The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-11-07 00:00:00

IMPROVED STEAM COMMUNICATION BE-
TWEEN INDIA AND SUEZ.-THE STEAM-
SHIP HINDOSTAN.

The attention of the mercantile community connected
with the East India and China trade, as well as of others
more remotely, yet seriously, interested in the regularity
of our communication with our vast oriental possessions,
has recently, in consequence of the non-arrival of the ex-
pected mail some time ago, been earnestly directed to the
importance of adopting measures to secure a more speedy
and certain means of intercourse between those distant
countries. The delay of the mail-ship Memnon, and her
subsequent loss, (since ascertained,) together with all the
letters and despatches, created much inconvenience and
loss ; and a meeting was held a short time ago, in the Hall
of Commerce, in London, at which Mr. Abel Smith pre-
sided, with a view to urge the government and the East
India Company to adopt means to prevent the recurrence
of such a disaster. A committee was then appointed to
carry out the views expressed ; but it does not appear that
the matter has again been brought forward, and the trade
(for aught that- we can learn to the contrary) may still
continue to be jeopardized by the occasional employment,
on the part of the East India Company, of small steam-
ships, inadequate successfully to encounter the monsoons
prevailing'for many months of the year on the Indian ocean
between Bombay and Aden, several of them having already
failed. The Morning Chronicle, in a recent article, states
that he has received several letters on the subject, one of
which, signed "An East India Merchant," and also pub-
lished in the Morning Post, dwells on the importance of
having steamers of large tonnage and powers for the con-
veyance of the mails from Calcutta to Suez, and illus-
trates the advantages of such vessels over the small boats
—such as the Atalanta, the Victoria, and the Cleopatra,
employed by the East India Company—by furnishing
some details of the voyage of the fine steam-ship Hindos.
tan in August last, showing her great superiority in navi-
gating that stormy sea, and making extraordinary way
even against the adverse winds. The statement is exceed-
ingly gratifying, inasmuch as it establishes the fact that
all that can be desired may be effected by the exclusive
use of large and strong vessels, propelled by adequately
powerful engines ; and we feel not a little proud that the
first ship that has fully overcome the difficulties of a
passage by many deemed almost insurmountable, was built
at, and " hails" from, our own port. Before, however,
furnishing a few extracts from the letter alluded to, and
which is evidently the production of a practical man, and
a quick observer, we submit the following documents with
which we have been favoured from a quarter that stamps
them with authority :
Abstract of the Hindostan's Second Voyage Homeward,
from Suez to Calcutta, in May, 1843.
Hours of Miles of Average Delay
Steam. distance. per hr. Coaling.
128 1325 10.3 Aden. 42 hrs
216 2131 9.7 Ceylon 44 „
541 571 10.4 Madrasl64 „

Suez to Aden
Aden to Ceylon
Ceylon to Madras
Madras to Calcutta
Sandheads

681 691 10.0

Total
Total days of steaming
„ detention........

467 k 4718 10.1

1021 hrs

19 days 111 hours
4 „ 64 „

Total length of passage .... 23 days la hours.
ROBT. MORESBY. Commander,

Abstract of the Hindostan's Third Voyage Outward,
from Calcutta to Suez, in August, 1843.
Hours of Miles of Average Delay
Steam. distance. per hr. Coaling
Calcutta Sandheads
to Madras .....
Madras to Ceylon
Ceylon to Aden
Aden to Suez

791 695 8.6 Madras 20 las
69 550 8.0 Ceylon 47 „
2851 2215 7.6 Aden . 524 „
169 1327 7.7

119 k hrs

Total days of steaming ..
„ detention of coaling

25 days 3 hours
5 ~ 0 „

Total length of voyage 3O days 3 hours,
against fresh head-winds and contrary currents.

ROBT. MORESBY, -Captain

Suez, Sept. 16th, 1843,

It will be observed, from the first of this abstract, that
the Hindostan is a remarkably fast vessel under the
ordinary circumstances attending a voyage not beset with
continued contrary winds ; and from the second that she
is but little inferior in speed, even when going head to
wind in what is invariably acknowledged by nautical men,
who have traversed one of the most boisterous and agi-
tated tracts of ocean that are known. The writer of the
letter alluded to, states with reference to the last passage,
of which he had, it appears, obtained accurate informa-
tion.

" In making this passage against the monsoon it is evi-
dent the Hindostan must have traversed nearly as straight
a course as she would have done had the fine season pre-
vailed, for the difference of distance run between this and
her former voyage is under 100 miles.
" I have seen several of the passengers, and they declare
the wind was blowing hard, and almost dead an end the
whole way, and what is rather singular at that season, that
the wind was also blowing strong right down the Red
Sea; but, notwithstanding this, the Hindostan's average
speed was over seven knots and three-quarters per hour,
having steamed 4,787 miles in 600 hours, or 25 days.
" It therefore follows that had a boat. equally efficient
in tonnage and poser, left Bombay on the 26th of August,
she would have reached Suez, allowing twenty-four hours
for coaling at Aden, in seventeen days, or on the 11th of
September : or, supposing her to have left Bombay on the
7th of September, she would have arrived at Suez on the
23d of the same month ; whereas the Victoria was out five
days, and having steamed 550 miles, gave it up; and the
Cleopatra, which left Bombay on the 7th of September,
did not reach Suez till the 2d of October, having occupied
within two days as much time to traverse 3,000 miles as
the Hindostan did 4,787 miles.
" Perhaps the most conclusive proof of the superiority
of boats with large tonnage and power over smaller ones
in heavy weather has been manifested by the steamer
Hindostan, as compared with the East India Company's
steamer Atalanta. They left Suez together in March,
with a strong head wind and rough sea. The Hindostan
beat the Atalanta 51 hours to Aden, in a run of 1,350
miles !"

The writer concludes by expressing his surprise that the
responsible parties should start such a boat as the Victoria
on a forlorn hope, when they had comparatively better
vessels at command; and justly complains that the com-
mercial correspondence between the two countries should
be perilled, with all the evils concomitant on such a state
of things, by the delay in taking measures to secure a more
efficient means of transit, by (as we understand him to
imply) the exclusive employment of fine steamers as the
Hindostan. It must be gratifying to the commercial
community connected with the east to find that that ves-
sel has proved herself so efficient ; and when the Ben.
tinck, her sister ship, is fairly on the station, both running
alternately between Calcutta and Suez, we shall entertain
little apprehension of another disappointment similar to
the last.

COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.—The lectures upon astro-
nomy by Mr. Wallis continue to attract increasing audi-
ences, and prior to their close we hope to find the spacious
Lecture-hall overflowing. The attendance at these lec-
tures is a deserved tribute to a deserving man, for never
were the truths of science more clearly elucidated, nor
more practically and cleverly illustrated, than they have
been in this course. The sixth will be given this evening,
in which the able lecturer will continue his dissertations
upon planetary motion. Nothing can he more beautiful
than the apparatus used by Mr. Wallis, and in this lec-
ture, we are told, it will be more strikingly so than even
in the preceding ones.
REPEAL PENSIONERS.—We have been informed that
James Lennon, whose pension was suspended for attend-
ing the repeal meeting, is to be rewarded by his friends
and admirers by the purchase of an annuity in the place of
the pension. It has been said that he had a pension of
Is. 10d. per day, but we learn that it did not amount to
more than 6d., so that if the annuity is of any amount it
will amply repay him for his politics, and be an induce-
ment for others to follow so profitable a course of politics.
It is due to the government to state that he was offered
the restoration of his pension on promise of abstaining
from attending these meetings.
MUSICAL MEMORY.—A remarkable instance of pow-
ers of memory in music was exhibited by our gifted young
pianiste, Miss Christiana Weller, at a concert lately given
at Beaumaris. There being no conductor to be found in
the town, the duties of that office were undertaken by
Miss Weller, in addition to the piano-forte solos she had
engaged to perform ; and, although the vocal pieces were
only submitted to her two or three days before the con-
cert, she accompanied the whole of them in the most
beautiful style, took part in a vocal trio, and executed,
with her characteristic power and brilliancy, three grand
pieces for the piano and a capriccio, composed by herself
for the occasion, all without the aid of a single bar of
printed music.
KING'S PATENT REGISTE STOvES.—The Calorific
Register Stove Grate, patented by Mr. King, and now on
sale at Mr. T. G. Maddox, grate manufacturer, Bold-
street, is one of the most elegant and useful we have yet
seen. By means of polished reflectors, and the pro-
jection of the fire bars, it emits abundance of heat, with
a small expenditure of fuel, and can be regulated in draft to
a nicety ; and is entirely free from the nuisance of smoke.
Could our forefathers " revisit the glimpses of the
moon," they would be truly astonished to see such an
improvement in an article for the effectual heating and
enlivening of apartments,—of the practicability of which,
in those earlier days of science, they had formed no con-
ception. We strongly recommend housekeepers, builders,
and others, to an inspection.—See Advt.
THE BIRKENHEAD PARK.—Whilst the sound of the
hammer, the trowel, and the chisel, is daily to be heard
in the numerous streets of Birkenhead, busily engaged in
filling up vacant spots to complete handsome streets, the
spirited commissioners are actively pushing forward the
weeks
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wide, and. will cross the southern end of Bidston Hill,
to Claughton is now being reduced by workmen,. and the
shelly part of the stone is used to form the foundation of
the new road. When this road is completed, it will de-
cidedly be the finest in the neighbourhood of Birkenhead,
and will not be surpassed by many in England. It will
be lit up with gas. At the foot of Claughton village, a
handsome gas obelisk will be erected, furnished with a
light sufficiently powerful to illuminate the whole neigh-
bourhood. Thus we have a noble town on the opposite
margin of the Mersey, beautifying and extending itself
with unexampled rapidity.