Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post Part 14

"If conforming to the standards required by these contracts, their readiness to be used at the shortest notice, their capacity as transports for troops and munitions of war, and their great celerity of motion, enabling them to overhaul merchantmen, and at the same time escape cruisers, would render them terrible as guerrillas of the ocean, if fitted with such armaments as could be readily put upon them in their present condition."

Post Master General Collamer also said on this subject, June 27, 1850:

"There are three modes which have been mentioned of transporting the mail. The first is by naval steamships, conducted by the Navy, as a national service. This will occasion so enormous an expense that it is not probable the project will be entertained.

"The next mode suggested is the sending the mails, from time to time, by the fastest steamers which are first going. This has one advantage: it gives occasional aid to the enterprising; but there are many and great objections to it:

"1st. It is entirely inconsistent with fixed periods of departure and arrival.

"2d. It makes all connections on or with the route uncertain.

"3d. A price must be fixed, to prevent undue exactions of the Government; and yet no one would be under obligation to take the mail at the price, so that it would be uncertain of going at all.

"4th. It would be impracticable to send agents with all those mails, to take care of them and make distributions, except at an enormous cost.

"5th. There would be constant difficulty with slow and unsafe boats.

"6th. The great object of obtaining steamships, so constructed, under the inspection of the Navy Department, as to be suitable for war vessels, and subject to exclusive appropriation and use as such, would be sacrificed.

"The third project is the making of contracts, for a stated term of years, _upon proposals advertised for in the ordinary method adopted for mail-coach service_. This would not answer for ocean steam service, unless provision were made for security, in the strength, capacity, and adaptation of the vessels, with their machinery, etc."

Regarding our steam service in the Gulf, and in reviewing the contract made by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Hon. Edwin Croswell, and a.s.sociates, in a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Postal Committee, presented the following important reflections:

"As early as the year 1835, the attention of the British Government was directed to the plan of changing the mode of conveying the mails by the ships of the East-India Company and the Government, and adopting the contract system with individuals and companies, with a view to combining the essential properties of a naval and commercial steam marine.

"In consequence of the Report of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament to inquire into the management of the English Post Office Department in 1836, the mail steam packet service was transferred to the Admiralty. The Report stated the conviction of the Commissioners of Inquiry that 'the advantages which a System of contract must generally secure to the public over one of the establishment, however well conducted, were such that they wish they could have felt justified in recommending that it should be universally and immediately adopted.'

"The Secretary of the Admiralty stated that, 'in acting upon this opinion, the Admiralty entered into contracts for conveying the mails by steam vessels to and from Spain and Portugal, and subsequently between Alexandria and England, with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Contracts were also entered into for the conveyance of the mails between England and North-America, and England and the West-Indies and Mexico.' That 'the execution of all these contracts, with the exception of the latter, had given general satisfaction. But for this exception, the extent and complication of the plan at its commencement afforded some apology.' That 'the spirit in which the steam contractors had generally executed their contracts merited notice, as they had in almost every instance exceeded the horse-power stipulated in their agreements, and thus insured an accuracy in the delivery of mails which experience has shown, if the letter of the contract had been adhered to by them, would not have been the case.' And that 'the contract system had been generally satisfactory to the Admiralty and the public, and had tended largely to increase the steam tonnage of this country, (England,) to encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the regulation and economical management of steam.'

"Such, certainly, were among the valuable results of the system; but these were not the only considerations that led to its adoption. The English Government, with the forecast for which that far-reaching power is distinguished, saw the advantages which an extended steam marine would give to its commerce over that of every other nation in the world. It saw also the value of connecting this great branch of the national service with the commercial and practical skill of the country. It soon formed and matured its plan, embracing within its scope nearly the entire commercial world. Steam lines, as stated in the preceding extract from the Admiralty Report, were established, radiating from England to all the prominent European ports, to the Mediterranean, to Egypt, the East-Indies and China, the West-India Islands, South-America and Mexico, the ports in the Gulf of Mexico and Havana, the United States and the English colonial possessions in North-America, and to the islands and ports in the Pacific ocean.

This vast chain of intercourse was not only completely established, but it became a matter of national policy to enlarge, strengthen, and maintain it. By it much of the commerce of the world by steam, and nearly all the letter-carrying by steam between this continent and the European ports, and even the distant parts of our own territory, were engrossed by British ships."

"Important national considerations, aside from the design to engross for British bottoms and British capital the trade and intercourse of the commercial world, and especially with the American continent and islands, entered into the Government plan.

It was ascertained to be a far less expensive mode of maintaining a naval steam force adapted to the purposes of Government, and to any emergency that might require these ships for other than mail purposes, than to build, equip, and keep in service national steamships of war. The experiment has proved its adequacy to the intended object; and it continues not only to receive the approval of the Admiralty and Government of England, but to be continually undergoing enlargement and expansion."

"The West-India mail steam line was proposed to the British Government in April, 1839, by sundry merchants of London. A charter was granted to the contractors in that year, under the t.i.tle of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. It embraced the following routes:

"1. _Outward Atlantic Route._--From Southampton to Madeira, Barbados and Grenada--steamer, every 15 days.

"2. _Trinidad Route._--From Grenada to Trinidad and Barbados--steamer, every 15 days.

"3. _Demarara Route._--From Grenada to Courland Bay, (Tobago)--steamer, every 15 days.

"4. _Northern Islands Route._--From Grenada to St. Vincent, St.

Lucia, Martinique, Dominique, Guadalupe, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt's, Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John's, (Porto Rico)--steamer, every 15 days.

"5. _Jamaica and Mexican Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, (Hayti,) Kingston, Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico--steamer, every 30 days.

"6. _Jamaica and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Grenada to Jacmel, Kingston, St. Iago de Cuba, St. Juan's, (Porto Rico,) and St.

Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.

"7. _Bermuda, Havana, and Jamaica Route._--From St. Thomas to Bermuda, Na.s.sau, Havana, Kingston, Jacmel, St. Juan's, and St.

Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.

"8. _Homeward Fayal Route._--From St. Thomas to Southampton--steamer, every 30 days.

"9. _Laguayra Route._--From Grenada to Laguayra, Porto Cabello, and St. Thomas--steamer, every 30 days.

"10. _Panama and St. Iago de Cuba Route._--From Kingston (Jamaica) to Santa Martha, Carthagena, Chagres, and St. Juan de Nicaragua--steamer, every 30 days.

"11. _Honduras Route._--From Havana to Balize, (Honduras)--sailing schooner, every 30 days."

"The contract system, combining the efficient features of an extended commercial and Government steam marine, was thus adopted after full investigation on the subject by the Board of Admiralty, the Treasury, and the different Government Departments, including the Post Master General. The merits and benefits of this system have been tested by England. That Government was the first to engage in it, and, as we have already stated, fully approve, and are constantly extending it. The Committee of Inquiry of Parliament, as we have already quoted, say truly that it 'had tended largely to increase the steam tonnage of that country, to encourage private enterprise in scientific discovery, and the regulation and economical management of steam.' After an examination of it in the most scientific and practical manner, that Government regards it as altogether more economical for the nation, and for the general public interests, than the exclusive employment of Government vessels. The ships built by the contract companies have far exceeded in speed and other essential qualities the ships constructed by Government. A far greater amount of service was obtained, at a cost much less than would be incurred by Government in building, equipping, manning, and running national vessels for even a partial performance of the same service. Individual and a.s.sociated skill, enterprise, and capital were called into requisition, and, aided by Government means, contributed to enlarge, extend, and fortify the naval and commercial power of England.

"The practical operation of this great system of steam lines was to place within the reach of English vessels, of a semi-national character, and ready to be converted into ships of war, our entire Southern coast and harbors, besides yielding to them the foreign trade, commerce, and letter-carrying, by steam, to and from all parts of our country. To meet and counteract this state of things, became the object and duty of the American Congress and Government. It was the more obvious at that time particularly, engaged as we were in a war with Mexico, and our only means of coast defense of any force being a single steamer, and she not capable of entering the Southern harbors, while English steam fleets literally filled and occupied our waters. To counteract, so far as was demanded by the requirements of our own commerce, and the defense of our coast, a monopoly so formidable, which had grown up under the direct and liberal cooperation of the English Government, and the supposed superiority of English machinery, required the aid of Congress; for it was evident that unaided American enterprise and capital could not cope with it.

Accordingly, at the close of the session of 1847, the Congress of the United States pa.s.sed an act authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to contract with sundry parties and different steam lines for the construction of ocean steamships, as part of the plan of a combined naval and commercial steam marine, in connection with the mail service."

After enumerating the various lines established by Congress, he further says:

"These (with the previously authorized line from New-York to Bremen) were the various parts of a complete and important plan adapted to the growing wants of the public service, and for providing an adequate steam marine, whenever the exigencies of the country might require it, and for facilitating intercourse and the transmission of the mails between remote parts of our own country and other nations. For the due performance of it in all its ramifications, it required a large aggregate of capital, skill, and intelligent enterprise. After a lapse of nearly three years, portions of the undertaking have gone into efficient operation; and already the fruits of it--its utility, and its advantages and benefits to the American government and people--have been demonstrated. When the various parts shall be completed, and the plan in all its features shall be in full operation, its immediate practical results, aside from its prospective effectiveness in furnishing a cla.s.s of war steamers for any ultimate purpose of the American Government, will be found fully to justify the action of Congress and the partic.i.p.ation and favor of the Government, and confirm the public confidence in its great utility and value."

"When it came to the knowledge of the English government that Congress had entered into contracts establishing steam lines to Chagres, Havana, and New-Orleans, its first movement to counteract or discourage the proposed American line in that direction was to run branches of the Royal West-India mail line from Bermuda to New-York, and from Jamaica to New-Orleans and Mobile. Now that the American line to Chagres has gone into full operation, and the news from the Pacific comes by this line to New-York, and thence to Liverpool, some fifteen days sooner than the same news brought by the British line,[J] the English government has revised, enlarged, and extended its West-India line. It has entered into a new contract with the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, a material feature of which is to run a mail line direct from Southampton to St. Thomas, and thence to Chagres and back, twice a month, with steamers of larger capacity and power, and with a proposed speed of from twelve to fourteen miles per hour. For this line, five or six new steamships are, under the contract, to be built, while the old vessels are to form branches from this main line or trunk to other of the routes of this great and extended plan of steam intercourse and letter-carrying; at the same time that government will withdraw its branches to the Balize, Mobile, and New-York, extend its line to Rio de Janeiro, and enlarge its line in the Pacific, from Panama to Valparaiso, converting it from a monthly to a semi-monthly route. These movements show not only the immediate results of American enterprise in ocean steamships, and the important consequences, aside from any purposes of coast and harbor defense, to which it has already led, but the strong public reasons on the part of our Government to foster, continue, and encourage it. It has already counteracted the best efforts of the large and long-established English steam lines, and transferred the commerce and letter-carrying so long exclusively enjoyed by them to American ships. If promoted and favored by the Congress of the United States, it will still meet and counteract the new efforts of the English Government to recover the ground which American skill, enterprise, and capital, aided by the Government, have won from them.

[J] "By the contract of 1846 with the West-India Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, the voyage from Chagres to Southampton is performed in 33 days. By the United States Mail Steamship Company the voyage from Chagres to New-York, and thence to Liverpool, is performed in 22 days.

"In relation to the comparative cost to the two governments by which these lines of ocean steamers, in connection with the naval and mail service, are maintained, it will be seen that the British Government pays as much for its single West-India and Chagres line as the American Government pays for all its lines--Liverpool and New-York, New-York and Bremen, New-York and Havre, New-York, Havana, New-Orleans, and Chagres, and Panama and San Francisco.

The entire annual payments by the British Government amount [This was in 1850.--T.R.] to $3,180,000. Those by the American Government, when all its lines shall be in full service, will be $1,215,000. The British-West India Mail Steam-Packet Company are paid $3.08 per mile for mail service: the United States Mail Steamship Company, $1.88 per mile."

The Committee presented some few queries to Commodore M.C. Perry on the capabilities of the postal steamers for war purposes, to which he replies thus:

"I now proceed to reply to the first division of the inquiry, as follows:

"Question first: 'Whether the steamships employed in the transportation of the United States mail, under contract with the Navy Department, or any other steamships employed in the transportation of our foreign mails, are, in all respects, suitable for immediate conversion into steamers for war purposes, capable of carrying the armament or battery appropriate to the cla.s.s specified in the contract?'

"In answer to the foregoing (first) question, I am of opinion that they are _not_ 'in all respects suitable.'

"Question second: 'And if not suitable for such immediate conversion, whether they could be altered so as to make them efficient war steamers?'

"Answer: The following named Atlantic steamers maybe converted, by slight alteration, into war steamers of the first cla.s.s:

"_Of Collins's line._ The Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic.

"_Of Law's line._ The Ohio, Georgia, and Illinois.

"_Of Mortimer Livingston's line._ The Humboldt and Franklin.

"_Pacific steamers--of Aspinwall's line._ First cla.s.s, the Golden Gate. Second cla.s.s, the Panama, Oregon, California, and Columbia.