Part 21

The traveller for Rio Janeiro can take a coasting line if he desires to visit southern Brazil; otherwise, any one of the big mail ships will make the run of 1,150 miles in 6 days. The port of Rio, large, deep, and the most beautiful in the world, is entered by a channel a mile and a half wide, defended by forts. Inside the bay is 17 miles long by 10 miles broad. The town is most attractive from the water. It is especially picturesque at night, when the arrangement of the innumerable gas-lights distinctly outlines the entire city, built on a gentle incline toward the bay. The streets are narrow, badly paved, and not over-clean. The traveller will find that he can get on well enough if he talk French, for there is a certain French air about the community. Many of the stores have French signs, nearly all the shopkeepers speak French, it is the language of the hotel clerks, the opera bouffe sings it, and the black-eyed señoritas murmur it.

Rio is connected with Europe by 12 regular lines of steamships, and with the United States by 3. New York being the traveller’s objective port, he should take passage on board one of the vessels of the United States & Brazil Mail Steamship Company, flying the American flag. Since leaving Panama, 40 odd days ago, the tourist has steamed over 7,000 miles of ocean highway, yet throughout all this time and distance, he has never once seen the stars-and-stripes. The ships of the United States & Brazil Mail Steamship Company are despatched monthly from Rio, making stops at Bahia, Pernambuco, Maranham, and Para in Brazil. At Para a most interesting route is offered by regular steamers running up the Amazon to Manaos, 1,000 miles away; thence, irregular vessels go 2,000 miles farther. From Para the United States & Brazil Company makes Barbadoes, of the Windward Isles, in 5 days—a healthy, delightful winter resort, where a mean daily temperature of 80° is tempered by the steady northeast trade-winds.

The weather along the Atlantic highway, from the river Plate to the Windward Islands, is for the most part fine, clear, and warm, with occasional rain-squalls when on the line, and possibly a stiff blow when rounding Cape St. Roque. Excepting the pleasure incident to being at sea, there is little to excite the traveller, for the passengers are few, Americans and South Americans, and are not addicted to much amusement. Lounging, reading, smoking, and walking the deck, conversation and cards pass the time.

At Barbadoes the traveller enters the waters of the West India Islands. These islands present a great contrast to South America, not only in physical features, but in weather and population. During the winter months the northeast trades blow at times with force enough to raise a rough sea. During the summer season hurricanes are to be feared. The differences of race characteristics are more noticeable than those of the weather. Instead of the lazy, polite, cruel South Americans, the traveller encounters the ubiquitous West Indian darky, celebrated for his insolence, chaff, and annoying persistence.

From Barbadoes the steamer shapes her course for the Island of St. Thomas, a day’s run of 300 miles. St. Thomas is a place of great shipping activity. It communicates with Europe by lines running to England, France, Germany, and Spain. It is the West India head-quarters of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and the central point from which branch lines radiate that will take the traveller to any or all of the islands, as he desires.

Now that the West Indies, the Bahamas, and Cuba are growing in favor as winter resorts, the lines and routes of steamers from the West Indies are many and various. For instance, to reach New York the Clyde and Atlas lines sail from Hayti; the New York Cuba line from Cuba and the Bahamas; the New York & Porto Rico line from St. Johns; the Red D line from Curaçao and Colombian ports; the Quebec Steamship Company from St. Kitts and other Windward Islands and Bermuda; the Atlas, Honduras, & Central America and Wessels lines from Jamaica, and the Trinidad line from Port of Spain, Grenada, and Guiana. The Plant line from Jamaica lands the traveller in Tampa, Fla., a place in communication with Havana, as is New Orleans.

If, however, the traveller has taken none of these minor routes, but stayed by the United States & Brazil steamer at St. Thomas, he is landed in New York, 1,450 miles distant, in 6 days.

The whole voyage from San Francisco around the American continent to New York, along the ocean highways commonly navigated by the larger steamships, is 16,500 miles long. The time taken to make this distance is about 100 days. The cost of the journey for tickets, transfers, and unavoidable delays is $1,000; $2,000 will enable the passenger to do it comfortably.

The traveller from New York has been gone from start to finish, by the ocean highways to Europe, India, China, San Francisco, South America, and back to New York, nearly 200 days; has steamed over about 40,000 miles of water, and has spent $4,000. He has learned that there are other lands and other peoples than his own worthy his admiration and study. Let him take a year and $5,000 for this rounding the world, and he will be better satisfied and better informed, and appreciate more fully that “going to sea clears a man’s head of much nonsense of his wigwam.”

* * * * *

The fourth great ocean thoroughfare, the route around the Cape of Good Hope to Africa, Australia, and the East, is traversed by many fine steamers. The way lies from Europe via Madeira, Cape Verd, St. Helena, West Africa, and Cape Town, thence to East Africa via Mauritius to Australia, whence the Occident line leaves for New Zealand, Samoa, Sandwich Islands, and San Francisco. This long route covers 30,000 miles. To reach the Cape, 6,000 miles from England, the two well-known English mail lines, the Union Steamship Company and the Castle Mail Packets Company offer the most attractive routes; the steamer service of both is of the highest order. The time out is 18 days, the fare about $180.

Two English lines, the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw, Savill & Albion Company deserve special mention, because the route they follow gives the longest possible stretch of ocean navigation, each vessel making a complete circuit of the world on the round voyage. The fleet of each company comprises 5 large, well-appointed steamships, despatched alternately every two weeks over the following route: From Plymouth to Teneriffe, 1,420 miles in 5 days, where a stay of 6 hours for coaling gives opportunity for a trip on shore. Then a run of 4,450 miles in 15 days brings the steamer to Cape Town, where an 8 or 10 hour stay is made. Passengers for African ports transfer here. From Cape Town a run of 5,400 miles in 17 days brings the steamer to Hobart, where Tasmanian and Australian passengers leave the vessel. After a few hours in this beautiful harbor a 4 days’ run of 1,270 miles lands the traveller in Wellington, New Zealand.

For the homeward voyage a course is shaped for Cape Horn, a 14 days’ run. Once around this point the ship makes Rio, 22 days and 6,820 miles distant from Wellington. The next port of call is Teneriffe, 3,360 miles and 12 days distant, whence a 5 days’ run is sufficient to cover the 1,420 miles that again lands the traveller in Plymouth, after having been gone 81 days and travelled over 25,150 miles. The price of a ticket over this longest of great sea routes is about $650.

Footnote:

[20] The table is from Lloyd’s Register, 1890-91.

INDEX.

Aaron Manby, the, first iron steamship, 14.

Accommodation, the, first steamboat on the St. Lawrence, 5.

Adelaide, the, a famous clipper ship, 225.

Aden, 270.

Agents, steamship, at home and abroad, 132.

Aller, the, 40.

America, the, as a freight carrier, 233.

American enterprise in first establishing long ocean routes, 253.

Anchor, heaving the, 156.

Anchor line, the, 243.

Arctic, the, loss of, 26.

Arizona, the, 36. collision of, with an iceberg, 203. speed of, 229.

Atlas line, the, 243.

Austro-Hungarian Lloyd Steam Navigation Company, 264.

Banana trade, the, 240, _et seq._ receipts of bananas in 1890, 243.

Barges, coaling, 248.

Bassorah, 273.

Bayonne, the, a tank steamer, record of, 245.

Bennett, James Gordon, Sr., a passenger on the Sirius’s first return voyage, 217.

Bill of fare of a transatlantic liner, 137. required by the British Government, 143.

Black Ball line. See _Marshall, C. H., & Co._

Black Star line. See _Grimshaw & Co._

Black Star line, old. See _Guion line_.

Boat drill on shipboard, 181.

Boilers, tubular, the first, 33.

Bombay, description of, 271. steamship lines converging at, 272.

Bothnia, the, 35.

Bramah, Joseph, proposes the plan of a screw propeller, 17.

Bramwell, Sir Frederick, 36. his comparison of an ancient galley to an Atlantic liner, 108.

Breadstuffs and provisions, value of export of, in 1890-91, 224.

Britannia, the first of the Cunard ships to sail for America, 21. her dimensions, 22, 31, 73. the pioneer of the Cunard line, 118.

Britannic, the, 35. description of, 73. average speed of, 77.

British India Steam Navigation Company, the, 263.

Brown, Wm. H., builder of the Collins vessels, 26.

Brunel, designer of the Great Western, 10. and of the Great Britain, 19. plans the Great Eastern, 30.

Buenos Ayres, 288.

Bulkheads and double bottoms in steamships, 206.

Bureau Veritas, exhibit of, at the Liverpool naval exhibition, 4.

Burns, Mr. George, 12.

Bushire, 272.

Calcutta, first steamship to arrive in, 255.

California, early sea travel to, 254.

Callao, 284.

Canton, 278.

Castle Mail Packets Company, 292.

Cattle ships, loading of, 248. cost of shipping cattle, 251.

Caulking an iron ship, 102.

Charles W. Wetmore, the, the “whaleback,” description of, 234, _et seq._

Checking of baggage, system of transatlantic, 131, 141.

China, the, 32.

Chinese passenger traffic to California, 281.

City of Berlin, the, 35.

City of Glasgow, the, 73, 124.

City of New York, the, 42. highest average speed made by, 129.

City of Paris, the, 42. description of, 74. bulkhead system of, 206. as a record breaker, 229.

City of Rome, the, rejected by the Inman Company, 93.

Clermont, the, speed of, 68. description of, 70.

Clipper ships, famous, 225. early American, 254.

Clyde, Firth of the, 95.

Coal, consumption of, on steamers, 39, 44, 67. reduced by the employment of improved engines, 87.

Coaling ocean steamers, 248.

Coal-trimmers, feast of, 175.

Coastwise steamships, lines of, 223.

Collins, Mr. E. K., founder of the Collins line, 120.

Collins line, establishment of, 25, 121. vessels of, 20, 31, 121. rates of, 122. bankruptcy of, 27, 122.

Colombo, 273.

Columba, the, 72.

Comet, the, model of, 3. description of, 5, 70, 96.

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, the, establishment of, 25, 43. freight capacity of ships of, 218.

Condenser, surface, 32.

Conveniences and luxuries of transatlantic travel, 137, _et seq._

Cotton, value of export of, 224.

Cufic, the, tonnage of, 230.

Cunard, Mr. Samuel, 12, 118.

Cunard line, foundation of, 12. first fleet of, 21, 118. a monopoly at the start, 120. freight capacity of their largest ships, 218.

Demologos the, Fulton’s war steamer, description of, 5.

Distances, prices, etc., from London to San Francisco eastward, table of, 265.

Draught, forced, 88.

Dreadnaught, the, a famous clipper ship, 225.

Duchess of Hamilton, the, 71.

Eider, the, rapid freighting of, 247.

Elder, John, & Co., introduce the compound engine, 34, 40.

Elevators, floating capacity of, 239.

Engineer force on a large steamship, duties, 173.

Engine-room of a steamship, 170.

Engines, marine, of the Great Britain, 19, 33, 36. triple expansion, 39, 46. compound, 68, 87.

Enterprise, the, first steamship to arrive in India, 7, 255.

Ericsson, John, shows the practicability of the screw propeller, 14.

Esmeralda, the, wave-action in the case of, 48.

Etruria, the, best voyage of, 77. timely arrival of, 252.

Evans, Oliver, advocates high pressures, 33, 35.

Export business in 1890 from the principal Atlantic ports, 224.

Fairfield, ship-yard, description of, 104.

“Fairing the ship,” 98.

Fastnet light, 194.

Ferry-boat, the New York, 3.

Fire-drill on a steamship, 154.

Firemen on the ocean steamships, 44.

Florio line, the, 243.

Fog at sea, dangers of, 186. narrow escapes in, 189, _et seq._

Forbes, Mr. R. B., of Boston, builds screw steamers for transatlantic trade, 24.

Freighters, as a class of ocean steamships, 226, 233.

Freights, ocean, rate of, 251. volume of, 224. how handled, 246.

Froude, Mr. W., investigations of, on the best forms for ships, 46, 63.

Fruit steamship, the, 239, _et seq._ description of, 240.

Fulton, the maker of the first successful steamboats, 2, 5. first war steamer designed by, 5.

Germanic, the, 35, 74.

Gibraltar, description of, 260.

Glasgow & New York Steamship Co., 125.

Glasgow, the shipbuilders of, 96.

Grain-carrying, vessels designed for, 234, _et seq._

Great Britain, the, building of, 13. details of, 19. fate of, 20.

Great Eastern, the, 30.

Great Western, the, 72. description of, 10. her voyage to New York and return, 11, 113, 117. her career and end, 12. built of iron and with a screw, 14.

Great Western Steamship Company, formation of, 7. Brunel the founder of, 9.

Grimshaw & Co.’s line, 113.

Guion line, establishment of, 25, 113. steamers of, lost between Fastnet and Liverpool, 195. the freight capacity of, 218.

Hamburg-American line, ships of, 43. their freight capacity, 218.

Henderson, Thomas, self-cleaning fire-bars of, 89.

Henriette, Princesse, the, description of, 70.

Honduras & Central American line, the, 243.

Hong-Kong, 277.

Hoogly River, navigation of, 275.

Horse-power, 64. increase of, not in proportion to increase in size of vessel, 67.

Howden, James, forced draught process of, 88.

Hulls, Jonathan, pamphlet of, on propelling boats by steam, 1.

Hydrographic Bureau, charts issued by, 199.

Ice at sea, perils of, 198, _et seq._

Icebergs, origin and dangers of, 200.

Immigrant passenger traffic, proportions of, 147. how handled, 148.

Impérieuse, the, 63.

India, short route to, from Europe, 255.

Inman line, ships of, 42. beginning of the, 122. the first to use the screw propeller and to carry steerage passengers, 124.

the freight capacity of the largest ships of, 218.

Iron vessels, the first, 13. Thomas Wilson, the first builder of, 14.

Japanese steamship lines, 281.

John Randolph, the, first iron vessel in the United States, 13.

Kirk, Mr. A. C., triple expansion engines of, 39.

Kurrachee, 272.

Laird, Mr. J., 11. builder of the first iron vessels on a large scale, 13.

Laird, Mr. McGregor, estimate of coal consumption in steam navigation, 9.

Lardner, Dr., his declaration of the impossibility of steam navigation, 7.

Lima, 284.

Liverpool, New York, & Philadelphia Steamship Co. See _Inman line_.

Log, patent, 213.

London, table of distances and prices from and to San Francisco, 265.

Madras, 275.

Mails, accommodations for, on ocean steamships, 230, _et seq._ sorting, on board ship, 231. largest European, brought by the Servia, 231.

Majestic, the, fast trip of, 44. description of, 74. breaks the record, 229.

Marshall, C. H., & Co.’s line, 113, 120.

Marshall, Mr. F. C., paper of, 36.

Mary Whitredge, the, a famous clipper ship, 225.

Maudslay & Field, builders of marine engines, 11.

McIver, Mr. David, 12.

McKinley bill, influence of, on freight rates, 251.

Mediterranean fruit trade, the, 243.

Merchandise, value of export of, in 1890-1891, 244.

Messageries Maritimes, the fleet of, 264.

Miller, Patrick, 68.

Mirehouse, Captain John, 144.

Models of British boats, display of, 2, 4.

Molasses ship, the, 246.

Montevideo, 288.

National line, the establishment of, 25. as a freight carrier, 233.

Naval Exhibition, at Liverpool, in 1886, 2. models of Italian and French ships at, 4. at London, 4.

Netherland-India Steamship Company, 276.

New York & Havre Steam Navigation Co., 120.

New Zealand Shipping Company, 292.

Nomadic, the, carried the largest amount of freight, 233.

Noon position of the ship, finding the, 179.

North German Lloyd, establishment of, 25. ships of, 43. freight capacity of the express steamships of, 218. rapid handlers of freight, 247, 264.

Observations for latitude at sea, 176.

Ocean Steam Navigation Co., the, 120.

Oceanic Company. See _White Star line_.

Officers of a steamship, 152, _et seq._

Oil for calming troubled waters, use of, 213.

Oregon, the, sinking of, 51, 198.

Orient Steam Navigation Company, 266.

Ormuz, 272.

Pacific Mail Steamship Company, the, ships of, 29, 243, 280.

Pacific Steam Navigation Company of England, 23, 283.

Packet lines, the Liverpool, 255. to Australia, 254.

Paddle-steamer, high-water mark of, 31.

Paddle-wheel compared with screw, 79. when necessary, 80.

Panama, 283.

Parker, Mr., his comparison of triple expansion engines with ordinary ones, 39.

Passenger capacity of the early steamships, 114. accommodations then, 119. and now, 127.

Passenger lists, 131.

Passengers, cabin, statistics of, 133.

Pearce, Sir William, of the Fairfield ship-yard, 110.

Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the, 23, 260. an imaginary trip by, 260.

Persia, the, description of, 31.

Plimsoll, Samuel, 251.

Polyphemus, H.B.M.S., 59.

Princeton, the, description of, 23.

Propellers, failure of, internal, 83. material of, 214.

Puritan, the, 71.

Quarantine regulations, 142.

Quartermasters, duties of, 164.

Randolph Elder & Co. See _Elder, John, & Co._

Red Sea, the passage through, 269.

Refrigerators on steamships, 232.

Rio Janeiro, 288.

Ruthven’s hydraulic propeller, 83.

Saale, the, 40.

Said, Port, harbor of, 263, 266. traffic of, 269.

Sailors, on a steamship, 165, _et seq._ messes of, 174.

Savannah, the first steamship to cross the ocean, 8.

Scotia, the, 31, 32, 73.

Screw propeller, used by Ericsson, 16. invented or proposed by others, 17, _et seq._ early prejudice against, 79. compared with paddle-wheel, 79. twin screws, 43, 80, 209, 212. triple screws, 80. form and nature of, 84. instances of change of form, 85.

Scythia, the, 35.

Servia, the, largest mail brought by her, 231.

Shaft, breaking of a steamer’s, 210.

Shanghai, 280.

Shaw, Savill & Albion Company, the, 292.

Ship, investigations into the resistance of a, in motion, 46, 63.

Ships, forms of, how judged of, 62. life of, 55. speed of, visionary schemes to increase, 58. the speed of, primary conditions for, 61.

Singapore, 276.

Sirius, the, first steamer to cross from Europe to New York, 11, 112.

Skin of ship, frictional resistance of, 46, 86.

Smith, Thomas Pettit, invents a screw propeller, 17, 18.

Sorting mails on shipboard, 231.

South Stack lighthouse, 194.

Sovereign of the Seas, the, quick run of, 254.

Specie-room on a steamship, 231.

Speed of ship, schemes to increase, 58. conditions for, 61. increases safety, 204.

Standard Oil Co., the, tank steamers of, 245. “Steam lanes,” 215.

Steamboat had at first the greatest use in America, 4, 28.

Steamship, a first-class, cost of, 92. construction of, first stages, 97, _et seq._ variability of results in its construction, 93. lines, number and statistics of, 135, _et seq._ records of fast trips of, 130. passenger, table fare of, 136. incoming, how signalled, 142. hauling out a, 149. expert seamanship required to manage a, 150. officers, junior, 163. fire drill on, 154. care of, at sea, 159. crew of, 165. inspection of, 170. travel, perils of, 186, _et seq._ wrecked, list of, 195, _et seq._ burned at sea, 197. speed of increases safety, 204. safety of, 205, _et seq._ freight and passenger, 217.

Steamships, the fastest, cost of, 218. list of transatlantic, 219. routes long, first established by Boston merchants, 253; to India, China, and Australia, list of, 266; traffic main of, 256. number and nationality of, 256. lines of transatlantic, 259. between Europe and the East, 260.

Steel, use of, in naval construction, 54. industry in the United States, 56, 86.

Steerage passengers, fare of, 143. inspection of, 144.

Steering gear, steam, 164.

Stevens, Mr., of Hoboken, experiments of, with the screw propeller, 18. return tubular boilers built by, 33.

Stockton, Commodore Robert F., orders screw boats of Ericsson, 17.

Stoke-hole of a steamship, 171.

Stokers, at work, 172. their quarters, 175.

Suez Canal, passage of, 269.

Sunday on steamship, 142.

Tank steamers, 243, _et seq._

Tapscott’s line, 213.

Teutonic, breaks the record, 44, 129, 229. tonnage of, 230.

Thomas Powell, the, 34.

Tonnage of the United States in 1829 and subsequently, 7. of London and Liverpool, 8. of foreign and domestic ships in 1890, 223. steam, in the United States and Great Britain, 53.

Tow-boats, statistics of, 223.

Tramp steamships, tonnage of, in 1890-91, 223. description of, 234.

Trave, the, 40. largest mail carried by her, 230.

Travel, transatlantic, increasing, 134.

Trevithick opposed by Watt, 77.

Triple-expansion engines, the first, 39.

Tripoli, Cunard steamer, loss of, 195.

Twin screws, 43. safety secured by the system of, 209. steamers having, 212.

Unicorn, the, first steamship to enter Boston from Europe, 118.

Union Steamship Company, the, 292.

United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company, 289.

Valparaiso, 284.

Vanderbilt, Commodore, starts a line of transatlantic steamers, 124.

Ville du Havre, loss of, 197.

Water, resistance of, to a moving vessel, 46, 48, 63.

Waterwitch, the, experiments with, 83.

Watt, proposes a spiral oar, 17. his prejudice against steam applied to marine propulsion, 77.

Wave-action in the case of ships at full speed, 46, _et seq._

Waves produced by a ship in motion, 47, 61.

West Indies, steamship lines touching at, 290.

“Whaleback” steamer, description of, 234.

Wheelwright, William, the instigator of Pacific Steam Navigation Co., 23.

White Star line, establishment of, 25. build a new type of ship, 35. conveniences for passengers in, 126. the freight capacity of the largest ships of, 218. influence of, on ocean navigation, 230.

Williams & Guion. See _Guion line_.

Wilson line, the, as freight carriers, 219.

Wilson, Thomas, builds the first iron vessel, 14.

World, a trip round the, 256, _et seq._

Wrecked steamships, list of, 195, _et seq._

Wyckoff, Chevalier, a passenger on the Sirius’s return voyage, 117.

“_A reference to the several titles will convince any one at all familiar with the general subject that the particular topic is treated in every instance by an expert, entitled as such to speak with authority._”—JUDGE THOMAS M. COOLEY.

THE AMERICAN RAILWAY

_ITS CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, MANAGEMENT, AND APPLIANCES._

WRITTEN BY THE MOST EMINENT AUTHORITIES IN ALL BRANCHES OF RAILWAY WORK.

The book is divided into the following chapters, each being complete and full in the treatment of its subject.

AN INTRODUCTION BY JUDGE THOMAS M. COOLEY,

_Chairman of the Inter-state Commerce Commission_.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

BY THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE,

_Civil Engineer_.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

BY JOHN BOGART,

_State Engineer of New York_.

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES & CARS.

BY M. N. FORNEY,

_Author of the “Catechism of the Locomotive,” Editor “Railroad and Engineering Journals,” etc._