But the first steamer seen in Manx waters was the _Henry Bell_, named after the constructor of the historic _Comet_; she was on her way from the Clyde to Liverpool to be placed on the service between Liverpool and Runcorn and put in at Ramsey Bay. In May of the following year the _Greenock_ arrived at Douglas, whence she took some passengers to Laxey, and, as a local chronicler puts it, “moved by apparent enchantment.” The _Mona’s Isle_ was thought to be too large and valuable to risk being used in winter, and a smaller boat was therefore ordered from the same builder. This was the _Mona_, and after her arrival in July 1832, she was engaged in a service between the island and Whitehaven and in taking visitors on trips round the island. Even before the advent of the steamers, the Isle of Man had become a favourite place at which to spend the summer, especially among the people of the north and west counties. If affection for the island could induce so many hundreds of people to brave the discomforts of a voyage from the Mersey to Douglas and back again in the small sailing packets which then were the means of communication, it is little wonder that the advent of the steamers, restricted in dimensions as they were, poor in accommodation, and slow travellers, should have increased her popularity. Occasionally the sailing packet took as long as a week to make the trip, and it was hailed as an extraordinary circumstance that a vessel trading between Douglas and Whitehaven was able to make fifty-two voyages each way in the course of a year. In 1813 also, a sailer took three days and nights to get within sight of Liverpool, and was then driven back by stormy weather to the island. [Illustration: THE “BEN-MY-CHREE” (I.). BUILT 1845.] The _Mona_ had one mast on which she could carry a jib, a forestay-sail, a mainsail, and a topsail, and her funnel was abaft the paddle-boxes, which were amidships. She was faster than her predecessor, and usually did the journey between Liverpool and Douglas in about seven and a half hours. She once reached Whitehaven from Douglas in a trifle over four and a half hours, which was claimed to be one of the fastest pieces of travelling on record. The _Queen of the Isle_, which was the company’s third ship, was the fastest vessel afloat at the time. These three boats, according to a bill issued in 1834, were known as the Royal Mail and War Office steam-packets, though they never had any connection, so far as the company has been able to ascertain, with the War Office. A Liverpool firm purchased the _Mona_ in 1851 and sold her to the City of Dublin Company, who ran her for several years, until she was hopelessly outclassed in size and accommodation by newer boats. She was then used as a tug, and so spent the remainder of her days.