It was not until 1863 that any English steamer loaded a cargo direct from Hankow for Great Britain. The third vessel to sail was the auxiliary screw steamship ROBERT LOWE, also belonging to Messrs. Lindsay. She was a vessel of 1,250 tons gross, with engines of only 80 nominal horse power. Her average speed between Shanghai and Hankow, a distance of 608 miles, was 60 miles per day, but one day was lost in changing her propeller, and she anchored every night. She sailed from Shanghai on the 8th May, 1863, and came to an anchor off Hankow on the 18th idem. On the 10th June her cargo arrived alongside, and on the 23rd June she sailed for Shanghai and London. She traversed the distance between Hankow and Shanghai in 57 hours, the current being with her. Her cargo for London consisted of 9,568 chests, 234 half-chests, and 2,064 boxes of tea; 535 bales of cotton and 192 packages of sundries. Her freight amounted to the respectable sum of £10,315, in addition to which she earned £480 passage money. In 1866 Mr. Alfred Holt, of Liverpool, started a line of steamers to trade between England and China, _via_ the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. Holt was a practical engineer. Having served his apprenticeship, he was appointed inspecting engineer to several steamship companies, and about 1850 commenced as steamship owner with a small coasting steamer, the ALPHA. This steamer was succeeded by the CLEATOR and DUMBARTON YOUTH, sailing between Liverpool, Cumberland Ports, and the Bristol Channel. Upon the outbreak of the Crimean War, Mr. Holt secured several remunerative charters from the Government, and in 1855 he inaugurated the first line of steamers between Liverpool and the West Indies. His first steamer in this trade was only 535 tons burden, but she was so well supported that in a short time a monthly line of steamers of larger capacity and greater power was established. In 1863 Messrs. Leech, Harrison and Forwood, and Messrs. Imrie and Tomlinson, entered into the same trade, and it was considered desirable to form a public company to amalgamate these three undertakings. A company, under the title of the West India and Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Limited, was consequently formed for this purpose, with a capital of £1,250,000, which was at once subscribed.