The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1902. | MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. 1 ATLANTIC COASTWISE STEAMERS REVIEWED BY DECADES. BY RAY MORRIS. New York in 1852, however, ten years later, show, besides the steam transatlan- tic mail routes, a well-organized coast- John S. [icKim. Clyde's, 1844. . Adetailed history of the American coastwise shipping during -the fifty years or so of its existence, would require a large volume. Furthermore, it may perhaps be said that its value would .not compensate its length, since it would be concerned with an infinite number of complications, the effect of which would be to confuse the reader, and obscure the actual lines of progress and change. The purpose of this article is to show graphically the tendencies 'of traffic and of design in the history of American. coastwise steamers on the Atlantic. Every tenth year has been singled out to illustrate, briefly and in a general way, the tendencies of the decade, and the month of March has been arbitrarily chosen as the unit, within the year, for purposes of consideration. Since. ordinarily, the life of a ship considerably exceeds any one ten year period, the changes which occur in a given decade indicate the increasing and changing needs of the traffic, rather than merely the replacement of worn out hulls with new ones. It is difficult, in many cases, to draw the line between deep- water and inland boats. Ferguson & Wood's little New Bedford boats, which ran in 1872, would, for example, be excluded from present-day lists as not conforming to the deep-water type, and the fine side-wheel steamers of the Boston & Bangor line, which not only have an outside run, but can stand rough treatment, are excluded for this reason. Standards of construction have changed so greatly, however, that it was considered necessary to include the New Bedford boats in the tables for 1872. In order to get the subject within the space limitations, it has also been necessary to exclude what are known as the "'off-shore" boats, to Havana, Panama, etc., except for occasional mention for purposes of reference. 1842. In March, 1842, there were no steamers making regular out- side runs on the Atlantic coast. During the month, the R. M. S. Clyde arrived at New York from Halifax, and proceeded to Charleston, Nassau, Savannah and Havana, but this was an isolated trip, and the Clyde was the only deep-water steamer which entered New York harbor during that period, although the Cunard line, between Liverpool and Boston, was advertising its inaugural runs. 'The lists of vessels arriving and clearing at March, 1852. Steamers Cleared from New York. Type. \ NEW YORK AND BOSTON: Mailler & Lord's Line .... .- - Ontario+ . NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA: (Outside). Independent Line, 2... ss : 5 Kennebec :- Wood, p. w. NEW YORK AND NORFOLK: : (*) New York & Virginia 8. S. Co... Rasnoke Weed 6. w. ' . 4 City of Norfolk . * manier & tore (City of RichmondWood, sew N c ARLESTON: * NEW YORK AND CH Giion Mica ow. Spofford-Tiletson's Line .... . Marion . - Wood, p. w. Southerner - Wood, p. w. Wardle's Line; < os. «. «6: Nauth Carolina ~ Wood, p. w: NEW YORK AND SAVANNAH: : Mitchells Tine .°0 0-3... { Alabama - + Wood, p. w. Florida . .. . Wood, p. w. NEW YORK & NEW ORLEANS: U. S. Mail S. S. Co. to New Or- oe City. « Wood, D. Ww. 1 . win Havens <).6.0 oo: ess ood, p. w. wee tine <stjous: Philadelphia . . Wood, p. w. +Did not clear during March. *No records. ( } Gross Tons. 480 616 1,071 572 444 1,200 900 960 1,304 1,051 816 1,751 2,727 1,238 City, El Dorado and Georgia, for March clearances. wise service, with eight lines in regular operation, as is indicated in the table. The illustration of the John S$. McKim will serve as a general type for the forties. 1852. During March, 1852, the second period chosen, the great rush to California follow- ing the discoveries of gold was at its height. Exclusive of sailing vessels, there were ten lines of steamers which ran down the 'coast and continued to the Isthmus, making con- nections across either at Chagres or at San Juan de Nicaragua. Similar lines on the Pacific side conveyed the passengers and freight to San Francisco. In some cases. however, the ships rounded the Cape and succeeded, in spite of the great length of the journey, in filling their cabins at each departure. Commodore Vanderbilt under- took the last of his sea ventures at this time. Exclusive of his interest in the Pacific Mail line, there were two lines of steamers which bore his name, one of which ran a single ship to Chagres, and the other, of which D B. Allen. was agent, cleared during the month three ships for San Juan de Nicaragua. Fifteen steamers cleared during this month with San Francisco traffic, the most favored Isthmus port on the Atlantic side being Chagres. .The famous Pacific Mail line, which is in operation at the present day, first. appeared in this decade---Roberts, agent--with the steamers Crescent City, Empire As a tule, these ships touched at Havana, New Orleans, or both, and hence linked themselves to the:coastwise service proper. It is rather curious to note that they were advertised under two heads; 'as "United States: Mail S. S. Co." boats for New Orelans, and as "Pacific Mail" boats for Chagres, one and the same ship perform- ing both of these functions. 'They were representatives of the highest type of coastwise design of their day, and -cleared with their cabins crowded with passengers, who paid $315 for trans- port to San Francisco, the prevailing rate via clipper ship varying from $200 to $250. 'They were all paddle steamers, and the Georgia, which was the largest, was of 2,727 tons, built in 1849 by Smith & Durion, New York. The Philadelphia was of 1,238 tons ahd the Empire City of 1,781 tons. There were two: lines which cleared ships for Charleston in March, 1852. Spofford & Tiletson first appear in this decade, operating the steamers Union, Marion, James Adger and South- erner; The Adger was a propeller;. the others were side-wheel, 'and the Union, 1,200 tons, built in 1850 by Wm. H. Webb, New York, was the largest. The Adger was also built by Webb in 52, and was of 1,151 tons burthen. She did not clear during March, however. Wardle's South Carolina line also cleared the steamer South Carolina for Charleston once during the period chosen. The South Carolina was a paddle boat of 1,304 tons, built in New York the year previous by Jabez Williams. ©The Marion of Spofford & Tiletson's line measured goo tons, and the Southerner 960 tons. oe There were also two steam lines to Norfolk. Mailler & Lord, who operated other lines from New York to Boston and Phila- delphia cleared two small propellers, the City of Norfolk and the City of Richmond, of 572 and 444 tons, respectively. The New York & Virginia Steamship Co., also operated . the first steamer Roanoke, 1,071 tons, illustrated as typical of the period. The Roanoke was built at Wester- velt's yard, New York, in 1851, and frequently made the run from Norfolk in twenty-three hours; but little slower than its successors on the Old ' Dominion line in the eighties. There were three steam lines to Philadelphia at this period; Thomp- son's Mailler & Lord's and Sand- ford's Independent line. The latter cleared the Delaware and the Ken- nebec, 616 and 480 tons, respectively, and was the most important; the others operating single ships, which ran irregularly. Mailler & Lord's Boston line, with the steamer On- tario, concludes the list of coasters of 1852 which made New York a port. Tonnage and other particulars of the Ontario are not, unfortunate- ly, available at this time. The table to the left of this column deals fully with the matters referred to in pre- ceding paragraphs. cleared during from New York. March. No. of departures Total gross tons 2,328 5,355 2,032 8,280 1,304 4,550 5,716 ws --o_ ~~ ----)