The history of steam navigation

(1543)—Papin (1690)—Savory, Newcomen (1705)—Hulls (1736)—Abbé Arnal and the Marquis de Jouffroy (1781)—Fitch (1783)—Miller and Taylor (1788)—Symington (1801)—The CHARLOTTE DUNDA...

steamboat in the world—Narrative of her first voyage—Steam Navigation in Canadian waters—First steamers on the St. Lawrence—The ACCOMMODATION (1809)—SWIFTSURE, CAR OF COMMERCE (...

REGENT—Loss of the REGENT (1817)—Liverpool and Eastham Packet, PRINCESS CHARLOTTE (1816)—Liverpool and Tranmere Packets REGULATOR, ETNA (1817)—Parkgate and Bagillt Packet, ANCIE...

the English Channel, CALEDONIA—First steamer on the Rhine (1816)—Season contract tickets issued (1816)—Stranding of the ROTHESAY CASTLE (1816)—Steamship passengers’ fares on the...

the SAVANNAH—Arrival at Liverpool of the first cross-channel steamer, WATERLOO—The ROBERT BRUCE—Curious accident to the MORNING STAR—The TRITON—CONDE DE PATMELLA—SNAKE—Cattle ve...

HERO—Liverpool steampackets highly commended in Parliamentary Report—AARON MANBY, first iron steamer—First steamer Hull to Continent—City of Dublin Steampacket Co.—Dublin and Li...

Johnston, R.N.—Lieut. Waghorn, E.I.N.—East India Co.’s Bombay and Suez Service—The Peninsular Steam Navigation Co. (1834) altered to Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co....

Portugal—Loss of the RIVAL (1832)—Mutiny on board the LORD BLANEY (1831)—Loss of the LORD BLANEY (1833)—Arrival of the BIRMINGHAM with news of the total defeat of Don Miguel (18...

Transatlantic Steam Navigation Co., incorporated 1828—Scheme revived 1835—Dr. Lardner’s famous speech—His disclaimer, 1851—The ROYAL WILLIAM (of Canada), 1833—Dr. Julius Smith—B...

Samuel Cunard—Formation of the Cunard Line—The GREAT BRITAIN, launched 1843—Leaves Bristol for London—Inspected by H.M. Queen Victoria—Leaves London for Liverpool—First voyage t...

Royal Mail Steampacket Co. (1841), commences with a fleet of fourteen steamers—Generous concessions from Government—Rapid increase of trade—The “TRENT affair”—First screw steame...

(1845)—WASHINGTON (1847)—The Collins Line—General description of steamers—Arrival at Liverpool of pioneer steamer ATLANTIC—Description of—Accident to ATLANTIC—Loss of steamers A...

a line of Leviathan steamers—GREAT EASTERN—Contracted for—Attempts to launch—Finally successful—Description of—Enormous loss to shareholders—Sails for New York—Carries troops to...

Eastern and Chatham Railway—London Brighton and South Coast Railway—London and South Western Railway—Great Western Railway—London and North Western Railway—Lancashire and Yorksh...

” XXI.—Adelaide Steamship Company, Limited—John Bacon, Limited—R. Burton & Sons, Limited—Fletcher, Woodhill & Co.—T. & J. Harrison—W. S. Kennaugh & Co.—Lamport & Holt—H. & W. Ne...

There is not a more fascinating page in history than that which tells of the growth of the Mercantile Steam Navies of the World. It is a record of the triumphs of Science and Ar...

Fulton (1807).—The CLERMONT, the first Passenger Steam-boat in the world.—Narrative of her first Voyage.—Steam Navigation in Canadian Waters.—The first Steamers on the St. Lawre...

Without, in the slightest degree, detracting from the credit due to the inventors referred to in the earlier pages of this history, it is indisputable that the River Clyde is th...

To the student of British history, the year 1815 is one of the most remarkable of the nineteenth century. In June of that year was fought the Battle of Waterloo—a victory for th...

1816 to 1818.—Rivals to the THAMES, the DEFIANCE (1815), MAJESTIC and REGENT (1816).—Loss of the REGENT (1817).—Liverpool Steam-boats: the RUNCORN PACKET, the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE...

Early Clyde Steam-packets.—Season Tickets issued, 1816.—First steamer to cross the English Channel.—DUMBARTON CASTLE steams round North of Scotland, 1819.—First serious Accident...

1819 to 1821.—The SAVANNAH the first steamer to cross the Atlantic.—Arrival at Liverpool of the WATERLOO, the first Irish Channel steamer.—Sailing of the ROBERT BRUCE, the first...

St. George Steam-Packet Co. incorporated, 1822.—Swift passage of the HERO, steam yacht.—Liverpool owned steamers highly commended in Parliamentary Report, 1822.—AARON MANBY, iro...

Steamship Routes to India and the East.—Lieut. Johnston.—ENTERPRIZE purchased by Indian Government.—Renders important service during Burmese War.—Thomas Waghorn.—Regular steamsh...

Steamers on the Pacific.—The TELICA (1825).—P. S. N. Co., 1840.—Compound Engines adopted, 1856.—Service extended from West Coast, South America, to the River Plate (1865), and t...

French-Algerian Expedition, 1830.—Civil War in Portugal.—Loss of the steamer RIVAL.—Mutiny on a Transport.—Loss of the LORD BLANEY.—The MARGARET, first screw passenger steamer t...

Pioneers of Transatlantic steam navigation.—Valentia Transatlantic S. N. Co. incorporated, 1828.—Dr. Lardner’s famous speech on Steam Navigation.—The ROYAL WILLIAM, first steame...

Mr. Cunard’s tender for the carriage of the British and North American Mails accepted, 1839.—GREAT BRITAIN launched, 1843.—Sails from Bristol for London, 23rd January, 1845.—Vis...

Steam communication with the West Indies.—Royal Mail Steampacket Co. incorporated 1841.—Commences with a fleet of fourteen steamers.—Heavy loss of first year’s working.—Generous...

For upwards of nine years Great Britain had held a monopoly of the transatlantic steamship business. America could and did build sailing vessels that were unsurpassed by those b...

On Wednesday, 27th September, 1854, about noon—Cape Race bearing S.W. by W., 65 miles distant—the steamship ARCTIC, on her passage from Liverpool to New York, while running thro...

In the early spring of 1850 Messrs. Tod and MacGregor, iron shipbuilders and engineers, Glasgow, launched the iron screw steamer CITY OF GLASGOW, a vessel of 1,600 tons and 350...

One of the most convincing proofs of the splendid management of the several steamship companies which trade between Liverpool and Glasgow, of the skill and honest workmanship pu...

In the year 1851 a steamship company was promoted in London, under the title of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company, Limited, for the purpose of establishing a direct line of l...

Steam to Australia.—SOPHIA JANE, first steamer from Great Britain to Australia, 1831.—The steamship GREAT BRITAIN sails for Melbourne, 1852.—Sketch of her after career.—The GOLD...

The first foreign merchant vessel to load a cargo at Shanghai for Hankow was the auxiliary screw steamer SCOTLAND, belonging to the late W. S. Lindsay, the well-known author of...

Decidedly the most dramatic incident ever recorded in the annals of steam navigation was the theft of the steamer FERRET and the piratical seizure and sale of her cargo of coffee.

Following the example of the Imperial Government the Government of Canada advertised in June, 1852, for tenders for the conveyance of mails between the United Kingdom and Quebec...

Railway Companies as Steamship Owners.—South Eastern and Chatham.—London, Brighton and South Coast.—London and South Western.—Great Western.—London and North Western.—Lancashire...

THE latest development of the marine engine is the Marine Steam Turbine, the invention of the Hon. C. A. Parsons, F.R.S., brother of the present Earl of Rosse, and a son of the...

The firm of Elder, Dempster & Co. was founded in the year 1868 by Messrs. Alexander Elder and John Dempster, two gentlemen intimately acquainted with the working of the African...

Two years (1852) prior to the outbreak of the Crimean War, the African Steamship Company was incorporated by Royal Charter with limited liability. The initial capital was £250,0...

This Company was projected in 1868 by a number of gentlemen practically acquainted with the trade of the West Coast of Africa. Amongst these were Mr. Alexander Elder and Mr. Joh...

For years the Island of Jamaica, the Pearl of the Antilles, had been decadent, its planters cast down and despairing because it was impossible, owing to the heavily subsidized c...

In the summer of the year 1822 Mr. C. W. Williams, of Dublin, crossed over to Liverpool with the object of inducing the merchants to take shares in a line of steampackets he pro...

The oldest deep-sea steamship passenger trade in Europe is that between Dublin and London. The distinction of having been the first persons (other than the crew) to cross the Ir...

Reference has been made, in a previous chapter of this work, to this old-established firm. It was engaged in shipping in 1807, five years before the first British steamboat was...

The Cork Steamship Company, as successors to the St. George Steam Packet Co., may justly be considered to be one of the oldest existing steamship companies in the world. The ori...

It seems incredible that less than three-quarters of a century ago steamers were unknown on the Atlantic. The mail-boats of that date were wretched old Government 10-gun “coffin...

This well-known line of steamers was established about a quarter of a century ago by the present senior partner of the firm, Mr. R. P. Houston, Member of Parliament for the Toxt...

The Company was founded by the late Mr. Edwin Savory Houlder in London in 1849, and he was subsequently joined by his brothers Messrs. Alfred and Augustus Houlder. At first the...

This important company, which claims (on very strong evidence) to be the oldest steamship company in the world, was originated in 1814—two years after the launch of Bell’s COMET...

Prior to the year 1839 all the steampackets plying between Liverpool and Glasgow were built of wood, and these wooden steamers had established for themselves a reputation for sp...

Towards the end of July, 1819, Messrs. James Little & Co., who had commenced business seven years previously, despatched from Greenock, on her maiden voyage to Liverpool, the fi...

In the early part of last century Messrs. Thomson and MacConnell, of Glasgow, held a large financial interest in several of the steampackets then plying on the River and Firth o...

The firm of Messrs. David MacIver & Co. was originally founded by the late Mr. David MacIver and his brother Charles, in 1835. Mr. David MacIver had some four years prior to thi...

In the autumn of 1826 the New Clyde Shipping Company advertised that their steampacket ENTERPRISE (Captain M’Farlane) would sail weekly between Liverpool and Glasgow. She was a...

During the first half of the last century Messrs. Middleton and Pollexfen, of Sligo, owned a large fleet of sailing vessels. Some of these vessels were barques which traded to f...

Early in the year 1836 several Waterford merchants determined to run steamers between Waterford and Liverpool in opposition to the steamers owned by the Messrs. Pope, of the for...

The White Star Line was founded about the middle of the last century by the owners of a line of smart clippers sailing between England and Australia. The great rush of adventure...

Adelaide Steamship Co., Limited.—John Bacon, Limited.—R. Burton & Sons, Limited.—Fletcher, Woodhill & Co.—T. & J. Harrison.—W. S. Kennaugh & Co.—Lamport & Holt.—H. & W. Nelson.—...