A General Plan for a Mail Communication by Steam, Between Great Britain and the Eastern and Western | Page 5

tonnage. A supply of coals, moreover, could be had at all the
places to be brought into notice by care, and foresight, at moderate
rates, and at the rates taken in the subsequent calculations. Merchant
vessels, bound to all quarters, so soon as they perceived that they were
sure of a market, would take a proportion of coals as ballast; and others
would be glad to take a portion even beyond that, to aid them in
completing their cargoes, instead of remaining, as vessels both at
Liverpool, Glasgow, &c. frequently do, some time, till they can obtain
a sufficient quantity of goods to enable them to do so: while such
vessels could at all times furnish in this way a sufficient supply of coals,
at moderate rates, and still afford to them a fair profit; such assistance
in loading, by enabling vessels to sail at short and regularly stated
periods, would become of the most essential service to the commercial
interests of this country.
The time hitherto occupied by steamers in taking in coals, in almost
every place, has constituted of itself a considerable drawback on steam
navigation: it may, to a great extent, be avoided. Let carriages, such as
are used on the railroads for carrying coals at Newcastle, &c. be
constructed with iron handles. These may be made to hold one and a
half, or two tons of coals (either of these weights, it is supposed, might
be hoisted into a vessel without difficulty), and be all filled and placed
on a raft or punt ready at each depôt, thirty to sixty in number,
according to its importance, awaiting the arrival of the packet steamer.
The moment she comes into port, the punt will be alongside, and the
whole will be hoisted in in a few hours, the place for receiving them
being always, and during the voyage, (p. 006) prepared for them. In this
way 120 tons of coals may be taken in within a very short space of time;
the buckets first emptied, refilled, and emptied again, to a considerable
extent, in a period of no great additional time. At smaller depôts and
ports, the steamer might hoist in thirty or forty tons of coals during her
shorter time of stoppage; and thus steamers, without any material delay,

would always have a sufficient and certain supply of fuel. The coals at
all the depôts should be well covered and protected from the sun.
Further, on this head, most of the small coal (the best) which goes to
waste at the depôts, may be saved by the following simple
process:--Let it be mixed with a little clay, considerably diluted, then
made into small balls, and afterwards dried in the sun (a rapid process
within the tropics), and then taken on board with the others when
wanted. It burns with great force. It is so used on estates in the West
Indies for Stills. The saving is great, and the labour of making it up
exceedingly light. A child may almost perform it.
It is necessary to observe, that steam-boats for the torrid zone must be
fitted up and out in a manner considerably different, more especially in
their hatches, from the best and most splendid boats in this country. For
the convenience and health of both the passengers and crews, those for
the torrid zone must, in every part, be more roomy and airy, yet so
constructed as to be closed in the speediest and securest manner in the
event of a hurricane; consequently they will require less expense in
building, and fitting up of cabins, &c. than the crack boats in this
country, in order to make them so.
In all the distances stated, there are, be it observed, included in the time
allowed, three or four hours to land and take in mails and passengers at
every place where the steamers may have to touch; and at the more
important stations, at least six hours beyond the longer periods allowed
for stoppages for coals and mails, &c. It will be necessary to give six or
eight hours at Barbadoes before the departure of the steamer, that
Government despatches may be forwarded. In fact, the steamer should
always, and only leave that island at sun-rise on the day following that
whereon the packet arrived from England, (p. 007) because by doing so,
it would reach St. Thomas at daybreak on the second morning (the
navigation at that island is rather dangerous during the night), clear it,
and reach St. John's, Porto Rico, with daylight, and in consequence
Cape Nichola in daylight also, on the second day thereafter.
The old Galatea frigate might be carried up from Jamaica and moored
at Cape Nichola Mole, on board of which those mails and specie may

be deposited, that require to be