Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-05

rooms of the latter were sweat boxes about
six feet square. There was no ventilation
except on fine days. when the stewards
were graciously permitted to open the side
ports" When a passenger wanted stew
ard. he had to stick his head out OF the
door and howl for that worthy. The sznok-
ing room God save the markD was a little
place over the boilers called the fiddle
where the stokers busted themselves haul
ing up ashes. while the sea busted itself
sousng the devotees of the weed There
was no piano. no library, no bath room
The promenade deck tsaye the mark once
moreD was the top Of the deck house. and
1t stretched away for as much as sixty
feet To get to meals the passengers were
compelled first to scramble over the backs
OF long benches coff1n-ltke bunk served
as sleeping place in lieu of the now ia
uiliar folding brass bed. Instead of COM
modious wardrobes there were two brass
pegs, two jugs instead of hot and cold
water faucets, and narrow little bench
corTesponded to the easy state room chairs
of today.
And yet, when the Britannia began her
first outward voyage she was hailed all
over England as paragon OF luxury.
Also, the Bostonians went wild over her
when she reached their harbor after thir-
teen days and twenty hours actual running
time from Queenstown Samuel Cunard.
her builder, came over on her, and he re-
ceived ,S73 invitations to dine out. Some
time later. when the good ship got frozen
into the Ice of Boston harbor. the Bosto-
mans, at their own expense. cut her a clear
passage to the sea. seven miles away.
The Britannia was big ship. Her
length was BOT feet; her breadth of beam
"a; her depth of hold, "a 1-3 Her gross
tonnage was ,155. She burned thirty-eight
tons OF coal day, and her speed was about
81 knots an hour. She was wooden. had
paddle wheels, and her spread Of canvas
was imposing. The Lusitania likewise the
Mauritania) lacks only thirty eight feet OF
being four times as long as was the Britain
MIA Some Of the Lusitanfas steel hull
plates are forty feet long. nearly twice as
long the Britannia had depth TO hold.
Americas First Steam Pace Maker.
The Arctic the first steamer to make the
passage in less than ten days. was not
much bigger than the Britannia. She was
designed by George Steers of American
yacht fame. and she. too. was a side
wheeler and wooden, Her best run was
nine days. thirteen hours and thirty min
utes going east 1873 knots per hour
This she did in 1850. and whenever she set
her PROV seward betting ran high on both
sides of the Atlantic.
Naturally the Americans were proud Of
their boats performance The Cunard peo-
pie built two steamers to beat the Arctic,
but the best either the Asia or the Africa
could do was ten days nat. But IN January
OF 1856 came the Persia, and once more the
record for speed and comfort passed over to
the Cunard line. The Persia was the first
CunarQ ship TO De Dulit OF IRON ana was LOS
feet longer, II feet broader Of beam and 5.5
feet deeper of hold than the Britannia. She
rarely carried more than 300 first and sec
ond-class passengers and no steerage- To
compete with her the Collins line built the
Adriatic. She was undoubtedly faster than
the Persia, but before she had an opportu-
nifty to prove this in a transatlantic passage
Congress refused further assistance to her
builders, the company collapsed, the Adri-
attic was sold. and ten years ago she was
hulk In Africa.
The closing chapter in the history of the
Arctic was exceedingly tragic. On Septem-
Der y, 1854, when sixty miles southeast or
Cape Race she collided with the French
iron ship Vesta In a dense fog. The Arctic
had launched boat to go to the aid OF
the yesta when it was discovered that the
Arctic herself was sinking In four hours
she had disappeared beneath the waves,
while the Vesta was saved by her collision
bukhead and limped into St Johns. On
board the Arctic were 2ss3 passengers, $50
being first class, and a crew of 135. When
1t was discovered that the ship was sinking
attempts were made to launch the boats.
but stiff gale was raging and most of the
boats We're smashed in the launching.
Others sank; only two escaped, with sew
enty-two souls aboard. An equal number
of passengers and members of the crew
took refuge a hastily improvised raft
The sea SO high that when morning
dawned and rescuers hove In sight only one
person remained on the raft. Capt. Luce
went down with his ship. rose to the sur
face and was picked up and taken to Que
bee. The wife. son and a daughter Of E. r.
Collins, head of the line. were among the
drowned, well as many wealthy Ameri-
cans. The whole country was thrown into
mourning
Commodore Vanderbilt's Failure
The year before the Persia began showing
a clean pair of heels to the Arctics sisters
Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt built
| the Vanderbilt, wooden steamer of $500
odd tons, gross, with walking beam en-
CINE, with the avowed intention Ito beat
every thing ahoat" In her first race with
the Persia the Vanderbilt. bound for South
ampton and Havre. was left thirteen hours
in the wake. The commodore was deeply
| chagrined with his boats behavior. and
when the civil war broke out ne got rid of
her by giving her to the federal govern
ment, then In much need of craft of all
sorts. After the war ...e Vanderbilt was
converted into sailing vessel and renamed
Three Brothers She is now coal aulk at
Malta.
Not till 1879 did another boat In which
Americans were generally interested break
the transatlantic record In the meantime
five vessels had done better than the cele-
DRAFTED Persia and held the records sue
cessiyely'-a sister ship, the Scotia. the last
paddle wheel Cunarder; the City OF Brus-
sells, OF the Inman line: the Baltic White
Star. the City of Berlin, Inman and the
Britannia. White Star. The latters best
time was days 10 hours and SO minutes.
! This the famous Guiou line boat Arizona
bettered by, two hours and forty-two min
utes In October of the ensuing year the
Arizona lowered her own record forty Eight
| minutes.
The Guien company. and later on the IN
| man company, when II passed into the
| hands OF Clement A. Griscom and his az.
| sociates. took advantage OF singular
| technical judicial decision In England" to
| register their British-built vessels under
| British law. British law" to quote a
| Loyds authority. does not permit an
| alien to own any interest In British ship,
but when. In ls48. the collectors OF customs
| at Liverpool refused to register new ship
| tha ECUADOR. for the Pacific company be-
cause some OF the shareholders were aliens
| the company appealed to the court OF the
queees bench. which decided that for ptr-
poses OF registry an English incorporated
company 10 British subject, notwffhstand-
Ing that some OF It's shareholders may be
foreigners"
The Gaion company Incorporated In Eng
land In order to sst ~ ships built u the