CHAPTER XIII

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LANGLANDS’ LINE.

Glasgow AND Liverpool Royal STEAMPACKET Company.

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 speed and luxurious travelling not surpassed nearly three-quarters of a century later. It was, therefore, a bold thing to do on the part of the proprietors of the Glasgow and Liverpool Royal Steampacket Company to enter into competition with these famous and tried vessels, and to introduce into the trade steamers constructed not of wood but of iron. The pioneer steamer of this company, the ROYAL SOVEREIGN, sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool on Monday, 18th March, 1839. The company despatched their steamer twice a week from each port, and continued to do so until the end of August of the same year, when the second steamer, the ROYAL GEORGE, was placed on the station, and the sailings were increased to four times per week each way. The established lines were naturally indisposed to share the trade with an outsider, and to discourage the new enterprise they reduced the rates of freight on fine goods to 1d. per foot, and on steerage passengers to 1s. each. The Royal Steampacket Company maintained, in spite of this endeavour to drive them out of the trade, their advertised sailings, and grew in popularity with the travelling public. They decided in 1841 to increase their fleet by the addition of a third steamer, and it being evident that they had come to stay, their competitors, Messrs. MacIver and Messrs. Burns, entered into a friendly and honourable alliance with them, and uniform rates were adopted by the three lines to Glasgow.

[Illustration: PRINCESS MAUD. M. Langlands & Sons.]

A tradition exists in the Royal Company that when their third steamer was on the stocks the first birth in her late Majesty’s family was anticipated, and the proprietors proposed to call their new steamer the PRINCE OF WALES. The event, however, proved the name to be inappropriate, and PRINCESS ROYAL was substituted, a name which has been perpetuated by different steamships to the present day. The following paragraph respecting this steamer, which appeared in the “Glasgow Chronicle” of the 1st June, 1842, will be read with interest:—“The PRINCESS ROYAL. We feel much indebted to the agent (Mr. M. Langlands) of this splendid steamer for putting us in possession of the ‘Morning Chronicle’ of yesterday morning three hours before the arrival of the ‘London Mail’ containing the details of the attempted assassination of Her Majesty. Copies of the ‘Chronicle,’ ‘Times,’ and other London journals were, the moment the train arrived from Greenock, forwarded to the different public reading rooms in town, and altogether the public are much indebted to the proprietors and agents of the vessel at Liverpool and Glasgow for their public spirit and enterprise. The passage from Liverpool to Greenock was made in the astonishing space of 16½ hours.”

The PRINCESS ROYAL referred to was built by the eminent firm of Tod and M’Gregor, who in 1849 projected a line of steamers to run between Glasgow and New York. Accordingly they built and equipped the barque-rigged screw steamer CITY OF GLASGOW, and appointed Mr. M. Langlands agent. She was a vessel of 1,087 tons register, with engines of 350 horse-power, and was manned by about 70 of a crew. In the Art Palace at Kelvingrove, Glasgow, there is a watercolour drawing (No. 2,018, by S. Bough) representing the departure of this the first steamship for New York from Glasgow harbour, in April, 1850. After making several very successful voyages, Tod and M’Gregor sold her to Richardson Bros., of Belfast, who ran her in the Liverpool and Philadelphia trade, and this vessel and the steamship CITY OF MANCHESTER were the nucleus of what became afterwards the well-known Inman line.

[Illustration: Paddle Steampacket PRINCESS ROYAL. M. Langlands & Sons.]

In view of the high reputation the PRINCESS ROYAL had earned, it is not surprising that she was selected for experimental purposes by a Committee of the House of Commons (appointed in 1842) for the purpose of inquiring into the conveyance of the mails between England and Ireland. From the “Liverpool Mercury” of that date we learn that “The fine new iron steamboat called PRINCESS ROYAL, at present on the station between this port and Glasgow, started from Clarence Dock on Sunday morning last (19th June) for Dublin. She arrived there in 9 hours 5 minutes, beating H.M. mail steampacket MEDUSA by 1 hour 45 minutes. On Monday morning she left Dublin for Holyhead, and arrived there in 4 hours 45 minutes, returning to Dublin the same day in 4 hours 28 minutes. In the evening she started for Liverpool, which she reached in 9 hours 35 minutes. The vessel had a head wind nearly all the way.”

The PRINCESS had now established beyond dispute her claim to be one of the fastest Channel steamers leaving the port. The ensuing winter she proved herself to be also one of the best sea-boats. The terrible gale of January 20th to 22nd, 1843, was one of the most severe that ever visited these coasts. The MONA’S ISLE, from Liverpool to Douglas, was 24 hours on the passage. At Cork the posts on the quays were carried away. The PRINCESS was at sea during this storm, and fully proved her excellent qualities as a sea-boat. She left Greenock at 11-30 p.m. on Friday, and arrived at Liverpool at 5 p.m. on Saturday without the slightest damage. This celebrated steamer was replaced in 1856 by a second PRINCESS ROYAL, also a paddle steamer. After running in the Liverpool and Glasgow service for about four years, PRINCESS No. 2 was sold to the General Steam Navigation Company, of London.

The third PRINCESS ROYAL, built in 1861, was a screw steamer, the first screw owned by the Glasgow and Liverpool Royal Steampacket Company. In 1861, civil war broke out in the United States. The Federals (Northerners) established a strict blockade of all the Southern ports on the Atlantic seaboard. A cotton famine ensued, and fast steamers were in great demand for blockade running. Amongst other Liverpool steamers purchased for this purpose was the new PRINCESS. She was sold in 1862, and her new owners changed her name. We are informed that she was captured on her first trip as a Confederate blockade runner, and converted by her captors into a Federal cruiser. Her immediate successor, the fourth PRINCESS ROYAL, after running for a number of years between Liverpool and Glasgow, was sold to a firm to trade in the West Indies. For the present the Royal Steampacket Company is without a PRINCESS ROYAL, the fifth steamer of that name having been sold in 1901 to foreign buyers. The service is meantime maintained by the PRINCESS LOUISE, or other steamer of the fleet.

About the year 1870, the Royal Company opened up a new steamship service from Liverpool to the West Highlands, North of Scotland, and east coast ports. Owing, in large measure, to the natural attractions of the route, and the excellence of the accommodation and cuisine provided on the steamers, this is every year becoming a more popular and favourite trip. The first steamer employed on the West Highland and east coast route was a small cargo steamer, but in a very short time it was found necessary to place the PRINCESS ALICE, a much larger steamer, carrying passengers as well as cargo, on the route. The earlier vessels on this service were steamers of 300 to 400 tons, with limited accommodation for about 20 passengers, but now the steamers employed have accommodation for 100 to 140 saloon passengers, and an average cargo-carrying capacity of nearly 1,000 tons each. Some idea may be gained of the growth of the passenger and cargo traffic, by comparing the earlier vessels with the new PRINCESS MAUD, built in 1901. This steamer is of steel, and her dimensions are:—Length, 256 feet 6 inches; breadth, 36 feet 6 inches; depth, 17 feet 1½ inches. Gross tonnage, 1,450 tons. The vessel is handsomely fitted up for passengers, the large dining saloon being furnished in solid oak, artistically carved. One hundred first-class passengers can dine at one sitting, and there is sleeping accommodation in deck rooms and state cabins for 140 passengers. The steamer is fitted throughout with electric light, patent berths, sea-water baths, ample lavatories, and every modern convenience that can contribute to the comfort of passengers. The PRINCESS MAUD was placed on the service early in 1902, and will no doubt enhance the reputation in which this line is held by tourists. In addition to the bi-weekly service between Liverpool and Aberdeen, Leith, and Dundee, the Royal Steampacket Company run a regular service of steamers between Aberdeen, Newcastle, Hull, and other east coast ports, and Bristol, Cardiff, and Swansea, calling also at Southampton and Plymouth. During the summer months this service embraces a fortnightly trip round the United Kingdom with one of the larger passenger steamers, and this has now become a favourite cruise for summer holiday seekers, occupying as it does about twelve days.

When the Manchester Ship Canal was opened in 1894, the Royal Company began at once to despatch their steamers from Manchester to Glasgow, as well as to the west, north, and east coasts of Scotland. In addition to having the management of the various services mentioned, Messrs. Langlands have, for a great many years, been the agents of Messrs. Alex. A. Laird and Co. as regards the steamers trading between Liverpool, Larne, and Westport.

The agency of the company’s steamers at Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leith, Dundee and Hull, is in the hands of Messrs. M. Langlands and Sons, who have been closely identified with the development of the company’s business, and are largely interested in its success.

[Illustration: Decoration]

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