The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-23 00:00:00

OUR OCEAN STEAMERS.

The freight charged for the specie which was sent
out in the India mail packet of the 4th instant
amounted to about 25,000/. sterling. The charge
for the million and a quarter of specie which was
sent out some short time since in an Indian mail
packet was about 35,0001. ; and this sum, combined
with the fares for passengers and freight for cargo
by the same packet, amounted to the value of the
packet itself. Thus the fares and freight earned by a
single ship for a couple of months' voyage could not
be less than 50,0001. or 60,0001., 35,0001., of which
was for a single article of merchandise. This shows
the enormous extent and value of our commerce ;
and its seemingly unlimited extension explains the
cause of the increasing magnitude of our steamship.
Some years since the steamer Tagus, about 800 tons
burden and 280 horse power, used to carry the
East India mail ; the Clyde, 1,300 tons burden and
awl 400-horse power, the West India mail ; and
similar vessels the American mails. These mail-
packets have been superseded by the Pera, 2,700
ton, and 450-horse power; the Atrato, 3,600 tons,
and 800-horse power ; and the Persia, nearly 4,000
tons, and 900-horse power. Formerly, a steamer
200 feet long was considered .the greatest length
manageable, because, if longer, the commander's
voice issuing from the bridge in the centre could
not be heard at all parts of the deck. But some of
the large mail steamers are nearly 400 feet long.
The fact is that captains of large steamers have long
ceased to command them by the voice alone. A
commander speaks to the engineer from the bridge
by means of bells, and to the steersman by visible
signals. Large steamers are warped by a steam
winch in the centre of the deck, directly under the
bridge, and other commands from the captain are
communicated to all parts of the deck by relays of
subordinate officers.
As steamers increase in size so the traffic carried
on by them augments, in consequence of their
greater speed, and the superior passenger accommo-
dation they afford. A large steamer can be worked
more economically than two small ones, which are
equal to it in their aggregate tonnage. Hence, fares
and freights are cheaper by the large and swift than
by the smaller and slower steamers, especially if
the time saved and passengers' health and comfort
are taken into consideration. Formerly there were
continual complaints of overcrowding the West
India packets, such as the Clyde, of 1,300 tons, be-
cause they bad 70 or 80 passengers. Similar com-
plaints are now made against the same company's
giant steamers, Orinoco and others, 3,000 tons each,
because they bring home upwards of 200 passenger;
thus sho wing that these packets are too sm all for their
work. Some years since 60 or 70 passengers filled
the American mail packets. There are now double
the number of these packets running, and they are
three times larger than they used to be, and still
they are often crowded. The East India and China
packets, also, run twice as often as they used to do,
and have vastly increased in size, and they are often
crammed full of passengers and cargo, so that extra
steamers have to be put on to carry the surplus
traffic.

The length of a ship gives her speed. This has
been long an axiom in ship-building. If a giant ran
s race with a dwarf on a road intersected with hil-
locks, and if the pace of the dwarf were to that of
the giant inversely as the length of their legs, the
giant would win, because he would stride over,
while the dwarf would have to run up and down
the hillocks, and thus the latter would have to
tread over more ground. Exactly so it is with a
long ship and a short one. The latter has to climb
over every wave, while the former, owing to her
length, does not sink bet seen every two waves,
but bridges over, or, as it were, strides over one at
least of them. The extensive and heavy engine
machinery, also, necessary to give great speed to
ships, cannot be put into a small steam vessel, how-
ever strongly built, because such machinery would,
in working, tear the ship to pieces, on account of
its contiguity to the hull. The increase of late years
in the speed of steamers is remarkable. In the early
mail contracts the speed exacted was eight miles an
hour ; it was afterwards raised to nine and ten
miles ; but such steamers as the Persia, La Plata,
and Atrato continually average, on a long voyage,
fourteen miles an hour.

The discomforts and dangers of a sea voyage are
diminished as the magnitude of ships is increased.
The chief discomfort is sea sickness. When the
Southampton mail packets first started they were
comparatively small, and were tossed about by
every wind and wave, and passengers travelling
by them felt the mai de mer come on in the
Solent Sea, just outside Southampton Water. As
larger packets came into use there was scarcely
any rolling motion felt in the Solent, and sea
sickness, the dread of landsmen, was not felt on
board until the packets got well out in the English
Channel. By-and-bye, ships of enormous size were
employed, and then invalid passengers did not lose
their appetites until they reached th Bay of Biscay,
the Mediterranean, or the Atlantic Ocean, and not
even then unless the sea was very rough. And then
with regard to the dangers of sea travellii g, a large
ship, proportionately strong, is better able to hattie
with the wind and waves than a small one. A cap-
full of wind will upset the coracle of the savage, but
civilised man ham now built vessels that will ride
out almost the fiercest gale.
It was thought, when large steamers were first
built, that their working expenses would be so great
as to prevent anything but mails, passengers, and
a few costly and perishable luxuries from being
c)nveyed by them ; and that if they carried any-
thing else, steam-packet companieswould oe paying
their dividends out of capital. These opinions have
turned out erroneous. The gigantic Euglieh mail
packets are laden with almost all the staple produc•
tions and manufactures of every country in the
world. They bring to England the go:d dust from
California and Australia ; the silver from Mexico
and Peru ; the silk from China ; the shawls from
India ; the gums, spices, and ivory from Egypt,
the tobacco and preserves from the West Ladies ; the
coffee from Brazil ; the dye stuffs from Central
America ; the fruit, wine, and dairy produce from
the Peninsula ; and they carry the staple manufac-
tures of England, France, Switzerland, and Ger-
many to all pets of the globe. Every time a mail
packet is about to start from Southampton the dock
quays there are crowded with cases and bales of the
steel, iron, bronze, porcelain, and textile manufec-
turee of Great Britain and the Centiuent of Europe.
The great mail packets have created, by the spee,t
and safety of their voyages, that trade which is
the marvel and romance of commerce—viz., thJ
transmission of millions of coined silver to the East,
where it mysteriously vanishes in India and China.
Almost every mail packet that starts from South -
amp toe, the chief packet station in the world, has
to exclude some of the offered cargo. The extra
expense of conveying the bar ered products of the
world by steamers is amply covered by the speed
and punctuality of the transit. It is more econo-
mical to pay high rates of freight for a quick delivery
of goods, than low rates for delay. It is cheaper to
fins coal for the marine steam engine than rations
for the crew of a sailing vessel. And then as to the
commercial success of steam packets, such companies
as the Peninsular and Oriental and Cunard's are
pretty well satisfied.
The largest and consequently swiftest steamers
must always command munificent government sub-
sidies for conveying mails. Letters are the I,f© blood
of commerce, and they must always precede or at
least accompany the transmission of merchandise.
The rapid and punctual interchange of correspou-
dance between the people of England and its de-
pendencies, so necessary to their mutual convenience
and comfort, compels the British Government to
pay dearly for conveying seaborne mails. The
Royal Mail Company's subsidy is 270,0001. annu-
ally ; the Peninsular and Oriental Company's above
200,0001. ; and Canard's nearly as much. These
three companies alone get nearly three-quarters of a
million sterling per annum for carrying mails.
Probably she postage derived from the mails does
not amount to half of that sum ; but the country
gains in the enormous trade which the correspon-
dence creates. It is these subsidies that partly
enable steam-packet companies to flourish and to
make those costly experiments in steam-ship build-
ing by which our mail-packets have been brought
to such perfection that have become the letter-
carriers for the world, and have contributed im-
mensely to oar prosperity during peace, and to our
national safety during war.
One great disadvantage in the working of steam-
vessels is the vast quantities of coal they
su
and the bulky nature of that kind of fuel. Not
only is the consumption of coal on board steamers
very expensive, but the large space it occupies in
the ship reduces the room for cargo. Many of our
large paddle-wheel steamers consume each above
are loaded
120 tons of coals daily, andwith 1,200
or 1,400 tons of coal each when they start
voyage. If they are not burdened this, their stn
pages
on
a
at coaling stations cause delay, But incens-
ing
the great oceans, in some directions, there are
no coaling stations ; so that ou such routes our
present largest paddle-wheel steamers vrhichnoctana
only steam would be failures.
paddle-wheel steamer • afloat that cool! run a dis-
tance of 5,000 miles, at the rate of 14 miles an
hour, without coaling ; although we have many
that can run nearly 4,000 miles at that rate of speed.
All attempts to find a less bulky substitute for coal
have failed. Unfortunately also that indispensable
article cannot be found in all parts of the world ;
and English steam-packet owners are obliged to
send coals chiefly from England to their eurnerieus
foreign coaling stations, to supply their ships.
coal thus becomes a very expensive article ; and
although it can be obtained in Enelar. I often at
10s. or 12s. a ton, a vast quantity of it that is con-
sumed by English mail packets costs from 505.t0 60s.