Mail boat

“ Further, in the event of any accident happening to any steam-boat on the great line from Barbadoes to Jamaica, &c., a sailing vessel could always carry the outward mails westward, when breezes hold, with almost the same rapidity as steamers ”

“ This coast is so shallow that the steamers have to lie a long way out, and the process of {146} disembarkation includes transfer from the mail-boat to a steam-launch, thence to a rowing-boat, which runs aground alongside some bullock-drawn waggons. ”

“ I think that those seven weeks represented the difference between the mail boat which brought the letter, and the sailing vessel which brought the writer."
"It is possible."
"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which it would take the senders to travel the distance. ”

“ One powerful steam-boat would be in time for the same packet; thus:—to Chagres, 550 miles, two and a half days; to Carthagena, 290 miles, one and a half day; stop there one day; to Santa Martha, ninety miles, one day; to Jamaica, 420 miles, three days; in all, nine days.
The mails for Honduras and Trinidad de Cuba by the outward packet having been brought up to Montego Bay, Jamaica, as has been already stated, a good schooner should proceed thence to Trinidad de Cuba, 172 miles, one and a half days; thence to Honduras, 520 miles, three and a half days; stop three or more days ”

“ Whatever supplies must come from outside arrive by yacht, or by infrequent supply ship from Ecuador. On this ship they send out their only cash crop, and it is a skimpy one: fish which they have caught and salted down. The boat also brings their mail—when the captain thinks of it. On his most recent trip, just before we arrived, he had forgotten to pick up the sacks of mail waiting on the dock at Guayaquil, and seemed to think it a great joke. ”

“ To passengers on a mail steamer the time so spent is generally concerned with changing into shore clothes, and making up parties for dinner on land to avoid the exigencies of coaling. To those in charge of a small boat its aspect is very different. Much of it is not a time of leisure, but to be an acting member of a British ship in a foreign port is distinctly exhilarating. ”

“ Three steamers would perform this work in the time specified, giving two mails each month. Each boat would be actively employed, or at sea, 39 days each voyage = 78 monthly = 936 yearly; coals, at 25 tons daily = 23,400 tons yearly—which, at 25s. per ton, will amount to 29,250l. Other charges, 18,600l.
The mails on this station might also be carried by sailing packets, and at much less expense, but the time occupied would be considerably lengthened. Such sailing packets from Fayal to Rio de Janeiro would, both in going and returning, pursue the same course that the present packets do. ”

“ You may be surprised to know that our two boats running the U.S. Mail just pay their way and no more—even with the Govern [Pg 276] ment subsidy. Our company runs smaller boats, ten thousand horse-power, down through the Mediterranean, to Australia, and in various places all over the world. They pay, but the big ones don't make money yet. They will in time.
"And now let us yarn about the old days."
So we yarned about Felixstowe, and the six-ton boats, and the pilots, until he had to go to the control cockpit to relieve the First Mate. ”

“ The arrival of a mail steamer at night is the occasion for this nocturnal activity on the part of boatmen ever on the look-out to pick up a good fare, and as the mail steamers lie far out from the landing stage, passengers have no choice but to avail themselves of these harbour pirates, whose craft flock round the gangways as soon as the ship comes to anchor. Fire balloons float in the air, and rockets hiss and leave their trail of sparks behind them, as they rush on their upward flight. ”

“ Steam-boats carrying mails and passengers should be the mail-coaches of the ocean, limited as mail-coaches on land are to cargoes, and as near as possible to the tonnage pointed out in the following pages. The steamers to be employed in the service contemplated should also be built broad in the beam, of a light draught of water, and in speed, accommodation, and (p. xi) security, must be such that no others of equal powers can surpass them. ”

“ Whatever may be said of the wind as a cheap agent of locomotion, this much may be safely predicated of steam vessels for the mails; that their time of departure and arrival has an absolute fixity which is attainable by no other means, and which is highly conducive to the best interests of all those for whom commerce is conducted. No reasoning is necessary to show to the man of business, or even to the pleasure-seeker, the importance of approximate certainty as to the time when the mail leaves and when he can receive an answer to his dispatches. ”

“ The mast and rigging stand out in clear black outline against lingering daylight as we swing south four points. The look-out aloft turns from his post and scans the wake curving to our sheer; anon, he wonders at the coming of a mate to share his watch. Passengers, on a stroll, note unusual movement about the boat-deck, where the hands are swinging out lifeboats and clearing the gear. As the carpenter and his mates go the rounds, screwing blinds to the ports and darkening ship, other passengers hurry up from below and join the groups on deck; an excitement is quickly evident. ”

“ Should the propeller, like the side-wheel, run fast enough on the average trips of the year to carry the mails, which would certainly be at the expense and abandonment of any considerable freighting business, then the Government might with propriety pay for the mails, as these steamers would not injure the freighting business of sailing vessels. The outcry by sail owners against steamers as competitors can not be against the mail packets ”

“ The ordinary civilian can scarcely appreciate what it means to a warship to get mail. Officers and men talk [132] about it for days. The departure of the fleet from Rio was set for December 21, but it was seen that it meant that the mail from New York would probably be missed by one day. The fleet was all agog as to whether Admiral Evans would remain over one day or would leave a collier to bring the mail on. When it was learned that the official receptions and good-bys would require another day in port there was rejoicing. ”

“ For if there's any one thing a sailor man looks forward to it's the mail that awaits him in a foreign port. I must own that with all the virtues the sea possesses the landlubber has the best of us on mail service. Rural free delivery is one blessing we can't boast. No blue-coated postmen come sauntering down our watery streets to drop letters and papers into our boxes. ”

“ Both the West India and American Mails were ready yesterday by about noon, but what with the passengers in different and distant inns, the Packets in different places, the cartage of the mails, the purchasing of their anchors in very deep water—pilotage not one man-of-war ever goes to sea without, so dangerous is the passage—that I see very clearly we shall not gain anything in getting to sea, though the mail arrives here in the morning.... ”

“ I know no more spirited and daring men than the masters of most of these small mail steam-packets, unless it be the Deal boatmen. They are cool and unruffled, while the smart little craft under their charge forces its way through the waves at the rate of twelve or thirteen miles an hour in the face of a gale which a landsman would describe as a “violent storm.”
On the next page is an excellent illustration of one of these vessels on her passage from Folkestone to Boulogne. ”

“ On the way we put in to White Dogs, in expectation of finding the "Vigilant" with our mail. The mails latterly have been very erratic in their arrivals, due to a change in the postal system at home. Henceforth there is to be no penny mail—a fact which, seemingly, our friends have not yet grasped; hence it is no uncommon thing to go weeks without letters, and then suddenly to find oneself inundated with—say six or eight billets doux.
The "Vigilant" was only a few hours behind us; and after giving us our mail she left for Foo-chow, with the admiral and captain on board. ”

“ The success of the victorious paper shells of the Cornell College navy, which were enlisted in the struggles of two seasons at Saratoga, against no mean antagonists, — the college crews of the United States, — surely proves that in strength, stiffness, speed, and fineness of model, the paper boat is without a rival.
When used in its own peculiar sphere, the improved paper boat will be found to possess the following merits: less weight, greater strength, stiffness, durability, and speed than a wooden boat of the same size and model ”

“ Not a steamer had crossed the Atlantic by steam alone when the queen came to the throne, and her accession was in the year previous to that during which Wheatstone in this country, and Morse in America, introduced electric telegraphy. We, who enjoy express trains, six-penny telegrams, half-penny post-cards, and the parcel post, can scarcely realize that we are so near the time when mail-coaches and sailing-packets were almost the only means of conveyance, and when postage was a serious burden. ”

“ Seeing that ocean speed is attainable at so high a cost, we naturally conclude [Pg 85] that fast mail steamers can not live on their own receipts upon the ocean.
Since Great Britain established her first ocean steam mail in 1833, she has gone on rapidly increasing the same facilities, until her noble lines of communication now extend to every land and compass every sea. The last great contract which she conceded was last year, to the "European and Australian Company," for carrying the mails on a second line from Southampton via Suez to Sydney, in Australia, at £185,000, or $925,000 per year. ”

“ Well, a bit of news has come saying that, among the Himalaya Mountains, the men who carry the mails on horseback are sealed to their saddles, in such a way that while they can ride easily enough they cannot get down from their seats; and, what is more, the mail-packages are sealed to the men! Once started on the route, the seals are not allowed to be broken, except by the postmaster at the next station, and, if they happen to get broken otherwise than by accident, the carrier is severely punished. ”

“ Furthermore, in consequence of the improvements constantly progressing in many parts of the country, and the frequent changes in railroad, steamboat, and stage connections, resulting from that and other causes, what would be correct "distribution" one day, might not be so the next. The old [Pg 405] adage, "The longest way round is the shortest way home," is often literally true in the sending of mail matter, for steam occupies less time in accomplishing a circuitous route of a hundred miles, than horses in passing over a direct one of twenty. ”

“ We shall need American steamships to carry American goods to these ports. [Great cheering.] The last Congress passed a bill appropriating about $1,500,000, and authorized the Postmaster-General to contract with steamship companies for a period not exceeding ten years for the carrying of the United States mail. The foreign mail service is the only mail service out of which the Government has been making a net profit. We do not make a profit out of our land service. ”

“ It would seem that, in this respect, the vessels belonging to the most powerful, enlightened, and civilized Government (p. 011) in the world, are to be placed far below the level of vessels belonging to their own subjects, and those of other nations; although such vessels are expressly appointed to convey passengers.
With these preliminary observations, it is proposed to consider the details of a plan for the more extended conveyance of mails by steam-boats, first to the Western World, under the separate heads into which such a plan, necessarily and properly divides itself. ”

“ This was the boy's home. Leaving me on the broad steps of the veranda, he rushed into the hall, shouting to [211] the family, "Here's a sailor who has come from the north in a paper boat."
This piece of intelligence roused the good people to merriment. "Impossible!" "A boat made of paper!" "Nonsense!"
The boy, however, would not be put down. "But it is made of paper, I tell you; for I pinched it and stuck my nails into it," he replied earnestly.
"You are crazy, my boy," some one responded; "a paper boat never could go through these sounds, the coon oysters would cut it in pieces. ”

“ Another adventure of a mail-packet worthy of mention happened a few years later. The 'Lady Hobart,' an Atlantic packet of 200 tons burthen, left Halifax, Nova Scotia, for England in June 1803, and a few days after leaving port, fell in with a French schooner, called 'L'Aimable Julie,' laden with salt fish. Captain Fellowes [76] of the packet took possession of the schooner, and put a prize crew in charge. A few days later, however, the 'Lady Hobart' ran into an iceberg; and there being no hope of saving the ship, the mails were lashed to pigs of ballast and thrown overboard. ”

“ Masters or managers of all other steamboats, are required by law, under a penalty of thirty dollars, to deliver all letters brought by them, or within their care or power, addressed to, or destined for, the places at which they arrive, to the post masters at such places: except letters relating to some part of the cargo and left unsealed. All letters not addressed to persons to whom the cargo, or any part of it, [Pg 418] is consigned, are therefore to be delivered into the post-office, to be charged-with postage. ”

“ Those who use paper boats think them very near perfection; and surely those who have the most to do with boats ought to know, prejudice aside, which is the best."
An injury to a paper boat is easily repaired by a patch of strong paper and a coating of shellac put on with a hot iron. As the paper boat is a novelty with many people, a sketch of its early history may prove interesting to the reader. Mr. George A. Waters, the son of the senior member of the firm of E. Waters & Sons, of Troy, New York, was invited some years since to a masquerade party. ”