CHAPTER IX

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THE CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY, LIMITED.

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 brigs,” slow and uncertain in their passages. But there were men, even in those days, who dreamed of a time to come when steamers should cross the ocean with the regularity, though not with the speed, of railway trains. Amongst these enthusiasts was Mr. Samuel Cunard, a shipowner of Halifax, Nova Scotia. For years he had striven to realise his idea, but not having sufficient capital of his own, and not being able to induce his friends to invest in his enterprise, he had to wait his opportunity. At last the long-waited-for opportunity came, and he seized it. The British Admiralty issued a circular stating that the mails would be transferred to a steam packet service, if a satisfactory tender were sent in. When this circular came into the hands of Mr. Cunard he again appealed to the merchants of Halifax and others for assistance; and being unsuccessful in his application he came to Britain and fortunately became acquainted with Mr. R. Napier. Mr. Napier introduced him to Mr. George Burns who, in his turn, introduced him to Mr. David MacIver, of Liverpool. In the course of a few days, chiefly through the influence of Mr. Burns, the requisite capital, £270,000, was obtained, and soon afterwards a contract for seven years between the Government and Samuel Cunard, George Burns and David MacIver was signed, and the Cunard Steamship Co. was launched. Before their arrangements were finally adjusted, the Admiralty re-modelled the agreement, requiring that the service should be performed by four suitable steamers (instead of three, as originally stated), and that fixed dates of sailing should be adhered to, but in consideration of the increased services the subsidy was raised from £60,000 to £81,000.

[Illustration: R.M.S. CAMPANIA (Cunard Steamship Company) at Liverpool Landing Stage.]

The official title of the Company was “The British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.,” but this unwieldy title soon gave place to one of world-wide reputation, “The Cunard Line.”

The first steamer despatched by the co-partnery was one of Messrs. Burns’ Liverpool and Glasgow steamers, the UNICORN. She sailed from Liverpool for Halifax and Boston, under the command of Captain Douglas, on Saturday morning, 16th May, 1840. She carried the mails and a limited number of saloon passengers, the passage rates being—to Halifax £30, to Boston £33 each. The BRITANNIA, the pioneer steamer of the British and North American Steam Packet Co., was despatched on the 4th July, 1840, being the first of four wooden paddle-wheel steamships, the others being the ACADIA, CALEDONIA and COLUMBIA. These vessels were uniform in size and power, being 207 feet long, 34 feet 4 inches broad, and 22 feet 6 inches deep. Their gross tonnage was 1,154 tons, and their engines of 740 I.H.P. drove them at an average speed of 8½ knots per hour. The reception given to the BRITANNIA on the termination of her maiden voyage by the citizens of Boston was most enthusiastic. Nor was the goodwill of the merchants confined to banquets and complimentary speeches for, when the BRITANNIA was ice-bound in Boston Harbour, in February, 1844, they liberated her by cutting a canal through the ice, seven miles long and 100 feet wide.

[Illustration: EUROPA and AMERICA. Cunard Steamship Co.]

In 1843 the Company added to their fleet the HIBERNIA, and in 1845 the CAMBRIA, each of 1,040 I.H.P. and of 1,422 tons gross, with an average speed of 9¼ knots. On the expiration of the Postal Contract the Government stipulated that the existing mail service should be doubled, that the steamers of the Company should be capable of carrying guns of the largest calibre, and that a steamer should leave Liverpool every Saturday (calling at Holyhead if required) for New York and Boston alternately; the Boston steamer to call at Halifax, and the New York steamer to do so also, if required by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. In consideration of these augmented services the annual subsidy was increased to £173,340, at which figure it remained for twenty years (1847 to 1867). To meet the new requirements, the AMERICA, NIAGARA, CANADA and EUROPA, of 1,825 tons, and 2,000 I.H.P., with an average speed of ten and a quarter knots, were built and added to the fleet. A few years later the Collins Line, heavily subsidised, was started with the avowed object of “sweeping the Cunarders off the Atlantic.” This opposition lasted until 1858, when, having lost two ships, and being refused any further subsidy by the United States Government, the Collins Company collapsed, and the remaining ships were withdrawn. During the continuance of this opposition the Cunard Company added steadily to their fleet larger and more powerful steamers. The ASIA and AFRICA were built in 1850, and were each 266 feet by 40 feet by 27·2 feet, of 2,226 tons gross, with engines of 2,400 I.H.P., and of an average speed of 12·5 knots. These were followed in 1852 by the ARABIA, the last of the wooden paddle steamers. She was 285 feet long, 40 feet 8 inches broad, and 29 feet deep. Her engines indicated 3,250 H.P., and her average speed was 13 knots per hour. Three years later, 1855, the first iron mail steamship was built for the Cunard Company. She was named the PERSIA, and was nearly one hundred feet longer than the largest of her predecessors. Her principal dimensions were—Length 376 feet, breadth 45 feet 3 inches, depth 31 feet 6 inches. Her gross tonnage was 4,000 tons, and her engines indicated 4,000 H.P., giving a speed of 13·8 knots per hour. In 1853 the Company established (primarily as auxiliaries to their Atlantic service) branch lines between Liverpool and Havre, and Liverpool and the principal ports in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Levant, Bosphorus, and Black Sea. For these branch lines the screw steamers SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN, ANDES and ALPS were built in 1852, followed by the JURA in 1854 and the ETNA in 1855. War having been declared against Russia the four last-named steamers, in addition to the CAMBRIA, NIAGARA, EUROPA and ARABIA, were engaged by the Government as troopships. The Cunard Company had in 1854 purchased the steamer EMEU, and she was immediately chartered to the Government. The EMEU was the first troopship to arrive out at the commencement of the Crimean War, and in the seventeen months following she conveyed upwards of 17,000 troops to the Crimea. A few years later (1862) the famous SCOTIA (the last of the paddle-wheel steamers) was built. In 1878 she was sold to the Telegraph Construction Company, who converted her into a screw steamer. The same year (1862) the Cunard Company ordered their first screw steamer for the Atlantic trade. This was the CHINA S.S., now converted into a four-masted barque and named the THEODOR. She was followed in 1864 by the CUBA, in 1865 by the JAVA, and in 1867 by the RUSSIA, of 2,960 tons gross and 3,100 I.H.P. After sailing for many years under the Cunard Flag, the RUSSIA was sold to the “American Line.” Her new owners lengthened her, gave her a fourth mast, and altered her name to the WAESLAND. She finally sank off Holyhead, after colliding with the S.S. HARMONIDES, on the 5th March, 1902.

[Illustration: SCOTIA. Cunard Steamship Co.]

The Company’s Postal Contract having expired on the 31st December, 1867, a new contract was entered into with the Postmaster-General for one year, whereby the Cunard Company undertook to despatch a steamer from Liverpool to New York, calling at Queenstown, returning from New York every Wednesday, also calling at Queenstown. The payment for this service was £80,000, which sum was further reduced the following year to £70,000 per annum for several years. Under the last contract, which was for the period named, the Company guaranteed to sail a steamer from Liverpool (calling at Queenstown) to Boston every Tuesday, in addition to the mail service from Liverpool to New York every Saturday. The last-mentioned contract expired on the 31st December, 1876, on which date a new system of postal remuneration came into operation based on the amount of correspondence carried per voyage, under which system the Cunard Company has carried the mails to the present time. It will thus be seen that the continuity of their mail service has continued unbroken for upwards of sixty years. The invention of compound engines was the latest evolution of marine engineering engaging attention in 1869-70. The Directors of the Cunard Company quickly realised that the saving effected by the use of compound engines was so considerable, without reduction of speed, that their adoption was an imperative necessity. This decision was arrived at too late to furnish with the new style of engines the ABYSSINIA and ALGERIA, each of about 3,300 tons and 2,480 I.H.P., just completed by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, and placed on the New York station; but the BATAVIA, then on the stocks to the order of another company, was purchased and supplied with machinery on the new principle; and an order was given to the same builders (Messrs. Denny, Dumbarton) for a similar vessel of rather larger tonnage to be named the PARTHIA. A further extension of the Company’s business took place in 1872, by the establishment of a direct line of steamers between the Clyde and the West Indies. The TRINIDAD and the DEMERARA, two sister ships of about 2,000 tons each, were built that year, and placed on the station, but after about twelve months’ trading they were withdrawn, and sent to supplement the Company’s service in the Mediterranean. During the succeeding six years the fleet was increased by the addition of seven large steamers, all fitted with compound engines, the last and largest of which was the GALLIA, of 4,809 tons and 5,300 I.H.P.

[Illustration: RUSSIA. Cunard Steamship Co.]

In 1878 it was considered expedient to consolidate the interests of the partners by registering the Company under the Limited Liability Acts, and a Joint Stock Company was formed with a capital of £2,000,000, of which £1,200,000 was issued and taken up by the families of Cunard, Burns and MacIver. No shares were offered to the public until 1880, when a prospectus was issued intimating that “it was now proposed to issue the balance of the capital.” The available shares were rapidly subscribed for, the representatives of the three founders retaining a large financial interest in the Company. About this period steel was engaging the attention of shipbuilders as a substitute for iron. The Cunard Directors were so convinced of the superiority of the former, especially where speed was a desideratum, that they ordered a steel steamship from Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, to be larger and more powerful than any steamer previously built, the GREAT EASTERN alone excepted. This monster vessel, which was named the SERVIA, was completed in 1881. Her dimensions were—Length 515 feet, breadth 52-1/10 feet, depth 37 feet. Her gross tonnage was 7,392. Her engines were compound—with seven steel boilers—and developed 10,000 I.H.P., producing a speed of 17 knots per hour. She was fitted in the most substantial and beautiful manner for the accommodation of 480 cabin and 750 steerage passengers, and embodied all the most modern appliances conducive to comfort and safety. She was the first of the Cunard Fleet to be equipped with incandescent electric lamps. The same year, the CATALONIA, 4,841 tons and 3,200 I.H.P., was built for the Boston service, and two more for the same service in the following year. These were the PAVONIA, of 5,587 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., built by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson; and the CEPHALONIA, 5,517 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., by Messrs. Laird Brothers, Birkenhead.

A second steel steamship was built in 1883 for the New York Mail Service. This was the AURANIA, built by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, and her dimensions are 470 feet by 57-2/10 feet by 37-2/10 feet. Her tonnage is 7,269, and she is fitted with compound engines of 9,500 I.H.P., and attaining a speed of 17½ knots per hour. She was taken up by the Government as a transport in October, 1899, and so valuable did she prove for this service that she was retained until the early part of 1903. In 1884 the Directors purchased the celebrated iron steamship OREGON, built by Messrs. John Elder & Co. She was 501 feet by 54-2/10 feet by 38 feet, and of 7,375 tons and 13,500 I.H.P.; speed 18 knots per hour. On her first and second voyage she did not distinguish herself, but on her third voyage she made the passage from Queenstown to New York in 6 days 10 hours 9 minutes, thereby excelling all previous records, and earning for herself the title of “The Greyhound of the Atlantic.” Towards the close of 1884 the UMBRIA—the first of two steel steamships ordered from Messrs. Elder—was delivered, and she was followed early in 1885 by her sister ship the ETRURIA. The following description of the ETRURIA applies also to the UMBRIA: Length 501-6/10 feet by 57-2/10 feet by 38-2/10 feet; gross tonnage 7,718 tons. The promenade deck, which extends over the full breadth of the ship for nearly 300 feet amidships, is reserved for the sole use of the first-class passengers. The vessel easily accommodates 550 first-class passengers and 800 third-class. The state rooms are replete with all the fittings usual in first-class vessels of the most modern type, and a number of them are arranged en suite for family use. The hull is divided into ten watertight compartments, and most of the bulkheads are carried to the upper deck, while they are fitted with waterproof and fireproof doors, which afford access to all parts of the ship. The engines indicate 14,500 H.P., and are compound, having three inverted cylinders—one high-pressure 71 in. in diameter and two low-pressure, each 105 in. in diameter. The average speed of both steamers may be set down at 18½ knots per hour. The fastest passage of the ETRURIA was when she established a new record by making the passage from Queenstown to New York in 5 days 20 hours 55 minutes, the UMBRIA’s best record being 5 days 22 hours 7 minutes. The next important addition to the fleet was the CAMPANIA, launched from the yard of the Fairfield Shipbuilding Co., Govan, on the 8th September, 1892. Five months later—February, 1893—there was launched from the same yard her sister ship the LUCANIA. From the official description of the CAMPANIA, it appears that her length over all is 620 feet, extreme breadth 65 feet 3 inches, depth from upper deck 43 feet, gross tonnage 12,950 tons. The bulkheads are sixteen in number, and they will enable the vessel to float with any two, or in some cases three, of the compartments open to the sea. Although fitted with twin screws, there is an aperture in the stern frame similar to that in a single screw steamer. This is provided that the propellers may work freely, though they are fitted close to the centre line of the ship, in order to prevent damage to or from the quay walls. In the accommodation for passengers all the latest improvements are to be found, and everything calculated to render ocean travelling more comfortable and enjoyable is introduced. The grand saloon, drawing room, library and smoking rooms are noble in their proportions, and suggest the stately chambers of a palace rather than accommodation within the steel walls of a ship. It is worthy of special notice that comfort has been studied in every detail, and perhaps nothing exemplifies this more than the fact that in all the principal rooms there are coal fire-grates, the first that have ever been used on board ship. There are four sets of generating plant, capable of supplying throughout the ship 1,350 16-candle power incandescent electric light, and in addition a powerful searchlight, for facilitating the navigation into port, &c. Wire to the length of 40 miles runs through the ship. The grand saloon is a magnificent hall in the modified Italian style, 100 feet long by 63 feet broad, with seats at table for 430 passengers. In the centre, a great crystal dome rises through the two decks above to a height of 33 feet.

[Illustration: R.M.S. ETRURIA. Cunard Steamship Company.]

Three classes of passengers are carried by the CAMPANIA, viz., first, second and third class; and roughly speaking there is accommodation for about 1,400 passengers and 400 crew. While the hulls of both vessels are almost unrivalled in size and in the accommodation they afford, the machinery by which they are propelled is almost unique in magnitude and skill in construction. The two sets of triple-expansion engines in each ship develop the enormous amount of 30,000 I.H.P. The funnels of the CAMPANIA and LUCANIA from their lowest section are 120 feet high, or about the height of the Eddystone Lighthouse, and their diameter 20 feet.

The CAMPANIA has maintained an average speed for twelve months, on her eastward runs, of 21·88 knots per hour, while the LUCANIA for the same period shows an average speed of 22·01 knots. The Mediterranean service has within the last few years been greatly improved by the addition of four new steel steamships, each of about 3,000 tons burthen. These are the PAVIA (1897), TYRIA (1897), CYPRIA (1898) and VERIA (1899). The Boston service also comprises the following modern steel twin-screw steamships:—IVERNIA and SAXONIA, built in 1900, the ULTONIA in 1898, and the SYLVANIA in 1895. The IVERNIA and SAXONIA are practically alike, and call for some special notice. They are the largest ships carrying passengers and cargo to Boston. The principal dimensions of the ships are—Length 600 feet, beam 64 feet 3 inches and depth 41 feet 6 inches. The gross tonnage is 14,027 tons, measurement capacity 20,000 tons, while the displacement is no less than 25,000 tons. In their ordinary work across the Atlantic they carry 200 first, 220 second, and about 1,900 third-class passengers. If engaged in trooping, each ship could carry 200 officers and 3,500 men, together with 10,000 tons of stores. The features of the ships, next to their huge size, are the spaciousness and comfort of their passenger accommodation and their steadiness, which is most remarkable, and which makes sea sickness almost impossible. Aerial telegraphy is in regular operation on board these two vessels. The Cunard was the first steamship company to systematically adopt this latest development of electrical science. It was in the LUCANIA that Mr. Marconi’s system was first set up, and so pleased were the Directors with the results that they at once decided to adopt the invention in their other steamers, the CAMPANIA, LUCANIA, ETRURIA, UMBRIA, CARPATHIA, AURANIA, IVERNIA and SAXONIA all being now thus equipped.

[Illustration: R.M.S. LUCANIA. Cunard Steamship Co.]

In October, 1903, the LUCANIA was the medium selected by the inventor for further experiments in wireless telegraphy, and on the voyage from New York to Liverpool completed on October 10th, Signor Marconi successfully accomplished a wonderful feat, and a newspaper with real news fresh from the Marconi stations at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and Poldhu, Cornwall, was published every day. Messages were transmitted over a distance of 2,000 miles as accurately as over the same number of feet or yards, so that passengers on board the LUCANIA had their printed newspaper, the “Cunard Bulletin,” every day of the voyage, containing the most interesting events on both continents. Just before arrival in Liverpool a larger edition of the “Cunard Bulletin,” a weekly issue, was printed giving an epitome of the news recorded in the six daily publications during the voyage, and marking a fresh era in oceanic journalism.

The CARPATHIA, the latest addition to the Cunard fleet, represents a new departure in Atlantic trade, being designed exclusively for second and third-class passengers, all of whom are accommodated in rooms containing two and four berths. The dimensions of the CARPATHIA are—Length 560 feet, breadth 64 feet 3 inches, depth 40 feet 6 inches, and the gross tonnage is 13,555 tons. She started on her maiden voyage May 5th, 1903, and being built on similar lines to the IVERNIA and SAXONIA shares their reputation for remarkable steadiness at sea even in the stormiest weather.

A recent item of interest in connection with this famous company is the agreement made in August, 1903, with the British Government, by which the Cunard Company are to build two new steamers of an average speed of not less than 24½ knots, which, along with all other Cunard ships, are to be at the disposal of the Admiralty for hire or purchase whenever they may be required. To help them in this undertaking, such fast ships being unprofitable for commercial purposes, the Government lend the Company £2,600,000 to build the ships, and grant them a subsidy of £150,000 a year.

In October, 1903, the Cunard Company started a new Winter Passenger Service from New York to the Mediterranean ports, calling at Gibraltar, Algiers, Naples, Palermo, Venice, Trieste and Fiume. The AURANIA and CARPATHIA, carrying only two classes of passengers, were chosen for this new service, which opens up a round of most interesting travel to the great travelling public of moderate means. Passengers by these steamers may land at any of the ports named and visit at leisure places of interest in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Sicily, Austria or Hungary, continuing their journey overland to England to return to New York by Cunard steamer from Liverpool; or, if they prefer to do so, they may remain in the ship all the time and return in her to New York; or, as a third course, they may make a stay in any of the countries named and rejoin a subsequent Cunard Mediterranean ship at any of her calling ports.

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