The British consul, in a letter congratulating Lieutenant R. Roberts, R. N., commanding the _Sirius_, on arriving first, said:-- "I have a further cause of rejoicing, that the honor of accomplishing the enterprise has been achieved by a son of the British navy, and that it was completed on St. George's Day." It was five years after this arrival that the keel of the first American clipper was laid, but _with the termination of the passages of these two ships_ the dawn of the day of British supremacy upon the high seas appeared. Special attention seems due to the _Great Western_, because she was the first ship built for the traffic. She had steamed 3125 sea miles, making an average of 208 miles per day, or 8.2 knots an hour. The total consumption of fuel was 655 tons, less than a day's consumption in some modern ships. She returned home with a consumption of only 392 tons, prevailing winds and a large spread of canvas helping her to save coal. The cost of this ship was £50,000, of which £13,500 was paid for the engines. She continued to ply regularly on the route, and on September 25, 1838, the New York _American_ had this to say:-- "The arrival of the steam packet _Great Western_ puts us in possession of intelligence to the 8th.... The great success of this enterprise has confirmed the timid and almost crazed the sanguine. She brings _one hundred and forty passengers_. All her berths were engaged before she arrived at Bristol." Then an article from the London _Times_ is quoted as follows:-- "Upon the eighty-seven passengers home, and the 130 out, at 40 guineas passage money per head in the saloon, and 35 guineas in the cabin, each way, the directors of the Great Western will have received upwards of £8000, exclusive of the benefit derived from the conveyance of goods, of which the _Great Western_ brought from New York to the extent of about 200 tons' measurement." The Liverpool _Albion_ is then quoted as saying that "the last trip of the _Great Western_ netted £6000." The _Great Western_ continued in the New York and Bristol and the New York and Liverpool trades until she had made seventy-four passages, and she was then sold for use between England and the West Indies. These facts are of importance to the history of the American merchant marine, because our writers who have favored paying subsidies to American steam lines have asserted that in those days it was not possible to run steamship lines between the United States and England without a subsidy. The _Great Western_ made money without a subsidy. So did many other steamers that followed, as shall appear.