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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, by
+Thomas Rainey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post
+
+Author: Thomas Rainey
+
+Release Date: April 19, 2008 [EBook #25104]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Chris Logan, The Philatelic
+Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION
+
+AND THE
+
+OCEAN POST.
+
+BY THOMAS RAINEY.
+
+
+NEW-YORK:
+D. APPLETON & CO., 346 & 348 BROADWAY.
+TRUBNER & CO.,
+PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+1858.
+
+
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
+JOHN GLENN RAINEY,
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
+the Southern District of New-York.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED,
+
+IN TOKEN OF
+
+RESPECT AND ESTEEM,
+
+TO THE
+
+HON. AARON VENABLE BROWN
+
+POST MASTER GENERAL
+
+OF THE
+
+UNITED STATES.
+
+
+
+
+Reprinted 1977
+by Eastern Press, Inc.
+New Haven, Conn.
+
+Published by
+Edward N. Lipson
+
+Distributed by
+a Gatherin'
+Post Office Box 175
+Wynantskill, N.Y. 12198
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In offering to the Government and the public this little volume on
+Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, I am conscious of my
+inability to present any new views on a subject that has engaged the
+attention of many of the most gifted statesmen and economists of this
+country and Europe. There is, however, no work, so far as I am
+informed, in any country, which treats of Marine Steam Navigation in
+its commercial, political, economic, social, and diplomatic bearings,
+or discusses so far the theory and practice of navigation as to
+develop the cost and difficulties attending high speed on the ocean,
+or the large expense incurred in a rapid, regular, and reliable
+transport of the foreign mails.
+
+It has been repeatedly suggested to the undersigned by members of
+Congress, and particularly by some of the members of the committees on
+the Post Office and Post Roads in the Senate and House of
+Representatives, that there was no reliable statement, such as that
+which I have endeavored to furnish, on the general topics connected
+with trans-marine steam navigation, to which those not specially
+informed on the subject, could refer for the settlement of the many
+disputed points brought before Congress and the Departments. It is
+represented that there are many conflicting statements regarding the
+capabilities of ocean steam; the cost of running vessels; the
+consumption of fuel; the extent and costliness of repairs; the
+depreciation of vessels; the cost of navigating them; the attendant
+incidental expenses; the influence of ocean mails in promoting trade;
+the wants of commercial communities; the adaptation of the mail
+vessels to the war service; the rights of private enterprise; and the
+ability of ocean steamers generally to support themselves on their own
+receipts.
+
+While this is true, there is no work on this general subject to which
+persons can refer for the authoritative settlement of any of these
+points, either absolutely or proximately; and while a simple statement
+of facts, acknowledged by all steamship-men, may tend to dispel much
+misapprehension on this interesting subject, it will also be not
+unprofitable, I trust, to review some of the prominent arguments on
+which the mail steamship system is based. That system should stand or
+fall on its own merits or demerits alone; and to be permanent, it must
+be based on the necessities of the community, and find its support in
+the common confidence of all classes. I have long considered a wise,
+liberal, and extended steam mail system vitally essential to the
+commerce of the country, and to the continued prosperity and power of
+the American Union. Yet, I am thoroughly satisfied that this very
+desirable object can never be attained by private enterprise, or
+otherwise than through the direct pecuniary agency and support of the
+General Government. The abandonment of our ocean steam mail system is
+impossible so long as we are an active, enterprising, and commercial
+people. And so far from the service becoming self-supporting, it is
+probable that it will never be materially less expensive than at the
+present time.
+
+It has been my constant endeavor to give the best class of authorities
+on all the points of engineering which I have introduced, as that
+regarding the cost of steam and high mail speed; and to this end I
+have recently visited England and France, and endeavored to ascertain
+the practice in those countries, especially in Great Britain.
+
+I desire to return my sincere acknowledgments for many courtesies
+received from Mr. Charles Atherton, of London, England; Robert Murray,
+Esq., Southampton; and Hon. Horatio King, of Washington, D. C.
+
+THOMAS RAINEY.
+
+New-York, _December 9, 1857_.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARGUMENT.
+
+
+1. _Assumed_ (Section I.) _that steam mails upon the ocean control the
+commerce and diplomacy of the world; that they are essential to our
+commercial and producing country; that we have not established the
+ocean mail facilities commensurate with our national ability and the
+demands of our commerce; and that we to-day are largely dependent on,
+and tributary to our greatest commercial rival, Great Britain, for the
+postal facilities, which should be purely national, American, and
+under our own exclusive control:_
+
+2. _Assumed_ (Section II.) _that fast ocean mails are exceedingly
+desirable for our commerce, our defenses, our diplomacy, the
+management of our squadrons, our national standing, and that they are
+demanded by our people at large:_
+
+3. _Assumed_ (Section III.) _that fast steamers alone can furnish
+rapid transport to the mails; that these steamers can not rely on
+freights; that sailing vessels will ever carry staple freights at a
+much lower figure, and sufficiently quickly; that while steam is
+eminently successful in the coasting trade, it can not possibly be so
+in the transatlantic freighting business; and that the rapid transit
+of the mails, and the slower and more deliberate transport of freight
+is the law of nature:_
+
+4. _Assumed_ (Section IV.) _that high, adequate mail speed is
+extremely costly, in the prime construction of vessels, their repairs,
+and their more numerous employees; that the quantity of fuel consumed
+is enormous, and ruinous to unaided private enterprise; and that this
+is clearly proven both by theory and indisputable facts as well as by
+the concurrent testimony of the ablest writers on ocean steam
+navigation:_
+
+5. _Assumed_ (Section V.) _that ocean mail steamers can not live on
+their own receipts; that neither the latest nor the anticipated
+improvements in steam shipping promise any change in this fact; that
+self-support is not likely to be attained by increasing the size of
+steamers; that the propelling power in fast steamers occupies all of
+the available space not devoted to passengers and express freight; and
+that steamers must be fast to do successful mail and profitable
+passenger service:_
+
+6. _Assumed_ (Section VI.) _that sailing vessels can not successfully
+transport the mails; that the propeller can not transport them as
+rapidly or more cheaply than side-wheel vessels; that with any
+considerable economy of fuel and other running expenses, it is but
+little faster than the sailing vessel; that to patronize these slow
+vessels with the mails, the Government would unjustly discriminate
+against sailing vessels in the transport of freights; that we can not
+in any sense depend on the vessels of the Navy for the transport of
+the mails; that individual enterprise can not support fast steamers;
+and that not even American private enterprise can under any conditions
+furnish a sufficiently rapid steam mail and passenger marine: then,_
+
+7. _Conceded_ (Section VII.) _that it is the duty of the Government to
+its people to establish and maintain an extensive, well-organized, and
+rapid steam mail marine, for the benefit of production, commerce,
+diplomacy, defenses, the public character, and the general interests
+of all classes; that our people appreciate the importance of commerce,
+and are willing to pay for liberal postal facilities; that our trade
+has greatly suffered for the want of ocean mails; that we have been
+forced to neglect many profitable branches of industry, and many large
+fields of effort; and that there is positively no means of gaining and
+maintaining commercial ascendency except through an ocean steam mail
+system:_
+
+8. _Conceded_ (Section VIII.) _that the Government can discharge the
+clear and unquestionable duty of establishing foreign mail facilities,
+only by paying liberal prices for the transport of the mails for a
+long term of years, by creating and sustaining an ocean postal system,
+by legislating upon it systematically, and by abandoning our slavish
+dependence upon Great Britain:_
+
+9. _Conceded_ (Section IX.) _that the British ocean mail system
+attains greater perfection and extent every year; that instead of
+becoming self-supporting, it costs the treasury more and more every
+year; that English statesmen regard its benefits as far outweighing
+the losses to the treasury; that so far from abandoning, they are
+regularly and systematically increasing it; that it was never regarded
+by the whole British public with more favor, than at the present time;
+that it is evidently one of the most enduring institutions of the
+country; that it necessitates a similar American system; that without
+it our people are denied the right and privilege of competition; and
+that we are thus far by no means adequately prepared for that
+competition, or for our own development._
+
+Section X. _notices each of the American lines, and presents many
+facts corroborating the views advanced in the preceding sections._
+
+
+PAPER A.
+
+Paper A _(page 192) enumerates all the Steamers of the United States_.
+
+
+PAPER B.
+
+Paper B _(page 193) gives a list of all the British Ocean Mail Lines_.
+
+
+PAPER C.
+
+Paper C _(page 198) presents Projet of Franco-American Navigation_.
+
+
+PAPER D.
+
+Paper D _(page 199) gives the Steam Lines between Europe and America_.
+
+
+PAPER E.
+
+Paper E _(page 200) gives many extracts from eminent statesmen,
+corroborating views herein advanced_.
+
+
+PAPER F.
+
+Paper F _(page 219) gives the Steam Lines of the whole world_.
+
+
+PAPER G.
+
+Paper G _(page 220) American Mail Lines: Letter of Hon. Horatio King_.
+
+
+PAPER H.
+
+Paper H _(page 221) List of British, French, and American Navies_.
+
+
+
+
+HEADS OF ARGUMENT.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+PRESENT POSITION OF STEAM NAVIGATION.
+
+ THE SPLENDID TRIUMPHS OF STEAM: IT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF
+ NATIONAL PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT: THE FORERUNNER OF CIVILIZATION:
+ IMPORTANT TO THE UNITED STATES AS AN AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING,
+ AND COMMERCIAL COUNTRY: NATURE OF OUR PEOPLE: MARITIME SPIRIT:
+ VARIOUS COMMERCIAL COUNTRIES: OURS MOST ADVANTAGEOUSLY SITUATED:
+ THE DESTINY OF AMERICAN COMMERCE: OUR COMMERCIAL RIVALS: GREAT
+ BRITAIN: SHE RESISTS US BY STEAM AND DIPLOMACY: OUR POSITION: MOST
+ APPROVED INSTRUMENTS OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: PORTUGAL AND HOLLAND:
+ ENGLAND'S WISE STEAM POLICY: LIBERAL VIEWS OF HER STATESMEN:
+ EXTENT OF HER MAIL SERVICE: HER IMMENSE STEAM MARINE, OF 2,161
+ STEAMERS: OUR CONTRAST: OUR DEPENDENCE ON GREAT BRITAIN: THE
+ UNITED STATES MAIL AND COMMERCIAL STEAM MARINE IN FULL: A MOST
+ UNFAVORABLE COMPARISON.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+NECESSITY OF RAPID STEAM MAILS.
+
+ ARE OCEAN STEAM MAILS DESIRABLE AND NECESSARY FOR A COMMERCIAL
+ PEOPLE? THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE DEMANDS THEM: MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF
+ NATIONS: FAST MAILS NECESSARY TO CONTROL SLOW FREIGHTS: THE
+ FOREIGN POST OF EVERY NATION IS MORE OR LESS SELFISH: IF WE
+ NEGLECT APPROVED METHODS, WE ARE THEREBY SUBORDINATED TO THE SKILL
+ OF OTHERS: THE WANT OF A FOREIGN POST IS A NATIONAL CALAMITY:
+ OTHER NATIONS CAN NOT AFFORD US DUE FACILITIES: WARS AND ACCIDENTS
+ FORBID: THE CRIMEA AND THE INDIES AN EXAMPLE: MANY OF OUR FIELDS
+ OF COMMERCE NEED A POST: BRAZIL, THE WEST-INDIES, AND PACIFIC
+ SOUTH-AMERICA: MAILS TO THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE BY THE NUMEROUS
+ CUNARD VESSELS: CORRESPONDENCE WITH AFRICA, CHINA, THE
+ EAST-INDIES, THE MAURITIUS, AND AUSTRALIA: SLAVISH DEPENDENCE ON
+ GREAT BRITAIN: DESIRABLE FOR OUR DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE:
+ FOR THE CONTROL OF OUR SQUADRONS: CASES OF SUFFERING: NECESSARY
+ FOR DEFENSE: FOR CULTIVATING FRIENDLY RELATIONS AND OPENING TRADE:
+ THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH WILL REQUIRE FASTER AND HEAVIER MAILS: OUR
+ COMMERCE REQUIRES FAST STEAMERS FOR THE RAPID AND EASY TRANSIT OF
+ PASSENGERS: MODES OF BENEFITING COMMERCE.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+THE CAPABILITIES OF OCEAN STEAM.
+
+ THE COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES OF OCEAN STEAM: STEAM MAILS ARRIVE AND
+ DEPART AT ABSOLUTELY FIXED PERIODS: UNCERTAINTY IS HAZARDOUS AND
+ COSTLY: SUBSIDIZED STEAMERS GIVE A NECESSARILY HIGH SPEED TO THE
+ MAILS: MONEY CAN NOT AFFORD TO LIE UPON THE OCEAN FOR WEEKS:
+ COMPARED WITH SAIL: STEAMERS TRANSPORT CERTAIN CLASSES OF FREIGHT:
+ THE HAVRE AND THE CUNARD LINES: THE CUNARD PROPELLERS: STEAMERS
+ CAN AFFORD TO TRANSPORT EXPRESS PACKAGES AND GOODS: GOODS TAKEN
+ ONLY TO FILL UP: WHY PROPELLERS ARE CHEAPER IN SOME CASES: STEAM
+ IN SOME CASES CHEAPER THAN THE WIND: AN ESTIMATE: THE PROPELLER
+ FOR COASTING: STEAM ON ITS OWN RECEIPTS HAS NOT SUCCEEDED ON THE
+ OCEAN: MARINE AND FLUVIAL NAVIGATION COMPARED: MOST FREIGHTS NOT
+ TRANSPORTABLE BY STEAM ON ANY CONDITIONS: AUXILIARY FREIGHTING AND
+ EMIGRANT PROPELLERS: LAWS OF TRANSPORT: RAPID MAILS AND LEISURE
+ TRANSPORT OF FREIGHT THE LAW OF NATURE: THE PRICE OF COALS RAPIDLY
+ INCREASING: ANTICIPATED IMPROVEMENTS AND CHEAPENING IN MARINE
+ PROPULSION NOT REALIZED.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+COST OF STEAM: OCEAN MAIL SPEED.
+
+ MISAPPREHENSION OF THE HIGH COST OF STEAM MARINE PROPULSION: VIEWS
+ OF THE NON-PROFESSIONAL: HIGH SPEED NECESSARY FOR THE DISTANCES IN
+ OUR COUNTRY: WHAT IS THE COST OF HIGH ADEQUATE MAIL SPEED: FAST
+ STEAMERS REQUIRE STRONGER PARTS IN EVERY THING: GREATER OUTLAY IN
+ PRIME COST: MORE FREQUENT AND COSTLY REPAIRS: MORE WATCHFULNESS
+ AND MEN: MORE COSTLY FUEL, ENGINEERS, FIREMEN, AND COAL-PASSERS:
+ GREAT STRENGTH OF HULL REQUIRED: ALSO IN ENGINES, BOILERS, AND
+ PARTS: WHY THE PRIME COST INCREASES: THEORY OF REPAIRS: FRICTION
+ AND BREAKAGES: BOILERS AND FURNACES BURNING OUT: REPAIRS TWELVE TO
+ EIGHTEEN PER CENT: DEPRECIATION: SEVERAL LINES CITED: USES FOR
+ MORE MEN: EXTRA FUEL, AND LESS FREIGHT-ROOM: BRITISH TRADE AND
+ COAL CONSUMPTION.
+
+ THE NATURAL LAWS OF RESISTANCE, POWER, AND SPEED, WITH TABLE: THE
+ RESISTANCE VARIES AS IS THE SQUARE OF THE VELOCITY: THE POWER, OR
+ FUEL, VARIES AS THE CUBE OF THE VELOCITY: THE RATIONALE:
+ AUTHORITIES CITED IN PROOF OF THE LAW: EXAMPLES, AND THE FORMULAE:
+ COAL-TABLE; NO. I.: QUANTITY OF FUEL FOR DIFFERENT SPEEDS AND
+ DISPLACEMENTS: DEDUCTIONS FROM THE TABLE: RATES AT WHICH INCREASED
+ SPEED INCREASES THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL: CONSUMPTION FOR VESSELS
+ OF 2,500, 3,000, AND 6,000 TONS DISPLACEMENT: COAL-TABLE; NO. II.:
+ FREIGHT-TABLE; NO. III.: AS SPEED AND POWER INCREASE, FREIGHT AND
+ PASSENGER ROOM DECREASE: FREIGHT AND FARE REDUCED: SPEED OF
+ VARIOUS LINES: FREIGHT-COST: COAL AND CARGO; NO. IV.: MR.
+ ATHERTON'S VIEWS OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT.
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+OCEAN MAIL STEAMERS CAN NOT LIVE ON THEIR OWN RECEIPTS.
+
+ INCREASE OF BRITISH MAIL SERVICE: LAST NEW LINE AT $925,000 PER
+ YEAR: THE SYSTEM NOT BECOMING SELF-SUPPORTING: CONTRACT RENEWALS
+ AT SAME OR HIGHER PRICES: PRICE OF FUEL AND WAGES INCREASED FASTER
+ THAN ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS: LARGE SHIPS RUN PROPORTIONALLY CHEAPER
+ THAN SMALL: AN EXAMPLE, WITH THE FIGURES: THE STEAMER "LEVIATHAN,"
+ 27,000 TONS: STEAMERS OF THIS CLASS WILL NOT PAY: SHE CAN NOT
+ TRANSPORT FREIGHT TO AUSTRALIA: REASONS FOR THE SAME: MOTION HER
+ NORMAL CONDITION: MUST NOT BE MADE A DOCK: DELIVERY OF FREIGHTS:
+ MAMMOTH STEAMERS TO BRAZIL: LARGE CLIPPERS LIE IDLE: NOT EVEN THIS
+ LARGE CLASS OF STEAMERS CAN LIVE ON THEIR OWN RECEIPTS: EFFICIENT
+ MAIL STEAMERS CARRY BUT LITTLE EXCEPT PASSENGERS: SOME HEAVY EXTRA
+ EXPENSES IN REGULAR MAIL LINES: PACIFIC MAIL COMPANY'S LARGE EXTRA
+ FLEET, AND ITS EFFECTS: THE IMMENSE ACCOUNT OF ITEMS AND EXTRAS: A
+ PARTIAL LIST: THE HAVRE AND COLLINS DOCKS: GREAT EXPENSE OF
+ FEEDING PASSENGERS: VIEWS OF MURRAY AND ATHERTON ON THE COST OF
+ RUNNING STEAMERS, AND THE NECESSITY OF THE PRESENT MAIL SERVICE.
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+HOW CAN MAIL SPEED BE ATTAINED?
+
+ THE TRANSMARINE COMPARED WITH THE INLAND POST: OUR PAST SPASMODIC
+ EFFORTS: NEED SOME SYSTEM: FRANCE AROUSED TO STEAM: THE
+ SAILING-SHIP MAIL: THE NAVAL STEAM MAIL: THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
+ MAIL: ALL INADEQUATE AND ABANDONED: GREAT BRITAIN'S EXPERIENCE IN
+ ALL THESE METHODS: NAVAL VESSELS CAN NOT BE ADAPTED TO THE MAIL
+ SERVICE: WILL PROPELLERS MEET THE WANTS OF MAIL TRANSPORT, WITH OR
+ WITHOUT SUBSIDY? POPULAR ERRORS REGARDING THE PROPELLER: ITS
+ ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: BOURNE'S OPINION: ROBERT MURRAY:
+ PROPELLERS TOO OFTEN ON THE DOCKS: THEY ARE VERY DISAGREEABLE
+ PASSENGER VESSELS: IF PROPELLERS RUN MORE CHEAPLY IT IS BECAUSE
+ THEY ARE SLOWER: COMPARED WITH SAIL: UNPROFITABLE STOCK: CROSKEY'S
+ LINE: PROPELLERS LIVE ON CHANCES AND CHARTERS: IRON IS A MATERIAL:
+ SENDING THE MAILS BY SLOW PROPELLERS WOULD BE AN UNFAIR
+ DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SAILING VESSELS: INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE CAN
+ NOT SUPPLY MAIL FACILITIES: THEREFORE IT IS THE DUTY OF THE
+ GOVERNMENT.
+
+
+SECTION VII.
+
+WHAT IS THE DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE?
+
+ RESUME OF THE PREVIOUS SECTIONS AND ARGUMENTS: IT IS THE DUTY OF
+ THE GOVERNMENT TO FURNISH RAPID STEAM MAILS: OUR PEOPLE APPRECIATE
+ THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMERCE, AND OF LIBERAL POSTAL FACILITIES: THE
+ GOVERNMENT IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE: IT MUST
+ FOSTER THEIR INTERESTS AND DEVELOP THEIR INDUSTRY: THE WANT OF
+ SUCH MAILS HAS CAUSED THE NEGLECT OF MANY PROFITABLE BRANCHES OF
+ INDUSTRY: AS A CONSEQUENCE WE HAVE LOST IMMENSE TRAFFIC: THE
+ EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND OURS: FIELDS OF TRADE NATURALLY
+ PERTAINING TO US: OUR ALMOST SYSTEMATIC NEGLECT OF THEM: WHY IS
+ GREAT BRITAIN'S COMMERCE SO LARGE: CAUSES AND THEIR EFFECTS: HER
+ WEST-INDIA LINE RECEIVES A LARGER SUBSIDY THAN ALL THE FOREIGN
+ LINES OF THE UNITED STATES COMBINED: INDIFFERENCE SHOWN BY
+ CONGRESS TO MANY IMPORTANT FIELDS OF COMMERCE: INSTANCES OF MAIL
+ FACILITIES CREATING LARGE TRADE: THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL
+ COMPANY'S TESTIMONY: THE BRITISH AND BRAZILIAN TRADE: SOME
+ DEDUCTIONS FROM THE FIGURES: CALIFORNIA SHORN OF HALF HER GLORY:
+ THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOT MISERS: THEY WISH THEIR OWN PUBLIC
+ TREASURE EXPENDED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR INDUSTRY: OUR
+ COMMERCIAL CLASSES COMPLAIN THAT THEY ARE DEPRIVED OF THE
+ PRIVILEGE OF COMPETING WITH OTHER NATIONS.
+
+
+SECTION VIII.
+
+HOW SHALL THE GOVERNMENT DISCHARGE THIS DUTY?
+
+ WE NEED A STEAM MAIL SYSTEM: HOW OUR LINES HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED:
+ AMERICAN AND BRITISH POLICY CONTRASTED: SPASMODIC AND ENDURING
+ LEGISLATION: MR. POLK'S ADMINISTRATION ENDEAVORED TO INAUGURATE A
+ POLICY: GEN. RUSK ENDEAVORED TO EXTEND IT: THE TERM OF SERVICE TOO
+ SHORT: COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE LONGER PERIODS: A LEGISLATION OF
+ EXPEDIENTS: MUST SUBSIDIZE PRIVATE COMPANIES FOR A LONG TERM OF
+ YEARS: SHOULD WE GIVE TO OUR POSTAL VESSELS THE NAVAL FEATURE: OUR
+ MAIL LINES GAVE AN IMPULSE TO SHIP-BUILDING: LET US HAVE STEAM
+ MAILS ON THEIR MERITS: NO NAVAL FEATURE SUBTERFUGES: THESE VESSELS
+ HIGHLY USEFUL IN WAR: THEY LIBERALLY SUPPLY THE NAVY WITH
+ EXPERIENCED ENGINEERS WHEN NECESSARY: THE BRITISH MAIL PACKETS
+ GENERALLY FIT FOR WAR SERVICE: LORD CANNING'S REPORT: EXPEDIENTS
+ PROPOSED FOR CARRYING THE MAILS: BY FOREIGN INSTEAD OF AMERICAN
+ VESSELS: DEGRADING EXPEDIENCY AND SUBSERVIENCY: WE CAN NOT SECURE
+ MAIL SERVICE BY GIVING THE GROSS RECEIPTS: THE GENERAL TREASURY
+ SHOULD PAY FOR THE TRANSMARINE POST: REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW
+ CONTRACTS: METHOD OF MAKING CONTRACTS: THE LOWEST BIDDER AND THE
+ LAND SERVICE: THE OCEAN SERVICE VERY DIFFERENT: BUT LITTLE
+ UNDERSTOOD: LOWEST-BIDDER SYSTEM FAILURES: SENATOR RUSK'S OPINION:
+ INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF LOWEST BIDDER: INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS AND RIGHTS.
+
+
+SECTION IX.
+
+THE BRITISH SYSTEM, AND ITS RESULTS.
+
+ STEAM MAIL SYSTEM INAUGURATED AS THE PROMOTER OF WEALTH, POWER,
+ AND CIVILIZATION: THE EFFECT OF THE SYSTEM ON COMMERCE: THE LONG
+ PERIOD DESIGNATED FOR THE EXPERIMENT: NEW LINES, WHEN, HOW, AND
+ WHY ESTABLISHED: THE WORKINGS OF THE SYSTEM: FIRST CONTRACT MADE
+ IN 1833, LIVERPOOL AND ISLE OF MAN: WITH ROTTERDAM IN 1834:
+ FALMOUTH AND GIBRALTAR, 1837: ABERDEEN, SHETLAND, AND ORKNEYS,
+ 1840: THE "SAVANNAH," THE FIRST OCEAN STEAMER: THE SIRIUS AND
+ GREAT WESTERN: CUNARD CONTRACT MADE IN 1839: EXTRA PAY "WITHIN
+ CERTAIN LIMITS:" MALTA, ALEXANDRIA, SUEZ, EAST-INDIES, AND CHINA
+ IN 1840: THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL COMPANY: WEST-INDIA SERVICE
+ ESTABLISHED IN 1840: POINTS TOUCHED AT: PROVISIONAL EXTRA PAY:
+ PANAMA AND VALPARAISO LINE ESTABLISHED IN 1845: HOLYHEAD AND
+ KINGSTON IN 1848: ALSO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS: WEST COAST OF AFRICA
+ AND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IN 1852: CALCUTTA VIA THE CAPE IN 1852, AND
+ ABANDONED: PLYMOUTH, SYDNEY, AND NEW SOUTH WALES ALSO IN 1852, AND
+ ABANDONED: INVESTIGATION OF 1851 AND 1853, AND NEW AUSTRALIAN
+ CONTRACT IN 1856: HALIFAX, NEWFOUNDLAND, BERMUDA, AND ST. THOMAS
+ IN 1850: NEW-YORK AND BERMUDA SOON DISCONTINUED: COMPARISON OF
+ BRITISH AND AMERICAN SUBSIDIES, RATES PER MILE, TOTAL DISTANCES,
+ AND POSTAL INCOME: THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT PAYS HIGHER SUBSIDIES
+ THAN THE AMERICAN: WORKINGS AND INCREASE OF THE BRITISH SERVICE:
+ GEN. RUSK'S VIEWS: SPEECH OF HON T. B. KING: COMMITTEE OF
+ INVESTIGATION, 1849: NEW INVESTIGATION ORDERED IN 1853, AND
+ INSTRUCTIONS: LORD CANNING'S REPORT AND ITS RECOMMENDATIONS: GREAT
+ BRITAIN WILL NOT ABANDON HER MAIL SYSTEM: THE NEW AUSTRALIAN LINE:
+ TESTIMONY OF ATHERTON AND MURRAY: MANY EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT:
+ STEAM INDISPENSABLE: NOT SELF-SUPPORTING: THE MAIL RECEIPTS WILL
+ NOT PAY FOR IT: RESULT OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM: ANOTHER NEW SERVICE TO
+ INDIA AND CHINA: SHALL WE RUN THE POSTAL AND COMMERCIAL RACE WITH
+ GREAT BRITAIN? CANADA AND THE INDIES.
+
+
+SECTION X.
+
+THE MAIL LINES OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+ THE MAIL LINES OF THE UNITED STATES: THE HAVRE AND BREMEN, THE
+ PIONEERS: THE BREMEN SERVICE RECENTLY GIVEN TO MR. VANDERBILT:
+ BOTH LINES RUN ON THE GROSS RECEIPTS: THE CALIFORNIA LINES:
+ WONDROUS DEVELOPMENT OF OUR PACIFIC POSSESSIONS: THE PACIFIC MAIL
+ STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS HISTORY, SERVICES, LARGE MATERIEL, AND
+ USEFULNESS: THE UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS RAMIFIED
+ AND LARGE EXTRA SERVICE: EFFECT UPON THE COMMERCE OF THE GULF: ITS
+ HEAVY LOSSES, AND NEW SHIPS: STEAMSHIP STOCKS GENERALLY AVOIDED:
+ CONSTANTLY FAR BELOW PAR: THE COLLINS LINE: A COMPARISON WITH THE
+ CUNARD: ITS SOURCES OF HEAVY OUTLAY, AND ITS ENTERPRISE: THE
+ AMERICAN MARINE DISASTERS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY HUMAN
+ FORESIGHT; THE VANDERBILT BREMEN LINE: THE CHARLESTON AND HAVANA
+ LINE.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+PRESENT POSITION OF STEAM NAVIGATION.
+
+ THE SPLENDID TRIUMPHS OF STEAM: IT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF
+ NATIONAL PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT: THE FORERUNNER OF CIVILIZATION:
+ IMPORTANT TO THE UNITED STATES AS AN AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING,
+ AND COMMERCIAL COUNTRY: NATURE OF OUR PEOPLE: MARITIME SPIRIT:
+ VARIOUS COMMERCIAL COUNTRIES: OURS MOST ADVANTAGEOUSLY SITUATED:
+ THE DESTINY OF AMERICAN COMMERCE: OUR COMMERCIAL RIVALS: GREAT
+ BRITAIN: SHE RESISTS US BY STEAM AND DIPLOMACY: OUR POSITION: MOST
+ APPROVED INSTRUMENTS OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS: PORTUGAL AND HOLLAND:
+ ENGLAND'S WISE STEAM POLICY: LIBERAL VIEWS OF HER STATESMEN:
+ EXTENT OF HER MAIL SERVICE: HER IMMENSE STEAM MARINE, OF 2,161
+ STEAMERS: OUR CONTRAST: OUR DEPENDENCE ON GREAT BRITAIN: THE
+ UNITED STATES MAIL AND COMMERCIAL STEAM MARINE IN FULL: A MOST
+ UNFAVORABLE COMPARISON.
+
+
+The agreeable and responsible duty of developing and regulating the
+most important discovery of modern times, and the greatest material
+force known to men, has been committed to the present generation. The
+progress of Steam, from the days of its first application to lifting
+purposes, through all of its gradations of application to railway
+locomotion and steamboat and steamship propulsion down to the present
+time, has been a series of splendid and highly useful triumphs, alike
+creditable to the genius of its promoters, and profitable to the
+nations which have adopted it. However great the progress of the
+world, or the prosperity of commercial nations prior to its
+introduction, it can not be doubted that it now constitutes the
+largest, surest, and most easily available means of progress,
+prosperity, and power known to civilized nations; or that the
+development, wealth, and independence of any country will be in the
+ratio of the application of steam to all of the ordinary purposes of
+life. It has been canonized among the sacred elements of national
+power, and commissioned as the great laborer of the age. Every
+civilized nation has adopted it as the best means of interior
+development, and as almost the only forerunner of commerce and
+communication with the outer world. It has thus become an
+indispensable necessity of every day life, whether by land or by sea,
+to the producer, the consumer, the merchant, the manufacturer, the
+artisan, the pleasure-seeker, the statesman, and the state itself, to
+public liberty, and to the peace of the world.
+
+The existence of an agent of so great power and influence, is
+necessarily a fact of unusual significance to a nation like the United
+States, which combines within itself in a high degree, the three most
+important interests, of large Agricultural and Mineral Productions,
+extensive and increasing Manufactures, and an immense Foreign Commerce
+and Domestic Trade. Our country is essentially commercial in its
+tastes and tendencies; our people are, as a result of our common
+schools, bold, inquiring, and enterprising; and our constitution and
+laws are well calculated to produce a nation of restless and vigorous
+merchants, traders, and travellers. Foreign commerce is a necessity
+of our large and redundant agricultural production. Our extended
+sea-coast, and necessarily large coasting-trade between the States,
+have begotten an unbounded spirit of maritime adventure. The ample
+material, and other facilities for building vessels, have also
+contributed to this end. As capable as any people on earth of running
+vessels and conducting mercantile enterprise, we have found foreign
+commerce a profitable field for the investment of labor, intelligence,
+and capital.
+
+There is scarcely any field of trade in the world which we are not
+naturally better calculated to occupy than any other country. Most of
+the great commercial nations employ their ships as common carriers for
+other nations, and limit their exports to manufactures alone. Great
+Britain is an example of this. She exports no products of the soil,
+for very obvious reasons. The exports of France partake of the same
+general character, domestic manufactures, with a small portion of the
+products of the soil. So, also, with the German States and Holland.
+The United States, to the contrary, have an immense export trade in
+the products of the soil. These exports have the advantage of
+embracing every production of the temperate zone, and some few of the
+more profitable of those of the torrid. These constitute a large
+source of wealth, and are daily increasing in quantity, value, and
+importance. Combined with the manufactured productions of the country,
+and the yield of the mines, they require a large amount of shipping,
+which, extending to nearly all nations, opens a diversified and rich
+field of trade. The exchanges of production between our own and other
+countries, are, consequently, very large and general, and must
+continue to increase to an indefinite extent, as the States and
+Territories of the Union fill up, and as the various new and opening
+branches of domestic industry develop and mature.
+
+The extent which this trade will reach in a few generations, its
+aggregate value, and the influence which it will wield over the world
+if judiciously and energetically promoted, and if wisely protected
+against encroachment from abroad, and embarrassment at home, no human
+foresight can predict or adequately imagine. With a larger field of
+operations, at home and abroad, than any nation ever possessed before,
+with the pacific commercial policy of the age, and with the aids of
+science, the telegraph, and steam to urge it on, American Commerce has
+opened before it a glorious career and an imposing responsibility.
+
+But the conquests of this commerce are not to be the bloodless
+victories of power unopposed; not the result of bold adventure without
+check, or of simply American enterprise without the Government's aid.
+Our foe is a wary, well-scarred, and well-tried old warrior, who has
+the unequalled wisdom of experience, and the patient courage that has
+triumphed over many defeats. The field has been in his hands for ten
+generations, and he knows every byway, every marsh, every foot of
+defense, and the few inassailable points to be preserved and guarded.
+Great Britain, particularly, knows how essential is a large general
+commerce for opening a market for her manufactures. She is dependent
+on those manufactures, and upon the carrying trade of the world for a
+living; and she fosters and protects them not alone by the reputed and
+well-known individual enterprise and energy of her people, but by a
+wise and forecasting policy of state, a mighty and irresistible naval
+and military array, a wisely concerted, liberal, well-arranged, and
+long-pursued steam system, and prompt, unflinching protection of
+British subjects in their rights throughout the world.
+
+Great Britain is prepared to resist our commercial progress, as she
+has already done, step by step, by all the means within her power. She
+has wisely brought steam to her aid, and now has a system of long
+standing at last well matured. Her diplomacy has ever been conspicuous
+throughout the world, for ability and zeal, whether in the ministerial
+or consular service, and for its persistent advocacy of British rights
+in trade as well as for its machinations against the extension of the
+commerce or the power of this country. Such action on the part of any
+wise rival nation is naturally to be expected; and all that we can
+object to is that, seeing this policy and its inevitable tendency, our
+country should stand still and suffer her trade to be paralyzed and
+wrested from her, without an effort to relieve it, or the employment
+of any of those commercial agencies and facilities which experience
+shows to be all-efficient in such cases. It is utter folly for us to
+maintain a simply passive competition; we must either progress or
+retrograde. It is wrong to be willing to occupy a secondary place,
+when nature and the common wants of the world so clearly indicate that
+we should occupy the first; for if, as before assumed, foreign
+commerce is our destiny, and if we can not accomplish our highest
+capabilities except by commerce, then if we ever attain our true
+dignity and station as a nation, it must be by enlarging,
+liberalizing, strengthening, and encouraging our foreign trade, by all
+of the proper, efficient, and honorable means within our power. It is
+the duty of the Government, both to itself and to its citizens. (_See
+Section VII._)
+
+The history of commercial nations admonishes us that no trading people
+can long maintain their ascendency without using all of the most
+approved means of the age for prosecuting trade. Portugal was at one
+time the most powerful commercial nation of the globe; and at another
+Holland was the mistress of the seas. But while the latter is now only
+a fourth-rate commercial power, the former has sunk into obscurity,
+and is nearly forgotten of men. At that time England and France had
+but a limited foreign trade and scarcely any commercial reputation.
+France could more easily maintain her existence without a foreign
+trade, than could England; and yet her matured manufactures and her
+products of the soil became so valuable that she sought a foreign
+market. England, to the contrary, had not territory enough to remain
+at home, and yet be a great power. She matured an immense
+manufacturing system, and needed a market, as well as the raw
+material, and food for her operatives. She began to stretch her arms
+to the outer world, and had made very considerable strides in foreign
+commerce side by side with France and the German States, and in the
+face of the steady young opposition of the American States.
+
+It now became a contest for supremacy. Her large navy had enabled her
+to conquer important foreign territories, which with the supremacy of
+the seas would make her the mistress of the world. France was still
+her equal rival, and the United States were becoming formidable common
+carriers, although they had but little legitimate commerce of their
+own, and none that was under their positive control. The commercial
+men of England finding their statesmen ready to aid them in their
+efforts for national progress, wealth, and glory, directed their
+attention to steam as an agent of supremacy and power, both in the
+Navy and the Commercial Marine. They indicated and proved the
+necessity of drawing the bonds between them and foreign countries more
+closely; of shortening the distances between them; of providing the
+means of rapid, safe, and comfortable transit of English merchants
+between their homes and foreign lands; of regular, rapid, reliable
+British steam mails to every point with which Englishmen had business,
+or could create it; and of government agency as the only means by
+which this desirable, this essential service could be rendered to
+commerce and to the country. They readily saw that rapid and reliable
+passenger facilities, and the rapid and regular transmission of
+commercial and diplomatic intelligence would give to British merchants
+and to British statesmen the certain control of commerce, and the
+conformation of the political destinies of many of the smaller nations
+of the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
+
+It was not a difficult task to convince the British statesman that it
+was his duty to encourage the commerce, on which the wealth, power,
+and glory of his country depended, by all the aids known to the
+constitution; and to uphold the hands of the merchant by the use of
+the money which his traffic had brought into the public coffers. There
+was no contest between North and South, East and West. It was the
+whole of England which was to be benefited directly or indirectly; and
+they were willing that it should be any part rather than none. The
+evident advantages which the United States possessed in her more
+numerous articles of export, (_see page 16_,) as well as the rapid
+strides which her first clippers were making across the ocean, were
+reasons urgent enough for the forecasting statesmen of Britain; and
+they determined to continue or to obtain the profitable dominion of
+the seas, although it might cost a sum of money far beyond the postal
+income. They knew that these postal and passenger facilities were
+needed by every class of community, and that there was no one in the
+kingdom who would not be in some way benefited by them; and that the
+sums of money paid for them, although not apparently returned, were
+yet returned in a thousand indirect channels and by a variety of
+reflex benefits not calculable as a transaction of exchange.
+
+We, therefore, see to-day, as the fruit of that determination, the
+proudest and the most profitable postal and mercantile steam marine
+that floats the seas. Several large companies, authorized to transport
+the mails to all parts of the world, were immediately organized, and
+paid liberal allowances for their peculiar duties. Where the
+practicability of the service was considered doubtful, larger sums
+were paid, and a greater length of time granted for making the
+experiment. The contracts were generally made for twelve years; and
+when their terms expired they were renewed for another term of twelve
+years, which will expire in 1862. Thus many of the lines have been in
+operation for the last nineteen years, and have demonstrated the
+practicability, the cheapness, the utility, and the necessity of such
+service. The entire foreign mail service is conducted by fifteen
+companies, having one hundred and twenty-one steamers, with a gross
+tonnage of 235,488 tons; the net tonnage being 141,293, assuming the
+engines, boilers, fuel, etc., to be forty per cent of the whole
+tonnage, which is altogether too low an estimate. The whole number of
+British sea-going steamers is sixteen hundred and sixty-nine, with an
+aggregate tonnage of 383,598 tons, exclusive of engines and boilers,
+and of 639,330 tons gross, including engines and boilers. (_See paper
+A, page 192._) We must add to this list the new steamer "Great
+Eastern," whose tonnage is twenty-seven thousand tons, and which will
+make the entire present mercantile steam tonnage of Great Britain
+660,330 tons. The greater portion of these steamers, exclusive of
+those engaged in the foreign mail service, are employed in the
+coasting and foreign continental trade; while some few of them run in
+the American merchant service, and many others in the subsidized mail
+service of foreign countries, such as the lines from Hamburgh and
+Antwerp to Brazil, and from those cities to the United States. Some of
+them are also engaged in the mail service between Canada and England,
+under the patronage of the Canadian government. (_See paper D, page
+199._) If we add to this list the 271 war steamers, the 220 gunboats,
+and the Great Eastern, we shall find that the British Mail,
+Mercantile, and War Marine consists of the enormous number of two
+thousand one hundred and sixty-one steamers, exclusive of the large
+number now building. Nearly all of these are adapted to the ocean, or
+to the coasting service, and may be classed as sea-going vessels.
+
+It is interesting to trace this rapid progress of steam since its
+first application to purposes of mail transport in 1833. An
+intelligent writer says, "The rise and progress of the ocean steam
+mail service of Great Britain is second in interest to no chapter in
+the maritime history of the world;" and while we acknowledge a
+grateful pride in the triumphs of our transatlantic brethren, we must
+blush with shame at our dereliction in this great, and civilizing, and
+enriching service of modern times. The steam marine of the United
+States, postal, mercantile, and naval, is to-day so insignificant in
+extent that we do not feel entirely certain that it is a sufficient
+nucleus for the growth of a respectable maritime power. The few ships
+that we possess are among the fleetest and the most comfortable that
+traverse the ocean, and have excited the admiration of the world
+wherever they have been seen. But their number is so small, their
+service so limited, their field of operation so contracted, that our
+large commerce and travel are dependent, in most parts of the world,
+on British steam mail lines for correspondence and transport, or on
+the slow, irregular, and uncertain communications of sailing vessels.
+The question here naturally suggests itself: Have we progressed in
+ocean steam navigation in a ratio commensurate with the improvements
+of the age, or of our own improvement in every thing else? And has the
+Government of the country afforded to the people the facilities of
+enterprise and commercial competition which are clearly necessary to
+enable them to enter the contest on equal terms with other commercial
+countries? (_See Section VII._)
+
+The Ocean Mail Service of the United States, consists of eight lines,
+and twenty one steamers in commission, with an aggregate tonnage of
+48,027 tons. Three of these lines are transatlantic; the Collins, the
+Havre, and the Bremen. Two connect us with our Pacific possessions,
+and incidentally with Cuba and New-Granada. They are however
+indispensable lines of coast navigation. One connects the ports of
+Charleston, in the United States, and Havana, in Cuba, another
+connects New-Orleans with Vera Cruz, and another connects Havana and
+New-Orleans. Beyond these, we have a line of two steamers running
+between New-York and New-Orleans, touching at Havana, and one steamer
+touching at the same point between New-York and Mobile. Also four
+steamers between New-York and Savannah, four between New-York and
+Charleston, two between New-York and Norfolk, two between Philadelphia
+and Savannah, two between Boston and Baltimore, four between
+New-Orleans and Texas, and two between New-Orleans and Key West. All
+of these are coast steamers of the best quality; and some few of them
+have a nominal mail pay. We have also several transient steamers which
+have no routes or mail contracts, and which are consequently employed
+in irregular and accidental service, or laid up. They are the
+Ericsson, the Washington and the Hermann, the Star of the West, the
+Prometheus, the Northern Light, the Daniel Webster, the Southerner,
+the St. Louis, laid up in New-York; the Uncle Sam, the Orizaba, and
+the Brother Jonathan, belonging to the Nicaragua Transit Company, and
+the California, Panama, Oregon, Northerner, Fremont, and the tow-boat
+Tobago, belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, all lying in
+the Pacific. Also the Queen of the West, Mr. Morgan's new steamer, in
+New-York. These, like all other American steamers when unemployed on
+mail lines, generally lie in port for want of a remunerative trade.
+(_See Paper A._)
+
+The aggregate tonnage of these fifty-seven steamers is 94,795 tons.
+Eighteen of them, with an aggregate tonnage of 24,845 tons, are
+engaged in no service. Twenty-three of them, with 24,071 tons, are
+engaged in our coasting trade. Fourteen of them, with 19,813 tons,
+(Gov. register,) are engaged in the California, Oregon, Central
+American, Mexican, and Cuban mail service; while eight of them, with
+25,178 tons aggregate tonnage, are engaged in the transatlantic mail
+service proper, between this country and Europe. It is thus seen that
+we have in all but 57 ocean steamers, of 94,795 aggregate tons; while
+Great Britain has sixteen hundred and seventy, with 666,330 aggregate
+tons; that we have twenty-two of these, of 45,001 tons, engaged in the
+foreign and domestic mail service, while she has one hundred and
+twenty-one, of 235,488 aggregate tonnage, engaged in the foreign mail
+service almost exclusively; and that we have thirty-seven steamers
+engaged in the coasting trade and lying still, while she has fifteen
+hundred and forty-eight steamers engaged in her coasting trade and
+merchant service. (_See page 167_, for length of British and American
+mail lines, and the miles run per year.) Comparisons are said to be
+odious, but it is more odious for such comparisons as these to be
+possible in these days of enlightened commercial enterprise and
+thrift; and especially when so greatly to the disadvantage of a
+country which boldly claims an aggregate civilization, enterprise, and
+prosperity equalled by those of no other country on the globe. As
+regards our steam navy, it is too small to afford adequate protection
+to our commerce and citizens; much less to defend the country in time
+of war. We have not steamers enough in the navy to place one at each
+of our important seaports; much less to send them to foreign stations.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+NECESSITY OF RAPID STEAM MAILS.
+
+ ARE OCEAN STEAM MAILS DESIRABLE AND NECESSARY FOR A COMMERCIAL
+ PEOPLE? THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE DEMANDS THEM: MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF
+ NATIONS: FAST MAILS NECESSARY TO CONTROL SLOW FREIGHTS: THE
+ FOREIGN POST OF EVERY NATION IS MORE OR LESS SELFISH: IF WE
+ NEGLECT APPROVED METHODS, WE ARE THEREBY SUBORDINATED TO THE SKILL
+ OF OTHERS: THE WANT OF A FOREIGN POST IS A NATIONAL CALAMITY:
+ OTHER NATIONS CAN NOT AFFORD US DUE FACILITIES: WARS AND ACCIDENTS
+ FORBID: THE CRIMEA AND THE INDIES AN EXAMPLE: MANY OF OUR FIELDS
+ OF COMMERCE NEED A POST: BRAZIL, THE WEST-INDIES, AND PACIFIC
+ SOUTH-AMERICA: MAILS TO THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE BY THE NUMEROUS
+ CUNARD VESSELS: CORRESPONDENCE WITH AFRICA, CHINA, THE
+ EAST-INDIES, THE MAURITIUS, AND AUSTRALIA: SLAVISH DEPENDENCE ON
+ GREAT BRITAIN: DESIRABLE FOR OUR DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE:
+ FOR THE CONTROL OF OUR SQUADRONS: CASES OF SUFFERING: NECESSARY
+ FOR DEFENSE: FOR CULTIVATING FRIENDLY RELATIONS AND OPENING TRADE:
+ THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH WILL REQUIRE FASTER AND HEAVIER MAILS: OUR
+ COMMERCE REQUIRES FAST STEAMERS FOR THE RAPID AND EASY TRANSIT OF
+ PASSENGERS: MODES OF BENEFITING COMMERCE.
+
+
+Having seen that the ocean steam mail service is largely developed in
+some countries, especially in Great Britain, and that the second and
+third commercial powers of the world, the United States and France,
+have not largely employed this important agent in their commerce, the
+inquiry naturally arises, whether fast ocean steam mails are desirable
+and necessary to the commercial prosperity of a people. Whether this
+question be considered in its relative or its natural bearings, the
+reply is the same. Relatively considered, a large ocean steam mail
+service is indispensable to a people who are largely commercial,
+because the most noted commercial rivals of the world employ it, and
+thus either force them to its use, or the loss of their commerce, and
+the gradual transference of their shipping and trade into the hands of
+their rivals. Considered in its natural bearings, in its direct
+influences and effects _per se_, it becomes even more evidently
+necessary, as the means of a ready and reliable knowledge of the
+condition, wants, and movements of all those with whom a commercial
+nation necessarily has business, or could or should create it.
+
+The spirit of the age demands a more intimate acquaintance and
+communication than we have hitherto had with the outer world. Our
+knowledge of foreign lands has pointed out innumerable wants hitherto
+unknown, and suggested innumerable channels of their supply. Nations
+have learned to depend on each other as formerly neighbor depended on
+his neighbor for any little necessary or luxury of life. The luxurious
+spirit of the times requires the importation and exportation of an
+immense list of articles with which foreign countries were formerly
+unacquainted, but which have now become as indispensable as air, and
+light, and water. And if it is not necessary that these many articles
+shall be transported from land to land with the speed of the telegraph
+or the fleetness of the ocean steamer, it is at any rate necessary
+that the facts concerning them, their ample or scarce supply, their
+high or low price, their sale or purchase, their shipment or arrival,
+their loss, or seizure, or detention, should be made known with all of
+the combined speed of the telegraph, the lightning train, and the
+rapid ocean mail steamer. If we possess ourselves these facilities of
+rapid, regular, and reliable information to an extent that no other
+nation does, we will be the first to reach the foreign market with our
+supplies, the first to bring the foreign article into the markets of
+the world, and the proper recipients of the first and largest profits
+of the cream of the trade of every land.
+
+If we neglect these precautions, and refuse to establish these
+facilities, because their cost is apparent in one small sum of
+expenditure, while their large returns in profits diffused among the
+whole people are not so palpably apparent to the common eye; if we
+leave to the genius and enterprise of the people that which private
+enterprise and human skill unaided can never accomplish; in a word, if
+we fail to keep up with the world around us, and to progress _pari
+passu_ with our wise, acute, and experienced commercial rivals, then,
+as a matter of course, the information which we receive from the
+foreign world must come through others, and those our rivals, and must
+be deprived of its value by the advantage which they have already
+taken of it. It is idle to suppose that any commercial nation on earth
+will not so arrange her foreign post as to exclude others than her own
+citizens as much as possible from its benefits. This is a paramount
+duty of the government to the citizen. It is therefore apparent that
+our commerce must of necessity greatly suffer when its conduct is at
+all dependent on foreigners and competitors, and that it is
+exceedingly desirable, for the avoidance of such a calamity, that we
+should have independent and ample foreign mail facilities of our own,
+wherever it is possible for our people to trade and obtain wealth.
+
+It is clearly impossible that other nations should afford these
+facilities, or that our people should have confidence in them if
+attempted, or that they could be in any sense reliable in those many
+cases of exigency, national disputes, war, and accident, which usually
+afford us our best chances of speculation and profit. A dependence on
+foreigners for this supply of information, which never reaches us
+until it is emasculated of its virtues, is extremely hazardous. It
+fails just at the point where it is most desirable. Foreign nations,
+especially the commercial European nations, are constantly at war, and
+are constantly interrupting their packet service. The late Crimean and
+the present Indian wars are a good illustration. Our country, isolated
+from the contending nations, and fortified against continual ruptures
+by a policy of non-intervention, is peculiarly blessed with the
+privilege and ability to regularly and unintermittingly conduct her
+commerce and reap her profits, even more securely, while her rivals
+are temporarily devoting their attention to war. Such being the fact,
+it is wholly desirable and necessary to the end proposed that our
+steam post should on all such occasions regularly come and go, even
+amid the din of battle, and the conflict of our rivals, who for the
+time are powerless to oppose our peaceful and legitimate commerce, and
+are generally but too glad to avail its offerings.
+
+There are many instances of the desirableness and the necessity of the
+transmarine steam post on important lines of foreign communication
+where we have a large trade, and yet no postal means of conducting it.
+Our immense trade with Brazil and other portions of South-America,
+which if properly fostered would increase with magic rapidity, sends
+its news and its freight by the same vessel, or is compelled to use
+the necessarily selfishly arranged, and circuitous, and non-connecting
+lines of Great Britain. A letter destined for Brazil, four thousand
+miles distant, must needs go by England, Portugal, the Coast of
+Africa, Madeira, and the Cape de Verdes, a distance of eight thousand
+miles, in a British packet. One destined for the Pacific Coast of
+South-America must go to Panama and await the arrival of the English
+packet, with London letters more recently dated, before it can proceed
+on to Callao, Lima, or Valparaiso. Letters destined to the West-Indies
+can go to Havana only, by American steamers; but they must there await
+the British line which takes them to St. Thomas, and there be
+distributed and forwarded to the various islands, the Spanish Main,
+the Guianas, Venezuela, and New-Granada by some one of the ten
+different British steam packet lines running semi-monthly from that
+station.
+
+So with half of our letters which go to the Continent of Europe: they
+must go by the Cunard line to England, and thence by English steamers
+to the British Channel, the Baltic, the White Sea, the Mediterranean,
+Egypt, Constantinople, or the Black Sea. Those to places along the
+coast of Africa and to the Cape of Good Hope are dependent on the same
+English packet transit. For our communication with China, India,
+Australia, the East-Indies generally, and the Islands of the Pacific,
+we are entirely and slavishly dependent, as usual, on Great Britain.
+Instead of sending our letters and passengers direct from Panama or
+San Francisco to Honolulu, Hong Kong, Shanghae, Macao, Calcutta,
+Ceylon, Bombay, Madras, Sydney, Melbourne, Batavia, the Mauritius, and
+the Gulf of Mozambique, by a short trunk line of our own steamers, and
+from its terminus only, by the British lines, they now go first to
+England, as a slavish matter of course, then across the Continent or
+through the Mediterranean to Egypt, thence by land to the Red Sea, and
+thence to China and the East-Indies; or from England by her steam
+lines around the Cape of Good Hope to Australia and the East-Indies;
+or by slow and uncertain sailing packets direct from our own country,
+either around Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope. It is evident to
+every reflecting man who has given the subject any attention, that all
+of these lines of communication would be very desirable, and very
+highly profitable to our people at large; and that the latter and that
+along the West Coast of South-America could be easily established by
+two new contracts for that purpose, or in some other way, to the great
+and lasting advantage of our countrymen.
+
+The transmarine post is very desirable for the better conduct of our
+foreign diplomacy and the consular service. It is now almost
+impossible for our ministers and agents abroad to hold any thing like
+a regular correspondence with the State Department, unless it be those
+in Southern and Western Europe. I was told last year by our Minister
+in Rio de Janeiro that his dispatches from the Government at home
+seldom reached him under four months; and Mr. Gilmer, the Consul of
+the United States at Bahia, reports, in the "Consular Returns" now
+about to be published, that his dispatches never come to hand under
+four months, that they are frequently out six months, and that many
+are lost altogether. This is the experience and the reiterated
+complaint of nearly every foreign _employee_ of the Government, who
+has any zeal in prosecuting his country's business, and may find it
+necessary to get instructions or advice from home. Many knowing the
+delays, uncertainty, and irregularity of correspondence, make no
+attempt whatever to communicate regularly with the Department. We
+frequently express great surprise that we have no intelligence from
+our ministers, special ambassadors, and agents; but do not reflect
+that in the majority of cases dispatches have to be sent by
+irresponsible and slow-sailing vessels, or by the steamers of Great
+Britain, which it may be safely asserted are in no particular hurry to
+deliver them to us. Three several letters sent by me at separate times
+through the British mail from Rio de Janeiro for New-York never
+reached their destination.
+
+Nor is it better with our squadrons on foreign stations. They receive
+their orders in the same slow and irregular way, and find it almost as
+easy to send a vessel when they wish to communicate with the Navy
+Department, or await the movements of their dull old storeships, as to
+attempt any other means of intercourse. It may be safely said that
+they are not actually under the control of the Department, in many
+important cases, one time in ten. Whatever the dispute, it is left
+entirely at the will of the Commodore, or it remains unsettled
+altogether. Our recent accumulated Paraguayan difficulties is a case
+in point. American citizens were driven from the country, and their
+valuable property confiscated. They applied to the Commodore for
+relief, but could not obtain it. Our surveying vessel, engaged in a
+permitted scientific exploration, was fired into and had some of her
+men killed; and redress being demanded by the Captain from the
+Commodore, it was refused. The Commodore feared transcending his
+instructions: he could not communicate with the home authorities much
+under a year; and so the case rested, and yet rests. These wants,
+papable as they are in times of peace, become doubly pressing in time
+of war. Let a conflict commence with England, or France, on whom we
+depend for mails, or with their allies, and they could easily surprise
+and destroy every squadron which we have upon the high seas months
+before they would necessarily hear of a declaration of war, or know
+why they were captured. The very contemplation of such possibilities
+is intolerable, and should be sufficient of itself, setting aside all
+considerations of commerce and diplomacy, to arouse our nation to the
+adoption of the proper means for its safety and defense.
+
+An effective steam postal marine is unquestionably most desirable and
+necessary for the defense of our country, and for the prosecution of
+any foreign war. Lord Canning, the British Post-Master General,
+recently said in a report to the House of Lords, that although all of
+the steam mail packets might not be able to carry an armament, or be
+required in the transport service in time of war, yet the mail
+facilities which they would then afford would be more important and
+necessary than at any other time. He had no idea that because engaged
+in a foreign war the postal service would be useless, but to the
+contrary, more than ever indispensable. Such proved to be the fact in
+the late contest in the Crimea, and such is to-day the case with
+regard to the troubles in India and China. Their postal vessels have
+proven a first necessity in both of these wars, not only for transport
+of the troops, but for speedy intelligence also. Without them, England
+could not have entered the Crimean contest, and the French forces
+would have been compelled to remain at home. Turkey would have been
+overawed, and Constantinople would have fallen before the Russian
+fleet. We are to-day, and always must be, liable to a foreign war. We
+have a great boiling cauldron running over with excitement all along
+our southern and south-western borders. Central America, Cuba, the
+West-Indies, and South-America are far more foreign countries to us
+than Europe or the Mediterranean to England. Cuba will no doubt be at
+some day our most important naval station and possession. Even the
+defense of our own coast would require an immense transport service;
+for Texas is nearly four thousand miles from Maine, and California is
+seven thousand from the Atlantic seaboard. No better proof can be
+given of the necessity of a large and extra naval transport service
+than the late Mexican war. But for our steamers it would have taken us
+years to concentrate an army on the shores of Mexico. It was a tedious
+process at the time; for our ocean mail packets were not then in use.
+We could now land a larger number of men there in one month than we
+then did in a whole year. But our transport facilities are not yet by
+any means adequate.
+
+A large postal steam marine is desirable as a means of cultivating the
+sympathies and respect of foreign nations, by bringing them into
+closer friendly and commercial connection with us; and for creating
+among them that respect and consideration which the British statesmen
+so well know to be an easy means of conducting diplomacy, and an
+unfailing source of commercial advantages. It is not necessary that we
+shall impose upon foreign countries in these respects by false
+pretenses; but it is truly desirable, and it would be profitable to an
+extent little imagined, to let them know our real importance as a
+nation, and understand our pacific policy and _bona fide_ intentions.
+These are important considerations when we wish to carry any point,
+establish any line of policy, remove any prejudice; and nothing will
+more readily produce them, and arouse attention to our articles of
+export, and induce a people to establish a regular business with us,
+than these ever-present, convenient, and imposing mail steamers.
+Nations as well as individuals estimate us by our appearances; and
+while it is not desirable that we shall appear more than we are, it is
+yet very important that foreign nations with which we have business
+shall know our real merits, and respect us for what we are
+intrinsically worth. There is evidently no means of our commercial
+triumph over other nations without a liberal and widely extended steam
+mail service; and as this triumph is of paramount importance to us,
+who have so many resources, so is the ocean steam mail as the only
+means of securing it. (_See views of Gen. Rusk, in papers appended._)
+
+It has recently been suggested by parties who certainly have not
+thought very deeply on the subject, that the completion of the
+Atlantic Telegraph, which every body reasonably expects soon to be
+completed, will so inaugurate a new era in the transmission of
+intelligence, that one of its effects will be the supersession of fast
+ocean mails, and consequently of subsidized steamers. It is a first
+and palpable view of this question that much of the important
+intelligence between the two countries requiring speedy transmission
+will be sent through the telegraph, notwithstanding the necessarily
+high prices which will be charged for dispatches. These communications
+will be sententious, summary, and of great variety. The markets,
+prices, important political and other events, private personal and
+unelaborated intelligence will come over the wires just as they now
+come over existing land lines. The line will create extra facilities
+for operations on both sides, and cause more mutual business to be
+done. It will thus create the necessity for more correspondence than
+before, for particulars, elaboration, items, bills of lading,
+exchanges, duplicates, minute instructions, etc., to which there will
+be no end. The main transaction of any business being made more
+quickly, it will be essential for the papers to pass with greater
+dispatch. If there were twenty telegraphic wires working day and
+night, which never can be the case from their expensiveness, they
+could not do in a month the correspondence and business done by one
+steamer's mail. Beside this, those who got their dispatches first
+would have a decided advantage over those who would be compelled from
+the mass of business to wait several days. It is an advantage of the
+steam mails that all get their letters and papers at the same time;
+and that no one has thus the advantage of the other. It is hardly
+possible for one unacquainted with the postal business to conceive how
+large a mass of mail matter is deposited by each steamer; and it is
+only necessary to see this to realize that the Atlantic Telegraph will
+never materially interfere with the steamers except to require of them
+greater speed and heavier mails.
+
+It is the experience on all of our land routes that the thousands of
+miles of telegraph, so far from superseding the mails, have made more
+mails necessary, have caused and required them to be much faster, have
+necessitated more correspondence, and induced people to live in more
+mutual dependence, to have more communication with one another, and to
+make the home or the business of a man less than formerly his closed
+castle, which none entered, and which no one had any occasion to
+enter. The American telegraph has now arrived at great perfection, and
+sends its electric throb to every corner of the Union, save California
+only. At the same time, the railroads of the country are taxed to
+their highest capacity. No period ever witnessed so many, so rapid,
+and so well-filled mails. It is evident that no telegraphic system can
+properly do detailed business. First, it is and must ever remain too
+costly. Second, it would require about as many lines as business men,
+to give them all equal chances, and no one the profitable precedence.
+Next, there is nothing positively accurate and fully reliable. No
+signatures can pass over the line. No transaction can be made final by
+it. No bank will pay, or ought to pay, money on public telegraphic
+drafts. And, as in the land service, so in the ocean. The telegraph
+across the ocean will simply create far more business for the mails,
+and make it desirable and indispensable that they shall be sent and
+received by the most rapid conveyance known to the times. Thus, it is
+evident that this new and as yet not fully established agent of
+international communication, so far from obviating our rapid
+transmarine service, will but the more effectually necessitate it.
+
+Nor must it be forgotten that our commercial prosperity largely
+depends on the ready and comfortable transit of passengers. The
+passenger traffic has increased with astonishing rapidity during the
+last eighteen years. Our smaller merchants can go abroad when mail
+steamers are plenty, and make their own purchases and sales, without
+paying heavy commissions and high prices to middlemen; do their
+business on less capital; and thus benefit themselves and reduce the
+prices to our consumers. Compared with sailing vessels, these few mail
+steamers become the forerunners of trade and commerce, and create an
+immense service for the sail. They enable us to save large sums of
+interest or advances on merchandise consigned, and give to us quick
+returns from the products which we ship abroad. This has long been
+evident to Great Britain, and she has acted liberally on the
+suggestion. So desirable is the service for the general prosperity of
+her people, that she expends annually for her foreign steam mails
+nearly six millions of dollars, while they do not return to the
+treasury much above three. She regards the expenditure as she does
+that for the navy and the army, a necessity for the public
+preservation and prosperity.
+
+As regards the lines that we now have, they are among the noblest in
+the world. For aggregate comfort, convenience, safety, speed, and
+cheapness, they are not equalled by the most famous British lines.
+More luxurious tables, more neatness, cleanliness, and roominess, more
+general comforts than have always been characteristic of our Havre,
+Liverpool, and California lines, can not be found in the world. The
+only objection to them is, that the service is not sufficient; that
+the trips are not frequent enough; and that the companies are not
+enabled to sustain a larger steam marine which would proportionally
+cheapen the service, and accommodate more persons and a much larger
+class of interests. Our experiences of the benefits of existing lines,
+limited as those lines are, present an unanswerable argument for the
+desirableness and necessity of a liberal steam postal system, and a
+large and judicious extension of the present service. (_See views of
+Senate Committee, 1852, Paper E._)
+
+
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+THE CAPABILITIES OF OCEAN STEAM.
+
+ THE COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES OF OCEAN STEAM: STEAM MAILS ARRIVE AND
+ DEPART AT ABSOLUTELY FIXED PERIODS: UNCERTAINTY IS HAZARDOUS AND
+ COSTLY: SUBSIDIZED STEAMERS GIVE A NECESSARILY HIGH SPEED TO THE
+ MAILS: MONEY CAN NOT AFFORD TO LIE UPON THE OCEAN FOR WEEKS:
+ COMPARED WITH SAIL: STEAMERS TRANSPORT CERTAIN CLASSES OF FREIGHT:
+ THE HAVRE AND THE CUNARD LINES: THE CUNARD PROPELLERS: STEAMERS
+ CAN AFFORD TO TRANSPORT EXPRESS PACKAGES AND GOODS: GOODS TAKEN
+ ONLY TO FILL UP: WHY PROPELLERS ARE CHEAPER IN SOME CASES: STEAM
+ IN SOME CASES CHEAPER THAN THE WIND: AN ESTIMATE: THE PROPELLER
+ FOR COASTING: STEAM ON ITS OWN RECEIPTS HAS NOT SUCCEEDED ON THE
+ OCEAN: MARINE AND FLUVIAL NAVIGATION COMPARED: MOST FREIGHTS NOT
+ TRANSPORTABLE BY STEAM ON ANY CONDITIONS: AUXILIARY FREIGHTING AND
+ EMIGRANT PROPELLERS: LAWS OF TRANSPORT: RAPID MAILS AND LEISURE
+ TRANSPORT OF FREIGHT THE LAW OF NATURE: THE PRICE OF COALS RAPIDLY
+ INCREASING: ANTICIPATED IMPROVEMENTS AND CHEAPENING IN MARINE
+ PROPULSION NOT REALIZED.
+
+
+Believing that no further arguments or facts are necessary to show
+that a rapid steam mail marine is desirable and essential to the
+successful government of the country, to our foreign commerce, and to
+the growth of individual interests and a general prosperity of the
+people, I shall now make some few inquiries concerning the Commercial
+Capabilities of steam, as the most effective agent for the rapid
+transit of the ocean, and the most expensive agent for the transport
+of goods. After this, it will be necessary to examine into the Cost
+of Steam, as a subject closely allied to its general capabilities.
+
+Whatever may be said of the wind as a cheap agent of locomotion, this
+much may be safely predicated of steam vessels for the mails; that
+their time of departure and arrival has an absolute fixity which is
+attainable by no other means, and which is highly conducive to the
+best interests of all those for whom commerce is conducted. No
+reasoning is necessary to show to the man of business, or even to the
+pleasure-seeker, the importance of approximate certainty as to the
+time when the mail leaves and when he can receive an answer to his
+dispatches. He may not be able to give clearly philosophic reasons for
+it; yet he feels the necessity in his business; and it certainly
+relieves him of many painful doubts, if nothing more. Uncertainty in
+commercial operations is always hazardous and costly to the great mass
+of the people, who as a general thing pay more for whatever they get,
+on the principle that we seldom take a venture in an uncertain thing
+unless it holds out inducements of large profit, or unless we get a
+high price for guarantying it. So in commercial correspondence, which
+constitutes the great bulk of the ocean mails. Let uncertainty prevail
+for but three or four days beyond the time when we should have news
+from abroad, and every body is in doubt, every body speculates, and in
+the end every body is injured.
+
+Nor is this certainty in the time of arrival and departure of the
+mails more desirable than their speed. The common sense of the world
+has settled down upon the necessity of rapid mails; and all of the
+ingenuity of the age is now taxed to its very highest to secure more
+speed in the transmission of intelligence. Many interests demand it.
+Money, which represents labor, is continually lent and borrowed in
+bills of exchange, acceptances, deposits, and in actual cash sent
+across the seas. The length of time for passing the bills and
+correspondence, or the specie itself, thus becomes an exceedingly
+important item to those who are to use them, and consequently to the
+ultimate consumer for whom they are conducting the commercial
+transaction. What community would to-day tolerate the idea of sending
+three millions of dollars per week, and five millions of credits
+between England and the United States on a sailing ship of whatever
+quality, with the probability of keeping it lying unproductive on the
+ocean for thirty days? Extend this to weekly shipments of the same
+amounts, and have at one time on the waters between the two countries
+twelve million dollars in specie and twenty in credits, tossing about
+the ocean, unproductive and unsafe, and entailing all of the evils
+incident to the uncertainty as to the time when it will arrive. But if
+this is not sufficient, extend the inquiry to South-America, and
+China, and India, and see how enormous and useless a waste of money
+and interest is incurred in the many millions which by sailing vessels
+and slow steamers is fruitlessly gilding the ocean for months. Money
+is too valuable and interest too high to keep so many millions of it
+locked up from the world. At two and three per cent a month, the
+nation, or, what is the same thing, its commercial and mercantile
+classes, as representing the producing, would soon become bankrupt.
+
+The only avoidance of these evident evils is in a rapid transmission
+of the mails, specie, and passengers. And herein consists the chief
+value of the rapid ocean steamer. It is an important case which the
+Telegraph, with all of its benefits, can never reach. It can never
+transmit specie; neither the evidences of debt nor of property. The
+voluminous mails, with all of their tedious details, upon which such
+transactions depend, must go and come on steamers, and on steamers
+only. They have the certainty, which will satisfy men and prevent
+speculation, gambling, and imposition; they have the speed, which
+shortens credit, keeps specie alway in active use, and enables
+commercial men to know, meet, and supply the wants of the world before
+they become costly or crushing; and they give a rapid and comfortable
+transit to passengers, who can thus look after their business, and
+save much to themselves and to the producer and consumer. Compared
+with sailing vessels their efficiency is really wondrous. Foreign
+correspondence was formerly very limited, and the interchange of
+interests, feelings, and opinions was slow and tedious. Each nation
+depended solely on itself; and instead of the brotherhood now
+prevailing, communicated through the costly channels of war, by
+messages of the cannon, and in powerful, hostile fleets. But the
+foreign correspondence of the world is really enormous, and rapidly
+increasing, since the introduction of ocean steamers; and no one will
+say that they have had a small share in producing that fraternal
+international spirit which is now so widely manifested in Peace
+Congresses, Congresses of the Five Powers, explanations, concessions,
+and amicable adjustments of difficulties. The peaceful influences and
+the civilization of the times are but another comment on the
+capabilities of steam.
+
+There are also certain classes of freights which steam is better
+calculated than sailing vessels to transport; certain rich and costly
+goods which would either damage or depreciate if not brought speedily
+into the market. There are many articles also, as gold and silver
+ware, jewelry, diamonds, bullion, etc., and some articles of _vertu_
+as well as use, which are costly, and have to be insured at high
+values unless sent on steamers; and which consequently can pay a
+rather better price. As in the case of specie, they are too valuable
+to be kept long on the ocean; but in the general traffic of the world
+there is so little of this class of freight that steamers can place no
+reliance on it as a source of income. These freights have abounded
+most between France and England and the United States. This is the
+principal reason why the New-York and Havre line of mail steamers has
+run on so unprecedentedly small a subsidy; a sum not more than half
+adequate to the support of a mail line but for that class of freights.
+The Cunard line has also derived a large sum of its support from the
+same source. All such articles passing by that line come from England,
+Ireland, and Scotland, where they are manufactured; and being shipped
+by British merchants, are given, as a matter of duty, to their own
+steamers. Another reason for the Cunard line getting most of those
+more profitable freights is that a steamer leaves every week; every
+Saturday; and shippers sending packages weekly are not compelled every
+other week to hunt up a new line, and open a new set of accounts, as
+would be the case if they attempted to ship by the Collins
+semi-monthly line.
+
+These freights have hitherto proven a profitable source of income to
+that line. As there is no manufacturing done in this country for
+Europe, the Cunarders and the Havre as well as the Collins and
+Vanderbilt lines, have no freights that pay the handling from the
+United States to Europe. And not only has the Cunard line, by starting
+from home, taken all of these profitable freights from the Collins,
+but it has run a weekly line of propellers from Havre and taken the
+freight over to Liverpool free of charge for its New-York and Boston
+steamers, and thereby shared the freights and greatly reduced the
+income of the Havre line. There being a great superabundance of
+propeller stock in Great Britain, which can be purchased frequently at
+less than half its cost, and these vessels running the short distance
+between Havre and Liverpool very cheaply, (_See pages 108-13_,) the
+Cunarders have cut the Havre freights down from forty to fifteen
+dollars per ton, and sometimes for months together to ten dollars per
+ton. As a matter of course, this price would not pay the handling and
+care of these costly articles; but at fifteen dollars it enabled the
+Cunard line to fill their ships and derive some profit; as most of
+them, with the exception of the _Persia_, run slowly, use less coal,
+and have more freight room. All of these freights are, however, small
+in quantity, and not much to be relied on from year to year, as will
+be seen below, in consequence of the action of propellers.
+
+There is another class of business which mail steamers can do at
+remunerating prices; but which is exceedingly limited anywhere, and
+not at all known on some lines. This is in Express packages. They pay
+a high price; but seldom reach more than three or four tons under the
+most favorable circumstances. In the early stages of the California
+lines, when there was a rush of travel to the gold regions, and a
+hurried transit required for a thousand little necessaries of life,
+the New-York and Aspinwall and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's
+lines transported a large express freight outward at every voyage,
+amounting sometimes to two hundred tons; but the golden days of such
+cargo have long gone by, and California is now supplied like the rest
+of the world by the cheaper and more deliberate transport of sailing
+vessels; and the steamers are left to their legitimate business of
+mails and passengers. Taking together all of the classes of freights
+which steamers having mail payment are capable of transporting, they
+amount at present to but an insignificant part of the income by which
+these steamers can be run. During the last six years these freights
+have reduced more than one hundred per cent; and goods which were then
+profitable to the steamer, are now taken only "to fill up." And the
+chief reason for this reduction arises not so much from competition
+between the steam-lines, which well knew that they could not transport
+these freights when reduced to the present low prices, but from the
+introduction of a large number of propellers, some of which were
+originally designed for this species of trade, and many others which
+were built during the war in the Crimea for the transport of troops.
+These ships were never prosperous anywhere, and are in nearly all
+cases at the present found in second hands; the original proprietors
+having lost a large share of their investment. Thus, purchased
+cheaply, and running with simply an auxiliary steam power, and making
+the passages but little shorter than the sailing vessels, and not even
+so short as their best passages, they have but little more daily
+expense than the sailing vessels, with all of the deceptive advantages
+of being called steamers. They thus get these better freights and a
+large number of immigrants, which with small interest on prime cost
+enables them to live.
+
+Paradoxical as it may seem, there are yet some cases, even upon the
+ocean, in which steam can transport freight cheaper than the winds of
+heaven. And this species of trade constitutes one of the best
+capabilities of steam power applied to navigation. It is not in the
+long voyage between Europe and America, or between the East and
+California, or yet in the far-off trade among the calms and pacific
+seas of the East-Indies and the Pacific Islands; it is not in the
+smooth, lake-like seas of the West-Indies, where there is no freight
+whose transport price will pay for putting it on and taking it off the
+steamer; nor in the trade of Brazil whence a bag of coffee can be
+transported five thousand miles to New-York nearly as cheaply as it
+can from New-York to Baltimore or to Charleston; but it is in the
+coasting trade of almost every country, where the voyage is short. In
+the trade between New-York and Baltimore, between Charleston and
+Savannah, between Boston and Portland, or between New-Orleans and Key
+West, or New-Orleans and Galveston, the small sailing vessels spend
+one half of their time in working in and out of the harbors. Sometimes
+they are two days awaiting winds, to get out of a harbor, two days in
+sailing, and two days again in making and entering their port of
+destination; whereas a steamer would make the whole passage in one day
+to a day and a half. Now, the distance actually to be run, and for
+which the steamer will be compelled to burn coal is not very great;
+but the trouble of working the vessel in and out, against adverse
+winds and currents, and amid storms and calms, is sometimes excessive,
+while the delay and cost are disheartening. They have also the trouble
+of warping into and out of the docks, which is not the case with
+steamers.
+
+Thus, it frequently takes a week for a sailing vessel to do the work
+that a steamer will readily do in twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Say
+that it takes the sail four times as long as the steamer to accomplish
+a given voyage. To do as much business as the steamer would do in the
+same time, would require four sailing vessels; four times as many men
+as one sail requires, or probably twice as many hands in the aggregate
+as the steamer would have; and would incur at least twice the expense
+of the steamer in feeding them. Now, there is also a much larger
+aggregate sum invested in these four sail, and the owners pay a much
+larger sum of interest on their prime investment. Or, in other words,
+the steamer with but a few more men, but little greater expense in
+living, a small coal-bill, an engineer and firemen, and a prime outlay
+of not more than double the capital, will carry four times the freight
+and passengers, without incurring probably so much as three times the
+expense of one of the sail. After the prime cost the most important
+item of expenditure in one of these small steamers is the coal; but
+the distance run being so short, and getting into and out of the
+harbor and docks being so easy, the vessel does large execution at
+little expense. The two most essential benefits, however, of her short
+voyage are, that she is not compelled to carry much fuel, and
+consequently occupies nearly all of her space with freight; and that
+the prices of freight on these short voyages are much larger in
+proportion than they are on long voyages. Sailing vessels charge very
+little more for a thousand miles than they do for five hundred; but a
+steamer may have to charge nearly three times as much; especially if
+she run fast, consume much fuel, and occupy her cargo-room with coal.
+There are distances at which steamers, however large, can not carry a
+pound of freight; but occupy all their available space with the power
+that drives them. In these long voyages sail becomes much cheaper.
+
+It is by no means essential that these small coasting vessels shall be
+propellers; for to acquire the same speed they expend the same power
+and have the disadvantage of being deeper in the water, and not being
+able to go into all harbors with much freight. They have also the
+advantage of carrying more sail, and being generally better able to
+stand coast storms than a side-wheel of light draught of water. They
+are not quite so expensive in prime construction, but generally
+require more repairs, and must be on the docks much oftener. They are,
+however, much better suited than side-wheel vessels to voyages where a
+medium speed is required, and where the steam can be used at pleasure
+simply as an auxiliary power. In such cases there is a profitable
+economy of fuel. But speed has generally been deemed essential in this
+country, and the side-wheel is everywhere used. But entirely the
+contrary is the case in Great Britain and France. There the coasting
+business is conducted by screws almost altogether; and the speed does
+not transcend the limit of economy and commercial capability. They
+distinguish between the extremely fast carriage of mails and
+passengers on the one hand, and freights on the other; and although
+they wish the speed and certainty of steam, yet it is not the costly
+speed. When they know that a given quantity of fuel will carry freight
+eight knots per hour, they would consider it wasteful and foolish to
+consume twice that quantity of fuel just to carry it ten knots; and
+more especially so, when, in addition to the extra quantity of fuel,
+they would lose just its bulk in paying freight room. England is thus
+employing most of her vast fleet of coasting ocean steamers in her own
+trade, or in the foreign trade lying within a few hundred miles of her
+ports. And the voyages being short, her coals being cheap and
+convenient, frequently not above three dollars per ton to the
+coasters, and in addition to this, the prime cost of these vessels
+being smaller than in this country, as both iron and labor are
+cheaper, she has found them very profitable at home, and is
+insinuating them into all the short routes wherever she can get a
+foothold. It was not until she attempted the same species of
+self-supporting steam navigation with distant countries, that her
+propeller system failed her and involved her citizens in loss.
+Meanwhile it is more than probable that within the next fifteen years
+we shall find five hundred propellers scattered along the coasts of
+the United States.
+
+Notwithstanding the eminent capabilities of steam when applied to
+coast navigation, or to the fluvial navigation of the interior, it has
+failed to make the same triumphs in the carriage of freights and
+passengers upon the ocean. And it is not alone because the voyage is
+long and the freights low in price. Steamers carry freights up the
+Mississippi river two thousand miles from New-Orleans, and find it
+profitable. Some run even as high as three thousand miles up that
+river and the Missouri; a voyage nearly as long as to Europe, and make
+money by it. But the circumstances are very different. They do not
+leave the dock at New-Orleans with even more than enough fuel on board
+for the whole trip, as the ocean steamers do. If they did they could
+carry no freight. But they stop every twelve to eighteen hours and
+take on wood just as they need it, fifty to a hundred cords at a time;
+and instead of occupying all of their available room with wood, they
+have the steamer full of cargo, and have on board only fifty or sixty
+tons of fuel at a time, and only half that weight on an average. None
+of the best steamers on those rivers could take enough wood on board
+for the whole three thousand miles, even though they should not have a
+ton of freight. And compared with ocean steamers of the same engine
+power, they do not cost half of the money, I might say generally, not
+one third of the money. There is no reason, then, why these steamers
+should not carry large quantities of freight and make large sums of
+money by it. They have the great elements, fuel, freight capacity, and
+prime cost in their favor.
+
+There is a large class of freights which are not transportable by
+steam on long ocean voyages under any conditions. We will grant that
+under the most favorable circumstances, where rich and costly articles
+are transported in small bulk, that propellers running at a low rate
+of speed, or just fast enough to anticipate sailing vessels, will make
+a living. But change the class of these freights into the great
+average class of those filling the thousands of sailing vessels, and
+deprive these screw vessels of an immense emigrant passenger traffic,
+and they would not pay their running expenses by fifty per cent. This
+style of freights, sailing vessels in their great competition have
+reduced to the lowest paying figure. The margin left for profit is so
+small that our ship-owners constantly complain that unless there are
+changes they must go into other business; and many of them say this
+honestly, as is shown by the hundreds of ships which of late years we
+can always find lying up, awaiting improvement in business. Now, let
+even the slowest and cheapest running screw vessel attempt to carry
+the same freights, to say nothing of fast side-wheel mail vessels, and
+we shall see against what odds the screw or other steamer has to
+contend. In the first place, her engines, boilers, coal, etc., occupy
+at least forty per cent of her total registered tonnage. Grant that
+the additional expense of a steamer over a sail, that is, wages for
+engineers, firemen, coal passers, etc., and finding the same in food
+and rooms, costs even no more than the loss of an additional ten per
+cent of her freight room. In other words, considering her steam
+machinery, fuel, extra expenses, etc., to be equal to half of her
+freight room, it is evident that she would carry only half as much
+freight as a sailing vessel of the same size, and that she would get
+but half as much money for it.
+
+It is thus clear, I think, that there is a certain class of ocean
+freights which steam can not transport under any conditions so long as
+there are sailing vessels on the ocean; and in that class are
+comprehended all the great standard and staple articles of the world,
+constituting in sum seventeen twentieths of all the freight passing
+upon the ocean. This being so, it is utterly idle to suppose that
+steam in any form can take the place of sail upon the ocean, even
+though the present prices for the carriage of standard articles should
+increase three hundred per cent.
+
+There are many considerations which affect this question. The ordinary
+average passages of the ocean on long voyages are now very rapid; and
+some of the clippers have attained a speed which no freighting steamer
+may ever be expected to do on the high seas. They do not maintain this
+high speed as an average, but it is sufficiently high for all of the
+ordinary purposes of transport in the standard articles of commerce,
+and where the business of the clipper is done by a fast mail steamer.
+There is no positive necessity for the speedy transport that some have
+attempted to give to articles, whose presence in the markets, as the
+ordinary supplies of life, to-day, next month, or a month later, is a
+matter of total indifference to every one except the ship-owner
+himself. It but little concerns the public whether a cargo of cotton,
+or beef or pork, or corn is one month or forty-five days between the
+United States and England, so that it is safe in the end. It is an
+annual production that must have an annual transit, and however
+unnecessarily fast we may become, we can not send more than one crop
+in the year. The world frequently becomes too fast in every thing; and
+crises, panics, and bankruptcies follow as legitimate consequences.
+When a fictitious value is given to every thing, and every globule of
+air which one has breathed comes puffing out, a splendid bubble, a
+magnificent speculation, and when men have to go so fast that they
+need a telegraph to ride them through the world lest they get behind
+the heated times, no wonder that the shipper can not sit quietly down
+in his office and wait thirty days for a load of corn to reach
+England, or a load of iron to appear in the harbor in return. And it
+does not matter to him that it may not be used there in six months. He
+wishes to finish the "operation," to close up the "transaction" before
+he goes up town in the evening.
+
+There is a rational distinction between the necessary and the
+unnecessary which we must learn to make, and a limit which safety
+assigns to every operation. There are some things which must be done
+rapidly, and others which may be done at leisure. Between the freight
+cargo, and the correspondence which controls it there is a great
+difference. Rapid transport of letters, intelligence, and passengers,
+and leisure transport of freight, is the law of nature, and to attempt
+to reverse it is but to attempt that which will never be successfully
+done, simply because wholly unnecessary in any permanent economic
+sense. And not only is higher speed than that of clippers unnecessary
+in ordinary freight transport, but it is clearly impossible in any
+normal condition of trade. Circumstances may, and doubtless often will
+exist, which will require some sluggish article to be transported a
+long distance in a short time, as in the case of the famine in
+Ireland, and which may insure rates at which steam vessels can take
+small quantities of such freights; but such occasions will ever be
+accidental, and the support of vessels depending on them the
+questionable support of expedients, and capricious in the extreme. It
+will ever be just as impossible to hurry gross freights across the
+ocean in a healthy state of commerce as it will to prevent rapid
+mails, or forego the comforts of quick passenger transit.
+
+To say nothing of a vessel which is half filled with its own power,
+attempting to compete, in the ordinary freights of the world, with one
+which fills every square foot with paying cargo, it is equally
+important that we should look at the question of fuel. The coals of
+the world are not so plentiful or so cheap that we should consume
+whole pits in a year in unnecessary and unproductive service. They are
+already beginning to fail in many parts of the world, or to the same
+effect, are mined and brought to market at such increasing cost, and
+applied to so many new purposes day by day, that in a few years the
+price will place them entirely beyond the reach of commercial purposes
+upon the ocean. It is contended, however, that the science of
+engineering is also rapidly advancing, and that we shall soon have
+some discovery by which we can have heat without fuel, and power
+without heat. But I have heard of those imaginary engineering hopes so
+long that I begin to believe them vague, and that we shall yet for a
+few generations measure the power applied by the number of pounds of
+coal consumed. From past experiences and present indications we can
+predicate nothing with more certainty of fuel than that it will
+indefinitely increase in price. I am satisfied, therefore, that with
+all of the capabilities of steam it can never be applied to general
+ocean transportation; first, because undesirable; and second, because
+impossible even if desirable. But to show more clearly that it is
+impossible, I will now make some inquiries concerning the cost of
+ocean steam, which is the cardinal point of interest in marine
+propulsion.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+COST OF STEAM: OCEAN MAIL SPEED.
+
+ MISAPPREHENSION OF THE HIGH COST OF STEAM MARINE PROPULSION: VIEWS
+ OF THE NON-PROFESSIONAL: HIGH SPEED NECESSARY FOR THE DISTANCES IN
+ OUR COUNTRY: WHAT IS THE COST OF HIGH ADEQUATE MAIL SPEED: FAST
+ STEAMERS REQUIRE STRONGER PARTS IN EVERY THING: GREATER OUTLAY IN
+ PRIME COST: MORE FREQUENT AND COSTLY REPAIRS: MORE WATCHFULNESS
+ AND MEN: MORE COSTLY FUEL, ENGINEERS, FIREMEN, AND COAL-PASSERS:
+ GREAT STRENGTH OF HULL REQUIRED: ALSO IN ENGINES, BOILERS, AND
+ PARTS: WHY THE PRIME COST INCREASES: THEORY OF REPAIRS: FRICTION
+ AND BREAKAGES: BOILERS AND FURNACES BURNING OUT: REPAIRS TWELVE TO
+ EIGHTEEN PER CENT: DEPRECIATION: SEVERAL LINES CITED; USES FOR
+ MORE MEN: EXTRA FUEL, AND LESS FREIGHT-ROOM: BRITISH TRADE AND
+ COAL CONSUMPTION:
+
+ THE NATURAL LAWS OF RESISTANCE, POWER, AND SPEED, WITH TABLE: THE
+ RESISTANCE VARIES AS IS THE SQUARE OF THE VELOCITY: THE POWER, OR
+ FUEL, VARIES AS THE CUBE OF THE VELOCITY: THE RATIONALE:
+ AUTHORITIES CITED IN PROOF OF THE LAW: EXAMPLES, AND THE FORMULAE:
+ COAL-TABLE; NO. I.: QUANTITY OF FUEL FOR DIFFERENT SPEEDS AND
+ DISPLACEMENTS: DEDUCTIONS FROM THE TABLE: RATES AT WHICH INCREASED
+ SPEED INCREASES THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL: CONSUMPTION FOR VESSELS
+ OF 2,500, 3,000, AND 6,000 TONS DISPLACEMENT: COAL-TABLE; NO. II.:
+ FREIGHT-TABLE; NO. III.: AS SPEED AND POWER INCREASE FREIGHT AND
+ PASSENGER ROOM DECREASE: FREIGHT AND FARE REDUCED: SPEED OF
+ VARIOUS LINES: FREIGHT-COST: COAL AND CARGO; NO. IV.: MR.
+ ATHERTON'S VIEWS OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT.
+
+
+The foregoing arguments bring us to the conclusion that steam,
+however desirable, can not be profitably employed in commerce
+generally as an agent of transport; and that it is best applicable to
+the rapid conveyance of the mails, passengers, specie, and costly
+freights only. That this fact may be presented in a clearer light, and
+that we may see the almost incredibly high cost of rapid steaming, or
+the attainment of a speed sufficiently high for the carriage of
+important mails, it will be necessary to make some critical inquiries
+concerning the working cost of steam power, under any conditions, as
+applied to marine propulsion. Much misapprehension prevails on this
+point among nearly all classes of the people, and even among the
+rulers of the country whose action controls the destiny and uses of
+this valuable power. It is hardly to be expected, however, that
+gentlemen engaged actively in the all-engrossing pursuits of business
+or of public life, with a thousand different sets of ideas to be
+matured on a thousand different subjects, such as demand the attention
+of Congress, and the Departments of the Executive Government, should
+be practically or even theoretically acquainted with a profession
+which requires years of close application and study, and a wide field
+of practical, daily observation and experience. It would be as absurd
+for unprofessional gentlemen of any class, as well from the walks of
+statesmanship and the Government as from those of quiet private life,
+to assume an acquaintance with the theory and practice of navigation,
+and the cost, embarrassments, and difficulties attending steamship
+enterprise, as it would for any two or three of them to enter an ocean
+steamer for the first time of their lives, and essay to work the
+engines and navigate the ship across the seas. The skill and knowledge
+requisite for such a task would require years of application; and it
+can not be reasonably supposed that those entirely unacquainted with
+the theory and parts of an engine, should know much about its
+capabilities, or the cost attending its use.
+
+But there are approximate conclusions, readily applicable to
+practice, at which even the unprofessional can arrive with certainty
+and security on a proper presentation of the prominent facts and
+theories concerned; and that these may be given to the public in a
+reliable and intelligible form, for the removal of the doubts and
+obscurities which have hung around the subject, is the chief object of
+this publication. This inquiry becomes the more important as the speed
+of American steamers is proverbially beyond that of any other steam
+vessels in the world. From the first conception of fluvial and marine
+steam propulsion by Fitch and Fulton, the public and the inventors
+themselves regarded the new application of this power with the more
+favor as it promised to be a means of shortening the long distances
+between the different parts of our own large country. And the same
+object has acted as a stimulus ever since to that increase of speed
+which has placed localities all over this country, hitherto days
+apart, now, probably, but as many hours. The slow trip through marshes
+and rivers, over hills and mountains, and by the meandering roads of
+the country, between New-York and Albany, once required from four to
+six days; but the attainment of twenty-five miles per hour in our fast
+river steamers has at length placed that capital within six hours of
+the Metropolis. And, as in this instance, so has the effort been
+throughout our whole country, and upon the ocean, until we have
+attained, both upon the rivers and the high seas, the highest speed
+yet known, notwithstanding the important fact that steamship building
+is a new and not fully developed species of enterprise in this
+country. We have already seen how imperatively the spirit of the age
+and the genius of our people demand rapid steam mails by both land and
+sea, and a rapid conveyance of passengers; and it would be
+unreasonable to suppose that if we required these for the development
+of our youth, they would be less necessary for the fruitful uses of
+manhood and maturity. It is abundantly evident that the American
+people are by nature and habit a progressive and unusually hurrying
+people; and it is not to be supposed that they will reverse this
+constitutional law of their nature in their attempts at ocean
+navigation.
+
+To answer the question, "What is the cost of high, adequate mail
+speed?" requires something more than an inquiry into the quantity of
+fuel consumed; although this is the principal element of its cost. We
+must consider that the attainment and maintenance of high speed depend
+upon the exertion of a high power; and that,
+
+I. High speed and power require stronger parts in every thing: in the
+ship's build, the machinery, the boilers, and all of the working
+arrangements:
+
+II. High speed and power require a larger outlay in prime cost, in
+material and building, for the adequate resistance required by such
+power:
+
+III. High speed and power require more frequent and costly repairs:
+
+IV. High speed and power require more watchfulness, a more prompt
+action, and consequently more persons:
+
+V. High speed and power require more fuel, more engineers, more
+firemen, and more coal-stokers.
+
+1. These propositions are nearly all self-evident to every class of
+mind. That a high speed attained through the exertion of a high power
+will require stronger parts in every thing that exerts a force or
+resists one, is as manifest as that a force necessary to remove one
+ton of weight will have to be doubled to remove two tons. In the prime
+construction of the hull this is as requisite as in any other part.
+The resistance to a vessel, or the concussion against the water, at a
+low rate of speed, will not be very sensibly felt; but if that speed
+is considerably increased and the concussion made quicker without a
+corresponding increase in the strength of the frame and hull of the
+ship generally, we shall find the ship creaking, straining, and
+yielding to the pressure, until finally it works itself to pieces, and
+also disconcerts the engines, whose stability, bracing, and keeping
+proper place and working order depend first and essentially on the
+permanence and stability of the hull. If the resistance to a vessel in
+passing through the water increases as the square of the velocity, and
+if in addition to this outward thrust against the vessel it has to
+support the greater engine power within it, which has increased as the
+cube of the velocity, then the strength of the vessel must be adequate
+to resist without injury these two combined forces against which it
+has to contend.
+
+The same increased strength is necessary also in the engines and
+boilers. It is admitted by the ablest engineers, and verified by
+practice, as will be shown in another part of this Section, that to
+increase the speed of a steamer from eight to ten knots per hour, it
+is necessary to double the power, and so on in the ratio of the cubes
+of the velocity. Suppose that we wish to gain these two knots advance
+on eight. It is evident that, if the boilers have to generate, and the
+engines to use twice the power, and exert twice the force, they must
+have also twice the strength. The boiler must be twice as strong and
+heavy; the various working parts of the engine must be twice as
+strong: the shafts, the cranks, the piston and other rods, the beams,
+the cylinders, the frame work, whether of wood or iron, and even the
+iron wheels themselves, with every thing in any way employed to use
+the power, overcome the resistance, and gain the speed. There is no
+working arrangement in any way connected with the propulsion of the
+ship that does not partake of this increase; every pump, every valve,
+every bolt connected directly or indirectly with the engine economy of
+the ship.
+
+2. In the second place, seeing that much greater strength of parts is
+required to overcome the increased resistance, it is equally evident
+that this high speed and power thus require a larger outlay in every
+point of the prime construction of the vessel and engines by which the
+speed is to be attained. The hull's heavier timbers cost a higher
+price according to size than the direct proportion of size indicates.
+Large and choice timbers are difficult to get, and costly. The hull
+must also be strengthened to a large extra extent by heavy iron
+strapping and bracing, which, unlike the rest, cost in the ratio of
+the material used. So with the engines. The shaft, which weighs twice
+as much, does not cost only twice as much, but frequently three or
+four or five times as much. This arises not from the weight of the
+metal, as is evident; but from the difficulty of forging pieces that
+are so large. The persons engaged in the forging and finishing of the
+immense shafts, cranks, pistons, etc., used in our first class
+steamers, frequently consider that the last and largest piece is the
+_chef d'oeuvre_ of the art, and that it will never be transcended,
+even if equalled again. They have expended all of their skill and
+ingenuity in the task, and have not succeeded sometimes until they
+have forged two or three new pieces. When a great work of this kind is
+done, it may be discovered in the turning, polishing, and fitting up,
+that it has at last a flaw, and that it will not do for the service
+intended. As a matter of course, it must be thrown aside and a new
+piece forged. This was but recently the case with one of the shafts of
+the "Leviathan," in England. So with the shafts of the new Collins'
+steamer "Adriatic." They were forged in Reading, Pennsylvania, and in
+addition to their enormous prime cost had to incur that of shipment
+from the interior of Pennsylvania to the city of New-York. In all such
+cases the prime cost increases immensely, and to an extent that would
+hardly be credited by those not practically familiar with the subject.
+
+3. Again, high or increased power and speed require more frequent and
+more costly repairs. Friction arises from the pressure of two bodies
+moving in opposite directions, and pressure results from the exertion
+of power, and in the ratio of the power applied. The amount of
+friction, therefore, is in the ratio of the power expended and of the
+extra weight of parts required for that power. But the effects of
+friction require a higher ratio when the power is greatly multiplied,
+as in the case of high speed. An immensely heavy shaft exerting an
+unusual force is certain to greatly heat the journals and boxes, and
+thus wear them away far more rapidly. Also a rapid motion of heavy
+parts of machinery, and the necessarily severe concussions and
+jarrings can not fail destroying costly working parts in the engine,
+and necessitating heavy and expensive repairs and substitutions. An
+ordinary engine working at a slow and easy rate, will not require one
+tenth the repairs necessary if it were working up to a high power and
+accomplishing a high speed. With any little derangement the engines
+can stop and the injury can be repaired before it reaches any
+magnitude. But with rapid mail packets the engines must run on, and
+the derangement which at first is small, will amount in the end, when
+the voyage is completed and the mails are delivered, to a sum probably
+ten or twenty times as great as in the case of the vessel that stops
+and makes her repairs as she requires them. The exertion of a high
+mail power causes many costly parts to burn out from unrelieved
+pressure and friction, which would not be the case under other
+conditions. It is also nearly impossible for the best built engines in
+the world to make fast time without breaking some important part at
+every trip or two, or so cracking and injuring it from the continued
+strain, that a wise precaution requires its removal to make the
+steamer perfectly sea-worthy. Every practical man knows these
+difficulties, and every steamship owner estimates their importance
+according to the immense bills they occasion month by month, or the
+delays and losses which they cause unless he has expended large
+amounts of capital in providing other ships to take their place on
+such occasions of derangement.
+
+Nor is the burning out of heavy brass, and composition, and steel
+pieces, or the breaking of large and troublesome parts in the engine
+the only source of repairs on a steamship. The boiler department is
+particularly fruitful in large bills of repairs, especially if it be
+necessary to attain a good mail speed. It stands to reason that if the
+whole ship can not be filled with boiler power, which with reasonably
+high fires, would give enough steam, then the boilers which are used
+must be exerted to their highest capacity, or the rapid speed can not
+be attained. Many suppose that the boilers may generate twice the
+quantity of steam without any appreciable difference in the wear and
+tear; but this is a decided error. For high speed, and what I mean by
+high speed is simply that which gives a sufficiently rapid transit to
+the mails, the fires must be nurtured up to their highest intensity
+and every pound of coal must be burned in every corner of the furnaces
+which will generate even an ounce of steam. This continued heat
+becomes too powerful for the furnaces and the boilers, and they begin
+to oxidize, and burn, and melt away, as would never be the case under
+ordinary heat. When the ship comes into port it is found that her
+furnaces must be "overhauled," her grate bars renewed, her braces
+restored, her boilers patched, sometimes all over, several of their
+plates taken out, thousands of rivets removed and supplied, and
+probably dozens of tubes also removed and replaced with new ones. But
+this is not all. The best boilers can not long run in this way. After
+six to seven years at the utmost, they must be removed from the ship
+altogether, and new ones must be put into their place. This is also a
+most expensive operation. The boilers constitute a large share of the
+cost of the engine power. To put a new set of boilers in one of the
+Collins steamers will cost about one hundred and ten thousand dollars,
+and this must be done every six years. The boilers of the West-India
+Royal Mail Steamers, which run very slowly, last on an average, six
+years.[A]
+
+[A] Statement by Mr. Pitcher, builder, before the Committee of the
+House of Commons. Murray on the _Steam Engine_, p. 170, Second
+Edition.
+
+But this is not all. To restore the boilers, a ship has to be torn
+literally almost to pieces. All of the decks in that part must be
+removed and lost; the frame of the ship cut to pieces; large and
+costly timbers removed, and altogether an expense incurred that is
+frightful even to the largest companies. To insure perfect safety and
+to gratify the wish of the public, this is generally done long before
+it is strictly necessary, and when the boilers are in a perfectly good
+condition for the working purposes of ordinary speed. But precaution
+and safety are among the prerequisites of the public service, and must
+be attained at whatever cost. On slow auxiliary freighting steamers
+this would be by no means necessary. But the extent and cost of these
+repairs on steamers far exceed any thing that would be imagined. They
+are supposed to be twelve per cent. per annum of the prime cost of a
+vessel of ordinary speed, taking the whole ship's life together at
+twelve years at the utmost. Atherton in his "Marine Engine
+Construction and Classification," page 32, says of the repairs of
+steam vessels doing ordinary service in Great Britain, where all such
+work is done much cheaper than in this country: "By the Parliamentary
+evidence of the highest authorities on this point, it appears to have
+been conclusively established, that the cost of upholding steamship
+machinery has of late years amounted, on the average, to about L6 per
+horse power per annum, being about 12 per cent. per annum, on the
+prime cost of the machinery, which annual outlay is but one of the
+grand points of current expense in which steamship proprietors are
+concerned." Now, if these were the repairs of the slow West-India
+Royal mail steamers, which ran but 200 days in the year, and that at a
+very moderate speed, and in the machine shops of England, where at
+that time (previous to 1852) wages were very low, they can not be less
+in this country, on rapid mail steamers, where wages and materials are
+very high, and where marine engineering was then in its infancy.
+
+There are some facts on this subject which prove the positions here
+taken. The Collins steamers have been running but six years, and yet
+their repairs have amounted in all to more than the prime cost of the
+ships, or to about eighteen per cent. per annum. They were as well and
+as strongly built originally as any ships in the world, as appears
+from the report which Commodore M. C. Perry made to the Department
+regarding them, and from the fine condition of their hulls at the
+present time. Their depreciation with all of these repairs has not
+been probably above six per cent. per annum. They will, however,
+probably depreciate ten per cent. during the next six years, and at
+the age of twelve or fourteen years be unfit for service. The steamers
+Washington and Hermann, which had strong hulls, have been run eight
+years, and are now nearly worthless. Their depreciation has been at
+least ten per cent. The steamers Georgia and Ohio, which Commodore
+Perry and other superintending navy agents pronounced to be well-built
+and powerful steamers, (_See Report Sec. Navy_, 1852,) ran only five
+years, and were laid aside, and said to be worthless. With all of the
+repairs put upon these ships, which were admitted to be capable of
+doing first class war service, as intended, they depreciated probably
+seventeen per cent.; as it is hardly possible that their old iron
+would sell for more than fifteen per cent. of their prime cost. These
+steamers paid much smaller repair bills than the Collins, and were not
+so well constructed, or at so high a cost. American steamers do not,
+upon the average, last above ten years; but if they reach twelve or
+fourteen, they will pay a sum nearly equal to twice their cost, for
+repairs and substitutions. Nor is this all. The life of a steamer ends
+when her adaptation to profitable service ceases. She may not be
+rotten, but may be so slow, or of so antiquated construction, or may
+burn so much more fuel than more modern competitors, that she can not
+stand the test of competition.
+
+4. We thus see that not only are the requisite repairs most extensive
+and costly, but of such magnitude as to greatly reduce the earnings of
+any class of steam vessels. But this is not the last costly
+consequence of mail speed. It requires more cautious watchfulness of
+the engines, the boilers, the deck, and of every possible department
+of the navigation, even including pilotage. It requires also more
+promptness and dispatch in every movement, and hence a much larger
+aggregate number of men. More men are necessary to keep up high fires;
+twice as many men are necessary to pass twice as much coal; twice as
+many engineers as under other circumstances are necessary for the
+faithful working of the engines, and any accidents and repairs which
+are indispensable on the ocean; and a larger number of sailors and
+officers is necessary to all of the prompt movements required of the
+mail steamer. The Havre mail steamers, the "Arago" and "Fulton," never
+carry less than six engineers each, although they could be run across
+the ocean with three under a hard working system. But this number
+insures the greater safety of the ship under ordinary circumstances,
+and is absolutely necessary in any case of accident and danger. It is
+the same case with the firemen. When, in a heavy storm, the fire
+department may be imperfectly manned, the ship has taken one of the
+first chances for rendering the engines inefficient, and being finally
+lost. And all of these extra and indispensable _employees_ make an
+extra drain on the income of the ship, and add to the extreme
+costliness of a high adequate mail speed.
+
+5. It is clear, then, that an adequate mail speed requires more fuel,
+more engineers, more firemen, more coal-stokers, and more general
+expense. The question of fuel is, however, alone the most important of
+all those affecting the attainment of high speed, and the item whose
+economy has been most desired and sought, both by those attempting to
+carry freight, and those who carry the mails and passengers. The
+principal points of interests concerning it are, the enormous quantity
+which both theory and practice show to be necessary to fast vessels;
+the large sum to be paid for it, and the steadily increasing price;
+and the paying freight room which its necessary carriage occupies. In
+fast steaming, the supply of coal to the furnaces frequently arrives
+at a point where many additional tons may be burned and yet produce no
+useful effect or increase of power. The draft through the furnaces and
+smoke stacks is so rapid and strong as to take off a vast volume of
+heat; and this, coupled with a large quantity of heat radiated from
+the various highly heated parts and surfaces, requires a consumption
+of fuel truly astonishing. If we reflect that at the twelve principal
+ports of Great Britain in the year of 1855, the tonnage entered was
+6,372,301, and departed 6,426,566, equal to 12,798,867 total, and this
+during the war, that a large part of this was steam tonnage, and that
+the total imports and exports of Great Britain for 1856 were
+1,600,000,000 dollars, we can somewhat appreciate the present and
+future uses of coal, and its inevitably large increase in price. The
+two hundred and seventy steamers in the British Navy, with about
+50,000 aggregate horse power, consumed in 1856, according to a report
+made to a Committee of the "British Association for the Advancement of
+Science," this year, by Rear-Admiral Moorsom, 750,000 tons of coal.
+The difficulty and cost of mining coal, its distance from the
+sea-shore, and the multifarious new applications in its use among our
+rapidly increasing population, as well as its almost universal and
+increasing demand for marine purposes, all conspire to make it more
+costly from year to year; while, as a propelling agent, it is already
+beyond the reach of commercial ocean steam navigation. Coal has gone
+up by a steady march during the last seven years from two and a half
+to eight dollars per ton, which may now be regarded as a fair average
+price along our Atlantic seaboard. And that we may see more clearly
+how essentially the speed and cost of steam marine navigation depend
+upon the simple question of fuel alone, to say nothing further of the
+impeding causes heretofore mentioned, I will now present a few
+inquiries concerning
+
+
+THE NATURAL LAWS OF RESISTANCE, POWER, AND SPEED,
+
+WITH TABLES OF THE SAME.
+
+The resistance to bodies moving through the water increases as the
+square of the velocity; and the power, or coal, necessary to produce
+speed varies or increases as the cube of the velocity. This is a law
+founded in nature, and verified by facts and universal experience. Its
+enunciation is at first startling to those who have not reflected on
+the subject, and who as a general thing suppose that, if a vessel will
+run 8 miles per hour on a given quantity of coal, she ought to run 16
+miles per hour on double that quantity. I think that it may be safely
+asserted that in all cases of high speed, and ordinary dynamic or
+working efficiency in the ship, the resistance increases more rapidly
+than as the squares. The _rationale_ of the law is this: the power
+necessary to overcome the resistance of the water at the vessel's bow
+and the friction increases as the square; again, the power necessary
+to overcome the natural inertia of the vessel and set it in motion,
+increases this again as the square of the velocity, and the two
+together constitute the aggregate resistance which makes it necessary
+that the power for increasing a vessel's speed shall increase as the
+cube of the velocity. But whatever the _rationale_, the law itself is
+an admitted fact by all theoretical engineers, and is proven in
+practice by all steamships. In evidence of this, I will give the
+following opinions.
+
+In his treatise on "The Marine Engine," Mr. Robert Murray, who is a
+member of the Board of Trade in Southampton, England, says in speaking
+of the "Natural law regulating the speed of a steamer," page 104:
+"These results chiefly depend upon the natural law that _the power
+expended in propelling a steamship through the water varies as the
+cube of the velocity_. This law is modified by the retarding effect of
+the _increased resisting surface_, consequent upon the weight of the
+engines and fuel, so that the horse power increases in a somewhat
+higher ratio than that named." It must be understood that when he
+speaks of power, horse power, etc., it is simply another form of
+representing the quantity of coal burned; as the power is in the
+direct ratio of the quantity of fuel.
+
+Bourne, the great Scotch writer upon the Screw Propeller, in his large
+volume published by Longmans, London, page 145, says, in concluding a
+sentence on the expensiveness of vessels: "Since it is known that the
+resistance of vessels increases more rapidly than the square of the
+velocity in the case of considerable speeds."
+
+Again, at page 236, on "the resistance of bodies moving through the
+water," he says: "In the case of very sharp vessels, the resistance
+appears to increase nearly as the square of the velocity, but in case
+of vessels of the ordinary amount of sharpness the resistance
+increases more rapidly than the square of the velocity."
+
+Again, on page 231, in speaking of the folly of a company attempting
+to run steamers sufficiently rapidly for the mails at the price paid
+for them, he says: "At the same time an increased rate of speed has to
+be maintained, which is, of course, tantamount to a further reduction
+of the payment. In fact, their position upon the Red Sea line is now
+this, that they would be better without the mails than with them, as
+the mere expense of the increased quantity of fuel necessary to
+realize the increased speed which they have undertaken to maintain,
+will swallow up the whole of the Government subvention. _To increase
+the speed of a vessel from 8 to 10 knots it is necessary that the
+engine power should be doubled._" This work of Mr. Bourne is now the
+standard of authority on the subject of which he treats, the world
+over.
+
+Again, Mr. James R. Napier, of London, known as one of the largest and
+most skilled engine-builders in Great Britain, in the discussion of
+the dynamic efficiency of steamships in the proceedings of the
+"British Association" in 1856, page 436, says: "_The power in similar
+vessels, I here take for granted, at present varies as the cube of the
+velocity._" The power simply represents the coal; in fact, it is the
+coal.
+
+Mr. Charles Atherton, the able and distinguished Chief Engineer of Her
+Majesty's Royal Dock Yard, at Woolwich, has published a volume, called
+"Steamship Capability," a smaller volume on "Marine Engine
+Classification," and several elaborate papers for the British
+Association, the Society of Arts, London, the Association of Civil
+Engineers, and the Artisans' Journal, for the purpose of properly
+exposing the high cost of steam freight transport as based on the law
+above noticed, and the ruinous expense of running certain classes of
+vessels of an inferior dynamic efficiency. When but a few weeks since
+in London, I asked the Editor of the "Artisan," if any engineer in
+England disputed the laws relative to power, on which Mr. Atherton
+based his arguments. He replied that he had never heard of one who
+did. I asked Mr. Atherton myself, if in the case of the newest and
+most improved steamers, with the best possible models for speed, he
+had ever found any defect in the law of, the resistance as the
+squares, and the power as the cubes of the velocity. He replied that
+he had not; and that he regarded the law as founded in nature, and had
+everywhere seen it verified in practice in the many experiments which
+it was his duty to conduct with steam vessels in and out of the Royal
+Navy. I think, therefore, that with all of these high authorities, the
+doctrine will be admitted as a law of power and speed, and
+consequently of the consumption of coal and the high cost of running
+steamers at mail speeds.
+
+It is not my purpose here to discuss this law, or treat generally or
+specially of the theory of steam navigation. It will suffice that I
+point out clearly its existence and the prominent methods of its
+application only, as these are necessary to the general deduction
+which I propose making, that rapid steamships can not support
+themselves on their own receipts. The general reader can pass over
+these formulae to p. 69, and look at their results.
+
+
+I. TO FIND THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL NECESSARY TO INCREASE THE SPEED OF
+A STEAMER.
+
+Suppose that a steamer running eight miles per hour consumes forty
+tons of coal per day: how much coal will she consume per day at nine
+miles per hour? The calculation is as follows:
+
+8^3 : 9^3 :: 40 : required consumption, which is, 56.95 tons. Here the
+speed has increased 12-1/2 per cent., while the quantity of fuel
+consumed increased 42-1/2 per cent.
+
+Suppose, again, that we wish to increase the speed from 8 to 10, and
+from 8 to 16 miles per hour. The formula stands the same, thus:
+
+ Miles. Miles. Tons Coal. Tons Coal.
+ 8^3 : 10^3 :: 40 : _x_, = 78.1
+ 8^3 : 16^3 :: 40 : _x_, = 320.
+
+
+II. TO FIND THE SPEED CORRESPONDING TO A DIMINISHED CONSUMPTION OF
+FUEL.
+
+Murray has given some convenient formulae, which I will here adopt.
+Suppose a vessel of 500 horse power run 12 knots per hour on 40 tons
+coal per day: what will be the speed if she burn only 30 tons per day?
+Thus:
+
+ 40 : 30 :: 12^3 : V^3 (or cube of the required velocity,)
+ Or, reduced, 4 : 3 :: 1728 : V^3,
+ Equation, 3 x 1728 = 5184 = 4V^3,
+ Or, 5184/4 =
+ Cube root of 1296 = 10.902 knots = V, required velocity.
+
+Thus, we reduce the quantity of coal one fourth, but the speed is
+reduced but little above one twelfth.
+
+
+III. RELATION BETWEEN THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL, AND THE LENGTH AND
+VELOCITY OF VOYAGE.
+
+The consumption of fuel on two or more given voyages will vary as the
+square of the velocity multiplied into the distance travelled. Thus,
+during a voyage of 1200 miles, average speed 10 knots, the consumption
+of coal is 150 tons: we wish to know the consumption for 1800 miles at
+8 knots. Thus:
+
+ 150 tons : C required Consumption :: 10^2 knots x 1200 miles : 8^2,
+ Knots x 1800 miles.
+ Then, C x 100 x 1200 = 150 x 64 x 1800,*
+ Or, C x 120,000 = 17,280,000
+ Reduced to C = 1728/12 = 144 tons consumption.
+
+Suppose, again, that we wish to know the rate of speed for 1800 miles,
+if the coals used be the same as on another voyage of 1200 miles, with
+150 tons coal, and ten knots speed:
+
+We substitute former consumption, 150 tons for C, as in the equation
+above, marked *, and V^2 (square of the required velocity) for 64, and
+have,
+
+ 150 x 100 x 1200 = 150 x V^2 x 1800,
+ Or, 120,000 = 1800V^2,
+ Reduced, 1200/18 = V^2,
+ And V = square root of 66.66 = 8.15 knots.
+
+From the foregoing easily intelligible formulae we can ascertain with
+approximate certainty the large quantity of coal necessary to increase
+speed, the large saving of coal in reducing speed, as well as the
+means of accommodating the fuel to the voyage, or the voyage to the
+fuel. It is not necessary here to study very closely the economy of
+fuel, as this is a question affecting the transport of freight alone.
+When the mails are to be transported, economy of fuel is not the
+object desired, but speed; and, consequently, we must submit to
+extravagance of fuel. This large expenditure of coal is not necessary
+in the case of freights, as they may be transported slowly, and,
+consequently, cheaply. But one of the principal reasons for rapid
+transport of the mails is that they may largely anticipate freights in
+their time of arrival, and consequently control their movements.
+
+I recently had an excellent opportunity of testing the large quantity
+of fuel saved on a slight reduction of the speed, and give it as
+illustrative of the law advanced. We were on the United States Mail
+steamer "Fulton," Captain Wotton, and running at 13 miles per hour.
+Some of the tubes became unfit for use in one of the boilers, and the
+fires were extinguished and the steam and water drawn off from this
+boiler, leaving the other one, of the same size, to propel the ship.
+An intelligent gentleman who happened to know that we were using only
+one boiler, and consequently, but half the power, remarked to me that
+it was very strange that the ship was still going about eleven miles
+per hour, without any sail. He said: "It is strange, sir; two boilers
+of equal size drove us thirteen miles per hour; and here now but one
+boiler drives us nearly eleven miles, or nearly as fast; when
+common-sense teaches that the one boiler would drive us only six and a
+half miles per hour. How is that?" I then explained to him very
+clearly the natural law relative to power and speed, (_See Rule II.,
+page 68_,) which he at once comprehended and admitted, but with the
+remark: "Indeed, sir, I would have testified that she ought with one
+boiler to have gone at only half the speed; or that going at six miles
+with one boiler, she would go twelve with two."
+
+As it will be interesting to the general reader to examine the details
+of the increased consumption of fuel at increased rates of speed, I
+present the following elaborate table recently prepared by Mr.
+Atherton for his new edition of "Steamship Capability," according to
+the formula above noticed, and the performance of the best type of
+vessel in the Royal Navy, the steamer "Rattler." Mr. A. found a higher
+efficiency in this vessel per horse power than any other in the Navy,
+and consequently based the consumption of coal in the table on the
+assumption that the mail and passenger vessels generally should be of
+as good contractive type as "Rattler." I shall present also another
+table showing a much larger consumption of fuel by an inferior type of
+vessel. I use these tables because they are thoroughly correct, and
+quite as perfect as any that I could construct on the same formula;
+and because they carry with them the weight of probably the highest
+authority in Great Britain.
+
+
+COAL TABLE: No. I.
+
+_Displacement,[B] Speed, and Fuel consumed per Day, for Mail,
+Passenger, and Freight Steamers, whose locomotive performance is equal
+to that of the best class of ocean steam vessels; assuming the
+consumption of fuel to be 4-1/2 lbs. per indicated horse power per
+hour, equal to 33,000 lbs. raised one foot in one minute. The quantity
+consumed is expressed in tons per day of 24 hours._
+
+[B] Displacement refers to the number of cubic feet of water displaced
+by the hull; allowing thirty-five cubic feet to the ton.
+
+ KEY:
+ A: SHIP'S DISPLACEMENT.
+
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ | SPEED PER HOUR.--NAUTICAL MILES.
+ A +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ TONS.|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ 100|1.04|1.65|2.47|3.51|4.82|6.41|8.32|10.6|13.2|16.3|19.7|23.7|28.1|33.0|38.5
+ 125|1.20|1.92|2.86|4.07|5.59|7.44|9.66|12.3|15.3|18.9|22.9|27.5|32.6|38.3|44.7
+ 150|1.36|2.16|3.23|4.60|6.31|8.40|10.9|13.9|17.3|21.3|25.9|31.0|36.8|43.3|50.5
+ 175|1.51|2.40|3.58|5.10|7.00|9.31|12.1|15.4|19.2|23.6|28.7|34.4|40.8|48.0|56.0
+ 200|1.65|2.62|3.91|5.57|7.65|10.2|13.2|16.8|21.0|25.8|31.3|37.6|44.6|52.4|61.2
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 250|1.92|3.04|4.54|6.47|8.87|11.8|15.3|19.5|24.3|29.9|36.3|43.6|51.7|60.9|71.0
+ 300|2.25|3.44|5.13|7.30|10.0|13.3|17.3|22.0|27.5|33.8|41.0|49.2|58.4|68.7|80.1
+ 350|2.40|3.81|5.68|8.09|11.1|14.8|19.2|24.4|30.5|37.5|45.5|54.5|64.7|76.2|88.8
+ 400|2.62|4.16|6.21|8.85|12.1|16.2|21.0|26.7|33.3|41.0|49.7|59.6|70.8|83.3|97.1
+ 450|2.84|4.50|6.72|9.57|13.1|17.5|22.7|28.8|36.0|44.3|53.8|64.5|76.6|90.1|105
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 500|3.04|4.83|7.21|10.3|14.1|18.7|24.3|30.9|38.6|47.5|57.7|69.2|82.1|96.6|113
+ 600|3.43|5.46|8.14|11.6|15.9|21.2|27.5|34.9|43.6|53.7|65.1|78.1|92.8|109 |127
+ 700|3.81|6.05|9.02|12.8|17.6|23.5|30.4|38.7|48.4|59.5|72.2|86.6|103 |121 |141
+ 800|4.16|6.61|9.87|14.0|19.3|25.6|33.3|42.3|52.9|65.0|78.9|94.6|112 |132 |154
+ 900|4.50|7.15|10.7|15.2|20.8|27.7|36.0|45.8|57.2|70.4|85.4|102 |122 |143 |167
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 1000|4.83|7.67|11.4|16.3|22.4|29.8|38.6|49.1|61.3|75.5|91.6|110 |130 |153 |179
+ 1250|5.60|8.90|13.3|18.9|26.0|34.5|44.8|57.0|71.2|87.6|106 |127 |151 |178 |208
+ 1500|6.33|10.0|15.0|21.4|29.3|39.0|50.6|64.4|80.4|98.9|120 |144 |171 |201 |234
+ 1750|7.01|11.1|16.6|23.7|32.5|43.2|56.1|71.3|89.1|110 |133 |159 |189 |223 |260
+ 2000|7.66|12.2|18.2|25.9|35.5|47.3|61.3|77.9|97.4|120 |145 |174 |207 |243 |284
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 2500|8.89|14.1|21.1|30.0|41.2|54.8|71.2|90.5|113 |139 |169 |202 |240 |283 |329
+ 3000|10.0|16.0|23.8|33.9|46.5|61.9|80.4|102 |128 |157 |191 |228 |271 |319 |372
+ 3500|11.1|17.7|26.1|37.6|51.5|68.6|89.0|113 |141 |174 |211 |253 |301 |354 |412
+ 4000|12.2|19.3|28.8|41.1|56.3|75.0|97.3|124 |155 |190 |231 |277 |329 |386 |451
+ 5000|14.1|22.4|33.5|47.7|65.4|87.0|113 |144 |179 |221 |268 |321 |381 |448 |523
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 6000|15.9|25.3|37.8|53.8|73.8|98.3|128 |162 |203 |249 |302 |363 |431 |506 |591
+ 7000|17.7|28.1|41.9|59.6|81.8|109 |141 |180 |224 |276 |335 |402 |477 |501 |654
+ 8000|19.3|30.7|45.8|65.2|89.4|119 |155 |196 |245 |302 |366 |439 |522 |613 |715
+ 9000|20.9|33.2|49.5|70.5|96.7|129 |167 |215 |265 |327 |396 |475 |564 |663 |774
+ 10000|22.4|35.6|53.1|75.6|104 |138 |179 |228 |285 |350 |425 |510 |605 |712 |830
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 12500|26.0|41.3|61.7|87.8|120 |160 |208 |265 |330 |406 |493 |592 |702 |826 |963
+ 15000|29.4|46.6|69.6|99.1|136 |181 |235 |299 |373 |459 |557 |668 |793 |933 |1088
+ 20000|35.6|56.5|84.4|120 |165 |219 |285 |362 |452 |556 |675 |809 |961 |1130|1318
+ 25000|41.3|65.6|97.9|139 |191 |254 |330 |420 |525 |645 |783 |939 |1115|1311|1529
+ 30000|46.6|74.0|111 |157 |216 |287 |373 |474 |592 |728 |884 |1060|1258|1480|1727
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+
+By the inspection of this table we can see in condensed form the
+coal-cost of any speed as high as twenty miles per hour, and for any
+size of vessel from one hundred tons to thirty thousand tons. Let us
+find in the left hand column a vessel of 2,500 tons displacement.
+Pursuing the line along to the right we find in the second column 8.89
+tons of coal, which a steamer of this displacement would burn in 24
+hours, if running, as indicated at the head of the column, 6 Nautical
+miles per hour.
+
+In the next column, under the head of 7 Nautical miles per hour, we
+find that she would burn in one day 14.1 tons; or one and a half times
+as much coal to gain one sixth more speed:
+
+Again, at 8 miles per hour she burns 21.1 tons; nearly three times as
+much as at six miles:
+
+At 9 miles she burns 30 tons: above twice as much as at 7, and nearly
+four times as much as at 6, although the speed is but half doubled:
+
+At 10 miles per hour she burns 41.2 tons; about twice as much as at 8
+miles, although the speed is increased only one fourth. At 10 she
+burns 34 per cent. more than at 9, although the increase of speed is
+only eleven per cent. (_See pages 67 and 68_):
+
+At 11 miles per hour she will burn 54.8 or 55 tons; nearly three times
+as much as at 8 miles per hour, and six times as much as at 6 miles
+per hour:
+
+At 12 miles per hour she will burn 71.2; about thirty per cent. more
+than at eleven miles per hour, although gaining but 9 per cent. in
+speed; nearly twice as much as at ten miles per hour, three and a half
+times as much as at 8, five times as much as at 7, and above eight
+times as much as at 6 miles per hour. It is here seen that to double
+the speed the consumption of fuel has increased eight-fold, which
+verifies my statements hitherto made on this subject. We have already
+seen that to gain two miles of speed on any stated speed, it was
+necessary to double the quantity of fuel used.
+
+At 13 miles per hour she burns 90.5 tons. This is burning two and a
+fourth times as much coal as if she ran only 10 miles per hour. Now,
+at this speed, the steamer will reach Southampton or Liverpool in 10
+days and 6 hours, which is equivalent to 10 days and 12 hours burning
+fuel, allowing six hours for heating and starting, and which would
+make an aggregate consumption of 950 tons of coal for the passage of
+this steamer of 2,500 displacement or probably 3,000 tons register.
+
+At 14 miles per hour she burns 113 tons. This is nearly three times as
+much as 10 miles per hour. At this speed the steamer would reach
+Southampton or Liverpool in 9 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes,
+supposing the distance to be 3,200 miles from New-York, or say 9 days
+18-1/2 hours coal-burning time, and would consume an aggregate of
+1,104-1/2 tons. As this is but little above the distance from New-York
+to Southampton, and under that from Panama to California, and about
+the tonnage of the steamers running, the time being within eleven days
+generally, it will be seen how large is the cost of running the
+steamers of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, those on the European
+routes, and also those between New-York and Aspinwall. As the route of
+the Havre and Bremen steamers is much longer, they are compelled to
+run slightly slower, or they would be filled up with their own fuel
+and power. Taking a Collins steamer of 3,000 tons, which we find in
+the line below, and we see that in running 14 miles per hour as they
+have frequently done, the consumption would be 128 tons per day, or
+1,252 tons for the passage. And yet, one of those steamers could make
+12 miles per hour on 80.4 tons per day, or at 11 miles per hour on
+61.9, or less than half that used at 14. But pursuing this table we
+see that,
+
+At 15 miles per hour she would burn 139 tons, or three and a half
+times as much as at 10 miles.
+
+At 16 miles per hour she would burn 169 tons, or precisely eight
+times as much as at 8 miles per hour. Here again doubling the speed is
+found to be an enormous expense.
+
+At 17 miles per hour she burns 202 tons per day.
+
+At 18 miles per hour the consumption is 240 tons per day.
+
+At 19 miles per hour she burns 283 tons coal per day; and
+
+At 20 miles per hour she burns 329 tons per day. At 20 miles per hour
+she would run 480 miles per day, a thing as yet wholly unheard of, and
+would consume on the voyage of 6 days and 16 hours, say 6 days and 22
+hours, 2,276 tons of coal. It would be clearly impossible for her to
+carry her own fuel; as the immense boiler and engine power necessary
+to secure this speed would of itself fill a ship of this size, to say
+nothing of the fuel which also would nearly fill it. Then, we may
+never expect any such ship to attain any such speed as seventeen,
+eighteen, or twenty miles per hour on so long a voyage without
+recoaling.
+
+Seeing thus the enormous increase in the consumption of fuel for a
+moderate increase in the speed, we are enabled the better to
+appreciate the large expense incurred in running ocean steamers
+sufficiently rapidly for successful mail and passenger purposes. We
+will further pursue these inquiries by examining in this table the
+consumption for vessels of 6,000 tons, which would make the
+displacement of the ship nearly 5,000 tons, such as the "Adriatic,"
+the "Vanderbilt," and the "Niagara." It appears that at 8 miles per
+hour they would consume 33 tons per day; at 10 miles, 65 tons; at 12
+miles, 113 tons; at 13 miles, 144 tons; at 14 miles, 179 tons; at 15
+miles, 221 tons; and at 16 miles, 268 tons per day. This is supposing
+this speed to be maintained on an average across the ocean, in all
+kinds of weather, which this size of steamer could not do without
+more engine and boiler power than any of them have. With such
+additional power the ships noticed would have scarcely any available
+room for freight or any thing else. One thing is very clear from this
+table, that when steamers run at very moderately slow rates of speed,
+their consumption of fuel is very small; and that when they leave this
+low freighting speed, for that of the necessarily rapid mails and
+passengers, the consumption increases to an extent and with a rapidity
+that would seem almost incredible at first view.
+
+
+COAL TABLE: No. II.
+
+_The following coal table is constructed in all respects as the
+preceding, but for a lower type of vessels, or those whose coefficient
+of Dynamic performance is inferior to that upon which the previous
+table is estimated. As a consequence, this style of vessel requires
+more fuel._
+
+ KEY:
+ A: SHIP'S DISPLACEMENT.
+
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ | SPEED PER HOUR.--NAUTICAL MILES.
+ A +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ TONS.|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS|TONS
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+ 500|3.95|6.28|9.37|13.4|18.3|24.3|31.6|40.1|50.2|61.7|75.0|89.9|106 |125 |147
+ 600|4.46|7.10|10.6|15.1|20.6|27.5|35.7|45.3|56.6|69.8|84.6|101 |120 |141 |165
+ 700|4.95|7.86|11.7|16.6|22.8|30.5|39.5|50.3|62.9|77.3|93.8|112 |134 |157 |183
+ 800|5.41|8.59|12.8|18.2|25.1|33.3|43.3|55.0|68.7|84.5|102 |123 |145 |171 |200
+ 900|5.85|9.29|13.9|19.7|27.0|36.0|46.8|59.5|74.3|91.5|111 |132 |158 |186 |217
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 1000|6.28|9.97|14.8|21.2|29.1|38.7|50.1|63.8|79.7|98.1|119 |143 |169 |199 |232
+ 1250|7.28|11.5|17.3|24.5|33.8|44.8|58.2|74.1|92.5|114 |137 |165 |196 |231 |270
+ 1500|8.23|13.0|19.5|27.8|38.1|50.7|65.7|83.7|104 |128 |156 |187 |222 |261 |304
+ 1750|9.11|14.4|21.5|30.8|42.2|56.1|72.9|92.7|115 |143 |173 |206 |245 |290 |338
+ 2000|9.95|15.8|23.6|33.6|46.1|61.5|79.7|101 |126 |159 |188 |226 |269 |316 |369
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 2500|11.5|18.3|27.4|39.0|53.5|71.2|92.5|117 |147 |180 |219 |262 |312 |368 |427
+ 3000|13.0|20.8|30.9|44.0|60.4|80.4|104 |132 |166 |204 |248 |296 |352 |414 |483
+ 3500|14.4|23.0|34.3|48.8|66.9|89.1|115 |147 |183 |226 |274 |329 |391 |460 |535
+ 4000|15.8|25.1|37.4|53.4|73.2|97.5|126 |161 |201 |247 |300 |360 |427 |501 |586
+ 5000|18.3|29.1|43.5|62.0|85.0|113 |147 |187 |232 |287 |348 |417 |495 |582 |679
+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 6000|20.6|32.9|49.1|69.9|95.9|127 |166 |210 |264 |323 |392 |472 |560 |657 |768
+ 10000|29.1|46.2|69.0|98.2|135 |179 |232 |296 |370 |455 |552 |663 |786 |925 |1079
+ -----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
+
+
+FREIGHT TABLE: No. III.
+
+_Showing the mutual relation of Displacement, Power, Speed,
+Consumption of Coal, and capacity for Cargo of vessels of
+progressively increasing magnitude up to nearly 30,000 tons of
+Deep-draught Displacement, employed on a passage of 3,250 nautical
+miles, without recoaling: showing also the prime cost Expenses per ton
+of Cargo conveyed._
+
+ KEY:
+ A: Mean or Mid-passage Displacement.
+ B: Speed.
+ C: POWER. Nominal H. P.
+ D: POWER. Indicated h. p.
+ E: Assumed weight of Hull and Engines.
+ F: PASSAGE 3,250 N. M. DIRECT. Time.
+ G: PASSAGE 3,250 N. M. DIRECT. Coal.
+ H: PASSAGE 3,250 N. M. DIRECT. Cargo.
+ I: PASSAGE 3,250 N. M. DIRECT. Deep Displacement.
+ J: PASSAGE 3,250 N. M. DIRECT. Expenses per Ton of Cargo.
+
+ --------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------+------+----------
+ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J
+ Tons. |N. M.|H. P.|h. p.| TONS.| D. H.|TONS.| TONS.| TONS.| L S. D.
+ --------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------+------+----------
+ {| 8| 109| 436| 1109| 16.22| 369| 1209| 2684| 2 1 10
+ {| 9| 155| 620| 1155| 15. 1| 466| 1112| 2733| 2 7 8
+ 2,500 {| 10| 213| 852| 1213| 13.13| 577| 999| 2788| 2 16 11
+ {| 11| 284| 1136| 1284| 12. 7| 699| 867| 2849| 3 11 3
+ {| 12| 368| 1472| 1368| 11. 7| 830| 717| 2915| 4 14 5
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ {| 8| 172| 688| 2172| 16.22| 582| 2537| 5291| 1 16 1
+ {| 9| 245| 980| 2245| 15. 1| 737| 2386| 5368| 1 19 7
+ 5,000 {| 10| 336| 1344| 2336| 13.13| 882| 2223| 5441| 2 4 1
+ {| 11| 448| 1792| 2448| 12. 7| 1103| 2000| 5551| 2 13 1
+ {| 12| 581| 2324| 2581| 11. 7| 1311| 1763| 5655| 3 5 1
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ {| 8| 276| 1104| 4276| 16.22| 934| 5257| 10467| 1 12 3
+ {| 9| 388| 1552| 4388| 15. 1| 1168| 5028| 10584| 1 13 10
+ {| 10| 536| 2144| 4536| 13.13| 1407| 4760| 10703| 1 16 9
+ 10,000 {| 11| 712| 2848| 4712| 12. 7| 1753| 4411| 10876| 2 2 1
+ {| 12| 928| 3712| 4928| 11. 7| 2094| 4025| 11047| 2 9 4
+ {| 13| 1180| 4720| 5180| 10.10| 2458| 3591| 11229| 2 19 5
+ {| 14| 1472| 5888| 5472| 9.16| 2848| 3104| 11424| 3 14 3
+ | | | | | | | | |
+ {| 8| 436| 1744| 8436| 16.22| 1476| 10826| 20738| 1 9 0
+ {| 9| 620| 2480| 8620| 15. 1| 1866| 10447| 20933| 1 9 11
+ {| 10| 852| 3408| 8852| 13.13| 2236| 10030| 21118| 1 11 4
+ 20,000 {| 11| 1136| 4544| 9136| 12. 7| 2797| 9466| 21398| 1 14 9
+ {| 12| 1472| 5888| 9472| 11. 7| 3322| 8867| 21661| 1 19 1
+ {| 13| 1872| 7488| 9872| 10.10| 3900| 8178| 21950| 2 4 11
+ {| 14| 2340| 9360| 10340| 9.16| 4528| 7396| 22264| 2 13 1
+ --------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+------+------+----------
+
+Mr. Atherton gives this table, which shows the following facts:
+
+That, as the various sized vessels named, increase in speed from 8 to
+12, or from 8 to 14 miles per hour, their horse power, as well
+consequently as their coal, increases:
+
+That, as the speed increases, so does the weight of the hull and
+engines:
+
+That, as the speed increases, with the consequent increased coal and
+engine weight, the cargo decreases: and
+
+That, as the speed increases, with the other necessary conditions
+noticed, the expense per ton of cargo also increases in a rapid ratio.
+In the four cross columns ships of different sizes are considered; of
+2,500, 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000 tons. There is also given the working
+or indicated horse power, and the nominal horse-power, or that of
+33,000 lbs. raised a foot in a minute, which is the general basis of
+making contracts. It is a fact, however, that engines generally work
+up to three or four times their nominal horse power; so that the word
+horse power has no positive or useful meaning. Vessels called one
+hundred nominal horse-power have been known to work up to six hundred.
+
+Let us take a ship of 5,000 tons. We find that at 8 miles per hour the
+horse power is 436; but at 12 miles it is 1,472, nearly four times as
+great. At 13 miles, it would be nearly 1800 horse, and at 14 it would
+be above 2100. So, also, with the weight of engines, boilers, etc. At
+8 miles per hour they would weigh 1,109 tons; but at 12 they would
+have to weigh, to be large and strong enough, 1,368 tons. At 14 miles,
+they would weigh nearly 1,600 tons.
+
+Now, see the columns "cargo" and "coal," and observe how rapidly that
+of coal increases, while that of cargo decreases in the inverse ratio
+of the coal, the engine, the boiler, and the hull weight combined. The
+cargo has come from 1,209 down to 717 tons; and if the speed were
+increased to 13 or 14 miles per hour, the cargo would be so reduced as
+to be unworthy of notice.
+
+The next column shows how much greater the quantity of water displaced
+as the speed increases. This extra displacement requires extra power.
+
+In the last column it is observable how rapidly the speed enhances
+the cost price of transporting cargo. At 13 miles per hour the cost
+would be about six pounds sterling per ton, and at 14 knots speed it
+would be higher than was ever paid a steamer in the most flush periods
+of even the best qualities of freights. Freights were about L8 per ton
+on the Cunard line before the establishment of the Collins; but they
+soon came down, and are not now L3, or $15, on an average. So with
+passage. The "Great Western" charged L45, the "British Queen" L50; the
+Cunarders, until the Collins competition, L40, 19_s._ The Collins
+steamers put the price down to L35, and have since reduced it to L30
+homeward, and L24 outward. This is but little above half the fare of
+the Great Western, and something over two thirds of that formerly
+charged by the Cunard line. The Report to the House of Commons "on
+Steam Communications with India," No. 372 of 1851, second volume, page
+395, says, that the average speed of the Cunard line was 10.443 knots,
+of the Collins line 11 knots, and of the Havre and Bremen lines 9.875
+knots per hour. The Collins line had then just started, and has since
+made the average passages one and a half days quicker than those of
+the Cunard line. This being the case, it is easy to estimate the gains
+of a steamer at such rates, when this column shows us that at 12 miles
+speed per hour and an average trip of 11 days, the actual prime cost
+of moving the freight is much above that which is received for it. It
+is therefore taken in small quantities only to assist in paying the
+running expenses of the steamer.
+
+This table shows another thing very conclusively, that large ships
+running the same number of miles per hour, run cheaper and transport
+freight more cheaply than smaller vessels. It presupposes, however,
+that they go full both ways. The engine power and general outlay do
+not increase as rapidly as the tonnage of the vessel and her capacity
+for carrying. While a ship 2,500 tons at 12 miles per hour on a
+passage of 3,250 miles would make the cost per ton for the
+transportation of freight $22.75, one of 20,000 tons, under the same
+conditions would reduce it to $9 per ton. Yet it is hardly probable
+that we shall ever profitably employ steamers of over 10,000 tons
+tonnage in the passenger, mail, and freight business.
+
+Again, a ship of 2,500 at 12 miles, running 6,500 miles could not
+transport cargo at less than $115; one of 5,000 tons would transport
+it at $52; one of 10,000 tons would transport it at $33 per ton; and
+one of 20,000 tons burthen, as for instance the "Leviathan," would
+transport it at $24 per ton. And while none of the three first named
+sizes of vessels would transport it 12,500 miles, the one of 20,000
+tons, running 12 miles per hour, would transport it at $80 per ton;
+and running 14 miles per hours, at $430 per ton. Two things must,
+however, not be forgotten in this; that the ship to do this must
+always run entirely full and have no waste room; and that these prices
+are comparisons between different steamers, and not with sailing
+vessels, which, running much more slowly and with but little expense,
+transport the freight far more cheaply.
+
+The following table will set forth very clearly in a summary view, the
+Time, Horse-power, Coal, and Cargo for a steamer of good average
+quality running on passages of 1,000 miles, 2,000 miles, and 3,000
+miles, and at a speed varying from 6 to 18 miles per hour. It will be
+observed that a steamer of 3,000 tons can not take power and coal
+enough to run on a 2,000 miles passage above 17 knots per hour, and
+that one of 3,000 tons also can not run on a 3,000 miles passage at a
+speed above 16 knots per hour. Observe the small quantity of cargo and
+the large quantity of coal for a steamer of 3,000 tons on a 3,000
+miles passage at 16 miles per hour.
+
+
+COAL AND CARGO TABLE: No. IV.
+
+_Calculated for the mean Displacement of 3,000 Tons._
+
+ KEY:
+ A: SPEED--PER HOUR.
+ B: HORSE-POWER.
+ C: WEIGHT OF HULL AND ENGINES.
+ D: PASSAGE 1,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Time.
+ E: PASSAGE 1,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Coal.
+ F: PASSAGE 1,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Cargo.
+ G: PASSAGE 2,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Time.
+ H: PASSAGE 2,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Coal.
+ I: PASSAGE 2,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Cargo.
+ J: PASSAGE 3,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Time.
+ K: PASSAGE 3,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Coal.
+ L: PASSAGE 3,000 NAUTICAL MILES. Cargo.
+
+ -----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----
+ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L
+ N. M.|H. P.|TONS.|D. H.|TONS|TONS|D. H.|TONS|TONS|D. H.|TONS|TONS
+ -----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----
+ 6| 52| 1252| 6.23| 72|1711|13.21| 144|1675|20.20| 216|1639
+ 7| 83| 1283| 5.23| 98|1667|11.22| 197|1617|17.21| 296|1568
+ 8| 123| 1323| 5. 5| 128|1612|10.10| 256|1548|15.15| 384|1484
+ | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 9| 175| 1375| 4.15| 162|1543| 9. 6| 324|1462|13.21| 486|1381
+ 10| 241| 1441| 4. 4| 200|1458| 8. 8| 401|1358|12.12| 602|1257
+ 11| 320| 1520| 3.19| 242|1358| 7.14| 484|1237|11. 9| 727|1116
+ | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 12| 416| 1616| 3.11| 288|1239| 6.23| 577|1095|10.10| 866| 950
+ 13| 529| 1729| 3. 5| 339|1100| 6.10| 678| 931| 9.15|1017| 761
+ 14| 661| 1861| 2.23| 393| 942| 5.23| 786| 745| 8.22|1180| 548
+ | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 15| 813| 2013| 2.19| 451| 761| 5.13| 903| 535| 8. 8|1355| 309
+ 16| 987| 2187| 2.14| 514| 555| 5. 5|1028| 298| 7.19|1542| 41
+ 17| 1183| 2383| 2.11| 580| 327| 4.22|1160| 37| | |
+ | | | | | | | | | | |
+ 18| 1405| 2605| 2. 8| 650| 69| | | | | |
+ 19| 1652| 2852| | | | | | | | |
+ 20| 1927| 3127| | | | | | | | |
+ -----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----
+
+I will close this long chapter, in which I have endeavored to give a
+clear, comprehensible, and faithful idea of the cost of running ocean
+mail, freight, and passenger steamers, by an extract from that very
+able and faithful work, "Steamship Capability." As a summing up of the
+various laws and facts concerning the consumption of fuel, weight and
+power of engines, speed of ships, and their capacity to do business,
+Mr. Atherton says, page 55: "Now suppose, for example, that the
+passage be 1,000 miles, and that, for brevity, we confine our remarks
+to the engine department only; which, indeed, will be the department
+of expense, chiefly affected by variations in the rate of speed. It
+appears that the vessel of 5,000 tons' mean displacement, if fitted
+to run at the speed of EIGHT NAUTICAL MILES per hour, will require 172
+H.P., and a cargo of 2,738 tons will be conveyed 1,000 miles in five
+days five hours; being equivalent to one day's employment of 33/100
+H.P. _per ton_ of goods.
+
+"If fitted to run at TEN NAUTICAL MILES an hour, the vessel will
+require 336 H.P., the cargo will be reduced to 2,524 tons, and the
+time to four days four hours; being equivalent to one day's employment
+of 55/100 H.P. _per ton_ of goods nearly.
+
+"If fitted to run at TWELVE NAUTICAL MILES an hour, the vessel will
+require 581 H.P., the cargo will be reduced to 2,217 tons, and the
+time to three days eleven hours; being equivalent to one day's
+employment of 91/100 H.P. _per ton_ of goods.
+
+"If fitted to run at FOURTEEN MILES an hour, the vessel will require
+923 H.P., the cargo will be reduced to 1,802 tons, and the time to two
+days twenty-three hours; being equivalent to one day's employment of
+1-52/100 H.P. _per ton_ of goods.
+
+"If fitted to run at SIXTEEN MILES per hour, the vessel will require
+1,377 H.P., the cargo will be reduced to 1,264 tons, and the time to
+two days fourteen hours; being equivalent to one day's employment of
+2-86/100 H.P. _per ton_ of goods.
+
+"If fitted to run at EIGHTEEN MILES per hour, the vessel will require
+1,961 H.P., the cargo will be reduced to 585 tons, and the time to two
+days eight hours; being equivalent to one day's employment of 7-75/100
+H.P., _per ton_ of goods.
+
+"And if fitted to run at TWENTY MILES per hour, there will be no
+displacement available for mercantile cargo.
+
+"Assuming, now, that the COST per ton of goods will be in proportion
+to the amount of power and tonnage employed to do the work, it appears
+that the cost _per ton of goods_ of performing this passage of 1,000
+miles, at the respective speeds of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 miles,
+will be proportional to the numbers--33/100, 55/100, 91/100, 1-52/100,
+2-86/100, and 7-75/100, which are proportional to the numbers 33, 55,
+91, 152, 286, and 775, or nearly as 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, and 23.
+
+"Hence it appears, that in the case of the ONE THOUSAND MILES passage
+above referred to, the cost of freight _per ton of goods_ at TEN MILES
+per hour, will require to be nearly the _double_ of the rate at EIGHT
+MILES per hour.
+
+"The cost per ton at TWELVE MILES per hour will require to be _three
+times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at FOURTEEN MILES per hour will require to be _five
+times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at SIXTEEN MILES per hour will require to be _nine
+times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at EIGHTEEN MILES per hour will require to be
+_twenty-three times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"And at TWENTY MILES per hour there will be _no displacement_
+available for mercantile cargo.
+
+"By applying the same process of calculation to a ship of 5,000 tons'
+mean displacement, making a passage of THREE THOUSAND MILES, we shall
+find that, at TEN MILES an hour, the cost of freight per ton will
+require to be double the rate of freight at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at TWELVE MILES will require to be three times the
+rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at FOURTEEN MILES will require to be six times the
+rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at SIXTEEN MILES will require to be twenty times the
+rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"And at EIGHTEEN MILES per hour there will be _no displacement_
+available for mercantile cargo.
+
+"Finally, by applying the same process of calculation to a ship of
+5,000 tons' mean displacement on a passage of 6,000 miles, it will be
+found that the cost of freight per ton at TEN MILES per hour will
+require to be _double_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at TWELVE MILES per hour will require to be about
+_five times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"The cost per ton at FOURTEEN MILES per hour will be about _sixteen
+times_ the rate at EIGHT MILES.
+
+"And at SIXTEEN MILES per hour there will be _no displacement_
+available for mercantile cargo.
+
+"Hence, it appears, that for voyages of 1,000 miles and upwards,
+without re-coaling, the speed of ten nautical miles per hour would
+involve about _double_ the cost _per ton_ of eight miles, and may,
+therefore, be regarded as the extreme limit that can be generally
+entertained for the mercantile purpose of goods' conveyance; and that
+the attainment on long passages of a higher rate of speed than ten
+miles (though admissibly practicable) would involve obligations
+altogether of an exceptional character, such as the special service of
+dispatches, mails, passengers, specie, and the most valuable
+description of goods can only meet."
+
+
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+OCEAN MAIL STEAMERS CAN NOT LIVE ON THEIR OWN RECEIPTS.
+
+ INCREASE OF BRITISH MAIL SERVICE: LAST NEW LINE AT $925,000 PER
+ YEAR: THE SYSTEM NOT BECOMING SELF-SUPPORTING: CONTRACT RENEWALS
+ AT SAME OR HIGHER PRICES: PRICE OF FUEL AND WAGES INCREASED FASTER
+ THAN ENGINE IMPROVEMENTS: LARGE SHIPS RUN PROPORTIONALLY CHEAPER
+ THAN SMALL: AN EXAMPLE, WITH THE FIGURES: THE STEAMER "LEVIATHAN,"
+ 27,000 TONS: STEAMERS OF THIS CLASS WILL NOT PAY: SHE CAN NOT
+ TRANSPORT FREIGHT TO AUSTRALIA: REASONS FOR THE SAME: MOTION HER
+ NORMAL CONDITION: MUST NOT BE MADE A DOCK: DELIVERY OF FREIGHTS:
+ MAMMOTH STEAMERS TO BRAZIL: LARGE CLIPPERS LIE IDLE: NOT EVEN THIS
+ LARGE CLASS OF STEAMERS CAN LIVE ON THEIR OWN RECEIPTS: EFFICIENT
+ MAIL STEAMERS CARRY BUT LITTLE EXCEPT PASSENGERS: SOME HEAVY EXTRA
+ EXPENSES IN REGULAR MAIL LINES: PACIFIC MAIL COMPANY'S LARGE EXTRA
+ FLEET, AND ITS EFFECTS: THE IMMENSE ACCOUNT OF ITEMS AND EXTRAS: A
+ PARTIAL LIST: THE HAVRE AND COLLINS DOCKS: GREAT EXPENSE OF
+ FEEDING PASSENGERS: VIEWS OF MURRAY AND ATHERTON ON THE COST OF
+ RUNNING STEAMERS, AND THE NECESSITY OF THE PRESENT MAIL SERVICE.
+
+
+From the foregoing Section it is evident that the cost of running
+ocean steamers is enormous, and that in the chief element of
+expenditure it increases as the cube of the velocity. This, although
+true, is certainly a startling ratio of increase, and calculated to
+arouse attention to the difficulties of postal marine navigation.
+Seeing that ocean speed is attainable at so high a cost, we naturally
+conclude that fast mail steamers can not live on their own receipts
+upon the ocean.
+
+Since Great Britain established her first ocean steam mail in 1833,
+she has gone on rapidly increasing the same facilities, until her
+noble lines of communication now extend to every land and compass
+every sea. The last great contract which she conceded was last year,
+to the "European and Australian Company," for carrying the mails on a
+second line from Southampton _via_ Suez to Sydney, in Australia, at
+L185,000, or $925,000 per year. And although her expenditures for this
+service have gradually gone up to above five millions of dollars per
+annum, she continues the service as a necessity to her commerce, and a
+branch of facilities and accommodations with which the people of the
+Kingdom will not dispense. The British Government set out with the
+determination to have the advantages of the system, whether it would
+pay or not. They believed that the system would eventually become
+self-supporting, by reason of the many important improvements then
+proposed in the steam-engine, and they have ever since professed to
+believe the same thing. But their experience points quite the other
+way; and while the service is daily becoming more important to them in
+every sense, it is also becoming year by year more expensive.
+
+Contracts which the Admiralty made with several large and prominent
+companies in 1838 they renewed at the same or increased subsidies,
+after twelve years' operations, in 1850, for another term of twelve
+years. And so far from those companies with their many ships on hand
+being able to undertake the service for less, they demanded more in
+almost every case, and received it from the government. The
+improvements which they anticipated in the marine engine were more
+than counterbalanced by the rise in the price of fuel and wages all
+over the kingdom and the world. In fact, those improvements have been
+very few and very small. It still takes nearly as much coal to
+evaporate a pound of water as it then did; and the improvements which
+have been made were generally patents, and costly in the prime cost of
+construction to a degree almost preclusive of increased benefits to
+the general service. At any rate, the latest steam adaptations and
+improvements have proven unequal to the end proposed, and the cost of
+the ocean service is now far heavier than it ever has been before,
+simply because of the greater speed required by the public for the
+mails and passage.
+
+It had long been hoped that this difficulty of increasing cost in
+running ocean steamers might finally be overcome by another means; and
+the whole available engineering and ship-building talent of Great
+Britain and the United States has been directed not entirely to the
+engine department, but to the hulls and to the production of a large
+class of ships, which are admissibly cheaper in proportion to size and
+expense of running when compared with smaller vessels, if they are
+always employed and have full freights and passage. It is well
+established that large steamers run proportionally cheaper than small
+ones. (_See Table III., page 76._) This arises from the important fact
+that the length increases far more rapidly than the breadth and depth.
+Consequently the tonnage of the vessel increases much faster than the
+resistance. In passing through the water the vessel cuts out a canal
+as large as the largest part of its body, which is at the middle of
+the ship. If the vessel be here cut in two, the width and depth, or
+the beam and hold being multiplied together will give the square
+contents of the midship section. Now, when a vessel is doubled in all
+of its dimensions, this midship section and consequently the size of
+the canal which it cuts in the water, does not increase as rapidly as
+the solid contents of the whole ship, and consequently, as the
+tonnage. Hence, the resistance to the vessel in passing through the
+water does not increase so rapidly as the tonnage which the vessel
+will carry.
+
+To make this clearer, let us suppose a vessel of good proportion,
+whose length is seven times the beam, or 280 ft. long, 40 ft. wide,
+and 30 feet deep. The midship section will be 40 x 30 = 1,200 square
+feet: the solid contents will be 40 x 30 x 280 = 336,000 solid feet.
+Again, let us double these dimensions, and the ship will be 80 ft.
+wide, 60 ft. deep, and 560 feet long. The midship section will be 80 x
+60 = 4,800 square feet: the solid contents will be 80 x 60 x 560 =
+2,688,000 solid feet. Now, comparing the midship sections, and also
+the said contents in each case we have,
+
+ Midship Section, 4,800
+ ----- = 4 to 1. Increase as the squares:
+ Midship Section, 1,200
+
+ Solid Contents, 2,688,000
+ --------- = 8 to 1. Increase as the cubes.
+ Solid Contents, 336,000
+
+Thus, the midship resistance has increased as four to one, or as the
+square, while the solid contents, representing the tonnage, have
+increased as eight to one, or as the cube. It is evident that the ship
+has but four times the mid-section resistance, while she has eight
+times the carrying capacity. Therefore the engine power, and the coal
+and weight necessary to propel a ship of twice the lineal dimensions,
+or eight times the capacity, would have to be only four times that of
+the smaller vessel, speaking in general terms; and as a consequence,
+the price of freight, considering the vessels to run at equal speed,
+would be but half as much in the larger as in the smaller vessel.
+
+The attempt has been made to seize the evident advantages thus offered
+by increasing the size of the hull, until our clippers now reach an
+enormous size, and our steamers are stopping but little short of
+30,000 tons. The splendid steamer "Leviathan" was built on this idea,
+and must prove a splendid triumph in comparative cheapness if she can
+only get business so as to run full, and keep herself constantly
+employed in her legitimate business, running. But it is hardly
+possible that she should be always filled with either freight or
+passengers. Some of our large clipper ships have experienced this
+difficulty. The time necessary to load and unload is too great for
+short routes, although they are well calculated for long passages. If
+one of these large steamers fail to get plenty of business the losses
+become exceedingly severe. The prime cost is immense; the interest on
+the capital and the insurance are very large; and the current expenses
+are even beyond those necessary for the government of some cities.
+These hazards all taken together more than neutralize the benefits
+which arise from extra size and extra proportional cheapness; so that
+notwithstanding all of the hopes which some have entertained for the
+cheapening of transport in this way, they are probably doomed to
+disappointment in the end; and ocean steaming continues as expensive
+as ever, and is growing even more expensive than it has ever been
+known since its first introduction. (_See Coal Tables, pp. 71 and
+75._)
+
+It is clear that, notwithstanding all of the advantages to be gained
+from increased size, steamers can not support themselves upon the
+ocean. Let us examine further the case of such a ship as the
+"Leviathan." I can not see that there is any normal trade in which she
+can run successfully. She may transport 6,000 tons of measurement
+goods to Australia; but it will be at the expense of fourteen to
+sixteen thousand tons of coals if the passage is made in fair time. If
+not, sailing vessels will subserve all purposes except travel quite as
+well. And certainly there is no class of freight for Australia or any
+other portion of the world, which will pay such an enormous coal-bill,
+and so many other expenses, and the interest and insurance on three
+and a half to four millions of dollars, just to save a few days in so
+long a voyage. And if the steamer is to do a freighting as well as
+passenger business, then a long voyage is essential to her.
+
+Running is the legitimate business of a steamer. Her costly engines
+are put in her for locomotion. Her large corps of engineers, firemen,
+and coal-passers, are employed for running her, and are of no use when
+she is lying still, although necessarily on full pay. Her condition is
+abnormal and unnatural every day that she is lying at the docks, and
+taking or discharging freight; and hence, every day that she is thus
+employed she is not performing her proper functions. A sailing ship
+can better afford to lie still for weeks and await a freight, or
+slowly receive or discharge cargo; as she must pay only the interest
+on her investment, her dockage, the captain, and watchmen, and perhaps
+her depreciation. The prime investment is much less. She has no costly
+engines and boilers. So are her current expenses. She has none of the
+costly _employees_ that I have named, and who can never leave a
+steamer for a day. But eternal motion, flush freights, flush business,
+good prices, and constant employment, are everywhere essential to the
+steamer.
+
+Suppose the "Leviathan" steamer running between Liverpool and
+New-York. She would be occupied ten days at least in receiving her
+freight, ten days in running and making port or docks, and ten days in
+discharging. Then, she would be employed only one third of her time in
+the business for which she was constructed, running; while during two
+thirds of it she would be acting simply as a pier or dock, over which
+freight would be handled. Now, with her costly engines, and costly and
+necessarily idle _employees_, she can not afford to be a dock; neither
+can she afford to lie still so long. Nor can she on such conditions
+get the freight necessary to her support. The community on neither
+side of the water would wish fifteen thousand tons of any class of
+freights which she could transport dumped down upon the docks at one
+time. They wish it to arrive a little and a little every day, as it is
+wanted, just enough to supply the market; and will not lie out of the
+money which they pay for it, and have it nearly a month in market
+before they need it, just to have it come on the "Leviathan." It must
+come along in small lots, just as they need it, and it must be shipped
+the day that it is bought, and delivered as soon as the ship is in,
+without being the last lot of fifteen thousand tons, and without
+keeping the owners so long out of their money. Suppose that A. puts
+the first lot of freight in at London: he will be the last to receive,
+it in New-York. A smaller steamer taking another lot two days after,
+will deliver it before the large ship gets half way over. Or, again,
+the small steamer may leave London with it when the large steamer has
+nearly arrived at New-York, and deliver the lot here to the owner in
+advance. Beside not wishing so large a lot at once, they do not wish
+it all in one place. The double advantage of a great number of small
+vessels is, that they bring cargo along as it is wanted, and at the
+same time distribute it at all of the hundreds of large and small
+ports, without first delivering it at some great mammoth terminus, and
+then reshipping and distributing it to its final destination.
+
+A gentleman, who is a prominent statesman, recently seriously advised
+me not to think of establishing a line of mail steamers between the
+United States and Brazil, for the accommodation of the hundreds of
+sailing vessels engaged in that trade, but to get up a mammoth company
+and run five or six thirty thousand ton steamers, like the Leviathan,
+between Norfolk and Rio de Janeiro. He said that the increased size of
+the steamer would enable me to carry freight cheaper than sailing
+vessels. The reasoning was neither very clear nor convincing to me on
+behalf of the mysterious capacities which he attributed to large
+steamers. I suggested that, in the first place, there was no cargo
+passing either way between the United States and Brazil which could
+afford to pay steam transportation under any circumstances; that so
+large a cargo could never be obtained at once in Rio de Janeiro or
+elsewhere; that the merchants of this country did not wish it all
+landed at one place; that it would cost as much to remove it from
+Norfolk to the place of consumption, as it would from Rio de Janeiro
+to its final destination; that they did not wish it delivered all at
+once, but in small lots at a time, and distributed where it was
+needed; and that, even if it were at all practicable, which no
+business man could for a moment believe, the people would not be
+willing to have a fruitful field of industry in shipping occupied by
+some great overgrown company, with a great coffee monopoly, which
+would surely follow. Too much has been expected of large ships. The
+clipper "Great Republic" is not freighted half of her time. The
+"Leviathan" can not pay in freighting unless she runs to Australia and
+the East-Indies, and runs slowly, on very little coal. She may do very
+well with a voluntary cargo, which will load and unload itself in a
+hurry, such as a cargo of emigrants, and not steaming at too a high a
+speed. But it would require a dozen steamers as tenders to bring these
+emigrants from Ireland, Bremen, Havre, Hamburgh, Amsterdam, and other
+European cities, to her central depot in England. She would, however,
+become a most useful if not indispensable transport vessel for the
+British Government.
+
+If the large class of steamers can not live on their own receipts,
+much less can the small. An adequate speed for the mails leaves no
+available space for cargo. The ship may carry two or three hundred
+tons of freight; but it pays perhaps but little more than the handling
+and the extra coal necessary to transport its extra weight. As a
+general thing, it may be safely said that when a vessel is well
+adapted to the mails and passengers she is filled with her own power,
+that is, with heavy engines, large boilers, and a large quantity of
+fuel, as also with her provisions and baggage. We have already seen
+how the size and weight of engines and boilers must increase, as well
+as the bulk and cost of the fuel, to gain a little speed. But it is
+not generally known how large a quantity of consumable stores and
+baggage go in a well-supported mail packet. The greater the postal
+efficiency of a steamer the less is it able to carry freight; and the
+time will doubtless soon come when the fast mail packets will take
+nothing except a few express packages. The Persia now takes scarcely
+any freight, and the Vanderbilt can not think of doing it when she
+makes fast trips. It is very probable that the whole system of the
+ocean will be materially changed; and that while clippers and slow
+propellers carry the fine freights, fast vessels filled with their own
+power will carry the mails and passengers. And in doing this, they can
+not, of course, support themselves; neither will they conflict with
+private enterprise in freight transport. It is now the case to a large
+extent on most of our American lines.
+
+While the ocean mail steamer must be fast and costly, for the better
+acceleration of correspondence and the accommodation of passengers,
+she must also go at the appointed hour, whether she is repaired or
+not, and wholly irrespective of her freight and passenger list. There
+must be no delays for a lot of freight, or for a company of fifty
+passengers who have been delayed by the train. She has the mails, and
+must go at the hour appointed, whatever it may cost the company, and
+however large a lot of costly stores may have to be thrown away. This
+punctuality, while it is the means of securing small lots of freight,
+prevents also the accommodation of the ship's day of sailing to
+arrangements which might otherwise be profitable. This punctuality in
+sailing always necessitates large extra expense in repairs. It
+frequently happens that companies of men work through the nights and
+on Sundays; getting much increased prices for such untimely labor, and
+being far less efficient in the night than in the day. If the steamer
+has had a long passage from whatever causes, she discharges whatever
+she has and takes in her coal in a hurried and costly way, frequently
+at fifty per cent. advance on the cost necessary for it if she had
+ample time. The only means of avoiding these exigencies is by having
+spare ships, which cost as much as any others, but which add nothing
+whatsoever to the company's income. It may be safe to say that in
+every mail company it is necessary to have one spare, and consequently
+unproductive, ship for every three engaged in active service. This
+thirty-three per cent. additional outlay would not be necessary except
+on a mail line, where punctuality was positively demanded. Yet, it is
+one of the heavy items of expense to be incurred by every company
+carrying the mails, and with which they can not in any wise dispense,
+however well their ships may be built. The "Pacific Mail Steamship
+Company" in running their semi-monthly line from Panama to California
+and Oregon, keep constantly at their docks eight unemployed steamers
+and one tow-boat, ready for all exigencies and accidents, and could
+keep their mails going if nearly their whole moving fleet should be
+sunk at once. No wonder that they have never missed a single trip, or
+lost a single passenger by marine accident since they first started in
+1850. But there is another class of costs in running ocean steamers,
+which amount to large sums in the aggregate, and of which the people
+are generally wholly ignorant. I allude to the items, and what may be
+called "odds and ends." It is easily imaginable that a company has to
+pay only the bills for wages, for fuel, and for provisions, and that
+then the cash-drawer may be locked for the voyage. Indeed, it is
+difficult for those accustomed to the marine steam service to sit down
+and enumerate by memory in one day the thousand little treasury leaks,
+the many wastages, the formidable bill of extras, and the items which
+are necessary to keep every thing in its place, and to pay every body
+for what he does. The oil-bill of a large steamer would be astonishing
+to a novice, until he saw the urns and oil-cans which cling to every
+journal, and jet a constant lubricating stream. The tools employed
+about a steamer are legion in number, and cost cash. We hear a couple
+of cannon fired two or three times as we enter and leave port, or pass
+a steamer upon the ocean, and consider it all very fine and inspiring;
+but we do not reflect that the guns cost money, and that pound after
+pound of powder is not given to the company by the Government or the
+public. The steamer carries many fine flags and signals, which cost
+cash. An anchor with the chain is lost; another costs cash. Heavy
+weather may be on, and it takes some hours to get into the dock. The
+extra coal and the tow-boat cost cash. The wheel-house is torn to
+pieces against the corner of the pier, and the bulwarks are carried
+away by heavy seas; but no one will repair the damage for any thing
+short of cash. A large number of lights are by law required to be kept
+burning on the wheel-houses and in the rigging all night; but no one
+reflects that it took money first to purchase them, and a constant
+outlay to keep them trimmed and burning. People suppose that the
+captain, or steward, or some body else can take a match and set the
+lamp off, and have it burn very nicely; but there are only a few who
+know that it takes one man all of his time to clean, fill, adjust,
+light, and keep these lamps going, as well as have them extinguished
+at the proper time.
+
+I saw to-day a case in point as regards accidental expenses. The
+splendid steamship Adriatic sailed at 12. The wind was very high from
+the south, and almost blowing a gale. She was lying on the southern
+side of the dock, while the Atlantic was lying with her stern at the
+end of the dock, near where the Adriatic had to pass in going out. At
+the moment of starting, three strong tow-boats were attached to her
+bow, and endeavored as she went out to draw her head against the wind,
+down stream. But they proved insufficient to the task. The vessel
+crushed down the corner of the dock, ran into the Atlantic, and
+carried away her stern bulwarks, crushed one of her own large and
+costly iron life-boats, and damaged one of her wheel-houses. Now, who
+of the two hundred thousand spectators that lined the docks, would pay
+the two thousand dollars for the life-boat, a thousand for repairing
+the dock and vessels, and the bill for the three tug-boats for two
+hours each?
+
+Moreover, we see a pilot get on the steamer at New-York, another at
+Southampton, and a third at Havre; but we seldom reflect that the
+steamer has to pay a large price to each one of them, both going and
+coming. Take the coasting steamers, running between New-York and
+Savannah, or Charleston. It appears singular that the New-York pilot
+goes all the way to Savannah, that the Savannah pilot comes all the
+way to New-York, and that the steamer pays for both of these men all
+the time, and feeds them on board all of the time. Yet it is so. Such
+is the law; and it amounts to a good many thousands during the year.
+And all this, the company must pay, as a part of those items which
+take cash, but for which the company never gets any credit from the
+public or the Government. Whenever a little accident occurs to the
+steamer, it must be towed a few miles at a high price by a tug-boat.
+Whenever the Government or friends and visitors come on board, they
+expect to be liberally entertained; yet the company must pay for it,
+or be considered mean and unworthy of the Government's patronage. Each
+ship must have an experienced surgeon, whose wages must be paid like
+those of other persons employed, and an apothecary's room and outfit.
+The ship must be painted and varnished, and overhauled at every trip;
+the upholstering and furnishing must be often renewed; stolen articles
+must be replaced; and the breakages of table-wares constantly renewed.
+All of this costs cash.
+
+The steamer also has to pay light dues and port charges wherever she
+goes. Many of these are exorbitant and unreasonable. In Havre the
+"Fulton" and "Arago" must pay nearly twenty-four hundred dollars each
+on every departure, or they will not be permitted to leave the docks.
+This is no small item for each steamer on every passage that she
+makes. At New-York she pays wharfage again. It is not so high, but it
+is a large item, and requires the cash. Again, there is the great
+shore establishment which every steam company must maintain. Large
+docks, and warehouses, and coaling arrangements, staging, watchmen,
+porters, and messengers, and a shore-captain equal to those on board,
+must all be maintained. The Havre Company pays to the city $4,000 per
+year for its dock, $1,200 for its annual repairs, and also for sheds,
+fixtures, etc., extra. They keep also two watchmen at $40 each per
+month, and other persons in the dock service. The Collins Company have
+a necessarily very costly dock both in New-York and Liverpool. That in
+New-York would rent for $15,000 per annum. The one in Liverpool is far
+more costly. On each they keep a large number of men, with watchmen,
+gatekeepers, runners, porters, and clerks, and always keep an office
+open. Beside this, is the whole paraphernalia of the office of the
+company. There must be offices, clerks, bookkeepers, porters, runners,
+etc.; a president, treasurer, and secretary; an attorney, agents, and
+agencies; and newspaper advertising, and a hundred little things which
+no man can mention. I do not pretend to be able to give an adequate
+conception of the innumerable items which so swell the large actual
+working expenses of regularly running steamers. Even the charities of
+a decently managed company are large. Firemen and engineers become
+disabled and must be supported; or they are killed in the service of
+the ship, leaving families which no decent company can disregard. The
+amount which the West-India Royal Mail Company pays in this way, and
+which our noble American lines advance to the deserving, are beyond
+all conception of the mere theorist.
+
+There is another source of loss which prevents, mail packets
+especially, from paying their expenses on their freight and passenger
+earnings. The table on all of our steamships has become exceedingly
+expensive, as it has in our hotels. Perhaps there is more necessity
+for it on steamers than in the hotels, as passengers are generally
+sea-sick, and need every delicacy of life to keep them up. The
+supplies which our fine mail packets carry for this purpose are of
+almost incredible extent and costliness. No vegetable, fruit, game, or
+other rarity that can be kept fifteen days in large masses of ice, is
+neglected; so that the table of every steamer is necessarily both
+luxurious and expensive. Indeed, it has become so much so, and the
+price of passage fare has been reduced so low on all of the prominent
+lines, that as a general rule the steamers are not now making much
+clear money on their passengers. The expense of keeping passengers was
+not half so great six years ago, as it is now; and there appears to be
+no safe means of permanent retrenchment. Nothing has been said of
+Insurance. This is a most costly item. The Havre Company pay on their
+two ships, which are worth about $900,000, nine and a half per cent.
+per annum; and Mr. Collins pays on his three ships, which are worth
+about $2,200,000, nine per cent. per annum. On the Havre steamers this
+amounts to $85,500 per year, which is nearly as much as the mail pay;
+and on the Collins, to $198,000 per annum. And these are among what we
+call the items of mail steamship expenditure. I do not know the sums
+paid by the United States Mail, or by the Pacific Mail Companies.
+
+I will here give the views of Messrs. Murray and Atherton on the cost
+of steam, as they replied to letters of inquiry, which I addressed
+them Sept. 14, 1857. Mr. Murray says in answer to
+
+_Query 2_. "It is certainly my impression that ocean steamers of
+sufficient speed to carry the mails with any thing like regularity,
+will not pay upon any route with which I am acquainted, without
+assistance from Government."
+
+_Query 5_: Can Parliament do better in economy than in her present
+mail contracts, all things considered? Mr. Murray replies:
+
+"I do not see how Parliament can avoid paying the large subsidies she
+does for the mail contracts under present circumstances."
+
+_Query 4_: Is the steamship stock of Great Britain, subsidized or
+unsubsidized, paying stock, and is there much disposition among
+capitalists to invest, even in the stock of subsidized companies? He
+replies:
+
+"I do not think the steamship stock of Great Britain to be in a very
+nourishing condition: in fact, I know of only one company (the
+Peninsular and Oriental) in which I should like to invest money."
+
+Mr. Atherton replies to a query regarding the cost of running steamers
+as follows:
+
+"As to whether the effective performance of high speed mail service is
+compatible with ordinary mercantile service without government
+subsidy, I am of opinion that the mutual relation of Speed and Cost in
+connection with long sea-voyages has never yet been duly appreciated
+by owners, managers, or agents in charge of steam shipping affairs.
+An acceleration of steaming speed involves an increase of cost
+expenses, and a decrease of mercantile earnings, as dependent on
+_freight per ton weight_ far beyond what is generally supposed."
+
+He further says in reply to Query 9, which is as follows:
+
+Do you know of any disposition in the Government to cut down the ocean
+mail service, as an unproductive expenditure? He says:
+
+"It is impossible to estimate the national value of an effective mail
+service throughout the whole globe; the breaking of one link, though
+apparently of trivial consequence, impairs the whole system. I can not
+imagine that there is any disposition to impair the completeness of
+the mail system."
+
+From the foregoing considerations it is palpable that fast ocean
+steamers can not live on their own receipts. And the same will in most
+cases hold true of freighting and other steamers of all classes, which
+depend entirely on steam as their agent of locomotion. Propellers will
+hardly form an exception to this rule. If the power and the passengers
+fill the hull, if the coal bill and other expenses increase as rapidly
+as indicated for mail packets, if engineering improvements do not
+advance as rapidly as the price of coals, if larger and more cheaply
+running ships can not get an adequate support in business, if there
+are the many leakages and expenses indicated, and if all of the
+expenses of running steamers are continually increasing from year to
+year rather than diminishing, then we may never expect to see the mail
+and passenger steamers of the ocean become self-supporting, or less
+dependent than now, on the fostering care of the Government and the
+national treasury.[C]
+
+[C] Since this was written, Mr. Drayton has shown me the receipt for
+this year's _taxes_ on the Havre Company, which are $7,782, the two
+ships being valued at $500,000 only.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+HOW CAN MAIL SPEED BE ATTAINED?
+
+ THE TRANSMARINE COMPARED WITH THE INLAND POST: OUR PAST SPASMODIC
+ EFFORTS: NEED SOME SYSTEM: FRANCE AROUSED TO STEAM: THE
+ SAILING-SHIP MAIL: THE NAVAL STEAM MAIL: THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
+ MAIL: ALL INADEQUATE AND ABANDONED: GREAT BRITAIN'S EXPERIENCE IN
+ ALL THESE METHODS: NAVAL VESSELS CAN NOT BE ADAPTED TO THE MAIL
+ SERVICE: WILL PROPELLERS MEET THE WANTS OF MAIL TRANSPORT, WITH OR
+ WITHOUT SUBSIDY: POPULAR ERRORS REGARDING THE PROPELLER: ITS
+ ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: BOURNE'S OPINION: ROBERT MURRAY:
+ PROPELLERS TOO OFTEN ON THE DOCKS: THEY ARE VERY DISAGREEABLE
+ PASSENGER VESSELS: IF PROPELLERS RUN MORE CHEAPLY IT IS BECAUSE
+ THEY ARE SLOWER: COMPARED WITH SAIL: UNPROFITABLE STOCK: CROSKEY'S
+ LINE: PROPELLERS LIVE ON CHANCES AND CHARTERS: IRON AS A MATERIAL:
+ SENDING THE MAILS BY SLOW PROPELLERS WOULD BE AN UNFAIR
+ DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SAILING VESSELS: INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE CAN
+ NOT SUPPLY MAIL FACILITIES: THEREFORE IT IS THE DUTY OF THE
+ GOVERNMENT.
+
+
+I have endeavored to prove in the foregoing Section that ocean mail
+steamers can not live on their own receipts. The question now arises,
+how can we secure speed for the mails and passengers upon the ocean?
+With so many expenses and so small an income the fast ocean steamer
+can not become profitable to even the most thoroughly organized and
+best administered companies. Much less can it be successfully run by
+individuals and individual enterprise, which has never so many
+reliable resources at command as a strong, chartered company. It is
+true that there are a few prominent transatlantic routes where
+steamers can run as auxiliary propellers; but the number of them is
+small, and the speed attained will by no means prove sufficient for
+postal purposes. The transmarine postal service has been a source of
+constant annoyance to almost every commercial nation. The overland
+mails have generally been self-supporting, and it has been a favorite
+idea that those on the sea should be so also; although there is no
+just reason why either should be necessarily so any more than in the
+cases of the Navy and the Army; branches of the service which entail
+large expenses on the Government, and yet without a moiety of the
+benefits which directly flow from the postal service to all classes of
+community. No nation except Great Britain has come up to the issue and
+faced this question boldly. Almost every other country, not excepting
+our own, has been hanging back on the subject of the transmarine post,
+"waiting, like Mr. Micawber, for something to turn up," in the
+improvements of ocean steam navigation, which might obviate the
+necessity of paying for the ocean transit. But every hope has been
+disappointed; and instead of realizing these wishes the case has been
+growing worse year by year, until we are at last compelled to move in
+the matter, or lose our commerce, our ocean _prestige_, and sink down
+contented with a second or third-rate position among commercial
+nations, and acknowledge ourselves tributary to the far-seeing and
+far-reaching, and superior policy of our competitors.
+
+The United States have indeed become galvanically aroused now and
+then, as in 1847 and '8, to a self-protecting and a self-developing
+system; but as soon as one faint effort has been made, we have,
+instead of pursuing that effort and developing it fully, relapsed back
+into our old indifference, and given the whole available talent of the
+Government either to the administration, or to the everlasting
+discussion of petty politics. During the time that President Buchanan
+was Secretary of State, some of our noblest efforts for the
+establishment of ocean mails were made, with his fullest countenance
+and aid; but the policy then inaugurated with prospects so hopeful for
+our commercial future, and which has operated so healthfully ever
+since, is now half abandoned, or left without notice to take care of
+itself; until it may be to-day said that we have no steam policy, and
+run our ocean mails only by expedients. This ever has been and ever
+will be unfortunate for us, and costly. Individuals and companies
+build steamers for the accidents of trade, let them lie still a year
+or two, then pounce upon some disorganized trade, suck the life-blood
+from it like vampires, and at last leave it, the very corpse of
+commerce, lying at the public door. All such irregular traffic is
+injurious to the best interests of the country, destroys all generous
+and manly competition, and proves most clearly the want of a
+Government steam mail system. France has been awaiting the issues of
+time, and under a too high expectation for the improvements of the
+age, until she finds that unless she inaugurates and sustains a
+liberal steam policy, and becomes less dependent on foreigners for her
+mails, she will have the commerce of the world swept from her shores
+as by a whirlwind of enterprise. She has now become aroused, and has
+determined to establish three great lines of communication, one with
+the United States, one with the West-Indies, Central America, the
+Spanish Main, and Mexico, and one with Brazil and La Plata. She has
+found, that it will no longer do to abandon her mails to fate, and
+that in the end it will be far more profitable to pay even largely for
+good mails than to do without them. Hence, her offer to give to the
+American, West-Indian, and Brazilian service named an annual
+subvention of fourteen million _Francs_, or nearly three million
+dollars, to be continued for twenty years, which the Government deems
+a sufficient period for the establishment and test of a system. (_See
+_projet_ of Franco-American Navigation, page 198._)
+
+Among the many expedients adopted for the transmission of the foreign
+post are those of employing ordinary sailing vessels on the one hand,
+or the vessels of the war marine on the other. Both systems have been
+effectually and forever exploded and abandoned. The objections to
+sailing vessels are very numerous. They are, in the first place, too
+slow. They are too uncertain in their days of sailing and arrival.
+They can never be placed under the direction of the Department because
+they are private property, devoted to private uses, and generally
+accomplish their ends by private means; one of the most prominent of
+which is, to keep back all letters except those going to their own
+consignees. If a merchant runs his ship for personal gain it is not to
+be supposed that he will carry the letters of his commercial
+competitors, and thus forestall his own speculations. Sailing vessels
+have no proper accommodations for the mails, and can not fairly be
+forced either to transport or to deliver them. The uncertainties of
+cargo are such that they can not sail on fixed days with punctuality.
+But the great difficulty is their want of speed and the uncertainty of
+their progress or arrival. Whenever they have been employed by the
+British Government for postal service they have always proven
+themselves inefficient and unreliable. Whenever they have been
+superceded by steamers, the postal income, before small, has gone up
+rapidly to five, ten, or twenty times the former income. This was well
+illustrated in the British and Brazilian lines. The Parliamentary
+returns for 1842, when postal service with Brazil and La Plata was
+performed by a line of fine sailing packets, give the total income
+from postages at L5,034, 13_d_, 6_s_ Lord Canning, the British Post
+Master General, stated that, in 1852, two years after the Royal Mail
+Steam Packets commenced running to Brazil and La Plata, the income
+from postages was L44,091, 17_s_, or nearly nine times as much as when
+the mails went by sailing vessels.[D] Ship owners have a strong
+aversion to receiving letters for the places to which their ships are
+bound. As a barque was about sailing from New-York for Demerara in
+1855, I called on the owner, who was on the dock, just before the
+vessel got under way, and asked that some letters which I held in my
+hand, might be taken to Georgetown. He said that he could not take
+them; that he sailed his vessel to make money; and that he could not
+do other people's business. As I walked away from him rather abruptly,
+he called to me and wished to know to whom the letters were addressed.
+I told him, to Sir Edmund Wodehouse, the Governor of the Province; and
+that they related to the establishment of steam mail facilities
+between this country and that Province. He at once begged my pardon
+and explained; asked that I would let him send the letters; and said,
+moreover, that he would at any time be glad to give me a passage there
+and back on that business.
+
+[D] See Parliamentary Papers for 1852-3, postal affairs, Report of
+Lord Canning, July 8, 1853.
+
+The experiment of employing the steamers of the Navy in the postal
+service has been very fully made by Great Britain. After attempts on a
+considerable number of lines, and extending over a period of ten
+years, this service has been found inefficient, cumbrous, and more
+costly, and has been entirely abandoned. Murray, page 172, says that
+Mr. Anderson, Managing Director of the Peninsular and Oriental
+Company, said before the Parliamentary Committee as follows: "The
+postal communication can be done much cheaper by private contract
+steamers than by Government boats, because of the merchandise and
+passengers carried. The steam communication between Southampton and
+Alexandria, with vessels of 300 to 400 horse power, was done for 4_s_
+6_d_, per mile. From Suez to Ceylon, Calcutta, and Hong Kong, with
+vessels of 400 to 500 horse power, for 17_s_, 1_d_ per mile. The
+East-India Company's line (of naval vessels) between Suez and Bombay
+with vessels of only 250 to 300 horse power, cost 30_s_ per mile. Her
+Majesty's vessels in the Mediterranean cost about 21_s_ per mile."
+France also tried the experiment, but soon abandoned the system, as
+fruitless and exceedingly annoying. It is quite a plausible idea that
+our mails should go under the flag of the country, with power to
+protect them, and that vessels generally supposed to be idle should be
+engaged in some useful service. But this presupposes a fact which does
+not exist. No vessels in the world are more actively employed than
+those of the American navy, and there are many stations on which we
+could employ twice as many as we have with excellent effect on our
+commerce and foreign relations generally. We constantly hear the
+complaint that the Secretary of the Navy has no steamer for some
+immediately necessary or indispensable service. But if he had, and if
+two dozen steamers were lying all the time idle in our navy yards,
+they would probably not be installed six months in the postal service
+until they would be positively demanded in some way in that of the
+nation, and this diversion would at once frustrate all of the postal
+and commercial plans of the country.
+
+But the difficulties in the way of this service are so numerous as to
+be readily palpable to all who examine it. No vessel that is well
+fitted for naval service is well adapted to that of the post. The post
+requires great speed, and hence, full-powered vessels. The navy does
+not require so great speed, and hence, the steamers are seldom more
+than auxiliaries. They are built heavier and fuller, and are not so
+adapted to speed. Filling them with the power necessary to drive them
+with sufficient rapidity for mail packets would unfit them for the
+efficient service of war. Naval vessels are, moreover, filled and
+weighted down with guns, stores, men, and a thousand things which
+would be in the way if they were employed for the mails. They have no
+state-rooms, cabins, saloons, etc.; and if they had them so as to
+accommodate passengers, they would be unfit for the war service.
+Unless so fitted they could not accommodate passengers, as they will
+not lash themselves up in hammocks under the deck, as thick as grass,
+as man-of-war's men will. If they are to be strictly naval vessels
+while running, they will be filled with their own men, and could not
+take passengers even if they had state-room accommodations for them.
+They would thus be deprived entirely of this source of income. Again,
+they could take no freight; and if a passenger mail steamer has to
+depend upon both freight and passengers for an income to meet the
+large expenses, which are generally three, five, and often even ten
+times the sum of subsidy received from the Government, then the naval
+vessel running in the postal service will be deprived of both these
+sources of income, and must fall back on the department for all of its
+expenses, which would be three, five, and even ten times as much as
+the sum paid private companies for carrying the mail.
+
+The average round trips of the Pacific mail steamers from Panama to
+San Francisco and Olympia, and back, are, beyond doubt, enormously
+expensive; while they receive from the Government only $14,500. This
+is, consequently, but a small fractional part of their income. The
+trip of the "Arago," or "Fulton," to Havre and back, costs about
+$45,000, while the mail pay was only $12,500, under the old contract,
+and is now probably not above $7,500 per round trip.[E] These
+estimates are made exclusive of insurance, which is 9-1/2 per cent.;
+repairs, 10 per cent.; and depreciation, at least five per cent.
+Here, again, the Government gives but a meagre part of the large sum
+necessary to keep those packets running. Now, if naval vessels were
+carrying the same mails, and were deprived of the income which they
+receive for freight and passengers, it would evidently cost the
+Government six to eight times as much to carry the mails as it now
+does, saying nothing about the income from the mails, which is
+trifling. But this class of vessels never could subserve the purposes
+of rapid correspondence. If they could carry freight and passengers,
+the difficulties would still be insuperable. It would cost twice as
+much for the department to accomplish the same object through its
+officers and its routine as it would for private companies or
+individuals, who have but the one business and the one purpose in
+running their vessels. No man, company, or even department of the
+Government, can accomplish two important and difficult ends by the
+same agency at the same time. Either the one or the other must suffer
+and be neglected, or both will be but imperfectly and ineffectively
+performed. Many structures of this kind fall of their own
+superincumbent weight and clumsiness. If naval vessels thus running
+even had passengers they would never be satisfied or well treated. A
+captain and crew, to be agreeable and satisfactory to passengers, must
+feel themselves under obligation to them for their patronage, and
+would be compelled to exert themselves to merit the best feelings of
+their patrons. This could never be the case with naval gentlemen, who
+would be dependent for their living on the department only. It is
+probable that no one seriously entertains such a plan as this for the
+postal service, as this must be a distinct, partly self-supporting,
+unbroken, and continuous service, while that of the Navy must also be
+distinct, independent, and efficiently directed to one great cardinal
+object. Therefore, we can not secure postal service by this means.
+
+[E] This line receives the total postages, ocean and inland, which in
+1856 were, according to the Post Master General's report, $88,483.99,
+or $7,373.33 per round voyage. (_See Letter of the Hon. Horatio King,
+1st Asst. Post Master General._)
+
+As much has been said of Propellers during the few years past, I
+propose examining the question with the view of ascertaining whether
+they are adapted to the mail service, and whether we can secure from
+them sufficient speed without a subsidy from the Government. It is
+well known that the British are a far more steady-going people than
+ourselves, and not being so rushing do not require so much speed. They
+have had an easy control of the European and foreign commerce
+generally around them; and when competition aroused them to additional
+efforts they did not endeavor to outstride themselves, but took merely
+an additional step of progress and speed, and adopted the propeller
+for their coasting business, because it was a little faster than wind,
+and yet cheaper than full steam. And because so many propellers have
+been built for the peculiar short-route trade of Great Britain, many
+people in this country can not see why we do not adopt the propeller
+for our foreign trade. I have already shown (_See page 44_) that there
+are some short routes on which steam is cheaper than the wind, and
+that on others of greater length steamers can not transport freight
+under any conditions. (_See latter part of Section IV., on the Cost of
+Steam._) I do not propose making the Screw Propeller in any way an
+exception to the position stated; and shall consequently maintain that
+it will never be the means of attaining a rapid and yet cheap mail
+speed.
+
+There are no greater errors entertained by the public on any subject
+connected with steam navigation than concerning the Screw Propeller.
+It is generally supposed that it is a more economical and effective
+application of power than the side-wheel, which is a mistake: it is
+generally supposed that, with the same amount of power and all other
+conditions equal, the propeller will not run as rapidly as the
+side-wheel, which is true of steaming in a sea-way or against a
+head-wind, but a mistake as regards smooth water: it is generally
+supposed that the engines weigh less, take up less room, and cost
+less, which is all a mistake. The best authors on this subject and the
+most eminent builders generally agree, that in England and Scotland,
+where the propeller has attained its greatest perfection, the
+difference between the side-wheel and the propeller as an application
+of power is very slight and hardly appreciable; or that the same
+number of tons of coal will drive two ships of the same size at the
+same speed in smooth water; but that the side-wheel has greatly the
+advantage in a head-sea or during rough weather generally. Many
+persons who do not understand the subject, have theorized in just the
+contrary direction. They say that in rough weather the screw has the
+advantage, because it is alway in the water, etc. Experience shows
+just the reverse; and theory will bear the practice out. If, in the
+side-wheel one wheel is part of the time out, the other has, at any
+rate, the whole force of the engines, and the floats sink to and take
+hold on a denser, heavier, and less easily yielding stratum of water;
+so that the progress is nearly the same. The back current or opposing
+wave can not materially affect it, because the float is at the extreme
+end of the arm where the travel is greatest, and is always more rapid
+than the wave. It is not so with the screw. The blade which meets the
+wave is not placed at the end of a long arm where the travel is very
+rapid and the motion more sudden than that of the wave. This blade
+extends all the way along from its extreme end, where the motion is
+rapid, to the centre, or the shaft, where there is no motion; and all
+intermediate parts of this blade move so slowly, that the wave of
+greater rapidity counteracts it, and checks its progress. The
+side-wheel applies its power at the extreme periphery, where the
+travel is greatest, while the screw applies it all along between the
+point of extreme rapidity, and the stationary point in the shaft.
+There is, moreover, much power lost as the oblique blades of the screw
+rise and fall in a vertical line while the vessel is heaving.
+
+In the new edition (1855) of "Bourne on the Propeller," he says in the
+preface:
+
+"Large vessels, we know, are both physically and commercially more
+advantageous than small vessels, provided only they can be filled with
+cargo; but in some cases in which small paddle vessels have been
+superseded by large screw vessels, the superior result due to an
+increased size of hull has been imputed to a superior efficiency of
+the propeller. No fact, however, is more conclusively established than
+this, that the efficiency of paddles and of the screw as propelling
+instruments is very nearly the same; and in cases in which geared
+engines are employed to drive a screw vessel, the machinery will take
+up about the same amount of room as if paddles had been used, and the
+result will be much the same as if paddles had been adopted. When
+direct acting engines, however, are employed, the machinery will
+occupy a much less space in screw vessels than is possible in paddle
+vessels, and the use of direct acting engines in screw propellers is
+necessary, therefore, for the realization of the full measure of
+advantage, which screw propulsion is able to afford."
+
+Atherton says of the propeller in his "Marine Engine Construction and
+Classification," page 45:
+
+"Its operation has been critically compared with that of the
+paddle-wheel, under various conditions of engine power, and experience
+has shown that, under circumstances which admit of the screw propeller
+being favorably applied, it is equal to the paddle-wheel as an
+effective means of applying engine power to the propulsion of the
+vessel." Again:
+
+I recently addressed to Mr. Atherton the following question: "Taking
+two ships of the same _size, displacement, and power, or coal_, the
+one a side-wheel, the other screw: What will be their relative _speed
+and carrying capacity_ in smooth water? What in a sea-way, or in
+regular transatlantic navigation?" He replied under address, "Woolwich
+Royal Dock Yard, 14 Sept., 1857:
+
+"It is my opinion, based on experiment, that a well-applied screw is
+quite equal to the paddle-wheel for giving out the power by which it
+is itself driven, that is, in smooth water. I can not say from
+observation or experience what is the comparative operation at sea."
+
+I addressed the same inquiry to Mr. Robert Murray, of Southampton, who
+has written an able work, entitled, "The Marine Engine," and who is
+considered excellent authority, and have from him the following reply,
+dated Southampton, 19 Sept., 1857:
+
+"With regard to the relative efficiency of the paddle-wheel and screw
+for full-powered mail steamers, I am disposed to prefer the
+paddle-wheel for _transatlantic_ steaming, in which the vessel has to
+contend with so much rough weather and heavy sea, and the screw for
+the Mediterranean and the Pacific routes.
+
+"For auxiliary steamers of any kind the screw has manifestly the
+advantage.
+
+"With regard to the actual speed obtained from each mode of propulsion
+in vessels of the same power and form, and with the propeller in its
+best trim, I am disposed to prefer the paddle-wheel, either in smooth
+water, or when steaming head to wind, but in other conditions the
+screw." What he means by "other conditions," is evidently when the
+screw is running with a fair wind, which is seldom, so as to use her
+sails. Bourne also states very clearly in two places that the
+propeller is by no means so efficient in a sea-way, as a side-wheel
+steamer, and admits that when a vessel is steaming at eleven or twelve
+knots per hour, the sails not only do not aid her, but frequently
+materially retard her motion. (_See Bourne, page 237._)
+
+All of these authorities agree that the application of a given power
+produces about the same effect, whether through the side-wheel or the
+screw; and if so, it is evident that the screw can not attain the same
+speed as the side-wheel, without burning as much fuel, and having as
+costly and as heavy engines and boilers. Indeed, taking the whole
+evidence together, it appears well settled by these authorities, that
+the screw is equal to the side-wheel only in smooth water, and that,
+as a consequence of this distinction, it is not equal to it in general
+ocean navigation. It has been seen that much of its power is lost when
+it contends with head-winds and seas, and that when it has attained a
+fair average mail speed, the wind will help it very little, if any,
+under the most favorable circumstances. It is, therefore, reasonable
+to infer that it would cost more to attain a high average mail speed
+with the propeller than with the side-wheel. If in attaining this
+average mail speed the advantages are clearly in favor of the
+side-wheel, there is no hope that we shall accomplish the mail service
+at cheaper rates than heretofore, as this agency can not be introduced
+toward that end; for not only is the prime cost of the steamer the
+same, as also the consumption of fuel per mile, but there are other
+and numerous disadvantages connected with the propeller, which are
+wholly unknown to the side-wheel.
+
+It is a well-known fact that propellers are compelled to be placed
+upon the docks three or four times as often as side-wheels. The screw
+either breaks, and must be replaced by another, or it cuts the boxes
+out, or works the stern of the vessel to pieces. Any one of these
+requires that the steamer shall be docked, however great the expense;
+and as these accidents are constantly occurring in even the best
+constructed and best regulated propellers, it follows that they must
+be constantly on the docks. This species of vessel being built
+necessarily narrower than the side-wheel, it rolls more, and is found
+to be an exceedingly disagreeable passenger vessel. Propellers have
+become deservedly unpopular the world over; and if it were possible
+for them to be faster than the side-wheel, it is hardly probable that
+first-class passengers would even then go by them, as they are known
+to be so exceedingly uncomfortable.
+
+The propeller, I have before said, is erroneously supposed to run more
+cheaply than the side-wheel. I think that I have shown that as a mail
+packet it will cost more to run it at a given speed. But there are
+certain cases in which it does run more cheaply; these are, however,
+only where the speed is low, and the machinery not geared, and where,
+as a consequence, sail can be used to more advantage than on a
+side-wheel. The economy is not the result of the application of the
+power by the screw, as compared with the side-wheel, but of the sail
+alone; and this economy is more or less, just as canvas is employed
+more or less in the propulsion. The screw is the better form of
+steamer for using sail; and the low speed at which propellers
+generally run, is a means of making that sail more effective. We have
+already seen, in the section on the cost of steam, that it generally
+requires twice the original quantity of fuel to increase the speed
+from eight to ten knots per hour in either style of steamer. Now, it
+is a well-known fact that the transatlantic propeller lines are on the
+average more than two knots per hour short of the speed of the
+side-wheels, which makes their passages across the Atlantic from two
+to six days longer than by the mail packets. They thus save from one
+half to two thirds of the fuel, and deducting its prime cost from the
+bill of expenses, they add to that of receipts the freight on the
+cargo, which occupies the space of the coal saved. They consequently
+run on much smaller expenses; but only when their speed is less than
+that of the side-wheels, and far too low for effective postal
+service. Economy thus purchased at the expense of speed may do for
+freight, and enable propellers to derive some profits from certain
+cargoes; but it can never subserve the purposes of mails and
+passengers. It must alway be recollected that the effective speed of
+the propeller is reduced just in the ratio of the greater economy as
+compared with the side-wheel.
+
+It thus appears that with any appreciable economy the propeller must
+be slower than the side-wheel; and that with any considerable economy
+it can be but little faster than sail. It has, however, the advantage
+over sail of being rather more reliable and punctual, and can make
+arrivals and departures rather more matters of certainty. This at the
+same time secures to it a better class of freights as well as vast
+numbers of emigrants which together, enable it to incur the extra
+expense over a sailing vessel. The cargo is less in the propeller than
+in the sail, as much of the room is occupied by the engines, boilers,
+and fuel. Hence, the prices must be proportionally higher to meet the
+deficit arising from the smaller quantity. But there are very few
+trades in which propellers can run as noticed on so long a voyage as
+3,000 to 4,000 miles; and these lie between a few countries in Europe
+and the ports of the United States. Their support arises chiefly from
+the emigrant trade; as without this their freights would not on any
+known lines enable them to run one month. And this is not simply an
+assumption of theory, but the experience of all the European lines. I
+was recently told in England and France by many persons who had no
+interest or desire to deceive me, that propeller stock was invariably
+a burthen to every body having any thing to do with it, and could
+generally be bought at sixty to seventy cents on the dollar, while
+much of it would not bring half of its cost price. They cited as an
+evidence the fact that no line of propellers is permanent, unless in
+some way connected with a subsidized company, as in the case of the
+Cunard screws running between Liverpool and New-York. The Glasgow line
+is also an exception, and is said to pay dividends. The screw lines
+are always hunting a home and a new trade. (_See views of Mr. Murray,
+page 111._)
+
+The only way in which some lines can run is by getting their stock at
+half its value and thus having to pay the interest on a smaller sum.
+The "General Screw Steam shipping Company" is an example. The Company
+had from the first lost money, although they had nine fine steamers,
+and were compelled finally to close up and sell out. Mr. Croskey, the
+United States Consul at Southampton, supposed that they might be put
+into a new trade and make a living on a smaller capital stock; that
+is, if the new company should get them at half their value. The
+transfer was made and the "European and American Steamship Company"
+was established. Some of the vessels were put into the trade between
+Bremen and London, Southampton, and New-York; some between Antwerp and
+Brazil; and some between Hamburg and Brazil. None of these lines have
+paid, except, perhaps, the New-York, which has had large cargoes of
+emigrants; and Mr. Croskey freely acknowledges that the new Company
+would have been ruined but for the Indian Revolt, which enabled him to
+charter five of the vessels to the Government at good prices, for the
+conveyance of troops by way of the Cape of Good Hope to India. Had the
+lines on which they were running been profitable they would never have
+been chartered to the Government. But like the whole propeller service
+of the world, this Company took the chances; and it may be safely
+asserted that but for the opportunities which vessels of this class
+find for chartering to the Government they could not live on their own
+enterprise three years. The number of these vessels is now very
+unnecessarily large; and many of them have been built to supply labor
+to the establishments, and for taking the chances of Government
+employment at high prices. Their largest employment results from
+casualties rather than from the pursuit of legitimate trade. But the
+business is overdone, even for the English market, when foreign war is
+rather the rule, and peace the exception. But few propellers are now
+building; these few being small and intended for the coasting, or the
+short-line Continental trade, where they will readily pay. (_See page
+42 for propeller stock; also pages 44 and 45 for the propeller
+coasting service._)
+
+It does not materially alter the complexion of this question to say
+that propellers are generally constructed of iron. There is not such a
+difference in their prime cost or their stowage capacity as to enable
+them to take the large receipts necessary to their support; while
+certainly there is no advantage to be gained in speed from iron as a
+material of construction. The iron propeller can be constructed
+cheaper than the wooden in Great Britain, because of the great
+scarcity of timber and the large and redundant quantity of iron; and
+an iron vessel has some advantage in being able to stow a larger
+cargo, from the fact that her sides and bottom are not so thick as
+those of wooden vessels; but these considerations do not very
+materially affect the consumption of fuel, and the quantity necessary
+to carry a ton of freight. Iron is probably a better material than
+wood for the construction of propellers, as the part about the stern,
+where the screw works, can be made stronger, and as all iron vessels
+can be rather more readily divided into water-tight compartments by
+bulkheads. Yet as a material of construction it offers no transcendent
+advantages over the side-wheel for transatlantic navigation, while it
+is not probably so safe, or so comfortable for passengers. Yet, it
+will be well for us to adopt the propeller largely in our coasting
+trade, and iron as the material of its construction.
+
+We have thus seen that to save fuel and carry freight, the speed of
+the propeller must be low; indeed very low, if it is to live on its
+own receipts. It is therefore clearly impossible that with such
+comparatively low speed it should carry the mail. Neither can it
+support itself except by this low speed. By running thus but a
+fraction faster than the sailing vessel, it can command on a few
+prominent lines a large freight; but to give vessels of such speed a
+subsidy for carrying the mails would be both to render the mail
+service inefficient, and to enable the propeller to compete with the
+sailing lines of the country at very undue advantage, which would be
+an unfair discrimination against all sailing interests. Should the
+propeller, like the side-wheel, run fast enough on the average trips
+of the year to carry the mails, which would certainly be at the
+expense and abandonment of any considerable freighting business, then
+the Government might with propriety pay for the mails, as these
+steamers would not injure the freighting business of sailing vessels.
+The outcry by sail owners against steamers as competitors can not be
+against the mail packets; for these carry but little freight; but
+against these slow screws which should be treated like all other
+freighting vessels, notwithstanding the fact that some of their owners
+have had the impudence to propose them for the paid mail service and
+to ask a subsidy from the Government, but the better to cripple the
+interests of sailing vessels. As well might Government subsidize fast
+clippers, because they are a little faster than regular, ordinary
+sailers. When the steamer runs with sufficient rapidity for the mails,
+the sailing ship has nothing to fear from competition, and has all the
+benefits of the more rapid correspondence. Thus, Government must pay
+only where there is a fast mail, whether it be in a side-wheel or
+propeller; otherwise it destroys individual competition and cripples
+private enterprise.
+
+If, as we have seen from all the facts regarding the expense of
+running steamers, individual enterprise can not supply adequately
+rapid ocean postal facilities, and if such facilities are yet wholly
+indispensable to the commerce, the people, and the Government, the
+only alternative presented is for the Government to pay for them, and
+to require, as it has of all the American lines, such a speed as to
+prevent injurious competition to sailing vessels and private
+enterprise. Much capital is made by certain ship owners out of what
+they call the undue discrimination of subsidies against their vessels;
+but they can never lay this charge at the door of the fast and very
+expensive mail packets, or elsewhere than upon the slow auxiliary
+propellers which any of them have a right to attempt to run, and which
+the Government never did and never will subsidize. This is the source
+and the only source of all the vaunted injurious effects of steam on
+the sailing stock of the country. It is a question with which the
+Government has nothing to do, and which must be settled between
+propeller owners and sail owners themselves, and with reference,
+perhaps, to the wishes of their customers. Mail steamers have enough
+to do to get money to pay their coal, provision, repair, and
+innumerable extras bills, without wrangling over the freighting
+business. And, from all this we conclude that the only means of the
+Government securing an adequate mail speed is by paying for it. (_See
+remarks of Committee on this subject, Paper E._)
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VII.
+
+WHAT IS THE DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE?
+
+ RESUME OF THE PREVIOUS SECTIONS AND ARGUMENTS: IT IS THE DUTY OF
+ THE GOVERNMENT TO FURNISH RAPID STEAM MAILS: OUR PEOPLE APPRECIATE
+ THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMERCE, AND OF LIBERAL POSTAL FACILITIES: THE
+ GOVERNMENT IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE: IT MUST
+ FOSTER THEIR INTERESTS AND DEVELOP THEIR INDUSTRY: THE WANT OF
+ SUCH MAILS HAS CAUSED THE NEGLECT OF MANY PROFITABLE BRANCHES OF
+ INDUSTRY: AS A CONSEQUENCE WE HAVE LOST IMMENSE TRAFFIC: THE
+ EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING SYSTEM AND OURS: FIELDS OF TRADE NATURALLY
+ PERTAINING TO US: OUR ALMOST SYSTEMATIC NEGLECT OF THEM: WHY IS
+ GREAT BRITAIN'S COMMERCE SO LARGE: CAUSES AND THEIR EFFECTS: HER
+ WEST-INDIA LINE RECEIVES A LARGER SUBSIDY THAN ALL THE FOREIGN
+ LINES OF THE UNITED STATES COMBINED: INDIFFERENCE SHOWN BY
+ CONGRESS TO MANY IMPORTANT FIELDS OF COMMERCE: INSTANCES OF MAIL
+ FACILITIES CREATING LARGE TRADE: THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL
+ COMPANY'S TESTIMONY: THE BRITISH AND BRAZILIAN TRADE: SOME
+ DEDUCTIONS FROM THE FIGURES: CALIFORNIA SHORN OF HALF HER GLORY:
+ THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOT MISERS: THEY WISH THEIR OWN PUBLIC
+ TREASURE EXPENDED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR INDUSTRY: OUR
+ COMMERCIAL CLASSES COMPLAIN THAT THEY ARE DEPRIVED OF THE
+ PRIVILEGE OF COMPETING WITH OTHER NATIONS.
+
+
+1. _Conceded_ (Section I.) _that steam mails upon the ocean control
+the commerce and diplomacy of the world; that they are essential to
+our commercial and producing country; that we have not established the
+ocean mail facilities commensurate with our national ability and the
+demands of our commerce; and that we to-day are largely dependent on,
+and tributary to our greatest commercial rival, Great Britain, for the
+postal facilities, which should be purely national, American, and
+under our own exclusive control:_
+
+2. _Conceded_ (Section II.) _that fast ocean mails are exceedingly
+desirable for our commerce, our defenses, our diplomacy, the
+management of our squadrons, our national standing, and that they are
+demanded by our people at large:_
+
+3. _Conceded_ (Section III.) _that fast steamers alone can furnish
+rapid transport to the mails; that these steamers can not rely on
+freights; that sailing vessels will ever carry staple freights at a
+much lower figure, and sufficiently quickly; that while steam is
+eminently successful in the coasting trade, it can not possibly be so
+in the transatlantic freighting business; and that the rapid transit
+of the mails and the slower and more deliberate transport of freight
+is the law of nature:_
+
+4. _Conceded_ (Section IV.) _that high, adequate mail speed is
+extremely costly, in the prime construction of vessels, their repairs,
+and their more numerous employees; that the quantity of fuel consumed
+is enormous, and ruinous to unaided private enterprise; and that this
+is clearly proven both by theory and indisputable facts as well as by
+the concurrent testimony of the ablest writers on ocean steam
+navigation:_
+
+5. _Conceded_ (Section V.) _that ocean mail steamers can not live on
+their own receipts; that neither the latest nor the anticipated
+improvements in steam shipping promise any change in this fact; that
+self-support is not likely to be attained by increasing the size of
+steamers; that the propelling power in fast steamers occupies all of
+the available space not devoted to passengers and express freight; and
+that steamers must be fast to do successful mail and profitable
+passenger service:_
+
+6. _Conceded_ (Section VI.) _that sailing vessels can not
+successfully transport the mails; that the propeller can not transport
+them as rapidly or more cheaply than side-wheel vessels; that with any
+considerable economy of fuel and other running expenses, it is but
+little faster than the sailing vessel; that to patronize these slow
+vessels with the mails the Government would unjustly discriminate
+against sailing vessels in the transport of freights; that we can not
+in any sense depend on the vessels of the Navy for the transport of
+the mails; that individual enterprise can not support fast steamers;
+and that not even American private enterprise can under any conditions
+furnish a sufficiently rapid steam mail and passenger marine: then,_
+
+The inference is clear and unavoidable, and we come irresistibly to
+the conclusion, that it is the duty of the Government to its people to
+establish and maintain an extensive, well-organized, and rapid steam
+mail marine, for the benefit of production, commerce, diplomacy,
+defenses, the character of the nation, and the public at large; and as
+there is positively no other source of adequate and effective support,
+to pay liberally for the same out of any funds in the national
+treasury, belonging to the enterprising, liberal, and enlightened
+people of the Republic. There is no clearer duty of the Legislative
+and Executive Government to the industrious people of the country than
+the establishment of liberal, large, and ready postal facilities, for
+the better and more successful conduct of that industry, whether those
+facilities be upon land or upon the sea. It is sometimes difficult to
+extend our vision to any other sphere than that in which we move and
+have our experiences; and thus there are many persons who, while they
+would revolt at the idea that the Government should refuse to run
+four-horse coaches to some little unimportant country town, would be
+wholly unable to grasp the great commercial world and the wide oceans
+over which their own products are to float, and from whose trade the
+Government derives the large duties which prevent these same persons
+having to pay direct taxes. They do not understand the necessity of
+commerce, to even their own prosperity, or of the innumerable steam
+mail lines which must convey the correspondence essential to the safe
+and proper conduct of that commerce. But the great mass of the
+American people understand these questions, understand the reflex
+influences of all such facilities, and knowing how essential they are
+to the proper development of enterprise and industry in whatever
+channel or field, boldly claim it as a right that easy postal
+communication shall be afforded them as well upon the high seas as
+upon the interior land routes.
+
+It is generally admitted that the government of a country is
+established for the benefit of the people; and constitutions
+conflicting with this purpose are simply subversive of justice and
+liberty. If labor is a thing so desirable and so noble in a people
+that the protection of its rewards in the form of property becomes one
+of the highest attributes of good government, then it is equally an
+indisputable attribute of that protecting and fostering government to
+afford those facilities to labor, which experience shows that it
+needs, and which the people can not attain in their individual
+capacity, or without the intervention of the government. It is idle
+for a government to say to the people that they are free, when it
+denies to them the ordinarily approved means of making and conserving
+wealth. The common experience of mankind points to commerce as the
+next great means to production in creating national and individual
+wealth. It equally shows us that foreign commerce can not flourish
+without liberal foreign mail facilities, and the means of ready
+transit of persons, papers, and specie. It also clearly indicates
+that the most successful means of accomplishing this, is the
+employment of subsidized national mail steamships. It therefore
+becomes obviously the duty of a paternal government to an industrious,
+enterprising, producing, and trading people, to give them the rapid
+ocean steam mails necessary to the profitable prosecution of their
+industry.
+
+We have for many years neglected many important fields of foreign
+trade, and many profitable branches of industry and art, which we
+could easily have nurtured into sources of income and wealth, by
+adopting the foreign mail system, so wisely introduced and extended by
+Great Britain. And in the absence of such efforts on our part, a large
+and remunerative traffic has been swept from us, and this suicidal
+neglect has been the means of our subordination to so many controlling
+foreign influences. We are at this very hour commercially enslaved by
+England, France, Brazil, and the East. How is it that the trade of the
+world is in the hands of Great Britain; that she absorbs most of every
+nation's raw material; and that she and France supply the world with
+ten thousand articles of industry, that should furnish work to our
+manufacturers, and freight to our ships? There are some who will say
+that it is because of her manufacturing system. Grant it. But how did
+she establish that imperious, and overshadowing, and powerful system,
+and how does she keep it up? Her energetic people have ever had the
+fostering care of her government. Their steam mail system has been
+established for twenty-four years. It has furnished the people with
+the means of easy transport, rapid correspondence, the remittance of
+specie, and the shipment of light manufactured goods to every corner
+of the world; it has invited foreigners from every land to her shores
+and her markets; and it has been the means of throwing the raw
+material of the whole world into the lap of the British manufacturer
+and artisan, and enabling them thus to control the markets in every
+land.
+
+But we can get along, it is said, without such a manufacturing system
+and such an ubiquity of trade. This is a mistake. The productions of
+our soil are not sufficiently indispensable to the outer world to
+bring us all of the money we need for importing the millions of
+foreign follies, to which our people have become attached. It is not
+right or best for us that while our "Lowell Drillings" stand
+preeminent over the world, we should so far neglect the Brazilian, La
+Platan, New-Granadian, Venezuelan, and East-Indian trade, that
+Manchester shall continue, as she now does, to manufacture an inferior
+fabric, post it off by her steamers, forestall the market, and cheat
+us out of our profits; and that, by means of the reputation which our
+skill has produced. And a few more crises like the one through which
+we have just begun to pass, will open our eyes to the necessity of
+doing something ourselves to make money, and show that foreign trade
+in every form, and the sale of every species of product known to the
+industry of a skillful people, must be watched with jealous national
+and individual care, and nurtured as we would nurture a young and
+tender child. There are many fields of trade which may be said to
+pertain naturally to this country, and which we have as wholly
+neglected and yielded to Great Britain, as if she had a divine right
+to the monopoly of the entire commerce of the world. No one can
+believe that the trade of the islands which gem the Carribbean Sea and
+the Gulf of Mexico, or the great Spanish Main, or the Guianas, or the
+Orinoco and Amazon, or the extended coast of Brazil, the Platan
+Republics, or Mexico, and the Central American States lying just at
+our door, belongs naturally to Europe, or that their productions
+should be transported in European ships, or that their supplies come
+naturally five thousand miles across the ocean, rather than go a few
+hundred miles from our own shores, in our own ships, and for the
+benefit of our own merchants and producers. Yet, such is the
+impression which our apathy of effort in those regions would produce.
+We have acted as if our people had no right of information concerning
+the West-Indies and South-America, until it had gone to Europe and
+been emasculated of all its virtues.
+
+The same thing is true of the Pacific South-American, the Chinese, and
+the East-Indian trade. That of the Pacific coast is not half so far
+from us, as it is from Europe; that of China, and the East-Indies, and
+Australia, is by many thousand miles nearer to us; and yet the greater
+portion of the commerce of all three of those great fields is
+triumphantly borne off by Great Britain alone. And why is all this?
+Why is her foreign trade sixteen hundred millions of dollars per year,
+while ours is only seven hundred millions? Causes can not fail to
+produce their effects; and prime causes, however little understood in
+their half obscure workings, are yet made manifest as the sun at
+noon-day by effects so brilliant and important as these. Here, as
+ever, the tree is known by its fruits. The tree of knowledge, of
+British wisdom, "whose mortal taste brought death into our world," our
+Western world of commerce, "with loss of Eden," and many a fair
+paradise of enterprise and effort, has filled the bleak little islands
+of Britain with the golden fruits of every clime, and scattered
+broadcast among its people the rich ambrosia of foreign commerce. When
+it was necessary to command the trade of the West-Indies, Central
+America, and Mexico, lying at our southern door, she established the
+Royal Steam Packet service with thirteen lines and twenty steamers,
+and paid it for the first ten years L240,000, and for the present
+twelve years L270,000 per annum. In addition to this she pays L25,000
+per annum for continuing the same lines down the west coast of
+South-America to Valparaiso, and contracts to pay the Royal Mail
+Company an annual addition of L75,000 in the event of coal, freight,
+insurance, etc., being at anytime higher than they were at the date of
+the contract in 1850. This aggregate sum of L295,000, or $1,475,000,
+to say nothing of the increased allowance of L75,000 probably now paid
+to this one branch alone of the British service, is considerably
+greater than that paid for the entire foreign mail service of the
+United States.
+
+Now, it is a very extraordinary fact that, with such a field of
+commerce lying along the sunny side of our republic, and with such an
+array of facilities for converting it into European channels, our
+Government has done literally nothing to protect the rights of its
+citizens and give them the means, which they do not now possess, of a
+fair competition with other countries for this rich and remunerative
+trade. Yet such is the fact; all of the petitions and memorials of the
+seaboard cities to the contrary notwithstanding. The same is the case
+with the Pacific and East-India trade before noticed. While we have a
+noble chain of communication between the Eastern States and California
+and Oregon, which is manifestly essential to the integrity of the
+Union and the continued possession of our rich Western territory;
+while California is admirably situated to command the trade of those
+vast regions and concentrate it in the United States; while the
+British have several lines to China, the Indies, Australia, and
+Southern as well as Western Africa; and while our citizens have
+petitioned Congress year after year for even the most limited steam
+mail facilities to those regions, which could be afforded at the
+smallest price, it is truly astonishing that these facts and petitions
+have hitherto been treated with contempt, and almost ruled out of
+Congress as soon as presented. Such has been the course of action
+that, instead of fostering foreign commerce and encouraging the
+enterprise and industry of the people, the Government has really
+repressed that enterprise, and practically commanded the intelligent
+commercial classes of this country to look upon foreign trade as
+forbidden fruit which it was never intended should be grown upon our
+soil.
+
+It is not to be disputed that foreign mail steamers, by creating
+almost unlimited facilities for the conduct of trade, greatly increase
+the commerce of the nation with the countries to which they run. The
+evidences of this position are patent all around us, and too evident
+to need recital. The growth of our trade with Germany, France,
+Switzerland, and Great Britain since the establishment of the Bremen,
+Havre, and Liverpool lines of steamers has been unprecedented in the
+history of our commerce. That with California has sprung up as by
+magic at the touch of steam, and has assumed a magnitude and
+permanence in eight years which but for the steam mail and passenger
+accommodations created, could not have been developed under thirty
+years. The mail accommodations have wholly transformed our commerce
+with Havana and Cuba, until they are wrested from foreign commercial
+dominion, as reason suggests that they must ere long be from foreign
+political thraldom. As well might Europe attempt to attach the little
+island of Nantucket to some of her own dynasties as to deprive the
+United States of the control of the trade of Cuba so long as her steam
+lines are continued to that island.
+
+Mr. Anderson, the Managing Director of the Peninsular and Oriental
+Company, recently testified before a Committee of the House of
+Commons, that, "the advantages of the communication (between England
+and Australia) should not be estimated merely by the postage. After
+steam communication to Constantinople and the Levant was opened, our
+exports to those quarters increased by L1,200,000 a year. The actual
+value of goods exported from Southampton alone, last year, (1848-9,)
+by those steamers is nearly L1,000,000 sterling. Greek merchants
+state that the certainty and rapidity of communication enable them to
+turn their capital over so much quicker. Forty new Greek
+establishments have been formed in this country since steam
+communication was established. The imports in that trade, fine raw
+materials, silk, goats' hair, etc., came here to be manufactured.
+Supposing the trade to increase one million, and wages amount to
+L600,000, calculating taxes at 20 per cent., an income of revenue of
+L120,000 would result from steam communication."
+
+I am prepared to speak from my own observation, and from the reliable
+statistics of the Brazilian Government, from the pen of the late Prime
+Minister, the _Marquis of Parana_, a few facts of the same nature
+relative to the trade between Great Britain and the Brazilian Empire.
+In a paper which I prepared for the New-York Historical Society, and
+published in "_Brazil and the Brazilians_," Philadelphia, Childs &
+Peterson, I said, at page 618, in speaking of the trade of Great
+Britain:
+
+"From 1840 to 1850 her total imports from Brazil made no increase. In
+1853, they had advanced one hundred and fifty per cent. on 1848; and,
+in 1855, they had advanced over 1848--or the average of the ten years
+noticed--about three hundred per cent. This, however, it must be
+recollected, was in coffee, for reexportation; a trade which was lost
+to our merchants and to our shipping. Her total exports to Brazil from
+1840 to 1850 were stationary at about two and a half million pounds
+sterling annually. In 1851--the first year after steam by the Royal
+Mail Company--they advanced forty per cent.; and, in 1854, they had
+advanced one hundred and two per cent. on 1850. Thus, her exports have
+doubled in five years, from a stationary point before the
+establishment of steam mail facilities; whereas ours have been
+thirteen years in making the same increase. The total trade between
+Brazil and Great Britain has increased in an unprecedented ratio. The
+combined British imports and exports, up to 1850, averaged L3,645,833
+annually; but, in 1855, these had reached L8,162,455. Thus, _the
+British trade increased two hundred and twenty-five per cent. in five
+years after the first line of steamers was established to Brazil_."
+
+In the analysis of the tables presenting these facts I had occasion to
+make the following deductions, page 619:
+
+"We see, from a generalization and combination of these tables and
+analyses, that our greatest advance in the Brazilian trade has arisen
+from imports instead of exports; whereas the trade of Great Britain
+has advanced in both; and particularly in her exports, which were
+already large; the tendency being to enrich Great Britain and to
+impoverish us: that until 1850 her exports were stationary, while ours
+were increasing; due, doubtless, to the superiority of our clipper
+ships at that period, which placed us much nearer than England to
+Brazil: that she is now taking the coffee-trade away from us, and
+giving it to her own and other European merchants and shipping: that
+she is rivalling us in the rubber-trade; wholly distancing us in that
+of manufactures: and that from 1850 to 1855 she has doubled a large
+trade of profitable exports, and increased her aggregate imports and
+exports two hundred and twenty-five per cent.; whereas it has taken us
+thirteen years to double a small trade, composed mostly of imports: it
+being evident that, with equal facilities, we could outstrip Great
+Britain in nearly all the elements of this Brazil trade, as we were
+doing for the ten years from 1840 to 1850.
+
+"It will hardly be necessary to suggest to the wise and reflecting
+merchant or statesman the evident causes producing this startling
+effect. It is the effect of steamship mail and passenger facilities,
+so well understood by the wise and forecasting British statesmen who
+established the Southampton, Brazil, and La Plata lines; not as a
+means of giving revenue to the General Post-Office, but of encouraging
+foreign trade and stimulating British industry. If England by steam
+has overtaken and neutralized our clippers and embarrassed our trade,
+then we have only to employ the same agent, and, from geographical
+advantages, we feel assured that we will soon surpass her as
+certainly, and even more effectually, than she has us. She sweeps our
+seas, and we offer her no resistance or competition. Not satisfied
+with the Royal Mail lines, it is reported that she is making a
+contract with Mr. Cunard to run another line along by the side of the
+Royal Mail, from Liverpool to Aspinwall, and from Panama to the
+East-Indies and China. She gains in these seas an invaluable trade,
+because she employs the proper means for its attainment and promotion,
+while we do not. Hence, although much farther off she is practically
+much nearer. Suppose that Great Britain had no steamers to the great
+sea at her threshold, the Mediterranean; and we had the enterprise to
+run a great trunk-line to Gibraltar and Malta, and nine branches from
+these termini to all the great points of commerce in Mediterranean
+Europe, Asia, and Africa. Would we not soon command the trade of all
+Southern Europe, of Western Asia, and of Africa? But we find her
+wisely occupying her own territory, and that it is impossible for us
+to get possession. If we had been there, she would soon have given us
+competition. But Great Britain did not wait for competition to urge
+her to her duty to her people. She could easily have continued the
+trade already possessed; but she could enlarge and invigorate it by
+steam, and she did it; not from outside pressure, but for the
+advantages which it always presents _per se_. For the same reason we
+should have established steam to the West-Indies, Brazil, the Spanish
+Main, and La Plata long since; to foster a trade naturally ours, but
+practically another's. It is preeminently necessary now when steam,
+under the system of Great Britain, is ruining our trade; whereas, by a
+similar process, we could reestablish ours, if not paralyze theirs.
+Neutrality is impossible. Indifference to the present posture of
+affairs only leads to the ruin of our interests. We must advance and
+contend with Great Britain and Europe step by step, and employ the
+means of which we are generally so boastful, or we will be forced to
+retreat from the field, and be harassed into ignominious submission."
+
+As in the case of Brazil and La Plata so is it in that of the Pacific
+South-American States, and the great fields of Australia, China, and
+the East-Indies generally, as before noticed. The trade of Great
+Britain with those regions has gone on at a rate of progression truly
+astonishing. Ours has continued just as much behind it as the slow and
+uncertain sailing vessel is behind the rapid and reliable mail
+steamer. Our Pacific possessions have been shorn of half their glory
+and power by the refusal of those steam aids which would by the
+present time have converted half the commerce of the fields mentioned
+into the new channels of American enterprise and transport. The
+injustice has operated equally against the people of California and
+Oregon, and against ourselves of the East; while there is no good and
+valid reason for thus making the Pacific coast the _ultima thule_ of
+civilized, steam enterprise. The people of the United States, of
+whatever class, are far from being misers. They do not desire an
+economy of two or three millions of dollars per year, which would give
+them great opportunities of obtaining wealth and power, merely that
+the sum so economized may be squandered, with twenty or thirty
+millions more, on schemes of doubtful expediency, and of no real or
+pressing necessity. They do not, indeed, ask that these mail
+accommodations may be paid for simply because much money is uselessly
+otherwise spent; but because these accommodations are necessary to
+themselves, to the development of their enterprise and labor, and to
+the general good of all the active and industrial, and, consequently,
+all of the worthy classes. It is a question of little importance to
+the great people of this country, whether the Government expends forty
+millions per year or eighty millions. But it would be a delightful
+consolation to them to know that while they might be paying ten,
+twenty, or thirty millions per year more than strictly necessary,
+three or four millions of it at least were so appropriated as to
+better enable them to pay the large general tax for the aggregate sum.
+No one hears any complaint regarding the sum necessary to support the
+General Government, except by those in remote districts, who have but
+an infinitesimal interest involved, but an imaginary part of the sum
+to pay, and who, producing but little, and having nothing to do,
+assume the right to manage the affairs of those who really have
+something at stake. The American people are willing and anxious that
+their money shall be expended for their own benefit, for the benefit
+of those who are to come after them, and for the glory of our great
+country.
+
+The many instances of our dereliction in the establishment of steam
+mail facilities, and the failure to establish locomotive
+accommodations for our merchants and other business classes call
+loudly for a change in our affairs, and the establishment of a
+national steam policy in the place of the accidental and irregular
+support hitherto given to foreign steam enterprise. The nation demands
+the means of competing with other nations. We have lost much of the
+trade of the world without it. The commercial men of this country
+complain bitterly that the Government gives them no facilities for
+conducting our trade or cultivating the large fields of enterprise
+successfully which I have named, and competing, on fair terms, with
+foreign merchants. They see the West-Indies, the Spanish-American
+Republics, Brazil, Central America, and Mexico, lying right at our
+southern door, and the whole Pacific coast, the East-Indies, China,
+the Mauritius, Australia, and the Pacific Islands but half as far from
+California as from England, all much nearer to us than to Great
+Britain and other European countries, and offering us a trade which
+large as it necessarily is to-day, is yet destined within the coming
+generation to transcend that of all other portions of the globe
+combined, in extent, in richness, and in the profits which it will
+yield. The capacity of these great fields for development and
+expansion is indefinite and almost boundless. There is no doubt that
+an American trade could be developed in those regions within the next
+thirty years whose opulence and magnificence would rival and far
+surpass our entire commerce of the world at the present time, and give
+to our nation a riches and a power which would enable it to shape the
+destinies of the entire civilized world.
+
+Our commercial classes complain not so much that Great Britain has the
+_monopoly_ of this trade, which naturally belongs to the United
+States; not so much that she conducts that trade by _steam
+facilities_, to the detriment of us who have none; not so much that
+she has _lines of steamers_ by the dozen, and weekly communication, as
+well as the advantage and use of all the other European lines; but
+that the citizens of the United States are not permitted to enter into
+a fair competition for this trade. Our people probably surpass every
+other people in the world in individual and aggregate enterprise and
+energy. They ask as few favors of the Government as any people on
+earth; doing every thing that is practicable, and that energy and
+capital can accomplish, without the intervention of the Government.
+But there are some things that, with the entire concentrated skill and
+ability of the nation, her citizens can not accomplish; and one of
+these is the maintenance of steamship mail lines upon the ocean. In
+ordinary enterprises competition necessitates improvement; and
+mechanical improvement and skill, in due course of time, enable
+individuals to compass ends otherwise deemed impracticable and
+unattainable. These attempts have all been made, in every form, with
+ocean steam navigation. It was supposed, as elsewhere stated, that, by
+superior engines and great economy of fuel, a speed high enough for
+all ordinary mail purposes could be attained, and yet leave enough
+room for freight and passengers to enable the income from these, at
+rates much higher than on sailing vessels, to pay for fuel,
+engineering, and the great additional cost of running a steamer. Vast
+engineering skill and ability have been directed to this point both in
+this country and Europe; and this object has been declared the
+commercial desideratum of the age. But all of these efforts have
+failed in their design; so much so that there is not, to-day, more
+than one permanent steam line upon the high seas of the whole world
+which is not sustained by a subsidy from some government. Many
+attempts have been made by British merchants to do a freighting and
+passenger business in _propellers_, without any mail pay, and
+depending on their receipts alone. These, too, have all failed. No
+permanent line of these propellers has been established to any of our
+American cities, except by subsidized companies, owning side-wheel
+steamers also.
+
+The only trade in which it has ever been supposed that steamers of any
+description whatever could carry freight is that between Europe and
+the United States, where there are large quantities of rich, costly
+goods, in small and valuable packages, which pay an extra rate of
+freight, as express goods; but, even here, the steam freighting
+system without governmental aid has proved a failure. There have been
+one or two cases where a steamer could make money in carrying freight
+and passengers alone, as between this country and California during
+the early part of the gold crisis, and owing to the great distance
+around the Horn, as well as an unnaturally large passenger trade.
+This, however, was a state of commerce wholly abnormal and of short
+duration, and such as is not likely to occur once in a century, or
+last very long; or prove more than an infinitesimal exception to the
+great general laws of freighting and commercial transport.
+
+Great Britain has learned this doctrine from experience, and is
+profiting by it. Her wise merchants and statesmen know that commerce
+can be accommodated only by rapid steam mails, which have regular and
+reliable periods for arrival and departure; and that, although these
+mails cost the Government and the people something more than those
+slow and uncertain communications which depend on sailing vessels and
+overland transit, yet they are enabled, by the facilities which they
+afford, to monopolize and control the commerce of the world, and
+divert it from even the most natural channels into the lap of British
+wealth. It is in this view of the subject that our merchants so justly
+complain that our Government, by refusing to give them the facilities
+commensurate with the demands of the age, _deprives_ them of the
+_power_ or _privilege_ of competing with foreign nations, and palsies
+their hands, simply because they are not able, individually and by
+their associated capital, to do that which the Government only can do.
+The reason why our mail steamers require the aid of our Government is
+that foreign Governments subsidize their lines; hence our individual
+enterprise can not compete with their individual enterprise and that
+of their Government combined. The reason why foreign Governments thus
+subsidize their mail lines is, that _those lines can not depend upon
+their own receipts for support, or run without Governmental aid_. This
+is also the prime reason for Governmental aid in running our lines.
+These facts are undisputed by steamshipmen and merchants, and are
+verified by the practice of the whole world, and the great number of
+failures in attempting to sustain steamers, from year to year, on
+regular lines, by their receipts alone.
+
+Being thus unable to compete with other countries under our present
+limited steam arrangements, and considering the startling expenses
+which attend the running of steamers, such as their fuel, their extra
+prime cost, their large repairs, their depreciation, their wages,
+their insurance, their dock charges and light dues, their shore
+establishments, and the long list which comes under the head of items
+and accidents, it is unquestionably the duty of the Government to meet
+this question in a frank and resolute manner, and afford to the people
+all those necessary facilities which they can get in no other way.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION VIII.
+
+HOW SHALL THE GOVERNMENT DISCHARGE THIS DUTY?
+
+ WE NEED A STEAM MAIL SYSTEM: HOW OUR LINES HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED:
+ AMERICAN AND BRITISH POLICY CONTRASTED: SPASMODIC AND ENDURING
+ LEGISLATION: MR. POLK'S ADMINISTRATION ENDEAVORED TO INAUGURATE A
+ POLICY: GEN. RUSK ENDEAVORED TO EXTEND IT: THE TERM OF SERVICE TOO
+ SHORT: COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE LONGER PERIODS: A LEGISLATION OF
+ EXPEDIENTS: MUST SUBSIDIZE PRIVATE COMPANIES FOR A LONG TERM OF
+ YEARS: SHOULD WE GIVE TO OUR POSTAL VESSELS THE NAVAL FEATURE: OUR
+ MAIL LINES GAVE AN IMPULSE TO SHIP-BUILDING: LET US HAVE STEAM
+ MAILS ON THEIR MERITS: NO NAVAL FEATURE SUBTERFUGES: THESE VESSELS
+ HIGHLY USEFUL IN WAR: THEY LIBERALLY SUPPLY THE NAVY WITH
+ EXPERIENCED ENGINEERS WHEN NECESSARY: THE BRITISH MAIL PACKETS
+ GENERALLY FIT FOR WAR SERVICE: LORD CANNING'S REPORT: EXPEDIENTS
+ PROPOSED FOR CARRYING THE MAILS: BY FOREIGN INSTEAD OF AMERICAN
+ VESSELS: DEGRADING EXPEDIENCY AND SUBSERVIENCY: WE CAN NOT SECURE
+ MAIL SERVICE BY GIVING THE GROSS RECEIPTS: THE GENERAL TREASURY
+ SHOULD PAY FOR THE TRANSMARINE POST: REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW
+ CONTRACTS: METHOD OF MAKING CONTRACTS: THE LOWEST BIDDER AND THE
+ LAND SERVICE: THE OCEAN SERVICE VERY DIFFERENT: BUT LITTLE
+ UNDERSTOOD: LOWEST-BIDDER SYSTEM FAILURES: SENATOR RUSK'S OPINION:
+ INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF LOWEST BIDDER: INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS AND RIGHTS.
+
+
+As it will scarcely be denied that the Government should furnish ample
+and liberal mail facilities, as well foreign as domestic, to its
+people, in view of the well-established fact that these facilities can
+not be attained in any other way, the question naturally arises, how
+shall the Government discharge this clear and unquestionable duty to
+the citizen? I trust that it will be admitted that we can not rely on
+the Sailing-ship mail, or the Naval steam mail, or the Private
+Enterprise mail; while it is equally evident that we can not depend on
+the Foreigner's mail, or should not if we could.
+
+A first step toward this important end, and one which every interest
+of the country demands, is the establishment of a governmental steam
+mail system, a fixed steam policy, based upon common-sense, and guided
+by the dictates of justice to the enterprising citizen, at the same
+time that it is productive of certain efficiency toward the people. It
+can not be denied that our legislation on this subject has hitherto
+been that of expedients, and merely temporary arrangement. We have had
+no wise, immutable purpose, no great fixed rule of action. We have
+laid no broad foundations for a system which should extend itself
+wherever our trade extended, and work equitably with all of the large
+interests of the American people. When, by a spasmodic effort, we
+opened communication in one direction, and found that we had a few
+steamers running, we became self-complacently satisfied with our
+action, shut our ears to all other equally urgent claims and appeals,
+forgot that we had simply commenced instead of having finished, and
+contented ourselves with the appearance of a mail system rather than
+its realization. When we established the two lines to Europe, which
+were positively necessary to commerce, it was not so much because
+those were the only necessary lines, but because they were urged by
+parties who stood ready to build the ships, and run them in the
+service. The California lines were established because the people
+would not longer tolerate the neglect of our large and important
+interests in the Pacific. But there were several other lines which
+were of the greatest importance to our commerce and manufactures,
+extending to fields where we could have established the richest trade,
+but which never enlisted the attention of Congress, simply because
+there was no one who made it his special business to press them. This
+of itself manifested great want of a matured steam mail system, which
+should operate equally on all of the great interests of the country,
+and extend its facilities wherever American industry and enterprise
+could find a footing.
+
+We need not only a steam system, but a fixed steam policy that shall
+extend from generation to generation, and operate equally, as well at
+all times and in all fields of American enterprise, as upon all
+classes. No such system can be built up in one year or in ten years;
+much less by one spasmodic steam effort, even in the right direction,
+followed by an eternal sleep, or a total indifference. It is the work
+of ages. It is not a system which, if set in motion, will work on
+perpetually of itself, without assistance. It needs constant care and
+fostering; and its results prove it worthy of all the care and
+attention that can be expended on it. The mature system of Great
+Britain has not grown up in a day. It has been constantly before the
+British public during twenty-four years, and has never been neglected
+for an hour. There has been no hiatus in it; for this would have
+disrupted the system, broken the chain, and resulted in disastrous
+failure. Neither has the one great purpose been changed every few
+years to suit the caprice of some new cabinet. It was a great cardinal
+idea, founded in reason and justice, that has gone on maturing from
+year to year; and none had the hardihood to touch it, or trifle with
+the people's purpose in establishing it; not even so far as to make it
+a passing text for demagoguery. It composed and yet composes a part of
+the far-reaching and controlling policy of the British crown; a
+purpose limited not to the visions of to-day, or the financial crises
+and panics of to-morrow, or to some new field of British effort, to
+be developed in a year or two; but limited to that time only, when men
+shall cease the strife of commerce, abandon the pursuit of wealth,
+yield the palm of enterprise, and unlearn the love of money and its
+power. There has been nothing spasmodic in this; nothing fitful,
+alluring, and evanescent; nothing that held out a hope to the
+enterprising man, and deceived him in all the essential conditions of
+its fulfillment in the end. It was founded in reason, founded in
+necessity; and it was well determined that it should endure.
+
+It is creditable to the administration of President Polk, that there
+was one effort made in this country to found a similar judicious and
+fruitful system. We had until that time taken no notice whatever of
+marine steam navigation; and British steamers swarmed around our coast
+north and south, thick as cruisers in a blockade. (_See Paper E._)
+Indeed, it was a veritable blockade of our commerce, and told most
+disastrously upon our enterprise and independence. The Cabinet of Mr.
+Polk, headed by our present venerable Chief Magistrate of the Nation,
+determined to reverse this system, and did it as effectually as any
+thing can be accomplished in a country, where a given policy, however
+wisely inaugurated, has no guaranty or safeguard against the
+revolutionary changes of new administrations. They established a basis
+of action, and inaugurated three steam lines under contracts which
+placed them beyond the attacks of the capricious; well knowing that if
+the system had merits, they would be manifested to the country within
+ten years by the fruits of these lines. The period was shorter than
+that designated by Great Britain; yet with the immensely rapid
+development of our people it inwrought itself into the affections of
+the public so effectually, even in this short time, that none will
+dare risk his reputation by attacking it boldly, or by other means
+than an indirect and harassing guerrilla warfare. But here the effort
+ended, and the system, deprived of the aids and new lines which
+Congress should have extended it, and of that continued development
+which was necessary to its perfection and usefulness, has been left to
+work itself out and die, until it may be resurrected by another great
+demonstration of public sentiment, and by an administration bold
+enough and far-seeing enough to grasp the interests of the whole
+country, and do itself and the people justice. It is due, however, to
+the reputation of a lamented and departed statesman, the large-minded
+and noble Gen. Rusk, of Texas, to say that he made a manly and
+systematic effort in 1852, after seeing the fruitful workings of the
+three lines noticed, to extend, enlarge, and fortify the good
+beginnings of President Polk and Secretary Buchanan, by inaugurating
+several new lines, and establishing a permanent and recognized basis
+of action. But in all this he was thwarted by the machinations of
+narrow-minded men, who deemed it a higher effort to agitate the
+country and endeavor to separate the North and the South, than
+establish and secure those mighty aids to industry which should give
+development, wealth, strength, and security to the whole American
+Union, and check the fratricidal blow of the disunionist.
+
+It is essential that we shall have in this country a policy on this
+subject, which shall remain untouched under the changes of
+administrations, just as standard commercial laws and regulations
+remain untouched. No system of such magnitude can mature or cheapen
+when but a few years are assigned to it, and when there is no
+certainty that it will survive the life of a single ship. Companies
+undertaking the mail service under such circumstances must be paid
+larger sums for their general establishment, that they may be enabled
+to meet the exigencies and caprices of irregular legislation, which
+may at the close of their contracts suddenly throw a dozen good ships
+out of employment. Every well-regulated and efficient company
+necessarily builds new steamers through all the stages of its
+existence; and when the term of its service expires, necessarily has
+several partially new ships. If the term of service is to be short,
+and if there is no rule by which those who do good service on a line
+are to have, in renewing contracts, the preference of new and untried
+parties, then it is reasonable to infer that they can not themselves
+incur the expense of so large an establishment of new and useless
+vessels, and that their service is either to be inefficient and
+unreliable, or that the department must pay a larger price than
+necessary under a judicious and fixed system. The want of a reliable
+system operates injuriously both on the department and on the
+contractors. It subjects us to expedients, and to all of the evils of
+constant lobbying and legislation on the subject. And one of the first
+wants of this system is an extension of the term of contracts. The
+period hitherto assigned has not been long enough for the proper
+development of the service. The short term is a constant premium for
+building an inferior class of vessels, which shall have become
+worthless by the time that the contract expires, so as not to entail
+loss upon the company. Such vessels are ever unfit for the mails or
+passengers. Short terms also keep the subject continually before
+Congress and the Executive Government, and foster that extensive and
+depraved lobbying which has wrought so injuriously on our legislation.
+Moreover, there is no reason why the term of service should not be
+extended, when it will certainly simplify and cheapen it, if, as I
+have assumed, the progress of engineering is not such as to throw
+well-built ships out of use within twelve years, or in any way
+introduce improvements by which the Government could get the service
+at lower rates. Nor have we any reliable hope for the future. We wait
+until commerce has been perverted into unnatural channels, and then
+become suddenly and galvanically aroused, when it is too late to
+effect a change until two or three years have expired in building
+ships. We thus find ourselves in the midst of the difficulty without
+having foreseen it, and without being prepared for it. The wise man
+planned the campaign before others had even contemplated any
+disturbance of the peace. As a matter of course he controlled the
+battle, and brought up the victory in his own way.
+
+The only effectual means of accomplishing the foreign mail service in
+this country is by liberally subsidizing private companies for a long
+term of years, such as will induce them to provide first-class ships,
+run them rapidly, and fit them for the most comfortable conveyance of
+passengers. Lord Canning in his Report to both houses of Parliament on
+the contract packet system in 1853, says, after showing that the naval
+vessels have been abandoned for the mail service: "There is no
+peculiarity in this branch of business which renders it an exception
+to the general rule, that work is done more cheaply by contract than
+by Government agency." But when the idea of performing the mail
+service by naval vessels was wholly abandoned in 1837, another
+question of equal importance arose, as to how far the mail steam
+packets might be made efficient as vessels of war in times of
+emergency. As a consequence of the discussion nearly all of the mail
+contracts made from that day until this by Great Britain contained
+stipulations requiring the vessels to be capable of carrying an
+armament, in addition to the requirements of speed and punctuality.
+The same thing was done in this country in 1846-7; and one of the
+principal means of carrying the Collins bill through Congress was the
+self-deception of making the steamers equivalent to vessels of war. It
+was a plea to which statesmen and enterprising business men resorted,
+and was used as a means of securing those commercial facilities which
+constitutional quibblers would not vote for directly, but which they
+would afford if allowed the subterfuge of "defenses" as a means of
+protecting them against a certain set of constituencies who foolishly
+opposed the extension of commerce. Many of these would not grant one
+dollar for the aid of that commerce on which the revenues of the
+country and their own real prosperity and wealth depended; but they
+were willing to suffer long and bleed freely at the old and just,
+though unrenewable war-cry: "The British and the Hessians." Our case
+was rather different from that of Great Britain which had a large
+steam navy while we had neither naval nor commercial steamers. There
+was, consequently, and there yet is, more propriety in demanding a
+capacity for the naval service in our vessels than in the case of
+Great Britain.
+
+In obedience to this very proper spirit we produced some of the
+noblest vessels that ever floated. Stronger vessels than the Collins,
+Aspinwall, and Pacific Mail Steamers were never built in any country.
+And although we have fortunately not been compelled to test their
+capacity in naval transport or in action, yet there is no doubt that
+they would do honorable and efficient service in both, and by no means
+sully the glory of the American colors. The establishment of these and
+the Havre and Bremen lines, certainly gave an impulse to shipbuilding
+and the manufacture of steam machinery in this country which could
+have been given in no other way, and which in a few short years has
+demonstrated that we are behind no people on earth in capacity for
+these noble and difficult arts. And although we are yet but in our
+infancy in experience, as compared, especially with Great Britain, yet
+the increasing demand for mail facilities, the necessity for a large
+war marine, and the rapidly increasing coast steam service, all
+indicate that we shall require a large amount of this class of work
+and a mechanical skill to which our ingenious countrymen have thus
+proven themselves entirely adequate. And although it is certainly
+indispensable that we shall ever be provided adequately against all
+the exigencies of foreign war, yet it is to be trusted that bold and
+fearless statesmen will support and extend our steam mail service on
+the tenable grounds of its necessity to commerce and our citizens at
+large, and that its productive services will not be obscured by or
+subordinated to the subterfuges and deceits of the war marine feature.
+Let us have steam mail facilities on high and independent grounds, and
+for their benefits _per se_. The system is abundantly tenable on this
+ground alone; on this only ground that it will probably ever
+practically occupy. Let us also have our war marine, efficiently
+separate, as it should be. Let both systems be perfect, both
+independent, both mutually conducive to the prosperity and the defense
+of the country. But there is no doubt that these vessels would do
+excellent service in a conflict. They could swarm any particular coast
+with troops in a few days. They could easily run away from dangerous
+vessels, or pursue and overtake others when necessary. They are alway
+needed for transport, while the time will probably never again come
+when mail steamers will not be even more necessary during war than in
+times of peace. But this is not all. They fit and train a large number
+of marine engineers who are ever ready at a day's warning to enter
+efficiently on the naval service. This is a point of greater
+importance than is generally supposed. Engineers, however skilled in
+the shops, are wholly unfit for the service at sea until they have had
+months of experience, and become accustomed to sea-sickness. When one
+of our first American mail steamers sailed for Europe, no practised
+marine engineer could be found to work her engines. They took a
+first-class engineer and corps of assistants from one of the North
+River packets; but as soon as the ship got to sea, and heavy weather
+came on, all the engineers and firemen were taken deadly sick, and for
+three days it was constantly expected that the ship would be lost.
+
+It is abundantly evident from all of the testimony, that most of the
+mail packets are capable of carrying a handsome armament. Mr. Atherton
+says to me in his letter: "Many of our ocean steamers are fit for
+naval service of every description; and they are generally fit for all
+transport service." The Report of Lord Canning, the British Post
+Master General, to which I have referred, was made in 1853, in
+obedience to a Treasury Minute issued by the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer, who directed the Post Master General to form a committee,
+and report to both houses, on the propriety of continuing and
+extending the mail steam packet system; as there had been suggestions
+that the sum expended for the mail service was large. These gentlemen
+after a lengthy investigation of several months, the examination of a
+great number of witnesses, and the record of their testimony in
+shorthand, made their report, accompanied by the evidence in a large
+volume. At page 5 of the report, in speaking of the requirements for
+naval efficiency, they say:
+
+ "In arranging the terms of these contracts, the Government seized
+ the opportunity of requiring that the vessels should be
+ constructed in a manner that would render them as serviceable for
+ national defense in war as steam-packets belonging to the Crown
+ would have been if employed in their stead. A provision to this
+ effect was first inserted in the contract with the Royal Mail
+ Company in 1840; and in most of the existing contracts
+ stipulations are to be found requiring that the vessel should be
+ of a construction and strength fit to carry such an armament as
+ the Admiralty may think proper. In several cases they must be
+ built of wood and not of iron; and there are some contracts which
+ confer on the Admiralty the right of taking the ships at a
+ valuation when it may be thought desirable to do so.
+
+ "Generally speaking, these stipulations have been fulfilled, as
+ appears from a return which has been laid before us by the
+ Surveyor of the Navy, showing the number, tonnage, and power of
+ the vessels constructed by the various companies under contract
+ with the Admiralty for the conveyance of the mails,
+ distinguishing those built of wood from those built of iron, and
+ stating whether the companies have in any cases violated the terms
+ of the contracts, and if so, whether any authority has been given
+ by the Board of Admiralty for the deviation. It results from this
+ return that out of 98 vessels which had been surveyed by the
+ Government officers, one only (the 'Australian') has been reported
+ as incapable of carrying guns if required, and two iron vessels
+ (the 'Levantine' and the 'Petrel') have been accepted instead of
+ wooden vessels, on Mr. Cunard's Halifax and Bermuda line. Two
+ other vessels--one belonging to the Australian Royal Mail Company,
+ and the other to Mr. Macgregor Laird's West Coast of Africa
+ line--had also been accepted (temporarily) by Admiralty authority,
+ although of less tonnage and power than the contracts prescribed.
+
+ "The Surveyor's report upon most of these vessels, as regards
+ their fitness for war purposes, is in the following terms: 'Not
+ fitted for armament, but capable of carrying guns when so fitted.'
+ This report accords with the opinion expressed by the Committee of
+ Naval and Artillery officers upon the vessels which have come
+ under their notice. It appears, however, from the statements of
+ that Committee, that although the packets they have examined are
+ for the most part of sufficient strength to carry and fire a
+ certain number of guns, the expense of the alterations which would
+ be necessary before they could be got ready for service would be
+ very considerable, and that even when such alterations had been
+ made, the efficiency of the vessels would be very small in
+ proportion to their size, and that they could not encounter
+ hostile vessels of equal tonnage without endangering the honor of
+ the British flag.
+
+ "With reference to future contracts, we are decidedly of opinion
+ that no expense should be incurred for the sake of imposing
+ conditions for giving a military character to the postal vessels.
+ We believe the imposition of such conditions to be a measure of
+ false economy. _Should a war suddenly break out, the immediate
+ demand for mail steamers would probably be greater than ever, and
+ it might be exceedingly inconvenient to withdraw them at such a
+ time from their legitimate use for the purpose of arming them for
+ battle._ Moreover, the high charge for the packet service has been
+ borne with the greater readiness, because it has been supposed by
+ some to include a provision of large but unknown amount, for the
+ defense of the country; while on the other hand the Naval
+ Estimates have sometimes been complained of as excessive, on the
+ ground that the force provided for was in addition to the large
+ reserve of postal war steamers. We accordingly recommend that for
+ the future the contracts for the conveyance of the mails should be
+ wholly free from stipulations of the nature we have been
+ describing, though it may be desirable in some cases to retain the
+ power in the Government to take possession of the vessels in the
+ event of national emergency."
+
+Again, in the _resume_, after considering each of the British lines
+separately, the committee say:
+
+ "An erroneous impression appears to have prevailed among the
+ public as to the efficiency of our postal steamers for direct
+ purposes of warfare. We do not believe that those who are charged
+ with the direction of the military affairs of the country have
+ ever regarded them as likely to be of any great service in an
+ engagement; but their advantages as an auxiliary force will be
+ very considerable. They will be available, in the event of the
+ breaking out of hostilities, for the rapid conveyance of
+ dispatches, of specie, and, to a certain extent, of troops and
+ stores. Their speed will be such as probably to secure them from
+ the risk of capture, and will render them highly valuable for
+ procuring intelligence of hostile movements. They may also be
+ expected to furnish the Queen's ships with men trained to
+ steam-navigation, and possessing an amount of local knowledge
+ which can not fail to be valuable in several ways."
+
+We have arrived at about the same conclusions in this country as those
+presented by the British Post Master General to Parliament in 1853, on
+this subject. And yet, with our small navy we may at any time need all
+of our steam packets for actual service, and the Government should
+always have the right to demand them for transport service. We have
+abundant evidence that our mail packets are well fitted for carrying
+an armament, and being highly efficient in war duty. The testimony of
+Commodore M. C. Perry, Mr. Cunningham, and others, as published in the
+Special Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1852, is conclusive on
+this point. They found that they were built with extraordinary
+strength and of good materials.
+
+Many expedients have been proposed for the transmission of our foreign
+mails. It is said that the late Post Master General entertained the
+purpose of paying some of the foreign screw lines to carry the mails,
+if Congress would permit it; but however all parties disapprove of the
+contracted policy proposed by that gentleman, I can not believe that
+he entertained any purpose so unpatriotic, and so subversive of
+American shipping interests. It is true, however, that, as he
+frequently said, he would prefer returning to the old packet system,
+and carrying the mails by sail, if private enterprise could not carry
+them across the ocean without a subsidy. But it is a consoling
+reflection that these singular views of that worthy gentleman never
+anywhere took root in Congress. Certainly there is no reason why this
+great, and rich, and proud nation should resort, like some little
+seventh rate power, to expedients in the carriage of our ocean mails.
+We are not so poor as to have to live by practices; not so degraded as
+to be willing to catch at any little thing that may pass along for
+resources. We have a teeming prosperity, an abundant wealth, unending
+resources, and a people everywhere clamorous for liberal expenditures
+for adequate mails. Why shall we degrade ourselves by depending upon
+others for our mail facilities? It alway humbles and mortifies me to
+see one human being lick the hand of another; one who acknowledges
+himself a stupid drone that must needs have a master to direct and
+protect him. And so with our nation when she stoops to subserviency
+and begging, for even so much as the postal charities of other
+enterprising and commanding nations.
+
+It has been suggested that the Government could secure the transit of
+the mails on the receipts, taking both ocean and inland postage; and
+indeed a temporary arrangement was made with two of our contending
+companies running to Europe, to transport them on these terms; but
+such arrangements are temporary only, and can not be made the basis of
+regular action. They would operate most unequally on different lines.
+While on the European lines they would pay probably one half the sum
+of subsidy required, on many other, and especially on new and untried
+lines, they would not at first pay probably one tenth. And granting
+that on a given line, the receipts during fifteen years would amount
+to as much as the whole subsidy required for that time; yet no company
+could live on them, as for the first few years the receipts from the
+mail would be very small, while the general income of the line from
+passengers and freight would also be smaller than at any other time.
+Moreover, almost every steam company has to borrow money largely
+during its first years, in anticipation of the larger income from
+increased trade during the last years of its existence. Thus, while
+the system of the receipts would operate most unequally, the same
+aggregate sum given in the form of a regular annual subsidy operates
+as an assurance for the company and keeps it alive. But the postal
+receipts are not adequate to the support of any ocean line. In the
+report before cited, the Committee say, at page 5, that the sum of
+subsidy then paid was L822,390 per annum, whereas the postal receipts
+were only L443,782, or but a fraction over one half. There is probably
+no regular service in the world where the postal receipts would pay
+for the transport, especially where competition existed.
+
+In making our contracts common-sense must dictate the lines necessary,
+and the general treasury should pay for them. There is no good reason
+why the sums of subsidy to be paid for mail transportation should be
+chargeable on the Post Office Department. Nor is it really of much
+consequence where the account is settled, as the general treasury must
+after all meet the bills. It may create some misapprehension as to the
+services on which the sums annually voted are bestowed. But the
+service, whether sea or inland, is alike incapable of sustaining
+itself, and is alike beneficial to every citizen of the Republic. And
+as this service so greatly benefits commerce, it is well that it
+should be paid from the general revenues of the country; from the
+duties which it creates. At any rate, almost every Post Master General
+will feel better disposed to subsidize ocean mail steamers adequately
+if the bills are payable by the treasury department, and not
+chargeable upon his own.
+
+It would be well in all new contracts that the law of Congress
+authorizing them should require strength of vessel, a fair dynamic
+efficiency of performance, water-tight bulkheads for the safety both
+of the vessel, and passengers and mails, and all those other
+safeguards compatible with speed and mail efficiency. But the most
+essential point is the mode of making the contracts. We have pursued
+two system in this country, that of the lowest bidder, and that of
+Congressional contracts. Some have supposed that as the land mails are
+submitted to the lowest bidder, so those of the ocean ought to be
+also. But the cases are very unlike. The land service is a familiar
+thing, which every farmer understands, because running a wagon is one
+of the first things in life that he learns. Every body is familiar
+with the land service, and every body has more or less experimented in
+it, or in something very similar to it. But it is far otherwise with
+that of the ocean. Steamshipping is a comparatively new, a very
+difficult, and a very little understood science. But few who know its
+difficulties will undertake its hazards. Steam power and its expenses
+are by no means understood by the people; and the first mistake made
+by those unacquainted with it is in supposing it much cheaper than it
+really is. This mistake leads to fatal consequences in bidding for the
+ocean service, as most of those unacquainted with the business would
+engage to perform a given service for less than the actual price that
+it would cost them, and certainly for much less than practical,
+experienced men would. And herein consists one of the evils of the
+lowest bidder system, that inexperienced persons taking such contracts
+either perform them inefficiently, or appeal constantly to Congress
+for relief, or for increase of their pay. Such cases are exceedingly
+numerous. Post Master General Campbell said that the lowest bidder
+system was "a nuisance." Senator Mallory declared in a debate about
+the close of the last Congress, that it was a system which never
+wrought efficiently, which never gave final satisfaction, and which
+generally brought in a set of adventurers. The department and members
+of Congress had experienced the annoyance and inefficiency of the
+system in the contract for carrying the mails between Key West and
+New-Orleans through the Gulf. It was several times given to the
+lowest bidder, and as often fell through; being finally awarded by
+private arrangement to other parties, at more than double the prices
+of the lowest bidders.
+
+In the elaborate Report made in 1852 to the Senate by Gen. Rusk, as
+Chairman of the Committee on the _Post Office and Post Roads_, of
+which Messrs. Soule, Hamlin, Upham, and Morton were members, in
+speaking on this subject the Committee said:
+
+ "Contracts to carry the ocean mail should, like all other
+ contracts made by the Government, be the subjects of a fair
+ competition, and granted with reference to the public good, due
+ regard being had to the excellence of the proposals made, under
+ all the circumstances of the cases which may present themselves.
+ Your committee are aware that it has been too much the practice to
+ regard the _lowest_ as the _cheapest_ bid; but experience has
+ taught them that _lowness of price_ and _cheapness in the end_,
+ are not convertible terms, as the daily applications, from _low
+ bidders_, to Congress for indemnity against losses incurred in the
+ public service, will amply demonstrate. For examples of the kind
+ the committee would respectfully refer to the numerous
+ applications for remuneration, in connection with the public
+ printing, which have for years past occupied the time and
+ attention of Congress, and threaten to continue to do so to a most
+ alarming extent, involving, in the end, an accumulation of expense
+ infinitely beyond the cost that would have attended the
+ performance of the work, at a fair and liberal compensation. This
+ may be, by some, called economy, but it is the very worst sort of
+ economy. It excludes the honest workman, who knows the real value
+ of the service to be performed, and is unwilling to undertake to
+ do his duty well, at the expense of himself and family; while it
+ lets in the needy and greedy speculator who, having nothing to
+ lose in point of character or money, will readily undertake what
+ he can not perform, and become dependent upon the magnanimity of
+ Congress for remuneration for his losses, real or fictitious. An
+ honest and fair liberality should characterize the dealings
+ between the Government and individuals, just as much as those
+ between private citizens; and, when contracts are made, they
+ should be entered into in the spirit of good faith, and with a
+ full knowledge of the risks to be run, and the expenses to be
+ incurred."
+
+It is claimed on the other hand that in contracts made by Congress the
+two Committees have every opportunity of testing the value of the
+service to be performed, of ascertaining the sum of subsidy really
+necessary to its support, of giving to every applicant a fair and
+impartial hearing, and of presenting to Congress any case of doubt
+and difficulty, or of contested right. When the committees take any
+line into consideration it is in effect inviting competition and
+proposals from every one else than the projector who supposes that he
+has better claims to it, or can perform the service at cheaper rates.
+Such proceedings are always open and advertised to the world for
+months and sometimes for years. And there are many persons who will
+come forward and make a low bid for a service after some one else has
+brought it to the attention of the Government and labored it through
+Congress, who would not turn their fingers over, or risk a dollar in
+bringing it before the nation, and securing for it a due
+consideration. These are the adventurers who never produce any thing
+themselves by a legitimate and honest effort, but who alway stand back
+to take the chances of wresting from some enterprising, more
+far-seeing, and more industrious person the fruits of the toil perhaps
+of years. There are many enterprises in which the public have taken no
+interest because ignorant of the facts. Some enterprising individual
+goes zealously to work, travels thousands and tens of thousands of
+miles, ascertains all of the facts bearing upon the question,
+determines its feasibility or its impracticability, spends years of
+time and toil, and many thousands of dollars of money, indoctrinates
+the people of his country with the new and interesting facts, travels,
+writes, labors day and night for years, finally secures the attention
+of the Government and Congress, and asks a fair and reasonable
+compensation for the necessary service which he proposes performing
+for the public. He has contended with every species of opposition,
+overcome unwonted embarrassments, foiled the machinations of selfish,
+interested parties who would through all time mislead the public if
+they could but continue a monopoly of trade, and finally succeeded in
+getting a bill through Congress for the establishment of the
+long-sought line.
+
+This done, he supposes that he is of course to be rewarded for the
+effort, the toil, and the expenditure of years, and that he will have
+an opportunity of indemnifying himself for his losses and sacrifices.
+He hears many beautiful apostrophes to the principles of equal justice
+and right which are said to characterize the legislation of his
+country, and control the action of the Government; but he is not
+prepared to hear that some adventurer has carried off his prize simply
+because by chance or by concert he has made his bid one thousand or
+ten thousand dollars lower than the prime projector. He becomes
+disheartened; finds that the country neither appreciates nor desires
+honorable effort and enterprise; that it will not reward the citizen
+in his self-sacrificing attempts to benefit the country and himself
+together; and that it will look on with careless indifference while
+his almost vested, his equitably vested rights, are neglected or
+stricken down. This is certainly one of the practical and demoralizing
+effects of the lowest bidder system, which respects no rights, however
+sacred, simply because based upon a dogma which is technically true.
+The system of the lowest bidder is technically correct, but
+practically wrong. It can not be carried out in practice without
+abandoning equity and honest rights under the plea of technicalities
+and the action of chances. It is in reality but a species of gambling,
+a miserable lottery, in which those who are most honest and truthful
+are invariably sacrificed. It is proper, then that Congress should not
+only establish the postal routes, but also determine either
+specifically or proximately the compensation to be paid; or leave this
+entirely to the discretion and the largest liberty of action of the
+Post Master General. Responsibility must attach somewhere if justice
+is obtained. With the lowest bidder system it rests and operates
+nowhere; and the most important operations of the Government are taken
+out of the hands of a wise public functionary and the intelligent
+legislators of the country, and put into a great wheel of fortune,
+where the proper person has, probably, but one chance in a hundred.
+This although true in every case of contract, is eminently so in cases
+of untried lines, where the experiment is to be made, and where it is
+generally necessary that an individual shall have spent years in
+bringing it to light.
+
+I come to the conclusion, therefore, that the Government can discharge
+the clear and unquestionable duty of affording liberal mail facilities
+to the people, only by establishing all of the lines which the
+commerce and convenience of the country and the Government require; by
+maintaining them as a fixed policy of the country from generation to
+generation; by encouraging enterprising companies to continue
+well-performed services, and enterprising citizens to open new avenues
+of trade and wealth; and by paying for the same from the general
+treasury of the people, and from the revenues which these postal
+facilities, more than any other series of influences, conspire to
+produce and to conserve. (_See Report of Lord Canning, Section IX.:
+also Report of Gen. Rusk, Paper E: also remarks of Hon. Edwin
+Croswell, Paper E._)
+
+
+
+
+SECTION IX.
+
+THE BRITISH SYSTEM, AND ITS RESULTS.
+
+ STEAM MAIL SYSTEM INAUGURATED AS THE PROMOTER OF WEALTH, POWER,
+ AND CIVILIZATION: THE EFFECT OF THE SYSTEM ON COMMERCE: THE LONG
+ PERIOD DESIGNATED FOR THE EXPERIMENT: NEW LINES, WHEN, HOW, AND
+ WHY ESTABLISHED: THE WORKINGS OF THE SYSTEM: FIRST CONTRACT MADE
+ IN 1833, LIVERPOOL AND ISLE OF MAN: WITH ROTTERDAM IN 1834:
+ FALMOUTH AND GIBRALTAR, 1837; ABERDEEN, SHETLAND, AND ORKNEYS,
+ 1840: THE "SAVANNAH," THE FIRST OCEAN STEAMER: THE SIRIUS AND
+ GREAT WESTERN: CUNARD CONTRACT MADE IN 1839: EXTRA PAY "WITHIN
+ CERTAIN LIMITS:" MALTA, ALEXANDRIA, SUEZ, EAST-INDIES, AND CHINA
+ IN 1840: THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL COMPANY: WEST-INDIA SERVICE
+ ESTABLISHED IN 1840: POINTS TOUCHED AT: PROVISIONAL EXTRA PAY:
+ PANAMA AND VALPARAISO LINE ESTABLISHED IN 1845: HOLYHEAD AND
+ KINGSTON IN 1848: ALSO THE CHANNEL ISLANDS: WEST COAST OF AFRICA
+ AND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE IN 1852: CALCUTTA VIA THE CAPE IN 1852, AND
+ ABANDONED: PLYMOUTH, SYDNEY, AND NEW SOUTH WALES ALSO IN 1852, AND
+ ABANDONED: INVESTIGATION OF 1851 AND 1853, AND NEW AUSTRALIAN
+ CONTRACT IN 1856: HALIFAX, NEWFOUNDLAND, BERMUDA, AND ST. THOMAS
+ IN 1850: NEW-YORK AND BERMUDA SOON DISCONTINUED: COMPARISON OF
+ BRITISH AND AMERICAN SUBSIDIES, RATES PER MILE, TOTAL DISTANCES,
+ AND POSTAL INCOME: THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT PAYS HIGHER SUBSIDIES
+ THAN THE AMERICAN: WORKINGS AND INCREASE OF THE BRITISH SERVICE:
+ GEN. RUSK'S VIEWS: SPEECH OF HON. T. B. KING: COMMITTEE OF
+ INVESTIGATION, 1849: NEW INVESTIGATION ORDERED IN 1853, AND
+ INSTRUCTIONS: LORD CANNING'S REPORT AND ITS RECOMMENDATIONS: GREAT
+ BRITAIN WILL NOT ABANDON HER MAIL SYSTEM: THE NEW AUSTRALIAN
+ LINE: TESTIMONY OF ATHERTON AND MURRAY: MANY EXTRACTS FROM THE
+ REPORT: STEAM INDISPENSABLE: NOT SELF-SUPPORTING: THE MAIL
+ RECEIPTS WILL NOT PAY FOR IT: RESULT OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM: ANOTHER
+ NEW SERVICE TO INDIA AND CHINA: SHALL WE RUN THE POSTAL AND
+ COMMERCIAL RACE WITH GREAT BRITAIN? CANADA AND THE INDIES.
+
+
+It is admitted that it is the clear and unquestionable duty of the
+Government to establish ample foreign mail facilities for the nation,
+and that the only means of accomplishing this is by guaranteeing a
+liberal allowance for a long term of years for the transport of the
+mails, and paying for the same from the general treasury of the
+country. We will, therefore, now examine the British ocean steam mail
+system, and shall see that the practice of that great nation fully
+corroborates and sustains the views which have been advanced in the
+preceding chapters.
+
+The steamship policy of that nation has not been treated as a matter
+of slight or secondary importance. British statesmen from the earliest
+days of the development of marine steam power saw the influence which
+it was likely to exert in the revolutions of commerce and the control
+of the nations of the world, and determined, with the sagacious
+foresight and the firm, fixed purpose for which they are
+distinguished, that it should be at once inaugurated as the great
+instrument of individual wealth and national power. They properly
+conceived that the nation which used this transforming agent most
+freely in commerce, defenses and diplomacy would unquestionably exert
+a high controlling influence over the nations of the earth, and make
+every land tributary to its wealth and power. The end justifies the
+effort, and the few temporary sacrifices and insignificant
+expenditures which have been made. The British nation launched at once
+into an extended foreign mail system which has been twenty years
+maturing and untouched, and which, on a small annual expenditure, has
+given it the profitable control of every trade and every market on the
+face of the globe. It was wisely conceded that a long period would be
+necessary to make the great experiment of marine steam mails, and that
+term was granted in the outset. When the first term of twelve years
+had ended, the contracts were renewed for another term of twelve
+years, in every instance with the companies first authorized, and the
+sums of subsidy were in every case increased. Not only thus. New lines
+were established all along the course of these experiments, in a quiet
+executive way, without agitation, without lobbying, without
+corruption, just as the Post Master General would put some short and
+necessary land route into operation. The last of these lines
+established was that in 1856, between Southampton and Australia for
+seven years, at an annual subsidy of L185,000, or $925,000. And this
+line was established, not because there was no postal communication;
+for the Government already had a semi-monthly line to China, India,
+and Australia, and another around Africa; but because the increased
+demands of British trade, and convenience to the British public, made
+it necessary.
+
+During all of this time the system has operated with unbroken
+regularity. Established on a great general principle, as well as the
+highest possible expediency, it has been regarded as a fixed policy of
+the Government and the people, and has been suffered to do its
+excellent work quietly and undisturbed. The legislation introducing it
+was not an accident. It was not a spasm of generosity to the people;
+but it was a fixed purpose of the British public; the wise and only
+adequate means adapted to accomplish an important, an indispensable
+end. The first contract for carrying the mails in steamers, was made
+by the Post Master General in 1833, with the "Mona Isle Steam
+Company," to run semi-weekly between Liverpool and the Isle of Man at
+L850 per annum. This Company has run the line ever since, a period of
+twenty-four years, and at the same price per annum. After this, a
+contract was made in 1834 with the "General Steam Navigation Company,"
+for the semi-weekly conveyance of the mails between London and
+Rotterdam, and London and Hamburg, at L17,000 per year. The contract
+was not annulled until 1853, nineteen years, when it was found best to
+send the mail by a new route; that is, to Ostend, and over the
+railways of Belgium. The first contract for a long voyage was made
+with Richard Bourne, in 1837, to convey the mails weekly from Falmouth
+to Vigo, O Porto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, for L29,600 per annum.
+The contract was transferred in 1843 to the "Peninsular and Oriental
+Company," Southampton was substituted for Falmouth, the weekly trips
+were changed to three per month, and the subsidy was reduced
+accordingly, or to L20,500 per annum. The service has been performed
+on these terms ever since. The Aberdeen and Shetland contract was made
+in 1840, at L900 per year, after a failure to run on L600, by a
+previous arrangement. It now continues as then made.
+
+It is known that the first passage across the Atlantic was made in the
+American steamer "Savannah," which left Savannah, Georgia, on the 25th
+May, 1819, and at the end of twenty-two days arrived in Liverpool,
+steaming only fourteen days of the time. The Savannah was only 350
+tons tonnage, and had an engine of ninety horses' power. Captain Moses
+Rogers was her commander. The "Sirius" arrived in New-York on the 23d
+of April, 1838. The steamer "Great Western" next followed, in the same
+year. And although this was only nineteen years ago, it is instructive
+to notice the observations which the _London Times_ made at that day.
+That journal said, March 31, 1838:
+
+"There is really no mistake in this long-talked of project of
+navigating the Atlantic ocean by steam. There is no doubt of the
+intention to make the attempt, and to give the experiment, as such, a
+fair trial. The Sirius is actually getting under way for America."
+
+On the 4th of July, 1839, the British Government entered into a
+contract with Samuel Cunard of Halifax for a semi-monthly mail line
+between Liverpool, and Halifax, and Boston, at the sum of L60,000 or
+$300,000 per annum. That contract inaugurated a new era in our
+American commerce with the old world, and gave an impulse to those
+international interests and those commercial amities which have bound
+Great Britain and the United States in the bonds of enduring
+friendship and mutual, neighborly dependence. Boston soon proved
+inadequate to the support of the entire line, and half of the steamers
+were sent to New-York; and thus they continue to run to this day. It
+is a singular fact that since that contract was made, eighteen years
+ago, there has never been one transatlantic steamer except those of
+Mr. Cunard running to or from that port. This contract was renewed
+with Mr. Cunard in 1850, when weekly trips were required for the
+greater portion of the year, and the subsidy was advanced, not in the
+ratio of the service, which was only doubled, but as three to one,
+from L60,000 to L173,340, or from $300,000 to $866,700. The experience
+of twelve years had demonstrated both the necessity of continuing the
+line, and of increasing the subsidy which the Government paid, to such
+a sum as would secure good steamers, regularity of trips, and
+efficiency of service. The Company now has nine steamers, with 18,406
+tons aggregate tonnage, and 6,418 horses' power. The contract, which
+is to continue for twelve years, until 1862, was so altered in 1852 as
+to provide for a weekly service as well in winter as in summer; and it
+will continue in force from 1862 until twelve months after notice may
+be given for the discontinuance of the line. The compensation for the
+same is at the rate of 11_s_ 4-1/2_d_ per mile. Lord Canning's Report
+to Parliament in 1853, before noticed, in particularizing on this
+line, said:
+
+"An additional allowance, _within certain limits_, is to be made to
+the contractors in the event of an increase in the rate of insurance
+on steam vessels, or in the freight or insurance of coals, as compared
+with the rates payable at the date of the contract, if proved to the
+satisfaction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty."
+
+Thus, instead of abandoning this line after an experiment of twelve
+years, and finding that it could never be self-supporting, the British
+Government wisely determined to let their policy produce its full
+fruits, and continued it for another similar term of years, with three
+times the former subsidy, for only twice the old service. (_See
+Collins and Cunard Lines, Sec. X._)
+
+A contract was made in 1840 for steam to Malta, Corfu, and Alexandria,
+and the service was extended in 1845 to Suez, Bombay, Ceylon,
+Calcutta, Hong Kong, and Shanghae. It was renewed again in 1853,
+terminable in 1862, or after twelve months' notice, with a service
+between Sydney and Singapore, with the "Peninsular and Oriental
+Company;" and the subsidy for the whole service was increased from
+L199,600 or $998,000 per annum, to $1,224,000 per annum. The Company
+have thirty-nine vessels of 48,835 tons, and 12,850 horses' power, and
+run 796,637 annually, at 6_s_ 1-3/4_d_ per mile. The steamers run the
+whole service of 796,637 miles annually, at this low rate because much
+of the service is confined to the Mediterranean, as for example, their
+line from Southampton to Vigo, O Porto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar;
+and also that between Marseilles and Malta. This is but like the
+coasting trade at the utmost, and is not ocean navigation proper.
+Before the contract was renewed the same company got for the service
+between Hong Kong and Ceylon, 12_s_ 7_d_ per mile, and for that
+between Suez and Calcutta, L1, 0_s_ 1-1/2_d_ per mile.
+
+The contract with the "West-India Royal Mail Packet Company" was made
+in 1840 for a semi-monthly service to the West-Indies, Central
+America, and Mexico, at L240,000, and for 547,296 nautical miles per
+annum. The contract was renewed on the same terms in 1846, and again
+in 1850, when the Brazil service was added, and the subsidy increased
+to L270,000 or $1,350,000 per annum, for twelve years, or until 1862,
+and one year after notice shall have been given. The length of the
+routes now run by the Company is 37,000 nautical miles, with
+thirty-four stopping places. The West-India service of 393,432 miles,
+is performed at the rate of 10_s_ 10-1/2_d_ per mile, under special
+contract; no advertisement ever having been made for tenders. The
+Brazilian portion of the service embraces 153,864 miles annually. Pay
+per mile for the whole Royal Mail service is 9_s_ 10_d_ per mile. This
+Company has twenty steamers, of 29,454 tons, and 9,308 horses' power.
+On the Brazil portion of the service the touches are at Lisbon,
+Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Vincent, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janiero,
+Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres. On the West-India division, St. Thomas
+is the central depot, after touching at the Azores. Ten branch lines
+radiate from St. Thomas to Antigua, Barbados, Blewfields, Carriacou,
+Carthagena, Aspinwall, (which they call Colon,) Demarara, Dominica,
+Grenada, Greytown, Gaudaloupe, Havanna, Honduras, Jacmel, Jamaica,
+Martinique, Porto Rico, St. Kitt's, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Santa
+Martha, Tampico, Tobago, Trinidad, and Vera Cruz. Lord Canning says:
+
+"It is stipulated that if at any time, from causes recognized by the
+Lords of the Treasury as being of a 'distinctly public and national
+character,' the insurance on steam vessels shall rise above 6_l_ 6_s_
+per cent., the freight of coals above 1_l_ 2_s_ 6_d_ per ton, and the
+insurance on coals above 2_l_ 2_s_ per cent., the Company shall
+receive an additional sum, to be settled by arbitration, but not to
+exceed 75,000_l_ a year in the whole."
+
+The special contract for the West Coast of South-America, with the
+"Pacific Steam Navigation Company," for three round trips per month
+between Panama and Valparaiso, touching at Buenaventura, Guayaquil,
+Payta, Lambayeque, Huanchaco, Santa, Pisco, Islay, Arica, Iquique,
+Cobija, Copiapo, Huasco, and Coquimbo, was made in 1845, at L20,000,
+or $100,000 per annum, for five years. It was renewed in 1850 for ten
+years; and hence, expires in 1860, if notice may be given to that
+effect; the trips being only semi-monthly, and the subsidy increased
+to L25,000 per annum. The Company has seven steamers, of 5,719 tons,
+and 2,396 horses' power. (_See List of British Mail Lines, Paper B,
+page 193._)
+
+The contract for running fast packets between Holyhead and Kingston,
+in Ireland, was made in 1848 with the "City of Dublin Steam Packet
+Company," for L25,000 per annum, and is terminable at twelve months'
+notice after 1860. The line is run twice every day. The service to the
+Channel islands, from Southampton to Jersey and Guernsey, was
+established in 1848, at L4,000 per annum, for three trips per week.
+That of the West Coast of Africa was established in 1852, at L21,250
+per annum. Leaving Plymouth, the steamers touch at Madeira, Teneriffe,
+Goree, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, Monrovia, Cape Coast Castle, Accra,
+Whydah, Badagry, Lagos, Bonny, Old Calabar, Cameroon, and Fernando Po.
+This contract was made with the "African Steamship Company," for a
+monthly service, and terminates in 1862 if twelve months' notice be
+given. There must be three steamers of 700 tons each, and the pay is,
+for 149,880 miles annually, at 2_s_ 6_d_ per mile. The contract with
+the "General Screw Steamshipping Company," for service semi-monthly
+from Plymouth to the Cape of Good Hope and Calcutta, touching on the
+return voyage at St. Vincent, Ascension, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius,
+Point de Galle, Madras, and St. Helena, for L50,000 per year, to be
+reduced after two years to L40,000 annually, and that to the Cape of
+Good Hope and Port Natal, touching at Mossel and Algoa bays, Buffalo,
+and Port Francis, for L3,000 per annum, with the same Company, were
+both made in 1852; but the service was found impracticable on the
+terms, and was abandoned. That from Plymouth every two months to
+Sydney and New South Wales, with the "Australian Royal Mail Steam
+Navigation Co.," for L26,000 per annum, and touching at St. Vincent,
+Simon's Bay, or Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, King George Sound, Port
+Philip, and St. Helena, was made also in 1852; but was likewise soon
+abandoned, as the subsidy in each case was too small.
+
+About this time the Chancellor of the Exchequer requested a thorough
+investigation into the foreign steam packet system. This was made in
+the most searching manner in 1853; and such was the effect that it was
+determined not only to sustain all of the existing lines in all of
+their integrity, but to extend the system and afford additional
+facilities to British commerce and the British people. Accordingly, a
+new contract was made last year, 1856, with the "European and
+Australian Mail Steam Packet Company" for a monthly service between
+Southampton, Marseilles, Malta, Alexandria, Suez, and Sydney, at an
+annual subsidy of L185,000, or $925,000. The Company has seven
+steamers of 13,410 tons, and 3,290 horses' power. They run 336,000
+miles per annum, and receive 11_s_ per mile from the Government. It
+must be borne in mind, too, that when this line was established there
+were already two lines to the East-Indies and China, and one to
+Australia. This makes two to Australia, and three to the East
+generally.
+
+There is also a contract, made in 1850 with Mr. Cunard, for running
+monthly between Halifax and Newfoundland, and Halifax, Bermuda, and
+New-York, as well as between New-York and Bermuda and St. Thomas.
+New-York was soon dropped from the list, doubtless because the British
+steamers yielded us more advantage than was gained by the mother
+country or the Provinces, and the line is now continued, at the
+original compensation, L14,700, or $73,500, between Halifax and
+Newfoundland, and Halifax, Bermuda, and St. Thomas, connecting with
+the Cunard steamers. The steamers are small coasters, and run at the
+rate of 3_s_ per mile. Hence, they make 98,000 miles per annum.
+
+The ocean mail steamers of Great Britain run 2,532,231 miles per year,
+at a total cost to the Admiralty of L1,062,797, or $5,333,985. The
+ocean mail steamers of the United States run 735,732 miles per year,
+at a total charge on the Post Office Department of $1,329,733. The
+British steamers run three and a half times as many miles as ours do,
+and receive for it a sum more than four times as large. The average
+price paid to their principal companies, as the West-India Royal Mail,
+the Cunard, the Australian, and the Peninsular and Oriental, including
+its Mediterranean coasting service, is 9_s_ 7_d_, or $2.39 per mile;
+while the average price paid by us, or for the Collins, Havre, Bremen,
+Aspinwall, and Panama, San Francisco and Oregon, is $1.80-3/4 per
+mile. The highest sum paid per mile by the British Government is 11_s_
+4-1/4_d_, or $2.83-1/2, to the Cunard Company, $2.75 to the
+Australian, and $2.46 to the West-India; and the lowest, 6_s_
+1-3/4_d_, or $1.53-1/2 to the Peninsular and Oriental, much of whose
+service is coasting. This is saying nothing of the Pacific and the
+African coasting lines. The highest sum which we pay is to the Collins
+line, $3.10-1/2 per mile; and the lowest to the Havre, $1.00-1/2 per
+mile; while the sums paid to all of the other companies range but
+little above the last figures. The lowest rate per mile paid to any of
+the lines under the contract, was to the Pacific Mail, $1.70. It must
+not be forgotten that the low rates per mile of the Havre and Bremen
+result from those lines taking the postages, since their contracts
+expired; a sum by no means adjusted to the service done. They had
+ships that they could not let lie idle. Under their regular contracts
+the pay per mile of the Bremen line was $2.08, and of the Havre
+$1.76-1/2. While the British Government pays to four of her principal
+transmarine services an average of $2.39 per mile, we pay to five of
+ours an average of $1.80-3/4 only, or but about two thirds as much as
+she does. While our total annual expenditure for foreign mails is
+$1,329,733, a sum by $20,267 less than that paid to the single service
+of the West-India Royal Mail Company, that of Great Britain is
+$5,333,985. And, while our total income from transmarine postages is
+$1,035,740, a sum but little short of that paid in subsidy, taking the
+present Bremen and Havre services at the estimates of last year for
+sea and inland postages combined, the income from the whole
+transmarine service of Great Britain, including ocean and inland
+postage, was, when the last report was made in 1853, L591,573, or
+$2,957,865; but little above half the sum paid in subsidy, and
+including the French, Belgian, and Dutch routes, where the postal
+yield was much greater than from the ocean lines. The estimates which
+I present below have been made with great care from distances and
+subsidies furnished me by the reliable First Assistant Post Master
+General, Hon. Horatio King, from the last report of the late Post
+Master General, and from the report of the British Post Master
+General, Lord Canning, before noticed. Every item is consequently
+authentic.
+
+AMERICAN.
+
+ ----------+------+----------+----------+----------+-------+------------------
+ | | | | Gross | Total |
+ Line. |Trips.|Distances.| Subsidy. | Postage. | Miles | Pay per Mile.
+ ----------+------+----------+----------+----------+-------+------------------
+ Collins, | 20| 3,100| $385,000| $415,867|124,000| $3.10-1/2
+ Bremen, | 13| 3,700| 128,987| 128,937| 96,000| 1.34
+ Havre, | 13| 3,270| 88,484| 88,484| 85,020| 1.00-1/2
+ Aspinwall,| 24| 3,200| 290,000| 139,610|153,600| 1.88-3/4
+ Pacific, | 24| 4,200| 348,250| 183,238|201,600| 1.70
+ Havana, | 24| 669| 60,000| 6,288| 32,112| 1.86-1/2
+ Vera Cruz,| 24| 900| 29,062| 5,960| 43,200| .67
+ | | |==========|==========|=======|==================
+ | | |$1,329,733|$1,035,740|725,732|$1.80-3/4 Average.
+ ----------+------+----------+----------+----------+-------+------------------
+
+Total average per mile, $1.80-3/4. Average of five principal lines, $1.80-3/4.
+
+BRITISH.
+
+ KEY:
+ A: Cunard,
+ B: Royal Mail,
+ C: Pen. and Oriental,
+ D: Australian,
+ E: Bermuda and St. Thomas,
+ F: Panama and Valparaiso,
+ G: West Coast Africa,
+ H: Channel Islands,
+ I: Holyhead and Kingston,
+ J: Liv. and Isle of Man,
+ K: Shetland and Orkneys,
+
+ -----+------+----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------------
+ | | | | Gross | Total |
+ Line.|Trips.|Distances.| Subsidy. | Postage. | Miles | Pay per Mile.
+ -----+------+----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------------
+ A | 52| 3,100| L173,340|L143,667.10s| 304,000|11s 4-1/2d $2.38-1/2
+ B | 24| 11,402| 270,000| 106,905.00 | 547,296| 9s10 $2.46
+ C | 24| [F]| 244,000| 178,186.11 | 796,637| 6s 1-3/4 $1.53-1/2
+ D | 12| 14,000| 185,000| 33,281.12 | 336,000|11s00 $2.75
+ E | 24| 2,042| 14,700| | 98,000| 3s00 $0.75
+ F | 24| 2,718| 25,000| 5,715.00 | 130,434| 3s10 $0.96
+ G | 12| 6,245| 23,250| 3,196.02 | 149,880| 2s 6 $0.62-1/2
+ | | | | French | |
+ | | | | Belgian, | |
+ | | | | and Dutch | |
+ | | | | Postage. | |
+ H | 156| 132| | {74,430.08 | 41,184|
+ I | 730| 64| | {36,158.09 | 93,440|
+ J | 112| 70| | {10,032.15 | 14,560|
+ K | 52| 200| | | 20,800|
+ | | |==========|============|=========|====================
+ | | |L1,062,797|L591,573.07s|2,532,231| 9s 7d $2.39
+ -----+------+----------+----------+------------+---------+--------------------
+
+Total Average per Mile, $2.10-1/3. Average of four principal lines, $2.39.
+
+[F] The Peninsular and Oriental Company run twice per month between
+Southampton and Alexandria, and between Suez and Calcutta and Hong
+Kong; twice per month between Marseilles and Malta; between Singapore
+and Sydney every two months; and three times per month between
+Southampton and Gibraltar, touching at Vigo, O Porto, Lisbon, and
+Cadiz.
+
+It would hardly be expected that the lines of this country should run
+at cheaper rates than those of Great Britain, as the prime cost of
+ships and their repairs, fuel, wages, insurance, etc., are much
+cheaper there, and as they have more paying freights, in their
+manufactured goods. It only explains to us, what has alway seemed a
+mystery; that while the regular companies in England were making
+money, nearly all of those in the United States not only had not made
+money, but were embarrassed more or less, and were selling their
+stocks at sixty to eighty cents on the dollar.
+
+It is pleasing and instructive to examine the steam mail service of
+Great Britain, and see the gradual, unfaltering progress that she has
+made from year to year, since 1833; increasing the mail facilities and
+the sums paid for them by constant accretion based on system, rather
+than by any spasmodic legislation, or the ruling caprices of the
+moment. These improvements have not come all in a mass, or in any one
+year. Neither have they been abandoned at times of financial
+embarrassment, or commercial depression. At such periods they have
+been as regularly fostered as in the times of the most flush
+prosperity; and have ever been properly considered one of the prime
+agents and necessities for restoring commerce to its normal condition
+and a safe equilibrium. The transmarine service, which cost but
+L583,793, or $2,918,965, per annum until 1850,[G] now costs
+L1,062,797, or $5,333,985; within a fraction of double the sum. While
+the increase has not been slow, it has been steady and systematic,
+just as it was necessary to meet the wants of British commerce
+throughout the world. The language of the Hon. Senator Rusk on this
+subject, in his Report made to the Senate, Sep. 18th, 1850, found in
+Senate Ex. Doc. No. 50, 1st Session of 32d Congress, in Special Rep.
+Secretary of the Navy, 1852, is forcible and worthy of remembrance. He
+says:
+
+[G] See Second Report, Steam Communication with India, 1851. Appendix,
+page 419.
+
+ "The importance of the steam mail service, when considered with
+ reference to the convenience which it affords to the social
+ intercourse of the country, is as nothing when compared with its
+ vast bearing upon the commerce of the world. Wherever facilities
+ of rapid travel exist, trade will be found with its attendant
+ wealth. Of the truth of this proposition, no country, perhaps,
+ affords a more forcible illustration than Great Britain, as none
+ has ever availed itself, to so great an extent, of the benefits of
+ easy and rapid intercommunication between the various portions of
+ her almost boundless empire. The commercial history of England has
+ shown that mail facilities have uniformly gone hand in hand with
+ the extension of trade; and wherever British subjects are found
+ forming communities, there do we find the hand of the government
+ busy in supplying the means of easy and safe communication with
+ the mother country. With a view to this, we have beheld England
+ increasing her steam marine at an enormous expense, and sustaining
+ packet lines connecting with every quarter of the globe, even in
+ cases where any _immediate_ and _direct_ remuneration was out of
+ the question. The great object in view was, to draw together the
+ portions of an empire upon which the sun never sets, and the
+ martial airs of which encircle the globe, and to make British
+ subjects who dwell in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and even
+ Oceanica, all feel alike that they are Britons."
+
+The Hon. Thomas Butler King, formerly Chairman of the Naval Committee,
+in a speech in the House, 19th July, 1848, said on this subject:
+
+ "In the year 1840 a contract was made by the Admiralty with the
+ Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, at two hundred and forty thousand
+ pounds sterling, or one million two hundred thousand dollars per
+ annum, for fourteen steamers to carry the mails from Southampton
+ to the West-Indies, the ports of Mexico in the Gulf, and to
+ New-Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, and Charleston. These ships are of
+ the largest class, and are to conform in all respects, concerning
+ size and adaptation to the purposes of war, to the conditions
+ prescribed in the Cunard contracts. They are to make twenty-four
+ voyages or forty-eight trips a year, leaving and returning to
+ Southampton semi-monthly.
+
+ "Another contract has recently been entered into, as I am
+ informed, for two ships to run between Bermuda and New-York. The
+ West-India line, in consequence of some disasters during the first
+ years of its service, was relieved from touching at the ports of
+ the United States; but in the spring of last year it was required
+ to resume its communication with New-Orleans, and is at any time
+ liable to be required to touch at the other ports on our coast
+ which I have named. Thus it will be perceived that this system of
+ mail steam-packet service is so arranged as not only to
+ communicate with Canada and the West-Indies, the ports on the
+ Spanish Main and the Gulf coast of Mexico, but also to touch at
+ every important port in the United States, from Boston to
+ New-Orleans.
+
+ "These three lines employ twenty-five steamers of the largest and
+ most efficient description, where familiarity with our seaports
+ and the whole extent of our coast would render them the most
+ formidable enemies in time of war. It is scarcely possible to
+ imagine a system more skillfully devised to bring down upon us, at
+ any given point, and at any unexpected moment, the whole force of
+ British power. More especially is this true with respect to our
+ _southern_ coast, where the great number of accessible and
+ unprotected harbors, both on the Atlantic and the Gulf, would
+ render such incursions comparatively safe to them, and terrible to
+ us. And when we reflect that the design of this system is, that it
+ shall draw the means of its support from our own commerce and
+ intercourse, we should surely have been wanting in the duty we
+ owed to ourselves and to our country, if we had failed to adopt
+ measures towards the establishment of such an American system of
+ Atlantic steam navigation as would compete successfully with it."
+
+Previous to the renewal of the several foreign mail contracts, in
+1850, the Treasury ordered, 26th April, 1849, the formation of a
+Committee in these words: "_Ordered_, that a Select Committee be
+appointed to inquire into the CONTRACT PACKET SERVICE." That Committee
+was composed of Sir James Hogg, Mr. Cardwell, Sir Wm. Clay, Mr.
+Cowper, Mr. Alderman Thompson, Mr. Fitz Roy, Mr. Hastie, Mr. Mangles,
+Mr. Thomas Baring, Mr. Bankes, Mr. William Brown, Mr. Childers, Mr.
+Wilcox, Mr. Crogan, and Mr. Henley. Mr. Elliot was added in the place
+of Mr. Baring. The Committee sat seventeen days, and examined fifteen
+witnesses under oath, many of these being commanders in the Navy,
+Secretaries, Presidents, and engineers of the Companies, and other
+eminent men in steam. Mr. Cunard was among the witnesses. After taking
+evidence and papers extending over about seven hundred and
+eighty-three octavo pages, they said in their report, after
+recommending that great care should be exercised in making all future
+contracts:
+
+"1. That so far as the Committee are able to judge, from the evidence
+they have taken, it appears that the mails are conveyed at a less cost
+by Hired Packets than by Her Majesty's Vessels.
+
+"2. That some of the existing Contracts have been put up to public
+tender, and some arranged by private negotiation; and that a very
+large sum beyond what is received from postage is paid on some of the
+lines; but considering that at the time these contracts were arranged
+the success of these large undertakings was uncertain, Your Committee
+see no reason to think that better terms could have been obtained for
+the public."
+
+This investigation was made to enable the Government to proceed
+intelligently with the many contracts which were to expire in 1850;
+and its immediate consequence was, not only the renewal of all the old
+contracts with the same parties at the same or larger pay, but the
+establishment of several new services.
+
+The British system had operated to the very highest satisfaction of
+the public and the Government for twenty years, until 1853, as it has
+done ever since; but at that time it was put to a second and very
+severe test. It had been suggested, probably by the Lords of the
+Admiralty, who had to pay the bills from the Naval fund, that the
+packet system was too costly, and should be remodelled, and perhaps
+reduced. Complaint was thus made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+who, in a Treasury Minute, dated March 1, 1853, says:
+
+ "Important as it is to secure rapid and certain communication with
+ the remote dependencies of this country, and with other distant
+ states, for national purposes, it is doubtless, under all common
+ circumstances, from commercial considerations that such facility
+ of correspondence derives its highest value."
+
+ "Her Majesty's Government conceive the time to have arrived when
+ the entire charge of the packet service should be deliberately
+ examined and reviewed, with joint reference to the questions--how
+ far the purposes with which the present system was begun have been
+ accomplished--how far the total amount of service rendered to the
+ State is adequate to the total annual expense--how far there may
+ be cause for a more than commonly jealous and scrupulous
+ consideration of such further schemes of extension of the system
+ as particular interests or parties may press, or even such as
+ public objects may recommend from time to time; lastly, how far,
+ on account of the early period at which certain of the contracts
+ are terminable, or on account of requisitions put in by the
+ contractors themselves for the modification of the terms, or for
+ any other reason, it may be prudent to entertain the question of
+ any revision of those terms, or of laying down any prospective
+ rules with regard to them; such only, of course, as may comport
+ with the equitable as well as the legal rights of the parties, and
+ may avoid any disappointment to the just expectations of those
+ classes who may have felt a peculiar interest in the establishment
+ and extension of these great lines of communication."
+
+After remarking that some of the vessels of some few Companies were
+unfit for purposes of war, the "Minute of the Treasury," in
+instructing the Committee, further says:
+
+ "At the same time, it is not to be conceived that, on account of
+ this failure in a portion of the design, the country has cause to
+ regret having paid a larger price than was intended to be paid
+ simply for the establishment of these noble chains of
+ communication, which well nigh embrace the world. The organization
+ of a complete postal system upon the ocean, with absolute fixity
+ of departures, and a general approach to certainty in arrivals,
+ was a great problem, of high interest and benefit, not to England
+ only, but to all civilized countries; and this problem may now be
+ said to have been solved by England, for the advantage of mankind
+ at large. It was to all appearance altogether beyond the reach of
+ merely commercial enterprise; and if the price paid has been high,
+ the object has been worthy, and the success for all essential
+ purposes complete."
+
+As a consequence of this "Minute," the Lords Commissioners of Her
+Majesty's Treasury appointed a Committee, consisting of Viscount
+Canning, Post Master General of Great Britain, as President; Hon. Wm.
+Cowper, on behalf of the Board of Admiralty; Sir Stafford H.
+Northcote, Bart.; and Mr. R. Madox Bromley, Secretary to the Board of
+Audit. The Committee organized, examined the Evidence and Report of
+the Committee of 1849, also the three large volumes of Evidence and
+Report taken by the Committee in 1851 on "Steam Communication with
+India and Australia," and the many elaborate documents of this class
+published by the Admiralty. After discussing thoroughly all of the
+political, financial, commercial, ethical, and social questions
+connected with rapid steam mail communication, they made an elaborate
+and detailed examination of all the contracts existing with the
+Government, and of the affairs of the various companies, with a view
+to deciding whether the ocean mail service should be abridged, or
+continued, or extended. They reported to both Houses of Parliament,
+July 8th, 1853. The conclusion of the Committee was, not only that the
+present service was demanded by every interest of the country and
+should be sustained, but that it should be judiciously extended, so as
+to meet all of the wants of the British public of whatever class. As
+elsewhere remarked, the new line established last year to Australia
+and India, at a cost of $925,000 per annum, for seven years, was a
+legitimate result of that test and that report, made in the most
+searching manner by the very ablest men of the kingdom; and this,
+notwithstanding the reports purposely circulated in this country every
+few years that Great Britain intends abandoning her steam mail system.
+She will abandon that system, as her practice plainly indicates, only
+when her people shall have discovered some means of making and
+preserving wealth without effort, enterprise, commerce, or
+manufactures. (_See page 99, Mr. Atherton's Reply._) The Report says:
+
+ "Before the application of steam to the propulsion of ships, the
+ contracts were often made for short periods, the Government being
+ able to find, among the vessels already employed in trade, some of
+ speed sufficient for the purpose; but when it became requisite to
+ dispatch the mails by steam, the ordinary supply of trading
+ vessels would no longer suffice, and the Government had to call
+ into existence a new class of packets.
+
+ "The postal service between England and the adjacent shores of
+ Ireland, France, and Belgium, was at first performed by steam
+ packets belonging to the Crown; but for the longer voyages it was
+ thought better to induce commercial companies to build steamers;
+ and with that view the contracts were at first made for periods
+ which, unless previously terminated by failure to fulfill their
+ engagements, would secure to the company the full benefit of their
+ original outlay, by continuing the employment of their vessels
+ until they might be expected to require extensive repairs, or to
+ become unfit for continued service. In 1837 steam communication
+ was created with Portugal and Gibraltar; in 1840 with Egypt, with
+ the West-Indies, and with North-America.
+
+ "When the public interest requires the establishment of a postal
+ line on which the ordinary traffic would not be remunerative for
+ steamers, the subsidy to be allowed in the contract may be
+ ascertained either by the test of public competition, or by
+ calculating the amount which, on an estimate of the probable
+ receipts and expenditure, will cover the deficiency of receipts,
+ or by comparing it with the cost of war vessels if employed for
+ the same purpose."
+
+ "The objects which appear to have led to the formation of these
+ contracts, and to the large expenditure involved, were--to afford
+ a rapid, frequent, and punctual communication with those distant
+ ports which feed the main arteries of British commerce, and with
+ the most important of our foreign possessions; to foster maritime
+ enterprise; and to encourage the production of a superior class of
+ vessels which would promote the convenience and wealth of the
+ country in time of peace, and assist in defending its shores
+ against hostile aggression.
+
+ "These expectations have not been disappointed. The ocean has been
+ traversed with a precision and regularity hitherto deemed
+ impossible--commerce and civilization have been extended--the
+ colonies have been brought more closely into connection with the
+ Home Government--and steamships have been constructed of a size
+ and power that, without Government aid, could hardly, at least for
+ many years, have been produced.
+
+ "It is not easy to estimate the pecuniary value of these results,
+ but there is no reason to suppose that they could have been
+ attained at that time at less cost."
+
+After noticing the objects of the postal contracts, the Report says,
+in speaking of their results:
+
+ "To show what the system is capable of accomplishing, it will be
+ sufficient that we should call attention to the two great lines of
+ communication which have been opened, the one between this country
+ and India, the other between this country and America. The mails
+ are dispatched twice a month in the one case, and once a week in
+ the other, and are conveyed to their destination with a regularity
+ and rapidity which leaves nothing to be desired. The time occupied
+ in the voyage to and fro between England and Bombay, which, before
+ the establishment of the Overland Route, averaged about 224 days,
+ is now no more than 87 days; and the time occupied in the voyage
+ to and fro between England and the United States, which before
+ 1840 varied from 45 to 105 days, is now reduced to an average
+ period of 24 days. Nor is the service simply rapid, it is also
+ regular; and the mercantile community can reckon with the utmost
+ certainty on the punctual departure of the mails at the appointed
+ times, and can also calculate with great precision the times of
+ their arrival.
+
+ "The same results have not been so conspicuous on some other
+ postal lines; but, taking the service as a whole, it has
+ undoubtedly been brought to a high state of excellence, and its
+ value to the country, both politically and commercially, is very
+ considerable."
+
+In speaking further of the objects of the Government postal service,
+after inquiring whether the foreign mail service should be extended
+any further, it says:
+
+ "The object of the Government in undertaking the transmarine
+ postal service, whether by packets or by the system of ship
+ letters, is to provide frequent, rapid, and regular communication
+ between this country and other states, and between different parts
+ of the British Empire. The reasons for desiring such communication
+ are partly commercial and partly political. In cases where the
+ interests concerned are chiefly those of commerce, it is generally
+ more important that the postal service should be regular, than
+ that it should be extremely rapid, though of course rapidity of
+ communication, where it can be obtained without sacrificing other
+ objects, is of great advantage. It would clearly be the interest
+ of persons engaged in an important trade, provided there were no
+ legal impediment in the way, to establish a regular postal
+ communication in connection with it, even without aid from the
+ state. This, however, would not extend to many cases in which
+ there are political reasons for maintaining such services, while
+ the commercial interests involved are of less magnitude. _Nor is
+ it probable that private communications would be nearly so rapid
+ as those directed by the Government; for a high rate of speed can
+ only be obtained at a great expense, which will generally be found
+ to be disproportionate to the benefits directly received from it,
+ unless under peculiar circumstances of passenger traffic._ Lastly,
+ it is to be considered that there are several services which, if
+ they were not carried on by the British Government, would probably
+ be undertaken by the Governments of foreign states, and that it is
+ not likely that private individuals or associations would in such
+ cases enter into competition with them.
+
+ "From these considerations we infer that, even upon the lines in
+ the maintenance of which the greatest commercial interests are
+ involved, private enterprise can not be depended upon for
+ providing a complete substitute for Government agency; while it is
+ clear that in others, where regular communications are desired
+ solely or chiefly for political purposes, such agency is
+ absolutely indispensable. _It is, however, obvious, that to
+ establish a Government system in some cases, and to leave others
+ wholly to private persons, would cause much inconvenience._ The
+ conclusion therefore follows, that it is right that the Government
+ should have the management of the whole of the transmarine postal
+ communication, as it also has that of the communication within the
+ country.
+
+ "In undertaking this duty, the Government will in the first place
+ have regard to the national interests, whether political, social,
+ or commercial, involved in the establishment and maintenance of
+ each particular line. Care must, however, be taken, in cases where
+ the communication is desired chiefly for commercial purposes, to
+ guard against an undue expenditure of public money for the benefit
+ of private merchants. The extension of commerce is undoubtedly a
+ national advantage, and it is quite reasonable that Parliamentary
+ grants should occasionally be employed for the sake of affording
+ fresh openings for it, by establishing new lines of communication,
+ or introducing new methods of conveyance, the expense of which,
+ after the first outlay has been incurred, may be expected to be
+ borne by the parties availing themselves of the facilities offered
+ them. But this having once been done, and sufficient time having
+ been allowed for the experiment, the further continuance of the
+ service, unless required for political reasons of adequate
+ importance, should be made to depend upon the extent to which the
+ parties chiefly interested avail themselves of it, and upon its
+ tendency to become self-supporting."
+
+Noticing the greater or less sums at which private companies may be
+induced to undertake short line postal service, and stating that the
+line is both benefited and injured by the necessity of punctual
+sailing hours, the Report states the reason why subsidies are
+required, thus:
+
+ "The vessels now under contract with the Government are, however,
+ for the most part, required to maintain high rates of speed. The
+ contractors are also subject to a variety of conditions, designed
+ partly to secure the efficiency of the postal service, and partly
+ to render their vessels available for other national purposes
+ wholly unconnected with that service. In return, they are in the
+ receipt of subsidies largely in excess of the amount of revenue
+ derived from the mails they carry, and those subsidies are
+ guaranteed to them for terms of years varying from four to twelve,
+ most of which have at the present time not less than seven or
+ eight years to run. An Estimate printed in the Appendix, will show
+ that while the amount of the subsidies to foreign and colonial
+ lines, as contracted for in the past year, was no less than
+ L822,390, the sums received for postage upon these lines can not
+ be estimated at more than L443,782."
+
+The Report further says, as to the mode by which postal communication
+can be procured, "where frequent and rapid communication already
+exists, it is only necessary for the Government to secure from time to
+time the services of vessels already engaged in private traffic." But
+as there are no such cases in the transmarine routes, and as private
+enterprise supplies the demand of steam lines only on the short
+routes, like the inter-island service of Great Britain, or that to the
+Continent, or the service of the Sound, the North River, short coast
+routes, etc., in the United States, the Report goes on to say:
+
+ "There still remain, however, some cases in which there exists no
+ private communication sufficient to render such a mode of
+ proceeding practicable. Where this is so, and where a
+ communication has to be created, it will be necessary that
+ contracts of longer duration should be made, _for it is
+ unreasonable to expect that any person or association of persons
+ should incur the expense and risk of building vessels, forming
+ costly establishments, and opening a new line of communication at
+ a heavy outlay of capital, without some security that they will be
+ allowed to continue the service long enough to reap some benefit
+ from their undertaking. It must be borne in mind, that the
+ expensive vessels built for the conveyance of the mails at a high
+ rate of speed are not in demand for the purposes of ordinary
+ traffic, and can not therefore be withdrawn and applied to another
+ service at short notice_. It is, then, fair, that on the first
+ opening of a new line, contracts should be made for such a length
+ of time as may encourage the building of ships for the purpose, by
+ affording a prospect of their employment for a considerable number
+ of years. But we see no sufficient reason for continually renewing
+ such contracts for periods equally long, after the object has once
+ been attained."
+
+(_For the views of the Committee on the adaptation of the mail packets
+to naval service, see pages 146 and 147._)
+
+The Committee in summing up, presents the result of the investigation
+and the fruits of the service in the following impressive light:
+
+ "The value of the services thus rendered to the State can not, we
+ think, be measured by a mere reference to the amount of the postal
+ revenue, or even by the commercial advantages accruing from it. It
+ is undoubtedly startling, at first sight, to perceive that the
+ immediate pecuniary result of the Packet System is a loss to the
+ Revenue of about L325,000 a year; but, although this circumstance
+ shows the necessity for a careful revision of the service, and
+ although we believe that much may be done to make that service
+ self-supporting, we do not consider that the money thus expended
+ is to be regarded, even from a fiscal point of view, as a national
+ loss."
+
+It has never been a favorite idea with British statesmen that the
+packet service should be self-sustaining; nor have they had any
+evidence to believe that steam companies could live on the postal
+receipts. It is evident from the following that the packet system is
+sustained without any reference whatever to the postal income, and for
+commercial, political, and social purposes alone; only using the
+income so far as it goes as a part of the contributions by the people
+to the general treasury. It says:
+
+ "Your Lordships have seen from our Report that in framing these
+ contracts various objects have entered into the consideration of
+ the Government, the cost of which ought not in our opinion to be
+ charged upon the revenues of the General Post Office. A simple
+ comparison of the receipts and expenditure upon some of the lines
+ is in itself sufficient to prove this. If the Post Office is to be
+ considered as a department producing revenue, it is not to be
+ supposed that a line of vessels which costs the State L240,000 a
+ year, and brings in no more than L56,002, (as is the case with the
+ West-Indian packets,) or one for which L25,000 is annually paid,
+ and which returns little more than one fifth of that sum, (as the
+ Pacific line,) can be maintained as a part of its machinery; and,
+ in fact, the contracts for many of the services have been made
+ without reference to any estimate or opinion on the part of the
+ Post Master General of their probable value as postal lines."
+
+It thus becomes abundantly evident from the Reports of Parliamentary
+Committees, from the "Acts of Parliament," and from the practice of
+the Admiralty and Post Office Departments, as well as from the
+unvarying experiences of twenty-four years, that the steam mail packet
+system of Great Britain was primarily adopted, and ever since
+sustained as the choicest means of giving to that nation the
+irresistible control of the world. Watching this system from the germ
+to its present maturity, we have seen the overshadowing tree reach
+higher and higher, and the circle of each year's growth expand more
+and more, until the outer ring now embraces the whole civilized and
+savage world. An additional evidence of this arrives this very day.
+The Atlantic brings intelligence (_New-York papers, Nov. 22d_) that
+Great Britain has just completed another mail contract, by which the
+Peninsular and Oriental Company are to run a third semi-monthly
+service to India and China; so that the Government and people of Great
+Britain shall have a weekly communication with those regions, while we
+have none except through them, although we are many thousand miles
+nearer to those countries.
+
+It has been said that we should not attempt to run the postal and
+commercial race with Great Britain. Why not? Because she has many
+colonies, and must needs keep up communication with them. And why have
+steam instead of sail to them? Because steam is the means of more
+readily _controlling_ them. Grant it; and for the very same reason we
+wish steam with all the world; not that we may control the world, for
+this is costly and unremunerative, as Great Britain finds; but to
+conform it, and especially to _control_ its commerce. Great Britain
+has possessions in the West-Indies; but they are of the most
+insignificant importance when compared with the trade of the many
+islands and countries near them, which she does not possess, and with
+the Central American, Californian, Mexican, Peruvian, Chilian,
+New-Granadian, Venezuelan, and Spanish markets, which she controls and
+uses. So with India and the Mauritius. It is a matter of sore
+satisfaction that she is compelled to govern them as a means of
+reaching their rich trade, which, however rich, is far less important
+than that of China for which she so strives. So also with Canada. She
+was told some years since that, if she wished to secede from the
+Kingdom, because the Government would not assist in building a certain
+railroad, she might go, and carry peace, also, with her. The
+Government would scout the idea of running the Cunard line to Canada
+alone, and would not touch even at Halifax, except that the ships are
+compelled to go in sight of the place; as the "great circle" on which
+they sail nearly cuts the city. Great Britain runs that line because
+her trade with the United States requires it. That trade is worth to
+her every year twenty of her Canadas, as that of the West-Indies is
+worth a dozen of all the possessions which she has there. As to
+running the race of commerce with her, it is simply a _sine qua non_,
+on which there is no difference of opinion among Americans who love
+their country.
+
+
+
+
+SECTION X.
+
+THE MAIL LINES OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+ THE MAIL LINES OF THE UNITED STATES: THE HAVRE AND BREMEN, THE
+ PIONEERS: THE BREMEN SERVICE RECENTLY GIVEN TO MR. VANDERBILT:
+ BOTH LINES RUN ON THE GROSS RECEIPTS: THE CALIFORNIA LINES:
+ WONDROUS DEVELOPMENT OF OUR PACIFIC POSSESSIONS: THE PACIFIC MAIL
+ STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS HISTORY, SERVICES, LARGE MATERIEL, AND
+ USEFULNESS: THE UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS RAMIFIED
+ AND LARGE EXTRA SERVICE: EFFECT UPON THE COMMERCE OF THE GULF: ITS
+ HEAVY LOSSES, AND NEW SHIPS: STEAMSHIP STOCKS GENERALLY AVOIDED:
+ CONSTANTLY FAR BELOW PAR: THE COLLINS LINE: A COMPARISON WITH THE
+ CUNARD: ITS SOURCES OF HEAVY OUTLAY, AND ITS ENTERPRISE: THE
+ AMERICAN MARINE DISASTERS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY HUMAN
+ FORESIGHT: THE VANDERBILT BREMEN LINE.
+
+
+It is not my intention to notice the various lines in detail, or in
+any wise become their apologist, eulogist, or prosecutor. As a general
+thing they have discharged their obligations to the Government and the
+people in the most creditable manner; in a much better manner than
+could have been expected of them, considering the novelty of such
+enterprises in this country and our total want of experience either in
+steamship building or ocean steam navigation. It is a cause of great
+gratulation and satisfaction that springing into the great arena of
+the mail and passenger strife at a single bound, our steamers at once
+took the lead in the race, and have ever since distanced those of the
+whole world in speed, comfort, general accommodations, and cheap
+transit. This may be asserted as a rule without a single exception.
+The Collins steamers and the steamer "Vanderbilt" have beaten the
+Cunarders by nearly a day and a half on the average voyages; the Havre
+and Bremen steamers make just the same time as the Cunarders; and the
+California steamers of both lines have signally beaten those of all
+the English lines in the West-Indies, the Mediterranean, and the
+Pacific and Indian oceans. Indeed the triumphs of our steamers
+generally and specially have been so decided in every valuable point
+that we have great reason to be proud of the attainments to which the
+legislation of 1846 and '47 led. We have nothing to record to the
+credit of our legislation since that period.
+
+The Havre and Bremen services were the first established in the United
+States; and as the pioneers in our mail steamshipping they have both
+proven themselves valuable to the country. The Bremen line went into
+the hands of Mr. Vanderbilt during the present year, on the expiration
+of the old contract; the "Ocean Steam Navigation Company" being
+unwilling to attempt the performance of the service on the small mail
+pay of the gross ocean and inland postages, even with their old ships.
+Mr. Vanderbilt having three ships wholly out of employment, determined
+to try the service. How far it will prove remunerative we shall not be
+able to determine until the steamers shall have run through one or two
+winters as well as summers.
+
+The Havre service was continued in the old hands. Mr. Livingston had
+two fine new ships, which had been running but little over one year,
+and which, adapted specially to the mail, passenger, and transport
+trade of France, could not easily be withdrawn from the business for
+which they were built; while it would have been quite impossible to
+find for them employment in any other trade. He, consequently, made a
+temporary arrangement with the Department for one year, agreeing to
+transport the mails, as during the old contract, for the gross ocean
+and inland postages. With this small remuneration the Havre line gets
+a smaller pay than any other running; but one dollar per mile. The
+Company have deserved well of the Government for their untiring
+efforts to perform their contract; one of the greatest sacrifices
+being the necessity of building two costly new steamers just as their
+contract was about to expire. They suffered most severely from
+disaster. Both of their fine and fast steamers, the "Franklin" and the
+"Humboldt," were lost; and they were compelled to supply their places
+by chartering at exorbitantly high prices, until they built the two
+excellent vessels now running, the "Arago" and "Fulton." These two
+steamers run probably more cheaply than any ever built in any country;
+otherwise, being as large as they are, about twenty-six hundred tons
+each, they could by no means live on the small mail pay now given
+them. It may be that both these and the Vanderbilt Bremen steamers are
+losing money; although the latter vessels are much smaller, and have
+the advantage of an immense emigrant trade. I have no means of knowing
+the position of affairs in either company.
+
+But no loss to the Havre Company has ever been so great as that of its
+late President, Mr. Mortimer Livingston. An honorable and just man in
+his dealings, both with individuals and the Government, he eschewed
+every attempt by which some sought to pervert and deprave the
+legislation of the country, and presented all of his views in
+steamshipping on high, honorable, and tenable grounds. He pursued the
+profession in an enlarged spirit of enterprise, and was not unmindful
+of his duties to his country, while he endeavored to establish
+legitimate trade and preserve a profitable private business which had
+been well founded long before the introduction of ocean steam. He was
+a worthy and most honorable gentleman, and is a loss to the whole
+public.
+
+Prominent among the steamship enterprises of the country stand the two
+lines which connect the Atlantic and Gulf seaboard with our large and
+rich possessions in the Pacific, California, and Oregon. Established
+at a time when California was held by military government, and when
+Oregon was a wild untamed wilderness, these lines became the means of
+developing the richest portion of the American continent, and binding
+the far distant western world in close connection with the old
+confederacy, notwithstanding the mighty Cordilleras and Rocky
+Mountains which rose like forbidding barriers between them. Important
+as these possessions were, naturally and geographically, they acquired
+a new interest about the time that the Pacific and the Aspinwall
+Steamship Companies were established. The contracts which were made
+with these companies would certainly have ruined them but for the
+discovery of gold in California. This opened a new and brilliant field
+of effort, and the opportunities offered by these companies soon
+determined tens of thousands of our hardy and enterprising countrymen
+to enter and develop it.
+
+It is pleasing in this connection to trace the almost mysterious
+progress of our Pacific territory during the past eight years, and the
+agencies producing it. Among these agencies none have been so
+effectual as the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. That Company was
+compelled to form an establishment of the most effective character
+four to five thousand miles away from home, and as it was at the
+time, thirteen thousand miles distant. The country was wholly new, so
+much so that it was, in most parts of the field which it had to
+occupy, extremely difficult to procure ordinary food for their
+operatives. Their ships had to make a voyage more than half of that
+around the world before they arrived at their point of service; and
+they found themselves without a home when there. The steamer
+"California," which left New-York on the 6th October, 1848, was the
+first to bear the American flag to the Pacific ocean, and the first to
+salute with a new life the solitudes of that rich and untrodden
+territory. She was soon followed by the "Panama" and "Oregon," and in
+due course of time by the "Tennessee," the "Golden Gate," the
+"Columbia," the "John L. Stephens," the "Sonora," the "Republic," the
+"Northerner," the "Fremont," the "Tobago," the "St. Louis," and the
+"Golden Age." From a small beginning that Company now has the finest
+steam fleet in the United States, although the difficulties in forming
+it were probably much greater than any of our other companies had to
+contend with.
+
+These steamers found nothing ready to receive them in the Pacific. The
+Company was compelled to construct large workshops and foundries for
+their repair, and now have at Benicia a large and excellent
+establishment where they can easily construct a marine engine. They
+had also to build their own Dry Dock; for that of the Government at
+Mare Island was not ready until 1854. Theirs has ever been most useful
+to the United States, as it furnished the only accommodations of that
+class in the Pacific. They had also to make shore establishments at
+Panama, San Francisco, and Astoria, which, with coal depots, etc.,
+were extremely costly, owing to materials having to be transported so
+far, and labor at the time being so high. The price of labor in
+California at all times depends on the profits which can be made by
+digging gold, and the prices paid for this species of labor have ever
+been enormous. Beyond this most unusual price of labor along the
+Pacific seaboard, the coals which they have used, whether from the
+Eastern States or from England, have been invariably shipped around
+Cape Horn, and have never cost less than twenty dollars per ton. For a
+large portion of the time the Company had to pay thirty dollars per
+ton for coal, and in one instance fifty dollars. Coal, like all other
+provisions of the steamers, has generally been purchased from those
+who sent it out on speculation, and took all the advantages of the
+peculiar market. Twelve dollars per ton is a low price for freight to
+California or Panama. In addition to this, the cost price of the coal,
+the handling, the wastage, and the insurance, will amount to about
+eight dollars per ton, making it never less than twenty dollars
+delivered. I have frequently seen coals sell even in Rio de Janeiro,
+which is but about one third of the distance from us, at eighteen to
+twenty-four dollars per ton. The nine steamers running consume about
+35,000 tons of coal annually. If the vessels transporting it be of
+1,000 tons each, it will employ something near thirty-five of these
+vessels at profitable rates, in this one item of their business alone.
+Such expenditures are not necessary to any other steam company in the
+world. The British lines in the Indian Ocean and the China Seas are
+supplied with domestic coal which comes at very reasonable prices, and
+is shipped but a short distance.
+
+Yet this Company performs this distant and difficult service with
+great regularity and at a low price. They have never lost a trip, a
+mail-bag, or a passenger by marine disaster during the eight years
+that they have been running in the Pacific. This results from the fact
+of the Company having thirteen steamers. If all of the steamers now in
+commission were sunk, they could supply their place from their reserve
+fleet and have no hiatus in their service. Such a spare fleet is an
+enormous expense; but it is positively indispensable to regular and
+highly efficient service. It is singular that under these
+circumstances they can perform the service at $1.70 cents per mile. It
+is a notorious fact that these steamers could not have supported
+themselves in 1854-55 without the aid which they obtained from the
+Government for the services which they performed. They never have
+transported much freight, as it would not bear the transhipment at
+Panama. The small quantity which they had was during the first years
+after the discovery of gold, and then only. They have never at any
+time brought any eastward. The Panama Railroad was a splendid
+consummation of which the world had dreamed for years, and toward
+whose completion this Company was highly instrumental. Yet it did not
+enable the steamers to transport freight, and it never will.
+
+These steamers run the 3,300 miles between Panama and San Francisco by
+a time-table. They arrive at either end within a very few hours of
+thirteen and a half days, including all of the stoppages, which are
+also made at specified hours. Thus the average speed of the steamers
+is about 254 miles per day. They touch at Acapulco and Mazanilla, and
+supply San Diego, Monterey, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, San Luis, and
+Obispo, ports of California, from Panama by a branch line. This is an
+extra service, and is not taken into account in calculating the
+mileage paid the Company.
+
+The steamers have carried probably 175,000 passengers to California,
+and have brought back about $200,000,000 in gold. They have also by
+their semi-monthly line from San Francisco to Oregon assisted in
+populating that rich and beautiful agricultural district, and making
+it available for useful purposes as a part of the United States. They
+have converted the wilderness of California into a smiling garden, and
+will ere long produce the same effect on Oregon. With that coast
+comparatively unprotected, and with the small standing army sustained
+in this country, they become very important as a ready means of
+concentrating on the Pacific coast a large army in a few days. They
+also afford a ready transit for the changing crews of our national
+vessels, which, when once around the Horn, may remain there several
+years; having to change their crews only.
+
+The large property of this Company in the Pacific can be made
+available for no other purpose than that for which it was created. Any
+company to be thoroughly effective there, must create its own stock,
+and support works on the same general plan as those created by the
+British East-India Company. Their success in building up this large
+establishment on the Pacific was simply an accident; and that accident
+the discovery of gold. But for this the Company would have failed in
+two years, or gone back pleading to Congress for relief. But the gold
+crisis saved it, and the enterprise was very remunerative for the
+first few years; but since 1853 the profits have been limited, while
+for one or two years the Company have sustained actual loss. They
+calculated too largely on the prospective business with California,
+and have too large a sum invested to make much for the future. And
+yet, with a smaller investment they could not perform the service,
+except in that dangerous, cheap, indecent way, of innumerable wants
+and deprivations, which the American people have begun to despise.
+They have had some few disasters, but none of those of a fatal
+character in the Pacific. The "Winfield Scott" was lost in entering
+the harbor of Acapulco; the "Tennessee" in entering that of San
+Francisco in a dense fog. The "San Francisco" was lost, as will be
+remembered, on this side, near our coast, as she sailed with troops
+for the Pacific. The Nicaragua Transit Company fared much worse with
+their steamers in the Pacific. They lost the "North America," the
+"Independence," the "S. S. Lewis," the "Pioneer," and the "Yankee
+Blade." Mr. Wm. Brown also lost his steamer "America," which he was
+running between San Francisco and Oregon. She was burned.
+
+Their dividends for four years have been but twelve per cent. And
+should they be at any time thrown out of the service, more than half
+of their property would be irretrievably lost. This percentage of
+dividend would be large enough but for such possibilities as these,
+which may soon reduce it to a deficit and a loss. Thus it is that
+steam stock should declare three times the dividend of other stocks,
+to be eventually equal to them. And hence it is that, with the clear
+record of this Company before the Government, and with an investment
+of between three and four millions of dollars, being at the same time
+free from debt, the stock of the Company is selling at thirty-three
+per cent. below par. This is a good exemplification of my views in the
+preceding Sections regarding the costs, and hazards, and low values of
+ocean steam stocks generally. Nor are the stocks of this Company kept
+from the public. They are advertised and sold at public auction at
+these reduced rates every day in the year in this city; and no one of
+the five hundred and four stockholders, among whom these interests are
+diffused, seems anxious to put "his all" in the enterprise. And yet
+there are some people who call such companies a monopoly. If a
+monopoly, why do they not come forward, buy the stocks, keep them in
+their own hands, and profit by them; especially as a monopoly must be
+doubly good when it can be bought for two thirds the cash originally
+paid for it!
+
+I have noticed this Company thus fully, because its extent of stock,
+and large field of operation, make it a fit illustration of the views
+which I have advanced throughout this work. I have no desire to
+depreciate the stock, or in any other way injure the Company, as my
+own enterprise gives me quite enough to do.
+
+Many of the views advanced with regard to the Pacific Mail Company
+will apply to the United States Mail Steamship Company. That Company,
+at the outset, built very fine steamers, and ran them incessantly,
+until they were unfit for duty. They have constantly supplied their
+place, and have at all times, by building and by chartering at the
+highest prices, kept up a large and costly fleet for their ramified
+service. The service contemplated in their original contract, at
+$1.88-3/4 cents per mile, is but about two thirds of that actually
+performed. The contract required them to run 3,200 miles semi-monthly,
+but they actually perform semi-monthly 5,200. (_See Mr. King's Letter,
+Paper G._) The actual service has required nearly twice the number of
+steamers necessary to do that for which they contracted, although a
+part of it is in the coasting trade. Consequently the steamers have
+been rapidly worn out, from too heavy duty, and the stock of the
+Company has never paid as well as it should. The Company have,
+morever, suffered severely from disaster. The "Crescent City" was lost
+on the Bahama Banks, in 1855; all hands saved. The "Cherokee" was
+burned when in active service, in 1853; and the "George Law," or
+"Central America," but recently foundered at sea in a terrible gale.
+They were all good ships; but like those other excellent ships, the
+"Arctic" and "Pacific," they could not defy the powers of pure
+accident. In the same gale the "Empire City" was dismantled, having
+all of her upper works swept off, while the "Illinois" was injured by
+being on the Colorado Reef. They have both been undergoing most costly
+repairs for several weeks. While writing this, the "Philadelphia" is
+also in the shop. She recently broke her shaft and her cross-tail, and
+had to put into Charleston. All of these repairs cost an immense sum
+of money, and are calculated, with the severe losses which the Company
+has sustained, to dishearten the most hopeful and enterprising. Yet,
+since these disasters, and the completion of the "Moses Taylor," the
+Company are about laying the keel of another fine ship. This is
+another verification of my statement that the mail companies are in
+nearly every instance compelled to build new steamers in the very last
+years of their contracted service. The new "Adriatic" attests the same
+fact on the part of the Collins Company. (_See pages 141 and 142._)
+
+The Company have had at various times the "Falcon," "Ohio," "Georgia,"
+"Crescent City," "El Dorado," "Cherokee," "Empire City," "Illinois,"
+and "Philadelphia," and now have the three last-named ships, the
+"Granada," the "Star of the West," and the new steamer "Moses Taylor."
+The benefits conferred by the Company's lines on the trade of the
+country generally, and especially on our southern seaboard and Gulf
+connections, have been almost incalculable. They found all of these
+ports in the undisputed possession of the British, whose steamers
+furnished the only mail and locomotive facilities of the times. By
+their superior speed and accommodations the "Georgia" and the "Ohio"
+soon drove those enterprising steamers from our coast, and confined
+them to the foreign countries of the Gulf and the Carribean Sea, where
+they yet rule triumphant in news, transport, and commerce. Our
+southern harbors are no longer filled with British cruisers, while in
+their stead we have built up a noble war marine, inured thousands of
+Americans to the ocean steam service, and made one most effective
+movement in the direction of successful defenses. (_See Letter of Hon.
+Edwin Croswell, Paper E, page 200._)
+
+Of the Collins Company it is hardly necessary that I should speak.
+They have received much the largest subsidy from the Government; but
+they have had a most difficult task to perform. Their ships have never
+been surpassed in any country, whether as to the excellent style of
+their prime construction, their large size, or their very unusual
+speed. They have literally been engaged in a continual race across the
+ocean for seven years, determined at whatever cost and hazard to far
+excel those of the Cunard line. And this they have done most signally
+in all points of accommodation and speed. They have gained one and a
+half days the advantage over the Cunard line on their average voyages
+for the seven years. And this was no small achievement. By reference
+to Section IV. it will be seen how great is the cost of attaining and
+maintaining such speed with a steamer. The Collins ships, being so
+much larger than the Cunarders, the four present an aggregate tonnage
+nearly equal to the eight by which they run their weekly line. It is,
+moreover, not proportionally so expensive to maintain seven or eight
+ships on a line as four. The prime cost and repairs are by no means so
+great when engines are duplicated, or two sets built from the same
+patterns. Again, the general outlay in docks, shore establishment,
+offices, company paraphernalia, advertising, and innumerable items, is
+as great for a small as for a large fleet of steamers. The Collins
+line has to contend against all this. It also found the Cunard line
+long and well established, and inwrought into the public favor. It had
+the business, and most important of all, it monopolized the only
+freights passing between the two countries; those from England to
+America, which British shippers gave of course to British ships. They
+have had also to pay much larger prices for construction, repairs,
+wages, etc., than the Cunard Company; and not having so large a
+service and so large a fleet, they have not had so many reserve ships
+to fall back upon; but have been compelled frequently to send their
+ships off but half repaired, which of itself entailed immensely heavy
+expenses in ultimate repairs. There is very much to be said in favor
+of this Company, which has endeavored to build the finest ships in
+the world, and navigate them the most rapidly. If they have
+prominently failed in any thing it is in building larger ships,
+running them faster, and being far more enterprising with them than
+was required of the Company by the contract with the Government. Their
+disasters have been saddening and severe; and yet they have resulted
+from nothing which could have been controlled by human foresight.
+There is a great error in supposing that there are more marine
+disasters among American than among British ships. Such is not the
+case, as a careful examination of the lists will show.
+
+Of the mail line belonging to Mr. Vanderbilt, between New-York and
+Bremen, _via_ Southampton, it is impossible now to say any thing. The
+steamers "North Star" and "Ariel," the one of 1,867-60/95 tons, and
+the other of 1,295-28/95 tons, have but recently commenced the
+service, on the gross mail receipts. Whether Mr. Vanderbilt desires to
+make the service permanent or not, I am not advised.
+
+The service of the Charleston and Havana line has been performed with
+great regularity; and although the return from it in the form of
+postages has been small, yet it has been of essential service to the
+South, in opening communications toward the Gulf, and in establishing
+much needed travelling facilities between Charleston, Savannah, and
+Key West.
+
+
+
+
+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, 4,144-74/95 tons: Atlantic, 2,849-66/99 tons: Baltic,
+2,733-1/95 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, 1,867-60/95 tons: Ariel, 1,295-28/95 tons: Vanderbilt[H],
+3,360-54/95 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, 2,123-65/95 tons: Empire City, 1,751-21/95 tons:
+Philadelphia, 1,238-1/95 tons: Granada, 1,058-90/95 tons: Moses
+Taylor, 1,200 tons: Star of the West, chartered, 1,172-1/95,
+(contracting for a new ship.)
+
+_Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 13 steamers, 16,421 tons._
+
+Golden Gate, 2,067-35/95 tons: Golden Age, 2,280 tons: J. L. Stephens,
+2,189 tons: Sonora, 1,616 tons: St. Louis, 1,621 tons: Panama,
+1,087-31/95 tons: California, 1,085-64/95 tons: Oregon, 1,099-9/95
+tons: Columbia, 777-34/95 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, 1,149-1/2 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, 1,556-1/95
+tons: Cahawba, 1,643-1/95 tons = 3,199 tons.
+
+_New-York, Havana, and Mobile_, 1. The Quaker City, 1,428-3/95 tons.
+
+_New-York and Savannah_, 4. Alabama, 1,261-13/95 tons; Florida,
+1,261-13/95 tons: Augusta, 1,310-61/95 tons; Star of the South,
+(propeller,) 960-1/95 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.
+ Panama, 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.
+
+ LINE OF COMMUNICATION, |
+ CONTRACTORS, AND CONTRACT PRICE. | PLACES CONNECTED.
+ ---------------------------------+--------------------------------
+ 1.--Liverpool and Isle of Man. | Liverpool and Douglas, Isle of
+ _Mona Isle Steam Co._ Twice a | Man.
+ week. $4,250 per annum. |
+ |
+ 2.--England and Ireland. _City of| Holyhead and Kingstown, near
+ Dublin Steam Packet Co._ Twice a | Dublin.
+ day. $125,000 a year. |
+ |
+ 3.--Scotland and Shetland. | Aberdeen, Wick, Kirkwall,
+ _Aberdeen, Leith and Clyde | (Orkney,) and Lerwick,
+ Shipping Co._ Weekly, $6,000 a | (Shetland.)
+ year. |
+ |
+ 4.--England, Spain, and | Southampton, Vigo, Oporto,
+ Gibraltar. _Peninsular and | Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar.
+ Oriental Steam Navigation Co._ |
+ Three times a month. $102,500. |
+ |
+ 5.--Mediterranean, India, and | Southampton, Malta, Alexandria,
+ China. _Peninsular and Oriental | Suez, Aden, Bombay, Calcutta,
+ Steam Navigation Co._ Twice a | Singapore, Hong Kong, and
+ month to India--monthly to China.| Shanghae.
+ $1,121,500. |
+ |
+ 6.--England and United States. | Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston;
+ _Sam. Cunard._ Weekly. $866,700. | and Liverpool and New-York.
+ |
+ 7.--North America, (Colonial.) | Halifax, Newfoundland, Bermuda,
+ _Sam. Cunard._ Monthly. $73,500. | and St. Thomas.
+ |
+ 8.--West-Indies, Mexico and | Southampton, Kingston,
+ South-America. _Royal Mail Steam | (Jamaica,) St. Thomas, Vera
+ Packet Co._ Semi-monthly to the | Cruz and Aspinwall; Southampton,
+ West-Indies and Gulf of Mexico, | Lisbon, Madeira, Teneriffe, St.
+ and monthly to Brazil. | Vincent, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio
+ $1,350,000. | Janeiro, Monte Video, Buenos
+ | Ayres, and St. Thomas.
+ |
+ 9.--England, France, and Belgium.| Dover and Calais. Dover and
+ _Jenkings and Churchward._ Daily | Ostend.
+ to Calais; thrice a week to |
+ Ostend. $77,500. |
+ |
+ 10.--Channel Islands. | Southampton, Jersey, and
+ _South-western Railway Company._ | Guernsey.
+ Thrice a week. $20,000. |
+ |
+ 11.--West Coast of South-America.| Panama, Callao, and Valparaiso.
+ _Pacific Steam Navigation Co._ | Allowed to touch at Buenaventura,
+ Twice a month. $125,000. | Guayaquil, Peyta, Lambayeque,
+ | Huanchaco, Santa, Pisco, Islay,
+ | Arica, Iquique, Cobija, Gopiapo,
+ | Huasco, and Coquimbo.
+ |
+ 12.--Scotland and Orkney. _John | From Scrabster Pier (Thurso) to
+ Stanger, Esq., of Stromness._ | Stromness, (Orkney.)
+ Daily in summer; every other day |
+ in winter. $6,500. |
+ |
+ 13.--West Coast of Africa. | Plymouth to Madeira, Teneriffe,
+ _African Steamship Co._ Monthly. | Goree, Bathurst, Sierra Leone,
+ $106,250. | Monrovia, Cape Coast Castle,
+ | Accra, Whydah, Badagry, Lagos,
+ | Bonny, Old Calabar, Cameroon and
+ | Fernando Po; omitting Cameroon,
+ | Calabar, and Bonny on return.
+ |
+ 14.--South-Africa, Mauritius, and| Dartmouth to Cape of Good Hope,
+ Calcutta. _Adam Duncan Dundas, | Mauritius and Calcutta.
+ Esq._ Monthly. $205,000. |
+ |
+ 15.--England and Australia. _The | Southampton, Marseilles, Malta,
+ European and Australian Mail | Alexandria, Suez, and Sydney.
+ Steam Packet Co._ Monthly. |
+ $925,000. |
+
+ 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:
+
+ 1. LIVERPOOL AND ISLE OF MAN.
+
+ Draft of
+ Horse Water. Date of
+ Name, Class, etc. Power. Tonnage. F. I. Crew. Survey
+ ----------------------+------+--------+--------+-----+------------
+ King Orry, 190 429 0 0 22 Dec., 1845
+ Tynwald, iron, 260 657 8 9 29 Oct., 1846
+ Benmy Chree, 130 295 6 6 18 June, 1847
+ Mona's Queen, iron, 220 508 8 6 22 M'ch, 1853
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 4 vessels, 790 2,089 91
+
+ 2. ENGLAND AND IRELAND.
+
+ Prince Arthur, iron, 220 418 8 8 26 July, 1852
+ Llewellyn, iron, 342 654 9 6 29 Oct., 1852
+ Eblana, iron, 372 685 8 11 31 Jan., 1853
+ St. Columba, iron, 350 650 8 10 29 Sept., 1853
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 4 vessels, 1,284 2,407 115
+
+ 3. SCOTLAND AND SHETLAND.
+
+ Fairy, 120 350 -- 18 --
+ Duke of Richmond, 180 500 -- 24 --
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 2 vessels, 300 850 42
+
+ 4. ENGLAND, SPAIN, AND GIBRALTAR.
+
+ Sultan, iron, 420 1,001 14 0 67 Jan., 1853
+ Madrid, iron, 133 448 10 2 40 Feb., 1853
+ Tagus, 280 691 14 8 41 Jan., 1854
+ Alhambra, 140 642 13 7 52 July, 1855
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 4 vessels, 973 2,782 200
+
+ 5. MEDITERRANEAN, INDIA, AND CHINA.
+
+ Lady Mary Wood, 270 619 0 0 40 Feb., 1842
+ Precursor, 520 1,783 18 0 121 July, 1844
+ Pekin, iron, 415 1,003 14 0 78 Jan., 1847
+ Oriental, 420 1,427 13 0 78 M'ch, 1848
+ Achilles, 430 823 16 0 59 June, 1849
+ Malta, iron, 460 1,222 0 0 82 Sept., 1848
+ Hindostan, 500 1,595 16 10 53 July, 1849
+ Singapore, iron, 465 1,189 12 6 96 M'ch, 1851
+ Ganges, iron, 465 1,189 14 7 69 June, 1851
+ Pottinger, iron, 450 1,275 17 6 82 April, 1852
+ Formosa, screw, iron, 177 658 13 6 60 Aug., 1852
+ Chusan, screw, iron, 100 765 11 3 45 Aug., 1852
+ Haddington, iron, 450 1,303 17 7 105 Nov., 1852
+ Vectis, 400 900 0 0 51 --
+ Shanghae, screw, iron, 90 825 0 0 60 --
+ Manila, 60 646 0 0 60 --
+ Bentinck, 520 1,973 19 3 83 Nov., 1852
+ Euxine, iron, 430 1,071 15 6 72 Jan., 1853
+ Bengal, screw, 465 2,185 17 6 115 Feb., 1853
+ Valetta, 400 984 12 2 51 July, 1853
+ Norna, screw, 230 1,040 0 0 80 Nov., 1853
+ Colombo, screw, 450 1,808 0 0 118 Dec., 1853
+ Ripon, iron, 445 1,400 14 9 94 Dec., 1853
+ Douro, screw, 230 903 13 3 63 Dec., 1853
+ Bombay, 280 1,240 0 0 84 --
+ Madras, 288 1,217 0 0 82 --
+ Indus, iron, 450 1,302 17 9 88 Jan., 1854
+ Candia, screw, iron, 450 2,212 18 9 115 June, 1854
+ Nubia, 450 2,095 21 0 122 -- 1855
+ Pera, screw, iron, 450 2,013 19 0 129 Jan., 1856
+ Ava, screw, iron, 320 1,372 17 0 94 Feb., 1856
+ Alma, screw, iron, 450 2,164 20 0 124 M'ch, 1856
+ Aden, screw, iron, 210 507 18 9 40 Aug., 1856
+ Delta, screw, 210 985 0 0 64 -- 1856
+ Delhi, screw, 450 2,400 0 0 125 -- 1856
+ Unknown, 4 vessels.
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 39 vessels, 12,850 46,053 2,877
+
+ 6. ENGLAND AND UNITED STATES.
+
+ Europa, 650 1,777 15 6 88 July, 1848
+ Canada, 680 1,774 19 6 88 Nov., 1848
+ Niagara, 630 1,774 19 6 88 Dec., 1849
+ America, 630 1,729 15 3 88 Jan., 1850
+ Asia, 800 2,073 19 0 105 May, 1850
+ Africa, 800 2,050 0 0 105 Oct., 1850
+ Arabia, 870 2,328 16 7 105 Dec., 1852
+ Persia, 858 3,587 21 0 165 Feb., 1856
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 8 vessels, 5,918 17,092 922
+
+ 7. NORTH AMERICA, (Colonial.)
+
+ Merlin, 120 451 0 0 26 May, 1850
+ Delta, screw, iron, 180 700 12 10 34 June, 1852
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 2 vessels, 300 1,151 60
+
+ 8. WEST-INDIES, MEXICO, AND SOUTH-AMERICA.
+
+ Dee, 410 1,269 18 0 87 May, 1846
+ Trent, 450 1,293 17 7 87 April, 1848
+ Eagle, 263 496 11 10 57 July, 1849
+ Derwent, 280 708 15 0 66 July, 1850
+ Magdalena, 760 2,250 19 0 108 May, 1852
+ Medway, 420 1,305 17 6 72 May, 1852
+ La Plata, 939 2,404 21 10 114 Aug., 1852
+ Conway, 270 827 12 10 55 Sept., 1852
+ Orinoco, 800 2,245 20 11 108 Oct., 1852
+ Avon, 450 2,069 17 0 94 M'ch, 1853
+ Teviot, 450 1,258 18 1 97 April, 1853
+ Parana, 800 2,222 21 2 120 May, 1853
+ Clyde, 430 1,335 19 1 87 June, 1853
+ Thames, 413 1,285 18 3 72 Aug., 1853
+ Solent, 420 1,805 14 11 88 Oct., 1853
+ Camilia, iron, 213 640 9 0 34 Oct., 1853
+ Wye, screw, iron, 180 818 14 0 45 Feb., 1854
+ Atrato, iron, 758 2,906 20 6 127 M'ch, 1854
+ Tamar, 400 1,873 18 7 93 June, 1854
+ Prince, 200 446 8 8 35 July, 1854
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 20 vessels, 9,306 29,454 1,667
+
+ 9. ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND BELGIUM.
+
+ Alliance, 120 300 7 3 16 --
+ Vivid, 120 300 7 0 16 --
+ Violet, 120 300 7 0 16 --
+ Empress, 100 308 6 6 16 --
+ Queen, 100 307 6 6 16 --
+ Ondine, 80 250 6 0 16 --
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 6 vessels, 640 1,765 96
+
+ 10. CHANNEL ISLANDS.
+
+ Atalanta, 120 240 8 4 21 Oct., 1846
+ Wonder, iron, 150 449 0 0 22 Feb., 1853
+ Courier, iron, 184 440 7 0 18 April, 1853
+ Dispatch, iron, 183 443 7 6 22 Aug., 1853
+ Express, iron, 160 380 7 4 24 Nov., 1853
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 5 vessels, 797 1,852 107
+
+ 11. WEST COAST OR SOUTH-AMERICA.
+
+ New-Granada, iron, 210 600 13 0 41 Nov., 1846
+ Bolivia, iron, 252 705 0 0 41 Oct., 1849
+ Inca, iron, 370 549 13 0 55 Aug., 1851
+ Lima, iron, 370 1,122 10 8 55 Nov., 1851
+ Bogota, iron, 394 1,122 13 6 61 April, 1852
+ Valdivia, screw, iron, 480 782 13 2 41 Nov., 1853
+ Valparaiso, iron, 320 839 13 6 84 --
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 7 vessels, 2,396 5,719 377
+
+ 12. SCOTLAND AND ORKNEY.
+
+ (Unknown,) 60 250 6 0 16 --
+
+ 13. WEST COAST OF AFRICA.
+
+ Hope, iron, 120 833 15 0 46 --
+ Charity, iron, 120 1,007 15 6 52 --
+ Ethiope, 120 674 0 0 42 --
+ Candace, 120 900 0 0 46 --
+ Retriever, 120 900 0 0 46 --
+ Niger, 120 900 0 0 46 --
+ Gambia, 130 637 14 0 42 --
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 7 vessels 850 5,951 320
+
+ 14. SOUTH-AMERICA, MAURITIUS, AND CALCUTTA.
+
+ Five screw steamers,
+ Total, 5 vessels, 2,000 8,000 -- 570 --
+
+ 15. ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA.
+
+ Oneida, 400 1,600 15 6 84 --
+ Simla, 630 2,510 17 2 88 --
+ European, 530 2,200 18 9 115 --
+ Columbian, 530 2,300 17 6 120 --
+ (Unknown,) 400 1,600 0 8 88 --
+ (Unknown,) 400 1,600 0 8 88 --
+ (Unknown,) 400 1,600 0 8 88 --
+ ====== ======== =====
+ Total, 7 vessels, 3,290 13,410 671
+
+
+ RECAPITULATION.
+
+ KEY:
+ A: Lines.
+ B: Number of steamers.
+ C: Horse Power.
+ D: Tonnage.
+ E: Number of men.
+ F: Service commenced.
+ G: How often.
+ H: Annual Compensation.
+
+ ------+----+--------+--------+-------+------+-----------+-------------
+ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H
+ ------+----+--------+--------+-------+------+-----------+-------------
+ 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
+ |====|========|========|=======| | |=============
+ Total, 121 | 42,254 |140,139 | 8,137 | | |$5,114,700[I]
+ -----------+--------+--------+-------+------+-----------+-------------
+
+ [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
+ Pernambuco, 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 Imperiales 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 Imperiales_ 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, "Francois 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; "
+
+BREMEN, steamers North Star, and Ariel; "
+
+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; " " "
+
+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
+Francois 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._)
+
+
+
+
+PAPER E.
+
+
+The following numerous extracts from the Senate Reports of 1850 and
+1852, and also from the letter of Judge Collamer, then Post Master
+General, as well as from a letter by the Hon. Edwin Croswell, will
+present in detail a strong corroboration of the views which I have
+taken in the preceding Sections. I copy first from the Report of 1852.
+The Committee was composed of Hon. Thomas J. Rusk, Chairman, and
+Messrs. Soule, Hamlin, Upham, and Morton. The Report says:
+
+ "Your Committee desire to have it understood at the outset, that,
+ regarding the ocean mail service as the offspring of the wants of
+ all of the producing classes of the country, they have not felt at
+ liberty to consider the propositions which have been presented to
+ them, in any other point of view than as connected with and
+ subservient to the general policy of the government, which
+ embraces alike every section of the country, and can not know nor
+ recognize any personal or local influence.
+
+ "The system of ocean steam navigation was adopted by the
+ Government for the joint purpose of extending and advancing the
+ commercial and other great interests of the country, and, at the
+ same time, providing a marine force which might be easily made
+ available for the protection of American rights, in the event of a
+ collision with foreign powers. The attainment of this double
+ object was the motive which, in the opinion of Congress, justified
+ the advance of public funds in aid of private enterprise,
+ inasmuch as it was calculated to insure to the country the
+ acquisition of a powerful means of maritime defense, with little
+ or no expense, eventually, as the money so advanced was to be
+ reimbursed in money or in mail service at the option of the
+ parties concerned, while commerce and the arts would be promoted
+ during the time of peace.
+
+ "At the time when this system was commenced, the ocean mails along
+ our whole Southern coast were in the hands of foreign carriers,
+ sustained and encouraged by the British Government, under the
+ forms of contracts to carry the British mails; while the Cunard
+ line between Liverpool and Boston, _via_ Halifax, constituted the
+ only medium of regular steam mail communication between the United
+ States and Europe. In this way the commercial interests of the
+ United States were, on the one hand, entirely at the mercy of
+ British steamers which plied along our Southern coast, entering
+ our ports at pleasure, and thereby acquiring an intimate knowledge
+ of the soundings and other peculiarities of our harbors--a
+ knowledge which might prove infinitely injurious to us in the
+ event of a war with Great Britain; and on the other, of a foreign
+ line of ocean mail steamers, which, under the liberal patronage of
+ the British Government, monopolized the steam mail postage and
+ freights between the two countries. Under such a state of things,
+ it became necessary to choose whether American commerce should
+ continue to be thus tributary to British maritime supremacy, or an
+ American medium of communication should be established through the
+ intervention of the Federal Government, in the form of advances of
+ pecuniary means in aid of individual enterprise. It had been found
+ to be impossible for our merchants to contend successfully, single
+ handed, against the joint efforts of the British Government and
+ British commercial influence. Our noble lines of packet ships
+ which had far outstripped the sailing vessels of all other
+ nations, in point of beauty and swiftness, had been superseded by
+ the introduction of steamers, the power and capacity of which
+ recommended them, as the best means of inter-communication by
+ mail, and of transportation for lighter and more profitable
+ freights, and American interests were becoming every day more and
+ more tributary to British ascendency on the ocean.
+
+ "Under the circumstances above stated, it was impossible for
+ Congress to hesitate for a moment which course to pursue, and it
+ was determined to adopt a policy which, while it would be in
+ strict accordance with the spirit of our free institutions, should
+ place the country in its proper attitude, and render its commerce
+ and postal arrangements independent of all foreign or rival
+ agencies.
+
+ "Of the correctness of this determination, experience has
+ furnished the most ample evidences in the results which thus far
+ have attended the prosecution of the system. The line between
+ New-York and Chagres _via_ New-Orleans and its auxiliaries, have,
+ by their superiority in point of swiftness and accommodation,
+ already superseded the British steamers which had previously plied
+ along our Southern maritime frontier, and the United States mails
+ for Mexico, South-America, and our possessions on the Pacific are
+ no longer in the hands of foreign carriers, but are transported in
+ American steamers of the first class, convertible, at a very small
+ expense, into war steamers, should occasion require, which have
+ commanded the admiration of the world by their fleetness and the
+ elegance of their accommodations for the travelling public. Our
+ Southern ports are, consequently, no longer frequented by British
+ steamers, commanded by officers of the British crown, whose
+ legitimate business it is to collect intelligence respecting the
+ approaches to and defenses of the harbors which they visit, to be
+ made available for their own purposes, in the event of the
+ existence of hostile relations.
+
+ "A similar result has, to a certain extent, attended the
+ establishment of the American, or Collins line, between New-York
+ and Liverpool. Previously to the commencement of this line, the
+ transportation of the United States mail matter, as well as the
+ finer and more destructible descriptions of merchandise, requiring
+ rapidity of transmission to and from Europe, had been monopolized
+ by the British Cunard line; and the British Government had, within
+ the short space of six years, from the postage on this route
+ alone, derived a _clear income_ of no less than five million two
+ hundred and eighty thousand eight hundred dollars, after deducting
+ the amount paid to the concern under the contract to carry the
+ mails.
+
+ "Since the establishment of the Collins line, notwithstanding the
+ combined efforts of the British Government and commercial
+ interests to confine their freights and postages to the Cunard
+ line, the revenue to the Post Office Department of the United
+ States has amounted to several hundreds of thousands of dollars
+ per annum, whilst a large proportion of the money for freights has
+ been received by American citizens. The effects of this measure
+ have, it is true, thus far been but partial, because the trips of
+ this line have been but twice a month, while those of its rival
+ have, for a considerable portion of the time been weekly. During
+ the intervals between the trips of the American line, the postages
+ and freights must, of necessity, enure to the advantage of the
+ British, and, consequently, the evil referred to has been but
+ partially remedied."
+
+Speaking of the large steamers built, the Report says:
+
+ "It is not to be supposed that engines of such vast dimensions
+ could have been constructed in a country where there were, as yet,
+ no workshops adapted to the purpose and where labor is very high,
+ as cheaply as in a country where every appliance of the kind
+ already existed and where the prices of labor are proverbially
+ low. Nor can it be reasonably imagined that vessels of this
+ description could have been navigated on as good terms, by men
+ taken from this country, where there was little or no competition
+ in this peculiar branch of maritime service, as by those who were
+ easily to be found in a country in which the density of population
+ and consequent competition for employment, caused the wages to be
+ small.
+
+ "An attempt seems to have been made, in certain quarters, to
+ create an impression that the aid heretofore extended by the
+ Government to the individuals engaged under contracts to carry the
+ ocean mail, has been induced by feelings of personal friendship,
+ on the part of members of Congress. Such is not the case. The
+ friends of the system of ocean mail steam navigation, have, so far
+ as your Committee are advised, considered this important subject
+ as a matter of great national concern and independently of the
+ very secondary motive of individual interest. The question
+ presented to their minds has not been whether A, B, or C should
+ have a privilege extended to him, but whether the commerce,
+ manufactures, and agriculture of the country would be benefited by
+ the performance of a public service through the instrumentality of
+ individual enterprise, under proper conditions and restrictions.
+ As matters stood at the period when the system was adopted, Great
+ Britain was exerting herself, successfully, to make the United
+ States, in common with the rest of the world, tributary to her
+ maritime supremacy. She possessed the monopoly of steam connection
+ between the United States and Europe, the West-Indies and
+ South-America. There was not a letter sent by ocean steam
+ conveyance, in these quarters, which did not pay its tribute to
+ the British crown, and not a passenger nor parcel of merchandise
+ transported, by the agency of steam, upon the ocean, which did not
+ furnish profit to the British capitalist. Great Britain asserted
+ her right to be the 'queen of the ocean,' and, as such, she levied
+ her imposts upon the industry and intelligence of all of the
+ nations that frequented that highway of the world.
+
+ "In this condition of affairs, the law instituting the system of
+ American ocean mail steam transportation in its present form was
+ enacted, as the best, if not the only means of correcting a great
+ evil, and, at the same time, building up a naval force which
+ should be available for national defense in the event of a war.
+ The system so instituted was deemed to be not only calculated to
+ draw forth and reward the enterprise of American citizens, but it
+ avoided the difficulty of keeping upon hand, in time of peace, a
+ large and, for the moment at least, useless military marine, which
+ could only be preserved in a condition for effective service by a
+ vast annual outlay of the public money.
+
+ "_It was right and proper, then, in the opinion of your
+ Committee, that these ocean steam facilities should exist, through
+ the intervention of the Government, more especially as they were,
+ in all probability, beyond the reach of private means._
+
+ "The transportation of the ocean mails, with the greatest possible
+ advantage to the important interests of the country at large, is
+ an object of paramount importance; but which, however desirable,
+ can only be effected at great expense. It is a matter of
+ comparatively small moment at what precise time this expense is to
+ be paid, provided that the end in view can be attained with
+ certainty. The temporary loan of a part of the means required,
+ under proper securities for reimbursement, appears to be the
+ readiest mode by which the purpose can be effected. How is this
+ security to be acquired? Simply, by taking due care that the funds
+ advanced shall be faithfully and honestly applied to the object
+ for which they are intended, and then holding a lien upon the
+ ships, for the construction of which they are appropriated, in
+ such a manner as to insure the reimbursement of the sums advanced
+ in the form of mail service or money; or, should circumstances
+ require, of ships suitable for national purposes, as war steamers.
+ This has been done. In all cases the contractors for the
+ transportation of the ocean mails, have been required to cause
+ their ships to be built and equipped under the immediate
+ superintendence of experienced naval officers and under the
+ direction of naval constructors, appointed by the Government, in
+ such manner as to be convertible, at the smallest possible
+ expense, into war steamers of the first class.
+
+ "Nor has experience caused any regret, on the part of the friends
+ of the system, further than that in some cases, owing to the
+ increase in the tonnage and power of the ships and other
+ circumstances, the expenses incurred by the contractors have
+ outrun the receipts, and they have incurred heavy losses, which
+ might even prove ruinous, if they were forced to sell the property
+ acquired in this form. It should always be borne in mind, however,
+ that in these cases, the increase of expenditure thus incurred has
+ been caused by a laudable ambition on the part of the proprietors
+ of these lines to do even more than they were required to do under
+ their contracts, with a view to secure the confidence of the
+ Government and the public. It should also be remembered that in
+ thus increasing the cost and consequent value of their ships,
+ these companies have enlarged the security of the Government for
+ the money loaned, and promoted the safety and comfort of
+ passengers. It has, in no instance, been charged that the
+ companies referred to have, in any way, misapplied the aid
+ extended to them, or given to it an improper direction. The
+ products of their expenditures, even admitting them to have been
+ greater than they might have been, show for themselves, in placing
+ the American steam mail service, as far as it has gone, at the
+ head of all others, in point of accommodation, elegance, strength,
+ and swiftness. Nor is this all. The establishment of these lines
+ is not to be regarded merely with reference to the immediate
+ profits arising from the system, in connection with the
+ transportation of the mails. Millions of money have been saved to
+ American citizens, which, in the absence of these ocean steam
+ lines, would have gone to fill foreign coffers. The Committee will
+ refer to one fact in illustration of the truth of this
+ proposition. Before the Collins line was established, the Cunard
+ line was receiving L7 10_s_ sterling per ton for freights; at
+ present (1852) the rate is about L4 sterling. By whom were these
+ L7 10_s_ sterling paid? By the _American consumer_, in most
+ instances, upon articles of _British manufacture brought to this
+ country by a British line_. At present the American consumer pays
+ but L4 sterling per ton; and, presuming that the American merchant
+ makes his importations in the American line, this freight is paid
+ to our own people and goes to swell the sum of our national
+ wealth. Thus, it will be seen that, formerly, the American
+ consumer paid _very nearly twice as much for the service_, and
+ enriched the British capitalist; whereas, at present, he not only
+ saves _one half of the former cost of freight to himself_ but, in
+ paying the remaining half, benefits his fellow citizen, who in
+ return aids in consuming perhaps the very merchandise which he has
+ imported.
+
+ "Under these circumstances, can any reasonable man doubt the
+ propriety, even in a pecuniary point of view, of sustaining the
+ present system, which, at its very commencement, has given such
+ ample proofs of its usefulness? Your Committee think not, and do
+ not hesitate to give it as their opinion that, _merely as a matter
+ of dollars and cents_, the service in question should be liberally
+ sustained by Congress, and will in the end make ample returns.
+
+ "But your Committee regard this proposition as one, the mere money
+ feature of which is of minor consequence, when brought into
+ comparison with other more important considerations. The question
+ is no longer whether certain individuals shall be saved from loss
+ or enabled to make fortunes, but whether the _American_ shall
+ succumb to the British lines, and Great Britain be again permitted
+ to monopolize ocean mail steam transportation, not only between
+ Europe and America, but throughout the world. We are aspiring to
+ the first place among the nations of the earth, in a commercial
+ point of view--a place which belongs to us as a matter of
+ right--and are we to suffer ourselves to be overcome by British
+ commercial capitalists under the auspices of the British crown?
+ Shall it be said that, at the very moment when our steamships are
+ admitted to excel those of any other people on the face of the
+ globe, our enterprising citizens have been forced to relinquish
+ the proud position they have attained, for the want of a few
+ thousands of dollars, when the national treasury is full to
+ overflowing? Let this end be attained and our great commercial
+ rival will have postages and freights all her own way, while we
+ shall be compelled to contribute, as heretofore, to her undisputed
+ supremacy.
+
+ "With a view to a full and fair understanding of this important
+ subject, your Committee have communicated, through their Chairman,
+ with the Executive Departments of the Government and the
+ presidents of the various companies engaged in carrying the ocean
+ mail by steam, and will now proceed to lay before the Senate the
+ results of their careful inquiries. It may not be improper here
+ again to note, by way of illustration, the benefits to be derived
+ from ocean steam mail transportation, when in successful
+ operation, as manifested in the case of the British Cunard line,
+ under the auspices of the British Government. During the first six
+ years of its existence, the line above named received from the
+ Government no less than $2,550,000, while the Government received
+ from the Company, in the form of postages, the enormous sum of
+ $7,836,800, or $5,826,800 net revenue.
+
+ "The Government has paid to the line, (the Collins,) for mail
+ service, in the two years, $770,000, and has received from the
+ line $513,546.80. If the receipts be deducted from the outlay, the
+ balance against the Government is $256,453.20 for the whole time,
+ or $128,226.60 per annum.
+
+ "Thus it appears, that from a fair statement of the account
+ current between the line and the Government, the latter is out of
+ pocket, at the end of the two first years of the undertaking and
+ under circumstances the most disadvantageous to the line,
+ $256,453.20, or in other words, has paid $128,226.60 per annum,
+ for carrying the ocean mail by steam over about six thousand miles
+ of the greatest commercial thoroughfare in the world, for which,
+ as yet, it has received nothing in return. But your Committee
+ would ask, what has _the country_ received in return for this
+ $256,453.20? They will furnish the answer. The country has
+ received through the proprietors of this line, in the form of
+ freights and passage money, a no less amount than $1,979,760.85,
+ in cash; and, if the reduction in the prices of freight formerly
+ paid to the British line be taken into account, nearly as much
+ more, by saving the difference in freights and passage money, to
+ say nothing of the general advantages derived by all of our
+ producing interests from the existence of this American line,
+ which, as your Committee believe, are incalculable. The money
+ account will then stand as follows: Government debtor to
+ $256,453.80; Country creditor to $1,979,760.85 _in cash_; and if
+ the former be deducted from the latter, the balance in favor of
+ the country will stand $1,723,307.05, _in cash alone_, leaving out
+ of view the duties on increased importations caused by the
+ establishment of the American line."
+
+Speaking of the Pacific Mail Steam Company, the Report says:
+
+ "It will be seen from the above, that the total cost of the six
+ vessels which have been accepted by the officers whose duty it was
+ to supervise them and decide whether they had been built in
+ accordance with the requisitions of the law and terms of the
+ contract, and whose decision is presumed, by your Committee, to be
+ conclusive in the premises, has been $1,555,069, and that their
+ aggregate tonnage is 7,365 tons, instead of 5,200 tons, the amount
+ agreed for. In addition to these ships, as your Committee are
+ informed, the company has in the Pacific seven steamers, with an
+ aggregate tonnage of five thousand tons, not yet accepted by the
+ Government. The additional steamers are, and have been, always
+ kept ready to replace the mail steamers in the event of detention.
+ The cost of these additional steamers has been, it is stated,
+ about two thirds of that of the accepted steamers of the same
+ class, say about $1,036,712, making in all an outlay for
+ steamships alone, of $2,518,337.
+
+ "It appears that the whole number of passengers, of all classes,
+ transported by the Pacific Mail Ship Company, the line in
+ question, previously to December 31, 1851, from Panama northward,
+ has been 17,016, and from Oregon southward, 13,332. The prices of
+ passage have constantly fluctuated, but, on the date above named,
+ the 31st of December, 1851, the average rates were, for the first
+ cabin, two hundred and twenty-two dollars; second cabin, one
+ hundred and sixty dollars, and steerage, one hundred and seven
+ dollars, between Panama and San Francisco. In the early stages of
+ emigration the prices were increased in consequence of the
+ enormous prices of labor and supplies on that comparatively
+ unsettled coast, but were subsequently reduced. At the
+ commencement of the undertaking, the Company incurred, of
+ necessity, vast expenses in the selection of proper harbors for
+ taking in provisions, water, coal, etc., and in the construction
+ of _depots_; and even at present, coal and supplies of every
+ description are sent to the Pacific _via_ Cape Horn, a distance of
+ from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand miles.
+
+ "The freights from Panama northward, have been small in amount,
+ and confined to the lighter descriptions of articles sent by
+ express, while the mails have been very large, amounting in some
+ instances to one hundred and fifty bags, each, and, together with
+ coal, water, etc., occupying all of the space not required for
+ passengers. From California, the freights southward, have
+ consisted of treasure, amounting, it is supposed, to the value of
+ seventy millions of dollars, but it is extremely difficult to
+ compute the worth accurately, as a large portion of the gold,
+ etc., sent has been in the possession of passengers, and the value
+ does not appear in the manifests."
+
+In noticing the Panama Railroad and the California lines, the Report
+says:
+
+ "Nearly two millions of dollars have already, as your Committee
+ are informed, been expended on this important work, by a company
+ possessed of ample means, and the completion of it can not fail to
+ open the way for a vast commerce, between the Atlantic and Pacific
+ oceans, and at the same time cause our fellow-citizens in
+ California and Oregon no longer to be regarded as exiles. This
+ road being once opened, the passage of the Isthmus, now so much
+ dreaded, will be effected with perfect ease and comfort in a
+ couple of hours, instead of two or three days, as at present, and
+ families, instead of individuals, will be enabled to seek homes in
+ the fertile valleys of our possessions on the Pacific coast. The
+ value of the lines of ocean steamers, of which your Committee have
+ been speaking, to the commercial and other great interests of our
+ country and the world at large, can not well be estimated until
+ this road shall have been finished and put into full operation.
+ When such shall be the case, the trade between California and
+ Oregon, as well as that of China and the islands of the Pacific
+ and Indian oceans and the Atlantic States and Europe, which now
+ passes around Cape Horn, a distance of some fifteen thousand
+ miles, will be enabled to take a direct course across the Isthmus
+ of Panama, the passage of which will require but two or three
+ hours. The United States mail, from San Francisco to New York, has
+ already been transported within the space of twenty-five days and
+ eighteen hours, a day less than the time claimed to have been
+ taken by any other route, at a period, too, when there were but
+ seven or eight miles of the road in operation. On a late occasion,
+ five hundred government troops were sent to California by this
+ route, and were placed at the point of their destination in a
+ little more than thirty-five days, without any serious desertion
+ or accident of any kind. A similar operation by the way of Cape
+ Horn would have occupied six months at least. The store-ship
+ Lexington, which sailed from New-York for San Francisco, during
+ the last year, arrived at the latter place on the last day of
+ February, 1852, after a passage of _seven months and one day_. In
+ a country the military establishment of which is so small as that
+ of the United States, facilities of concentrating troops at points
+ distant from each other, in a short time, are of incalculable
+ value, and may be said to add manifold to the efficiency of the
+ military force.
+
+ "From what has been already said, it will be seen that the Pacific
+ Mail Steamship Company, independently of the associate line on
+ this side of the Isthmus, and without taking into view the cost of
+ the railroad, has expended in the construction of mail steamers
+ alone $2,518,337; and if to this be added $2,606,440.45, the
+ expense incurred for a similar purpose by the Company on the
+ Atlantic side of the Isthmus, the entire cost of steamships, to
+ the two companies engaged in the transportation of the California
+ and Oregon mails, has been $5,124,777.
+
+ "It is no more than sheer justice that your Committee should state
+ that the California lines, east as well as west of the Isthmus of
+ Panama, have proved themselves worthy in all respects of the
+ confidence of the country. In no single instance has an accident
+ occurred involving loss of life or serious injury in any way to
+ the travelling public. Such is the strength of the vessels
+ employed, that on two several occasion when, owing to dense fogs
+ and under-currents, cooperating with the defectiveness of the
+ charts of the Pacific coast, one of the ships of the Aspinwall
+ line struck, at one time, upon a soft bottom, and, at another,
+ upon a hard sandy bar, she was steamed off, after thumping,
+ without the slightest injury whatever. Facts such as these are the
+ more important, inasmuch as several steamers have lately been lost
+ on the same coast with a great sacrifice of human life, evidently
+ owing to a want of the strength necessary to resist, effectually,
+ the force of the winds and waves. In the opinion of your
+ Committee, the security afforded to travellers by the strong
+ fastenings and heavy timbers of the ocean mail steamers, built as
+ they are, under the supervision of naval officers, who are
+ selected on account of their thorough acquaintance with and
+ experience in such matters, and made capable of sustaining heavy
+ armaments, is a matter of the greatest moment. Experience has
+ shown that, in the race after gain, our countrymen are, perhaps,
+ more regardless of risk to human life than the people of any other
+ country in the world. Scarcely a day passes without fresh
+ evidences of the truth of this proposition. The river, as well as
+ the sea-going steamers, are generally built with reference to
+ speed and lightness, coupled with smallness of draft of water, and
+ hence, in case of touching the ground, or of violent storms, it is
+ found that if one portion of the frame gives way, the breaking up
+ of the entire structure follows with a rapidity that is but too
+ well calculated to show the slight manner in which these vessels
+ are constructed. Your Committee think that the additional
+ expenditure of a few hundreds of thousands of dollars is a matter
+ not worthy of consideration, when brought into comparison with the
+ loss of life, and would rather see even millions devoted to the
+ construction of _strong steamers_, than witness the sudden and
+ heart-rending ruptures of the dearest ties of our nature, caused
+ by the accidents that so frequently occur. Such is their feeling
+ of stern disapprobation of the reckless indifference respecting
+ the safety of passengers, daily manifested by some of the
+ proprietors and officers of steam lines, that they are resolved,
+ so far at least as they are concerned, not in any way to
+ countenance, directly or indirectly, such a course of proceeding.
+ In the extension of the system of ocean mail transportation which
+ they propose to recommend, care will be taken, that the steamers
+ which carry the Government mails shall be regarded as national
+ ships, to a certain extent, and as such, under the charge of the
+ law-making power, and be so built as to secure safety to
+ travellers; and that, in all contracts, this consideration shall
+ be regarded as one of paramount importance."
+
+Regarding a few sailing-ship owners in New-York and Boston, who had
+memorialized Congress against the Collins and other lines, the Report
+says:
+
+ "The memorialists are loud in their complaints respecting the
+ alleged improper interference of the Government with matters that
+ should be left, as they say, entirely to individual enterprise,
+ which in their opinion becomes paralyzed under the effects of
+ Government patronage bestowed upon some to the exclusion of
+ others. If the authors of this memorial will take a fair and
+ dispassionate view of the matter, they will, as your Committee
+ think, be convinced that they are wrong in their supposition, and
+ that the Government has not gratuitously meddled in concerns with
+ which it should have nothing to do. The merchants and ship-owners
+ referred to seem to forget, in the first place, that the system of
+ ocean steam mail navigation is intended to secure adequate
+ protection for our commerce from foreign aggression in the event
+ of war; and in the second, that it was instituted at a moment when
+ the fine packet ships, to which the memorialists refer with such
+ becoming pride, had in fact been driven from the ocean to a
+ certain extent by the overwhelming power of a British mail steam
+ line, sustained by the British Government, which had monopolized
+ ocean mail and passenger steam transportation, as well as the
+ freights of lighter and more perishable descriptions of
+ merchandise. If, as these gentlemen have stated, the sailing ships
+ have been made to succumb, it has been under the force of an
+ agency more certain and not less powerful than the one named by
+ them--wielded by foreign capitalists and directed by a foreign
+ government claiming for itself the supremacy of the ocean. The
+ Cunard line of ocean steamers had been in possession of a monopoly
+ of freights, letter postage, and passage money for years, in
+ despite of the attempts of the memorialists to resist,
+ successfully, before the Government of the United States, seeing
+ that American interests were made tributary to foreign capital,
+ aided by a foreign government, adopted the wise course of
+ correcting the evil by kindred means, and placing, at least, to a
+ certain extent, American interests under the auspices of American
+ intelligence and enterprise. What would have been the condition of
+ the New-York lines and other ships had not the Government of the
+ United States thought proper to extend its aid to the
+ establishment of the Collins line? Would it have been any better
+ than at present? or rather would it not have been infinitely
+ worse? Had the Cunard line continued to prosper, as it must have
+ done in the natural course of things, would it not in all
+ probability have increased its number of ships until it would have
+ monopolized every description of ocean transportation? Would not
+ the trade with the United States have been entirely carried on in
+ British steamers, navigated at small expense, and therefore able
+ to do the carrying trade at low prices? Again, what would have
+ been the condition of the Southern coasting business, so far as
+ mails, passengers, and light freights, at least, are concerned,
+ had the fourteen British steamers then employed been permitted to
+ operate, unchecked by the American line of mail steamers, between
+ New-York and Chagres? Would it not have been entirely at the mercy
+ of the commissioned agents of the British crown, who so well know
+ how to avail themselves of opportunities to promote their own
+ interests by advancing those of their government? To carry the
+ inquiry further, what would have been the condition of our
+ possessions on the Pacific coast, visited as they would have been
+ by British steamers--for where is the spot on the inhabited or
+ inhabitable globe to which they do not bear the union jack of old
+ England--had not the Aspinwall line been established? Such is the
+ universal pervasion of the money power in British hands, that at
+ present, as is well known, the Cunard line has extended a branch
+ to Havre, to transport goods to England almost free of cost, with
+ a view to appropriate to itself the freights from that quarter,
+ and thus not only crush the American line of steamers to Havre,
+ but be enabled to underbid the Collins line, and, if possible,
+ again monopolize the trade with the United States over that route.
+ Would all this have raised the prices of freights in American
+ sailing vessels, and given an advantage to the memorialists in
+ question, who had at one time monopolized to themselves the
+ freights, postage, and passage money in sailing ships? or would
+ not, on the contrary, such a state of things have operated so to
+ give a British tendency to trade everywhere, and to furnish
+ freights to British ships, at prices at which the American ship
+ owners could not afford to navigate their vessels?
+
+ "What, the Committee would ask, has the Government of the United
+ States done in the premises? Having under its charge the control
+ and direction of the United States mails upon land and sea, it has
+ thought proper to say that it would pay for the transportation of
+ the mails in _American steamers_, which can, if necessary, be
+ converted, at a small expense, into war steamers, and adopted, if
+ need be, into the navy proper, at an appraised value, and thereby
+ become efficient protectors of American commerce in the event of a
+ war. This is the head and front of the Government's offending, and
+ has, forsooth, aroused the ire of the commercial monopolists of
+ New-York, Boston, and elsewhere, because they can not any longer
+ enjoy the gains which, for more than a quarter of a century, they
+ had wrested from the mass of consumers throughout the land, north,
+ south, east, and west. Your Committee must say that, in their
+ opinion, such complaints come with a bad grace from such quarters,
+ and it is to be feared that victorious steam will ere long,
+ without the aid of the Federal Government, supersede the sailing
+ ships of the memorialists, through the instrumentality of the
+ discoveries daily in progress, whereby the navigation of vessels
+ propelled by that power will be made a matter of comparatively
+ small cost."
+
+Speaking of steam communication with Para and Rio de Janeiro, the
+Report further says:
+
+ "When the almost unbounded capacity for trade of the basins of the
+ La Plata and Amazon is taken into view, embracing as it does a
+ great variety of useful products which may be advantageously
+ exchanged for the manufactures and agricultural productions of our
+ own country, the mind is at a loss what limit to assign to the
+ trade to which civilization and the extension of commercial
+ facilities must eventually give rise. Nor are the advantages of
+ this great prospective commerce to be confined to the immediate
+ intercourse between this country and the regions to which we
+ refer. While the prevalence of certain winds, and the form of the
+ coast of South-America, are favorable to a direct trade with the
+ continent of North-America, they are such as to compel the
+ commerce with Europe to pass along our shores, and thus constitute
+ our Atlantic seaports so many stopping places at which the ships
+ of the old world may touch in their voyages to and fro. Heretofore
+ the policy of the governments which occupy the regions watered by
+ the La Plata and the Amazon, and their respective tributaries, has
+ been so exclusive in its character as to trammel, if not entirely
+ prevent, their intercourse with distant nations. The different
+ sovereignties which have sprung into existence since South-America
+ became independent of European control, have been so jealous of
+ each other that they have appeared to try which should be most
+ succesful in expelling foreign commerce, lest it might bring to
+ some one of them benefits which others did not and could not
+ possess. A wiser policy, however, appears to be about to prevail
+ since the fall of Rosas, and there is good reason to believe that,
+ hereafter, the commerce of those communities with the rest of the
+ world, will be placed upon a more liberal foundation. Should such
+ be the case, Rio de Janeiro can not fail to become the great
+ centre of a largely increased trade in the southern hemisphere."
+
+ "Should it be preferred to limit the extent of the American line
+ to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, the largest river in the
+ world, there is at present a Brazilian line between that point and
+ Rio de Janeiro, which, with the lines between Rio and the mouth of
+ the La Plata, will render the connection complete.
+
+ "Of the Amazon, it is proper to state that it is navigable by the
+ largest vessels, and presents a line of shore of not less than
+ six thousand miles, abounding in every description of product,
+ with climates of all temperatures and soils adapted to all sorts
+ of vegetable growth. As the regions through which this vast river
+ passes are peopled by communities to which manufacturing is
+ unknown, it will at once be seen what an immense market will be
+ opened to American industry in the various departments of the
+ useful arts. The proposed connection would, together with the
+ intercourse by steam, which will inevitably be established on the
+ Amazon, draw to that river the trade of the interior, which at
+ present passes over the Andes on the backs of sheep and mules to
+ the Pacific ocean, and constitutes a large portion of the
+ commodities that are transported around Cape Horn. With a view to
+ this river navigation, Brazil has already entered into a boundary
+ treaty with Peru, by which she has engaged to establish steamboat
+ navigation on the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, and is
+ preparing to put seven steamers upon the river, where none have
+ heretofore been.
+
+ "The experience of the world has shown that nations do not become
+ commercial or manufacturing, so long as the products of the soil
+ are sufficiently abundant to yield them wealth; and, hence, it may
+ be reasonably inferred that the carrying trade to and from
+ South-America will, if proper measures be taken, fall into the
+ hands of American ship-owners. By way of ascertaining what the
+ extent of this trade will be, if reference be had to the interior
+ or back country as the standard of the commercial resources
+ furnished by rivers, it will be found that the total area drained
+ by the rivers of the world is as follows:
+
+ _Sq. Miles._
+ Europe, emptying into the Atlantic, 532,940
+ Africa, emptying into the Mediterranean, 198,630
+ ----------
+ Total Old World, 1,731,570
+ ==========
+ Asia, emptying into the Pacific, 1,767,280
+ Asia, emptying into the Indian ocean, 1,661,760
+ ----------
+ Total Asiatic, 3,429,040
+ ==========
+ North-America, including St. Lawrence and
+ Mississippi emptying into the Atlantic, 1,476,800
+ ==========
+ South-America, emptying into the Atlantic--
+ Amazon and its confluents, 2,048,480
+ La Plata and all others, 1,329,490
+ ----------
+ Total South-American 3,377,970
+ ==========
+ Total American to the Atlantic, 4,854,770
+ ==========
+
+ "From the above statement it will be seen that the proposed line
+ of steam communication will bring within thirty days of each
+ other, the commercial outlets of navigable streams which drain a
+ back country greater in extent than that which is drained by all
+ of the navigable streams which empty themselves into the Atlantic,
+ the Pacific, and the Indian oceans, from those portions of Europe,
+ Asia, and Africa, which are accessible to American commerce.
+ Settlement and cultivation will, in the course of time, make these
+ American river basins as rich in products as those of the old
+ world.
+
+ "The question next arises, who are to be the carriers of the trade
+ which is hereafter to spring out of these American river basins,
+ the English or the Americans? If Great Britain be suffered to
+ monopolize commerce as she has heretofore done by her steam
+ navigation, her people will enjoy this great boon; but if, on the
+ contrary, the United States take advantage of circumstances as
+ they should, the prize will be won by Americans."
+
+ "Your Committee would remark, in concluding this Report, that,
+ regarding as they do the existence and rapid extension of the
+ system of ocean mail steam navigation, as absolutely essential to
+ the dignity and permanent prosperity of the country, and as the
+ only means, consistent with the genius and policy of our free
+ institutions, of acquiring a maritime strength, which, by keeping
+ pace with the improvements of the age, shall place us upon an
+ equal footing with other civilized countries of the world, without
+ the necessity of an overgrown and expensive naval establishment
+ proper, in time of peace, they would feel themselves derelict in
+ the performance of their duties, did they not recommend the
+ measure, with the earnestness which its importance demands.
+
+ "Circumstances indicate, with a clearness not to be misunderstood,
+ that in any future struggle for superiority on the ocean, the
+ contest will be decided by the power of steam. With a view to this
+ result, England has applied herself with even more than her wonted
+ energy to the construction of a regular steam navy which shall be
+ superior to all others. The number of ships which Great Britain
+ has of this kind, is at present two hundred and seventy-one, and
+ there are no less than nine royal war steamers in progress of
+ construction, to say nothing of the mail and other steamers which
+ are being built. The course thus pursued by the great commercial
+ rival of the United States, renders a corresponding energy and
+ activity on our part absolutely necessary, in a national point of
+ view; a steam navy must be provided for future emergencies in the
+ way proposed by the Committee, or war steamers must be built at an
+ enormous outlay of public money and kept ready in the navy yards,
+ or in commission, at an expense which is appalling to every lover
+ of judicious economy, or the stripes and stars of our country,
+ which have heretofore floated so triumphantly on every sea, must
+ grow dim, not only before the 'meteor flag of England,' but the
+ standards of the secondary powers of Europe. If members of
+ Congress are prepared to adopt either of these latter two
+ alternatives, let them say so, and let a system which promises,
+ under an honest and faithful discharge of duty on the part of the
+ executive branch of the Government, to realize the most sanguine
+ expectations of its friends, be at once abandoned. Let Great
+ Britain be again the guardian of our commercial interests and the
+ beneficiary of American trade. Let the Liverpool, Bremen, Havre,
+ California, and other lines, which have furnished twenty-four as
+ noble sea steamers as ever floated, be abandoned to their fate,
+ and let the Cunard line and other British steam mail lines and
+ royal steamers supply their places on the Atlantic and Pacific
+ oceans, and our Southern seas.
+
+ "Your Committee would again repeat that the question to be
+ considered is not one of mere dollars and cents, or whether
+ certain individuals are to be sustained, or not, but one of
+ infinitely greater consequence--whether this proud republic shall
+ now and hereafter exist as a power competent to maintain her
+ rights upon the ocean. The present condition of political affairs
+ in Europe is such as, in the opinion of many, to threaten a
+ general war among the nations of that quarter of the globe, and
+ the United States should stand ready, and able too, to protect the
+ rights of her citizens upon the ocean, in such an event. Were such
+ a crisis to take place to-morrow, or the next year, or within the
+ next five years, is the country prepared for it? The steam navy
+ proper amounts to sixteen steamers of all classes, which, together
+ with the twenty-four ocean mail steamers in the employ of the Post
+ Office Department, would give us a steam naval force not exceeding
+ forty in all. Is this the position we should occupy, while Great
+ Britain has at command upwards of three hundred war and mail
+ steamers? France has, it is believed, upwards of a hundred, and
+ the secondary powers of Europe have naval steam armaments in
+ proportion, most of them exceeding our own. This question will be
+ decided by the continuation or rejection of the system under
+ consideration, which, with all the difficulties attendant upon new
+ enterprises and under the most embarrassing circumstances, has
+ gone very far to sustain itself, and promises, at no distant
+ period, to become a source of large revenue to the Government, and
+ incalculable commercial advantages, pecuniarily and otherwise, to
+ the country."
+
+The following is copied from the Report made by Mr. Rusk in 1850, and
+published in Special Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1852.
+Speaking of the services of the mail steamers in our system of
+defenses, the Report says:
+
+ "The truth is, that, in the opinion of your Committee, the temper
+ of the times requires that we shall keep pace with the rapid
+ improvements of other nations in their commercial and military
+ marine, and that the only choice is, whether it is to be done by
+ constructing vessels for the packet service, at a boundless
+ expense to the Government, or by aiding private enterprise, and
+ thus not only eventually avoiding expense, but adding largely to
+ the revenues of the country. It will be seen from the above
+ extract from Mr. King's speech, that, in the course of five years,
+ the balance in favor of the Government from the Cunard line alone
+ was $5,286,000. The New-York and Liverpool and Bremen lines will
+ come in for a large, if not by far the greater, share of the
+ postage and freightage heretofore enjoyed by the Cunard line; and
+ the line to Chagres, for the advantages that have, up to the time
+ of its partial commencement, been in the exclusive possession of
+ the British packet establishment in that direction. Nor are the
+ freightage and postage moneys the only sources of profit. In
+ proportion to the increase of these facilities will be the
+ extension of trade, and consequently the Government will receive
+ the duties payable upon all foreign merchandise brought into the
+ country. Besides, persons _in transitu_ will leave much money in
+ our cities and along their routes, to say nothing of the porterage
+ and costs of transportation of goods. To benefit our people is to
+ benefit our Government; as the more we enrich the former, the more
+ able are they to contribute to the support of the latter.
+
+ "To construct ships and keep them in our navy-yards, subject to
+ the injuries of time and casualties, does not consist with the
+ notions of the American people, on the score of economy; nor is it
+ in accordance with received opinions in regard to the propriety of
+ placing excessive patronage in the hands of the General
+ Government. At the same time, it is in perfect unison with the
+ spirit of our free institutions that the arts of peace shall be
+ made tributary to the purposes of defense, and the same energies
+ which extend the commerce and manufactures of our country shall,
+ in the event of necessity, be capable of being made use of for our
+ protection. While the crowned heads of the Old World keep in
+ constant pay vast armies and navies sustained by the heart's blood
+ of the oppressed people, for the protection and preservation of
+ their unhallowed power, it is the proud boast of our country that
+ our soldiers are our citizens, and the sailors, who, in time of
+ peace, spread the canvas of our commercial marine throughout the
+ world, are the men who, in time of war, have heretofore directed,
+ and will continue to direct, our cannon against our foes."
+
+ "The simple fact that the ships employed in it [the mail service]
+ _may hereafter, if the Government thinks proper_, be purchased and
+ commissioned as regular war steamers, to be officered and manned
+ as ships of war, should not and can not prevent the construction
+ of steam or sailing vessels for ordinary naval purposes. Your
+ Committee are of opinion that, so far from being an impediment to
+ the proper increase of the Navy, the prosperity of the ocean steam
+ packet service must operate in favor of an enlargement of the
+ naval force, the necessity for which is increased in proportion to
+ the extension of our commercial relations with foreign countries.
+ The routes upon which lines of steam packets can be sustained and
+ made profitable to the owners are comparatively few, when we take
+ into view the infinitely diversified ramifications of trade. Great
+ Britain, with her vast colonial and general commerce, had, in
+ 1848, but fifteen lines in which national or contract vessels were
+ employed, including the home stations, as they are called, or
+ points of connection between the British islands. Nor has the
+ ocean steam packet system hindered, in the slightest degree, her
+ progress in the construction of steam or sailing vessels for the
+ naval service. In speaking of steam vessels available for naval
+ service, Captain W. H. Hall, of the British Navy, in the course of
+ his examination before the special Committee of the House of
+ Commons, hereinbefore referred to, says: 'I some time ago sent to
+ the Admiralty a plan for making the whole of the merchant steamers
+ available in case of need; and if there were an Act of Parliament
+ that these ships should be strengthened forward and aft to carry
+ guns, it might be then done with a very trifling expense; that
+ would give this country more power than any other country in the
+ world. We have nearly one thousand steam vessels, half of which,
+ at least, might be made available in case Government required
+ their services. Our mercantile steamers are some of the finest in
+ the world, and five hundred of them might be turned to account.
+ They should all be numbered and classed, so that Government would
+ merely have to ask for the number of vessels they wanted, when
+ they might go to Woolwich, or other places, and put the guns on
+ board, and then they would be ready for service.'
+
+ "Here is the opinion of a _captain in the British Navy_ with
+ reference to the availability of steam vessels for national
+ defense; and what a lesson does it teach to us in America, where
+ steam navigation is found penetrating every portion of the Union,
+ and spreading itself on our maritime and lake frontier in every
+ direction! Here is found no expression of apprehension lest the
+ mercantile steamers might interfere with the growth or efficiency
+ of the Navy to which the witness belonged. This opinion, moreover,
+ is expressed in a country where, according to the testimony before
+ the Committee already named, there were, in 1848, 174 _war
+ steamers, with an aggregate horse-power of_ 44,480 _horses_; and
+ where Mr. Alexander Gordon states, in a letter addressed to the
+ same Committee, the Steam Navy had then cost the country
+ L6,000,000 sterling, or $30,000,000, '_exclusive of all
+ reinstatements and expenses during commission_;' the same
+ gentleman also alleging that the annual repairs amounted
+ to L108,000
+ Annual cost for coals, 110,000
+ Depreciation at a moderate allowance, 600,000
+ ---------
+ Making the total amount of annual cost, L818,000
+ Or $4,094,000
+ ===========
+
+ "The regular employment of the best engineers on board of contract
+ vessels, and the great experience they would acquire from being
+ constantly on active duty, would furnish to the naval service, in
+ the event of a war, a corps that would be invaluable. In speaking
+ of the superiority of the engineers on board of contract vessels
+ in the employ of the British Government over those on board of the
+ Queen's ships, a witness before the select Committee of the House
+ of Commons says: 'Last year there was a universal complaint of the
+ inferiority of the engineers and all persons connected with steam
+ employed in her Majesty's service. It was explained, and very
+ easily explained, by the superior advantages in the merchant
+ service, and particularly the high wages paid. In all contract
+ steam packets, they have men on board the vessels who are
+ competent to superintend any alterations or repairs in the
+ machinery which may be required.'"
+
+Secretary Graham said on this subject to the Senate Committee, 20
+March, 1853:
+
+ "While their discussions [mail steamers] justify the conclusion
+ that vessels of this description can not be relied on to supersede
+ those modelled and built only for purposes of war, it is
+ respectfully suggested that a limited number of them, employed in
+ time of peace in the transportation of the mails, would be found a
+ most useful resource of the Government on the breaking out of war.
+
+ "If conforming to the standards required by these contracts, their
+ readiness to be used at the shortest notice, their capacity as
+ transports for troops and munitions of war, and their great
+ celerity of motion, enabling them to overhaul merchantmen, and at
+ the same time escape cruisers, would render them terrible as
+ guerrillas of the ocean, if fitted with such armaments as could be
+ readily put upon them in their present condition."
+
+Post Master General Collamer also said on this subject, June 27, 1850:
+
+ "There are three modes which have been mentioned of transporting
+ the mail. The first is by naval steamships, conducted by the Navy,
+ as a national service. This will occasion so enormous an expense
+ that it is not probable the project will be entertained.
+
+ "The next mode suggested is the sending the mails, from time to
+ time, by the fastest steamers which are first going. This has one
+ advantage: it gives occasional aid to the enterprising; but there
+ are many and great objections to it:
+
+ "1st. It is entirely inconsistent with fixed periods of departure
+ and arrival.
+
+ "2d. It makes all connections on or with the route uncertain.
+
+ "3d. A price must be fixed, to prevent undue exactions of the
+ Government; and yet no one would be under obligation to take the
+ mail at the price, so that it would be uncertain of going at all.
+
+ "4th. It would be impracticable to send agents with all those
+ mails, to take care of them and make distributions, except at an
+ enormous cost.
+
+ "5th. There would be constant difficulty with slow and unsafe
+ boats.
+
+ "6th. The great object of obtaining steamships, so constructed,
+ under the inspection of the Navy Department, as to be suitable for
+ war vessels, and subject to exclusive appropriation and use as
+ such, would be sacrificed.
+
+ "The third project is the making of contracts, for a stated term
+ of years, _upon proposals advertised for in the ordinary method
+ adopted for mail-coach service_. This would not answer for ocean
+ steam service, unless provision were made for security, in the
+ strength, capacity, and adaptation of the vessels, with their
+ machinery, etc."
+
+Regarding our steam service in the Gulf, and in reviewing the contract
+made by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Hon. Edwin
+Croswell, and associates, in a letter to the Chairman of the Senate
+Postal Committee, presented the following important reflections:
+
+ "As early as the year 1835, the attention of the British
+ Government was directed to the plan of changing the mode of
+ conveying the mails by the ships of the East-India Company and the
+ Government, and adopting the contract system with individuals and
+ companies, with a view to combining the essential properties of a
+ naval and commercial steam marine.
+
+ "In consequence of the Report of the Commissioners appointed by
+ Parliament to inquire into the management of the English Post
+ Office Department in 1836, the mail steam packet service was
+ transferred to the Admiralty. The Report stated the conviction of
+ the Commissioners of Inquiry that 'the advantages which a System
+ of contract must generally secure to the public over one of the
+ establishment, however well conducted, were such that they wish
+ they could have felt justified in recommending that it should be
+ universally and immediately adopted.'
+
+ "The Secretary of the Admiralty stated that, 'in acting upon this
+ opinion, the Admiralty entered into contracts for conveying the
+ mails by steam vessels to and from Spain and Portugal, and
+ subsequently between Alexandria and England, with the Peninsular
+ and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Contracts were also entered
+ into for the conveyance of the mails between England and
+ North-America, and England and the West-Indies and Mexico.' That
+ 'the execution of all these contracts, with the exception of the
+ latter, had given general satisfaction. But for this exception,
+ the extent and complication of the plan at its commencement
+ afforded some apology.' That 'the spirit in which the steam
+ contractors had generally executed their contracts merited notice,
+ as they had in almost every instance exceeded the horse-power
+ stipulated in their agreements, and thus insured an accuracy in
+ the delivery of mails which experience has shown, if the letter of
+ the contract had been adhered to by them, would not have been the
+ case.' And that 'the contract system had been generally
+ satisfactory to the Admiralty and the public, and had tended
+ largely to increase the steam tonnage of this country, (England,)
+ to encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the
+ regulation and economical management of steam.'
+
+ "Such, certainly, were among the valuable results of the system;
+ but these were not the only considerations that led to its
+ adoption. The English Government, with the forecast for which that
+ far-reaching power is distinguished, saw the advantages which an
+ extended steam marine would give to its commerce over that of
+ every other nation in the world. It saw also the value of
+ connecting this great branch of the national service with the
+ commercial and practical skill of the country. It soon formed and
+ matured its plan, embracing within its scope nearly the entire
+ commercial world. Steam lines, as stated in the preceding extract
+ from the Admiralty Report, were established, radiating from
+ England to all the prominent European ports, to the Mediterranean,
+ to Egypt, the East-Indies and China, the West-India Islands,
+ South-America and Mexico, the ports in the Gulf of Mexico and
+ Havana, the United States and the English colonial possessions in
+ North-America, and to the islands and ports in the Pacific ocean.
+ This vast chain of intercourse was not only completely
+ established, but it became a matter of national policy to enlarge,
+ strengthen, and maintain it. By it much of the commerce of the
+ world by steam, and nearly all the letter-carrying by steam
+ between this continent and the European ports, and even the
+ distant parts of our own territory, were engrossed by British
+ ships."
+
+ "Important national considerations, aside from the design to
+ engross for British bottoms and British capital the trade and
+ intercourse of the commercial world, and especially with the
+ American continent and islands, entered into the Government plan.
+ It was ascertained to be a far less expensive mode of maintaining
+ a naval steam force adapted to the purposes of Government, and to
+ any emergency that might require these ships for other than mail
+ purposes, than to build, equip, and keep in service national
+ steamships of war. The experiment has proved its adequacy to the
+ intended object; and it continues not only to receive the approval
+ of the Admiralty and Government of England, but to be continually
+ undergoing enlargement and expansion."
+
+ "The West-India mail steam line was proposed to the British
+ Government in April, 1839, by sundry merchants of London. A
+ charter was granted to the contractors in that year, under the
+ title of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. It embraced the
+ following routes:
+
+ "1. _Outward Atlantic Route._--From Southampton to Madeira,
+ Barbados and Grenada--steamer, every 15 days.
+
+ "2. _Trinidad Route._--From Grenada to Trinidad and
+ Barbados--steamer, every 15 days.
+
+ "3. _Demarara Route._--From Grenada to Courland Bay,
+ (Tobago)--steamer, every 15 days.
+
+ "4. _Northern Islands Route._--From Grenada to St. Vincent, St.
+ Lucia, Martinique, Dominique, Guadalupe, Antigua, Montserrat,
+ Nevis, St. Kitt's, Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John's, (Porto
+ Rico)--steamer, every 15 days.
+
+ "5. _Jamaica and Mexican Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, (Hayti,)
+ Kingston, Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "6. _Jamaica and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel,
+ Kingston, St. Iago de Cuba, St. Juan's, (Porto Rico,) and St.
+ Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "7. _Bermuda, Havana, and Jamaica Route._--From St. Thomas to
+ Bermuda, Nassau, Havana, Kingston, Jacmel, St. Juan's, and St.
+ Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "8. _Homeward Fayal Route._--From St. Thomas to
+ Southampton--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "9. _Laguayra Route._--From Grenada to Laguayra, Porto Cabello,
+ and St. Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "10. _Panama and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Kingston (Jamaica)
+ to Santa Martha, Carthagena, Chagres, and St. Juan de
+ Nicaragua--steamer, every 30 days.
+
+ "11. _Honduras Route._--From Havana to Balize, (Honduras)--sailing
+ schooner, every 30 days."
+
+ "The contract system, combining the efficient features of an
+ extended commercial and Government steam marine, was thus adopted
+ after full investigation on the subject by the Board of Admiralty,
+ the Treasury, and the different Government Departments, including
+ the Post Master General. The merits and benefits of this system
+ have been tested by England. That Government was the first to
+ engage in it, and, as we have already stated, fully approve, and
+ are constantly extending it. The Committee of Inquiry of
+ Parliament, as we have already quoted, say truly that it 'had
+ tended largely to increase the steam tonnage of that country, to
+ encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the
+ regulation and economical management of steam.' After an
+ examination of it in the most scientific and practical manner,
+ that Government regards it as altogether more economical for the
+ nation, and for the general public interests, than the exclusive
+ employment of Government vessels. The ships built by the contract
+ companies have far exceeded in speed and other essential qualities
+ the ships constructed by Government. A far greater amount of
+ service was obtained, at a cost much less than would be incurred
+ by Government in building, equipping, manning, and running
+ national vessels for even a partial performance of the same
+ service. Individual and associated skill, enterprise, and capital
+ were called into requisition, and, aided by Government means,
+ contributed to enlarge, extend, and fortify the naval and
+ commercial power of England.
+
+ "The practical operation of this great system of steam lines was
+ to place within the reach of English vessels, of a semi-national
+ character, and ready to be converted into ships of war, our entire
+ Southern coast and harbors, besides yielding to them the foreign
+ trade, commerce, and letter-carrying, by steam, to and from all
+ parts of our country. To meet and counteract this state of things,
+ became the object and duty of the American Congress and
+ Government. It was the more obvious at that time particularly,
+ engaged as we were in a war with Mexico, and our only means of
+ coast defense of any force being a single steamer, and she not
+ capable of entering the Southern harbors, while English steam
+ fleets literally filled and occupied our waters. To counteract, so
+ far as was demanded by the requirements of our own commerce, and
+ the defense of our coast, a monopoly so formidable, which had
+ grown up under the direct and liberal cooperation of the English
+ Government, and the supposed superiority of English machinery,
+ required the aid of Congress; for it was evident that unaided
+ American enterprise and capital could not cope with it.
+ Accordingly, at the close of the session of 1847, the Congress of
+ the United States passed an act authorizing the Secretary of the
+ Navy to contract with sundry parties and different steam lines for
+ the construction of ocean steamships, as part of the plan of a
+ combined naval and commercial steam marine, in connection with the
+ mail service."
+
+After enumerating the various lines established by Congress, he
+further says:
+
+ "These (with the previously authorized line from New-York to
+ Bremen) were the various parts of a complete and important plan
+ adapted to the growing wants of the public service, and for
+ providing an adequate steam marine, whenever the exigencies of
+ the country might require it, and for facilitating intercourse and
+ the transmission of the mails between remote parts of our own
+ country and other nations. For the due performance of it in all
+ its ramifications, it required a large aggregate of capital,
+ skill, and intelligent enterprise. After a lapse of nearly three
+ years, portions of the undertaking have gone into efficient
+ operation; and already the fruits of it--its utility, and its
+ advantages and benefits to the American government and
+ people--have been demonstrated. When the various parts shall be
+ completed, and the plan in all its features shall be in full
+ operation, its immediate practical results, aside from its
+ prospective effectiveness in furnishing a class of war steamers
+ for any ultimate purpose of the American Government, will be found
+ fully to justify the action of Congress and the participation and
+ favor of the Government, and confirm the public confidence in its
+ great utility and value."
+
+ "When it came to the knowledge of the English government that
+ Congress had entered into contracts establishing steam lines to
+ Chagres, Havana, and New-Orleans, its first movement to counteract
+ or discourage the proposed American line in that direction was to
+ run branches of the Royal West-India mail line from Bermuda to
+ New-York, and from Jamaica to New-Orleans and Mobile. Now that the
+ American line to Chagres has gone into full operation, and the
+ news from the Pacific comes by this line to New-York, and thence
+ to Liverpool, some fifteen days sooner than the same news brought
+ by the British line,[J] the English government has revised,
+ enlarged, and extended its West-India line. It has entered into a
+ new contract with the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, a material
+ feature of which is to run a mail line direct from Southampton to
+ St. Thomas, and thence to Chagres and back, twice a month, with
+ steamers of larger capacity and power, and with a proposed speed
+ of from twelve to fourteen miles per hour. For this line, five or
+ six new steamships are, under the contract, to be built, while the
+ old vessels are to form branches from this main line or trunk to
+ other of the routes of this great and extended plan of steam
+ intercourse and letter-carrying; at the same time that government
+ will withdraw its branches to the Balize, Mobile, and New-York,
+ extend its line to Rio de Janeiro, and enlarge its line in the
+ Pacific, from Panama to Valparaiso, converting it from a monthly
+ to a semi-monthly route. These movements show not only the
+ immediate results of American enterprise in ocean steamships, and
+ the important consequences, aside from any purposes of coast and
+ harbor defense, to which it has already led, but the strong public
+ reasons on the part of our Government to foster, continue, and
+ encourage it. It has already counteracted the best efforts of the
+ large and long-established English steam lines, and transferred
+ the commerce and letter-carrying so long exclusively enjoyed by
+ them to American ships. If promoted and favored by the Congress of
+ the United States, it will still meet and counteract the new
+ efforts of the English Government to recover the ground which
+ American skill, enterprise, and capital, aided by the Government,
+ have won from them.
+
+ [J] "By the contract of 1846 with the West-India Royal Mail
+ Steam-Packet Company, the voyage from Chagres to Southampton is
+ performed in 33 days. By the United States Mail Steamship Company
+ the voyage from Chagres to New-York, and thence to Liverpool, is
+ performed in 22 days.
+
+ "In relation to the comparative cost to the two governments by
+ which these lines of ocean steamers, in connection with the naval
+ and mail service, are maintained, it will be seen that the British
+ Government pays as much for its single West-India and Chagres line
+ as the American Government pays for all its lines--Liverpool and
+ New-York, New-York and Bremen, New-York and Havre, New-York,
+ Havana, New-Orleans, and Chagres, and Panama and San Francisco.
+ The entire annual payments by the British Government amount [This
+ was in 1850.--T.R.] to $3,180,000. Those by the American
+ Government, when all its lines shall be in full service, will be
+ $1,215,000. The British-West India Mail Steam-Packet Company are
+ paid $3.08 per mile for mail service: the United States Mail
+ Steamship Company, $1.88 per mile."
+
+The Committee presented some few queries to Commodore M.C. Perry on
+the capabilities of the postal steamers for war purposes, to which he
+replies thus:
+
+ "I now proceed to reply to the first division of the inquiry, as
+ follows:
+
+ "Question first: 'Whether the steamships employed in the
+ transportation of the United States mail, under contract with the
+ Navy Department, or any other steamships employed in the
+ transportation of our foreign mails, are, in all respects,
+ suitable for immediate conversion into steamers for war purposes,
+ capable of carrying the armament or battery appropriate to the
+ class specified in the contract?'
+
+ "In answer to the foregoing (first) question, I am of opinion that
+ they are _not_ 'in all respects suitable.'
+
+ "Question second: 'And if not suitable for such immediate
+ conversion, whether they could be altered so as to make them
+ efficient war steamers?'
+
+ "Answer: The following named Atlantic steamers maybe converted, by
+ slight alteration, into war steamers of the first class:
+
+ "_Of Collins's line._ The Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic.
+
+ "_Of Law's line._ The Ohio, Georgia, and Illinois.
+
+ "_Of Mortimer Livingston's line._ The Humboldt and Franklin.
+
+ "_Pacific steamers--of Aspinwall's line._ First class, the Golden
+ Gate. Second class, the Panama, Oregon, California, and Columbia.
+
+ "The foregoing vessels of the respective contracts are variously
+ constructed as to materials, fastening, strength, and model.
+
+ "Question third: 'And if so, what alterations would be necessary
+ to be made, and at what expense, to make them war steamers of the
+ first class:'
+
+ "Answer: If these vessels had been originally constructed
+ comformably to the _spirit_ (though it was not called for by the
+ letter) of the contracts, as they should have been, and all
+ English mail steamers now are, _in anticipation of their possible
+ conversion, into war vessels_, the cost of converting them would
+ be much less.
+
+ "Most of them were completed before I was ordered to their
+ supervision; but I lost no time, after entering upon the duty, in
+ calling the attention of the contractors to this important
+ consideration, an observance of which would not have added more
+ than one per cent upon the cost of construction.
+
+ "In altering these vessels so as to make them available for war
+ purposes, the most simple, expeditious, and economical plan would
+ be to razee them, or cut off their upper decks and cabins forward
+ and abaft the wheel-houses; not by tearing them to pieces and
+ defacing the costly ornamental work, which, though of no value to
+ the Government, still need not be destroyed.
+
+ "The razeeing should be effected by sawing the top timbers, and
+ cutting off by sections the whole of the upper dock, excepting the
+ space between the wheel-houses, thus leaving the greater part of
+ the main deck exposed and for the accommodation of the armament,
+ and enough of the sides above that deck to answer for bulwarks and
+ side-ports.
+
+ "Below, it would only be necessary to remove the state-rooms not
+ wanted for the accommodation of the officers, and convert the
+ after-hold and fore and main orlops into magazines, store-rooms,
+ shot and shell lockers, etc., etc.
+
+ "According to my calculation, the cost of the conversion of either
+ of the before mentioned vessels, exclusive of armaments, repair of
+ machinery and ordinary repair, would not, or certainly _ought_
+ not, exceed, for steamers of the first class, $20,000, and for
+ those of the second class, $15,000; and it could be readily done
+ for this at any of our navy yards, provided that _useless_
+ alterations were not made.
+
+ "It should be taken into view that those mail steamers, if called
+ into service as war vessels, would be considered as forming an
+ auxiliary force to the regularly constructed ships, and hence the
+ impolicy of expending much money on them. The requisites of sound
+ hulls and powerful engines, with efficient armaments, should
+ alone be considered, leaving superfluous ornament out of the
+ question.
+
+ "The armaments of the respective vessels would, of course, be a
+ separate cost; and to arrange the guns on the upper deck, it would
+ only be required to close up three or four of the hatches or
+ sky-lights; to strengthen the deck by additional beams and
+ stanchions; to cut ports, and construct the pivot and other
+ carriages; probably it might be desirable to shift the capstan and
+ cables.
+
+ "With respect to the description and weight of the respective
+ armaments, I am clearly of opinion that the first-class steamers
+ already named could easily carry each _four_ 10-inch Paixhan guns
+ on pivots, two forward and two aft, of the weight of those in the
+ Mississippi; _ten_ 8-inch Paixhans, as side-guns, ditto.
+
+ "The _second-class_ steamers could with equal ease carry each
+ _two_ 8-inch Paixhans on pivots, one forward and one aft, and
+ _six_ 6-inch ditto, as side-guns.
+
+ "With the additional strengthening recommended, I am perfectly
+ satisfied that the armaments suggested would not, in the least,
+ incommode the vessels. Indeed, the weight of armament would be
+ actually less than that which would be taken away by the removal
+ of the upper decks and cabins, and the miscellaneous articles
+ usually stowed on one or the other of two decks--such, for
+ instance, as ice, of which not less than forty tons is generally
+ packed in one mass; nor would the munitions and provisions
+ required for the war vessel be of greater weight than the goods
+ now carried as freight, saying nothing of the provisions and
+ stores carried by the steamers for an average of 150 to 250 souls,
+ including crew and passengers.
+
+ "It may again be remarked, that steamers thus brought into service
+ would be far inferior to regularly constructed and appointed war
+ vessels; yet in the general operations of a maritime war, they
+ would render good service, and especially would they be useful,
+ from their great speed, as dispatch vessels, and for the
+ transportation of troops, always being capable of attack and
+ defense, and of overhauling or escaping from an enemy."
+
+Captain Skiddy, the Special Naval Constructor appointed by the
+Government to superintend the building of all the mail packets, says
+in a letter to Com. Perry:
+
+ "In reply I will commence with the first-class ships, which are
+ the 'Atlantic,' 'Pacific,' 'Baltic,' and 'Arctic,' of Collins'
+ Liverpool line; the 'Franklin' and 'Humboldt' of Mortimer
+ Livingston's Havre line.
+
+ "These ships, although equal in strength, probably, to any
+ steamships afloat, are not suitable for _immediate_ war purposes,
+ but can be made efficient in four or six weeks, capable of
+ carrying the armament or battery of a first-class frigate--say
+ four ten-inch guns and twelve eight-inch guns. These alterations
+ would consist of a removal of the deck-houses, spar or upper deck,
+ forward and abaft the paddle-wheel boxes, fitting the after and
+ forward bulwarks in sections, cutting port-holes, fitting hammock
+ cloths or nettings, putting in extra beams and knees, and
+ stanchions, moving the windlass below, building magazines,
+ shell-rooms, officers' rooms, etc., etc. The cost of all these
+ alterations and fixtures would not exceed ($15,000 or $20,000)
+ twenty thousand dollars each ship. These ships would then be
+ relieved of about one hundred and fifty tons weight, or nearly
+ double the weight of guns and carriages, with less resistance to
+ water and wind, adding an increase to their already great speed."
+
+In the case of all these steamers, that is, of the Havre and Bremen,
+the Collins, the Aspinwall, and the Pacific lines, Commodore Perry
+reported that they "_were capable of being easily converted into war
+steamers of the first class_."
+
+
+
+
+PAPER F.
+
+OCEAN STEAM LINES OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+ ------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
+ LINE. |SERVICE. |Ships.|Tonnage.
+ ------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
+ Cunard, Paddle-wheel, |Liverpool, New-York, Boston, and| 8| 12,000
+ |Halifax, | |
+ " Screw, | " " " " | 4| 4,800
+ North Atlantic Steamship Co., |St. John's and Portland, | 3| 4,800
+ European and American S. S. |Bremen, Antwerp, Southampton, & | 4| 10,000
+ Co.,|New-York, | |
+ " " " " |Bremen, Antwerp, Southampton, to| 4| 9,000
+ |Brazil, | |
+ London and Canada, |London and Montreal, | 2| 1,870
+ Liverpool and Canadian, |Liverpool and Quebec, | 4| 5,000
+ Liv., Philadelphia, and | " " New-York, | 4| 8,700
+ New-York,| | |
+ Glasgow and New-York, |Glasgow and New-York, | 3| 6,200
+ Belgian Transatlantic, |Antwerp and New-York, | 4| 8,800
+ " " | " " Brazil, | 5| 6,500
+ Hamburg and American, |Hamburg and New-York, | 4| 7,300
+ " " Brazilian,[K] |Hamburg and Rio de Janeiro, | 2| 4,500
+ Genoa and Brazilian, |Genoa, " " | 4| 8,000
+ Royal Mail Co., |Southampton, West-Indies, | 18| 21,510
+ | Central America,| |
+ | South-America,| |
+ " " | " Per., Rio, Bahia, | 4| 6,820
+ | and La Plata,| |
+ Pacific Steam Navigation Co., |Panama to Valparaiso and | 7| 5,719
+ |intermediate, | |
+ Peninsular and Oriental Co., |Portugal, Spain, Malta, | 39| 49,416
+ |Alexandria, East-Indies, China, | |
+ |and Australia, | |
+ Europ. and Australian Royal |Southampton, Alexandria, Suez, | 7| 15,500
+ Mail Co.,|and Sydney, | |
+ Australian Royal Mail Co., |Transport and other, | 4| 7,800
+ Rotterdam and Mediterranean, |Rotterdam, Leghorn, and Trieste,| 4| 1,900
+ North of Europe Steam |African, | 4| 3,200
+ Navigation Co.,| | |
+ McIver's, |Liverpool and Mediterranean, | 10| 9,000
+ " | " " Havre, | 2| 2,000
+ Bibby's, |Liverpool and Mediterranean, | 11| 11,700
+ Fowler's, | " " " | 6| 7,500
+ Dixon's, | " " " | 4| 8,800
+ Liverpool and Australian, | " and Australia, | 2| 7,000
+ London " " |London and " | 4| 7,500
+ African, | " Liverpool, and Africa, | 5| 5,000
+ Union Screw Co., |Southampton and Cape Good Hope, | 3| 1,800
+ Luzo-Brazileira, |Lisbon and Brazil, | 4| 8,000
+ Austrian Lloyds, |Very large Mediterranean | | Unknown
+ |service, | |
+ Messageries Imperiales, |Mediterranean, Black Sea, | 50| "[L]
+ |Levant, | |
+ W. Hartlepool Steam Navigation|Hartlepool, Hamburg, and St. | 6| "
+ Co.,|Petersburg, | |
+ Danube Steam Navigation Co., |Vienna, Galatz, and | 6| "
+ |Constantinople, | |
+ Hamburg and Spanish, |Hamburg, Southampton, and all | 2| 2,000
+ |Spanish ports, | |
+ East-India Company, |Suez and India, and the Bombay | 12| 11,471
+ |Mail lines, | |
+ Spanish and Cuban, |Cadiz, Havana, and Mexico, | 5| 9,000
+ Companhia Brazileira, |Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon and| 7| 5,500
+ |La Plata, | |
+ Collins Company, |New-York and Liverpool, | 3| 9,727
+ Havre Steam Navigation Co., | " Southampton, and Havre,| 2| 4,548
+ Cornelius Vanderbilt, | " " " Bremen,| 3| 6,523
+ United States Mail Steamship |New-York, Havana, Aspinwall, & | 6| 8,544
+ Co.,|New-Orleans, | |
+ Pacific Mail Steamship Co., |Panama, California, and Oregon, | 13| 16,421
+ New-York and New-Orleans, |New-York, Havana, and | 2| 3,198
+ | New-Orleans,| |
+ New-York and Alabama, | " " " Mobile, | 1| 1,300
+ Charleston and Havana, |Charleston, Key West, and | 1| 1,115
+ |Havana, | |
+ Savannah Steamship Co., |New-York and Savannah, | 4| 4,793
+ New-York and Charleston St. S.| " " Charleston, | 4| 4,680
+ Co.,| | |
+ " " Virginia, | " Norfolk, and Richmond, | 2| 2,371
+ Philadelphia and Savannah, |Philadelphia and Savannah, | 2| 2,600
+ Boston and Baltimore, |Boston and Baltimore, | 2| 1,600
+ Texas Steamship Co., |New-Orleans and Galveston, | 4| 2,400
+ Southern Steamship Co., | " " Key West, | 2| 1,000
+ Mexican Steamship Co., | " Tampico and Vera Cruz,| 1| 960
+ ------------------------------+--------------------------------+------+--------
+
+[K] Building another steamer of 2,500 tons for the Brazil line.
+
+[L] These vessels average about 250 horses' power each. Their tonnage
+is large, probably 1,200 tons each.
+
+There are several other lines of ocean steamers in Europe; but it is
+almost impossible to ascertain anything definite about them. The list
+above embraces all of the most important companies of the world. The
+lines are continually changing, while the vessels are passing into new
+hands almost every week.
+
+
+
+
+PAPER G.
+
+
+The following official letter from Hon. Horatio King explains itself.
+
+
+ Post-Office Department, }
+ Washington, Nov. 12, 1857. }
+
+ Sir: In answer to your letter of 10th inst., I have to inform you,
+ that the ocean mail steamship lines now under contract with the
+ Government for the conveyance of mails, are as follows, namely:
+
+ 1. The New-York and Liverpool (Collins) Line, performing twenty
+ round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of $385,000.
+ Length of route, 3,100 miles.
+
+ 2. The New-York and Bremen Line, _via_ Southampton, performing
+ thirteen round trips per annum, for the gross amount of United
+ States postages, (sea and inland.) Length of route, 3,700 miles.
+
+ 3. The New-York and Havre Line, _via_ Southampton, performing
+ thirteen round trips per annum for the gross amount of United
+ States postages, (sea and inland.) Length of route, 3,270 miles.
+
+ 4. The New-York, Havana, New-Orleans, and Aspinwall Line,
+ performing twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual
+ compensation of $290,000. Length of routes 2,000 miles from
+ New-York to Aspinwall _direct_; 2,000 miles from New-York to
+ New-Orleans _via_ Havana; and 1,200 miles from Havana to
+ Aspinwall; making in all, 5,200 miles.
+
+ 5. The Astoria, San Francisco, and Panama Line, performing
+ twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of
+ $348,250. Length of route, 4,200 miles.
+
+ 6. The Charleston, Savannah, Key West, and Havana Line, performing
+ twenty-four round trips per annum, at an annual compensation of
+ $60,000. Length of route, 669 miles.
+
+ 7. The New-Orleans and Vera Cruz Line, performing twenty-four
+ round trips per annum, at $1,210.93 the round trip. Length of
+ route, 900 miles.
+
+ The contracts on these lines expire as follows, namely:
+
+ New-York and Liverpool (Collins) Line, 27th April, 1860.
+ New-York and Bremen Line, 1st June, 1858.
+ New-York and Havre Line, 1st June, 1858.
+ New-York, New-Orleans, and Aspinwall Line, 1st Oct., 1859.
+ Astoria and Panama Line, 1st Oct., 1858.
+ Charleston and Havana Line, 30th June, 1859.
+ New-Orleans and Vera Cruz Line, 30th June, 1858.
+
+ I am very respectfully your obedient servant,
+
+ HORATIO KING.
+
+ To DR. THOMAS RAINEY.
+
+
+
+
+PAPER H.
+
+THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND AMERICAN NAVIES.
+
+
+The following list is kindly furnished me by Hon. Wm. A. Harris, of
+Washington. The French list is taken from the "_Tableau General des
+Batiments a Voiles et a Vapeur composant les Flottes de la Marine
+Imperiale Francaise_."
+
+ SAILING VESSELS.
+
+ SHIPS OF 120 GUNS.--Ocean, Friedland, Ville de Paris, Valmy.
+
+ SHIPS OF 100 GUNS.--Hercule, Temmasses, Tage Turenne.
+
+ SHIPS OF 90 GUNS.--Jena, Suffren, Bayard, Breslau, Hector,
+ Achille, Eole, Santi-Petri, Tilsitt, Sceptic, Castiglione.
+
+ SHIPS OF 86 GUNS.--Diademe, Neptune, Jupiter.
+
+ SHIPS OF 82 GUNS.--Marengo, Trident, Ville de Marsailles, Alger,
+ Triton, Duperre, Genereux, Latour d'Auvergne, Saint-Louis.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 60 GUNS.--Iphigenie, Independante, Didon, Uranie,
+ Belle-Poulle, Surveillante, Andromaque, Forte, Minerve, Melpomene,
+ Perseverante, Renomme, Vengeance, Etrepienante, Victoire,
+ Semiramis, Guerrierre, Pallas, Semillante.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 52 GUNS.--Alceste, Calypso, Sirene, Atlante,
+ Andromede, Nereide, Zenobie, Sybille.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 50 GUNS.--Reine Blanche, Cleopatre, Danae, Virginie,
+ Poursuivante, Pandore, Nemesis, Bellonne, Amazone, Astree, Junon,
+ Hermione, Dryade, Circe, Flore.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 46 GUNS.--Thetis, Armide, Grigone, Margicienne,
+ Africane, Penelope, Medee.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 40 GUNS.--Constitution, Psyche, Clorinde, Heliopolis,
+ Jeanne d'Arc, Algerie, Resolue, Tiris, Ceres, Armorique.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 30 GUNS.--Ariane, Thisbe, Heroine, Alemene,
+ Embuscade, Sabine, Aventure, Favorite, Jeanne-Hochette, Corneline,
+ Circe, Cybele.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 28 GUNS.--Arethuse, Bayonnaise, Arthemise, Galatee,
+ Serieuse, Eurydice, Capricieuse, Constantine.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 24 GUNS.--Brillante, Naide, Creole, Danaide,
+ Triomphante.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 20 GUNS.--Camille, Bergere, Iguala, Coquette, Echo.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 16 GUNS.--Diligente, Cornelie, Egle, Perle, Oritie.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 14 GUNS.--Astrolabe, Zelee, Prevoyante, Expeditive,
+ Recherche, Active, Indienne, Sarcelle, Prudente, Indefatigable,
+ Emulation.
+
+ BRIGS OF 20 GUNS.--Ducouedic, Palinure, Cygene, Alcibiade, Adonis,
+ Hussard, Chasseur, Griffon, d'Hassar, Meleagre, Acteon, Bisson,
+ Lapeirousse, Cassard, Oreste, Pylade, Nisus, Euryale, Beaumanvir,
+ Chevert, Droupot, Alacryti, Voltigeur.
+
+ BRIGS OF 18 GUNS.--Mercure, Dragon, Faune, Genie, Faucon,
+ Grenadier, Entreprenant, Fanfaron, Janus, Victor, Olivier, Zebre,
+ Obligardo, Alerte, Cuirassier.
+
+ BRIGS OF 10 GUNS.--Volage, Surprise, Fleche, Alcyon, Comete,
+ Sylphe, Dupetit-Lhouars, Bougainville, Argus, Fabert, Lutin, Cerf,
+ Messaeer, Papillon, Rossignol, Agile, Geyer, Inconstant, Zephir,
+ Railleur, Russee, Lynx.
+
+ BRIGS OF 8 GUNS.--Allouette, Alsacienne, Malouine, Tactique,
+ Virgie, Eglantine, Panthere.
+
+ CORVETTES DE CHARGE 32 GUNS, 800 HORSE POWER.--Proserpine, Adour,
+ Abondante, Oise, Caravane, Allier, Agathe, Fortune, Aube, Egerie,
+ Rhin, Somme, Meurthe, Mosselle.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 28 GUNS, 600 TONS.--Perdrix, Loire, Provencale,
+ Marsouin.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 20 GUNS, 550 TONS.--Robuste, Giraffe, Chandernagor,
+ Cormoran.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 16 GUNS, 300 TONS.--Hecla, Dore, Cyclope, Vulcain,
+ Lamproie, Volcan, Bucephale, Licome, Lezard, Mahe, Lionne.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 12 GUNS, 200 TONS.--Anna, Pintado, Menagere.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 8 GUNS, 150 TONS.--Pourvoyeur, Seudre.
+
+ SLOOPS OF 6 GUNS, 90 TONS.--Vigilant, Pilote, Ile d'Oleron,
+ Mayottais.
+
+ SCHOONERS OF 6 GUNS.--Merange, Estafete, Gazelle, Hirondelle,
+ Topaze, Beaucir, Euroquoise, Decidee, Jouvencelle, Tonguille,
+ Amaranthe, Fauvette, Legere, Encelade, Etoile, Fine, Doris,
+ Brestoise, Mouche, Bella Helene, Eugenie, Tafne, Parisienne,
+ Gentille, Ibir, Mignonne, Souris, Egle, Iris, Papeiti, Sultan,
+ Agathe, Touronnaise, Daphne, Levrette, Bose, Dorade.
+
+ CUTTERS OF 4 GUNS.--Rodeur, Furet, Moustique, Espeigle, Moutin,
+ Favori, Levrier, Eperlan, Renard, Eclair, Goelund, Chamois,
+ Emeraude, Esperance, Cupidon, Orglae, Aigle d'Or, Colibi,
+ Antilope, Seybouse, Pluvier, Ecureuil, No. 1, Ecureuil, No. 2,
+ Mirmidon, Capelan, Corvril, Boberach, Palmer, Belette, Colombe,
+ Cigorle, Tafnal, Amiral, Papillon.
+
+
+ SAILING SHIPS CHANGED INTO STEAMSHIPS.
+
+ SHIPS OF 120 GUNS.--Montibello 650, Souverain 650, Desaix 650,
+ Louis XIV. 650, Bretagne 960.
+
+ SHIPS OF 100 GUNS.--Fleurus 650, Ulm 650, Dugay-Etains 650,
+ Annibal 650, Eyleau 650, Prince Jerome 650, Navarin 650,
+ Austerlitz 650, Wagram 650, Massena 650.
+
+ SHIPS OF 90 GUNS.--Inflexible 450, Dugueschin 450, Donnawerth 600,
+ Fontenoy 600, Charlemagne 450, Duquesne 450, Tourville 450,
+ Alexandre 600, Jean-Bart 450.
+
+
+ STEAM VESSELS.
+
+ SHIPS OF 90 GUNS, 960 HORSE POWER.--Napoleon, Imperiel, Algesiras.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 650 HORSE POWER.--Mogador, Isly.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 540 HORSE POWER.--Descartes, Vauban.
+
+ FRIGATES OF 450 HORSE POWER.--Gomer, Asmodee, Labrador, Magellan,
+ Montezuma, Cacique, Panama, Eldorado, Pomone, Albatros, Sane,
+ Orenoque, Ch. Columb, Canada, Ulloa, Darien, Caffarelli.
+
+
+ MIXED FRIGATES--(New Construction.)
+
+ 800 HORSE POWER, 50 GUNS.--Imperatrice Eugenie, Indomitable,
+ Foudre, Audacieuse.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 400 HORSE POWER.--Infernal, Reine Hortense,
+ Bertholet, Catinat, Rolland, Phlegeton, Laplace, Primaugnet,
+ Dassas.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 320 HORSE POWER.--Prony, Caton, Colbert.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 300 HORSE POWER.--Patriote, Eumenide, Gorgone,
+ Tanger, Coligny, Tisiphone.
+
+ CORVETTES OF 220 HORSE POWER.--Espadon, Veloce, Lavoisier,
+ Cameleon, Gassendi, Pluton, Archimede, Duchayla, Phoque, Elan,
+ Caiman, Titan, Cassini, Chaptal, Newton.
+
+
+ ADVICE VESSELS.
+
+ OF 200 HORSE POWER.--Monette, Heron, Laborieux, Eclaireur, Phenix,
+ Lucifer, Biche, Goeland, Promethee, Souffleur, Milan, Aigle,
+ Megere, Sentinelle.
+
+ OF 180 HORSE POWER.--Petrel, Reguin, Epervier, Dauphin.
+
+ OF 160 HORSE POWER.--Ardent, Crocodile, Phare, Fulton, Meteore,
+ Chimere, Vantour, Styx, Acheron, Cerbere, Tartare, Phaeton, Cocyte,
+ Tonnerre, Gregois, Grondeur, Euphrate, Tenare, Australie, Narval,
+ Bruddon, Solon, Etna, Sesostris.
+
+ OF 120 HORSE POWER.--Castor, Brazier, Flambeau, Vedette,
+ Passe-Partout, Pelican, Ramier, Salamandre, Ariel, Daim, Flambart,
+ Marceau.
+
+ OF 100 HORSE POWER.--Anacreon, Averne, Tantale, Galilee.
+
+ OF 80 HORSE POWER.--Galibi, Voyageur, Marabout, Alecton, Rubis,
+ Eperlan.
+
+ OF 60 HORSE POWER.--Antilope, Chacul, Liamone, Var.
+
+ OF 40 HORSE POWER.--Grand-Bassam, Ebrie.
+
+ OF 30 HORSE POWER.--Basilic, Serpent, Pinogouin, Guet n'Dar.
+
+ OF 20 HORSE POWER.--Oyapock, Acbar.
+
+
+ FLOATING BATTERIES.
+
+ Devastation, Lave, Tonnate, Foudroyante.
+
+
+ GUN BOATS.
+
+ Stridente, Mitraille, Etincelle, Bombe, Eclair, Flamme, Alarme,
+ Coulevaine, Doilleuse, Alerte, Meurtriere, Bourasque, Raffale,
+ Fusee, Foudre, Fleche, Grenade, Mutine, Tourmente.
+
+
+ MIXED TRANSPORTS.
+
+ Ariege, Adour, Durance, Loiret, Gironde, Marne, Aube, Rhin,
+ Charente, Nievre, Rhone, Tarn, Mosselle, Yonne, Saone, Loire,
+ Isere, Dordogne, Allier, Meurthe, Finestere, Meuse, Oise, Somme,
+ Garone.
+
+
+ GENERAL RECAPITULATION.
+
+ SAILING VESSELS.
+
+ Guns.
+ 31 ships of all sizes, mounting an aggregate of 2,866
+ 61 frigates do do 3,028
+ 49 corvettes do do 1,024
+ 57 brigs do do 1,006
+ 14 corvettes de charge do do 448
+ 28 sloops do do 444
+ 38 schooners do do 228
+ 33 cutters do do 132
+ --- -----
+ 317 sailing vessels, carrying a grand aggregate of 9,176
+
+ STEAM VESSELS.
+
+ 27 ships of all sizes, mounting an aggregate of 2,680
+ 21 frigates do do do 336
+ 4 frigates, (new construction,) do 200
+ 34 corvettes of all sizes do 939
+ 76 advice boats do do 456
+ 4 floating batteries do 64
+ 19 gun boats do 76
+ 25 mixed transports do 150
+ --- -----
+ 220 steam vessels, mounting an aggregate of 4,901
+
+
+ ORDINARY CLASSIFICATION OF NAVAL OFFICERS.
+
+ 2 admirals in time of peace, and 3 in time of war; 13 vice
+ admirals; 22 rear admirals; 113 captains of ships of the 1st and
+ 2d classes; 235 captains of frigates; 679 lieutenants of ships of
+ the 1st and 2d classes; 550 ensigns of ships; 109 midshipmen of
+ 1st class; 165 midshipmen of the 2d class.
+
+ With respect to the classes of midshipmen, the admiral minister of
+ marine regulates yearly the number of young gentlemen who may be
+ received in the service.
+
+ According to the navy list for 1856, (July,) the effective force
+ of the navy of Great Britain was at that period:
+
+ Guns.
+ Sailing vessels, 269, carrying an aggregate of 9,362
+ Steam vessels, 258 do do 4,518
+ --- ------
+ Total, 527 do do 13,880
+
+ The classification of officers was:
+
+ In service. On half pay. Retired. Total.
+ Admirals, 21 15 --- 36
+ Vice-admirals, 27 19 --- 46
+ Rear-admirals, 51 55 129 235
+ Captains of ships, 396 60 318 774
+ Commanders, 551 64 286 901
+ Lieutenants, 1,139 668 --- 1,807
+
+
+ NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.
+
+ SHIPS OF THE LINE, (10.)
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Pennsylvania, | 120 | Philadelphia, | 1837
+ Columbus, | 80 | Washington, | 1819
+ Ohio, | 84 | New-York, | 1820
+ North-Carolina, | 84 | Philadelphia, | 1820
+ Delaware, | 84 | Norfolk, | 1820
+ Alabama, | 84 | |
+ Virginia, | 84 | |
+ Vermont, | 84 | Boston, | 1848
+ New-York, | 84 | |
+ New-Orleans, | 84 | |
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ FRIGATES, (18.)
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Independence, | 56 | Boston, | 1814
+ United States, | 50 | Philadelphia, | 1797
+ Constitution, | 50 | Boston, | 1797
+ Potomac, | 50 | Washington, | 1821
+ Brandywine, | 50 | Washington, | 1825
+ Columbia, | 50 | Washington, | 1836
+ Congress, | 50 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1841
+ Cumberland, | 50 | Boston, | 1842
+ Savannah, | 50 | New-York, | 1842
+ Raritan, | 50 | Philadelphia, | 1843
+ Santee, | 50 | |
+ Sabine, | 50 | |
+ St. Lawrence, | 50 | Norfolk, | 1847
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ SLOOPS OF WAR, (19.)
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Constellation, | 22 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1854
+ Macedonian, | 22 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1836
+ Portsmouth, | 22 | Portsmouth, N.H. | 1843
+ Plymouth, | 22 | Boston, | 1843
+ St. Mary's, | 22 | Washington, | 1844
+ Jamestown, | 22 | Norfolk, | 1844
+ Germantown, | 22 | Philadelphia, | 1846
+ Saratoga, | 20 | Portsmouth, N.H. | 1842
+ John Adams, | 20 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1831
+ Vincennes, | 20 | New-York, | 1826
+ Falmouth, | 20 | Boston, | 1827
+ Vandalia, | 20 | Philadelphia, | 1828
+ St. Louis, | 20 | Washington, | 1828
+ Cyane, | 20 | Boston, | 1837
+ Levant, | 20 | New-York, | 1837
+ Decatur, | 16 | New-York, | 1839
+ Marion, | 16 | Boston, | 1839
+ Dale, | 16 | Philadelphia, | 1839
+ Preble, | 16 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1839
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ BRIGS, (3.)
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Bainbridge, | 6 | Boston, | 1842
+ Perry, | 6 | Norfolk, | 1843
+ Dolphin, | 4 | New-York, | 1836
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ SCHOONER.
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Fenimore Cooper,| 3 | Purchased, | 1852
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ STEAMERS.
+
+ _Screw Steamers, 1st class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Franklin, | 50 | |
+ Merrimack, | 40 | Boston, | 1855
+ Wabash, | 40 | Philadelphia, | 1855
+ Minnesota, | 40 | Washington, | 1855
+ Roanoke, | 40 | Norfolk, | 1855
+ Colorado, | | |
+ Niagara, | | |
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ _Screw Steamer, 2d class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ San Jacinto, | 13 | New-York, | 1850
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ _Screw Steamers, 3d class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Massachusetts, | 9 | Transferred from |
+ | | War Dep't. |
+ Princeton, | 10 | Rebuilt, Norfolk, | 1851
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ _Side-wheel Steamers, 1st class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Mississippi, | 10 | Philadelphia, | 1841
+ Susquehanna, | 15 | Philadelphia, | 1850
+ Powhatan, | 9 | Norfolk, | 1850
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ _Side-wheel Steamer, 2d class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Saranac, | 6 | Portsmouth, N. H. | 1848
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ _Side-wheel Steamers, 3d class._
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Michigan, | 1 | Erie, Pa., | 1844
+ Fulton, | 5 | New-York, | 1837
+ Alleghany, | 10 | Pittsburgh, Pa., | 1847
+ Water Witch, | 2 | Washington, | 1845
+ John Hancock, | 2 | Boston, | 1850
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ STEAM TENDERS.
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Despatch, | | Purchased, | 1855
+ Engineer | | Purchased, |
+ Arctic, | | Purchased, | 1855
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ STORE-SHIPS.
+ ----------------+-----+---------------------------
+ Name. |Rate.| Where | When
+ | | built. | built.
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+ Relief, | 6 | Philadelphia, | 1836
+ Supply, | 4 | Purchased, | 1846
+ Warren, | | Boston, | 1826
+ Fredonia, | 4 | Purchased, | 1846
+ Release, | 2 | Purchased, | 1855
+ ----------------+-----+-------------------+-------
+
+ The United States Navy has 64 Captains, 96 Commanders, 311
+ Lieutenants, 69 Surgeons, 43 Passed Assistant Surgeons, 37
+ Assistant Surgeons, 64 Pursers, 24 Chaplains, 12 Mathematicians,
+ 24 Masters, 24 Passed Midshipmen, 30 Midshipmen, and 145
+ Probationary Midshipmen and Students.--_Taken from the Navy
+ Register of 1857._
+
+
+
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | TRANSCRIBERS NOTE. |
+ | |
+ | |
+ | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected silently. |
+ | |
+ | Mathematical symbols in the original text have been transcribed |
+ | as follows: |
+ | ^ is used to represent 'to the power of' |
+ | Square/cube root symbols have been written in words. |
+ | ("The square root of ...") |
+ | |
+ | Tables have been reformatted as necessary to limit width of |
+ | lines. |
+ | |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean
+Post, by Thomas Rainey
+
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