The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-05-25 00:00:00

THE AND "GREAT! N
STA M E RS.

The 231 of April, St. George's day, will tong be a memorable'
one in the annals ofsteam navigation. At an early hour inthe
- morning of that day, the Sirius (having hove to, inside...the
Hook, about nine the preceding evening) reached New Yefik,
• and brought to, at the entrance of the North River. The Bat,
tery was crowded with spectators,- and numerous boats were
stieedily plying their way to her,' crowded with curious visitors.
'I he day seems
.to have been quite a gala to the citizens; and
the papers are filled with facts, speculations, and "guesses,"
arising nut of the event, which oue of them describes as "The
beginning of the new age in steam power—the broad Atlantic
bridged at last—annihilation of space and time."--The Sirius,
as our readers are aware, left Cork on the 4th April. For five
days she had not even a glimpse of the sun. She experienced
a very rough passage, and some severe gales, which she weath-
ered in fine style, not meeting With a single accident. Indeed,
old voyagers on board of her, state that they never rode out a
gale inure easily than while in her. In the severest weather
they sat down to table as usual, without having to put even the
stanchions to the tables. The average rate of her cause was
eight miles and a half per hour; going with the wind fair,
twelve miles per 'hour; and,.in moderate weather, it is supposed
her average course would be ten miles per hour. Upon her
arrival, the Banish Consul sent a complimentary letter to her
commander, Lieut. Roberts, R. N., expressing his rejoicing in
the fact that the honour of accomplishing the enterprise had
been wen by an officer of the British navy, and that it was coin-
pleted on St. George's day. Great as Was the excitement of the
morning, it was increased ten-fold by the appearance, over Go-
vernor's Island of • a dense' black cloud of smoke, spreading it-
self upward. This proVed to be the Great Western', which,
after a passage of only fotirteen clear' days, passed the Sirius;
the two steamers changing salutes; about half-past one o'clock
on the day of their arrival at the pot't of New York, the first
steam-ships that had crossed the A'tlantic Westward.. The
Great Western subsequently took up' her station in the East
River, whither her colossal dimensions attracted thousands of,
spectators. She is the largest steamer yet known, and much
exceeds the Hatcher (the largest American steamer) in size,
tonnage, &c. The Great Western left King-road, Bristol,-on
Sunday morning, the Bth April, four days after the departure of
the Sirius from Cork. Her voyage appears to have been a most
successful one. Indeed, neither vessel had sustdined any da-
mage worth mentioning, notwithstanding that both had to en•
counter very heavy weather; nor had either vessel the necessity
to suspend the action of its steam machinery, notwithstanding
the long and heavy seas through which the vessels had to plod
during the gales. The Sirius, indeed, had hut two masts, which
may be designated fore sad mizen masts. The Great Western;
from its uncommon length, has necessarily four masts. On
Tuesday, 21 April, _Lieut. Roberts, R.N. received the mayor
and corporation of New York, accompanied by the British con-
sul, &c., on board the Sirius, which they inspected, and then
dined on board. " The health of Captain Roberts, his gallant
officers and crew" was given by alderman Hoxie, chairman of
the committee. Lieut. Roberts, in turn, gave "The city of.
New York and the mayor" The mayor, in reply, spoke of the
English and Americans as' brothers, with one common love of
freedom and spirit of enterprise, and gave " Enterprise-I*os-,
tared and encouraged equally by England and America." The
British consul gave "The memory of that great man, Robert
Fulton," which was drunk standing and in silence. "Queen
Victoria—long may she reign over a prospetous and-happy,
people," "The president of the United States," &c., were
given, and the warmest good wishes were reciprocated by the
representatives of both nations. The party afterwards visited
the-Great Western. On the same day the Sirius began to take
in coal, preparatory to her return to London direct, without
stopping at Cork.
It is clear from the pteceding, account that the Great Western
has made a much more successful voyage than the Sirius, having,
performed her voyage from Bristol in fifteen days and five hours,
whilst the Sirius, allowing her for the time she was waiting off
New York, for daylight and a piltit, was fully 181 days, if we
add the difference in longitude between Bristol and Cork,
which is upwards of five degrees, and equal to about twenty
hours' steaming, the Great Western may be said to have
beaten the Sirius on the outward voyage by about four days
and a quarter. But this is not the only. advantage which the
Great Western appears to have had over her opponent. Her
consumption of fuel appears to have been very much smaller
for the power of her engines, arid the. amount of her tonnage.
We learu from the Americaq newspapers that the Sirius, out of
her original stock of 453 Wits of coal„consumed 431, together
with 43 barrels of rosin, which was linked with the coal ashes;
and she entered New York With only 22 tons of coal remaining.
Toe Great Western, out of her stock of GOO tons of coal, con-
sumed 150; so that she had 150 tons left ; and she did not burn
any rosin. The total consumption :of fuel; therefore, if we
reckon two ha: rels of rosin as equal to a ton of coals, was
rather greater by the Sirius from Cork than by the Great
Western from Bristol. When we consider tliat the tonnage of
the Great Western is nearly double that' of the Sirius, the
former measuring 1,340 tons, the latter 700 tons; that the en-
gines of the Great Western are 450-horSe. power and those of
the Sirius of 320, the superior performance of the Great Western
becomes exceedingly striking. In round numberS, we may say
that her engines, by the consumption of a ton. of coal, have
performed nearly twice as much work as those of the Sirius,
and performed it in four-fifths of the time. These are advan-
tages which, we imagine, result chiefly from her superior size;
and they will give her, and vessels of her class, a very decided
advantage in the trade.
The. Sirius started from New York on her hotneward voyage
on the lst instant, (May,) at two p.m., being saluted on her
leaving that port with seventeet, guns, a mark of respect seldom,
if ever before, paid to the commander of a merchant vessel:
The Sirius arrived at Falmouth on Saturday evening last, (the
19th of May,) at six p.m., after a passage of eighteen days.
The Winds on her homeward voyage have generally been
boisterous, and prevailed front the S.E.' to, the N.E., except
during five days, when she was enabled to use her sails. The
following were the daily performances in miles:—ts3, 193, 155,
90, 106% 131, 158;180, '225, 220, 176,. 156, 172, 181, 182, 200,
227, 199 to Scilly.