A few years later, in 1846, a joint-stock trading company was established by the Maryland Colonization Society under the name of the Chesapeake and Liberian Trading Co. It was to maintain a line of packets for taking out emigrants and bringing in produce; it was expected that the colonists would invest in the shares; $20,000 was considered necessary for the enterprise, and there was considerable difficulty in raising it, only $16,000 having been subscribed when the first vessel was completed and ready for sailing. The first voyage took place in the month of December. The _Liberian Packet_, as it was called, made many voyages. It was found necessary to increase the size of the vessel employed, but the whole enterprise received a severe check with the wreck of the _Ralph Cross_. It was in several respects a real success, but there was considerable disappointment felt because of the little interest taken in this line by the colonists themselves; it was hoped that the bulk of the stock would be taken by them--as a matter of fact, only about one-eighth was so purchased. Commodore Foote, in his interesting book, Africa and the American Flag, emphasizes the fact that the one great advantage resulting from this line was the ease with which Liberian settlers revisited the United States for short periods, thus forming and keeping up connections with their mother country. When Thomas was along the West Coast in 1857, direct communication appears to have ceased. He says: “The day is not distant when steam communication will be established between the United States and Liberia, and her exhaustless fields be brought within fourteen days of our shores. Already the interests of American commerce demand the establishment of such a line, and the general government should extend its aid in such an enterprise, before England and France take the field from us. Already the steam-liners between England and Fernando Po touch at Monrovia, and it is said that arrangements are being made with the company to have them stop at Cape Palmas also. Of the 125,000 gallons of palm oil annually exported from this place, American producers get 50,000. The other exports are pepper and camwood. The revenue of Maryland, the year previous to its annexation to Liberia, was about $2000, derived from a light duty on certain classes of imports.” In 1850 an effort was made in the American Congress to establish and develop a trading line between the two countries. Since that time there have been occasional suggestions looking in this direction; thus, in 1904 a company was established under the name of the _New York and Liberian Steamship Co._ with a capital stock of $50,000; at about the same time, there was organized the _American and West African Steamship Co._ with head-quarters at New York, a capital of $600,000, and the apparent endorsement of many of the most prominent colored men of the United States. Many such schemes have been broached, some with brilliant