The first steamer employed by this firm was the new steampacket AYR, of 76 tons, built by John Wood & Co., of Port Glasgow, and having two engines of 30 h.p. each, by John Nelson, Glasgow. The AYR was employed in the Glasgow and Ayrshire and Galloway trade. On the 20th March following (1826) Messrs. Burns despatched their first steamer from Glasgow to Belfast. She was a new steamboat named FINGAL. Her length was 116 feet, her beam 21 feet 6 inches, and her depth 12 feet 4 inches. She had two engines of 50 h.p. each. She could accommodate thirty passengers with sleeping berths, had several horse boxes on deck, and carried 180 tons of cargo. The rates for passage were, in the cabin, 20s., and on deck, 3s.; and the days of sailing from Glasgow, Tuesdays and Fridays. Three years later (March, 1829) Messrs. Burns began their Liverpool and Glasgow service. The pioneer steamer of this service was the GLASGOW, a small steamer, 120 tons deadweight, and fitted with two engines of 30 h.p. each. The Messrs. Burns have ceased for many years to have any connection with the Glasgow, Ayr and Galloway trade, but on the other two stations, Belfast and Liverpool, they have maintained continuous services for nearly eighty years. They were also largely interested in the Glasgow and West Highland Passenger Services, but sold their interests in 1851 to Messrs. David Hutcheson & Co. These services are now conducted by the fleet of splendid steamships owned by the Messrs. MacBrayne of Glasgow.[12] On Saturday, the 30th June, 1825, a steam-packet sailed from the Thames for Hamburg, the first that had ever made that voyage. The following month (16th August) the first steamer sailed from England (Falmouth) to Calcutta, via the Cape. This was the wooden paddle-steamer ENTERPRIZE, 470 tons burthen, 120 h.p. Further particulars of this vessel are given in Chapter IX. (Steamship Routes to India and the East). Some idea of the marvellously rapid growth of steam navigation may be gathered from the fact that in the year 1825, just ten years after the arrival of the first steamers on the Thames and Mersey, there were 44 steam vessels on the stocks at Liverpool of from 250 to 500 tons each; while in London no less than 45 companies had been formed to establish steam-packets in every quarter of the globe. Owners of sailing ships became alarmed for their future, and at a meeting held in Swansea, on the 14th December, 1826, a resolution was passed to send a petition to the House of Commons, praying for the intervention of Parliament to protect sailing vessels against the further increase of steamers.