The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-02-05
The Supremacy OF the Seas Collins and
Cunnrd.


Cunnrd.
From the London Daily Mems, Oct. IIh.
Racing ia the great passion of The En- glishlnan
Horse racing, boat racing, foot racing donkey-ra
cng-no kind Of racing comes aifliss TO him.
Wherever the Englishman goes be must have his
races. There regular boat races at the Cooks
Strait settlements, in New Zealand, and there is
race-course at Sierra Leone.
is even now looming off," on which
England has a stake Of terrible magnitude. We
alludc 10 that of indefinite number Of
heats, running on the Atlantic, by Cunard's
and Collinss ocean steamers. The stake is nei-
ther more nor less than the ascendancy the
! We the word not in silly and obso-
lete Of those who used TO dream Of any one
nation asserting by force Of arms mastery in
riime affairs over all other nations. Henceforth
there caaee no sovereign nation: the great COM
munity 6rhations is and must continue IA republic.
But even in republics there are individuals who
possess more wealth, more power than Others
England is still the first citizen of the community
OF nations; the flag Of England s still the foremost
on the II England loses the Cunard and
Collins race, will be event of bad for her
maritime pre-eminence. French pageants at Cher
bourg, Russian demonstrations on the Baltic can
only alarm old women in and out Of petticoats.
Pre- cminenco at seq must belong to the nation
which possesses the most numerous and. best ap-
pointed mercantile marine, and the most important
branch Of the country s mercantile marine will ere
long be its ocean steamers. If il be true that an
American steamer has beaten our fastest and finest
vesscls on an Atlantic voyage, il is high time that
we had a more searching inquiry into the state OF
our ocean steam communication than was vouch-
| saled by Mr. Heniey's committee.
| According to the New York accounts, the Ameri-
can ocean steamer Pacific made her last voyage
| from Liverpool to New York in 10 days a hours
| from wharf to wharf. We suspect the time was
| little longer. writer in yesterday IS Times states
that the Pacific left Liverpool at 2'p. on the lth
of September. The New York papers state that it
reached that city at 5h I5m. p. IN. the 2st uIt.
Add ib 45m. for the difference Of the time octa-
stoned by difference Of longitude, and we have 10
days 81 hours for the length of the passage.
The English ocean steamer Asia is said TO have
made her last homeward voyage in 10 days hours.
Allowance must. however, be made for the greater
speed with which, owing to the set OF the currents
the voyage from America to England is accom-
plished, than the voyage from England to America.
The Asia,s outward voyage to New York ac
compished in 10 days II hours &c minutes, mean
stcaming. time. From this, we told must be
deducted hours for the detour by Halifax. But
this allowance is in excess; the increased distance
ID not the only element to be considered the less
\ resistance from oceanic currents on the Halifax
route ought also to be taken into account.
On the whole, we are disposed to admit that the
Pacific, not the Asia, has made the quickest pas
ssge yet made between Liverpool and New York.
Ii is, however, neck and neck affair. In July
last the American ocean steamer Atlantic made
the voyage from New York 10 Liverpool in ten
days. eight hours, twenty minutes, only hour
twenty minutes in excess of the time taken by the
Asia
We anxious 10 statc the facts correctly for
there is evident and not unnatural straining, on
| the part both CT English and Americans, to make
out the best case tor their respective steamers.
Even the assumption that the victory is still
doubtful. the result cannot be very gratifying to
our national pride. Cunard's company have had
ten years. practice; the first experiment in Atlantic
steam navigation, the part of the Americans,
was made last year by the New York and Bremen
steamers. The Pacific and Atlantic are the fret
steamers launched by the Collins company. Yet
one of these trial ships If u have not beaten, has
/ equalled the matured production of Cunard's COM
. | Is there thing the history of
ocean steam navigation that can account for this?
Some ten years back government, unable or un-
willing. TO carry the male across the Atlantic,
granted contract to MIR. Samuel Cunard, which
that fortunate gentleman is understood 10 have
sold at n great premium to a Glasgow company for
| the conveyance by steam vessels of her majesty's
mails between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston. In
1916 this contract wac renewed for ten years from
the st Of January, lS46 and, i'll expectation OF the
American competition which has since arisen,
leave was given to omit Halifax and make the voy-
age direct from Liverpool TO New York. Both the
original contract and its extension given with
outany competition. The owners Of the G rcat West
ern and other steam vessels, who had risked their
money in establishing the practcablity of making
the Atlantic voyage, were unceremoniously brushed
| aside, and the contractor has had virtual monop-
| oily OF the steam communication between the Uni
ted States and this country for the last ten years.
For this service the country pays El40OO0 per an
mum
Following the example of the English govern
ment, the United States granted in 1915 to n New
oTk contract tnt IIlallS 10
Liverpool; and their two fret vessels, the Atlantic
and Pacific, made their appearance this year, to be
followed next spring by the Arctic and the Baltic.
The Cunard company, I'M put on their nettle con-
structed the Asia and the Africa, which were also
placed ON the station this year The result of the
contest, as far as II has been carried Is stated
above.
1--WE are ten years before you in ship -building,'
enid Yankee skipper, the other day, "and ten
| years behind you in machinery; five years more we
will be ahead of you in BOTH To prove Jonathan
wrong, we shall have to get up some competition
at home, and not wait to be taught the old lesson
that there is such thing in nature as an improv
ing monopoly.
Cunard's company commenced with vessels of
l,lO0 tons and engines of s5O,horse power; % They
have, step by STEP reached 800 tons and 900 horse
power. But the size and power are the only things
changed; the model has remained the same. The
Aaia, OF 1900 tons, is an enlarged edition OF the
Britannia, of 100 tons, and goes bowling down
the Mcrsey. carrying sea before ber enough to
swamp n revenue cruiser.
The American steamers are of larger tonnage
and lees power than the Asia and Africa, but of
exquisite model. They 4" ten years ahead OF
the Asia and Africa, as far as the hulls are con-
cerned, md as far behind in the engines. They
slip down the Mersey with scarce ripple at the
bow, dividing the wat4 like Gravesend steamer
In accommodation, ventilation, and general
rangemcnt, the American vessels are far superior
TO any thing that has been before seen in this
country.
IL will doubtless be said that we attach too much
importance to tho success of our trans- Atlantic
cousins. We shall be told that Zone swallow does
not mako summer-nne extraordinary passage
is not fair criterion" We shall be advised 10
wait for atweivcmonth before we give an opinion.
In spite however of these and other wise saws that
may be poured out. we confess that TO US the voy-
ages of the Atlantic and the Pacific look like the
handwriting on the wall'' to our rulers, which il
bchoovcs them to lay to heart.
Proposed steam Line to the Canssfas and
Western America.
We are informed that scheme is now privately
pnfo ~