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ing or denying the possibility of that result, no person really did so. "A vessel having as her cargo," says a writer* of that day, "a couple of steam-engines and some hundred tons of coal, would be, ceteris paribus, as capable of crossing the Atlantic as a vessel transporting the same weight of any other cargo. A steam-vessel, it is true, would labor under some comparative disadvantage, owing to the obstruction presented by her paddle-wheels and the boxes which cover them; still, however, it would be preposterous to suppose that these impediments would render impracticable her passage to New York. .. . In fact, no doubt has been entertained or expressed as to the practicability of establishing a communication between these countries and New-York, by a line of steamvessels. But a difference of opinion has prevailed as to what mode of accomplishing that object may best insure certainty, safety, regularity, and profit, without which last element it is presumed the other objects could hardly be secured."

In the debates which at that time prevailed on this subject, Dr. Lardner, as is well known, took a prominent part. He declared himself favorable to the project under certain conditions which he strongly urged on its promoters, the principal of which was, to adopt such a course as would secure to them the advantage of the British post-office contract, unsupported by which he pledged his judgment and experience that the enterprise could not, at that time, be conducted with permanent commercial profit. It was understood, that to secure this object, the steamers must make Halifax an intermediate station; a measure which would have the further advantage of abridging the trip of the steamer. He declared that until some greater advance were made in the art of steam navigation, a line of steamers between England and New York, depending exclusively on the profits of freight and passengers, and unsupported by any subsidy such as that of

the British post-office, could not be carried on with that profit which would ensure its permanency.t

The Great Western made her first trip across the Atlantic in April, 1838. Two other companies were at the same time engaged in a similar enterprise. The "Transatlantic Steamship Company," in the same summer, put two steamers, the "Royal William" and the "Great Liverpool" on the route between Liverpool and New York; and the "British and American Steam-Navigation Company" put the " British Queen" on the route between Portsmouth and New York, in the following year; the same company soon after widening the scale of their operations, by the gigantic and unfortunate steamship President. We should state that this company had previously placed the Sirius on the same route, having withdrawn her, however, after a single voyage.

While these operations were in progress the Cunard Company was organized; and in accordance with the plan laid down and recommended by Dr. Lardner, submitted to the British government a project for a line of steam communication with the United States and the British colonies, touching at Halifax to land passengers and deliver the mails. They without difficulty effected an arrangement, and a contract was duly signed in 1839, securing to them a subsidy of sixty thousand pounds sterling per annum for the transport of the mails, which liberal stipend has since been raised to the sum of ninety thousand pounds a year! Thus munificently supported, the Cunard line of steamers commenced running between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston in July, 1840, and have continued to the present time to maintain a regular communication between the old and new world, not suspended or interrupted at any season of the year.

Of all the steamships placed on the direct New-York line by three compa

* See an article on steam navigation, ascribed to the pen of Dr. Lardner, in the London Monthly Chronicle, vol. ii., 1838.

This, and similar declarations, form the foundation for the mistaken reports of Dr. Lardner's having affirmed a steam voyage to New York to be an impossibility. This, however, has long since been set right in England. See an able article in the Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, for Jan. 1842, entitled "Steam Navigation-has it been successful?"-in the course of which it is shewn from documents and facts that the predictions of Dr. Lardner have been realized with a degree of minute precision, which, if it be not fortuitous, affords a really striking example "of the coincidence between the⚫ deductions of philosophy and the results of experience.”—[ED. Am. Rev.]

nies, working with abundant capital, the Great Western alone has continued to run, subject to an annual suspension during the winter months, and an occasional interruption to her trips, arising apparently from the measures taken by the company with a view to selling her. The Sirius made a single voyage and was withdrawn. The "Royal William" and the Great Liverpool were worked on the route for a single season, and finally transferred to more profitable work. The President was lost. The British Queen was sold to the Belgian government; and failing apparently to answer its purposes, ultimately found its station with the Oriental Company, and now plies between Falmouth and Alexandria. The United States, another steamship destined originally for the New York route, was likewise placed upon the Mediterranean line. Some of the financial circumstances attending the operations of these companies are noticed in the article already referred to in the Engineer and Architect's Journal.

"The Great Liverpool," says the writer, "having in a single season earned a loss to her proprietors of six thousand pounds sterling upon the New York line, it was determined to withdraw her; and with another new vessel built for Atlantic voyaging, (the "United States,") now the "Oriental," to open a communication with India via the Red Sea. The proprietors of the British Queen became competitors with the Great Liverpool and Oriental for the Alexandrian line, plainly showing that both of these companies, after a vast expenditure of money, had arrived at the very conclusion Dr. Lardner held three or four years before. Has it never occurred to the proprietors of these vessels that they might have saved about one hundred thousand pounds, as well as vast responsibility, anxiety, risk, and discredit, if, at the commencement of the Atlantic discussions, they had prevented their passions from exercising their favorite calling, that of running away with their reason?"

Well, then, two of these companies which commenced operations some years since with such high aspirations and ardent hopes, have been swept from the face of the deep, and their very names erased from the tablets of the public memory. No one now hears of the "Transatlantic Steamship Company," or of the British and American Steam

Navigation Company." They have passed into the catalogue of the things that were. But the Great Western Company continues to have at least a quasi" existence.

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The Great Western has unquestionably been a fine vessel-probably the finest steamship which, up to the date of her establishment, had ever floated on the deep. Her efficiency is mainly due to the consummate ability of Mr. Field, who planned and constructed her machinery, and had a large share in all her other arrangements. This vessel alone has maintained the New York passage hitherto, subject to the suspensions and interruptions already adverted to. But the material question here is, has she done so with such commercial advantage as will insure her continuance,-as will induce the company to extend the scale of their operations by placing other vessels on the station, and as will attract additional capital to the enterprise? We are informed that in answer to this inquiry, the Great Western Company declare that this vessel is a thriving concern, that they are dividing nine or ten per cent. per annum on their capital, and that on the whole the enterprise is in the most prosperous condition. should be too glad to lay down the pen in the tranquil assurance of this, but are compelled to acknowledge our doubts. This prosperous ship has long been understood to be in the market for sale. Recently a sale of her by private contract was actually made to the Mediterranean or Oriental Company; one of the conditions were, that the sellers should put new boilers in her, and that she should be approved by surveyors appointed by her Majesty's Board of Admiralty. The boilers were put in and the survey made; when, in consequence of some difference or misunderstanding, the Great Western Company replaced her on her original station.

We

Whatever be the condition of this negotiation or bargain, it is evident that the proprietors of the Great Western desired to get that vessel off their hands. It may then be fairly demanded how this is compatible with a "thriving and profitable concern"-how it is compatible with "dividends of nine or ten per cent.?" Is it likely that in a country where more than three per cent. cannot be obtained for money in the public securities,-where bills are often discounted at less than three per cent.,-where

money to any amount can be obtained even on house mortgage at four per cent.,-where railway companies dividing nine per cent. have their shares at one hundred per cent. premium,-is it probable that shareholders in such a concern would not merely be anxious to withdraw from it, but repeatedly offer the whole property in this successful enterprise for public sale, and what is still more strange, offer it in vain?

The shares in the Great Western are limited to so few hands, that they do not enter the market so as to be quoted like those of most other companies. We are not therefore able to bring this point to the test which the price of shares would afford. But it has been generally understood that sales have been made at fifty per cent. discount.

Such being the actual condition of things, it may be asked what is to be inferred respecting the transatlantic steam project? Has it been successful? Has it realized the hopes of its advocates and the promises of its friends? Will it be permanent? To some of these questions we think the history of the past and statement of its present condition, will supply a satisfactory an

swer.

That the direct New York route has hitherto failed-in the only sense in which failure was ever apprehended, that is, as a mercantile speculation, prosecuted solely with a view to profit-must, we conceive, be evident to every understanding unclouded by prejudice, and unbiased by existing interests. The mere fact that the vessels which have been put on the route, since its commencement in 1838, to the present time, a period of six years, have all but one disappeared; being (with one exception, the President, which was lost) withdrawn by their owners, in consequence of the losses they sustained in working themand that sole remaining ship having been offered in vain for sale-are sufficiently conclusive on this point. This being admitted, the next question is, What is the cause of this failure? To obtain the solution of this last question we must turn our view to the Cunard line of steamers.

That enterprise is established with every appearance of permanency. It has not been compelled, like the Great Western, to suspend its operation during the winter season. Instead of putting up its ships to public sale, it is augmenting their number, and increasing the frequency of their voyages. It is therefore fair to infer that this line is permanently and profitably established. On comparing it with the New York line with a view to discover the elements which have determined the success in the one case, and the failure in the other, the first circumstance which commands attention, is, that the Cunard line, by securing the contract for the British mails, is subsidized to the extent of £90,000 per annum. Now, if it be assumed that twenty voyages are made in the year, this will be equivalent to £2250 per trip; and if it be assumed that the average profit made on each cabin passenger for a single trip is £15, this contract would be tantamount in its effect to adding 150 cabin passengers, each trip, to the number to be obtained from the natural supply.

There is another circumstance which will be better appreciated at the other than at this side of the Atlantic. The Cunard ships are regarded as government vessels; as post-office ships; as carrying an officer of the navy, and agent of the admiralty, on board. This produces a strong confidence, among Europeans, in their efficiency and safety. Whether that exclusive confidence be well founded or not-whether the Great Western is as good, or better-whether it as well, or better officered and manned -is not here the question. Be it a legitimate source of confidence or not, the British mail steamers will always, on that account alone, receive a preference from a very large majority of the European public. To what cause other than this is it that the Cunard steamers can keep their cabin fares thirty-three per cent. above those of the Great Western, and yet carry a greater amount of passengers?

How far the Cunard line derives an advantage from the traffic in passengers to the British North American provinces, or from the shorter time of the

The cabin fare in the Great Western is thirty-one pounds, ten shillings; in the Cunard steamers it is forty-one pounds. On particular trips, when the Great Western changed her port of departure and sailed from Liverpool, the fares of the Cunard ships were lowered, but only so for that trip.

trips, it is not worth while here to inquire, for we think the two causes we have assigned, and especially the postoffice contribution, are enough, and more than enough, to explain the question before us.

We have before us the prospectus of a project for the establishment of a new line of steamers between New York and Liverpool, advocated by Mr. Junius Smith, formerly connected with the "British and American Steam Navigation Company." In that document we find a detailed account of the profits and

losses of the British Queen and President, the authenticity and correctness of which may be relied on. From this account, it appears that these ships (with the exception of one voyage of the British Queen) never failed to net for their owners some profit, until the operations of the Cunard line began, and from that time till the dissolution of the company, all profit ceased, and every voyage only added to the loss. This fact pretty clearly indicates the chief cause of the failure of the New York lines of steamships.

The following table exhibits the performances of the Great Western and Cunard

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PASSAGES OF THE PASSAGE,

CUNARD STEAMERS.

Home.

Ship's name. Sailed from Liverpool. Out. Britannia.... July 4, 1840....... 12.50......10.00 Acadia...... August 4.......... 11.16...... 11.00 Britannia.... September 4....... 11.00......11.20 Caledonia... September 19...... 12.30... 10.25 Acadia...... October 4......... 11.25......12.20 Britannia.... October 20........ 12.00.. ....11.25 Caledonia... November 4....... 12.00......11.80 Acadia...... December 4 14.75......10.75

Britannia.... February 4, 1841... 15.40......12.00
Caledonia... March 4
14.00......10.75

Acadia...... March 20......... 16.50......12.75
Columbia...
April 4............ 13.12......11.60
Britannia.... April 20.... ....... 13.75......11.00
Caledonia...
May 4... ......... 12.25......10.75
Acadia...... May 19. ...... 12.00......10.60
Columbia ... June 4............ 10.80......10.25
Britannia.... June 19.. ........ 12.25......10.00

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PASSAGE,

Home.

Ship's name. Sailed from Liverpool. Out.
Caledonia July 4, 1841....... 11.25......10.50
Acadia...... July 20
11.00...... 9.75
Columbia August 4......... 13.00......11.00
Britannia.... August 19. ..... 11.80......12.00
Caledonia... September 4...... 11.75......10.80
Acadia...... September 19..... 13.50......11.15
Columbia... October 5....

13.75......11.00 Britannia.... October 21........ 14.15......12.25 Caledonia ... November 4....... 11.80......12.00 Columbia... December 4....... 14.75......11.75 Columbia... March 4, 1842..... 20.75......15.50 Britannia.... April 5.... 12.85......10.55 Caledonia... April 19 13.80......10.75 Acadia...... May 4............ 14.75......10.30 Columbia... May 19........... 11.85...... 9.75 Britannia.... June 4. .......... 11.75......10.40 16) 212.50 16) 179.45 11.21

Average passage....

13.28

The passages of the Cunard line have been taken as nearly as possible at the same seasons as those of the Great Western.

The average out-passage of the Great Western is then

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Cunard steamships

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Difference of the out-passage in favor of the Cunard line
Difference of the home-passage in favor of the Cunard line
Difference of the voyage in favor of the Cunard line

Days. Hours.

15 19

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The competition of the Cunard Line is indeed a most important element in this investigation. If, as was the case when the question was first debated in England, and when Dr. Lardner made his widely abused and much-misrepresented speech on that subject at Bristol, no other line were in being, the ground of argument would be different. He then insisted that the post-office subsidy was an essential element of success. That without it the enterprise must fail.Whether this opinion, at the time it was expressed, were sound or not, we shall not inquire, as that can only affect the value personally of Dr. Lardner's judgment. The question now is, not whether a line of steamers can support itself without the post-office contribution, but whether it can sustain itself against that subsidy. Whether two rival enterprises cannot be both successful in their financial results, one of which is subsidized annually to the extent of nearly half a million of dollars, while the other is left to depend on its own resources one of which has its safety, efficiency, good management and punctuality guaranteed by the sanction of the British government, while the other has nothing to offer but the assurances of a private, though very respectable, company? The odds are fearfully great in such a condition of things.

There is one circumstance obviously favorable to a New York line. It is undoubtedly true that the majority of passengers out would be more accommodated by arriving at New York, than by being landed at Boston, and the majority of passengers back would be better accommodated by embarking at New York than by starting from Boston. Against this, on the other hand, it must be considered that the average passage of the Boston steamers out has been two days and nineteen hours, and the average passage home two days and ten hours less than the corresponding passages of the New York steamer.*

It is not our province to prognosticate the future result of speculations and pro

jects still to be brought into operation. Of the past and present alone are we able or willing to speak. This is an epoch signalized by the rapid progression of the arts, and improvements are now in progress which hold forth bright promise. Much has been already accomplished, and much more in the fulness of time may be hoped for. The formidable barrier of the Atlantic has been crossed, and one successful and, we trust, permanent line of steam communication between the Old and New World has been established. Whether it connect New York with Bristol, or Boston with Liverpool, must, to the world in general, and to the United States in particular, be a matter of the smallest conceivable importance, however much such a point may interest particular classes and individuals in those cities respectively. We shall therefore dismiss this topic, and turn for a moment to take a view of some of the improvements which are in progress of development on this and on the other side of the wide Atlantic.

It seems to be admitted on every hand that wheels requiring for their efficient performances one unvaried immersion, are ineligible propellers of a vessel exposed to vicissitudes of the sea that vary the immersion every moment, and loaded with fuel, the gradual consumption of which produces a progressive diminution of the average draught. On both sides of the Atlantic engineers and projectors have therefore directed their attention to the contrivance of subaqueous propellers. Various forms of these have been tried in England, among which the favorite for the moment seems to be a screw carried with its axis horizontal and parallel to the keel, operating under the vessel, and kept in revolution by the engines. In this country, a submerged wheel, acting at the stern on an axis parallel to the keel, and having its face turned sternwards, the invention of Captain Ericcson, has been in operation on various private vessels for the last four years, and has more recently been sanctioned by government, and adopted in the United States

* Since the above was written, it has been announced in the public journals that the Cunard steamers are henceforward to make their passages direct between Liverpool and Boston, and that the mails of the British provinces are to be despatched from and received at the latter city. If this prove to be the case, the time of the passages of these steamers will be further abridged, not only to the extent of their present detention at Halifax, but by being enabled to make a direct and more expeditious course to Boston. They will thus have on the out-passage an advantage over the New York steamers amounting probably to from four to five days.

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