On the 10th June following, the Royal Atlantic Steam Navigation Company contracted with Messrs. Palmer, of Newcastle, for the construction of two steamships, the cost of each to be £95,000; and five days later (15th June) they concluded a similar contract with Messrs. Samuelson, of Hull, for two steamships, to cost £97,000 each. As the date of the commencement of the postal service, according to the Government contract, was fixed for June, 1860, the contract with the builders stipulated for delivery of the vessels within eleven months from the date of the agreement. It was also a condition of the contracts, that the ships were to be built according to lines, plans, and specifications approved by the Admiralty. The four steamships referred to were almost uniform in model, measurement and equipment. Each measured about 2,800 tons, with engines of about 850 nominal horse-power. Their principal dimensions were—Length 360 feet, beam 40 feet, and depth of hold 32 feet. Those built by Messrs. Palmer were named CONNAUGHT and HIBERNIA, and those by Messrs. Samuelson, COLUMBIA and ANGLIA. A clause in the Company’s contract with the builders specified “that each of the said vessels when completed was, on a fair and proper trial thereof, to accomplish a speed at the rate of 20 statute miles per hour in smooth water, and to consume not more than 8,800 pounds of fuel per hour.” In the case of the CONNAUGHT this condition was not complied with, for on her trial trip the Government Inspector reported that the speed of this “vessel was about thirteen knots.” From its commencement the Company was in difficulties. The second steamer, the HIBERNIA, on being surveyed by the Government Inspectors, was found to be leaky. None of the vessels were delivered within the time agreed upon, and in order to keep faith with the Government the Company was compelled to charter a steamer to inaugurate the service. They accordingly hired from the Messrs. Malcomsons, of Waterford, one of their Liverpool and River Plate steamers, the PARANA, which sailed from Galway on the 27th June, 1860, and arrived at St. John’s in seven days thirteen and a half hours, or one day thirteen and a half hours beyond the stipulated time for delivering the telegraph messages at St. John’s. The second steamer to sail from Galway was the CONNAUGHT, which sailed for Boston direct on the 11th July, and was twenty-two and a half hours over contract time in arriving at that port. This steamer was totally lost on her second voyage in October of the same year. The third steamer of the Company sailed from Galway on the 9th April, 1861, and returned in May following in a disabled condition, having met with ice on the passage. She made the slowest passage outwards of any of the fleet, having taken ten days seven and a half hours to reach St. John’s, and seventeen days twenty and three quarter hours to reach Boston.