The first steamer of the service was probably the ROYAL TAR, belonging to the Dublin and London Steampacket Company, which had been chartered in 1834 to Don Pedro, and subsequently to the Queen Regent of Spain, Messrs. Willcox and Anderson being the chartering brokers. The “Graphic” Xmas Number for 1901 states the WM. FAWCETT was the first P. & O. steamer, and the “P. & O. Pocket Book” (1900 edition) heads the list of the past and present fleet of the company with the name of the same vessel, built in 1829. It is only necessary to say here that neither the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company nor the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company were in existence at that date. The WM. FAWCETT was certainly built that year by Caleb Smith, and engined by Fawcett and Preston, both Liverpool firms. For some time she was engaged as a ferry boat on the Mersey, and in the early thirties she was employed as a regular trader between London and Dublin. She probably was chartered for a short time to the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company in 1835 or 1836, as she does not appear in the company’s advertised sailing list for 1838. In the latter year the fleet consisted of the following vessels, from London to Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz and Gibraltar:—TAGUS, 800 tons gross, 300 h. p.; ROYAL TAR, 650 tons gross, 264 h. p.; BRAGANZA, 650 tons gross, 264 h. p.; IBERIA, 690 tons gross, 200 h. p.; LIVERPOOL,[14] 500 tons gross, 160 h. p.; CITY OF LONDONDERRY,[14] 500 tons gross, 160 h. p. Branch steamers, PENINSULA, GUADALQUIVER, ESTRELLA and SOL. In 1837 the Government advertised for tenders from steamship owners for the conveyance of the mails between Falmouth and the Peninsula, which up to that time were conveyed by sailing brigs which left Falmouth for Lisbon every week, “wind and weather permitting.” In response to this advertisement two companies, the British and Foreign Steam Navigation Company, and the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, sent in tenders. The former company having failed to show that it had adequate means for the efficient performance of the Postal service, the Government concluded a contract, on the 29th August, 1837, with the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company, by which that company agreed to convey monthly the whole of the Peninsular mails for an annual subsidy of £29,600, afterwards reduced to £20,500. The first steamer to be despatched under this contract was the IBERIA, in September, 1837, calling at Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon and Cadiz, on its passage to and from Gibraltar.