Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post

Paper B.

The following paper, prepared by Mr. Pliny Miles from the reports to which we have alluded, presents the British steam mail service in full detail.

“The following tabular statement gives the particulars of the ocean mail service of Great Britain, now carried on almost exclusively by steamships. The numbers in the margin, running from 1 to 15, will point out the different lines in the recapitulation at the close.

Line of Communication, Contractors, and Contract Price.	Places Connected.
1.—Liverpool and Isle of Man. Mona Isle Steam Co. Twice a week. $4,250 per annum.	Liverpool and Douglas, Isle of Man.
2.—England and Ireland. City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. Twice a day. $125,000 a year.	Holyhead and Kingstown, near Dublin.
3.—Scotland and Shetland. Aberdeen, Leith and Clyde Shipping Co. Weekly, $6,000 a year.	Aberdeen, Wick, Kirkwall, (Orkney,) and Lerwick, (Shetland.)
4.—England, Spain, and Gibraltar. Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. Three times a month. $102,500.	Southampton, Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar.
5.—Mediterranean, India, and China. Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. Twice a month to India—monthly to China. $1,121,500.	Southampton, Malta, Alexandria, Suez, Aden, Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghae.
6.—England and United States. Sam. Cunard. Weekly. $866,700.	Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston; and Liverpool and New-York.
7.—North America, (Colonial.) Sam. Cunard. Monthly. $73,500.	Halifax, Newfoundland, Bermuda, and St. Thomas.
8.—West-Indies, Mexico and South-America. Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. Semi-monthly to the West-Indies and Gulf of Mexico, and monthly to Brazil. $1,350,000.	Southampton, Kingston, (Jamaica,) St. Thomas, Vera Cruz and Aspinwall; Southampton, Lisbon, Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Vincent, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio Janeiro, Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and St. Thomas.
9.—England, France, and Belgium. Jenkings and Churchward. Daily to Calais; thrice a week to Ostend. $77,500.	Dover and Calais. Dover and Ostend.
10.—Channel Islands. South-western Railway Company. Thrice a week. $20,000.	Southampton, Jersey, and Guernsey.
11.—West Coast of South-America. Pacific Steam Navigation Co. Twice a month. $125,000.	Panama, Callao, and Valparaiso. Allowed to touch at Buenaventura, Guayaquil, Peyta, Lambayeque, Huanchaco, Santa, Pisco, Islay, Aríca, Iquique, Cobija, Gopiapo, Huasco, and Coquimbo.
12.—Scotland and Orkney. John Stanger, Esq., of Stromness. Daily in summer; every other day in winter. $6,500.	From Scrabster Pier (Thurso) to Stromness, (Orkney.)
13.—West Coast of Africa. African Steamship Co. Monthly. $106,250.	Plymouth to Madeira, Teneriffe, Goree, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, Monrovia, Cape Coast Castle, Accra, Whydah, Badagry, Lagos, Bonny, Old Calabar, Cameroon and Fernando Po; omitting Cameroon, Calabar, and Bonny on return.
14.—South-Africa, Mauritius, and Calcutta. Adam Duncan Dundas, Esq. Monthly. $205,000.	Dartmouth to Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius and Calcutta.
15.—England and Australia. The European and Australian Mail Steam Packet Co. Monthly. $925,000.	Southampton, Marseilles, Malta, Alexandria, Suez, and Sydney.

The following are the names of the steamers in service in each line, with the amount of tonnage, the horse power of each, the draught of water, the number of the officers and crew attached to each one, and, when it could be obtained, the date that each vessel was surveyed and approved for the service. Where the date of survey of a vessel is unknown, it is placed as near as possible with others surveyed at the same time, the vessels in each line being arranged in chronological order:

Name, Class, etc.		Horse Power.	Tonnage.	Draft of Water.		Crew.	Date of Survey.
				F.	I.
1. Liverpool and Isle of Man.
King Orry,		190	429	0	0	22	Dec., 1845
Tynwald,	iron,	260	657	8	9	29	Oct., 1846
Benmy Chree,		130	295	6	6	18	June, 1847
Mona’s Queen,	iron,	220	508	8	6	22	M’ch, 1853
Total, 4 vessels,		790	2,089			91
2. England and Ireland.
Prince Arthur,	iron,	220	418	8	8	26	July, 1852
Llewellyn,	iron,	342	654	9	6	29	Oct., 1852
Eblana,	iron,	372	685	8	11	31	Jan., 1853
St. Columba,	iron,	350	650	8	10	29	Sept., 1853
Total, 4 vessels,		1,284	2,407			115
3. Scotland and Shetland.
Fairy,		120	350	—	—	18	—
Duke of Richmond,		180	500	—	—	24	—
Total, 2 vessels,		300	850			42
4. England, Spain, and Gibraltar.
Sultan,	iron,	420	1,001	14	0	67	Jan., 1853
Madrid,	iron,	133	448	10	2	40	Feb., 1853
Tagus,		280	691	14	8	41	Jan., 1854
Alhambra,		140	642	13	7	52	July, 1855
Total, 4 vessels,		973	2,782			200
5. Mediterranean, India, and China.
Lady Mary Wood,		270	619	0	0	40	Feb., 1842
Precursor,		520	1,783	18	0	121	July, 1844
Pekin,	iron,	415	1,003	14	0	78	Jan., 1847
Oriental,		420	1,427	13	0	78	M’ch, 1848
Achilles,		430	823	16	0	59	June, 1849
Malta,	iron,	460	1,222	0	0	82	Sept., 1848
Hindostan,		500	1,595	16	10	53	July, 1849
Singapore,	iron,	465	1,189	12	6	96	M’ch, 1851
Ganges,	iron,	465	1,189	14	7	69	June, 1851
Pottinger,	iron,	450	1,275	17	6	82	April, 1852
Formosa, screw,	iron,	177	658	13	6	60	Aug., 1852
Chusan, screw,	iron,	100	765	11	3	45	Aug., 1852
Haddington,	iron,	450	1,303	17	7	105	Nov., 1852
Vectis,		400	900	0	0	51	—
Shanghae, screw,	iron,	90	825	0	0	60	—
Manila,		60	646	0	0	60	—
Bentinck,		520	1,973	19	3	83	Nov., 1852
Euxine,	iron,	430	1,071	15	6	72	Jan., 1853
Bengal, screw,		465	2,185	17	6	115	Feb., 1853
Valetta,		400	984	12	2	51	July, 1853
Norna, screw,		230	1,040	0	0	80	Nov., 1853
Colombo, screw,		450	1,808	0	0	118	Dec., 1853
Ripon,	iron,	445	1,400	14	9	94	Dec., 1853
Douro, screw,		230	903	13	3	63	Dec., 1853
Bombay,		280	1,240	0	0	84	—
Madras,		288	1,217	0	0	82	—
Indus,	iron,	450	1,302	17	9	88	Jan., 1854
Candia, screw,	iron,	450	2,212	18	9	115	June, 1854
Nubia,		450	2,095	21	0	122	— 1855
Pera, screw,	iron,	450	2,013	19	0	129	Jan., 1856
Ava, screw,	iron,	320	1,372	17	0	94	Feb., 1856
Alma, screw,	iron,	450	2,164	20	0	124	M’ch, 1856
Aden, screw,	iron,	210	507	18	9	40	Aug., 1856
Delta, screw,		210	985	0	0	64	— 1856
Delhi, screw,		450	2,400	0	0	125	— 1856
Unknown, 4 vessels.
Total, 39 vessels,		12,850	46,053			2,877
6. England and United States.
Europa,		650	1,777	15	6	88	July, 1848
Canada,		680	1,774	19	6	88	Nov., 1848
Niagara,		630	1,774	19	6	88	Dec., 1849
America,		630	1,729	15	3	88	Jan., 1850
Asia,		800	2,073	19	0	105	May, 1850
Africa,		800	2,050	0	0	105	Oct., 1850
Arabia,		870	2,328	16	7	105	Dec., 1852
Persia,		858	3,587	21	0	165	Feb., 1856
Total, 8 vessels,		5,918	17,092			922
7. North America, (Colonial.)
Merlin,		120	451	0	0	26	May, 1850
Delta, screw,	iron,	180	700	12	10	34	June, 1852
Total, 2 vessels,		300	1,151			60
8. West-Indies, Mexico, and South-America.
Dee,		410	1,269	18	0	87	May, 1846
Trent,		450	1,293	17	7	87	April, 1848
Eagle,		263	496	11	10	57	July, 1849
Derwent,		280	708	15	0	66	July, 1850
Magdalena,		760	2,250	19	0	108	May, 1852
Medway,		420	1,305	17	6	72	May, 1852
La Plata,		939	2,404	21	10	114	Aug., 1852
Conway,		270	827	12	10	55	Sept., 1852
Orinoco,		800	2,245	20	11	108	Oct., 1852
Avon,		450	2,069	17	0	94	M’ch, 1853
Teviot,		450	1,258	18	1	97	April, 1853
Paraná,		800	2,222	21	2	120	May, 1853
Clyde,		430	1,335	19	1	87	June, 1853
Thames,		413	1,285	18	3	72	Aug., 1853
Solent,		420	1,805	14	11	88	Oct., 1853
Camilia,	iron,	213	640	9	0	34	Oct., 1853
Wye, screw,	iron,	180	818	14	0	45	Feb., 1854
Atrato,	iron,	758	2,906	20	6	127	M’ch, 1854
Tamar,		400	1,873	18	7	93	June, 1854
Prince,		200	446	8	8	35	July, 1854
Total, 20 vessels,		9,306	29,454			1,667
9. England, France, and Belgium.
Alliance,		120	300	7	3	16	—
Vivid,		120	300	7	0	16	—
Violet,		120	300	7	0	16	—
Empress,		100	308	6	6	16	—
Queen,		100	307	6	6	16	—
Ondine,		80	250	6	0	16	—
Total, 6 vessels,		640	1,765			96
10. Channel Islands.
Atalanta,		120	240	8	4	21	Oct., 1846
Wonder,	iron,	150	449	0	0	22	Feb., 1853
Courier,	iron,	184	440	7	0	18	April, 1853
Dispatch,	iron,	183	443	7	6	22	Aug., 1853
Express,	iron,	160	380	7	4	24	Nov., 1853
Total, 5 vessels,		797	1,852			107
11. West Coast or South-America.
New-Granada,	iron,	210	600	13	0	41	Nov., 1846
Bolivia,	iron,	252	705	0	0	41	Oct., 1849
Inca,	iron,	370	549	13	0	55	Aug., 1851
Lima,	iron,	370	1,122	10	8	55	Nov., 1851
Bogota,	iron,	394	1,122	13	6	61	April, 1852
Valdivia, screw,	iron,	480	782	13	2	41	Nov., 1853
Valparaiso,	iron,	320	839	13	6	84	—
Total, 7 vessels,		2,396	5,719			377
12. Scotland and Orkney.
(Unknown,)		60	250	6	0	16	—
13. West Coast of Africa.
Hope,	iron,	120	833	15	0	46	—
Charity,	iron,	120	1,007	15	6	52	—
Ethiope,		120	674	0	0	42	—
Candace,		120	900	0	0	46	—
Retriever,		120	900	0	0	46	—
Niger,		120	900	0	0	46	—
Gambia,		130	637	14	0	42	—
Total, 7 vessels,		850	5,951			320
14. South-America, Mauritius, and Calcutta.
Five screw steamers,
Total, 5 vessels,		2,000	8,000	—	—	570	—
15. England and Australia.
Oneida,		400	1,600	15	6	84	—
Simla,		630	2,510	17	2	88	—
European,		530	2,200	18	9	115	—
Columbian,		530	2,300	17	6	120	—
(Unknown,)		400	1,600	0	8	88	—
(Unknown,)		400	1,600	0	8	88	—
(Unknown,)		400	1,600	0	8	88	—
Total, 7 vessels,		3,290	13,410			671

Recapitulation

Lines.	Number of steamers.	Horse Power.	Tonnage.	Number of men.	Service commenced.	How often.	Annual Compensation.
Total,	121	42,254	140,139	8,137			$5,114,700I
1	4	790	2,089	91	1833	2 a week	$4,250
2	4	1,284	2,408	115	1850	2 a day	125,000
3	2	300	850	42	1840	1 a week	6,000
4	4	973	2,782	200	1852	3 a month	102,500
5	35	12,850	46,053	2,877	1853	2 a month	1,121,500
6	9	6,418	18,406	922	1850	1 a week	866,700
7	2	300	1,151	60	1854	1 a month	73,500
8	20	9,308	29,454	1,667	1851	3 a month	1,350,000
9	6	640	1,765	96	1854	1 a day	77,500
10	5	797	1,852	107	1848	3 a week	20,000
11	7	2,396	5,719	378	1852	2 a month	125,000
12	1	60	250	16	1856	1 a day	6,500
13	7	850	5,951	320	1852	1 a month	106,250
14	5	2,000	8,000	575	1856	1 a month	205,000
15	7	3,290	13,410	671	1857	1 a month	925,000

Notes

I There are some lines not here noticed, which swell the sum to $5,333,985.—T. R.