The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-12-09

I Fulton'S machine to long voyages, and this is
| the more remarkable, that we have always had
| but few steamers on sea service. This first es-
say was not repeated until 1885 when the Eng
lsh undertook the passage from Falmouth to tsle
Cape ofGood Hope. The ATLANTA, with an en-
CINE nearly similar to that of the Savannah, ac-
complished, in thirty-seven days, distance of
twenty-iour hundred nautical miles. The Bere-
nice, the Medoa, and the Zenobia, performed
passages of different lengths on the coast of Ari-
ca, and in the Indian seas. All these boats were
English. In the Mediterranean, steamers of diff
ierent nations-Nepolitan, Sandman, Austrian
and French-crossed from one port to another
Lastly, the French service from Msrseilles to
Alexandria was established, and threw open
new access to the East. The passage to Cor
stantinople, which was sometimes forty-five days
in duration, was thus reduced TO thirteen days
and half
From this time the question of the practical
bility of crossing the Atlantic was agitated: and
it having been ascertained that the increase of
power in the engine by no means entailcd the
necessity OF a similar increase in the consump-
ton of coal, it was determined at the expert
ment should be tried; and on til 4th of April,
1888, the Sirius arrived at New y ork in safety,
after a passage of fifteen days. Scarcely had
this vesse arrived at New York, when it was
joined by the Great Western, which started
from Bristol ON the Sth OF the same month, after
passage Of fourteen days.
Henceforth the problem was solved. Ameri-
ca was nearer the European continent by half
the distance which formerly separated them
The events which have since occurred, have ra
titled these first expectations. The Great West
ern has crossed the Atlantic twenty-eight times
during thespa of fourteen months, without ac-
cident, and maintaining an almost uniform speed,
the average time of which was sixteen DAYS
going, and thirteen to fourteen days coming
back The last voyage within the time men,
tened was even accomplished in eleven days
and half.
Within two years past the English have add
vanced with gigantic strides in their operations.
A first line from Bristol to New York was es-
tablished in 1888. The company to whom it be-
longs have four steamers, of four hundred and
fifty horse power, namely--the Sirius, the Great
Western, the Royal William, and the Liver
pool; and it is said that they now baildiAg an
iron steamer, which is to have two engines,
whose united power will be equal to one thou
sand horses
Another line was established for thc service
of London and New York Two vessels, the
President and British Queen, are employed on
it. The engiIR of the President is six hundred,
and the Queen five hundred horse power. They
can accommodate from two hundred and TWEEN
ty-fve to two hundred and fifty passengers, and
receive lead of from five to six hundred tons.
A third line connects New York to Liverpool,
so that there are already three establishments
sending steam vessels from different parts of
England to New York.
Besides these, a contract was sealed on the
4th of July, 1889, between the English Admi-
rally and Mr.. Samuel Cunard, for the transit Of
letters from Liverpool to Halifax. Mr. Cunard
has engaged that there shall be two departures
per month, and receives from the government
compensationof a3G0,000per annum. The Rri-
tannia, of four hundred and fifty hersc power,
was launched in the beginning oil F February,
1889. Mr. Cunard's line has been extended TO
the city of Boston.
Lastly, more extensive service will connect
Great Britain and the West India Islands There
is a company in existence, under the name of
the ROYAL Steam Navigation Company, which
apd part Of the South American coast. This
company the government indemnifes by an an
nual payment of j, 900.
We have entered into these details, in order
to show by what successive steps, and at what
pains, these great results have been obtained
! Their very hardness is pledge and proof of
their stability The idea of crossing the Allan
tic by steam is not new, but project, the exc
cution of which has been sought after for the
last thirty years The human understanding has
proceeded in this circumstance as it always pro-
ceeds in inventions of durable nature, by IN
certain attempts. Fulton's machine received
little by little, at the hands of its constructors
those improvements which time and experience
are sure to occasion. The end is attained-the
facts are northumberland the consequences will
be Of no ordinary character. This approxima-
ton Of the two worlds, and this new instrument
delivered into the hands of the maratime pow
ers, an uninterrupted chain of communication es-
tablished among numerous nations, until these,
divided by enormous distances, brings forward
new relations among them. The aux and refux
Of these nations towards one another increases
the sphere of action of each. II is more than a
revolution of commerce and industry. For when
two individuals are brought together, their con-
tact, the conjunction of their efforts and Of their
binds, changes entirely the reciprocal conditions
of their isolate state. When two nations then
are brought into closer communication, the effect
increases in the proportion of one man to the
whole society.
RICHES OF OHIO,