took in tow four laden barges with upright sides and square ends, having a beam of fifteen feet each, and drawing four feet six inches of water. One of these was lashed on each side, the other two being towed astern, and though the weight of the whole must have been close upon 400 tons, and a considerable resistance was offered by their forms, the steamer towed them at the rate of 5½ miles an hour in slack water, or in eleven minutes between the two bridges, a distance of one mile. [Illustration: THE “ROBERT F. STOCKTON.”] These experiments having been considered in every way satisfactory, the _Robert F. Stockton_ left England for the United States in the beginning of April, 1839, under the command of Captain Cram of the American merchant service. Her crew consisted of four men and a boy; and having accomplished the voyage _under sail_ in forty days, Captain Cram was presented with the freedom of the city of New York for his daring in crossing the Atlantic in so small a craft, constructed only for river navigation. The first steamer to cross the Atlantic was the _Savannah_, of 300 tons, which arrived in Liverpool from Savannah, Georgia, in thirty-one days, her voyage having been made partly under sail. So to America belongs the credit of having shown the practicability of employing steam power for the most difficult and dangerous voyages. The _Savannah’s_ horse-power was too small for her size, and although she arrived safely, the experiment was not regarded by men of science as particularly successful. Dr. Lardner in particular, and other scientists, expressed their belief that no vessel could carry coal enough to steam the whole distance, and their discussions greatly retarded the progress of Transatlantic steam navigation. The voyage of the _Savannah_ was made in 1819; ten years elapsed before the Atlantic traffic was renewed, so far as steam was concerned, by the dispatch of an English-built steam-ship, the _Curaçoa_, which made several trips from Holland to the West Indies. In 1833 a steam-ship, named the _Royal William_, sailed from Quebec, and arrived safely at Gravesend. But it was not till 1838 that the practicability of profitably employing steam-ships on the Atlantic was demonstrated by the voyages of the _Sirius_ and _Great Western_, the latter one of the finest vessels of the day. Their arrival at New York is thus described by one of the journals of that city:— [Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE “GREAT WESTERN” AT NEW YORK.]