Two innovations introduced by the Inman line became prominent features
of ocean business, and it may be left an open question as to which
was the more important. One was the use of the screw-propeller, and
the other was the carrying of steerage, or third-class, passengers.
Previous to 1850 all steamships built for transatlantic voyages had
been side-wheelers, and even as late as 1870 there were steam-vessels
that came into the port of New York with the walking-beam, familiar
to patrons of modern ferry-boats and river steamers. The principle
of the screw-propeller had been known and utilized for many years;
but it was not believed that a steamship could cross the ocean in
safety unless side-paddles were employed. The first iron transatlantic
screw steamship was the City of Glasgow (except the Great Britain,
which first arrived in New York on September 10, 1845, making but two
transatlantic trips, and therefore not entering as a factor into this
trade), built on the Clyde by Tod & McGregor. She made four successful
voyages between Glasgow and New York before she was purchased by
the corporation that afterward became known as the Inman line. This
innovation, although it did not result at first in any marked increase
of speed, soon found approbation in the policies of rival companies.
[Illustration: A Quiet Flirtation.]
The other innovation was equally long in finding acceptance among
oceanic steamship companies, but it eventually prevailed, even to the
extermination of the clipper ship as a passenger carrier. It may be
remarked just here that the introduction of the screw-propeller added
to the discomforts of the cabin passengers; for in the first vessels
of the Inman line the state-rooms and saloons were retained in the
after-part of the ships, where the motion of the sea and the noise of
the screw were most apparent.
Leaving this matter for the present, it is worth noting that the
steady increase in passenger traffic between the two continents led to
the organization of many other companies that tried to find a share
in the carrying business. The Glasgow & New York Steamship Company
was started in 1854 by Tod & McGregor, ship-builders; the service
was fortnightly. In 1859 they decided to confine their business to
ship-building, and the fleet and good-will were then sold out to the
Inman line, who continued the service for a year or two, but finally
withdrew the fleet from Glasgow and concentrated their entire business
between Liverpool, Queenstown, and New York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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