Twelve years passed before this enterprise was repeated,
the next steam voyage being in 1831, when the Royal William
crossed from Quebec to England. She used coal for fuel,
having utilized her entire hold to store enough for the voyage.
The Savannah had burned pitch-pine under her engines, for
in America wood was long used as fuel for steam-making
purposes. As regards this matter, the problem of fuel was of
leading importance, and it was seriously questioned if a ship
could be built to cross the Atlantic depending solely upon
steam power. Steam-engines in those days were not very
economical, needing four or five times as much fuel for the
same power as the engines of recent date.
It was not until 1838 that the problem was solved. On
April 23d of that year a most significant event took place.
Two steamships dropped anchor in the harbor of New York,
the Sirius and the Great Western. Both of these had made the
entire voyage under steam, the Sirius, in eighteen and a half
and the Great Western in fourteen and a half days, measuring
from Queenstown. The Sirius had taken on board 450 tons
of coal, but all this was burned by the time Sandy Hook was
reached, and she had to burn her spare spars and forty-three
barrels of rosin to make her way up the bay.
Pages:
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297