Steamers are now mostly owned by public companies, which we regret to say are largely centred in London, and are represented in Liverpool by managers. A steamer somehow fails to arouse the same enthusiasm as the old sailing-ship; much of the old romance and sentiment has gone. The managers have so many steamers to look after that their work becomes more or less mechanical; they cannot take the same personal interest in them. The manager of one large fleet boasted that he never went down to the dock to see his steamers--this he considered was the business of his marine superintendent. The shareholders in a limited liability company in the same way have not the same close touch with their property that the owner of a sixty-fourth share had in the old sailing-ship. The one was personal, the other is remote. The subscription lists of our nautical charities prove this. The Bluecoat School and the Seamen's Orphanage do not appeal to them as they appealed to the Bryan Blundells, the MacIvers, the Brocklebanks, Allans, Beazleys, and Ismays and the general public of fifty years ago. We cannot dwell upon the many early efforts to apply the steam engine to the propulsion of a ship. The first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic was the "Savannah," a vessel 130 feet in length and 26 feet broad. She was built in New York in 1818; she was an auxiliary vessel, her paddle wheels being taken off and placed on deck when the wind was fair. She sailed from Savannah on the 24th May, 1819, and arrived at Liverpool on the 20th June. The first vessel to steam all the way across the Atlantic was the "Royal William," built at Quebec in 1831. She was 830 tons, with side-lever engines of 200 horse power. She sailed from Quebec to London on the 4th of August, 1833, and after a stormy passage arrived in the Thames on the 11th September. A more serious attempt to bridge the Atlantic was made in June, 1838, when a second "Royal William" of 720 tons was built at Liverpool, and her paddle engines of 400 horse power were made by Fawcett, Preston & Co., of Liverpool. She made several successful passages, and was our first passenger steamer. The Transatlantic Steamship Company, which had chartered the "Royal William" afterwards built the "Liverpool," of 1,150 tons, and 464 horse power. She made several voyages, averaging 17 days out and 15 days home. Mr. Maginnis in his very useful and excellent work "The Atlantic Ferry," claims for the "Sirius" the honour of inaugurating the Atlantic steamship service. She was owned by the British & American Steam Navigation Company, of which Mr. John Laird was the Chairman. She was 703 tons, and sailed on the 5th April, 1838, making the passage in 16½ days, maintaining an average of 8½ knots, on a consumption of 24 tons. About the same time the "Great Western," of 1,340 tons, sailed from Bristol, making the outward passage in 13½ days. [Illustration: SS. "Great Western," 1838]