CHAPTER VI.

Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company—_City of Glasgow_, 1850—_City of Manchester_, 1851—Speed of _City of Paris_ and _City of Brussels_—Exertions of Mr. Inman to improve and facilitate cheap emigration to the United States—Large number of emigrants carried in the Inman steamers—_City of Chester_, 1873—_City of Berlin_, 1875—Ocean steamers to Canada, 1853—First mail contract, 1852—Allan line of steamers, 1856—Extent and capacity of its fleet—Speed of these vessels—Galway line a failure—Loss of _Connaught_, 1860—Rapid passage of _Adriatic_, 1861—Struggles between sailing-clippers and iron screw-ships—National Steam Navigation Company, 1863—Their splendid ships—Old Black Ball line—The Guion line, 1863—Mississippi and Dominion Company—White Star line, 1870—Strict regulations for safety—_Britannic_ and _Germanic_—Their great speed—Details of _Britannic_ and form of her screw—Difficulty of estimating real cost of steamers—Pennsylvania Company, 1873—Anchor line from the Clyde, 1856—Prodigious range of their trade operations—The _Victoria_—Hamburg American Steam Packet Company—North German Lloyd’s.

[Sidenote: Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company.]

The year 1850 proved somewhat remarkable in the history of steam navigation. But among the various undertakings commenced in the course of that year, the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steam-ship Company, better known as the Inman line, was perhaps the most important.

[Sidenote: _City of Glasgow_, 1850.]

Mr. William Inman, the managing owner, by whose energy their present large fleet of iron screw-steamers was created, had for some time given his attention to the application of the screw, for the purpose of propelling ocean-going steamers. Impressed with its superiority over the paddle-wheel, he entered into communication with the late David Tod, of the firm of Tod and Macgregor, iron shipbuilders and engineers in Glasgow, who had formed, in common with the owners of the _Great Britain_, the idea of starting a continuous service of voyages across the Atlantic with vessels built of iron and driven by screws, an experiment at that time considered rather hazardous, and, with that object, had in 1850 launched the _City of Glasgow_, a vessel of 1600 tons, and 350 horse-power. Subsequently, she was purchased by the Inman Company, and sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia on the 17th of December, 1850, continuing in that service for many years.

[Sidenote: _City of Manchester_, 1851.]

In 1851, the Inman Company purchased the steam-ship _City of Manchester_, of which the following is an illustration, built also by Messrs. Tod and Macgregor,[228] and with these vessels a fortnightly service between Liverpool and Philadelphia was established and continued up to the year 1857. Between 1851 and 1856 the _City of Baltimore_, the _Kangaroo_, and the _City of Washington_, all iron screw-ships, were added to this line.

[Illustration: “CITY OF MANCHESTER.”]

In the year 1857 the Inman Company enlarged the area of their operations by making New York one of their ports of arrival, and establishing a regular fortnightly line thither. In 1860 they increased the service of their steamers to once a week; in 1863 to three times a fortnight, and in 1866 they sent forth their steamers twice every week during the summer months.

[Sidenote: Speed of _City of Paris_, and _City of Brussels_.]

To some extent the failure of the Collins line proved the fortune of the Inman, for, when that unfortunate undertaking collapsed, Mr. Inman at once assumed their dates of sailing, and carried the United States’ mails between England and America for some time afterwards with great regularity. Nor were the vessels of the Inman line less swift than their predecessors. Indeed, their _City of Paris_,[22