more suitable than in the cross-channel voyages, where speed is a vital consideration. But economy is equally to be taken into account, if steamers are still to be regarded as commercial, dividend-earning concerns, and not exclusively as objects for the exercise of sentiment. We have, owing to the influences at work everywhere, come to regard the virtue of speed as excelling everything else. Whether this is deserving of all-powerful merit, or whether in the future there may be a reaction and a desire to “go slow,” time alone can tell. Perhaps such a condition might lead to an increased tranquillity of life as a whole, but it would also put a brake on progress generally, and on the steamship in particular.