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The flotilla was becoming formidable; it comprised 13 vessels, stern-wheelers and screw-steamers, all armed with cannon and machine guns and protected by bullet-proof shields.
To resume the narrative, the speed of the Rattler was afterwards tested by a trial with the Alecto, a paddle-wheel steamer of equal power, built from the same moulds; and the result was so favorable, that the Admiralty ordered the construction or conversion of twenty-three vessels as screw-steamers, and thus was laid the foundation of the present formidable steam-navy of England.
A line to run from Liverpool to Portland, in the state of Maine, is in contemplation; and the Cunard Company are building four screw-steamers the Andes, Alps, Jura, and Etna which are to carry the mails to Chagres, as well as New York. The first steam-collier has come into the Thames, having run the distance from Newcastle in forty-eight hours.
The admiral's flag was flying on board the Calcutta, 84; he had under him the Winchester, of 50 guns, the Sybil and Pique, of 40, and the Hornet and Encounter, screw-steamers, the first of 17 and the other of 15 guns, and three paddle-wheel steamers and three sloops of war.
Two screw-steamers, the Alert of 751 tons, and the Discovery of 668 tons, being strengthened by every means science could devise for resisting the Polar ice, were fitted out, and Captain Nares was selected to command the expedition. Commander Markham, who had considerable experience, was appointed to act under him on board the Alert.
In the year 1850 several expeditions were sent out. The first consisted of HMS Resolute and Assistance, Captain Ommaney, with the screw-steamers Pioneer, Lieutenant Osborn, and Intrepid, Lieutenant Cator, as tenders, under the command of Captain Horatio T. Austin, in the Resolute.
The Assistance and Resolute were again commissioned, and, with the Pioneer and Intrepid screw-steamers, were placed under his orders, many of the officers who before accompanied Captain Austin volunteering their services. Captain Kellet, who had returned home in the Herald, was appointed to command the Resolute.
During the summer months screw-steamers and sailing vessels ply between Liverpool and Quebec, from whence there is cheap and easy water communication with the districts bordering on the great lakes. From Quebec to Windsor, a distance of nearly 1000 miles, passengers are conveyed for the sum of 31s., and have the advantage of having their baggage under their eyes during the whole journey.
We have long since ceased to import locomotives, and have, within the past two years, almost ceased to import railroad iron. Our iron-workers obtain coal at nearly or quite as low prices as do those of Birkenhead or the Clyde. They have recently sent to sea some large screw-steamers that perform well.
The Gauntlet was able to steam through a considerable portion of the fleet before she took up her destined station; thus passing in succession the Duke of Wellington, Sir Charles Napier's flagship, the Neptune, Saint George, and Royal George, 120-gun ships, the Saint Jean d'Acre, 101 guns; fourteen other ships carrying from 60 to 91 guns, most of them fitted with screws; five frigates, each able to compete with an old line-of-battle ship; and eighteen paddle-wheel and screw-steamers, anyone of which would speedily have sunk the largest ship of ancient days.
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