CHAPTER IV

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IMPERIAL DIRECT WEST INDIA MAIL SERVICE, LIMITED.

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 continental beet sugar, to grow cane sugar at a profit. And, although physicians in the United States were sending their patients to seek renewed health and energy “from the balmy breezes laden with health giving ozone which blow over the island,” British Life Insurance offices placed a black mark against Jamaica, and demanded an additional premium from their policy holders for permission to visit its shores. But the dark commercial cloud is passing, and the island has entered upon an era of prosperity which bids fair to be greater and more permanent than even the golden days of the sugar planter. It is an open secret that for this the Jamaicans are indebted in great measure to the enterprise of Messrs. Elder, Dempster and Co., who have practically created the demand in Great Britain for Jamaica grown fruits, and who have established a service of swift steamers, specially built for the trade. This Line of steamers, which is known as the Imperial Direct West India Mail Service although only established in the first year of the present century, has already achieved a remarkable success. In addition to bringing to England over 50,000 bunches of bananas per month, as well as other West Indian fruits, tobacco, coffee, sugar, rum, and other varieties of tropical produce, the steamers carry a large and increasing number of passengers each voyage between Great Britain and the colony.

The home port of the steamers is Avonmouth, near Bristol, from which a fortnightly sailing is maintained throughout the year to Kingston (Jamaica), but it is probable that the service will soon be increased to a weekly one. In recognition of the invaluable services rendered by these steamers both to the Empire and to the colony, their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales paid a visit of inspection to the R.M.S. PORT ROYAL, at Avonmouth, on the 5th March, 1902.

The vessels at present engaged in the direct Mail Service were all built in 1901, and are named, the PORT ROYAL, PORT ANTONIO, PORT MORANT, and PORT MARIA. The first two steamers named are sister ships and are identical in measurement, viz., length 382 feet, beam 46 feet 6 inches, and depth 32 feet. Each is propelled by twin screws, and fitted with triple expansion engines capable of maintaining a speed of 14 knots per hour, and carries about 5,000 tons cargo. They can each accommodate 100 first-class passengers and 50 second-class passengers. The saloons and staterooms are handsomely decorated, and are fitted so as to secure a maximum of comfort for the passengers. The cuisine and the appointments generally being those appertaining to a first-class mail and passenger steamer.

A new mail steamer of considerably larger dimensions than any of the preceding steamers of the fleet, is now in course of construction and is expected to make her first voyage early in 1904. It is proposed to call her the PORT KINGSTON.

These steamers sail from Avonmouth Dock, Bristol, every alternate Saturday, and make the voyage as a rule in from 12 to 14 days. The rates for passengers are:—Saloon (single) £18 to £25 pounds; (return) £32 to £40, according to the position of the stateroom, and number of persons occupying same. In the second saloon the charge is £14 for the single passage, and £25 for the return.

The DELTA, belonging to the same Company, makes a trip round Jamaica every week; she has first-class accommodation for passengers, and affords a splendid opportunity of seeing the coast and towns around the Island. The charge for first-class passengers is £3 for the round trip.

Arrangements have been made with the Hamburg-American Line, running between Kingston (Jamaica) and Central American Ports, to carry passengers booked by Imperial Direct West India Line of Steamers to the following Central American Ports, viz., Savanilla, Cartagena, Port Limon, and Greytown, at an inclusive first-class fare between Kingston and any of the above Ports of £6 3s. per adult. Passengers travelling on these tickets will be accommodated on special terms at the Myrtle Bank Hotel (Kingston), during the time between the arrival of the Mail Steamers and the departure of the Steamer of the Hamburg-American Line. There is also a good service from Kingston to Cuba. The Cuba steamer leaves Kingston the day after the arrival of the mail steamer from England.

Passengers can also be booked through, via the Colon and Panama Railway, to the principal ports on the Chilian Coast. The steamers of the Pacific Mail Co. and Campania Sud-Americana Co. leave Panama weekly for the South, reaching Callao in about nine days and arriving at Valparaiso in about 21 days. Seeing that for years past the climate of Jamaica has been libelled as unhealthy, it cannot be too strongly affirmed, that from a medical point of view, the wonderful air of the hilly districts is unrivalled; it being in every way equal to that of the better known European winter resorts, to which it bids fair to become a serious rival.

[Illustration: Sailboats in harbor]

[Illustration: R.M.S. ULSTER. City of Dublin Steampacket Co.]

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