thrice a week« So late as 1829, and perhaps later, voyages to the undermentioned places and home again—'For ever running an enchanted round'—were estimated to take—
Jamaica 112 days. America 105 days.„ Leeward Islands 91 days.„ Malta 98 days.„ Brazil 140 days. Lisbon 28 days.„ Australia 120 days.„ Buenos Ayres 154 days.„
Here are a few records and comparisons of the time taken by mail steamers:
1819. New York to United Kingdom (Savannah) 25 d. 1860. United Kingdom to New York (Great Eastern) 1012 d. 1890. Dover to Calais 1 h. Holyhead to Kingstown 312 h. To Capetown 16 d. To Australia 27 d. 1894. Queenstown to New York (Lucania) 5 d. 7 h. 1894. Charing Cross to Bombay 13 d. Euston to Dublin 9 h. 29 m. 1905. Turbine steamship crossed the Atlantic 414 d.
It may surprise some readers to be reminded that in 1889 for the first time letters from New York were delivered in London within a week of despatch.
As early as 1816 two steamships, about 65 feet long, and of 20 h.p., were constructed for the Dublin-Holyhead line. In 1818 the Rising Sun, a steamship built by Lord Cochrane, crossed the Atlantic. In 1819 the Savannah steamship reached this country from New York in twenty-five days. It was in 1821 that the Post-Office first arranged for the conveyance of the mails by steamship. As with sailing packets, the first steam-packets were built by the Government, six
