The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-14 00:00:00

THE COLLINS LINE OF STEAMERS

EXTRAORDINARY LETTER FRON THE LATE
COMMANDER OF THE PACIFIC.
Some short time since the New York papers published
a letter from Captain Nye, late commander of the Pacific,
in which it was hinted that the steamers were owned by
British capitalists, and this letter having been replied to,
Captain Nye has published the following extraordinary
communication, in allusion to which a New York corres-
pondent writes us, " After this, and the previous letter
from the same pen, many Americans seem to acknowledge
that really they have but a secondary interest in this
Collins line of steamers' :

It is with reluctance that I intrude upon your columns,
as a former communication embraced all I intended to
say of the Messrs. Brown and myself in connection with
my command of the Pacific. But as many attempts have
been made to torture my statement of facts into an attack
upon my successor and his chief engineer, I am induced
to disclaim all such intention ; nor does my letter warrant
any such conclusion. My object was to show the advan-
tages of the arrangement I desired—and which was
approved by Mr. Collins—to give the Pacific to Captain
Oliver Eldridge, and the Atlantic to Capt. Asa Eldridge;
and I may here add that the former was equally dis-
appointed with myself at its failure.
Anonymous letters are not worthy of notice. I:shall
therefore confine my reply chiefly to the letter of Mr.
Wm. H. Bowenin the Public Ledger, which was forwarded
to me from Philadelphia. He says :—" As to Capt. Nye's
letter, whether he was moved by spleen or patriotism to
publish it, I know not, nor do I intend to enter into the
merits of the controversy between him and the agent in
New York." There is no controversy between me " and
the agent in New York." The matter at issue is with the
Messrs. Brown, here and in Liverpool, and extends over
a wide space. The feeling which Mr. Bowen terms
" spleen" may possibly deserve another:. name, and the
following statement justifies its expression :
All remember the accident to the Atlantic, in January,
1851—her return to Liverpool, and consequent detention
for repairs. In November following, while the machinery
of the Pacific was being examined, preparatory to her
sailing for New York, a crack was discovered in her port
journal of the main centre shaft. After a survey by the
resident engineer, the chief engineer (Mr. Thomson), and
myself, it was decided that, with care, the ship might
reach New York in safety. The extensive repairs necessary
to our wheels, occupied the time night and day, and pre-
cluded the possibility of turning the engines till three
hours before sailing. I then ascertained there was a
crack on the opposite side of the shaft. The hour of
sailing (9 a.m.) allowed no time to communicate
with the agents. Thus I found myself in a tight place,
and not one of my own seeking. After consulting
with my chief engineer, and deciding on the amount of
steam which might be safely carried with the shaft in
that condition, I decided to assume the responsibility and
proceed on the voyage. I requested Mr. Jack, the resi-
dent engineer, ( the only person in Liverpool cognisant of
the fact,) not to name it, and thus avoid creating unneces-
sary anxiety. The event justified my decision. In eleven
days the ship was at her dock in New York. No one out-
side the engineroom was aware that anything was amiss ;
nor was it ever known to the public that the ship required
a new shaft at that time.

To remain in Liverpool would Have been most disas.
trous. The ship was loaded ; passengers coming on
board; we should have failed to perform our mail con-
tract. Not to speak of the greater expense of repairs on
that side, we should have had the mortification of a
second detention within the year, and a renewal of the
sneers of the British public at American machinery;
while the company was nearly bankrupt, and seeking the
extra appropriation from Congress, which was necessary
to its existence. No one was more directly benefited by
the result than the Messrs. Brown, they holding a large
amount of stock. My own pecuniary interest was too
trifling to be weighed against the racking anxiety and
sleepless vigilance required. I might, therefore, have
preterred a claim to some degree of " patriotism," and a
greater proportion of fidelity to the interests of the com-
pany. This, lam happy to say, was fully appreciated by
all interested, except the Messrs. Brown.

Three days after I left Liverpool, the " agents" there
without any knowledge of the facts, except what they de-
rived from Mr. Jack, who took the earliest opportunity to
inform them,:followed me with a letter, strongly condemning
what they termed my " assuming too much responsibility."
This was re-echoed by Messrs. Brown, and by the standard
of these " foreign agents" I was judged and condemned, on
the plea, " suppose you had failed?" As an extenuation of
these agents, it may be that Mr. Hamilton, the managing
man in the House of Brown, Shipley and Co., regretted the
failure of his brother, an engineer, to secure another lucra-
tive operation in repairs. Whatever may have been the
motives of the Messrs. Brown is best known to themselves.
This is an example of the spirit in which all my success has
been met by them ; and I am happy to say that in my long
professional eareer, during which I have been connected
with the first commercial houses in Boston, New York and
Liverpool, this is the only instance of a want of generosity,
courtesy and strict justice.

Mr. Bowen asserts that none of the stock of the company
is owned in Liverpool. I did not say there was, but merely
quoted a remark of Mr. Hamilton, that the ships were
" their own." I leave it for others to reconcile this dis-
crepancy. It may be well to look at some of the acts of
these mere agents. At an entertainment given on board
the Persia, on her trial trip, Mr. Burns, the chairman,
prefaced the toast, " Success to the Collins line of steamers,"
with a tribute of gratitude to the gentlemen managing
these steamers, for the honor and kindness shown by
them to the Cunard line, and gave, as an instance, their
readiness to change their sailing day from Wednesday to
Saturday, when, the British government requiring
transports, the Cunard company ware reduced to
sailing once a fortnight. For many years the Cunard
line had no competitors. Saturday being their regular
day of sailing from Liverpool, became the mail day for
the entire continent of Europe, and in fact, for the whole
Eastern hemisphere. It is not surprising that they were
anxious to retain the advantages of their position. The
growing reputation of the Collins line, and their short
passages, would, had they retained their day of sailing have
soon changed the current of mail matter to Wednesday,
and secured an advantage which the returns of the Cunard
line could not have wrested from them. Or they might
have seized on the vacant Saturday, and retained it, thus
carrying out the filibustering principles attributed to the
Yankee nation, but which history shows to
have been more fully developed by their English
ancestors. It may not be generally known that the
British agents of the Collins line in Liverpool
consummated this arrangement so detrimental to
our post office department, and advertised the first ship to
sail on Saturday, without consulting the agent in New York,
or the postmaster general, so that there appeared no alterna-
tive for them but acquiescence. Well might Mr. Burns
congratutate the company "on the handsome conduct of
Mr. Brown and the other gentlemen who managed that
concern." But not equally can the American public be
congratulated that this " solely American enterprise, com-
menced and carried on by American capital and energy,
whose stock is held chiefly in New York," should be
under the control of men whose interest, so far as postage
is concerned, is identical with that of the British
government and the Cunard line. After denouncing
me for "assuming" a responsibility in the ship I com-
manded, which I could not well avoid, and fully sustained,
they did not hesitate to take upon themselves a greater
which materially affected one department of the American
government.

Again, when the health of E. S. Collins and William
Brown was poposed, the latter, in his reply, expatiated on the
advantages of iron steamers (we have none) ; he also stated
in effect, that the models of our steamers were copied from
those of the English, a fact not before known, but he
strangely forgot to name the gentleman associated with him
in the sentiment—E. B. Collins, the founder of the line.—
March 31, 1856. B. Nu.