The first two steamers of the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company were the _Canadian_ and _Indian_, built by the famous Dennys, of Dumbarton. They were pretty little iron screw steamers, of about 270 feet in length, 34 feet wide, and of 1,700 tons burthen each. The _Canadian_ made her first voyage to Quebec in September, 1854, but the Crimean war having commenced, steamers of this class were in demand, and these two were taken into the service and profitably employed as government transports as long as the war lasted. In 1874 the _Sarmatian_ and the _Manitoban_ of this line were similarly employed to convey troops to the west coast of Africa, to take part in the Ashantee campaign. On both occasions they did excellent service. When the Canadian Government next advertised for tenders for carrying the mails, an agreement was made with the Allans by which they were to receive £25,000 a year for a fortnightly service in summer and a monthly one in winter. Two other boats, similar to the _Canadian_ and _Indian_, were built by the Dennys—the _North American_ and _Anglo-Saxon_. The new service was commenced in April, 1856, by the SS. _North American_, which arrived in the port of Montreal on the 9th of May. Two years later it was decided to establish a weekly service, the Government promising an increased subsidy of $208,000 per annum. This implied double the number of ships; accordingly, four others were built, the _North Briton_, _Nova Scotian_, _Bohemian_ and _Hungarian_, all after the same model as the pioneer ships, but 300 feet long and 2,200 tons register. Their speed was from 11 to 13 knots in smooth water, and even in heavy weather they seldom fell short of 8 knots an hour. Their average passages westward from Liverpool to Quebec were 11 days, 5 hours; eastward, 10 days, 10 hours. The quickest passage eastward was made by the _Anglo-Saxon_, in 9 days, 5 hours, and westward, by the _Hungarian_, in 9 days, 14 hours. In the same year (1859) the Cunard Line to Boston averaged 12 days, 19 hours going west, and 10 days, 15 hours eastward. The average speed of the Canadian steamers during the entire season of the St. Lawrence navigation in that year was 9½ knots. At this time there were already twelve different lines of steamships plying across the Atlantic, affording almost daily communication between England and America by steam.