["Our Mail Service", The Brisbane Courier (Qld.), Monday 29 November 1875, page 2]
Our Mail Service.
As the working of our new mail service has commenced, it may interest our readers to have a few particulars about one of the three great lines of steamers with which the P.M.S.S. Co. intend to work. They have arranged that on the arrival of our mails at New York, they shall without any delay be put into one of the Inman, White Star, or Cunard boats, whichever may be the first to start upon the arrival of the mail train from San Francisco. The line to which we intend to refer is the Inman Steamship Company (limited), which now possesses some sixteen or twenty steamships running between England and America. The Inman line was started in 1850, without a subsidy, whilst the Cunard line received a handsome subsidy for carrying the mails, and it was in the year mentioned that the first boat of the new line crossed the Atlantic in the winter season. The Cunard, an established line, naturally had almost a monopoly of the principal trade, and the originators of the Inman line, wishing to make their boats popular, had them specially built for carrying emigrants to the United States and Canada, and Mr. William Inman said he "believed, as emigrants were no fools," they would prefer a voyage of twelve or thirteen days in a steamer to six weeks in a sailing vessel and so he commenced his project, basing it chiefly upon this assumption. Mr. William Inman was formerly the managing director and partner in the firm of Richardson Brothers and Co., of Liverpool, which firm was merged in the Liverpool aud Philadelphia Steamship Co., but after five years had elapsed, Mr. Inman was tho sole representative of the firm. Twenty-five years only have passed since this change was made, and now Mr. Inman, with the assistance of his son, has raised the prestige of the line level, if not above, that of the White Star or of the Cunard line. The first steamer purchased by the company was the City of Glasgow, which was sold to them by Messrs. Tod and Macgregor, of Glasgow; but by perseverance and clever management they were able, before long, to add to their fleet the City of Manchester, a vessel of 1900 tons; the City of Baltimore, the City of Washington, and the Kangaroo; and these were all "part and parcel" of the company by the end of 1857. What are now known as the Inman "cracks" are the City of Berlin, 5490 tons; tho City of Chester, 4565 tons; the City of Richmond, 4006 tons ; tho City of Brussels, 3747 tons; and the City of Paris, 3081 tons. A search might be made all over the world before the equal of the City of Berlin could be found. She is spoken of by the Press at home as being the finest steam vessel employed in the merchant service of any nation. The City of Richmond has made one of the fastest passages across the Atlantic ever recorded, viz., 7 days 19 hours 45 minutes, an average of 365 miles per day, or over 15 knots per hour. The City of Brussels has logged 7 days 20 hours 33 minutes. Tho City of Berlin, however, is the largest of the Inman fleet, measuring 488 feet between perpendiculars and 520 feet in length over all. Her width is 44 feet, and depth from spar deck 37 feet. Her gross tonnage is 5490, her register tonnage 3139. Her engines aro 900 horse-power nominal, but upon her trial trip she indicated 5200 horse-power. She has 12 boilers, supplied by 36 furnaces. Accommodation is provided for 1700 passengers, 200 in the first and 1500 in the intermediate cabins. The saloon is amidships, having a length of 44 feet with a breadth of 42 feet. To give some idea of her size, it may be well to state that the City of Berlin is 180 feet longer than the Whampoa, and about 2 feet wider. S. M. Herald, November 23.
