STEAM TO AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 583, 5 March 1851, Page 4

STEAM TO AUSTRALIA.

To the Editor of the Times. Sir, —An excellent article in the Times of yesterday respecting steam communication with Australia has induced me to request that you will give a place in your journal to some brief remarks which may contribute to a popular acquaintance with that important subject. I should not thus presume had I not studied the question repeatedly during the last twenty-five years, and had not my opinion upon it been asked frequently. Taking England and New South Wales as the limits of a connected means of conveyance, extending half round the globe, intended to carry, not only mails and passengers, but light valuable cargo, with the utmost speed consistent with regularity and safety, we may quickly compare the advantages oi the four principal routes: — 1. By the Red Sea and Torres Straits. 2. By the Red Sea and Southern Ocean. 3. t>y the Cape of Good Hope. 4. By the Isthmus of Darien.

The first route was officially recommended to Government in 1841, hut was opposed privately the fourth being even then recommended by persons who were consulted by the late Sir Robert Peel. The chief argument advanced in favour of the first was the existing steam communication to Singapore, whence a branch could be extended to Sydney with ease and economy; while against it were the dangers of Torres Strait and the Barrier R.eefs (impassable by night or in thick weather, or during much of the westerly monsoon), besides the transit of the Isthmus and the passage of the Red Sea.

The second plan proposes to avoid Torres Strait by going round Cape Leuwin ; but this course, though preferable to the first, because safer, more expeditious, and practicable at all times, involves rapid changes of climate, and the necessity of encountering high seas in the southern latitudes!

The third route would avoid change of vessel, land travelling, and such extreme heat as that of Egypt or the Red Sea; but it would be exposed to the highest seas and heaviest gales of wind.

The fourth line—by the Isthmus of Darien and across the Pacific—is shorter bv nearly 2000 miles than the first, which is'not so long as the second, and is considerabl" less than the third. Fine weather, smooth seas" and an equable climate of agreeable temperature prevail ; the only obstacle of consequence b ei «g tr ans i t of the Igtbmug> eye(j Lnat ishkely to be much lessened. Between Sydney the ocean is unequalled or the facility afforded to navigation. Steady moderate breezes, regular currents, and clear weather are everywhere prevalent. The precise situation of every island near the proposed route is known. Supplies may be p?o. cured, and coal can be carried cheaply from Western America, New Zealand, or Anstra. la ’ lf ? Ot r . OTU t le or£ hern Atlantic. J™ k in no P art the world could screw s earners be employed to more advantage if heir course were from Panama to Tahiti and

Sydney, returning eastward by New Zealand and Callao. By such courses favourable wip'd would be found throughout the greater b a a of the passages both ways. r

Having myself circumnavigated the glob e twice—in merchant ships »s well as ip command of a surveying expedition^and ving traversed the delightful space of ocean above mentioned—between Panama and Syd ney, when induced by duty as well as incliZ nation to study its peculiarities, I feel bound to add my mite towards attracting the tion of the public to the comparative advan." tages of establishing by way of the Isthmus of Darien, the principal line of “ Steam com. munication with Australia.” Allow me to add a few remarks on the valuable article above referred to, which ha» embraced the whole question, and der?rre B strict attention from those whom it interest 1. Great circle sailing, therein alluded to is not often the most advisable, though app a .’ rently (in point of distance) the shortest way Winds, currents, culpas, icebergs, rains, fogs, as well as fixed dangers, require consideration when thg seaman is shaping hk courses. It is a curious fact that the fir;t navigator who seems to have practised great circle sailing was Americus Vespucjps in 1501-2, when in search of Cathay by th B shortest southern route. 2. The expense of establishing qnd maiq. taining a line of screw steamers betweep Panama and Sydney would not be nearly equal to that required for regular wheel steamers which would be generally consuming coal. It the route above suggested were followed, ;be voyage each way might be made al aq qverage rate of eight knots —two-thirds pf the whole distance being under canvas without steam. 3. The writer of the said article remarks, that “it would be utterly impracticable« well as physically impossible, to keep up i rate of 217 miles for 28 successive dayg •" but he may find himself as much mistaken as Dr. Lardner was when he asserted theimpossibility of advantageously crossing the Atlantic with steamers. The screw wi|l now average mors than eight knots for days together without the aid of sails, and when used under canvas a much higher speed can be kept up continuously. With wind from any of twen-ty-four points of the compass a screw steamer can set her sails to advantage, and she cannot easily overrun her screw because it acts against the water that closes in after the shjn. 4. I almost venture to differ from the inter respecting the establishment of a “screv mail service, via tbe Cape, with Australia." In the event of war the Red Sea routenny be interrupted, and powerful screw steamers, on the auxiliary principle, may be found to ba our best means of communication and conveyance between England and the East Indies, as well as Australia; but advantageous as these improving vessels may eventually become for the service of that route, there can be but little doubt that they are even naw tbe best adapted for the central Pacific Ocean. They would consume but little coal —-their wear and tear would be comparatively small —and they would carry much more cargo, and many more passengers, in proportion lo tonnage, than wheel steamers. It is not, perhaps, very generally know that “ screw steamers of small power in proportion to tonnage” have already made passages to and from Constantinople, and other places, with speed and regularity that have astonished “ many persons of experience it nautical affairs.’’ Their director, Mr. Lt-B ming, has established facts of which otherQ" may now avail themselves. (Evidence befottg the Lords Committee on Slave Trade). B Persons who are conversant only with Eo-p ropean, or even Atlantic steam voyages,B scarcely realise to themselves sufficiently long runs that are made in trade winds, <w in toe southern ocean, under sail alone, wVB for weeks together no .steam power is reqn-’H red. It is in such extensive tracts of that the screw steamer will be mpst advM'ffi tageous. I have no doubt the-establishment® such vessels (assisted by Government) hlg tween England and the Cape of Good will be found so beneficial that other screw ships will follow; among which most successful will be those employed in ‘“Q communication with Australia. . || I have the honour to be, Sir, vpijr obedk'ffl servant, ■ Robert Fitzroy, Captains Norland-square, September 10. Js*