Oregon Steam Navigation Company

“ A price of one hundred thousand dollars was named by the directors of the Navigation Company, together with certain requirements intended to protect the use as a portage for passengers and freight between the upper and lower landing. This transfer of property was not carried out; it may indeed have only been a protective measure to guard against invasion by opposing interests; certainly the Northern Pacific had more immediate needs for its construction funds ”

“ The Great Liverpool, of 1,540 tons and 464 horse power, built by Sir John Tobin, of Liverpool, and intended for the Liverpool and New York trade; and the Oriental, of 1,600 tons and 450 horse power, were the steamers offered by Messrs. Willcox and Anderson, and approved by the Admiralty, to convey mails between England and Alexandria, calling at Gibraltar, and combining the two mail services of the Peninsular and the Oriental, thus constituting the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. ”

“ The canoe of Indians, explorers and fur traders, the row-boat of pioneer settlers, were relegated in 1850 by the river steamboat. Right afterward came the railroad idea but not the railroad for yet many a waiting year.
It seems natural enough now that the steam locomotive should follow the river to the ocean; one may wonder at the long delay. But railroads, like each other pioneer improvement in Oregon, grew slowly from their beginnings in 1868-9 ; the down-Columbia line reached Goble not until 1883; and halted there fifteen years before going on to Astoria, fifty-eight miles further. ”

“ The requisite capital was quickly subscribed, and three steamships were promptly acquired; but, alas! the hoped-for peace did not arrive as soon as the promoters anticipated. Under these circumstances the Directors decided to enter into competition with the Cunard and Inman Companies for a share of the passenger and goods trade to and from the Northern States. The pioneer vessel of the new company was the Louisiana, which vessel sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in the year 1863. ”

“ Many years of experience in the management of steamships have enabled the company to design and construct a magnificent fleet of fast cargo liners, having lofty ’tween decks, and fitted with anti-rolling keels, electric light and every modern improvement. Several of these were chartered at an early stage of the war by the British Admiralty, and retained for voyage after voyage as transports. Nine steamers, of an aggregate gross tonnage of 52,000 tons, were requisitioned in this way. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Still more recently, the unprecedented rush of adventurous gold-seekers to the Klondike has induced the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to inaugurate another line of steamships to ply between Victoria and Vancouver and ports on the northern Pacific coast. Two very fine Clyde-built steamers have been placed on this route, the Tartar and the Athenian, of 4,425 and 3,882 tons, respectively. These vessels are fitted up in first-class style, with excellent accommodation for large numbers of passengers. ”

“ The new steamers, Northumberland and Princess, are scarcely surpassed for the work they have to do by any steamers in Canada, and the company are able to show a record which is probably unique—that during thirty-three years not an accident has occurred by which a person or a package of freight has been injured. ”

“ The question now arises, how can we secure speed for the mails and passengers upon the ocean? With so many expenses and so small an income the fast ocean steamer can not become profitable to even the most thoroughly organized and best administered companies. Much less can it be successfully run by individuals and individual enterprise, which has never so many reliable resources at command as a strong, chartered company. It is true that there are a few prominent transatlantic routes where steamers [Pg 101] can run as auxiliary propellers ”

“ The compound engine, by which steam is made to do double duty, is one of the most important of recent improvements in marine engineering, being the means of largely increasing the motive power and decreasing the consumption of fuel. The successful application of this system to [Pg 100] ocean steam navigation is usually attributed to Mr. John Elder, of the above-named firm, who introduced it in some of the steamers of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company as early as 1856. ”

“ The United States Government not only made an advance to the Company while the ships were being built, but also released it from its obligation to build a fifth vessel as originally contemplated, and increased the subsidy from $19,250 to $33,000 per voyage. But for these benefits increased speed was demanded. “We must have speed,” declared Mr. Bayard, during the debate in Congress, “extraordinary speed—a speed with which they (the Collins steamships) can overtake any vessel which they pursue, and escape from any vessel they wish to avoid ”

“ Gradually the business on the route showed signs of growth until we saw that if we were to deserve our position with the railway companies and meet the increasing traffic we must add to our equipment. The railway officials had also expressed their opinion that another steamer would soon be needed and stated that in adding it the Navigation Company would receive the continued support of their companies. ”