The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-25 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE STEAM-PACKETS.

Minutes of Evidence taken before the Commissioners of Re-
venue Inquiry, at their Office in London, 19th June, 1828.
The Right Hon. Lord WALLACE in the chair.
Matthias Attwood, Esq., M. P., and Thomas Brockelbank,
Esq., called in and examined as follows:
(To Mr. Attn ood.)—Have you any communication t o make
on the subject of the packets to Ostend?—We desire to com-
plain of the opposition we have experienced by the establishment
of Government packets from Margate to Ostend ; our agents at
Ostend, Messrs. Samuel Amour and Co., write to us, under
date of 13th June, 1828: " It is with regret we inform you
that the new establishment of mails do the Company's packets
some injury; for notwithstanding our departures are so ar-
ranged as to precede the mails, their average number of pas-
sengers is full twenty both ways; nor do I conceive it would
be beneficial to the General Steam Navigation Company to
use any extraordinary exertion in opposition to them, knowing
that the captains have cartes blanches to take passengers at any
price." The General Steam Navigation Company ,has been
established there three years, and after establishing the trade
at a great cost, finds this opposition and reduction of passen,-
gers would render ii doubtful if they can continue their boats
on that station.
What is the average number of your -passengers ?—The
average number is about forty.
(To Mr. Brockelbank) Taking the whole number of
voyages, what has been the average number of passengers ?
—Forty. (By Mr. Attwood)—The Company is desirous to
propose to carry the mails to Ostend; to go twice a week for
that purpose, and to go throughout the year. Their vessels
go-from London to Ostend in 16 hours on an average ; they
have performed that voyage in 134 hours.
(To Mr. Brockelbank)—Where would you deliver them?
—4t Ostend.
Have you been in the habit of running to Ostend?—.The
vessels I am with have been running there for three years
past. (By Mr. Att Nood)—The Company would undertake
to deliver the mail twice a week; for which they would either
give in terms now to the Board, or would undertake to say
that they will carry the mails at 50 per cent, reduction from
what it has hitherto cost the Government, or is now costing
them.

(To Mr. Brockelbank)—Do you sail from the Tower in the
river ?--From the Custom-house.
What is the time of sailing ?—lt depends on the proper time
of tide for getting into Ostend. We set our tide tables as soon
as we get into harbour.
Supposing you were to sail by a tide table, do you sail in-
differently by day as well as by night? We sail in the night,
according to the tide, or early in the morning.
What time are you in getting down the river ?—To Graves-
end, or to the Nore ?
The Nore?--We get to the Nore in four hours and a half.
Have you never found a difficulty in going by night down
the river ?—I think in many instances it is better to go by
night than by day, so long as it is a clear night ; we are not
exposed to so many vessels passing and repassing at that time.
I have so arranged it that I have got our Hamburgh boats to
go then.
And they go indifferently all hours of the night ?—Yes.
At whatever time the tide serves ?—Yes.
Have you had many accidents on the river ?—No.
Have you had many stoppages ?—No.
You have not got aground ?—Once or so ; I do not know if
the Ostend boat has been ever aground; the Hamburgh has
been once.
•Is that the only one?—l do not know of any other.
How long have they been running ?—These three years past.
What is the size of the vessels ?—About the same size, 250
tons, builders measurement.
That is the size of the vessels that go to Ostend ?—Yes.
Are they larger vessels that go to Rotterdam ?--They are
the same size, each of them has two 40-horse engines.
Have you any vessels that go to Hamburgh ?—We have.
How many ?—Two ;we carry the letter-bags from the post-
office : the Sir William Jollifire and the Sir Edward Bankes
go every Saturday and return on Monday.
Have you any that go to Cuxhaven ?—No ; we go right up
to Hamburgh ; we go at two or three o'clock in the morning.—
(By Mr. Attwood. )--We have only gone once a week in the
winter to Ostend, and probably should not go oftener, except
by arrangement for the mail.
(To Mr. Brockelbank. )—Do your vessels carry goods ?--
Not to Ostend; we should not carry goods if we carried the
mail; we do not now ; we take goods for Calais in one of our
vessels, in the other we do not. I think we could undertake
to get the Calais mail from London to Calais in ten hours; I
would go at the proper time of the tide, and I should get to
the Nore before daylight ; if I get there by daylight, I can see
the buoys ; I think there is not a question upon it ; I have no
doubt. We have two vessels that make the passage from
London to Calais in nine hours, the Harlequin and the Colum-
bine; I have no question about it; it might happen so that the
fog might stop us ; but taking the weather through, there
would be no difficulty in it.
What chances would there be on that voyage of being de-
layed from one to three or four or six hours on any given time
longer than nine hours ?—Such chances as might interrupt the
packets going over from Dover ; and many times from Dover,
when the sea is on the bars, they cannot get out; nothing
could hinder us from getting out of the river.
Would the fog affect you more than it would affect a boat
sailing from the coast and crossing the Channel ; on your
passage down the river, should you be affected by a fog?--No
doubt of it.
How often have you found a fog affect your arrival or depar-
ture ?—lt might be so once or twice in a year.
Not more than that ?.--No ; I have never known that we
have missed a passage without there has been a gale of wind,
and we have gone into the Medway river. Ido not know if
we ever missed a passage from a fog.
How long have you been acquainted with steam-boats?—
Ever since they began on the river Thames.
You have been acquainted with them from the first, time of
their sailing ?—The first time in the Thames ; about six or
seven years.
You have never known one to be stopped by a fog? I have
never known that they have lost their passage by it ; I think
we could guard against that. If we undertook to carry the
mails, it would be our duty to have everything ready for per-
forming the voyage, wherever it may be ; and we should cer-
tainly have the vessel stationed below, in case of a fog, so as
always to get to it ; supposing we were likely to have a foggy
night, we should have the vessel stationed down the river,
where it would not affect us, and get the mail down part of
the way by land.
(To Mr. Attwood)—How would you do with respect to
ice ? If there were ice in the river, which in winter there is
occasionally, and the passage to the town could not in conse-
quence be depended upon, the vessel would be stationed lower
down the river, and the mail would be carried by land beyond
the reach of the ice. (By Mr. Brockelbank)—We can al-
ways get away from Gravesend.
(To Mr. Brockelbank)—Have you any boats now going to
Calais ? Yes.
How many ?—Two.
Do they go from London ?—Yes.
Do they all go from London ?—Yes.
How often do they go ?—Three times a week.
Have you ever had any of them lose their passage ?—I do
not know that we have ' we have lost some hours in waiting ;
but I am not aware of losing a passage, except when there
was a gale of wind ; we have been obliged to go under the
Foreland, when there has been a gale of wind.
Would the gale of wind that produced that delay, with re-
spect to your vessel, have equally produced the delay in the
vessel sailing from Dover ?—I think there is no doubt of that;
an easterly wind would operate very much against us, and the
same easterly wind would operate against them.
You already carry the mail to Rotterdam ?—To Rotterdam
and Hamburgh.
What is the number of hours that each voyage takes during
any given period between the receipt and the delivery of the
mail ?—The average number to Hamburgh is somewhere
about 52.
And to Rotterdam how many ?—About 27.
Do you know what is the duration of the voyage from Har-
wich to Helvoetslup ?—I do not know. If Government were
to employ us, in winter time, it would be better for us to sta-
tion a boat, in case of anything happening, so as always to
have a boat to run athwart.
In case of Government coming to an arrangement with you
for the purpose of carrying the mails you would carry them by
t,
steam
less it was by ste Cam of course ?—ertainly; we could make no certainty of
i u.
You take the mails regularly to Hamburgh ?—Yes.
Be so good as to state under what regulations you are, as to
taking the mail to Ilamburgh ?—They pay us so much a letter.
A ship-letter ?—Yes.
Supposing the mails to Ostend and Calais were to be corn-
tr.:ittea to your Company, and a contract made for the purpose,
of course, with a view to the regularity of the delivery and
sending, you must be under some regulations ?—Government
of course would bind us to our duty.
(To Mr. Attwood.)—So that you should always have your
regularity of proceeding
connected
with the boats ready to sail at a given time, and be ready to sail at
should o umledmenrso that
apply
to your
con-
veyance of correspondence, as at this moment is thought pro-
per to be applied to the beats of the Post-office? We should
undertake to deliver the mails with equal regularity, and be
bound by any reasonable condition or penalty to do so.
Would you act similarly with respect to Hamburgh
Then, in fact, these are ship-letters that you take to Ham..
burgh ?—Yes.
(To Mr. Brockelbank.)—You are under no regulation or