1Extrac1£s from the llbress.
QUICK TRANSIT
BETWEEN . NEW YORK AND
LONDON T.,¢s~


“ Because the King’s business required haste.”
~ UNWERSITY OF ~MlCH1GAN UBRARQEY


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Extracts from the llbress.
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NEW YORK AND
LONDON
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REPRESENTS FOG AREA
XX REPRESENTS THE LOCALITY OF ‘CE BERGS.
TED UNE REPRCSENTS THE 50 T E
N OURSE FOR STEAMERS
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CHARTS REPRESENTING THE Foe Bms romm: VARIOUS Moms OF THEYEAR,DUR|NG wmcu Foe msrs mus OR NEAR THE SHORES or Lone Ismun.
"Reproduced From the Charts Published in the'WeaH1er Review."
SPIIWEMBER 1894.







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QUICK TRANSIT
BETWEEN
New York and London.

Since the publication of my article in the November issue
of The N07’!/z Amerzkan Review, on the subject of “ Quick
Transit between New York and London,” much has been pub-
lished relating to it, by the press throughout this country and
England, and the question has been thoroughly discussed in
Many points have thus been presented to
which it was impossible to refer in the limited space allotted
all its aspects.
in a monthly periodical. The criticisms have been, with but
few exceptions, exceedingly favorable, and such derogatory
comments as have appeared have been inspired largely by a
misconception of the end to be attained, or a misconstruction
of the article itself.
The subject of Quick Transit between New York and
London should not be made to include the carrying of ordi-
nary freight between these two great commercial centres any
more than the discussion of Rapid Transit for the City of
New York should be considered to comprehend the rapid
transfer of freight from the Battery to Harlem. The Atlantic
express line of the future will not trouble itself with ordinary
and cheap freight. Mail and passenger traflic, with a limited
amount of express freight, are the great and important
branches. Ordinary freight, which does not demand quick
transit, will take a secondary place, and will always seek those
ports from which it can be shipped with the least expense.
But it is by no means admitted that Fort Pond Bay would not
4
make an equally advantageous freight harbor. The great
mass of freight shipped to European ports comes from the
West and South, and arriving in. jersey City could be easily
floated to the Long Island Railroad without the necessity of
breaking bulk. The large saving in port and pilot charges, as
well as in wharf and storage-room expenses, the avoidance of
the most frequented waterways, the comparative immunity
from the dangers of stranding and collision on both sides, the
greater freedom from fogs, and the material shortening of the
route, would more than counterbalance any additional railroad
charges, and would enable steamers starting from Fort Pond
Bay to make profitable rates, sufficiently low to attract both
through and local freight. Coal could be shipped, without
transfer, direct from the mines to Fort Pond Bay, where it
would be stored in large quantities at little expense, and being
freed from harbor and storage charges could be placed on
board as cheaply as it can now be delivered to steamers at
their New York piers. Moreover, the coal necessary for from
one to two days’ ocean steaming for passenger vessels, and
more for freight vessels, would be saved on each trip across
the Atlantic. At Milford Haven the best quality of coal can
be obtained for the return trip at a less price than at either
Liverpool or Southampton. The expense of obtaining sup-
plies and provisions at Milford Haven, for the return voyage,
would be increased but little, if any, over the present cost
at Liverpool and Southampton; and the freight charges
for delivering such supplies and provisions at Fort Pond
Bay from New York, for the outward voyage, would be much
less than the gain represented by the saving in the amount of
supplies and provisions used on each ocean voyage, because of
the shortening of each round trip by two days or more—the
actual saving in time depending on the speed of the steamers
used on the different routes compared.
In discussing this subject, the Zneoretzkal gain was first '
computed, and this has been confounded by some critics with
5
the actual gain. The theoretical gain was ascertained on the
assumption that all routes were equally open and free, so that
full speed could be maintained to their respective termini. It
represents only the gain which would be made simply from
the fact that the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route is shorter
than the others, and substitutes fast railroad time for slower
steamer time. It by 120 means represents t/ze actual gala, w/c2'c/z
is much greater, because in the case of the proposed route,
the whole water distance is practically open sea sailing, while
the established routes are more subject to fogs at both ends,
and run for many miles along dangerous coasts, passing over
sand bars, through tortuous channels and crowded waterways
where speed has to be materially reduced.
It is evident, therefore, that, in considering the true merit
of this subject, the actual gala s/zoula’ always be taken, which
would be I 5 hours and 47 minutes over the Liverpool route,
both using steamers of the speed of the Lucaula, and adopting
the present schedule railroad time ; and 1 day 8 hours and 13
minutes over the Southampton route, supposing steamers to
be used on the latter route having the speed of the New York;
iusteaa’ of 6 /zours and 46 minutes, and I0 /zours and I ruiuzcte,
wlzic/t represent only t/ze t/ceoretical gain over 2‘/ce L2‘?/erioool aua’
Sout/zaruptorz routes, res,z>ectz'oely. The actual gain over the
Queenstown route would appear to be even greater than
I 5 hours and 47 minutes, for in computing these figures, the
time from Queenstown to the London Post Office was taken at
18 hours, while it has been shown, by a careful report kept for
many months, to average 21 hours and 40 minutes. This state-
ment is verified by the annual report of our Superintendent
of Foreign Mails, in which it is shown that the average time
for carrying the mails from the New York Post Oflice to the
London Post Office via Str. Lucarzta, for the year ending june
3c, 1895, was6 days and 19 hours; while, in the calculation
showing a gain of 15 hours and 47 minutes, the time for carry-
ing the mails by the Str. Lucauia between these two points
6
was taken to be only 6 days 13 hours and 58 minutes. But the
gain of even 15 hours is the equivalent of a business day, and
means the saving of one day's interest on hundreds of millions
of international balances. Nothing is more evident than that
hours, and sometimes minutes, become of the highest import-
ance to men engaged in great business ventures, embracing
both continents, and that the cable cannot take the place of
mail and express service. The demand is that the passage be-
tween the two continents shall he made in the quickest passi-
hle tz'1ne. It is this demand that has led to the building of
steamships like the Latanza and the Caenpanza. While to
those not in a hurry, and who enjoy water traveling, the slow,
longer route steamers might be preferable, most people, on
account of business, or the dread of sea-sickness, wish to get
across in the shortest time possible. “ All other things being
equal, the shortest passage will always appeal to the greater
majority of ocean travelers, the number of people who prefer
the sea to the land being no greater now than it was when
Noah built the Ark.”
The lessening of the dangers of the transatlantic voyage is
of even greater importance than the shortening of the time.
It has already been shown that the present established routes
are dangerous, because steamers using them pass along dan-
gerous coasts, through crowded waterways, and enter their
harbors through narrow and shallow channels. None of these
disadvantages are present in the proposed route, and, more-
over, the ports which have been selected for arrival and de-
parture are much less subject to fog than either the ports of
New York, Liverpool or Southampton. The dangers on all
the established routes from each of the causes above referred
to have been clearly established by the series of disasters
which have occurred during the past four months. It is only
necessary to refer to these here. A full account of them is
printed under the title of “ Disasters at the Termini of Trans-
atlantic Routes,” and is hereto annexed. The grounding of
7
the Spree in the Solent, on December 20, 1895 ; the sinking of
the steamer Her Majesty by the Paris, in Southampton Water,
on February 13, 1896; the collision and sinking of the Cum-
orae by the Germamc, near Liverpool, on December 11, 1895 ;
the stranding of the Cepkaloula near Holyhead, on january 1,
1896 ; the stranding of the St. Paul on the New ]ersey coast,
on January 25, 1896; the stranding of the Lamlugtou on the
Long Island Coast, on February 5, 1896 ; the stranding of the
f. B. Walleer on Liberty Island, on February 6, I896 ; the
sinking of the /lllsa by the French liner Burgogue; the col-
lision of the Guyauclotte with the steamer Geo. I/V. Clyde, and
the grounding of the New York—the last three all happening
in New York Harbor on February zgth—these form a series of
accidents sufficiently startling to arouse the most phlegmatic
mind to the urgent necessity of adopting some safer trans-
atlantic route. Such a route can be secured by the adoption
of Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven as the American and
English ports. Both are open, deep-water harbors, and ships
using them would avoid the dangerous coasts and narrow,
crowded waterways, and the hazardous ports and channels.
From either of these termini steamers would reach the open
sea, would be out of nearly all danger, and would be able to
run at full speed in less than half an hour after leaving their
piers. But a still stronger reason for the safety and immunity
from danger to vessels using this route is to be found in the
reports concerning the fog conditions prevailing at each of
the ports considered. The superiority of Milford Haven over
Liverpool and Southampton has already been discussed ; the
comparative freedom of Fort Pond Bay from fogs remains to
be noticed. The records kept by the Lighthouse Board, show-
ing the exact number of hours during which fog existed at
Montauk Point (which is only six miles from Fort Pond Bay
and more suoject to fog t/zau t/ze bay itself), at Boston Light
and at Sandy Hook, for the years ending june 30, 1894, and
June 30, 1895, are as follows:


HOURS OF FOG HOURS OF FOG RELATIVE PERCENTAGE or
STATION DURING YEAR DURING YEAR FOG AT EACH STATION.
' ENDING JUNE ENDING JUNE
30, I894. 30, I895. I894. I895.
Montauk Point. . 575 754 100% 100%
Sandy Hook. . . . 715 997 124% 132%
Boston Light. . . 709 924 123% 122%


This comparative freedom of Fort Pond Bay from fog, there
being 24 per cent. less fog at that point during I894 than at
Sandy Hook and 32 per cent. less during 1895, is graphically
shown in the monthly pilot charts of the North Atlantic Ocean,
published at the Hydrographic Office, and by the charts pub-
lished in the “Monthly Weather Review,” at Washington,
under the direction of the National Weather Bureau. The fog
charts of the “Weather Review” for these months when fog
banks exist along the Long Island coast, or near its extremities,
have been accurately reproduced and are hereto prefixed.
These charts have been prepared from all the reports re-
ceived for each particular month, and while they vary slightly
from year to year, they may be taken as typical, to illustrate
the fog areas for the different seasons.
It will be noticed that on account of the ocean currents and
atmospheric conditions, the fog helts which stretch during
certain months along the whole or part of the southern shore of
Long Island, and even into New York Harbor, do not extend
as far north as Montanh Point, so that Fort Pond Bay and Long
fsland Sound are sometimes comparatively free from fog when
the present oonrse of steamers is enveloped in the fog helt.
These fog belts, as a general rule, are found at a certain
distance from the border of the Atlantic Coast, and follow the
Gulf Stream to the northeastward, passing somewhat nearer
the coast north of Cape Hatteras, then being deflected to the
northeast, touching north of the New England coast. It is
this warmer Gulf Current which necessarily creates the fog
Which prevails over the British Isles. That the fog belt is
9
frequently found to be denser in the vicinity of the harbor of
New York and its surrounding waterways than at the same
distance from the neighboring coast of Long Island, may be
accounted for by the fact that the Gulf Stream passes nearer
to the coast of New jersey than to the coast of Long Island,
as is shown by the charts of the “Weather Review” of the
United,,States Weather Bureau.
The question has been asked, Why, if Fort Pond Bay
would make such an advantageous harbor, would not the
selection of Boston for the western terminus be still better?
While it is not the desire or intention of the writer to belittle
or disparage the advantages of Boston Harbor, it is only just
that its disadvantages should be pointed out as well as those of
New York Harbor. The actual distance, as calculated from
Government charts, over the northern course from the Boston
Docks to Milford Haven is 2,768 knots, and from Fort Pond
Bay, 2,841 knots, making the actual water distance from Fort
Pond Bay to Milford Haven 7 3 knots longer than from
Boston. Supposing that the maximum speed of 21.9 knots
per hour could be maintained through Boston Harbor, as it
can through the whole distance to Fort Pond Bay, the time
to the latter port would be 3 hours and 20 minutes longer
than to Boston. But Boston is distant from New York 234
miles, and the fastest trains take five hours to make the run,
while Fort Pond Bay is but 114 miles from New York, and
the run can be regularly made in two hours.
This railroad time from New York to Boston can never be
much reduced because of the decreased speed which it is
necessary to maintain for several miles within the city limits
at both ends of the journey. The theoretical time, therefore,
from Milford Haven to New York by the Fort Pond Bay
route would be a few minutes longer than by the Boston
route. But the actual time would always be less, for the maxi-
mum rate of steed cauuot he mairztaiued over the whole dis-
tance to Boston Docks, as the distance from Boston Light to
the Wharves is through a narrow, circuitous channel, crowded
10
at all times with shipping; so that, as in the case of New
York Harbor, speed must be reduced over a long distance
when entering or departing from the harbor, and serious de-
lays would occur which would render anything like uniform
time impossible over this route. But the chief difficulty with
Boston Harbor is that it cannot accommodate steamers of
over twenty-three feet draught, and many millions of dollars
would he required to deepen the ‘channel so as to enahle vessels
of the size of the Campania or the Lucania, the St. Louis or
St. Paul, to even enter the harhor. It would be necessary to
deepen it to thirty feet to have the same depth as the Main
Channel entering New York Harbor; and even this depth is
frequently found to be inadequate, as is shown by the delays
suffered at Sandy Hook bar. But were this dredging accom-
plished from Boston Light to the piers, a distance of over 10
miles——which would be a stupendous undertaking—the channel
would still he narrow and circuitous, and the harhor would he
suhject to the same and even more serious oh_/ections than those
which are met with in New York Harhor. So that while, as
stated above, the theoretical time to Boston may be a few
minutes less than to Fort Pond Bay, there is no douht hut
that the average actual time hy the Boston route would he
two or three hours longer than hy the Fort Pond Bay route.
A hasty glance at the chart of Boston Harbor will fully estab-
lish the force of this statement.
It has been stated by some that the proposed new route
would be more inconvenient than the established ones,
because it would necessitate an extra change at Fort Pond
Bay, and that this inconvenience would be of sufficient im-
portance to deter the traveling public from using it. This
objection does not seem to be well founded. The vast
majority of travelers intending to sail for foreign countries
on steamers using New York Harbor as the port of arrival
and departure arrive either at the Grand Central Station, or by
way of jersey City, or Hoboken. Of those arriving at the two
latter places, the number who would proceed directly from the
11
railroad terminal to the steamship pier, without first coming
to New York City to spend more or less time, is infinitely
small. By far the greater number of foreign travelers probably
spend a day or more in this city before going aboard their
steamer. So that, in considering the question of convenience,
it is proper to consider practically all travelers, about to
sail for foreign ports, whether residents or strangers, as
actually starting from some point in New York City.
The great inconveniences which all travelers suffer who
have to start from this city and take the ferry to jersey City
or Hoboken, and then have to travel some distance, with poor
accommodations, before they reach their steamship pier, need
not be discussed, as there certainly can be no question but
that it will be far easier and more comfortable for them to
reach the Blackwell's Island Terminal, at Third avenue and
Sixty-fifth street-——which will be directly connected with the
Second and Third avenue elevated railroads, the cable cars
and the street cars, and which will be near the residence and
hotel centre of New York——-than it is to reach any of the
steamship piers along the Newjersey side of the North River.
It is almost as inconvenient to reach the piers along the New
York side of the North River, as all of them are remote from
the elevated trains or cable cars, and difiicult of access, and
they can be reached only by passing through disagreeable
portions of the city. Travelers starting from Brooklyn could
reach the Flatbush Avenue Terminal much easier than they
could cross the ferries and be transferred to any of the steam-
ship piers, whether in New York, in jersey City or in Hoboken.
Passengers not desiring to stop over in New York City could
so time their arrival that they could go directly forward to
their steamer, as a fixed hour of departure would be main-
tained the year around, no delays being necessary on account
of fogs or tides—“ a really important point, since upon it the
traveler depends almost wholly in making his calculations for
the trip out and home, and there is no reason why a vessel
12
should not be held to the same rules of movement as a railroad
. train.” The question of the transfer of baggage need not
be discussed. It could be transferred from ]ersey City
or Hoboken, from the Grand Central Station, or fro1n the
hotels or private residences of New York to the present
steamship piers, or the bridge terminal with equal ease,
and very little difference in expense. At the bridge ter-
minal all baggage would be checked through and aboard
the steamer, so that it would be no trouble whatever to the
passenger at Fort Pond Bay. Passengers would take the
cars, and in two hours be at Fort Pond Bay, alongside of the
steamer, which they could board without stepping from under
cover, and by walking not over two hundred feet—an incon-
venience by no means as great as the additional difficulties
incurred in reaching the piers in New York, and infinitely
less irksome than taking the ferry, whether to Jersey City or
Hoboken. [s it ,hossihle, then, that travelers will not spend two
hours ahoard a train, that they may sar/e—to say nothing of the
dangers a'z/oz'ded—-at the very least fifteen hours in the time
necessary to reach London ? ’
In the extracts from the press which follow, both on the sub-
ject of “Disasters at the Termini of Transatlantic Steamers”
and on the subject of “ Quick Transit Between New York and
London,” the italics used are largely the compiler’s, so placed
to call special attention to portions of the article having a par-
ticularly important bearing on the subject under discussion.
Undoubtedly many articles have been omitted which should
have been inserted. If so, it is because they have not been
called to the attention of the writer, who desires to extend his
thanks to the Press throughout the country for its kindly sup-
port of this enterprise and to give his assurance that there is
at the present time every promise that a line will be speedily
established, largely under American auspices, which will use
this shortest feasible route between the two continents.
AUSTIN CORBIN.
13
Eisasters
AT THE
TERMINI OF TRANSATLANTIC ROUTES.
ACCIDENTS OCCURRING DURING FOUR MONTHS.
[New I/orh .Mail and Express, Not/emher 7, 1895.]
THE CITY WRAPT IN MISTY CLOAK.—SHIPPING FOG-BOUND,
NAVIGATION DANGEROUS, EUROPEAN MAIL STEAMERS
LATE.—OUTBOUND VESSELS ANCHOR.
For thirty-six consecutive hours the fog had an uninterrupted and
impenetrahle reign over the city, hays and rivers for fifty miles around.
Navigation on the water was fraught with great danger and navigation on
the rail was delayed anywhere from one-half to two hours.
Several incoming vessels reported in yesterday’s M ail and Express as
being probably fog-bound outside Sandy Hook came up this morning.
Among them were the White Star liner .Majestz'c, from Liverpool, and
the North German Lloyd steamer Spree, from Bremen, both of which were
due here at daylight yesterday. The .Majestz'c reached Sandy Hook at 1.50
P. M. yesterday, after a six days five hours and fifty minutes’ passage from
Queenstown, and her 994 passengers had to wait until noon to—day before
they could reach terra firma. The Spree reached the lightship shortly after
midnight this morning, so that her forced detention outside Sandy Hook
bar was not as great as that of the _/Majestic. When the fog lifted a trifle
this morning the .Majestic and Spree decided to risk the journey through
the channels of the Lower Bay.
A number of smaller boats, including the Russian Prince, from Shields ;
Peconic, from the Mediterranean ; Kensington, Antwerp ; Delaware, Cape
Haytien; Seneca, Havana; and the Ailsa, Kingston, Jamaica, trailed up
14
after the big liners. ‘The last named craft had the longest delay at the
Lightship, having arrived there at 10.30 A. M. yesterday.
* * * * -)6 * * *
EUROPEAN MAIL DELAYED.
An extra force of mail clerks remained at the Post Ofiice all night in an-
ticipation of the extra rush which would be necessary when the delayed
steamers landed their postal cargoes together. Last evening a mail boat
started down the bay in search of the _/ldajestic and Spree, but had to give
up the trip when she reached the Narrows.
[New I/orh M ail and Express, Novemher 8, 1895.]
THE FOG WILL COST $25o,ooo.——THIS DOES NOT REPRESENT
ANYTHING OF THE PRESENT DISCOMFORTS OF OCEAN
TRAVELERS.—FLEET OF VESSELS DETAINED.
The fog went off yesterday on a half-holiday excursion to parts un-
known, but returned to business with renewed zeal today. It was impen-
etrable, steadfast and exasperating on the rivers and bays about this city.
An immense fleet of steamers is hehind time, and is helieved to he an-
chored outside Sandy Hooh awaiting clearing weather, Among these are
the Columhia, from Hamburg; Bellarden, Brazil; Schiedam, Amsterdam ;
Sicilia, Havre; Patria, Hamburg; Menemsha, Rotterdam; Prins Wil-
lem, Port-au-Prince; Alamo, Galveston, and the Nacooche, Savannah.
The American liner New Yorh is due here this evening from Southamp-
ton, but her chances for getting in on time are not the best.
The Mallory liner Colorado and the Seminole, of the Clyde service, will
hardly get to sea this afternoon unless the fog lifts. Their destinations are
Brunswick, Ga., and Charleston, S. C., respectively. The steamer Nestor,
loaded with tea from China and japan, and the Atlas liner Clarihel, from
Jamaica, W. I., arrived off Quarantine last night, were given pratique by the
health officer, but were unable to come up to their piers because of the fog.
WHAT A FOG COSTS.
The puhlic has little idea what an extra expense a fog is to river and
ocean craft. Yesterday, for instance, seventeen steamers, all of which
were detained outside the har for many hours, arrived at the dochs. The
Colorado suflered 36 hours delay, the ./ldajestic 24 hours, the Ailsa 30
hours, Seneca I 5 hours, Delaware 32 hours, and the Russian Prince 40
hours. These vessels had 5,000 yfiersons on hoard, including passengers,
and the cost of extra meals and linen for the latter was considerahle.
15
The furnaces have to be kept going while at anchor, instead of being
drawn at the piers, and these have just as lively appetites for coal as the
passengers have for food. Tugboat men increase their rates IOO per cent.
during fog time. The Fall River line was unable to dispatch the Puritan
Wednesday night, and she did not get away until yesterday morning at
10 o’clock. The Priscilla, coming this way, was also delayed. All the
other Sound boats were behind, and the loss all around must be close on
$250,000, a steamship man estimates.
[New I/orh Tribune, November 9, 1895.]
THE FOG RETURNED.--BAYS AND THE RIVERS AGAIN
SHROUDED WITH MIST.—-NAVIGATION DANGEROUS AND
SERIOUSLY INTERRUPTED.——MANY VESSELS AT ANCHOR,
UNABLE TO ENTER OR LEAVE PORT.—-A COLLISION ON
THE NORTH RIVER IN WHICH A MAN WAS DROWNED.
The fog which has lately shrouded the city and harbor, making life a
burden to the local mariners, settled down on Thursday night denser and
thicker than ever, if that were possible. For a few brief hours on Thurs-
day the fog lifted and gave the fleet of vessels which were fog-bound, so to
speak, an opportunity to disentangle themselves from their predicament.
Then it spread itself again over land and water, making the bays almost
unnavigable, and the two rivers the scenes of ever-present danger.
The experiences of W ednesday were repeated, and New I/orh again
firesented the picture of a great centre of commerce into which no shelt-
ping could enter and which none dared leave. The fog for the time being
stopped the wheels and sails of commerce. Among the steamships which
were due yesterday, and which are probably anchored near Sandy Hook
waiting for a friendly wind to sweep away the enshrouding vapor, are the
Hamburg-American liner Columbia, with the Grau opera company aboard;
the Schiedam, the Prins W illem, the Patria and the M enemsha. Besides
these there is a whole flock of lesser craft, both steam and sail. The few
steamers which started down the bay yesterday dropped anchor in the
neighborhood of the Statue of Liberty, and will probably continue their
outward voyage to-day.
* * * * * * ee * *
[London Times, December 20, I89 5.|
NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMER AGROUND.
At 2 o'clock yesterday morning the North German Lloyd Company's royal
mail and passenger steamer Spree, with 350 passengers, mails and specie
from New York for Bremen via Southampton, took the ground after entering
16
the Solent at the Needles, and became fast on the Warden Ledge. There
was not a great deal of fog at the time, and the ship was steering a straight
mid-channel course to the eastward until a few moments before she struck.
It is stated that the pilot in charge was misunderstood by the man at the
wheel, and the helm was put to starboard when it should have been ported.
The ship swung out of her course and grounded. The tide was about a
quarter ebb at the moment she struck, and, with the easterly wind, the ebb
was making rapidly, every moment diminishing her chance of returning to
deep water. The captain was on deck at the time and exerted himself to
the utmost, with the other officers, to avoid any catastrophe. The engines
were reversed and the screw was worked at full speed, but without success.
As the tide ebbed, the ship settled down, and it was seen that she had a
slight list to starboard which brought her over in the direction of the Isle of
Wight shore. She hung from the fore-funnel forwards. As soon as pos-
sible messages were despatched to Southampton, and Mr. Wallis, the agent
of the company, proceeded to the spot with help. The Ajax, Vulcan,
Alhert Edward and two other powerful tugs were also despatched to the
scene for the purpose of making every effort to liberate the ship at the next
high tide. These tugs attached themselves to the stern of the Spree, and
the unfortunate vessel’s own engines contributed to the effort made to pull
her off the reef, but she had so settled down by this time that she could not
be moved. The effort was continued after the tide begun again to ebb, but
was unavailing. The tides have begun to decrease daily, and will so con-
tinue for the next fortnight, so that fears are entertained that the vessel will
remain on the rocks for at least that period, when, having in the meantime
been relieved of much of her cargo, she may be towed off.
-)6 -X‘ * -X‘ it * * -X- I
[London Times, Decemher I2, 1895.]
THE GERMANIC IN COLLISION.
A serious catastrophe occurred in the Crosby Channel, at the mouth of
the Mersey, last evening, when the inward-bound Glasgow steamer Cum-
hrae sank after collision with the White Star liner Germanic, bound for
New York, which put back damaged. The Cumhrae, a vessel of about
900 tons gross, and belonging to Messrs. G. & J. Burns, was entering the
river in a thick fog, when suddenly the Germanic appeared, and before
effectual measures could be adopted to prevent a collision, the Germanic
struck the Cumhrae abreast of the forehold, the bow penetrating about 12
feet into the other vessel. The Cumhrae’s passengers and crew (about
60 all told) got on board the Germanic during the 20 minutes the steam-
17
ers stuck together, after which the White Star boat backed away, the Cum-
brae gradually settling down. Seventeen of the C umbrae’s crew and four or
five from the Germanic had meanwhile volunteered to board the Cumbrae
and draw her fires, so as to prevent an explosion; but before anything
could be accomplished the vessel sank in deep water. The Germanic,
whose how was damaged, steamed up the river again, with the rescued
people on board, and the men in the boat were picked up by the steam tug
Gamecoch.
A later télegram states that the Germanic cannot proceed, having a hole
about 9 feet by 7 feet in her bow, above water mark, and she will go into
the Langton Dock this morning to discharge. * * *
[London Times, Fanuary 2, 1896.]
DISASTER TO THE CEPHALONIA.
Yesterday morning a dense fog prevailed in the Channel, seriously inter-
fering with the shipping, particularly between Holyhead and Ireland.
Early in the morning the Cunard steamer Ce,b/zalonia, inward bound from
Boston, arrived off the coast of Anglesey. The fog was so heavy that the
foghorn was heat constantly blowz'ng, the engines were slowed down, and
the best looh-out possible he¢t. In the circumstances the actual where-
abouts of the vessel could hardly be ascertained, but the captain was aware
that he was in the immediate neighborhood of Holyhead. Suddenly, about
8 o’clock, a concussion was experienced which violently shook the steamer.
Most of the passengers were below at the time, and orders were imme-
diately given by the ofiicers for all hands to go on deck. The captain
ordered the boats to be prepared, and in a few minutes they were in readi-
ness to take off the passengers. Previously, however, a few men had gone
in a boat to ascertain the situation of the vessel, and it was upon their
report that the captain thought it desirable to land the passengers. It was
found that the Cephalonia had struck the rocks not far from the South
Stack lighthouse. At this part the sea is faced by high and precipitous
cliffs, and the difiiculty of landing the passengers was thereby increased.
The ladies, about a dozen in number, all displayed remarkable fortitude.
They were lowered into a boat in charge of the ship’s crew, and safely
landed. As soon as this boat had got away the male passengers found
another in readiness to receive them, and they, too, were successfully got
ashore, the sea fortunately being very calm. To this fact is also due the
safety of the vessel, for had the sea been rough, it is thought that nothmg
could have saved the steamer from being dashed to pieces on the rocks. As
nearly as could be ascertained, the number of passengers brought away was
about 40. * * *
18
[New York Mail and Express, january 25, 1896.]
“ ST. PAUL ” STRANDED.—THE AMERICAN LINER FAST ON
THE BAR OFF LONG BRANCH.—HER WHISTLES WARNED
HER RIVAL, THE “ CAMPANIA,” IN TIME TO SAVE HER.—
TUGS SENT TO AID THE VESSEL.
After weathering a terrific storm and with her passage from South-
amption almost completed, the American liner St. Paul struck the land
almost at the door of the harbor. In a dense fog, shortly after I o’clock
this morning, while trying to “ pick up ” the red-hulled lightship that marks
the Sandy Hook bar, the St. Paul took the outer bar, off Long Branch, and
remains. She is not damaged, so far as can be ascertained, and while she
lies in a good berth of her own making, there is at the same time a heavy
ground swell.
The St. Paul left Southampton last Saturday at noon, clearing Hurst
Castle at 1.20 P. M. She was due here yesterday evening, and steamship men
were anticipating another interesting race across the ocean between the
St. Paul and the Cunarder Cam,hania, from Queenstown. The latter also
had a narrow escape in making this port, and had the St. Paul not attracted
her attention through her whistles for help after striking, the Campania,
too, might have struck. As it was, the Cunarder came to anchor about a
mile off shore from where the St. Paul lies.
[New I/orh T rihune, Fehruary 20, 1896.]
CAPTAIN JAMISON EXONERATED.-—REPORT OF THE UNITED
STATES INSPECTORS ON THE STRANDING OF THE “ST.
PAUL.”
“ We find that Captain Jamison was not unskillful in the navigation of
his ship, or negligent of his duty, and we are satisfied that he was taking
every precaution that his long experience and successful career as a ship-
master suggested to be necessary to guard against accidents or casualties
that would endanger the lives intrusted to his care, or that would result in
injury to the ship or her cargo, and he is exonerated from all blame in con-
nection with the stranding of the steamship St. Paul.”
19
[New I/orh Tribune, February 6, 1896.]
ANOTHER SHIP IN THE SAND.-—THE CREW OF THE “LAM-
INGTON” SAVED BY THE BREECHES BUOY.—-A CHARGE
THAT THE CAPTAIN WAS INTOXICATED AND IGNORED
A WARNING IS DENIED.--THE ORDEAL OF THOSE WHO
WERE BROUGHT TO SHORE THROUGH THE HIGH SEAS.
The British steamship Lamington, Captain Dufiield, grounded on the
beach Tuesday night and is now hard and fast in the sand of the Long
Island shore, with slim chances of getting off for some time to come. Her
master and crew have been taken off by the life savers. There were two
passengers on board, and they, too, were landed. The steamer is fruit-
laden, and her cargo is valuable. It is in good condition, and will be
brought ashore as soon as the sea moderates.
The steamer took the sand twelve miles east of Fire Island Light at 8
o’clock last evening. She lies two miles east of the Blue Point life-saving
station in shallow water. Her position is relatir/ely the same as that of
other shzjfis that have come ashore on the beach of this place, and the
most of them have never left it.
[The M ail and Express, February 6, I 896.]
WRECK IN NEW YORK HARBOR.—-THE GOOD SHIP “J. B.
WALKER” ASHORE ON LIBERTY ISLAND.
There was enough wind off Sandy Hook last night to send a strip of
paper down the lee at the rate of sixty miles an hour. It blew so savagely
about 4 o’clock this morning that the marine observatory on the point of
the Hook shook like an aspen, and Capt. Robinson, who was on duty about
that hour, expected every minute to see the aged tower come down on a
double-quick run. The wind scattered before it great sheets of rain, and
so fast did the latter fall about 5 o’clock that the observer could not see
even the beach. Captain Patterson and his gallant crew of life savers were
on the alert all night, but fortunately no craft came ashore in that immediate
vicinity.
Many vessels dragged their anchors in the Upper Bay during the night.
Tugboat men, anticipating the storm, patrolled the harbor constantly, and
several of them managed to find rich fields of revenue. The big ship f. B.
Walher, of Thomaston, Me., a sister ship of the Gen. Knox, burned last
year at Pier 19, East River, while hauling at 8 o clock this morning, dragged
20
the tugs ./Municipal and F. W. Devoe, which had her in charge, and went
ashore on Liberty Island. She went broadside on and remains. Wreckers
are alongside trying to float her.
The Walher measures 2,165 tons and is commanded by Capt. Wallace.
She arrived here several weeks ago with a cargo of salt from Liverpool.
The cargo she had discharged, and she was towing light from Congress
Stores in Brooklyn to Eric Basin to dry dock preparatory to loading case
oil for Japan, when she went ashore.
The vessel first struck on Governor’s Island, dragging the tugs with her.
The wind was so strong that the tugs could do nothing with the big ship.
The Walher struck the Liberty Island steamboat dock, and the latter pre-
vented her from capsizing. She is in no immediate danger, and the wreckers
promise to have her afloat in a few days. The agents of the vessel, Wil-
liam R. Grace & Co., have a representative on the scene. The tug M uni-
czjoal had her smokestack knocked off by the wind. Her consort towed
her to South Brooklyn. * * *
STEAMSHIPS DELAYED.
Last night’s fog and rain storm compelled a fleet of large transatlantic
steamers to anchor outside of Sandy Hook bar until this morning. Among
these were the White Star liner ./llajestic and the Spree of the North
German Lloyd. The first named was due here from Queenstown early
yesterday. Her time from the Irish coast was 6 days II hours and 35
minutes. She came over the long southern route, and her best day’s run
was only 490 knots. Capt. Smith, the commander of the vessel, says it was
an exceptionally rough passage from the very start. The ship sustained no
damage, however.
The Sj)ree’s log book shows that the passage was a succession of heavy
gales, which were accompanied by high seas and half a dozen snow and
hail squalls. The doughty S,oree came through the tempests without as
much as a scratch. Both vessels reached the North River shortly after 9
o’clock this morning, and their piers were crowded with anxious friends of
the passengers on board.
[The M ail and Express, Fehruary I3, 1896.]
“PARIS” SINKS A STEAMER.-—COLLIDED WITH “HER
MAJESTY” AT THE SOUTHAMPTON DOCK.—THE LAT-
TER’S CREW ALL SAVED.—THE AMERICAN LINER MAY
BE DRY DOCKED TO ASCERTAIN IF HER RUDDER IS
INJURED.-—SHE WAS GOING ASTERN.
The American Line steamer Paris, Capt. Frederick Watkins, which
left her pier in the North River a week ago yesterday, met with an accident
to-day when her passage to Southampton was almost completed. The par-
21
ticulars of the mishap are contained in a cablegram to the Maritime
Exchange. The Paris reached the Needles at 4.15 this morning, and while
being warped into the Empress Dock, three-quarters of an hour later, col-
lided with the steamer Her ./ldajesty.
The latter sunk immediately, the crew of the Paris and dock attendants
saving those on board her. The collision occurred through the Paris going
astern. The force of the blow was so great that it is feared the rudder of
the ocean greyhound is damaged.
MAY BE DOCKED.
Divers were immediately employed to inspect the rudder. Should it be
injured the steamer will have to be dry docked for repairs, and may be
unable to leave for this city in time next Saturday.
The steamer Her ./Majesty belonged to the Isle of Wight. The cable
states that she was entirely responsible for the collision.
[New York Herald, March I, 1896.]
WRECK AND RUIN IN THE GREAT FOG.—ATLAS STEAMSHIP
“AILSA” RUTHLESSLY RUN DOWN AND SUNK IN THE
BAY OFF FORT WADSWORTH BY THE BIG FRENCH LINER
“BOURGOGNE.”—THE “GEORGE W. CLYDE” IS ALSO IN
COLLISION.—HER SIDE STOVE IN BY THE “ GUYAN-
DOTTE,” SHE GOES ASHORE AT FORT HAMILTON A
HELPLESS WRECK.--THE “ NEW YORK” RUNS ASHORE
IN LOWER BAY.—NO LIVES LOST, BUT “AILSA’S” PAS-
SENGERS WERE FOR A TIME IN GREAT PERIL.
To a very heavy fog which descended upon the city and vicinity early
yesterday morning and shrouded everything in gloom all day is due a
remarkable list of disasters in the harbor.
The chief of these was the sinking of the Atlas Line steamer Ailsa by
the French line steamer Bourgogne. The Ailsa had aboard fourteen pas-
sengers, three of them women, and had anchored off Fort Wadsworth.
The Bourgogne was on her way to Havre.
Unaware of the extent of the damage she had inflicted, she proceeded
on her course, only to anchor in the Lower Bay. The Ai/sa’s sailors became
panic stricken, and, dashing the passengers to the deck, seven of them made
away with the only available lifeboat.
The Ailsa was headed for Fort Hamilton, but sunk in thirty feet of
water before reaching the beach. The passengers had taken to the rigging,
and when the vessel went down the waves dashed over those who were
22
lowest. They remained in the rigging only a short time, when they were
taken off by a tug and brought to this city.
Only the masts and a few feet of the smokestack are above water. The
Bourgogne, which had one of its plates injured, will return for repairs.
The steamer George W. Clyde was off Ninety-sixth street, South Brook-
lyn, on her way to sea when the Old Dominion Line steamer Guyandotte
crashed into her port side, making a big hole. The Clyde was towed
ashore and beached, while the Guyandotte, which was not injured, con-
tinued on her course.
As the New I/orh, of the American Line, was slowly steaming into port
early in the morning, she went aground on the tail of the West Bank, in the
Lower Bay. Her pilot had lost his hearings in the gloom. She remained
hard and fast all day, her eighty-seven cabin passengers having been taken
off in safety. There is little doubt that she will be floated without difficulty.
A big fleet of vessels was anchored in the bay last night, fearing to pro-
ceed on their way because of the fog.
Extracts from the “Dress.
‘ ‘
- v
A
V
[New Yorh Sun, November 3, 1895.]
MONTAUK AND MILFORD HAVEN.
One of the great German steamship companies has ordered forits trans-
atlantic service two vessels of surpassing power, that is, of a capacity
superior to our St. Louis and St. Paul, greater even than the great Cu-
narders Campania and Lucania. We have heard the prediction, made
with apparent confidence, that these vessels will run between Milford Haven
in Wales and Fort Pond Bay at the eastern end of Long Island.
The basis for such a belief is very strikingly and convincingly set forth
in the current number of the North American Re:/iew, in an article by Mr.
Austin Corbin. The quickest route will always command the mails, and
with the mails the passenger traffic. All other things being equal, the shortest
passage will always appeal to the great majority of ocean travelers, the num-
ber of people who prefer the sea to the land being no greater now than it
was when Noah built the Ark. Mr. Corbin shows that the average advan-
tage of the proposed new route over all others. as affecting the mails be-
tween the New York Post Office and the London Post Office, is about
fifteen hours. Fort Pond Bay is 114 miles from New York, and vessels
can enter it from the open sea without question of tides or of the interrup-
tions of the approaches from Sandy Hook to our city docks. Like condi-
tions characterize the approaches to Milford Haven on the other side.
When similar advantageous conditions have heretofore been availed of,
success has been immediate and enduring. Witness, for instance, the estab-
lishment of the Queenstown route, whereby the mails leave London at 8
o’clock on Saturday evening, cross the channel to Ireland, and on Sunday over-
take at Queenstown the steamer which left Liverpool on the preceding after-
noon. This route has defied competition for over a quarter of a century, and
continues to do so to-day, except as against vessels of superior power running
by way of Southampton. When the natural advantages of Southampton
were made use of, Liverpool felt that her monopoly of our traffic had been
broken, and she even had to endure the trial of losing one of her oldest
lines, the Inman, which in its new American guidance sought the com-
manding advantages of Southampton.
Southampton in turn must yield to a shorter and better route, and when
once the new line is opened, it will be seen that it appeals to the comfort
of passengers in the same degree that it affords acceleration to the mails.
24
Some of the powerful German lines already find that they are at a great
disadvantage at Southampton. It is for them only a port of call, while for
the American line it is a terminus. Consequently, when a German ship
lands in the night she has to debark her passengers irrespective of the
hour, whereas on the American boats they remain in bed until it is con-
venient to arise and take the train up to London. It is thought that this
consideration may lead one of the German lines to divide its fleet and make
Milford Haven a terminus for one of its faster vessels.
In any event, Mr. Corbin makes it very clear that the Fort Pond prob-
lem is now open for solution, and that its practical consideration cannot be
much longer deferred.
[New I/orh Times, Novemher I8, 1895.]
QUICKER ATLANTIC TRAN SIT.
Mr. Austin Corbin returns, in a paper entitled “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” in the current number of the North American
Review, to his old topic of the desirableness and possibility of shortening
the voyage between New York and London by making the first hundred
miles of it over the Long Island Railroad. Mr. Corbin’s own interest in a
change that would be so much to the advantage of a corporation of which
he is the President is not at all concealed, and is, of course, perfectly legiti-
mate. Nobody will grudge him his reward for doing a great service to the
commerce of the world.
Undoubtedly the shortening of time, for passengers and for mails, be-
tween New York and London would be such a service, and the purpose of
Mr. Corbin’s paper is to show that this shortening would be accomplished
by the selection of Fort Pond Bay, on the north shore of Long Island, six
miles west of Montauk and one hundred and fourteen miles east of New
York, as the western terminus, and Milford Haven, the most westerly port
of Wales, as the eastern terminus of the Atlantic voyage. Mr. Corbin sets
forth the advantages of these ports in accessihility, in the comjjarative
avoidance of the most frequented waterways, in the comparative immunity
from the dangers of stranding and collision on the American side, in the
comparative freedom from fog and moderation of the tides on the British
side. These advantages will he conceded hy most readers who follow Mr.
C orhin’s account or who have indeyjendent means of judging. That the
ocean route hetween these two points is much shorter than either of the
routes now commonly followed is evident from a glance at the map.
In estimating the saving of time, Mr. Corbin assumes the rate of prog-
ress of a steamer to be the fastest yet made to the eastward, that of the
Lucania, which, in her best run, made an average of just under 22 knots
an hour. Mr. Corbin assumes that steamers bound east would proceed
25
at this rate from the point of divergence of the route to Milford Haven and
of the route to Queenstown and to Liverpool by way of Queenstown. Tak-
ing into consideration the detentions in each route, which seem to be fairly
enough computed, he makes the time from the point of divergence to the
London Post Office 17 hours and 9 minutes by Queenstown, Kingstown,
and Holyhead, 20 hours and 24 minutes by Queenstown and Liverpool, and
14 hours and 19 minutes by Milford Haven. The time by way of South-
ampton, computed in the same way, is 18 hours and 59 minutes.
Upon this side Mr. Corbin considers, and needs to consider, but two
routes to the New York Post Office——that from the point of divergence at
the southern end of Nantucket Shoals, by way of Sandy Hook, and that
from the same point by Fort Pond Bay and the Long Island Railroad. He
assumes the sea speed, as before, as the maximum; he states the time
necessary to traverse Long Island as I hour and 54 minutes, and he com-
putes a saving by the proposed route of 3 hours and 56 minutes. Including
the entire journey, from the London Post Office to the New York Post
Office, the saving of time would be over the Southampton route 8 hours
and 36 minutes, over the Queenstown mail route 6 hours and 46 minutes,
and over the Liverpool route 10 hours and I minute, or 8 hours and 31
minutes, omitting the detention at Queenstown. The land speed is in
every case assumed as a mile a minute. By applying the assumption of
speed to the whole distance, Mr. Corbin arrives at a transit between the
New York and London post offices of 5 days, 20 hours and II minutes for
the proposed route, against 6 days, 2 hours and 57 minutes by the quickest
mode of transit now in operation.
It is worth while to point out that, even after the new bridge across the
East River is completed, there will still be one more handling of mails,
baggage and freight, and one more transfer of passengers by the proposed
route than by any existing route, and that this fact constitutes some deduc-
tion—how important we do not pretend to say——from the advantages of Mr.
Corbin's plan.
[New York Mae’! and Express, November 5, 1895.]
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN FIVE DAYS.
Those who have watched the Long Island Railroad gradually creeping
eastward from the Shinnecock Hills to Amagansett, and thence across the
mosquito-infested Napeague Beach, almost to Montauk Point, must have
realized that there must be something more than the traffic with the Mon-
tauk Indians and the peopling of the sand dunes and barren rocks of New
York's Land's End to attract the attention of the keen and active brain
which guides the fortunes of that wonderful insular system. Shrewd ob-
servers had already noticed that the railroad which was reaching out its
26
great southern arm to the cast was not making straight for the Montauk
Light, but stopped six miles short, and at the Hither Plain bent northward
to grasp Fort Pond Bay, on the northerly shore of the island, one of the
finest harbors in the world.
Many have for years faintly discerned the daring project which filled the
prophetic vision of Austin Corbin, but his entertaining article in the North
American Review for November takes sixty-five millions of Americans into
his confidence, and challenges the admiration of the world. His plan is
nothing less than a new transatlantic steamship route, an avoidance of the
long delays at Sandy Hook, and the slow passage through the channel;
twenty-three hours saving in time between the post offices of New York
and London, when compared with the shortest average time for any of the
existing routes, and a five-day trip across the Atlantic.
In these days of rush and competition, the transportation manager who
saves an hour to his passengers seems as much a public benefactor as the
man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before. Mr.
Corbin proposes to save many hours in time, as well as to avoid most of the
annoyances and discomforts which now attach to the trip between New
York and London. His proposed route is from Milford Haven to Fort
Pond Bay, both open, deep-water harbors, which may be safely entered at
any hour of the day or night, both comparatively free from fogs, and both so
deep and quiet as to make the sailings independent of wind and tides.
From Milford Haven express trains on the Great Western will land passen-
gers in London in less than five hours, while the new extension of the Long
Island Railroad will bring Fort Pond Bay within two hours of New York.
In his North American article, Mr. Corbin shows, by a careful com-
parison of the records of the fleetest ocean greyhounds and a conservative
calculation of the time required at the present maximum speed to cover the
route between Milford Haven and Fort Pond Bay, that the new route
would gain sixteen hours from post office to post office over the Lucania’s
average time, and thirty-two hours over the New I/orh’s average time. A
similar calculation shows a gain in mail transportation from post office to
post office of eight hours and thirty-six minutes over the best possible
time by the Southampton route, and seven hours over the mail route from
Queenstown to London, granting that the maximum rates of speed, both
by land and sea, could be maintained over this route for the whole distance,
which is impossible.
An im,hortant fact to which Mr. C orhin calls attention is that in the
transaction of husiness hy letter a whole weeh is gained hy a few hours’
earlier delivery of foreign letters in London or New I/orh. A steamship
leaving the Fort Pond terminus on the receipt of mail matter posted in
New York Saturday morning would deliver the mail in London early
Friday evening, thus easily allowing time to send replies by the steamer
leaving Milford Haven the next day. Such replies would be delivered in
New York the following Thursday night or Friday morning. This con-
2-7
nection can now be made only for a few trips in summer, and then only
under the most favorable conditions.
But there is more than the comfort and convenience of individual pas-
sengers and business men dependent upon the consummation of some
such plan as that evolved by Mr. Corbin. Expert marine architects have
come to the conclusion that the limit of speed in steamship travel, when
conjoined with safety and comfort, is nearly reached. Nothing but racing
machines, they say, will make the trip between the present termini in much
less than six days. The only other way to shorten the trip is to diminish
the length of the water route. British lines can do this by establishing a
terminus at Halifax, connecting with fast trains to Boston and New York,
and diverting both passenger and freight traffic by the subsidized Canadian
Pacific to all the lake ports, the Pacific Coast and the Orient. This would
require a subsidy, but Great Britain is liberal in subsidies, as is shown by
the fact that in recently awarding the Irish mail contract it raised the an-
nual subsidy to £100,000 for a decrease of one-half hour in time between
Kingstown and Holyhead.
The only way to prevent the establishment of such an all-British route
is for the United States to promote and secure a through direct route
which will put the London mails in New Yorh and on the Pacific Coast in
less time than can be done by any Canadian route. It would appear that
this can be best accomplished by the adoption of Mr. Corbin’s Montauk
route. Canada is offering to pledge many times more money to obtain this
advantage than would be required from the United States to secure and
make permanent the intercontinental mail and passenger traffic.
The project of Mr. Corbin, therefore, becomes one of national im-
portance.
[New York Evening Telegram, November 8, 1895.]
SHORTER STEAMSHIP TRIPS.
With the late recorded marked increase in long distance railroad speed,
together with the contemporaneous presumed approach to the limits of
practicable speed in ocean steamers, the problem of still further shortening
the time of the transatlantic journey involves new terms. These terms are
presented by Mr. Austin Corbin in theleading article in this month's ]Vorth
American Review. His article, “ Quick Transit Between New York and
London,” is not altogether new, for the idea of seeking a solution of this
ever pressing problem by the use of a shorter ocean route with new harbors
and longer stretches of railway travel had been broached by this same au-
thority some time ago. On the present occasion, however, Mr. Corbin has
worked out his pet theory by truer comparisons and with greater exactness
28
and more fullness of detail than ever before, arriving at conclusions that
must command attention from the several circles of business, transportation
and travel.
The advantage claimed for the new route between New York and Lon-
don, by way of Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven, are first, and mainly, the
shortening of the sea route by the lengthening of the rail runs, which latter
can be made in all seasons at the rate of a mile a minute; and, second,
deep harbors on either side which can be approached at full speed, with
fog reduced to a minimum and without danger from a lee coast, from
tortuous channels and from the throng of other craft, and can be reached
at all tides without transfer by tenders or other detention. The whole time
by the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, from the New York to the London
Post Office, is 5 days 22 hours II minutes.
In making his comparisons, Mr. Corbin first assumes the possibility of
steamers making the maximum speed of 21.9 knots per hour for the whole
distance on all the routes compared by elaborate and interesting tables,
arriving at what he calls the “theoretical” gain of the new route over all
the existing routes. But then he argues, “the assumed standard of speed
cannot be maintained on either the Liverpool route after leaving Queens-
town, or the Southampton route, after reaching the Solent, or from Kings-
town to Holyhead, on the mail route, any more than it can be continued
over the Sandy Hook bar and through New York harbor. The real
advantage of the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route is, therefore, much greater
than the theoretical, and to fully appreciate the gain between New York
and London, which the location and merits of this new route render pos-
sible, we must compare what would be done, if it were adopted, with what
is done by the other routes.”
It is shown that the total gain by the proposed route over the actual
time now made is-—over the Queenstown route, as made by the steamer
Lucania, I5 hours 47 minutes, over the Southampton route, by the steamer
New York, I day, 6 hours, II minutes.
Without going the length of indorsing Mr. Corbin’s hint that the United
States must “ promote and secure ” a faster through direct route to prevent
the establishment of a Canadian fast Atlantic and Pacific mail service by
the British subsidy policy, the Evening Telegram may unreservedly con-
cede that an Atlantic route which can shorten the time between New York
and London by a full day, with diminished ocean risks, is certain at no dis-
tant period to command the co-operation of the world, if not through
national boosting, then by private and corporate enterprise. Mr. Corhz'n
is to he congratulated upon the strength of his case, and uqion the force
with which he qhresents it, as well as upon the correctness of this deduc-
tion .-
“ The question of this proposed transatlantic route is not a mere local
one between New York and London, but it concerns all Europe and
America, including Eastern Asia as well.”
29
[New I/or/e Recorder, November 7, 1895.]
AUSTIN CORBIN’S NEW TRANSATLANTIC ROUTE.
By a slip of the pen in this column, Mr. Austin Corbin's article on a
new and quicker steamship service between New York and London was
incorrectly ascribed to another magazine than the North American Review
for November, in which it is the leading feature. It is causing no end of
corriment and discussion.
I have already summarized its leading points. Mr. Corbin is certainly
right in assuming that a gain in time of nearly sixteen hours over one of the
two fastest mail steamers, and of thirty-two hours over the other, would be
an important and valuable one. His proposed new route, from Fort Pond
Bay on this side to Milford Haven on the other, would effect this saving,
and would revolutionize our transatlantic mail service.
Mr. Corbin says: “ Granting that all existing mail steamers could make
the ocean voyage fast enough to deliver the mails in the same time which
the Lucania takes, it would rarely be possible to get a reply by the return
steamer sailing a week later, except during the summer months. Even
then it is by no means certain, and little, if any, opportunity is afforded for
inquiries and investigation. * * * The saving of a few hours would
completely change this and make the exception the rule. Steamers starting
from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which had left New York on Satur-
day morning, would be able to deliver their mails in London the following
Friday evening, at the latest ; so that a reply could be sent on Saturday’s
returning steamer, which would reach New York on Thursday night or Fri-
day morning. The return letter would in these cases be nearly across the
Atlantic when the reply, under existing conditions, is posted in London.”
Wz'thout doubt we shall hear more of this very attractive, and it
would seem very feasible, project for bringing New Y orh and London
nearer together.
[New York Herald, December 7, 1895.]
The article by Austin Corbin, entitled “Quick Transit Between New
York and London,” which appeared in the North American Review and
attracted wide attention, has been reissued in neat pamphlet form, and has
been greatly improved by the addition of several maps, the value of which
lies in the fact that they emphasize and make clear the author’s arguments
as set forth in the text. The subject of the article is certainly of prime im-
portance, and ./ldr. Corbin is right in saying that “the universal demand is
for the shortest jossible sea passage for travelers and the guichest delivery
of the mails between the two great distributing cities, London and New
30
I/orh.” He claims that the Fort Pond and Milford route is the best, and he
puts forward some strong arguments in support of his claim. He main-
tains that quicker time could be made over this route than is made at
present, and he presents apparently strong statistics in proof of this asser-
- tion. He states his case clearly and well, and those who are in any way
interested in transatlantic travel will find in his pamphlet much valuable
information.
[Commercial Advertiser, .Novemher I6, 1895.]
QUICK TRANSIT—-NEW YORK, LONDON.
If all the calculations made by Austin Corbin in his article, “ Quick
Transit Between New York and London,” in the North American Review,
can be verified, it would be an easy matter to shorten the time between the
two great capitals from seven to ten hours. Leaving the consideration of
increased speed of ocean steamers out of the question, attention is given to
the geographical location of ports for embarkation and debarkation, as hav-
ing direct bearing on the matter. It is proposed to select Fort Pond Bay
as the American port. It is on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles
west of Montauk Point, and I 14 miles from New York City.
“ To enter this harbor, all large steamers would depart from the usual
route between Great Britain or Europe and New York at a point a little
south of Nantucket Shoals, and would proceed in a straight course through
unobstructed waters to the entrance of Block Island Sound, west of Block
Island. This entrance has a width of five miles, between Phelps Ledge and
a small shoal located a little to the westward of Southwest Ledge, its mini-
mum depth being seven fathoms. From this point the course would be
through Block Island Sound, passing between Shagwong Reef and Cerberus
Shoal, which are four miles apart, and between which the minimum depth
of water is eight fathoms. Thence the course is direct, through absolutely
unobstructed waters, into Fort Pond Bay, whose entrance is three-quarters
of a mile wide, and where the tides never exceed three feet five inches.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, Milford Haven, in Wales, is selected
as the most convenient port. To reach it, vessels taking the usual course
to Queenstown and Liverpool, after sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear,
on the southern coast of Ireland, would hear directly eastward, thus avoid-
ing the disagreeable and dangerous trip through a channel full of shipping
at all hours of the day and night. The harbor has a entrance of more than
a mile and a half wide, is entirely landlocked, and has a minimum depth
sufficient for the largest steamers. At the end of the pier, where there
is 34 feet of water, is the Great Western Railway Station, which could be
entered without stepping from under cover, and from which special trains
could be run to London in less than five hours.
>:< * >i< >l< * * >l< *
31
There are two main routes between New York and London. The first
is by the way of Queenstown and Liverpool, and thence by rail to London ;
the second is by the way of Southampton and rail to London.
The fastest eastward ocean steaming yet made is certified by the Cunard
Company to have been 5 days 8 hours and 38 minutes, by the Lucania.
* * * * -34- -X- -X’ *
According to tables prepared by Mr. Corbin, steamers using the Milford
Haven harbor would gain from the meridian of Fastnet, ten miles south of
Fastnet Light, where the new route would diverge from that now followed,
4 hours and 40 minutes over the Southampton route, 6 hours and 5 minutes
over the Liverpool passenger route, including the delay at Queenstown, and
4 hours and 35 minutes excluding it; and 2 hours and 50 minutes over the
Queenstown mail route.
The gain made by westbound steamers in using Fort Pond Bay over the
present route is estimated at five hours. It is thus explained:
“ All large steamers from Great Britain or Northern Europe, approach-
ing New York harbor, aim to pass the southern end of Nantucket Shoals in
about latitude 40 degrees 40 minutes north, and longitude 69 degrees 20
minutes west, from which position the course from Sandy Hook Lightship
is west -§- degrees north, the distance being 207 knots. Assuming that the
whole distance of 207 knots could be run at the maximum speed of twenty-
one and nine-tenths knots per hour, it would take 9 hours 27 minutes to
reach Sandy Hook Lightship. From this vessel it is twenty-five knots to
the pier of the American Line in New York, and as this distance is through
narrow, winding channels, and through New York harbor, it must be run
at greatly reduced speed. The average time consumed by steamers from
the Sandy Hook Lightship to their respective piers is three hours, making
the total time from the point of divergence of the two routes to the pier in
New York 12 hours 27 minutes, to which must be added one hour for trans-
porting mail from the pier to the Post Office, making 13 hours 27 minutes.
The distance from the point of divergence to the foot of Fort Pond Bay is
123 knots, all of which is through open and unobstructed waters, and
through all of which, to the entrance of the bay, the maximum speed can
be maintained in clear weather."
The trip from Fort Pond Bay to New York could always be made in
uniform time by rail. By this course five hours could be saved, and 114
miles of railroad travel-—which can be made at the rate of sixty miles an
hour, regardless of fog and storms—would be substituted for 109 knots, or
125% miles, of dangerous ocean travel. The total gain thus estimated at
both ends for the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route would be: Over the
Southampton route, 8 hours and 36 minutes; over the Liverpool passenger
route, including the Queenstown detention, IO hours and I minute; exclud-
ing it, 8 hours and 31 minutes, and over the Queenstown mail route, via
Kingston or Dublin and Holyhead, 6 hours 46 minutes.
* *_ >I.< * * >:< >I< * a
One of the most important advantages promised through the proposed
Fort Pond and Milford Haven route is that the mails would be greatly ex-
pedited. Says Mr. Corbin:
32
“ Steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which had
left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails
in London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a reply could
be sent on Saturday's returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these
. cases be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing condi-
tions, is posted in London. By this route, passengers would be able to be
in telegraphic communication with the rest of the world at least fifteen
hours longer than by either of the other passenger routes.”
>i< * * 9+ >r ->e * *
Taking the best average time of the Cunard steamer Lucania and the
American liner New I/orh, the following table shows the advantage of
the proposed new route, as calculated by Mr. Corbin :
D. H. M.
Average time, Queenstown route, by steamer Lucania . . . . . . . . 6 I 3 58
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 22 I 1
Total gain by proposed route. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 5 47
Average time, Southampton route, by steamer New I/orh.... 7 6 24
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 22 II
Total gain by proposed route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 8 II
>l< >l< * >l< >l< >l< * >l<
Something that calls for serious thought in connection with the ques-
tion of rapid transit between America and Europe is the determination of
the British Government to control the transcontinental mail.
“ In May a deputation waited on Lord Rosebery for the purpose of
formally submitting the scheme of constructing a fast Atlantic and Pacific
mail service, passing wholly between British ports, in British boats and over
British rails, the object of the line being to develop and strengthen the
commercial connection between the British colonies and the United King-
dom. There is only one way to prevent the establishment of a Canadian
route which would divert much local and all through mail and tratfic to the
Dominion, and that is for the United States to promote and secure a through
direct route, which will put the mails into New York and all Pacific ports
in less time than can be done by any other route. This can be accom-
plished by the Fort Pond and Milford route. Canada is offering to pledge
many times more money to obtain this advantage than would be required
from the United States to secure and make certain for all time the inter-
continental mail and passenger traffic.”
* >l< >|< * =l< * >i< *
Not the least interesting argument offered by Mr. Corbin in favor of his
purposed new route is that it would be safer than any now employed.
33
[The New I/orh lldaritime Register, November 20, 1895.]
“ QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.”
Mr. Austin Corbin has, in the November North American Review, an
article under the above title, which is really a special plea for a mail route
between Fort Pond Bay, Long Island, and Milford Haven, Wales. Mr.
Corbin, however, has in his article proved his main point, which is more
than-can be said about most special pleadings. He has brought together
quite an amount of data to show what is the best time now made on the
several steamship routes between New York and England that carry the
mails. Taking this as a basis he has shown that, by a mail route from New
York City by rail to Fort Pond Bay, Long Island, thence by steamer to
Milford Haven, and thence by rail to London, speed of steamers and rail-
way trains being equal to those on other routes, the saving in time by the
Long Island-I/Vales route over the Queenstown route would be 15 hours
47 minutes, and over the Southampton route I day 8 hours II minutes.
This is simply the physical part, and as fast steamers and locomotives are
to be had for money, it may be admitted that Mr. Corbin’s figures on the
actual time of the trip are approximately correct.
Mr. Corbin, however, goes farther than claiming an actual saving in
time for his proposed route. He says it is by far the safest one. Upon this
point there may be a great divergence of opinions. He naturally magnifies
the dangers of the approach to New York Harbor from the southeast, and
also the course from Sandy Hook to the city piers, exaggerating them
greatly as compared with Fort Pond Bay. They are not so great as he
says, and the slowing down of speed is no more necessary on this route than
in the approach to Fort Pond Bay. In fair weather the course is easy and
safe. In foul and foggy weather any course is perilous. In regard to the
approaches at the English end of the route Mr. Corbin has stronger grounds
for his assertions, but even there, the gain in safety is not so great as he
claims. But having proved that a great actual gain in time could be
made, and claiming also much greater safety and also a shorter time at sea,
Mr. Corbin says : '
“It is universally admitted that passengers will go by the shortest
route. This has been shown by the fact that the rivalry of South-
ampton has already made serious inroads into the Liverpool traffic. The
British steamers now cover all the short routes except that from Milford
to Fort Pond Bay. This should induce the American people to adopt this
route, and thus secure to themselves the shortest possible means of com-
munication between the continents, which would control all fast mail and
express matter and all passengers to whom quick transit is of importance."
This conclusion of Mr. Corbin is not one that always follows from the
premises set forth by him. Passengers should choose the shortest route,
but they do not do so at all times, for the simple reason that it is not always
34
the most convenient. Upon paper, and by the chart, the most direct route
can be made to appear the best. Yet in fact and from experience an ap-
parently more circuitous one is oftentimes selected. That steamer route is
generally the best and most popular which gets the passengerbetween two
points with the least changes and inconvenience. That transatlantic,
steamer line will be the most patronized that can take passengers from
the wharf at New York and land them at the nearest point to London in
the shortest time. They will prefer it in almost every case to any other line
that involves dangers and railway journeys at both ends of the route. It
is the aim of commerce to get the vessel as near the producing or starting
points of business as possible, and to free transportation-—passengers and
goods—as much as possible from breaking bulk or changing. That is one
reason why, on this side of the Atlantic at least, the port of New York, not
any place fifty or a hundred miles distant, will be the objective port of all
steamship lines, passenger or freight.
But Mr. Corbin has made out a good case. His theory may be the right
one. It can only be proved by the test of experience, but that test must be
made by individuals. If the advantages are so immeasurably great, and
they certainly make a brave showing, then would private capital reap a rich
harvest from exploiting them, and great risks have often been taken upon
less inducements. But it is not an experiment to be tried in any other
way.
[New I/orh Press, Decemher 8, I89 5.]
CORBIN’S BIG SCI-IEME.—BROOKLYN WILL EXPERIENCE
THE BENEFITS OF IT.-—A TRUNK LINE THROUGH THE
CITY.-THROUGH PARLOR CARS FROM FORT POND BAY
TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Austin Corbin’s great scheme for a transatlantic line of steamers be-
tween Montauk Point and Milford Haven, England, is the subject of a pam-
phlet that Mr. Corbin is now distributing. In this he elaborates the scheme,
which he believes not only feasible but likely to be accomplished.
He has incorporated the salient points of an article by himself in the
North American Review in this later publication, and he shows by figures
that such a line as he proposes would work a saving of several hours in the
transmission of mail matter, besides its many other advantages. In part,
Mr. Corbin says :
“ The introduction of some means of rapid transit between the two great
English-speaking nations, wholly free from the inconveniences, delays and
hazards due to tides, fogs and storms encountered in narrow and crowded
waterways and along dangerous coasts, is of the utmost importance to
all transatlantic travelers, who look upon the voyage as a necessary means
35
to an end. The universal demand is for the shortest possible sea passage
for travelers and the quickest delivery of the mails between the two great
distributing cities, London and New York.
“ The Atlantic express line of the future will not trouble itself with ordi-
nary and cheap freights. Mail and passenger traffic, with a limited amount
of express freight, are the great and important branches. Ordinary freight
which does not demand quick transit will take a secondary place, and will
always seek those ports from which it can be shipped with the least ex-
ense.
p A NEW WESTERN TERMINUS.
“ As the western terminus for a new transatlantic route, it is proposed
to select Fort Pond Bay, which is one of the finest natural harbors in the
world. It is situated on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles from
Montauk Point, and 114 miles from New York City. As shown by the
latest Government charts, it is of such great and uniform depth that the
largest steamers can enter or depart from it, day or night, throughout the
year, without danger of detention.
“ To enter the harbor, all large steamers would depart from the usual
route between Great Britain or Europe and New York, at a point a little
south of Nantucket Shoals, and would proceed I 12 knots in a straight course
through unobstructed waters to the entrance of Block Island Sound, west
of Block Island. This entrance has a width of five miles, between Phelps
Ledge and a small shoal located a little to the westward of Southwest
Ledge, its minimum depth being seven fathoms. From this point the
course would be through Block Island Sound, passing between Shagwong
Reef and Cerberus Shoal, which are four miles apart, and between which
the minimum depth of water is eight fathoms. Thence the course is
direct, through absolutely unobstructed waters, into Fort Pond Bay, whose
entrance is three-quarters of a mile wide, and where the tides never exceed
three feet five inches.
IN FORT POND BAY.
“ The distance from the entrance of Block Island Sound to the terminus
in Fort Pond Bay is eleven knots. In clear weather the whole distance,
12 3 knots, from the point of divergence from the ordinary route, could be
run at the maximum speed without any apprehensions, as the reefs above
referred to are already marked by the usual aids to navigation, and may be
easily discerned. In foggy or stormy weather, which is much less preva-
lent at Montauk Point than at Sandy Hook, it might be necessary to re-
duce the speed for the last eleven knots from the entrance to Block Island
Sound to the harbor, but the distance being short, the clear, open course
being as broad as the whole distance between Sandy Hook and Coney
Island, and all the dangers consequent to a crowded harbor being removed,
it would always be possible to enter with comparative safety and with but
slight delay.
“At Sandy Hook, on the other hand, where the entrance to and exit
from New York harbor for all large steamers is through a narrow channel
not over 1,000 feet wide, where fleets are exposed to the full force of wind
and sea, and where vessels are approaching from every direction, it often
happens during dense fogs that both the incoming and outgoing fleets are
detained for many hours, and have to wait the raising of the fog be-
fore venturing over the bar. This not only causes serious detention to
all the mails and thousands of passengers, but greatly increases shipping
expenses.
“In selecting this harbor for the western terminus of a new trans-
atlantic route, the entire southern shore of Long Island and the eastern
36
coast of New jersey are avoided; the risk from collision on the much-fre-
quented North River and New York Bay is escaped, and the long delay at
Sandy Hook, often caused by the shallow water of the channel, and the slow
passage through the twenty-five miles of tortuous and crowded channels
from Sandy Hook Lightship to the New York piers are done away with.”
A SAVING OF FIVE HOURS.
Mr. Corbin also shows that Milford Haven would make the best
English terminus, because it would avoid the disagreeable and dangerous
trip through a channel full of shipping at all hours of the day and night.
Mr. Corbin then gives a series of tables which show the distances be-
tween America's and England’s landing places and final ports.
“These calculations assume,” says Mr. Corbin, “that steamers could
proceed at the maximum speed of twenty-one and nine-tenths knots per hour,
from the point of divergence to their piers, and that trains could be run at the
rate of a mile per minute over the whole railway distances. The speed of
steamers varies with the weather, the openness of the course and the ship-
ping conditions, but well-regulated railway trains should make nearly uni-
form time between the same termini. While the railway standard here
adopted is higher than that maintained on any of the existing routes, it is
nevertheless a reasonable one, and in order to ascertain the real superiority
of the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route over all others, it is necessary to
adopt, not only the same standards for all routes,but the highest standards
which it has been possible to arrive at with the most approved modern
appliances.
“Statistics received from the Hydrographic Office show that the aver-
age time of the ocean greyhounds from the meridian of Montauk to their
piers is eight hours. Adding to this five hours and thirty minutes, the time
necessary to sail from the point of divergence to the meridian of Mon-
tauk, I20 knots at the maximum speed, and one hour from the pier to the
post office, the total time from the point of divergence to the post office is
fourteen hours and thirty minutes, which shows a saving in favor of Fort
Pond Bay of five hours.
THROUGH PARLOR CARS.
“ In foggy or stormy weather the gain for the Fort Pond Bay route
would be greatly increased, as speed must be materially reduced along the
entire coast of Long Island, and especially when approaching Sandy Hook
bar; while by the Fort Pond Bay route any reduction in speed would mean
very little loss of time, as the course over which it would be necessary to
reduce speed is short, and the trip from Fort Pond Bay to New York could
always be made in uniform time over the Long Island Railroad. By this
course five hours can be saved and I I4. miles of railroad travel-—which can
be made at the rate of sixty miles per hour, regardless of fogs and
storms—-would be substituted for 125%; miles of dangerous ocean travel.
From either of these proposed termini steamers would reach the open sea,
would be out of nearly all danger, and would be able to run at full speed
in less than one-half hour after leaving their piers.
“ All passengers would be transferred at Fort Pond Bay, under cover,
to a train waiting to take them direct to the centre of New York City, with-
out the inconvenience of a ferry, by way of the Long Island Railroad and
the East River Bridge, which is now building over Blackwell’s Island. By
means of through cars, which could be transferred from the Long Island
Railroad Company’s large docks at Bay Ridge and Long Island City, to any
87
of the Western or Southern railways having a terminus on the Hudson River,
all Western and Southern passengers could proceed to their destination
without even stopping in New York City.
A GAIN OF TWELVE HOURS.
“ Travelers who are now detained at Quarantine till morning, if they
arrive there in the evening or at night, would reach Fort Pond Bay five
hours earlier, and could at once board through sleepers and be at least
twelve hours on their way before the same steamer would reach New York
under the present arrangements. All mails for the West or South could
be assorted on the steamers or on the mail cars after leaving Fort Pond
Bay, and could be forwarded without the necessity of going through the
New York Post Office. This would obviate the need of adopting the pro-
posed plan of sending Government transports to receive the mail at Quar-
antine, so that it may be assorted during the time consumed coming up
New York Bay, and would render possible the immediate transfer to the
different railroad stations of all the foreign mails destined for places outside
of New York City, at present over 50 per cent., thereby saving from six to
twenty-four hours.
“ By using this route travelers could start from San Francisco, or any
of the large cities of the country, and proceed to the heart of London with-
out once being exposed to the inclemencies of the weather. The luxurious
traveler of these days will appreciate such comforts, and if he can find a
route which offers them will use it if the steamers sailing on that route are
as good as elsewhere.
“This proposed route has three distinct points of superiority over the
established line which make it the shortest in point of time. First, it is
a more direct, and, therefore, shorter than either of the Liverpool lines.
By studying the map it will be seen that the Milford Haven route connect-
ing the point of divergence on the Fastnet meridian with London, consti-
tutes the diameter of a circle of which the routes by Queenstown and
Liverpool form the semi-circumference.
“While it is true that the present North Atlantic companies have con-
structed, at vast expense, the finest and fleetest steamships afloat in any
waters, and are maintaining a most magnificent ocean service, it is equally
true that they do not make the quick time which might be made over this
better route, and unless some one of them shall utihze the manifest advan-
tages of this new American harbor, it is only a question of time when a
new line, with at least equally good ships and service, will be established.
“The problem of quick transit between New York and London has
been stated. Here is what can be done at both ends, or at either end.
The transaction of business between this country and Europe should not be
compelled to wait indefinitely for improvements that can readily be put in
operation. It remains for the American people to say what shall be done;
it concerns them more than it does any steamship or railroad company.
To the traveler it is a question of convenience, economy, saving of time and
lessening of danger; to every American citizen it should be a question of
high national importance.”
[New York Mercury, November 5, 1895.]
RAPID TRANSIT TO LONDON.
The establishment of an ocean ferry between New York and London
upon the shortest possible route is the subject of the leading article in the
38
North American Review for November, from the able pen of Mr. Austin
Corbin, who has for many years made a careful study of this great ques-
tion.
For the harbor upon this side Mr. Corbin proposes to select Fort Pond
Bay, which is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. It is located
on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles west of Montauk Point and II4
miles from New York City. Leaving this harbor, vessels would pass
through the waters of Block Island Sound, west of Block Island, and con-
nect with the present route at a point a little south of Nantucket Shoals.
Then upon sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear, on the southern coast of
Ireland, the vessels of the new line would bear directly eastward to the
most westerly port of Wales, which is Milford Haven.
The harbor of Milford Haven is declared by Mr. Corbin to have an
entrance more than a mile and a half wide, with a minimum depth sufficient
for the largest steamers. It is entirely landlocked, and the tides in the
Haven are very slight. “ It has,” he adds, “ a depth of thirty-four feet at
the pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and passengers.
At the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway Station, from which
special trains could be run to London in less than five hours.”
The saving of time which would be made by the adoption of this route
is thus stated by Mr. Corbin :
“ Steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which had
left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails
in London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a reply could
be sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these
cases be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing condi-
tions, is posted in London. By this route passengers would be able to be
in telegraphic communication with the rest of the world at least fifteen hours
longer than by either of the other passenger routes.”
Fifteen hours is the equivalent of a husiness day. That means the
saving of one day’s interest on the hundreds of millions of international
halances.
But, having stated the problem of quick transit between New York and
London, and having shown what may be done at both ends of the route,
Mr. Corbin refers the whole matter to the American people to say what
shall be done. In this matter the people can only speak through Congress.
\ r-_-_-_.n-_
[New I/orh Evening Telegram, Decemher I8, 1895.]
SHORTENING STEAMSHIP ROUTES.
England is determined to shorten her commercial road to the Orient by
way of Canada and faster steamers. Sir Charles Tupper, Canadian Am-
bassador to England, has passed through this city on his way home, sum-
39
moned by the Dominion Government for consultation about a new line of
transatlantic steamers.
This country may yet, in commercial self-defense, have to turn to the
plan of the shorter steamship route afforded by way of Milford Haven and
the eastern end of Long Island.
[New York Daily T riézme, Deceméer I8, 1895.]
AT THE END OF LONG ISLAND.—THE FIRST PASSENGER
TRAIN RAN TO MONTAUK POINT YESTERDAY.—AUSTIN
CORBIN’S SCHEME FOR QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW
YORK AND LONDON.——PROPOSED WESTERN TERMINUS
AT FORT POND BAY.
The first regular passenger train to make the run of the new extension
of the Montauk Division of the Long Island Railroad, from Amagansett to
Montauk, drew out of the Long Island City depot at 8.30 o’clock yesterday
morning. * * * The chief object of interest to the party alighting
from the inspection car, however, was neither the little hamlet of Montauk
nor its inhabitants. To the north of the depot, and separated from it by
a narrow strip of sand, lies the beautiful sheet of water known as Fort
Pond Bay. Here it is that Austin Corbin, the President of the Long Island
Railroad Company, hopes to establish the western terminus for a new
transatlantic route; and it is with a view of furthering this project that the
new railroad was opened yesterday. Fort Pond Bay is on the north side of
the Island, and only six miles from Montauk Point. It is said to be one of
the finest natural harbors in the world. It has an entrance three-quarters
of a mile wide; and as shown by the latest Government charts, it is of such
great and uniform depth that the largest steamers can enter and depart
from it with perfect safety at any time of the year. One consideration in
selecting this harbor is that ocean steamers would then avoid the southern
coast of Long Island, the eastern coast of New Jersey, and the dangers at-
tending the entrance to the crowded New York Harbor, particularly in case
of fog. The main idea, however, is to lessen the time now required by the
best mail and passenger steamers in making the trip between Queenstown,
or Southampton, and New York. To accomplish this, Milford Haven,
Wales, has been proposed as the most advantageous terminus of the eastern
end of the line. The estimated time by the proposed Fort Pond-Milford
Haven route, between New York and London, adopting the present sched-
ule railroad time, at either end, shows a gain of 15 hours and 47 minutes
over the average time made by the steamer Luamia over the Queenstown
route; and a gain of I day, 8 hours and 13 minutes over the average time
of the steamer New York over the Southampton route. The President of
40
the Milford Haven Dock Company is interested in the project, and recently
made a trip with Mr. Corbin to Fort Pond Bay, to investigate matters. Mr.
Corbin’s hope is that through Senator Frye’s bill, the consent of Congress
for the establishment of a free port at Fort Pond Bay will be obtained.
* * *
[New I/orh Echo, Novemher 9, 1895.]
The November number of the North American Review contains an
article from the pen of Mr. Austin Corbin, which is of more than transient
interest. The subject of Mr. Corbin’s article is “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” and by a convincing array of figures he demon-
strates the fact that ocean mails can be transmitted between Great Britain
and the United States over a line operating between Fort Pond Bay and
Milford Haven, at least fifteen hours quicker than is possible over any other
existing route, other conditions being similar. What this would mean to
the business interests of the world Mr. Corbin makes clearly apparent. Mr.
Corbin cites facts and figures to show the anxiety of England to control all
the mail-carrying routes between Great Britain and the rest of the world,
and he makes a strong appeal to American patriotism to secure control of
this, the safest and most expeditious route of travel between the two coun-
tries. His appeal is timely, and it can hardly fail to have an appreciable
influence on Congress.
[New I/orh Mercury, Novemher 23, 189 5.]
FASTER FOREIGN MAILS.
The Hamburg-American Line’s new departure in making Plymouth its
English port of entry on eastbound trips is experimental. A gain of at
least three hours in the delivery of the mail at London is expected from the
change.
Of course, if this expectation is realized, the change from Southampton
to Plymouth will be made a permanent one.
In this age of rush and tumble, three or four hours is a long while to the
average man of affairs, and to gain as much as that in mail service is con-
sidered a great feat, and one worth paying for.
If the Hamburg-American Line’s experiment should prove successful,
we shall soon hear more about Austin Corbin’s scheme to run mail steamers
between the eastern extremity of Long Island and Milford Haven.
A line between those points is unquestionably feasible, and would allow
of a saving of time far exceeding that which the Hamburg-American Line
can possibly gain by touching at Plymouth.
41
[New York Herala’, N07/emoer 29, 1895.]
LONDON, November 28, I895.--The mails landed by the steamer
F aerst Bismarck at Plymouth this morning were delivered in London six
hours earlier than her mails were accustomed to be delivered when they
were landed at Southampton.
The Hamburg-American steamship officials are well satisfied with the
result of this first experiment of their ships calling at Plymouth instead of
Southampton on the eastward trips, and will make the change permanent
if the next trials are as satisfactory as this one.
The Faerst Bismarck reports having experienced a stormy passage,
but, nevertheless, she made a record of six days eleven hours and four
minutes.
[Brooklyn Eagle, December 9, 1895.]
FORT POND BAY AND MILFORD HAVEN.
It is a problem with steamship companies and shipbuilders whether the
limit of speed in ocean steamships within the margin of profit has not been
attained ; whether to increase the speed shown by the latest development of
the “ ocean greyhound” will not require the use of a motive power cheaper
than steam. Under the present conditions the ocean steamer is a vast float-
ing machine shop, wherein a very large portion of the hull space must be
given up to the engines and to the stores of fuel required to drive the huge
fabric through the seas as a race horse flies. Any further sacrifice of space
must be at the expense of cargo and passenger room, or the size of the
hull must be so increased as to swell the cost of construction beyond the
dividend-paying point. The demands of commerce and passenger trafiic
have not been satisfied even with the modern achievements in the way of’
annihilating distance. The call is for still faster ships or the use of some
device that shall still further shorten the time required for a voyage to
Europe. Men think no more of a journey over the sea than they did a few
years ago of a trip to Chicago. T key simply demand t/zat it skall oe made
in tire quickest time jfiossiole. ft is tkat demand tkat /zas led to tke build-
z'ngof steams/zzlzfis like tke Laeania and tire St. Louis. Enthusiastic invent-
ors have claimed that the time was rapidly approaching when electricity
would take the place of steam as a motive power, and when the consump-
tion of coal for fuel would be confined to the production of sufiicient steam
to run the dynamos that generate the power, while others claim that even
that need will soon be done away with. All this is very possible, nay, may
be considered as among the probabilities of the twentieth century. It is a
consummation that is not expected in the near future and does not enter
into the calculations of business men. They are looking for other appli-
ances wherewith to satisfy the increasing demand for quicker transit to
Europe.
42
President Austin Corbin of the Long Island Railroad believes the solu-
tion of the problem lies in shortenmg the distance between the two coun-
tries, and finds the possibility for this in the establishing of steamship
terminals at Fort Pond Bay, on the northern side of Montauk Point, and at
Milford Haven, in I/Vales. In the November issue of the North American
Review Mr. Corbin set forth in a luminous and convincing article the feasi-
bility of the plan and the argument in its favor. The general features of
the proposed new line are familar to the readers of the Eagle. Broadly
stated, it is a line of swift ocean steamers plying between the two terminals
named, while between New York and Fort Pond Bay and between Milford
Haven and London communication would be by express trains. This
would mean at this end of the line the possibility of land travel at a high
rate of speed, without regard to weather, over a distance that is now tra-
versed by water, subject to all the delays from fogs, storms and other
perils that now afflict steamships making the port of New York between
l\/Iontauk Point and the Highlands. The advantages of the proposed route
lie in the saving of time on the ocean. The extent to which this can be ac-
complished is clearly set forth in Mr. Corbin’s article, which, since the pub-
lication of the Review, has been elaborated into a pamphlet. A look at
the map of the North Atlantic will show the paramount advantages of the
proposed route.
Milford Haven is the most westerly port of Wales, is 273 miles from
London, is a capacious, land-locked harbor, easy of access and free from
extreme tides. Fort Pond Bay lies on the northern side of Montauk Point,
is I 14 miles from New York, and is a deep water harbor, easily accessible
and affording secure shelter for a huge fleet. A novice can see that at this
end of the route there could be no question as to the advantages which
land transportation would offer for passengers, mail and express freight over
' water transportation for the length of Long Island. On the other side Mil-
ford Haven would obviate the necessity for stopping at Queenstown, and
would avoid the passage up the channel to Liverpool, through a portion of
the British waters that are crowded with craft of all sorts and subject to
fogs.
Mr. Corbin presents some cogent and convincing tables which demon-
strate the saving in time. The basis of calculation is the present speed of
steamship and express trains, and the length of time required under normal
conditions for the delivery of mail from New York in London. Calcula-
tions of this sort to be of value must be based on actual facts and not
upon intangible and arbitrary estimates; that is the rule that Mr. Corbin
has followed.
In the first place there would be a straight ocean course between the
two terminals, and all approaches through crowded seas, tortuous chan-
nels and menacing bars would be avoided. If two steamers from English
ports, bound, one for New York and the other for Fort Pond Bay, were to
arrive off the coast at the point where their routes would diverge, the pas-
43
sengers on the Fort Pond Bay steamer would be twelve hours on their way
to their destination after landing before the New York steamer had reached
port. That would be practically the gain of a day. The usual running
time from the meridian of Montauk Point to Sandy Hook is eight hours,
and on top of that comes the time necessary to get from the Hook to
the steamer’s pier. Meanwhile, the Fort Pond Bay steamer has reached her
pier, her passengers have stepped from her decks to the waiting train, and
in an hour and a half have been whisked through Long Island, over the
Blackwell’s Island bridge, and are landed in New York in less than two
hours. The other boat, about that time, is crawling toward Fire Island
light.
What would be the greatest average gain over the present routes? The
answer to that question should settle the whole problem. Mr. Corbin
shows that the gain over the best time by the Lucania, by way of Queens-
town, would be almost sixteen hours. The gain over the Southampton
route would be one day and eight hours. It must be borne in mind that to
the business man this saving of a few hours is of the greatest importance.
A letter sent by the Fort Pond Bay route, leaving New York on Saturday
morning, would be delivered in London at the latest on the following
Friday evening, in time to send the answer by Saturday’s steamer, and
reach New York Thursday night or Friday morning. One day less than
two weeks from the time of mailing, the answer would be in New York,
at a time when, under existing conditions, it is usually being posted in
London. Of course tkis route would oe used only for mail, passengers
and express freig/zt. Tke oulkier goods of commerce would follow t/ze
slower and ckeaper met/zod of transportation. I/V/zen suck manifest ad-
vantages are to lie gained in t/ze consumption of distance oy time, it
will 6e strange tlze American people do not s;oeedily demand tkat t/zey
6e made a1/ailaole. Fort Pond Bay is open to all comers. It would not
require a vast outlay to fit it for the reception of steamers. The Montauk
extension of the Long Island Railroad is under construction. The plans
for the Blackwell’s Island bridge are complete and work has begun thereon.
Nothing remains except for some spry steamship company to capture the
bulk of the passenger and mail traffic by adopting the Fort Pond Bay and
Milford Haven route.
[Brooklyn Citizen, Decemoer I3, I89 5.]
TO FORT POND BAY NOW.
The completion of the Long Island Railroad to Fort Pond Bay, the last
spike of which was driven through the rail amid the cheers of the crowd
present on Tuesday, gives practical proof of the faith of President Corbin
in his long-entertained project to shorten the time of travel between New
44
York and London, as heretofore explained in these columns; and it is in
the nature of a promise that that project is to be realized, and at no very
distant day.
This will, no doubt, be good news to the people of Long Island, because
such an enterprise as this cannot but have a beneficial effect upon the de-
velopment of the country through which the railroad travels, by helping at
least to bring its attractive residential sites from one end to the other to the
attention of many in search of just such opportunities of selection as the
island offers, whether they desire to locate in Brooklyn, which affords all the
advantages of municipal life, or in the rustic settlements of the Hamptons,
the beauty of whose scenery is unsurpassed, or between the two, where they
may aid in “ making the wilderness to blossom as the rose.”
It will be good news to the throng of habitual travelers on the sea, whose
time will be saved out of the monotony of the ocean trip, and who will be
relieved of the perils of the journey along a dangerous coast. And this last
is something to be thought of ; for almost the only part of the ocean trip
in which there is any real danger, except during foggy weather, is to be
found in this part, which on this side runs from Sandy Hook to the easterly
end of Long Island. On the open sea the modern steamship has little to
fear, but the trip along the coast is not without peril, as everyone knows ;
and the more the Fort Pond Bay project is considered the more meritorious
it appears.
The completion of the railroad to that point is an important step toward
the realization of that scheme, since, as Mr. Corbin showed in his recent
article in the North American Review, the journey between New York
and London is to be shortened so essentially, not only by the reduction of
the number of miles the steamship will have to travel, but also by the
greater rapidity of the railroad train from New York to the point where the
transfer to and from the vessel will be made.
This is, in fact, one of the great projects of the century, and it may
even he possihle that he/‘ore it ends the line of communication now in
mind will, hy the huilding of the Blachwell’s Island hridge, enahle the
traveler from the Paczfic Coast and intervening stations to pass forward
on his way to Europe and return without change of cars hetween the
railroad termini. A nd one other thought in connection with the scheme
is worthy of mention; which is, that the hoarding and landing of pas-
sengers hy the great ocean steamers at Fort Pond Bay will relieve the
crowding of vessels to some extent at the Narrows and in the Bay of New
Yorh.
[Broohlyn Citizen, january 21, 1896.]
FORT POND BAY TO EUROPE.
The Manufacturers’ Association of Kings and Queens Counties has de-
cided to enter a formal protest against the passage of the bill before Con-
4:5
gress to make Fort Pond Bay, L. I., a free port of entry. From the report
of its committee and the discussion thereon, it appears that there is no
definite idea as to the scope and effect of the bill which, it is commonly
understood, has been introduced for the purpose of aiding Mr. Corbin to
carry out his excellent scheme for the improvement of Long Island, New
York City and the ocean passenger service in general by establishing a fast
line of steamers to Milford Haven, in the South of England.
The Manufacturers’ Association ought to be slow in putting any ob-
stacle whatsoever in the way of a project which promises such beneficent
effects to the counties it represents, to the island, and to the country gen-
erally. Such a project is a big step in the progress of civilization ; for
its effects would doubtless soon be seen here in the rapid development of
Long Island itself, and it has many waste places that need only the touch
of trade and commerce to bring them to the knowledge of the world and to
warm them into active life.
Such a project ought to enlist the sympathy of all branches of trade and
commerce, and have the aid of manufacturers of the island, instead of their
opposition. At all events, in view of the uncertainty as to the real effects
of the bill at present, it should not be condemned off-hand, as it has been,
by those who admit that they do not really know its purpose.
Mr. Corbin is one of the most enterprising men who has ever been con-
nected with Long Island, and has done more for its development and im-
provement in a large way than any other man, and be oug/zt to be sup-
ported z'n kis views for tkefurtker enlargement of its prosperity and in-
fluence by t/ze impro?/ement of its railroad connection between New York
City and Fort Pond Bay and t/ze connection between tke latter and a safe
port in England by swifter steamers and a skorter ocean route t/zan any
yet in use.
[T be Brooklyn Standard Union, November 8, 1895.]
MR. CORBIN’S OCEAN FERRY.
Austin Corbin has certainly shown great tenacity in pushing his project
for an Atlantic ferry from the bold bluffs of Montauk to Milford Haven.
At times this enterprise has seemed to slumber, but it is evident now that
its projector has had no thought of abandoning it. Recently the Long
Island Railroad has been extended to Amagansett, with the purpose of
making Fort Pond Bay the final terminus of the line. It is quite evident,
also, that this would never have been done had not the purpose to establish
a steamship company taken possession of President Corbin and other cap-
italists, who are in alliance with him.
T /zere is notking visionary about tkis sckeme. Some are apt to cavil
when they consider the piles of sand about'Fort Pond Bay, where the wide
monotony of the scene is unbroken by a single building, and they think of
46
its being made a populous landing place for ocean travelers, abound-
ing with pretentious buildings and the hum of a seaport town. But
changes equally marvelous have been wrought by the application of enter-
prise and large capital, and the establishment of a port at Fort Pond Bay
and the starting of a steamship line are undertakings which Mr. Corbin has
set his heart upon and which he is quite likely to accomplish before his
career is completed.
[Broohlyn Citizen, Novemher 3, 189 5.]
QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.
The North American Review for November opens with an article by
Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company, which will
attract widespread attention, because of the evidence it gives that Mr.
Corbin has not abandoned his long struggle in favor of his very feasible
scheme to secure “ Quick Transit Between New York and London” by
way of the Long Island Road to Fort Pond Bay by rail, thence to Milford
Haven, Wales, by swift passenger steamer, and thence to London by rail.
On the contrary, his article shows that time and experience have only in-
creased his confidence in the ultimate success of the project and in the
advantages it would confer on the traveler, on the island and the two cities,
and on the country generally.
As he observes in opening, the universal demand is for the quickest
delivery of the mails between the two great distributing cities, London and
New York, and the question, in projecting the best transatlantic steamship
line, is how to secure a route which shall combine the merits of shortness
and directness with the greatest safety and comfort to the traveler.
He describes Fort Pond Bay, on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles
northwest of Montauk Point, and 114 from New York City, as “ one of the
finest natural harbors in the world,” being, as shown by the Government’s
charts, of such great and uniform depth that the largest steamers can use
it day or night without danger of detention, as the tides never exceed 3 feet
5 inches.
He proposes as the route between that and Europe, a departure from
the usual one at a point a little south of Nantucket Shoals, through Block
Island Sound, and says that in selecting Fort Pond Bay for the western
terminus of a new transatlantic route, the entire southern shore of Long
Island and the eastern coast of New jersey are avoided ; the risk from col-
lision on the much-frequented North River and New York Bay is escaped,
and the long delay at Sandy Hook and the slow passage through the twenty-
47
five miles of tortuous and crowded channels from Sandy Hook Lightship to
the New York piers are done away with.
As to the Milford Haven harbor on the other shore, he finds it equally
advantageous because of its depth of water, its comparative freedom from
fogs, and its direct railway communication with London, which can be
reached in a run of less than five hours. And it is worthy of note that he
calls attention to the fact that, owing to the depth of water at both ends, a
fixed /zour of departure for tke 7/essels could be bad at all times—a really
important point, since u,bon it tke traveler depends almost wkolly in mak-
ing /zis calculations for tke trzlb out and kome, and t/zere is no reason
wky a vessel skould not be keld to tke same rules of movement as a rail-
road train.
He proceeds logically here to say that “ for the purpose of determining
the relative merits of the routes already established, and comparing their
intrinsic value with the true worth of the route proposed between New
York and London by way of Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven, it is neces-
sary to adopt some absolute standard of speed for both the steamers and
railway trains, and ascertain the exact difference in the lengths of the sea
routes, as well as the railway journeys from the ports of debarkation to
London and New York.”
Pursuing this, he draws a comparison between the routes and the ves-
sels traversing the same, and gives tables which show the distances from
the point of divergence to the ports of destination, the shortest railway dis-
tances, and the total time necessary for carrying the mail from the point of
divergence to the London Post Office by the three different routes. These
calculations assume that steamers could proceed at the maximum speed of
twenty-one and nine-tenth knots per hour from the point of divergence to
their piers, and that trains could be run at the rate of a mile per minute
over the whole railway distances; and they prove that the same vessels on
the other routes could make a saving of from four to six hours in the time
from the point of divergence suggested by taking the Milford Haven route.
In short, Mr. Corbin shows that, without changing the present railroad
time at all, and under existing conditions, the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route
would save nearly sixteen hours over the present Queenstown one, and more
than one day eight hours over the Southampton one; quite enough to make
the change one of great importance to the public even in the transmission
of letters alone. And having thus demonstrated the fact, he remarks that
the new route by the Long Island road, with its bridge over the East
River, will be open to any steamship line which desires it. That one or
more will soon seek to take advantage of it is probable, and while the rail-
road speed down the island is likely to be increased in such a case, the time
from New York to London will doubtless be further shortened before long
by the construction of steamers to carry only passengers and the mail,
which will be able to outrun the Lucania as easily as she can outrun the
New York.
48
[Brooklyn Standard Union, _/anuary I0, 1896.]
PRESIDENT CORBIN’S PAMPHLET.
President Austin Corbin, of the Long Island Railroad, has published in
a handsome pamphlet on fine paper, with large margins, his recent North
American Reveiw article, on “Quick Transit Between New York and
London,” in which the advantages of the Fort Pond Bay-Milford Haven
route are fully set forth. The appropriate motto, “Because the king's
business required haste,” is upon the front cover. The two full-page
illustrations of the changes of the century in land transportation, from the
six-mile per hour stage coach to the sixty-mile per hour limited express, ‘
and in the ocean voyage, from sixty days in the full-rigged merchantman
to the six days in the American liners, with carefully prepared maps of Long
Island and the adjacent waters, and of the ocean route, between the termini,
make a work of rare attraction, practically exhausting the subject. Mr.
Corbin’s pamphlet is already in its second edition, and to students of the
development of Long Island and transatlantic traffic, it brings much in-
struction and suggestion.
[T imes, Broohlyn, N. I/., Decemher 3, 1895.]
AUSTIN CORBIN’S SCHEME. -
In another column of this paper will be found the full text of an article
which Mr. Austin Corbin has prepared, stating the story of his endeavor to
establish a line of transatlantic steamers from the eastern end of Long
Island to European ports. This has been a pet project of Mr. Corbin’s for
many years. He believes that in this way the delivery of transatlantic mail
between New York and London can be accomplished in shorter time by
several hours. Of course, the success of such a project would build up the
Long Island Railroad, of which Mr. Corbin is the heart, body and soul, but
it would at the same time redound to the advantage of Long Island by forc-
ing that road to institute large improvements which would be necessary be-
fore rapid time could with safety be made upon it.
The Times firmly helieves that Mr. Corhin can do what he claims he
can do, and that Congress should do all in its power to give to an
American steamshzjo line the control of the fastest route hetween the two
continents.
[Broohlyn Times, Novemher I, 1895.]
QUICK OCEAN TRANSIT.
The N ovember number of the North American Review contains an
article from the pen of Mr. Austin Corbin, which is of more than transient
49
interest. The subject of Mr. Corbin’s article is “Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” and by a convincing array of figures he demon-
strates the fact that ocean mails can be transmitted between Great Britain
and the United States over a line operating between Fort Pond Bay and
Milford Haven at least fifteen hours quicker than is possible over any
other existing route, other conditions being similar. What this would
mean to the business interests of the world Mr. Corbin makes clearly
apparent.
Mr. Corbin cites facts and figures to show the anxiety of England to
control all the mail-carrying routes between Great Britain and the rest of
the world, and he makes a strong appeal to Amencan patriotism to secure
control of this, the safest and most expeditious route of travel between the
two countries. His appeal is timely, and it can hardly fail to have an
appreciable influence on Congress.
[Bufalo Express, December 22, 1895.]
THE ATLANTIC FERRY.
The grounding of the steamship Spree on Warden Ledge, Isle of
Wight, will make Austin Corbin more than ever convinced that Milford
Haven, and not Southampton, is the ideal terminus for a transatlantic
steamer route. Though Southampton has many points in its favor, it can-
not be gainsaid that there are many things against it. The approach to
the coast at the entrance to the Solent is beset with difficulties, not the
least of which is the prevalence of fogs.
Mr. Corbin’s pet scheme—the establishment of a steamship line having
for its termini Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island, and Mil-
ford Haven, Wales, apparently has in its favor not merely a shortening of
time, but greater safety, especially as compared with any of the English
harbors now used as termini for transatlantic lines. Mr. Corbin, in a re-
cent review article, has ably pleaded his case. If there is any“ other side "
to the facts, we have not seen it presented. It is only a question of time,
he thinks, until a line over this better route shall be established. “It re-
mains," he says, “for the American people to say what shall be done; it
concerns them more than it does any steamship or railroad company.”
Thus to present the case as one of high national importance is, perhaps,
to intimate the propriety of Government aid, and it will not be strange if the
anti-British sentiment just now so ebullient in Congress shall encourage
some one to bring forward a measure calling for Government subsidy.
One conspicuous feature of the “ war” talk, especially in English and Cana-
dian journals, is the prominence given to British-Canadian facilities for
transatlantic communication. The British Government is determined to
50
control the transcontinental mail, and has considered the establishment of a
fast Atlantic and Pacific mail service, passing wholly between British ports,
in British boats and over British rails. The success of such a scheme calls for
a liberal subsidy from Great Britain, but liberal subsidies are a part of Great
Britain’s policy. England has it easily in her power to shorten by several
hours her transatlantic service; but Americans would no more be Willing
to get their mail by way of Canada than England would be to get her
American mail by way of France. It will not be a bad thing for America
if one outcome of the stimulated national spirit shall be the establishment of
yet another Atlantic line, with or without Government aid, which shall
make us more independent than we now are of British ships, British pref-
erences and British dictation.
[The Troy Daily Times, Novemher 4, 1895.]
A PROPOSED NEVV TRANSATLANTIC ROUTE.
In these days of speed competition between ocean steamship lines, hours
and even minutes count for more than did days a dozen years ago. The
business world realizes the importance of the best mail facilities affording
the quickest communication possible between this country and Europe.
Speed is imperative, and the steamship companies are using every endeavor,
consistent with considerations of safety, to gratify the wishes of the public
in this direction. The modern ocean greyhounds have to a certain extent
fulfilled requirements, hut the jfirogress in shiphuilding is constant, and
it is not to he douhted that the fastest vessels of to-day will at some time
in the future he eclipsed in joint of speed. But, at hest, huilding new
vessels merely to cut of a few minutes in the time consumed hy a voyage
hetween Euro,he and America is expensive husiness, and it is for this
reason that the suggestion to reduce the running time hy changing the
route of vessels is of such great interest to the Ihuhlic.
In making ocean records the time made between Sandy Hook and
F astnet, in the case of the Queenstown-Liverpool route, or between Sandy
Hook and Southampton, in the case of the Southampton route, is considered.
But the real test of speed is the time consumed in going from New York,
the metropolis of the new world, to London, the metropolis of the old. It
makes little or no difference to the passenger what time his vessel sights
Fastnet. He is not interested in F astnet, and, in most cases, his one
thought is to get to London as soon as possible. Therefore, in considering
what really constitutes a fast trip, the entire time between New York and
London must be considered. If time can be saved by making the ocean
route shorter and the railroad portion of the trip longer, it is just so much
gained, and every gain is appreciated. In the current issue of the North
. American Review Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad
51
Company, contributes an interesting article on “Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” in which he undertakes to show that much time
could be saved between these two points by the establishment of a steam-
ship line having its western terminus at the eastern extremity of Long Island
and its eastern terminus at Milford, the most westerly port of Wales.
Mr. Corbin in his plan chooses Fort Pond Bay, a harbor on the north
side of Long Island, 6 miles west of Montauk Point, and 114 miles from
New York, as the American terminus. He urges that by having ships
land here, instead of continuing along the southern coast of Long Island
and through the Narrows to New York City, considerable time would be
saved, as the distance between Fort Pond Bay and New York could be
made by rail in one hour and fifty-four minutes, as against eight hours, the
estimated time consumed by the water route. On the other side of the
ocean, Mr. Corbin would select Milford as the most desirable terminus by
reason of its fine and unobstructed harbor and the fact that it would afford
ready communication with London, over the Great \/Vestern Railway. Mr.
Corbin compares the various existing routes with his proposed route, show-
ing the theoretical time which would be consumed over each by a vessel
averaging 21.90 knots per hour, the best average time ever made on a trans-
atlantic trip. He finds that the time from the New York Post Office to the
London Post Office, figured on this basis, would be six days two hours and
fifty-seven minutes by the Queenstown mail route; six days six hours and
twelve minutes by the Liverpool passenger route; six days four hours and
forty-seven minutes by the Southampton route; and five days twenty
hours and eleven minutes by the Fort Pond and Milford route. Thus the
theoretical gain by the projected route over the fastest existing route-—that
via Queenstown, Kingstown and Holyhead—would be six hours and forty-
six minutes.
Mr. Corbin goes still farther and urges that while this is the theoretical
gain the real gain would be much greater. He argues that deten-
tions by reasons of fog or fear of collision would be much less by the
new route than by any of the present routes. The average time by the
fastest steamer on the Queenstown route, the Lucania, is six days thirteen
hours and fifty-eight minutes, while the average time by the fastest steamer
on the Southampton route, the New York, is seven days six hours and
twenty-four minutes. Supposing that the actual time on the projected
route would not be more than the theoretical time——which is considerable
of an assumption, with all due respect to Mr. Corbin—the gain by the pro-
posed route over the Queenstown route would be fifteen hours and forty-
seven minutes, and over the Southampton route one day eight hours and
eleven minutes.
Such a saving would be of very great benefit to business men in both
countries, as it would mean that a letter mailed in New York Saturday
morning would reach London the following Friday evening at the latest,
so that a reply could be sent by Saturday’s steamer and would arrive in
52
New York the following Thursday night or Friday morning. As Mr.
Corbin points out, this is an impracticable feat under present conditions.
It is true that on a few occasions letters mailed from New York Saturday
have reached London in time to have answers sent by the steamer sailing
the following Saturday, but this is the exception rather than the rule. In
the large majority of cases very little is gained by the fast steamers, for if
a reply to a New York letter cannot be prepared in time to catch the
Saturday steamer, it has to wait until the second return mail, and by that
time the slowest steamers have arrived.
Mr. Corbin insists that the American people are vitally interested in the
problem of quick transit between New York and London. The British
Government is endeavoring in every possible way to cut down the time, in
order that it may control the transcontinental mail. If Americans do not
wish to have such control pass into British hands they must also make an
effort to reduce the time. It is a question of high national importance, and
Mr. Corbin’s proposition is worthy of consideration.
[Troy Telegram, Decemher 19, 1895.]
A through train ran from New York to Montauk Point on Tuesday
over Austin Corbin’s completed route. It is intended to use the line for
quicker transit to London. The western terminus of the Atlantic route
will be Fort Pond Bay, six miles north of Montauk Point. The eastern
terminus will be Milford Haven, Wales. It is estimated that the time will
be shortened 15 hours and 45 minutes in comparison with the Queenstown
route, and 1 day 8 hours and 13 minutes over the Southampton route.
[Alhany, N I/., T imes- Union, Novemher 8, 1895.]
In the November number of the North American Review, Mr. Austin
Corbin calls attention to the scheme of shortening the steaming distance
between London and New York by having steamers run to and from Fort
Pond Bay at the eastern end of Long Island. The gain of time figured out
by the Queenstown route to London is 15 hours and 47 minutes, and by the
Southampton route 32 hours and II minutes. This would be a material
gain and would put mails that leave New York Saturday morning in Lon-
don on the following Friday evening, thus making it possible to get off
replies to letters on the Saturday's returning steamer. Mr. Corbin’s plan
involves making Milford Haven the terminus on the other side, instead of
Liverpool or Southampton. Mr. C orhin’s plan is a good one and it should
he given a trial.
53
[Bufialo Evening News, November I I, I89 5.]
T ke Nort/2 American Review for November has an elaborate article
by Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company, advo-
cating the establishment of a new and shorter ocean line between New
York and Liverpool. Mr. Corbin has for many years urged the shortening
of the ocean passage by establishing a terminus at the east end of Long
Island to avoid the dangers and necessary delays of skirting either Long
Island or the New Jersey coast to enter New York Bay. In the present
article he undertakes to show that by landing at Fort Pond Bay, near Mon-
tauk Point, at the eastern end of Long Island, and traveling by rail to New
York, a saving of 3 hours and 56 minutes may be made, while the eastern
end may be shortened in the same way by landing at Milford Haven, on the
coast of Wales, making a total gain of over 8 hours, and this is increased
by various savings of time in the handling and delivering of mails so as
to make, according to_his figures, a total saving of I day 8 hours and II
minutes between New York and London. T /ze detailed statement is
wortky of careful reading. Mr. Corbin seems to make out a good case.
[Syracuse Herald November 8, 1895.]
Austin Corbin, the New York banker and promoter of railroad and other
enterprises, has an article of interest in the November Nortk American
Review in which he speaks at length concerning his favorite plan of making
the eastern end of Long Island the western terminus of a steamship route
to Milford Haven. The subject of Mr. Corbin’s article is “ Quick Transit
Between New York and London,” and by a convincing array of figures he
demonstrates the fact that ocean mails can be transmitted between Great
Britain and the United States over a line operating between the points
named at least fifteen hours quicker than is possible over any other existing
route, other conditions being similar. Mr. Corbin cites facts and figures
to show the anxiety of England to control all the mail carrying routes be-
tween Great Britain and the rest of the world, and he makesa strong appeal
to American patriotism to secure control of this, the safest and most expe-
ditious route of travel between the two countries.
[Utica Observer, November 22, 1895.]
PROGRESS BY LAND AND SEA.
The proposal to bring European steamers to New York City through
Long Island Sound and take advantage of the East River dockage does not
dampen the ardor of Austin Corbin in the advocacy of the scheme to land
54
European steamers at the extreme eastern point of Long Island, and trans-
fer the passengers and mails via the Long Island Railroad to New York
City. The New I/orh Sun places faith in a prediction that one of the
great German steamship companies has ordered “for its transatlantic ser-
vice two vessels of surpassing power, that is, of a capacity superior to our
St. Louis and St. Paul; greater even than the great Cunarders C ampania
and Lucania,” which are to run between Milford Haven in Wales and
Fort Pond Bay at the extreme eastern end of Long Island. This reduces
actual water distance materially. Fast trains would run from Milford
Haven and from London, and between Fort Pond Bay and New York City.
Both of the ports may be entered without regard to the tides. The Sun
points out that the development of Austin Corbin’s idea is in line with
previous progressive movements of the shipping business. We quote:
“ When similar advantageous conditions have heretofore been availed
of, success has been immediate and enduring. Witness, for instance, the
establishment of the Queenstown route, whereby the mails leave London at
8 o’clock on Saturday evening, cross the Channel to Ireland, and on Sunday
overtake at Queenstown the steamer which left Liverpool on the preceding
afternoon. This route has defied competition for over a quarter of a cen-
tury, and continues to do so to-day, except as against vessels of superior
power running by way of Southampton. When the natural advantages of
Southampton were made use of, Liverpool felt that her monopoly of our
traffic had been broken, and she had to even endure the trial of losing one
of her oldest lines, the Inman, which in its new American guidance sought
the commanding advantages of Southampton.
Southampton in turn must yield to a shorter and a better route, and
when once the new line is opened, it will be seen that it appeals to the
comfort of passengers in the same degree that it affords acceleration to the
mails. Some of the powerful German lines already find that they are at a
great disadvantage at Southampton. It is for them only a port of call,
while for the American line it is a terminus. Consequently, when a Ger-
man ship lands in the night she has to debark her passengers irrespective
of the hour. Whereas on the American boats they remain in bed until it is
convenient to arise and take the train up to London. It is thought that
this consideration may lead one of the German lines to divide its fleet and
make Milford Haven a terminus for some of its faster vessels.”
While the railroads of the country are bending every energy to annihi-
late space on land the steamship companies are narrowing the Atlantic
Ocean yearly. Times have changed since Washington made his journey to
New York to be inaugurated President of the United States of America.
[Patchogue Advance, _‘7anuary 3, 1896.]
NEW YORK TO LONDON VIA LONG ISLAND.
From Mr. Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad, we have
received a beautiful brochure, a fine product of the press and artist, con-
55
taining his recent article in the Nortlz American Review, “ Quick Transit
Between New York and London,” in which, in a masterly and convincing
manner Mr. Corbin demonstrates the advantages and superiority of the pro-
posed line of steamers between Fort Pond Bay, Long Island, and Milford
Haven, England.
This project, together with its allied enterprises, is of interest to Long
Islanders and we take this occasion to call attention to them.
The purchase of large tracts of land on the eastern end of the Island,
the completed extension of the Long Island Railroad to Montauk (the name
of the unique city to be built on the shores of Fort Pond Bay), and the con-
struction of the bridge now being built over Blackwell's Island, shows that
the projectors are in earnest and that their plans are well under way.
Fort Pond Bay is situated 6 miles west of Montauk Point on the north
side of the peninsula, and 114 miles from New York City. It is a deep
water harbor with great natural advantages for sustaining an enormous
ocean traffic.
Milford Haven is the most westerly seaport of Wales. It also affords
a deep water harbor, and, as at Fort Pond Bay, the largest vessels afloat
can steam directly to its piers. This port now commands a big sea trade,
and is connected with London by the Great Western Railway. Between
these termini the steamer track is 272 miles shorter than the New York-
Liverpool route and 324 miles shorter than that from New York to South-
ampton, an item of great moment not only to the commercial world but
also to the timid traveler.
The railway journey of I14 miles between New York and Montauk and
that of 273 miles between Milford Haven and London is to be made at the
rate of a mile a minute on special mail and passenger trains.
It is proposed to employ steamers quite as speedy and possibly faster
than the Lucania, which now holds the record of 5 days 8 hours 38 minutes
between New York and Queenstown, an average speed of 21.9 knots, or
25.19 statute miles per hour.
Mr. Corbin has collected some very interesting data in his article, and by
the comparison of several tables shows conclusively that over the new route,
even wit/z t/ze use of tke railroad time as sc/zeduled and in operation to-
day, it is possible to gain 15 hours 47 minutes over the Lucania, and I day
8 hours I 3 minutes over the New York, the flyer on the Southampton
route, in the delivery of the mails.
Mr. Corbin is very conservative with all his estimates, and it requires no
prophet to see that in all probability the new route will show much greater
gains than the above—because, instead of having to contend with 25 miles
of crowded and tortuous passage from New York to Sandy Hook on this
side and on the other side the obstructed St. George’s Channel and Irish
Sea on the Liverpool route and the English Channel and the Solent on the
Southampton—the proposed steamers will be able to maintain a much
greater head of steam right up to their piers than is possible on present
56
routes. The only point where heavy traffic will be met is in St. George’s
Channel just before reaching Milford Haven, but as this is crossed at right
angles to the lines of travel the new boats will soon be out of it. It is only
necessary to recall the sinhing of the Elhe, and the recent collision of the
Germanic, to understand the dangers of navigation in these crowded
waterways.
Mr. Corbin is fortunate in being able to point out so practicable a route
to the business interests of the world and in being able to carry it through
successfully.
The maintenance of a line of ships with the ability to steam 21.9 knots,
like the Lucania, entails a tremendous outlay for operating expenses. To
make the stockholders reasonably sure of coming out on the right side of
their investment it has been the custom of steamship companies in all
countries to ask a subsidy from their respective governments in return for
the additional facilities offered and for the quick transmission of mails, but
more especially are such subsides granted on the ground that, in the event
of war, the government retains the right to impress these subsidized boats
into its service. As an illustration, we may add that because of this provis-
ion we now have the right to use the New Yorh, Parz's, St. Louis and St.
Paul whenever necessary. If for no other reason, we believe in the subsidy
as a means of strengthening our naval power.
Under the prevailing conditions in the country to-day, that is to say, in
the unsettled state of affairs between this country and England, it would
seem a very fit time for Mr. Corbin to call the attention of the Government
to his project, if he has considered a subsidy as a necessity. The Nation
would feel that the granting of such subsidy was wise and patriotic.
We expect the new line will become an assured fact and predict great
success for it; the saving of valuable time will appeal to the business men of
the two continents in these days when “time is money.” To emphasize this
we have only to bear in mind that so quickly did the public appreciate the
“ Empire Express” that the New York Central is justified in running this
train daily between New York and Buffalo.
Apart from the steamship line, Mr. Corbin and his associates are endea-
voring to have Montauk declared a free port. The bill for this purpose
came up in the last Congress and was reported upon favorably by the Com-
merce Committee of the Senate, but did not, however, reach a vote. In the
present Congress, Senator Frye has again introduced the bill, and we trust
it will pass. It carries with it the provision that all benefits, privileges and
advantages granted to Fort Pond Bay shall also be given to such other
places as may wish to become free ports. As yet we have no free ports in
this country. There are several on the other side—Hamburg, Germany, is
one of them.
A free port, for all practical purposes, is a huge bonded warehouse, under
the supervision of the Government, where ships may be loaded and un-
loaded and the cargoes remain in storage, duty free, until such time as the
57
goods are taken out for use in the United States, when, of course, the duty
must be paid.
At such a port vessels escape the payment of many fees and the delays
consequent upon entering and clearing. Another feature of the enterprise
is that factories may be established within the walls of the free port ; and on
Long Island we may have the opportunity of seeing this unusual sight, the
busy, industrious City of Montauk, nominally under the jurisdiction of the
United States, practically a world of its own; a walled city reminding one
of the medimval times, but throbbing with twentieth century thrift.
All this means the expenditure of millions of dollars for the establish-
ment and operation of these huge commercial ventures, and such outlays
cannot fail to be a benefit, directly and indirectly, to the whole of Long Island.
[Henzpstead Enquirer, December 13, 1895.]
QUICKER AND SAFER.
The article on “Quick Transit Between New York and London,” by
President Austin Corbin of the Long Island Railroad, in the November
number of the Nort/2 American Review, has been the subject of favorable
comment by the press throughout the country, and it is generally acknowl-
edged that the arguments presented in favor of the proposed steamship
route between Fort Pond Bay, Montauk, and Milford Haven, VVales, are
strong and convincing. This article, handsomely printed and bound, has
been issued in pamphlet form by Mr. Corbin. New matter has been intro-
duced and points discussed to which Mr. Corbin was unable to refer in the
space allotted in the Review. The value of the article is also enhanced bya
set of maps showing the existing and proposed routes. The first map is 1\/Ion-
tauk Point to New York and Long Island Sound, locating the life-saving sta-
tions and giving the soundings in fathoms. The present steamship route, the
proposed route and the line of the Long Island Railroad are all given, with the
distances, on this map. The second map shows the terminus of the pro-
posed steamship line at Fort Pond Bay, proposed dock, etc. The third map
gives the transatlantic steamship routes, with table of distances, in nauti-
cal miles, from New York and Boston to Fastnet and Bishop’s Rock. The
fourth map shows the eastern end of the present and proposed routes from
New York to London, The fifth map shows Milford Haven, England,
and the sixth and last map the wrecks and casualties on the coast of Eng-
land and Wales for the year 1892-93.
The tables and arguments presented by Mr. Corbin show a theoretical
saving in time by the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route of over fifteen hours,
58
and an actual saving of one day and eight hours. The proposed route is
shorter and more direct, and at both ends avoids a long and dangerous coast
line. Full speed can therefore be maintained on the proposed route for
practically the whole distance. The railway journey at each end of the
proposed route, where existing routes are by steamships along dangerous
coasts, helps to make the proposed route not only quicker, but much safer.
Mr. Corbin, with convincing facts and figures, has pointed out the short-
est, most direct and best possible route. It remains for the people of the
United States to say whether this route shall be secured and this country
shall thus secure for all coming time the great mail and passenger traffic
between this country and Europe.
There is no doubt, as Mr. Corbin says, the British Government is deter-
mined, by all means in its power, to control this mail and passenger traffic.
To this end, he says, the Dominion of Canada is offering to pledge many
times more money than would be required for the United States to secure
the proposed route. The Canadian route would divert much local and all
through mail and passenger traffic to the Dominion-—a condition of affairs
which would be decidedly humiliating if we did not avail ourselves of the
remedy. The success of British commerce has been due largely to the
generous policy of that government in the way of subsidies, etc. Mr.
Corbin has pointed out the way for the people of the United States to
secure and maintain control of the intercontinental mails and passenger
traffic. The opportunity is here. It remains for the people of this country
to say whether or not we shall avail ourselves of the matchless advantages
it presents.
Upon this point, in concluding his article, Mr. Corbin well says :
“ The people of the United States would never acquiesce in the landing
of their mail at a Canadian terminus any more than the English people
would submit to receiving their American mail by way of France. The
western terminus must be within our borders. The advantages of Fort
Pond Bay and Milford Haven have been stated, but the adoption of the
former port does not require the selection of the latter. Fort Pond Bay is
open to all steamship lines, and the Long Island Railroad, with its bridge
over the East River, will be at the service of any steamship company
which wishes to save the time at the American end.
“ While it is true that the present North Atlantic companies have con-
structed, at vast expense, the finest and fleetest steamships afloat in any
waters, and are maintaining a magnificent ocean service, it is equally true
that they do not make the quick time which might be made over this better
route, and unless some one of them shall utihze the manifest advantages
of this new American harbor, it is onlya question of time when a new line,
with at least equally good ships and service, will be established.
“ The problem of quick transit between New York and London has been
stated. Here is what can be done at both ends, or at either end. It re-
mains for the American people to say what shall be done; it concerns them
more than it does any steamship or railroad company, To the traveler it
is a question of convenience, economy, savmg of time and lessening of danger;
to every American citizen it should be a question of high national import-
ance.”
59
“QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON ”
Is the title of a quarto pamphlet of 32 pages, with maps and charts, by
Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company, New York,
which treats in the most practical and comprehensive manner of the neces-
sity of calling into existence a system of quick transatlantic conveyances
which shall bring about greater commercial facilities, comfort, safety and,
greatest of all advantages, speed. The thoughtful author describes in detail
and illustrates by charts the soundings and distances between nearest points
of the United States and England, and shows conclusively that much time,
labor and money may be saved by the plan suggested. The western termi-
nus of the routes is to be at Fort Pond Bay, 114 miles from New York City
—a harbor with the greatest natural facilities. Mr. Corbin shows by care-
ful comparisons of ocean steamers’ trips, the days and hours consumed over
the several routes both eastward and westward, and shows how a vast sav-
ing in wages, fuel, provisioning and time might be gained if the ocean routes
were shortened and railway facilities be substituted. Aside, however, from
this economic view the more important humane advantages are apparent,
showing that, by the proposed plan, the dangers of the elements, intricate sail-
ings, strandings, detention by fogs and collisions, may be lessened, if not
greatly obviated, thereby causing the saving of many lives and valuable
properties.
This grand project is now being put into a practical shape by a new steam-
ship company forming both in this country and possibly in England, which
shall bring both continents in closer and more rapid connection of from say
one to two days, at least, over all shortest time trips thus far recorded,
and that the Fort Pond Bay site, with its magnificant shipping facilities for
its western terminus, and Milford Haven, of the British Isle, as its eastern
terminus, are to be the leading features. The project should have the
greatest encouragement, not only through our Government’s subsidies, but
by all trade and industrial heads in this country. The people of the United
States owe it to themselves to encourage this project, as it will assuredly
head off a similar movement hinted at by our Canadian neighbors, who de-
sign to establish a route between Newfoundland and London, which would
place America’s postal, traffic and commercial affairs completely into British
hands. This latter policy alone should entitle the proposed new steamship
company to be fostered by the people of the United States, We trust that
the new project will at an early day establish its new line. We doubt not
that all good citizens of this country will second our good wishes for the
proposed new steamship company.

[Boston Herald, November 5, 189 5.]
THE TRANSATLANTIC FERRY.
In the current number of the 1Vort/z American Review the place
of prominence is given to an interesting article written by Mr. Austin
60
Corbin, and entitled “Quick Transit Between New York and London.” It
is Mr. Corbin’s contention that it is essential to shorten the time occupied
in making the transatlantic voyage, not only by the employment of exceed-
ingly swift steamers, but by adopting ports of arrival and departure on both
sides of the ocean that will, through their rail connection with the centres,
London and New York, afford an opportunity to reduce the time required
for the transmission of mails in a manner that could not be hoped for if
dependence is placed simply upon the increased speed of sea-going craft.
He points out that Milford Haven, on Bristol Channel, England, is a
nearer and easier point to reach than either Southampton or Liverpool, and
that, if the transatlantic steamers should land their passengers and mail at
this place, which has direct rail connection through the Great Western rail-
way system with London, a saving of several hours could be made over the
time now occupied in landing mails and passengers either at Queenstown,
Southampton or hiverpool. He points out, also, that on this side of the
Atlantic a considerable and unnecessary delay occurs because New York
is used as a port of arrival and departure. It is but twenty-five knots from
the steamship piers on North River to the Sandy Hook Lightship, but, in
consequence of the bar at Sandy Hook, the twisting character of the channel
and the crowded condition of the harbor, it requires on the average three
hours to cover this distance, even by vessels that have a speed of more than
twenty knots per hour. Then, too, in sailing to or from New York, in the
space between Sandy Hook nearly to Nantucket Shoals, unless the weather
is fine and clear, full speed is not considered advisable, in consequence of
the liability of coming into collision with coasting craft. This also tends
to add to the average time needed in making the transatlantic trip.
These losses of time could, in Mr. Corbin’s opinion, be largely avoided
if Fort Pond Bay, on the east end of Long Island, were chosen instead of
New York as the port of arrival and departure. This bay is 114 miles dis-
tant from New York, and by the Long Island Railway, of which, by the
way, Mr. Corbin is president, this distance, it is said, could be covered in
1 hour and 54 minutes. Altogether, in his opinion, with a steamer having
the average speed of the Lucania, there would be a saving of 15 hours and
47 minutes in the time required to send the mails from the New York Post
Office to the London Post Office, if the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route was
adopted instead of the New York-Queenstown route; or with a steamer
having the average speed of the New I/or/e, there would be a saving over
the Southampton route made by the change of I day 8 hours and I 1
minutes. It is on this showing that Mr. Corbin urges that something should
immediately be done to promote the ends of rapid ocean transit, and he
says, “it remains for the American people to say what shall be done. To
the traveler it is a question of convenience, saving of time, and lessening of
danger. To every American citizen it should be a question of high national
importance.”
It seems to us that there are certain factors in the calculation which, in
61
consequence of the strong interest Mr. Corbin has in certain Long Island
investments, he is rather disposed to ignore. In the first place, although
these large and swift steamers do not carry a great amount of freight, they
are none the less freight carriers, and the profitability of the steamship
business may be dependent upon the margin of earnings that this freight
brings in. The cost of sending breadstuffs from America to England would
be materially increased if, when they arrived in New York City by rail or by
canal boat, it was necessary to take them by rail to the end of Long Island,
to be there put on board the steamers; and the same, though in a less
degree, would hold true of all the manufactured merchandise sent from
England to the United States. Besides this, these great passenger steam-
ship companies need an enormous quantity of supplies, and the cost of
these would be increased, and the convenience of obtaining them de-
creased, if they had to be sent from New York City to the end of Long
Island.
The steamship lines can afford to pay quite a little for these advantages
which Mr. Corbin so lightly dismisses. Dockage room can be obtained on
the jersey side of North River at about half the expense required for accom-
modations on the New York side, and this difference means a good many
thousand dollars in the course of a year, which the large steamship com-
panies would like to save if they could; but most of them believe that it
would be false economy to thus remove themselves from close touch with
their patrons. On the other side of the Atlantic there is nothing except
similar considerations which prevents the use of Milford Haven.
We may add, as having a bearing on this general subject, that if the
change that Mr. Corbin proposes could be carried out in a logical and
effective manner, the port of departure of the American steamships
would not be Fort Pond Bay, but Boston, as steamers under the con-
ditions that he describes could be run from Boston so as to carry mails
from New York to London in two hours or more less time than from the
end of Long Island. In fact, one might go further than this in suggesting
rapid transit across the Atlantic. The people of Cape Breton are of the
opinion, now that Louisburg has been connected with the railroad system
of the continent, that it would be possible to use this port as the American
terminal of a rapid transit transatlantic system. Louisburg is a little less
than 1,200 miles by rail from New York City. Taking Mr. Corbin’s rates
of speed for all of the railroad systems that he refers to, of sixty miles an
hour, in twenty hours mails leaving New York City should be landed in
Louisburg, and by this means a saving of anywhere from twelve to twenty-
four hours could be made as compared with the route via the end of Long
Island. Our Newfoundland friends assert that, as soon as their central
railway is done and a fast line of steamers plies between Sydney and Cape
Ray, St. johns, N. F., is to be the terminal of this Atlantic ferry; but those
who entertain this hope must be said to be even more sanguine than Mr.
Corbin.
62
[The Daily ltenz, Lynn, Mass, fannary 23, 1896.]
QUICK TRANSIT.
We have received a pamphlet containing Austin Corbin’s article on
“ Quick Transit Between New York and London,” which appeared in the
November issue of the North American Review. We noticed the
article at the time, and its reproduction with half a dozen maps is specially
welcome. Mr. Corbin favors a new route between this country and Eng-
land, with the terminus on this side at Fort Pond Bay, on the eastern end
of Long Island, and the British terminus at Milford Haven, on the south-
western point of England. The terminal would be reached by rail, in one
case lengthwise of Long Island, to New York, and in the other across
England to London. Mr. Corbin’s plan is for the United States to estab-
lish this short and direct route as an offset to a proposed short Canadian
line which Great Britain has been asked to maintain. The Corhin route
is direct and short, and the plan for its maintenance is one that interests
the Arnertean people ana’ a’eser7/es their support.
[Lewd], Mass., T tnzes, _/anaary 24, 1896.]
SHORTENING THE OCEAN PASSAGE.
A fine specimen of the printer’s art is the pamphlet containing Austin
Corbin’s article on “Quick Transit Between New York and London.”
Paper, type, illustrations and maps are of the very finest quality and artistic
workmanship. The article itself is an explanation of the advantages of a
transatlantic steamship route between Fort Pond Bay on the northern ex-
tremity of Long Island and Milford Haven on the western extremity of
Wales, over any of the existing routes. The proposed route substitutes
308 miles of railway travel for 325 miles of steamship travel, as com-
pared with the Southampton route; it substitutes 186 miles by rail
for 272 miles by steamer, as compared with the Liverpool route, and
is considerably shorter in both water and railway distance over the
Queenstown route, while the saving in time is over I 5 hours over
any of the existing lines from the New York to the London post office,
a gain of the utmost importance for passenger and light freight traffic.
The proposed terminals are safe and commodious harbors, and in fact the
proposed route offers many advantages over any now taken. Whether the
United States should subsidize a steamship line offering such facilities and
conveniences is a question which the people must decide, and for and
against which many arguments can be advanced. Certainly, if any steam-
ship subsidies are to be granted by our Government, this would seem to be
in every way one to be encouraged.
68
[Republican, S_¢ring/ield, Mass., November 8, 1895.]
CORBIN’S NEW OCEAN ROUTE.
Ever since Austin Corbin got hold of the Long Island Railroad he has
entertained the thought of making Montauk Point, on the extreme eastern
end of the island, a terminus of transatlantic steamship travel. He now
unfolds his scheme in an article in the November Nortk American Review.
Fort Pond Bay lies a little west of Montauk Point, and is said to be a fine
harbor, accessible at all times to the largest ships, and with approaches
from the ocean deep, broad and open. The bay is 114 miles by rail from
New York City. By making this point a western terminus for the mail and
passenger ships, the sail along the southern coast of Long Island, and the
slow, tortuous passage by Sandy Hook and up the Narrows, and through
the crowded upper bay of New York to the steamship piers would be
avoided.
M r. Corbin’s idea is to strike land as quick as possible on eitlzer side of
tire ocean, lzaving due regard for accessibility to tke great distributing
centres of England and A merica. Having selected Fort Pond Bay for the
western terminus, he would choose Milford Haven on the extreme south-
westerly coast of Wales for the eastern terminus of the transatlantic route.
Milford Haven is about as far distant from London as Liverpool is. As a ter-
minus it would save to steamships the considerable sail up the crowded St.
George’s Channel and through the Irish Sea, and on the other hand would
offer less foggy approaches than Southampton does. It is a deep and safe
harbor, and steamships can reach and depart from its piers at all hours
regardless of the state of the tide.
After taking account of all factors in the race, Mr. Corbin show that
his route would secure a gain in time of the voyage from New York
to London of 8 hours and 36 minutes over the Southampton route; of 10
hours and 1 minute over the Liverpool passenger route, including the
Queenstown detention, and 8 hours and 31 minutes excluding the deten-
tion, and 6 hours and 46 minutes over the Queenstown mail route. This is
the theoretical calculation. Practically the gain would be greater, says l\/Ir.
Corbin, who presents the actual results for the fastest steamers on the South-
ampton and Queenstown mail routes, the terminal points being the New
York and London post oflices :

Average time, Queenstown route, by steamer Lucania. . . . 6d. 13h. 58m.
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5d. 22h. 11m.
Total gain by proposed route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5h 47m.
1 .
Average time, Southampton route, by steamer New York. 7d. 6h. 24m.
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5d. 22h. 1 1m.
Total gain by proposed route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1d. 8h. 11m.
64
Mr. Corbin holds that for passengers and mails this time would be worth
saving, and the steamship company which should offer the saving would find
a paying business. If none of the established lines will avail themselves of
the opportunity, “it is only a question of time when a new line, with at least
equally good ships and service, will be established.” On the other side of
the ‘Z8/tll‘67’ the chance to save a few minutes in the passage transit of mails
and passengers is heing eagerly grasped. Here is a chance, he contends,
for some American line to heat all others in the transatlantic serv/ice.
[Salem, Mass., Daily Gazette, fannary 27, 1896.]
BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.
The problem of quick transit between the metropolis of the New World
and the metropolis of the Old World has engaged the earnest thought of
progressive cisatlantic and transatlantic minds for many years. New York
and London are the respective centres from which radiate lines of commu-
nication continental in their proportions. The epistolary messengers of the
business and social world of America and Europe, broadly speaking, pass
through the postal establishments of these great cities. Besides, the great
bulk of American travel to and from Europe surges through the British
metropolis, and the merchandise item of transportation also cuts a stupen-
dous figure in the summing up.
In view of these facts, and especially of that relating to the mails, the
question of expedition becomes of paramount importance. The saving of a
few hours in the transit may be of benefit incalculable to correspondents
upon business or even social matters. Coincident with the increase in speed
and general efficiency of the steamship, various plans for shortening the sea
space between the two termini have been evolved, many of them possessing
merit per se, but burdened with such collateral disadvantages as to defeat
their adoption. Obviously, this saving of the marine portion of the journey
was principally, if not wholly, thought to be made at this end, and projects
looking to an American terminus at Portland, at Eastport, at Halifax, at
Charlottestown, and even at St. John's, N. F., have been inaugurated and
abandoned.
In a recent issue of the North American ]i?ez/ieze/, Mr. Austin Corbin,
a gentleman of world-wide celebrity by reason of his projeotion and fur-
therance of great railway and other enterprises, presents for consideration
a new plan of “ Quick Transit Between New York and London ”—to quote
literally the caption of his paper. This is now before us, with certain points
additional whose elaboration the space allotted in the Review would not
permit. The whole is printed in a large and handsome pamphlet, with
65
maps of the localities involved, elegantly engraved and geographically ac-
curate.
Mr. Corbin’s plan, briefly stated, contemplates the making of Fort Pond
Bay, near Montauk Point, at the eastern extremity of Long Island, into a
great port of arrival and departure for transatlantic steamers ; and on the
other side the establishment of the well-known Welsh port of Milford
Haven as the British terminus. Fort Pond Bay is shown by the latest United
States charts to be one of the finest natural harbors in the world. Its depth is
so great and so uniform that the question of high or low tide is not consid-
ered ; the largest steamers can enter and depart at all stages of water, day
or night ; while its channels to the open ocean are broad, deep and abso-
lutely unobstructed. Passengers and mails landed at its docks could
quickly reach New York by the Long Island Railroad and Blackwell‘s
Island bridge-—thus substituting a rapid and safe land transportation
of I14 miles for a slow and dangerous water one of 125 miles. (For
a punctuation of tke jfierils and delays of t/zis latter route, see, as
we write, t/ze American liner St. Paul, askore on tke bar oj" Long
Branck, and tke narrow escape of t/ze Cunarder Cam_;5ania, in a dense
foe-)
Milford Haven, Wales, the proposed eastern terminus—capacious, deep,
accessible—is known to the whole maritime world as one of the finest
harbors in existence. Its advantages over Liverpool or Southampton lie
principally—as in the case of Fort Pond Bay over New York City—in its
unobstructed opening to the sea, its freedom from sandbars, and its great
depth of water. While it is farther from London than either of the great
ports named, the sea passage is thus materially shortened, and the draw-
backs of tortuous shipping, which obtain alike with them and with New
York, add just so much to its relative eligibility.
Mr. Corbin has treated the whole important subject in a succinct, com-
prehensive and exhaustive manner. He argues cogently that, by the great
saving of time thus effected (aside from the perils escaped), what is now the
rare exception in an interchange of letters between New York and London
can be made the rule, and that by this route passengers would be able to be
in telegraphic communication with the rest of the world at least fifteen
hours longer than by either of the other passenger routes—an advan-
tage of great importance to business men. Many more and strong points
are made. And, finally, he places the whole matter upon a broad and
patriotic national basis. The British Government is determined, if it lies in
its power, to control the transcontinental mail. \Vhat is wanted to check-
mate this is a purely American line of steamers between these, the best
termini, and the most direct and fastest Atlantic-Pacific railway service in
connection. This is a great public matter which he so well elucidates.
The principle of government subsidization on a liberal scale——possible under
the incoming Republican regimé—-should be applied as a stimulus to its
realization.
66
[Prov/ia'ence, R. 1., Yonrnal, Novemher I2, I89 5.]
NEW YORK AND LONDON SERVICE.
The plan for reducing the time between New York and London, advo-
cated in the North American Review by Austin Corbin, has attracted con-
siderable attention, and, while many accept his conclusions, there are some
who question the practicability of making Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern
end of Long Island, the western terminus of a transatlantic route. This
project is not a new one. It has been agitated for several years, and Mr.
Corbin is known as its originator or principal promoter. His proposition,
briefly stated, is to make Milford Haven, Wales, the eastern terminus, and
to land westbound passengers and freight at Fort Pond Bay instead of New
York. The expediency of this change is doubted by Engineering News, a
paper making a specialty of subjects pertaining to transportation on land
and water.
Without considering his argument for Milford Haven against Liverpool
and Southampton, Engineering News maintains that the Fort Pond part
of the plan is sufficient to show that from the radical change favored by
Mr. Corbin no substantial improvement can be expected. The gain in
time is estimated to be three hours and fifty-six minutes, and it is assumed
that passenger trains can be run at an average regular rate of sixty miles
an hour from Fort Pond Bay to New York—an extraordinary speed for the
Long Island road, which is crowded with suburban business. It is doubt-
ful if a mile a minute can be averaged on a road of this description, and Mr.
Corbin does not seem to have made allowance for the delay in transferring
passengers, baggage and mails from the steamer to the train. Few passen-
gers, it may be taken for granted, will care to ride by rail to a port over a
hundred miles from New York to save four hours time on a six days’
journey.
The tendency of steamboat travelers in this section is to choose the
water route having the shortest rail ride, and this is taken as an indication
that transatlantic passengers will not be pleased with any scheme that in-
cludes a dusty ride the length of Long Island, even if it shortens the
journey four hours. The sail down New York harbor to those traveling
for pleasure will offset the shorter time made possible by a rail ride of two
hours, and it should be remembered that the great majority of the patrons
of the Lncania and Campania go abroad for pleasure, not for business.
Another objection to the Fort Pond Bay scheme is the disadvantage of
transferring freight to the Long Island road. This extra haul of a hundred
miles or more will increase the expense to consignees and the News sug-
gests that to make his proposition acceptable Mr. Corbin must offer free
transportation for freight over the Long Island Railroad.
The inference drawn from these comments is that Mr. Corhin con-
templates reducing the journey to London only four hours. This is hardly
67
fair to tke writer of tke article on guick transit. As stated, tke firoposed
ckanges at tke Wales end of tke route were not discussed. Mr. Corbin
claims tkat by making Fort Pond Bay and M ilford Haven steamskzjf ter-
minals tke gain over tke Lucania’s average time on t/ze Queenstown route
will be fifteen /zours and forty-seven minutes, and one day ezg/rt kours and
eleven minutes is tke reduction said to be possible on t/ze Soutkampton
route, tke comparison being based on t/ze average time of t/ze steamer New
York. Mr. Corbin’s entire plan, not a fart, skould be criticised by teck-
nicalpapers desiring to aid tke public in forming an intelligent opinion.
[Providence, R. I., ‘fournal, November 4, 189 5.]
The article in the current Nortlz American Review entitled “ Quick
Transit Between New York and London,” by Mr. Austin Corbin, calls at-
tention to the Fort Pond Bay route to London in a more specific manner
than that subject has yet been treated. T kere cannot be tlze sligktest doubt
t/zat Mr. Corbin makes out /zis contention tkat tkat route to and from Eng-
land would s/zorten and reduce t/ze danger of tire longer journeys across tke
water. Again, for Mr. Corbin wants the Milford Haven route adopted at
the other terminus, the Atlantic steamship companies, by landing at that
port, will greatly reduce time and causes of danger in approaching the
British coast. The saving of time in all would be equivalent to fully fifteen
hours of direct and progressive mail communication between the two
shores, and would abbreviate the ordinary Queenstown mail route offered
to passengers by ten hours. Mr. Corbin’s article will probably call the at-
tention of Congress to the scheme of making a free port at Fort Pond Bay,
and it may be expected to interest travelers and the great steamship com-
pames.
[T ke Union, Maazckester, N. H., Fanuary 23, 1896.]
T be grounding of tke St. Paul on t/ze jersey coast in a fog is a forci-
ble reminder of Austin Corbin’s plea for a western ocean terminus at
Fort Pond Bay, witlz 114 miles by rail instead of 123 by water to New
York.
[Evening Express, Portland, Me., February 3, 1896.]
NEW YORK TO LONDON.-—AUSTIN CORBIN’S PLAN FOR
SHORTENING THE PASSAGE.
Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad, has published a
pamphlet entitled “ Quick Transit Between New York and London.” This
68
article appeared in the November North American Review, but certain
points are now treated more at length than in the Review. The route pro-
posed is by rail to Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island, thence
by steamer to Milford Haven, on the west coast of England, and the time
that would be saved is estimated to be one day eight hours and thirteen
minutes. The pamphlet is accompanied by a number of maps, showing
the proposed route in detail.
[New Haven Palladium, _‘7anuary I8, 1896.]
ENGLAND WANTS BOTH ENDS.
President Austin Corbin, of the Long Island Railroad Company, con-
tributed an article on “ Quick Transit Between New York and London ” to
the North American Review.
The article was published in the Review last November, and has since
been put into special form, illustrated with pictures and maps, and is in
brisk circulation.
Mr. Corbin’s views are especially interesting and instructive. He evi-
dently understands the subject thoroughly and he expresses himself with
clearness and strength.
He sets forth the features of the best transatlantic steamship line, how
to secure a route combining shortness and directness with the greatest safety
and comfort to the traveler.
He tells that the British government, with its usual zeal to clutch every-
thing in sight, has determined to control the transatlantic mail, and for that
purpose has in mind the scheme to construct a fast Atlantic and Pacific
mail service, “passing wholly between British ports, in British boats and
over British rails.”
The people of the United States wouldn’t care to have their mail landed
at a Canadian terminus any more than the Englishmen would their American
mail to be landed in France.
We of the United States intend to hold one end of the mail service
anyway. The Fort Pond and lldilford route would he the guichest, safest
and hest for us.
The matter is one of national importance and the American people
should he alive to the fact.
[Hartford T imes, Novemher 6, 1895.]
AUSTIN CORBIN’S PLAN.
The four-day steamer between the east end of Long Island and Milford
Haven in Wales is not so much heard of as it was, but these two points
69
are the basis of Austin Corbin’s new project. Mr. Corbin owns the Long
Island Railroad, and ever since he acquired it, has been pondering some
way to use it as part of a larger scheme. What he now has in mind is to
show the advantage of an Atlantic steamer route that avoids the delays of
slow running at both terminals in making harbor. What he sees in prospect
is a route that is all on the open ocean. The vessels are to stop at the
nearest land on each side, and railroad trains are to wheel their passengers
on to London or New York. Thus the time at sea will be reduced, the
delay due to moving slowly up a crowded harbor or its approaches will be
eliminated, and the traveler between New York and London will save from
half a day to a whole day without using a steamer any faster than those now
in operation.
Fort Pond Bay is a fine harbor just west of Montauk Point; Milford
Haven is another fine harbor at the extreme southwest corner of Wales.
The former is 114 miles from New York, and the latter about 250 from
London. Mr. Corbin figures out a gain on this plan of nearly sixteen hours
between New York and London by the Queenstown route, and one day and
eight hours by the Southampton route. This is on the assumption that the
steamers on this line make the same speed as those now plying on the other
lines named. This margin seems to Mr. Corbin well worth saving. He
believes tkat an kour saved in tke journey is just as valuable, obtained
in tkis way, as if cut of tke record of a steamer, and tkat no suck skorten-
ing of time as be proposes can be /zad at a comparative cost by increasing
tke speed of steamers. T kis looks like good reasoning.
[T ke Globe, [fart/"ord,_/anuary 19, 1896.]
TRANSATLANTIC TRANSIT.
One of the most interesting of recent publications is the pamphlet
issued in sumptuous style by Austin Corbin, entitled “ Quick Transit Be-
tween New York and London.” The letter text is founded on Mr. Corbin’s
article on the subject in T ke Nortk American Review, considerably
enlarged, and supplemented by maps which are geographically correct and
add to the clearness of the article.
Mr. Corbin treats with much force an important subject. He shows
that by utilizing the railroad service of Long Island and making the eastern
end of that island the American docking place of a European steamship
line the time of passage can be materially reduced and the dangerous coast
of Long Island avoided. Similar saving he plans at the English end of the
voyage, and altogether he demonstrates a practical possible time saving of
from sixteen hours to thirty-two hours in a single voyage from New York
to London, and an avoidance of many of the dangers of the present route.
70
Mr. Corhin’s worh will he read with interest hy all husiness men, and
American capital ought to he guich to act in adopting the solution of the
quick transatlantic transit prohlem which he has so ahly pointed out.
[_/lderiden, Conn., 7ournal, Novemher 6, 1895.]
SHORTEST ROUTE TO LONDON.
Public attention is again called to the subject of the shortest possible
route for an ocean ferry between New York and London by an article in
the North American Review for November from the able pen of Austin
Corbin, who has made a careful study of this great question ever since he
secured control of the Long Island Railroad.
For the harbor upon this side Mr. Corbin proposes to select Fort Pond
Bay, which is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. It is located
on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles west of Montauk Point and I 14
miles from New York City. Leaving this harbor, vessels would pass
through the waters of Block Island Sound, west of Block Island, avoiding
the slow run down New York Bay and past Sandy Hook, and connect with
the present route at a point a little south of Nantucket Shoals. Then
upon sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear, on the southern coast of Ire-
land, the vessels of the new line would bear directly eastward to the most
westerly port of Wales, which is Milford Haven.
The harbor of Milford Haven is declared by Mr. Corbin to have an en-
trance more than a mile and a half wide, with a minimum depth sufficient
for the largest steamers. It is entirely landlocked, and the tides in the
Haven are very slight. “ It has,” he adds, “ a depth of thirty-four feet at
the pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and passengers.
At the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway station, from which
special trains could be run to London in less than five hours.”
The saving of time which would be made by the adoption of this route
is thus stated by Mr. Corbin :
“ Steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which had
left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails
in London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a reply could
be sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these cases
be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing conditions, is
posted in London. By this route passengers would be able to be in tele-
graphic communication with the rest of the world at least fifteen hours
longer than by either of the other passenger routes.”
Fifteen hours is the equivalent of a husiness day. That means the
saving of one day’s interest on the hundreds of millions of international
halances.
71
But, having stated the problem of quick transit between New York and
London, and having shown what may be done at both ends of the route,
Mr. Corbin refers the whole matter to the American people to say what
shall be done. In this matter the people can only speak through Congress.
[New Britain, Conn., Record, December 14, 1895.]
Austin Corbin is in favor of establishing transatlantic rapid transit over
a new course which will be wholly free from the inconveniences and delays
due to tides, fogs and storms common in narrow and crowded waterways
and along dangerous coasts, like that of England. He believes that the
western terminius of a shorter and more direct route than that now taken
by ocean steamships should be Fort Pond Bay, located on the north side
of Long Island, 114 miles from New York. He claims that this bay is one
of the finest natural harbors in the world. He selects Milford as the eastern
terminus of his proposed route, and claims that 15 hours and 47 minutes
could be saved over the present Queenstown route, and 1 day 8 hours
and I 1 minutes over the average time of the Southampton route, by
changing the course as he suggests. It appears to us t/zat Mr. Corbin’s
suggestion is an excellent one. Mzlford Haverz is about 250 miles from
London, and is easily accessible by rail from all parts of England. Mr.
Corbin kas touc/zed tke interests of tke people on pointing out t/ze advan-
tages of a skorter and more safe route to t/ze Continent, and it is very
probable t/zat tkis proposition will quicken tke interest already manzfested
in tke matter, and tkat steps will soon be taken towards establisking a
new course for t/ze great transatlantic steamers.
[T ke fersey City News, February 6, 1896.]
AUSTIN CORBIN’S GREAT SCHEME.
Austin Corbin appeared before the House VVays and Means Committee
yesterday, to ask forlegislation looking towards the establishment of a free
port at Fort Pond Bay, Long Island. This is a part of Mr. Corbin’s great
scheme of rapid transit between New York and London.
Fort Pond Bay is at the extremity of Long Island. It is about a hun-
dred miles nearer to Europe, so to speak, than the port of New York. It has
deep water, small tidal fluctuation, no bar, very open entrance and an approach
very much safer than the approach to New York through the avoidance of
crowded waters. Mr. Corbin, we believe, estimates that its use instead of
72
New York would shorten the average transatlantic trip by from eight to
twelve hours, using steamers of the present standard ‘of speed. The jour-
ney from Fort Pond to New York is, of course, to be made by rail, and the
time thus consumed is allowed in calculating the saving stated above.
Mr. Corbin has issued a handsome pamphlet, with elaborate maps and
tables of figures, in which, to say the least, he mahes out a plausihle case
for his project. We should not he surprised it turned out to he the true
future for ocean navigation.
[T renton, N. f., Gazette, Novemher II, 1895.]
In the November number of the North American Review Mr. Austin
Corbin calls attention to the scheme of shortening the steaming distance
between London and New York by having steamers run to and from Fort
Pond Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island. The gain of time figured
out by the Queenstown route to London is 15 hours and 47 minutes, and
by the Southampton route 32 hours and II minutes. This would be a
material gain, and would put mails that leave New York Saturday morning
in London on the following Friday evening, thus making it possible to get
off replies to letters on the returning steamers. Mr. Corbin’s plan involves
making Milford Haven the terminus on the other side, instead of Liverpool
or Southampton. Mr. Corhin’s plan is a good one, and should he given a
trial.
[Philadelphia Puhlic Ledger, Novemher I8, I89 5.]
NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.
In the opening article of the North American Review for November, Aus-
tin Corbin presents a strong plea for a change in the ports between which the
English and American lines of . steamers now ply. His article, “ Quick
Transit Between New York and London,” shows the imminent danger of
the establishment of a Canadian route which would so shorten the time
between these cities that existing lines could no longer compete. He says
“there is only one way to prevent this, and that is for the United States to
promote and secure a direct route which will put the mails into New York
and all the Pacific ports in less time than can be done by any other route.”
He selects as the American terminus Fort Pond Bay, on the north side of
Long Island, I 14 miles from New York City, and as the English terminus Mil-
ford Haven, the most westerly port of Wales, and possessing advantages over
both Southampton and Liverpool in point of distance, good harborage and
sailing facilities. The time saved for the mails “ would enable letters leav-
ing New York Saturday morning to be delivered on the following Friday
night at latest, so that a reply could be sent on Saturday’s returning steamer,
to be received in New York about the time a reply would start back under
the present system.”
73
[Pkiladelfikia Call, fanuary 21, 1896.]
Mr. Austin Corbin, the well-known railroad manager, has written a
highly interesting article upon the important commercial and international
theme, “ Quick Transit Between New York and London,” which has been
published in a neat brochure, including some handsome illustrations, maps,
charts, etc. Qualified by long experience and undoubted ability to speak in-
structively with reference to the relation between quick transit and com-
mercial prosperity, it goes without saying that Mr. Corbin’s contribution to
this subject is unusually valuable.
[Pittsburg, Pa., Dispatck, December 4, 189 5.]
Austin C orbin’s plan for more rapid transit between New York and
London was partially verified by tke recent move in landing t/ze mails at
a new fort in England. Five /zours saved is quite an item on trans-
atlantic mails. (See page 20.)
[Pittsburg Disjbatc/2, November 8, 189 5.]
AUSTIN CORBIN’S IDEA.—HE WANTS TO SHORTEN THE
TIME BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON FOR BOTH
MAIL AND PASSENGERS.-—HE SUGGESTS A NEW ROUTE
AND THEN POINTS OUT ITS ADVANTAGES.—HIS FIGURES
SHOW A GREAT SAVING.
Quick transit between New York and London is a subject which receives
careful attention at the hands of Austin Corbin, in the current issue of the
Nortk American Review.
Mr. Corbin introduces the subject by stating that the question, in pro-
jecting the best transatlantic steamship line, is how to secure a route which
shall combine the merits of shortness and directness with the greatest safety
to the traveler, and adds :
“ As the western terminus for a new transatlantic route, it is proposed to
select Fort Pond Bay, which is one of the finest natural harbors in the world.
It is located on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles west of Montauk
Point, and I 14 miles from New York City. As shown by the latest Govern-
ment charts, it is of such great and uniform depth that the largest steamers
can enter or depart from it day or night throughout the year, without dan-
ger or detention.
“ To enter this harbor, all large steamers would depart from the usual
route between Great Britain or Europe and New York at a point a little
south of Nantucket Shoals and would proceed in a straight course through
unobstructed waters to the entrance of Block Island Sound, west of Block
Island.
74
A MAGNIFICENT HARBOR.
“This entrance has a width of five miles, between Phelps’ Ledge and a
small shoal located a little to the westward of Southward Ledge, its mini-
mum depth being seven fathoms. From this point the course would be
through Block Island Sound, passing between Shagwong Reef and Cer-
berus Shoal, which are four miles apart, and between which the minimum
depth of water is eight fathoms. Thence the course is direct, through abso-
lutely unobstructed waters, into Fort Pond Bay, whose entrance is three-
quarters of a mile wide, and where the tides never exceed 3 feet 5 inches.
“ In selecting this harbor for the western terminus of a new transatlantic
route, the entire southern shore of Long Island and the eastern coast of New
Jersey are avoided; the risk from collision on the much-frequented North
River and New York Bay is escaped, and the long delay at Sandy Hook
and the slow passage through the twenty-five miles of tortuous and crowded
chalpnels from Sandy Hook Lightship to the New York piers are done away
wit .
ADVANTAGES OF MILFORD.
“ Having chosen Fort Pond Bay as the western terminus of the proposed
route, the selection of a British port of arrival and departure becomes the
chief matter requiring consideration. Of the competing ports of Liverpool,
Southampton and Milford, the last is the most accessible at all times, and
possesses in the highest degree all the advantages necessary for a port of
arrival and departure.
“ To reach this port, vessels taking the usual course to Queenstown and
Liverpool, after sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear, on the southern
coast of Ireland, would hear directly eastward to the most westerly port of
Wales, which is Milford Haven, and thus avoid the disagreeable and dan-
gerous trip through a channel full of shipping at all hours of the day and
ni ht.
g“ This harbor, which has an entrance more than a mile and a half wide,
with a minimum depth sufficient for the largest steamers, is entirely land-
locked, and no seas of any consequence to large vessels can rise in it. The
tides in the Haven are very slight, running not more than one and one-half
knots per hour, while in the Solent they run as high as four and one-half
knots. Fog is much less prevalent in the approach to Milford than around
the Scilly Islands, which must be passed in approaching Southampton.
According to the statistics of the Meteorological Society the number of fogs
prevailing at and around the Scilly Islands is nearly double the number
found on the south coast of Ireland, the approach to Milford Haven.”
GOING INTO THE FIGURES.
After giving numerous calculations on the time of various routes now in
operation, Mr. Corbin says:
“ In March, I895, an order was issued by the House of Commons requiring
a return showing the da s, hours and minutes occupied by mail steamers
during the year 1894 in t e transit of mails between New York and Queens-
town, and also between New York and Southampton. This return dis-
closes the following facts. The shortest time made by any ship to Queens-
town was 5 days 12 hours and 45 minutes, to which should be added the
usual time consumed in carrying mails from Queenstown to the London
Post Office, 18 hours, making a total of 6 days 6 hours and 45 minutes as
the steamship and railway carriage time.
“ One hour must be added to this for carrying the mails from the Post
Office to the pier in New York. It also shows that the average time for I I
75
trips of the Lucania was 5 days 18 hours 58 minutes, and adding the time
from the New York Post Office to the pier, and from Queenstown to the
London Post Office, 19 hours, the average time was 6 days 13 hours 58
minutes.
“ The best average time for the American Line was made by the New
York, which for 15 voyages averaged 7 days 1 hour 59 minutes from the
New York pier to Southampton. The usual time required for carrying the
mails from the Southampton docks to the London Post Office is 3 hours and
25 minutes. Adding this time and the one hour necessary for carrying the
mail from the New York Post Office to the pier to the average time of the
New York, the average time from post office to post oflice is found to be 7
days 6 hours and 24 minutes.
THE VARIOUS ROUTES COMPARED.
“ It is with these latter figures that the time which could be made by a
transatlantic line, using Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven, should be com-
pared, as the other lines, being well-established and having their full com-
plement of ships, cannot afford to discard their older steamers and adopt
newer and faster ones.
“It can be safely assumed, therefore, that for some years to come the
figures given in the return to the House of Commons will afford a fair stand-
ard for judging of the time which the established lines will take in making
the passage from pier to pier.”
Mr. Corbin then goes into figures and shows that the new route would
result in a saving of 15 hours and 47 minutes over the Queenstown lines,
and 1 day 8 hours and 1 1 minutes over the Southampton line.
Continuing, he says :
“The gain of a very few hours would be of the utmost importance in
the matter of mail service. Granting that all existing mail steamers could
make the ocean voyage fast enough to deliver the mails in the same time
which the Lucania takes, it would rarely be possible to get a reply by the
return steamer sailing a week later, except during the summer months.
Even then it is by no means certain, and little, if any, opportunity is afforded
for inquiries and investigation.
NOTHING GAINED BY THEM.
“ Nothing is really gained, therefore, by the present fast steamers of the
Cunard Line, for before the second return mail is due to leave, the slow
steamers of every line are able to deliver their mails, so as to enable a reply
to be sent by the same return steamer. The saving of a few hours would
completely change this, and make the exception the rule.
“ Steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which has
left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails in
London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a reply could be
sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these cases
be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing conditions, is
posted in London. By this route, passengers would be able to be in tele-
graphic communication with the rest of the world at least 15 hours longer
than by either of the other passenger routes.
“ In no way can these immense advantages be secured except by a gain
of several hours in the delivery of mails at the London and New York post
offices. This can only be accomplished by increasing the speed of ships-
76
a very expensive method—or by shortening the length of the ocean voyage,
and substituting as much railway travel as possible. The saving of time by
shortening the distance calls for the selection of the Fort Pond Bay and
Milford Haven route.
NOT A MERE LOCAL ISSUE.
“ The question of this proposed transatlantic route is not a mere local
one between New York and London, but it concerns all Europe and America,
including Eastern Asia as well. The British Government is determined, if
it lies in its power, to control the transcontinental mail. In May, a deputa-
tion waited on Lord Rosebery for the purpose of formally submitting the
scheme of constructing a fast Atlantic and Pacific mail service, passing
wholly between British ports, in British boats and over British rails, the
object of the line being to develop and strengthen the commercial connec-
tion between the British Colonies and the United Kingdom.
“ The success of such a scheme would require a liberal subsidy from
Great Britain, and the generous policy of that government in subsidizing its
mail lines is shown by the fact that in recently awarding the Irish mail con-
tract it raised the annual subsidy $500,000 for a decrease of one half hour
in the time between Kingstown and Holyhead.
“ There is only one way to prevent the establishment of a Canadian route,
which would divert much local and all through mail and traffic to the Do-
minion, and that is for the United States to promote and secure a through
direct route, which will put the mails into New York and all Pacific ports
in less time than can be done by any other route. This can be accomplished
by the Fort Pond and Milford Haven route.
CANADA WANTS IT BADLY.
“Canada is offering to pledge many times more money to obtain this
advantage than would be required from the United States to secure and
make certain for all time the intercontinental mail and passenger traffic.
“ The advantages of Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven have been stated,
but the adoption of the former port does not require the selection of the latter.
Fort Pond Bay is open to all steamship lines, and the Long Island Railroad,
with its bridge over the East River, will be at the service of any steamship
company which wishes to save time at the American end.
“While it is true that the present North Atlantic companies have con-
structed, at vast expense, the finest and fleetest steamships afloat in any
waters, and are maintaining the most magnificent ocean service, it is equally
true that they do not make the quick time which might be made over this
better route, and unless some one of them shall utilize the manifest advan-
tages of this new American harbor, it is onlya question of time when a new
line with at least equally good ships and service will be established.
“ The problem of quick transit between New York and London has been
stated. To the traveler it is a question of convenience, economy, saving of
time and lessening of danger ; to every American citizen it should be a ques-
tion of high national importance.”
[Chronicle- T elegrajhh (Pittshurg, Pa.), Novemher I4, I89 5.]
ACROSS IN FIVE DAYS.
The Long Island Railroad is steadily creeping up to Montauk Point,
and this is taken as meaning that Mr. Corbin and others interested in the
77
transportation system of New York mean, in the near future, to reduce the
time for crossing the Atlantic to five days. Milford Haven, the western-
most port of England, and Montauk would form a route having this possi-
bility, even assuming that the ultimate highest speed has been practically
reached by the ocean greyhounds.
[Pittsburg Times, November 4, 189 5.]
A FIELD FOR AMERICAN HUSTLE.
A feature of the current number of the Nortk American Review is an
article from the pen of Austin Corbin, showing how, by establishing two
new terminals, one on either side of the ocean, the time between New York
and London can be shortened at least 15 hours, or enough to accomplish
the trip in less than six days. The best time made by the existing lines is
6 days and 14 hours. Mr. Corbin’s plan would clip the time down to
about 5 days and 22 hours, with the railroads running at the present
speed, although it is wholly reasonable to suppose that by increasing the
speed of the railway trains to be used in the project the time could be made
shorter still.
* >|< * * * * >i< *
Mr. Corbin would have the ships sail from new ports. On the American
side of the water he favors the bay of Fort Pond, at the extreme east end
of Long Island. That would cut off 114 miles of sea voyage, and permit
the ships to enter a harbor easy of access, away from the tralfic of New
York harbor, and save the tedious journey along the coast of Long Island
and into New York Bay. Ships require about five hours longer to run from
the east end of Long Island to the New York piers than would be essential
to cover the same distance into Fort Pond Bay, and the balance of the way
by rail.
At the other side of the sea, instead of going to Liverpool or South-
ampton, the plan proposes a harbor in Milford Haven, at the extreme west
of Wales, with rail connection thence to London. Milford Haven, like
Fort Pond Bay, is an excellent port to enter, away from the frequented
routes of the bulk of sea-going traffic, reducing the dangers of collision and
permitting high speed because of the clear roadway.
* * * if -3’: * * -X-
I/V/zile tke saving in time is a decided advantage, anot/zer feature of
suck a route skould commend itself to loyal Americans. T/ze Britislz
Government is anxious to control tke mail service between tlze two con-
tinents, and wken it does tkat it controls tke mails, not only between
America and Great Britain, but also t/ze mails of Germany, France, tke
far East, and practically everytking t/zat comes by way of tke Pacific and
crosses the overland routes. Even now tke Britislz Government is con-
78
sidering a mail route from British ports through British territory on
this continent, and sooner or later it will come.
If the United States shall awaken to the opportunity and put on the sea
a line of ships that shall ply between the two points like Fort Pond Bay and
Milford Haven, shortening the sea voyage, and permitting railroad trains to
lessen the time of mail and express between foreign ports and the centres
of population on this continent, the overland and Asiatic trade will continue
to be ours. But if we allow Great Britain to once divert our traffic, as well
as that foreign trade which enters at our Pacific ports and is carried through
our Atlantic ports to the old world, it will be a case of whistle to get it
back.
In this day of ra,hid transit it is not to he imagined that such advan-
tages as exist in the ports cited hy Mr. Corhin will he overloohed for a
long time. But the habit of overlooking or postponing action is a fault
with a big nation, and we can fool away an opportunity like this until it is a
trifle too late. The United States has an opportunity in the encourage-
ment of such a line of vessels to hold the tide of mails and traflic through
all time, and the people by saying the word can bring about the end.
[Harrz1shurg, Pa., Call, Novemher 9, 1895.]
RAPID OCEAN TRANSIT.
A contributor to the North American Review makes some interesting
suggestions looking to what he believes to be a quickening of the means of
transit between New York and London. The Chicago Record says : “ The
writer, who is an expert on matters pertaining to railroads, believes that the
necessity for quicker transit between these parts is growing yearly and that
the proper way of meeting it consists in establishing different points of entry
and departure.
“ He points out that according to the present procedure of sending
vessels over the whole course from Liverpool to New York many hours are
lost at both ends of the line. According to the system which he recom-
mends the vessels would sail from some point like Milford Haven, on Bristol
Channel, going thence direct to some point like the extreme east end of
Long Island. At each end of this long line the connections with the lead-
ing cities like New York and London would be made by fast express trains
on land. The fag ends of the journey going and coming would thus be
made by train at a high rate of speed. At present much time is lost by the
longer sea trip and the slow speed necessitated in approaching New York
Harbor.
“ The plan opens up interesting possibilities in connection with ocean
traffic, since, if it is a good one, it might be still better to establish the sail-
79
ing ports at still nearer points, Cape Breton, in Canada, being one of them.
There are other considerations to be weighed, however, and one of these is
the fact that the great Atlantic liners have freight as well as passenger
traffic to look out for. To establish ports of entry at the points named
would be to necessitate the cost of transferring freight from the steamer to
the railway lines, to say nothing of the increased expense of the railway
transportation itself. These are matters which may not weigh very much
with the passengers, but are certain to be regarded by the steamship com-
panies. The plan would reduce the time of the ocean passage possibly as
much as one day and eight hours, but the gain in time would hardly repay
the increase in expenses.
“ Fast ocean travel will doubtless come in due time, but it seems more
likely to be obtained by the inventions of the shipbuilders. The limit of
ocean speed has not yet been reached, and until it has the people will be
content to take ship at convenient and accessible points.”
[1-larrisburg, Pa., Star-Independent, fanuary 21, 1896.]
QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.
Austin Corbin, Esq., President of the Long Island Railroad Company,
is the author of a pamphlet on the subject of quick transit between New
York and London. The frontispiece represents a stage coach ascending a
hill with the passengers walking, and bears the inscription “ 6 miles an hour
then,” below is a representation of a fast express train bearing the inscrip-
tion “ 60 miles an hour now.” In the latter part of the pamphlet is the rep-
resentation of a sailing vessel with the inscription, “ 60 days then,” below
this is another showing a modern transatlantic steamer, with the inscription,
“ 6 days now.”
Mr. Corbin gives a very graphic description of the proposed new route
between the two great English-speaking nations, by which the time and
distance can be considerably shortened, having Fort Pond Bay, which is said
to be one of the finest natural harbors in the world, as the western termi-
nus. It is located on the north side of Long Island, 6 miles west of Mon-
tauk Point, and 114 miles from New York City. Mr. Corbin also gives
the length of time required to transfer the mails at various points, such as
New York, Queenstown, Kingston Pier, Holyhead, and from Euston Station
to London Post Office. The pamphlet throughout is brimfull of informa-
tion relating to travel and the handling of mail matter by the fast trans-
atlantic lines.
80
[Easton, Pa., Express, Novemher 8, I89 5.]
TRANSATLANTIC RAPID TRANSIT.
Mr. Austin Corbin contributes a leading article to the current number of
the North American Review on the subject of rapid transatlantic transit.
He proposes an ocean ferry by the shortest possible route between New
York and London. The Long Island Railroad is being extended toward
Montauk Point, but its terminus will be Fort Pond Bay, six miles from
Montauk Light. This bay is located on the north side of Long Island, 114
miles from New York City, and is “ one of the best natural harbors in the
world.” Ships leaving this harbor would pass through Block Island Sound,
west of the island, and get into the regular route at a point just south of
Nantucket Shoals. As for the eastern terminus, Mr. Corbin proposes that
the ships of this line, upon sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear, on the
southern coast of Ireland, shall steer directly eastward to Milford Haven,
the most westerly point of Wales. Mr. Corbin says of Milford Haven that
it has an entrance more than a mile and a half wide, with a minimum depth
sufficient for the largest steamers. It is entirely land-locked, and the tides
in the Haven are very slight. “It has,” he adds, “ a depth of thirty-four
feet at the pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and pas-
sengers. At the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway station,
from which special trains could be run to London in less than five hours.”
Mr. Corbin has no doubt of the success of this great enterprise, and his
confidence is based on the saving of time that will be accomplished by it.
He states that steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which
had left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails
in London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a reply could
be sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these cases
be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing conditions, is
posted in London. It will be seen that by this route passengers would be
able to be in telegraphic communication with the rest of the world at least
fifteen hours longer than by either of the other passenger routes.
[Scranton, Pa., Truth, Decemher 24, I89 5.]
SWIFT TRANSIT OVER SEA.
To lessen the distance and the time for steamers crossing the Atlantic,
by means of a new, great seaport at the eastern end of Long Island, is the
plan proposed by Austin Corbin, the President of the Long Island Railroad
system. That railroad has been carried across a barren country to Mon-
tauk Point. Why? has been often asked. The answer is, that there is at
Montauk Point a deep harbor, “ as safe, as deep and in some respects as
81
beautiful a harbor as that of Queenstown, Ireland.” A bill has been already
introduced into the United States Senate, at this session, to make of this
harbor, now known as Fort Pond, a free port of entry.
If this be done, making Montauk Point and its harbor the western termi-
nus for a line of swift sailing vessels, the eastern terminal to be Milford
Haven, in southwestern England, Mr. Corbin expects to be able to reduce
the time needful for crossing the Atlantic to four days and a half. A canti-
lever bridge from New York to Long Island City, and a viaduct from the
bridge to the Grand Central Railroad Station and the new one to be built
at the end of the Hudson River Bridge, are to complete the rapid transit
into New York. So says the well-known and usually thoroughly well-
informed correspondent, Holland; and tke flan is one t/zat looks /izg/zly
feasible, in tkese days of skillful engineering and commercial enterprise.
[Every Evening, Wilmington, Del., _/anuary 24, 1896.]
QUICK OCEAN TRANSIT.—AUSTIN CORBIN’S ARGUMENT
FOR A SHORTER ROUTE BETWEEN NEW YORK AND
LONDON.
“ Because the king’s business required haste” is the apt quotation upon
the cover of the second edition of Austin Corbin’s article in the Nort/2
American Review upon the subject of “ Quick Transit Between New York
and London.” As a frontispiece is a picture of the old-time coach, which
made six miles an hour, and the modern passenger train, which makes 60
miles an hour, and following the article is a picture of a sailing vessel which
occupied 60 days in crossing the Atlantic, and of a steamer which now covers
the voyage in six days.
In his argument for a shorter route between this country and Great
Britain, Mr. Corbin favors the use of Fort Pond Bay, near the eastern ex-
tremity of Long Island, as the American port, and Milford Haven, St.
George’s Channel, as the English port. The three points of superiority
claimed for the Fort Pond Bay-Milford Haven route are that it is more
direct and, therefore, shorter than either of the Liverpool lines; that the
assumed standards of speed can be maintained on this route for practically
the whole distance, because it is nearly all open sea steaming, while on all
the other routes the speed of the steamers must be greatly reduced for
many knots at both ends of the route ; and that the longer railway journey
substituted by this route for water travel can be easily made at the adopted
standard of speed regardless of the condition of the weather.
The total estimated gain over the Queenstown route is put at 15 hours
and 47 minutes ; over the Southampton route, 1 day 8 hours and 13 minutes.
Mr. Corbin holds that by this proposed route the mails can be put into
,.
‘£1
82
New York and all Pacific ports in less time than it can be done by any
other route. He desires the United States to establish such a route rather
than allow the English to establish a Canadian route, which would divert
much mail to the Dominion.
In connection with the article are several maps showing the proposed
route and ports.
[Baltimore, Md., Sun, Novemher 3, 1895.]
A NEW TRANSATLANTIC STEAMSHIP ROUTE.
Mr. Austin Corbin, the railroad king of Long Island, who contfols all
the steam railroads of that big suburb of New York City, writes the leading
article in the North American Review for November to show how a better
transatlantic steamship service than now exists could easily be established.
He assumes that the main object to be kept in view is “ how to secure a
route which shall combine the merits of shortness and directness with the
greatest safety and comfort to the traveler.” And he believes that this
object must be obtained by selecting a new port on either side of the
Atlantic for a terminal point, with geographical advantages not possessed
by any of the ports of embarkation and debarkation now used.
He names Fort Bond Bay on this side and Milford Haven 0-11 the other
as the two ports which offer exceptional advantages for a much faster and
perfectly safe run between the shores of this country and those of Great
Britain. President Corbin makes out quite a strong case for Fort Pond Bay
as a new American port of departure. It is located on the north side of Long
Island, six miles west of Montauk Point and one hundred and fourteen
miles from New York City. It is of such great and uniform depth that the
largest steamers can enter it or depart from it day or night throughout the
year without danger of detention. To enter Fort Pond Bay all large
steamers would depart from the usual route between Great Britain and New
York at a point a little south of Nantucket Shoals, and would proceed in a
straight course through unobstructed waters to the entrance of Block Island
Sound, west of Block Island. This entrance has a width of five miles, be-
tween Phelps Ledge and asmall shoal located a little to the westward of
Southwest Ledge, its minimum depth being seven fathoms. From this
point the course would be through Block Island Sound, with a minimum
depth of water of eight fathoms. Thence the course is direct, through
absolutely unobstructed waters, into Fort Pond Bay, whose entrance is
three-quarters of a mile wide, and where the tides never exceed three feet
five inches. In selecting this harbor for the western terminus of a new
transatlantic route the entire southern shore of Long Island and the eastern
coast of New Jersey would be avoided, the risk from collision on the much-
frequented North River and New York Bay would be escaped, and the
83
delay at Sandy Hook and the slow passage through the twenty-five miles of
tortuous and crowded channels from Sandy Hook Lightship to the New
York piers would be done away with.
The advantages of Milford Haven as the British end of the new route
are believed by Mr. Corbin to be equally great. To reach it vessels taking
the usual course to Queenstown and Liverpool, after sighting Fastnet Light,
off Cape Clear, on the southern coast of Ireland, would bear directly east-
ward to the most westerly port of Wales, which is Milford Haven, and thus
avoid the trip through a channel full of shipping at all hours of the clay and
night. Milford Haven harbor has an entrance more than a mile and a half
wide, with a minimum depth sufficient for the largest steamers, is entirely
land-locked, and no seas of any consequence to large vessels can rise in it.
The tides in the Haven are very slight, running not more than one and one-
half knots per hour, while in the Solent they run as high as four and one-
half knots. Fog is much less prevalent in the approach to Milford than
around the Scilly Islands, which must be passed in approaching Southamp-
ton. This prevalence of fogs increases the necessary reduction of speed in
approaching the coast at the entrance to the Solent, and makes navigation
to Southampton more arduous. The Mersey Channel is not free from these
same disadvantages, as it is always more or less filled with shipping. But
Milford Haven has free and uninterrupted access to and from the sea, and
is a harbor into which the largest vessel afloat, or which is contemplated,
can steam at any hour of the day or night. It has a depth of 34 feet at the
pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and passengers. At
the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway station, which would be
entered without stepping from under cover, and from which special trains
could be run to London in less than five hours.
It is claimed by Mr. Corbin that over this new transatlantic route, with
Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven as its termini, the fastest time yet made
or possible to be made by the swiftest vessels now afloat on the old routes
can be beaten. The best transatlantic record up to this time on the east-
ward voyage is certified by the Cunard Company to have been five days
eight hours and thirty-eight minutes, made by the Lucania. The average
run was exactly 21.90 knots per hour. Mr. Corbin adopts this best time as
the standard of comparison in his calculations of the possible saving of time
to be made by running steamers of equal speed with the Lucania between
Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven. In a series of tables he sets forth in detail
the exact time consumed in transferring mails and passengers by the Liverpool
(via Queenstown) and the Southampton routes. His deduction is that steam-
ers using the Milford Haven harbor would gain, on the eastward run, four hours
and forty minutes over the Southampton route, six hours and five minutes
over the Liverpool passenger route, including the delay at Queenstown, and
four hours and thirty-five minutes excluding it, and two hours and fifty
minutes over the Queenstown mail route. On the run from the other side
to this country Mr. Corbin says that the Fort Pond Bay route would bring
84
mails and passengers into New York City four hours quicker than they are
at present brought. Ile estimates the total gain of time at both ends for
the new route to be eight hours and thirty-six minutes over the Southampton
route, ten hours and one minute over the Liverpool passenger route, includ-
ing the Queenstown detention, and six hours and forty-six minutes over the
Queenstown mail route.
But the president of the Long Island Railroad says that in actual prac-
tice the Fort Pond and Milford Haven route would effect a much greater
saving of time in the steamship service between the two countries, because
the assumed high standard of speed above mentioned cannot really be main-
tained on either the Liverpool route after leaving Queenstown, or on the
Southampton route after reaching the Solent, or from Kingstown to Holy-
head on the mail route, any more than it can be continued over Sandy Hook
bar and through New York harbor. He shows, by a return made to the
House of Commons in March last, of the exact time occupied in the transit
of the mails between the United States and Great Britain, that the average
time from the New York Post Office to the London Post Office was six days
thirteen hours and fifty-eight minutes. By the same returns it appears that
the average time between the New York Post Office, and the London Post
Office via Southampton was seven days six hours and twenty-four minutes.
Mr. Corbin sums up his calculations by claiming that his new route
would show the following gain over the best average time of the present
routes :
Average time, Queenstown route, by steamer Lucania. .. 6 d. 13 h. 58 m.
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5 d. 22 h. 11 In.

Total gain by proposed route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 5 h. 47 m.
Average time, Southampton route, by steamer New I/or/e, 7 d. 6 h. 24 m.
Estimated time, Fort Pond-Milford Haven route, adopting
present schedule railroad time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 d. 22 h. II In.

Total gain by proposed route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. I d. 8 h. II In.
In closing his article Mr. Corbin states his opinion that the only way to
prevent the establishment of a new Canadian route faster than any Ameri-
can one that now exists, and which would divert much local and all through
mail and traffic to the Dominion, is for the United States to promote and
secure a through direct route which would put the mailsinto New York and
all Pacific ports in less time than can be done by any other route. This
seems like a new subsidy scheme. The commercial benefits of such a sav-
ing of time as Mr. Corbin claims for his new route are, however, so man-
ifestly large and valuable that the private capital invested in establishing it
would surely not need Government assistance.
[VVaskington, D. C ., Post, November 7, 189 5.]
TRANSATLANTIC RAPID TRANSIT.
Mr. Austin Corbin contributes a leading article to the current number
of the Nort/2 American Review on the subject of rapid transatlantic transit.
He proposes an ocean ferry by the shortest possible route between New
York and London. The Long Island Railroad is being extended toward
Montauk Point, but its terminus will be Fort Pond Bay, six miles from
Montauk Light. This bay is located on the north side of Long Island, 1 14
miles from New York City, and is “ one of the best natural harbors in the
world.” Ships leaving this harbor would pass through Block Island Sound,
west of the island, and get into the regular route at a point just south of
Nantucket Shoals. As for the eastern terminus, Mr. Corbin proposes that
the ships of this line, upon sighting Fastnet Light, off Cape Clear, on the
southern coast of Ireland, shall steer directly eastward to Milford Haven,
the most westerly point of Wales. Mr. Corbin says of Milford Haven that
it has an entrance more than a mile and a half wide, with a minimum depth
sufficient for the largest steamers. It is entirely landlocked, and the tides
in the Haven are very slight. “It has,” he adds, “a depth of thirty-four
feet at the pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and pas-
sengers. At the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway station, from
which special trains could be run to London in less than five hours.”
Mr. Corbin has no doubt of the success of this great enterprise, and his
confidence is based on the saving of time that will be accomplished by it.
He states that steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail
which had left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver
their mails in London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that a
reply could be sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach
New York on Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would
in these cases be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing
conditions, is posted in London. It will be seen that by this route passen-
gers would be able to be in telegraphic communication with the rest of the
world at least fifteen hours longer than by either of the other passenger
routes.
[Alexandria, Va., Gazette, November 5, 1895.]
Mr. Austin Corbin, in the current number of the ./Vort/2 American
Review, defends the establishment of a line of steamers between Fort
Pond Bay, on the north side of Long Island, and Milford Haven, the most
westerly port of Wales, by which he says that 15 hours and 47 minutes
86
would be saved in a trip across the Atlantic via Queenstown, and I day 8
hours and II minutes via Southampton.
As time is money nowadays, and as the longer an ocean trip the more
danger thereof, any safe means hy which such a trzlt can he shortened is
advisahle.
[Norfolh, Va., Landmark, Novemher 5, I895.]
RAPID TRANSATLANTIC TRAVEL.
The initial article in the North American Review for November is
entitled, “Quick Transit Between New York and London,” and is con-
tributed by Mr. Austin Corbin. The treatment of the subject shows that
Mr. Corbin has given it much attention, and the suggestion for shortening
the time between the two cities is a most ingenious and reasonable one. It
is simple enough—one of those simple things that lie unobserved so long.
Fort Pond Bay, on the northern coast of Long Island and II4 miles
from New York City, is, according to Mr. Corbin, one of the finest harbors
in the world, and the very largest steamships can enter and leave it without
danger or difficulty at any time of the year. Milford Haven, on the west
coast of Wales, possesses more advantages as a port than either South-
ampton or Liverpool, being sufflciently deep to accommodate a vessel of
the greatest draught and being completely land-locked.
Mr. Corbin’s idea is to make these ports the termini of a great trans-
atlantic line of steamships, conveying the passengers and mails to London
and New York respectively by railroad. The arguments presented are of
the most convincing nature. In the first place, the gain in safety would he
no small consideration, as the new route would avoid the crowded North
River and New York Bay on the American side, while the danger from
the shzjhjoing in the Mersey and the chronic English fogs is done away with
at the other terminus. Statistics compiled by competent authorities show
that during the last four years Milford Haven has been foggy but forty-
four days, and then for short times only. By making this change the ocean
greyhounds would be enabled to entirely disregard the tides, and could
maintain full speed over the whole course, to the very point of landing.
The time that could be saved by adopting this suggestion is surprising.
Taking as a standard ocean rate that of the Lucania when she won the
transatlantic record (namely, 21.90 knots per hour), and sixty miles an
hour as the railroad speed, Mr. Corbin shows by actual calculation what
the difference would be. The gain of the Fort Pond-Milford Haven over
the Southampton route would be eight hours and thirty-six minutes; over
the Queenstown route by way of Liverpool, ten hours and one minute ;
over the Queenstown mail route, six hours and forty-six minutes. It must
be borne in mind that these figures are based on theoretical assumptions,
87
allowing the railroads connecting London with the coast cities an average
speed of sixty miles per hour, which is far in excess of the actual rate. The
truth is that the average time between Queenstown and London, as shown
by official reports, is no less than eighteen hours. Taking the present
schedule railroad time and the average time of the Lucania, and estimating
the time by the new route in the same manner, it is found that the gain
would amount to fifteen hours and forty-seven minutes. That is the
Queenstown route, but the Southampton comparison is even more striking.
Still keeping the schedule railroad time, and substituting for the average
time of the Lucania that of the steamship New York, the gain by the Fort
Pond-Milford Haven course would be one day, eight hours and eleven min-
utes.
T be force of t/zese calculations cannot be evaded. Tkey skow tkat an
American company, by availing itself of tke opportunity kere made evi-
dent, could, witk steams/ziqfis of equal speed and attractiveness, utterly dis-
tance tkeir Englisk rivals in tke comjfetition for tke great inter-continen-
tal travel. T be mails would necessarily go to t/zis route, and consequently
t/ze Government subsidy. It is certain tkat t/ze traveling public would
select tke route wkick, wit/2 comfort equal to any, surpasses all in speed
and safety. If we do not take advantage of t/ze c/zance some Englisk
company will.
[T ke Constitution, Atlanta, Ga., November 24, 1895.]
QUICK TRANSIT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.
The new railway which is now gradually creeping from one end of Long
Island to the other will become an important factor of ocean travel.
Mr. Austin Corbin, in his recent article in T be Nortk American Re-
view proposes a new transatlantic steamship route, which will avoid the
long delays at Sandy Hook and the slow passage through the channel, sav-
ing twenty-three hours in time between New York and London, when com-
pared with the shortest average time of any of the existing routes.
This means a five-day trip across the Atlantic. The proposed route is
from Milford Haven to Fort Pond Bay, both open deep water harbors which
may be safely entered at any hour of the day or night. Milford Haven ex-
press trains will land passengers in London in less than five hours, while the
new extension of the Long Island Railway will bring Fort Pond Bay within
two hours of New York.
The new route would gain sixteen hours’ time from post office to post
office over the Lucanz'a’s average time, and thirty-two hours over the New
Y ork’s average time. A similar calculation shows a gain in mail transporta-
tion from post oflice to post oflice of eight hours and thirty-six minutes over
the best possible time by the Southampton route and seven hours over the
88
mail route from Queenstown to London, if the maximum rate of speed
could be maintained over these routes.
A whole week is gained by a few hours’ earlier delivery of foreign letters
in London or New York. A steamer leaving the Fort Pond terminus would
deliver New York’s Saturday morning mail in London early Friday evening,
thus allowing time to send replies by the steamer leaving Milford Haven the
next day.
Mr. C orhin’s new route is one of national importance. 1 t is our only
way of shortening the ocean trzf, and if we do not adopt it we may expect
to see suhsidized British lines accomplish the same thing hy estahlishing
a terminus at Iialzfax, connecting with fast trains to Boston and New
I/or/e, and diverting passengers and freight trafic hy the Canadian
Pacific to all the Lahe ports, the Paczjic coast and the Orient. it is plain
that the C orhin route should receive every lhossihle encouragement.
[Macon, Ga., T elegraph, /anuary 29, 1896.]
A NEW OCEAN PATHWAY.
The “ St. Paul ” steamship disaster gives food for thought on the line of
the newly proposed routes across the Atlantic. The heavy fogs, so frequent
and so disastrous now on the New fersey coast, were the chief cause of the
disaster, which, however, would not have happened had the two steamers,
the Cam;§ania and the St. Paul, not been racing. That they were racing
is denied, of course, by the officers, but those who have crossed the ocean
and understand the tremendous temptation that comes when two vessels
bound for the same port get together on the homestretch, will “ wink the
other eye ” when the statement is made that both vessels were soberly wend-
ing their way homeward without any sporting blood coursing in the veins of
officers or passengers. But, leaving out the racing question, that of fogs
and shoals is sufficient to set us thinking about the extreme dangers of the
present pathways of the ocean, especially when it is proposed to open an-
other that is safer. All the danger does not lie on this side of the water.
Only a few days ago the Cunard steamshzf Cephalonia, in a fog, ran upon
the rochs in St. George’s Channel, and narrowly escaped. An article ,ouh-
lished recently in the “American Review” calls attention to another route,
which the writer of the article, Mr. Austin C orhin, claims is hetter, safer
and swzfter than those now traveled. According to Mr. Corbin, Fort Pond
Bay, at the eastern extremity of Long Island, is one of the finest natural
harbors in the world. It is certainly accessible by land, and the fogs off the
coast are less frequent, it is said, than anywhere else. This, then, offers a
terminus on the American side that delivers travelers from the dangers of
the storm-beaten and fog-ridden coasts of Long Island and New jersey. It
89
has been pointed out since the accident to the St. Paul that had Fort Pond
Bay been the terminus, the passengers would have been safely landed on
Friday night, and would have reached New York on Saturday morning by
rail. On the other side, Milford Haven, a magnificent harbor in Wales, is
proposed as the terminus. And so the perils of the channel routes to
Liverpool or Southampton are avoided. Milford Haven has the addi-
tional advantage of being on a direct line with London and only five
hours journey by rail from the English metropolis. The clinching argu-
ment in favor of the new route in these days when rapid transit is the first
consideration, is that by adopting these harbors nearly twenty-four hours
will be saved between New York and London. W itk recurring accidents
consequent upon fogs and skallow water in tke aflbroac/zes of bot/z ter-
mini, will come, no doubt, a more serious consideration of t/ze new route,
and we may look for a ckange almost at any time, so far, at least, as pas-
senger vessels are concerned.
[Tke Macorz, Ga., Republican, fanuary 24, 1896.]
Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company, had in
the November issue of the Nortk American Review an able and interest-
ing article on the subject of “ Quick Transit Between New York and
London.” Since then he has published in pamphlet form, including a fine
series of maps, a more comprehensive presentation of his study of the ques-
tion. He sets forth that by using the fine harbor at Fort Pond Bay, at the
eastern end of Long Island, 1 14 miles east of New York City, as the western
terminus, and Milford Haven in western England as the eastern terminus
of the steamship route, a very material reduction could be made in the time
required to convey mail between London and New York. This gain over
the Southampton route would amount to one day eight hours and thirteen
minutes, and mail from the New York Post Office could be delivered in
London within six days.
[Columbus, Ga., Daily Enquirer, _/anuary 19, 1896.]
QUICK TRANSIT TO EUROPE.
The Enquirer-Sun has received from Mr. Austin Corbin, the noted
New York banker, a handsomely printed pamphlet containing his article
which appeared in the November issue of the Nort/z American Review, on
“Quick Transit Between New York and London.” The article carefully
elaborates the plan for a new transatlantic route from New York to London
90
that would shorten the distance for passenger traffic and the transportation
of mails between the New York Post Oflice and the London Post Office.
It is proposed to establish a new western terminus at Fort Pond Bay, which
is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. It is located on the north
side of Long Island, six miles from Montauk and I 14 miles from New York
City. This point is reached over the Long Island Railroad Company, of
which Mr. Corbin is President. Steamers of the fastest estimated speed are
to be placed on the line. To enter this harbor all steamers would depart
from the usual route between Great Britain or Europe and New York at a
point a little south of Nantucket Shoals, and would proceed II2 knots on a
straight line to the entrance of Block Island Sound, west of Block Island.
From this point the course would be between Shagwong Reef and Cerberus
Shoal, which are four miles apart, and between which the minimum depth
of water is eight fathoms. Then the course is direct into Fort Pond Bay.
The entrance is three-quarters of a mile wide and the tide never exceeds
three feet five inches. This is claimed as a great advantage over Sandy
Hook, where the entrance to and exit from New York harbor, for all large
steamers, is through a narrow channel not I,ooo feet wide, exposed to the
full force of wind and sea, where vessels are approaching in every direction,
and often dense fogs detain incoming and outgoing fleets for many hours.
In selecting the new passage the entire southern shore of Long Island and
the eastern coast of New Jersey are avoided; the risk of collision on the
much-frequented North River and New York Bay is escaped; the long de-
lay at Sandy Hook, often caused by the shallow water in the channel, and
the slow passage through the twenty-five miles of tortuous and crowded
channels from Sandy Hook Lightship to the New York piers are done
away with.
With Fort Pond Bay as the western terminus of the proposed route,
Milford Haven is selected as the British port of arrival and departure.
Of the competing ports of Liverpool, Southampton and Milford, Mr.
Corbin contends that Milford is the most accessible at all times, and pos-
sesses in the highest degree all the advantages necessary for arrival and
departure of steamers.
Having established these terminal points of Fort Pond and Milford
Haven, the new line will have superior advantages in point of time in com-
petition with the two main routes between New York and London. Esti-
mating the time consumed leaving New York by the Liverpool route, the
Southampton route and the Fort Pond and Milford Haven route, the first
two by Sandy Hook, covering the distance between the New York Post
Office and the London Post Office, the time is estimated by Mr. Corbin
for the Liverpool route 6 days 6 hours and 12 minutes; for the South-
ampton route 6 days 4 hours and 47 minutes; for Fort Pond and Milford
Haven route 5 days 20 hours and II minutes.
According to Mr. Corbin’s estimate the new route would make many
hours’ gain in the transportation of passengers and mail between New York
91
and London. T ke gain in time would be of tke greatest imfortance to
transatlantic travel and to tke conveyance of mail. Mr. Corbin is sanguine
of tke success of tke plan, and its consummation would doubtless greatly
skorten tke distance between tke United States and England.
The pamphlet is beautifully illustrated with colored maps of the terminal
points and the proposed route, with the railroad, of 114 miles from New
York to Fort Pond Bay.
[T ke Daily Register, M obz'le, Ala., February 9, 1896.]
“QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON,” BY
AUSTIN CORBIN, PRESIDENT OF THE LONG ISLAND
RAILROAD.
Mr. Corbin sends T ke Register an admirably gotten up pamphlet,
with fine specimens of cartography attached, all illustrative of a plan to
secure a route between New York and London which shall combine
the merits of shortness and directness, with the greatest safety and
comfort to the traveler. T kere is no doubt of tke assertion wkick Mr.
Corbin advances regarding t/ze Atlantic express line of tke future. M ail
and passenger trafiic, wit/2 a limited amount of expressfrezg/zt, will be t/ze
great and important branckes. Ordinary freight, which does not demand
quick transit, will take a secondary place and will always seek those ports
from which it can be shipped with the least expense.
Mr. Corbin professes to select Fort Pond Bay on Long Island as the
western terminus. He claims that this bay is one of the finest natural har-
bors in the world. It is 6 miles west of Montauk Point, and 114 miles
from New York City. It is accessible at all times, with tides that never
exceed 3 feet 5 inches. For the eastern terminus, he selects Milford Haven,
the most westerly port of Wales, which possesses in the highest degree all
the advantages of a port of arrival and departure. By this course five hours
could be saved and 114 miles of railroad travel substituted for 1251} miles
of dangerous ocean travel. Tabulated statements in support of this new
route, together with excellent and instructive maps, are material helps to an
understanding of Mr. Corbin’s project.
[T imes-Democrat, New Orleans, December 9, 189 5.]
BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.
The T imes-Democrat has received in the form of a sumptuous pam-
phlet, beautifully printed and illustrated, the article contributed by Austin
Corbin to the November number of the North American Review on the
subject of “ Quick Transit between New York and London.”
92
Mr. Corbin argues that, if a steamer route were established between
Fort Pond Bay in Long Island, where there is a splendid harbor fit for the
( entrance of the largest steamers in all weathers, and Milford Haven, on the
extreme west coast of England, into which there is also plain sailing, the
ocean voyage of 3,077 knots in the Liverpool passage and the ocean voyage
of 3,123 knots in the Southampton passage would be reduced to 2,841 knots
on the Fort Pond-Milford ocean voyage. In the case of the Liverpool
voyage there are 201 miles performed by rail, and on the Southampton
voyage only 79 miles by rail; whereas on the proposed voyage there would
be 387 miles to be made by rail--114 miles from New York to Fort Pond
and 273 miles from Milford Haven to London.
Now, if we take these respective distances along the three routes, and
find the time occupied in covering them, the ocean part at the Lucania’s
record time of 21.9 knots, and the land part at the best railway speed, say
60 miles an hour; and if we were also to allow for detention of mails at
various points of departure, landing and handling, the entire time between
the New York Post Office and the London Post Oflice, by the Liverpool
route would be 6 days 6 hours I2 minutes, by the Southampton route 6
days 4 hours 47 minutes, and by the proposed Fort Pond-Milford route 5
days 20 hours II minutes.
From these calculations it is easily seen that the proposed new route
would carry the mails from New York Post Office to London Post Office in
IO hours I minute quicker time than the Liverpool route, and 8 hours
36 minutes quicker time than the Southampton route. These gains in time
which the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route shows over the Liverpool and
Southampton routes respectively are only, however, the theoretical gain
which would be made by adopting the new route, were the conditions such
that the standards of steamer and railroad travel mentioned above could
be maintained for the whole distance over each route from post office
to post office. The conditions cannot be maintained either at the New York
end or at the English end by either the Liverpool or Southampton routes,
for in both cases the steamers run along dangerous coasts, through tortuous,
crowded channels and over sandbars, and they travel, of course, at greatly
reduced rates of speed. But on the Fort Pond-Milford Haven route there
is clear and open steaming throughout the entire voyage, from harbor to
harbor; and the actual gain would be very much greater than the theo-
retical gain, already calculated, over the other two routes.
It is estimated, in fact, that the present best time (Lucania’s time) of
6 days 19 hours from post office to post office via Liverpool could be
diminished by I 5 hours if the proposed route were opened, and the present
best time (New I/'orh’s time) of 7 days 6 hours via Southampton could be
diminished by I day and 8 hours. '
These are so important advantages in, the shortening of the trans-
atlantic voyage that the husiness men on hoth sides are not lihely
to he long satisfied without them, now that they are shown to he jos-
93
sible; and we believe, tkemfore, tkat it is only a question of a year or
two wken tke route advocated by Austin Corbin will become an accom-
plisked fact.
[New Orleans Picayune, November 11, 1895.]
THE TRANSATLANTIC FERRY.
The problem of crossing the Atlantic in the shortest possible space of
time is one which has claimed the attention of the people of the United
States for many years. Each suceeding transatlantic steamer is built so as
to be faster than its predecessor, until the speed at which vessels are run
in crossing the ocean has passed twenty knots per hour for the entire voy-
age. This great speed is secured at enormous expense and at considerable
risk ; but it is demanded by the public, and the steamship companies have
no other alternative. It is beginning to be believed, however, that the
limit of speed has been reached without altogether sacrificing safety and
profits, and some other means are now being sought of shortening the trip
to Europe.
Mr. Austin Corbin proposes an alternative, in a recent article in the
Nortk American Review, which is worthy of attention. He favors, not an
increase in speed, but a shortening of the route. He proposes that the
steamers start from Montauk Point, one hundred and fourteen miles east
of New York, and that they land at Milford Haven, in Wales, the nearest
port on the other side, reaching there by the most direct route ; the termi-
nals of the steamers to be connected with New York and London, re-
spectively, by rail. In this way, Mr. Corbin believes, the time of passage
across the Atlantic would be considerably shortened.
If Mr. Corbin’s idea is at all practicable, why could not the starting
point be placed much further north, so as to give the most direct line possi-
ble across the ocean P It was at one time proposed to run a railroad from
New York to a point in Nova Scotia, so as to afford a short route across
the Atlantic; but the plan was found to have practical difliculties, not the
least of which was the necessity of transferring cargo.
There is no doubt but that it would be practicable for steamers to
touch at some more northerly point accessible by rail for passengers and
mail, although continuing to sail from New York as a startlng point. It is
evident that any further material shortening of the voyage to Europe must
be effected in that way; but it is doubtful if passengers would value the
shortening of the time of the voyage sufficiently to undertake the additional
trip by rail to an embarking point distant from the metropolis.
94
[Register, Sandushy, 0., /anuary 23, 1896.]
A NEW ROUTE TO LONDON.
In a recent number of the North American Review Austin Corbin had
an exceedingly interesting article on quick transit between New York and
London. This article, and added to it some illustrations and some valu-
able maps, has been reprinted in pamphlet form, a copy of which we are in
receipt of from Mr. Corbin. It has often been a matter of surprise to
travelers to and from Europe and to visitors on Long Island that ocean
steamers were not wharfed at the further end of Long Island. Mr. Corbin
takes up this question, and in an exceedingly interesting article demonstrates
that it is possible, and would be profitable to shorten the water travel be-
tween the United States and England by several hundred miles and lessen
the time between the New York Post Office and the London Post Oflice
fully one day. His plan is to adopt as the western terminus for a new
transatlantic route Fort Pond Bay, located on the north side of Long
Island, II4 miles east of New York City. It has one of the finest natural
harbors in the world, of such great depth that the largest steamers can
enter or depart from it day or night throughout the year without any
danger of detention.
To enter this harbor the steamer would leave the usual route at a point
south of Nantucket shoals and proceed through a straight course in un-
obstructed waters to the entrance of Block Island Sound. This entrance
is five miles wide and its smallest depth is seven fathoms. From this point
the steamer would pass through Block Island Sound, where the water is eight
fathoms, and in a direct course to the unobstructed waters in Fort Pond
Bay. The entrance to the bay is three-quarters of a mile wide and the
tides never exceed three feet five inches. There he would have all passen-
gers and mail landed, taken on board cars and carried I I4 miles at the rate
of a mile a minute into the heart of New York City, the Long Island Rail-
road Company now building a bridge across the East River, thus connect-
ing Long Island by rail with the City of New York.
Having selected Fort Pond Bay as the western terminus of his proposed
route, he then selects Milford Haven as the eastern terminus for the ocean
steamers. The tides in Milford Haven are slight, the fog is much less prev-
alent in the approach to it than in the approach to Southampton, and ob-
servances show that in six years there were but sixty-four days in which fog
existed in the Haven, and then only for a few hours in each day. The time
between the eastern terminus and London would be reduced by adopting
Milford Haven as the terminus from four to six hours. The distance
between the New York Post Office and the London Post Office by the Fort
Pond and Milford Haven route would be 2,841 knots by steamer, and 387
miles by rail. The Southampton route distance is 3,123 knots by steamer,
and 79 miles by rail. The Liverpool route is 3,077 knots by steamer and
95
201 miles by rail, and the Queenstown route is 2,893 knots by steamer and
499 miles by rail.
These figures show that the route proposed by Mr. Corbin is the
shortest both for steamer and by rail, except that the Southampton and
Liverpool routes show less rail travel than the proposed route. The average
time by the Queenstown route by the steamer Lucania, of the Cunard Line,
is six days thirteen hours and forty-eight minutes. The estimated time
by the proposed new route would be five days twenty-two hours and eleven
minutes, the total gain being fifteen hours and forty-seven minutes. The
average time by the Southampton route by the steamer New York is
seven days, six hours and twenty-four minutes, for the proposed new route
five days twenty-two hours and eleven minutes, a saving of one day eight
hours and thirteen minutes. Mr. Corbin says that the proposed new route
would be less dangerous than any one of the old routes, so far as steamer
travel is concerned, less danger of disaster and less danger of delay, two
very important considerations.
[./'ndianaj§olis, ]nd., journal, November 5, 1895.]
Mr. Austin Corbin, railroad magnate and financier, is given the first
pages of the Nort/2 American Review this month in which to present the
shortest sea route between New York and London. As the point of depart-
ure on this side, for such a route, Mr. Corbin names Fort Pond Bay, one
of the finest natural harbors in the world, located on the north side of Long
Island, II4 miles from New York. On the other side Mr. Corbin selects
Milford, the most westerly port of Wales, which is 273 miles from London.
He shows that steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay on receipt of the
mail which left New York Saturday morning would be able to deliver their
mails in London the following Friday evening at the latest. Mr. Corbin is
largely interested in Long Island and its railroads.
[Detroit, ./l[ick., Free Press, November 10, 1895.]
QUICKER OCEAN TRANSIT.
The subject of quicker and safer transit across the Atlantic has long
been ‘discussed and the suggestions that have been made have been almost
innumerable. The latest comes from Austin Corbin in a well-considered
article in the Nort/z American Review for November. Mr. Corbin, whose
connection with the Long Island Railroad is well known, proposes that for
the shortening of the time spent in crossing and reducing the evils of the
existing routes to a minimum an entirely new route be chosen. The
terminal points suggested are Fort Pond Bay, on the north side of Long
96
Island, 114 miles from New York City, and Milford Haven, the most west-
erly port of Wales; and the article in the North American is devoted to
pointing out the advantages of the proposed route.
Prominent among these is the saving of time. Taking the best runs
shown by the “ greyhounds,” Mr. Corbin finds that the time it takes to
transport mail from the New York Post Office to the London Post Office
by the Queenstown route is six days two hours and fifty-seven minutes.
In this estimate the mails are transferred at Queenstown, dispatched across
the Irish Channel to Holyhead and thence to London. If they are carried
by steamer to Liverpool and dispatched thence to London, the time is three
hours and fifteen minutes longer. By the Southampton route the time from
post office to post office is six days four hours and forty-seven minutes, or
about two hours more than the Queenstown and Holyhead route, and two
hours less than the Liverpool route. By the proposed route from Fort Pond
Bay to Milford Haven Mr. Corbin shows the mail can be carried from the
New York Post Office to the London Post Office in five days twenty hours
and eleven minutes. This is six hours and forty-six minutes less than the
speediest of the old routes, which, considering the distance, is a great saving.
The saving in time will not, however, appeal so strongly/to the average
traveler as it will to the husiness man, who regards an hour saved in the
transmission of mail matter as of great importance. There are advan-
tages, however, which every traveler can appreciate in adopting the pro-
posed route. The harhor proposed for the western terminus is one of the
finest natural harhors in the world. [t has such great and unzform
defth that the largest steamer can enter or depart hy day or night without
danger of detention. [ts adoption will enahle steamers to avoid the
eastern coast of New jersey and southern shore of Long Island, do away
with the ris/as of collision z'n the crowded New York Bay and North
River, to say nothing of the slow passage from Sandy Hooh. For the
harhor at _/Wilford Haven it is claimed that the tides are very slight ; that
steamers can land without dificulty at the piers at all hours, and that the
fog which is so great a drawhach in the approaches to Southampton and
Liverpool is very much less prevalent.
These certainly are advantages which every traveler can appreciate,
even though a gain of a few hours does not seem worth while ,- and there
is one conclusion which Mr. Corhin draws from the facts and figures
which will commend his plan to all patriotic Americans. It is that this route or something equivalent is not estahlished, there will he a Cana-
dian route which will divert much local and all through mail and trafic
to the Dominion. “ Canada,” Mr. Corhin says, “is ofi"ering to pledge
many times more money to ohtain this advantage than would he required
from the United States to secure and mahe certain f or all times the inter-
continental mail and _7§assenger trafiic.” I f this is a true statement——and
we see no reason to douht it--no time should he lost in adopting some such
suggestion as that which Mr. C orhin has made.
97
[Grand Rapids, Mz'ck., Democrat, November 9, 189 5.]
FAST OCEAN TRANSIT.
In the leading article in the current Nortk American Review, Austin
Corbin develops a plan whereby something more than thirty-two hours’ time
can be saved in the transfer of mails and passengers from New York to
London via steamers having the average speed of the New York, or of six-
teen hours via steamers having the speed of the swifter Lucania. Mr.
Corbin’s plan includes the establishment of new ports of arrival and de-
parture on both sides of the Atlantic. Instead of steamers sailing from
New York, he would make the port at Fort Pond Bay, on the eastern end
of Long Island, while the British port would be Milford Haven, on the
Bristol Channel, and thence by railway, saving several hours over the Queens-
town, Southampton or Liverpool routes. Fort Pond Bay is 114 miles
from New York via the Long Island Railway, of which the author of the
article is president, and mails and passengers could reach New York in a
little less than two hours, whereas, vessels sailing into or out of New York
harbor are greatly delayed by the Sandy Hook bar, crooked channel and
the crowded condition of the harbor. T/ze article makes it very clear t/zat
passengers and mails would gain muck time by tke proposed ckange of
ports. But would the transatlantic carrying companies—which carry freight
as well as passengers and mails-—find a change profitable which would
necessitate rail shipments to Fort Pond Bay from New York City?
[Courz'er-Herald, Saginaw, M iclz., November 9, 189 5.]
RAPID TRANSATLANTIC TRANSIT.
In the Nortk American Review for November, Austin Corbin has an
entertaining article on the scheme for crossing the Atlantic in five days.
His plan is nothing less than a new transatlantic steamship route, an avoid-
ance of the long delays at Sandy Hook and the slow passage through the
channel, twenty-three hours’ saving in time between the post oflices of New
York and London, when compared with the shortest average time for any
of the existing routes, and a five-day trip across the Atlantic.
Mr. Corbin proposes to save many hours in time, as well as to avoid most
of the annoyances and discomforts which now attach to the trip between
New York and London. His proposed route is from Milford Haven to Fort
Pond Bay, both open, deep-water harbors, which may be safely entered at
any hour of the day and night ; both comparatively free from fogs, and both
so quiet and deep as to make the sailings independent of winds and tides.
From Milford Haven express trains on the Great Western will land pas-
98
sengers in less than five hours, while the new extension of the Long Island
railway will bring Fort Pond Bay within two hours of New York.
Fort Pond Bay is on the northerly shore of the eastern end of Long
Island, and is said to be one of the finest harbors in the world. The Long
Island Railroad, according to the New York M ail and Express, is being
extended to this harbor. In his North American article, Mr. Corbin shows,
by a careful comparison of the records of the fleetest ocean greyhounds and
a conservative calculation of the time required at the present maximum
speed to cover the route between Milford Haven and Fort Pond Bay, that
the new route would gain sixteen hours from post office to post office over
the Lucania’s average time, and thirty-two hours over the .New York's
average time. Mr. Corbin states that a steamship leaving the Fort Pond ter-
minus on the receipt of the mail matter posted in New York Saturday morn-
ing would deliver the mail in London early Friday evening, thus easily
allowing time to send replies by the steamer leaving Milford Haven the
next day. Such replies would be delivered in New York the following
Thursday night or Friday morning. The M ail and Express is correct in
assuming that Mr. C orhz'n’s scheme is one of national importance. That
it will he an accomplished fact at no distant day is within hounds of
reasonahle assurance.
[The Ann Arhor, ./ldich., Courier, _/anuary 29, 1896.]
One of the problems of modern rapid transit is to get across the
ocean in the quickest time possible. While to those not in a hurry and who
enjoy water traveling the slow long-route steamers are preferable, many on
account of husiness or dread of sea sichness wish to get across in the
shortest time jiossihle. Another nap to husiness is the guich delivery
of mails hetween New I/orh and London. The Lucania has the best aver-
age for delivering mails between these two post offices in 6 days 13 hours
58 minutes. Such increases of speed are at an immense extra cost for fuel
on the steamers and the limit is about reached with present methods of pro-
pulsion. There was an interesting discussion of this question by Austin
Corbin in the North American Review for November, in which was proposed
a new route from the extreme eastern end of Long Island to Milford Haven,
the point in England nearest to New York and the most direct to London.
On each end is saved over 100 miles of travel through waters crowded with
boats, where lies the greatest danger from collision. It is estimated that by
using this route about 16 hours would be saved over the Queenstown route.
It seems strange that some of the north Atlantic steamship companies do
not avail themselves of such a saving of time, danger and expense by adopt-
ing this shorter route. It would be one of the things to decide many to take
their boats. The danger of the present route is well illustrated this week
hy the hzg liner St. Paul going ashore at Long Branch.
99
[Tke ./ldorning Patriot, /ackson, .Mick., fanuary 24, 1896.]
A GREAT PROJECT.
From Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company,
the Patriot has received a valuable pamphlet, and a letter calling atten-
tion to it, setting forth in detail the subject and plan for quicker transit
between New York and London. The accompanying maps clearly eluci-
date the advantages, both as to time and safety of transit, of the plan pro-
posed by Mr. Corbin, which is being carried forward to completion.
At the east end of Long Island is a capacious harbor called Fort Pond
Bay, 114 miles from New York by rail. Across East River, about Sixty-
fourth street, a central point in New York City, a suspension bridge, using
Blackwell’s Island for middle piers, is under construction, that will give
access by all possible railroad trains to Long Island and the terminal har-
bor at its east end, for passengers and express freight to and from Europe.
A new ocean terminal is also proposed for England. Due west
from London, with the exception of Land’s End, the westernmost point in
England, situated at the entrance to St. George’s Channel and the Irish
Sea, is Milford Haven, 273 miles from London by rail, a harbor that enables
vessels to avoid all of the most dangerous navigation on the English coast.
Instead of making north to Liverpool, or as far south to land at South-
ampton, the new port is on a direct line to London. While from New
York to Queenstown, Ireland, the nearest port, by present ocean route,
the distance is 2,883 nautical miles, to Southampton 3,123, and to Liver-
pool 3,082, via Fort Pond Bay to Milford Haven is but 2,841 miles.
The object of Mr. Corbin’s great enterprise is the saving of time between
New York and London over that made by the Queenstown and South-
ampton routes. Taking the best average time yet made, and the gain for
Milford Haven over Queenstown would be about 16 hours, and over South-
ampton I day and 8 hours, and the heavy port, pilot and other charges at
New York, Liverpool and Southampton would be largely done away with,
as both at Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven the dangers of navigation are
almost wholly escaped.
The details of this great project, such as the landing of passengers and
transferring them to railroad cars in this country, whether they want to go
north, west or south, under the same roof, thus avoiding the vexations of
present unavoidable transfers from railway stations to steamships, as well
as shortening the time nearly a day and a half from New York to London,
are clearly set forth in Mr. Corbin’s pamphlet, and they illustrate plainly
the oft-quoted saying that “the victories of peace are greater than those of
war.”
Two beautifully executed full-page pictures illustrate past and present
means of communication by land and water. Then the stage coach, 6
miles per hour; now the railway train, 60 miles per hour. Then the plung-
100
ing sail vessel, 60 days across the ocean; now the stately steamer, and the
time shortened to 6 days. It is not at all impossible that some swifter
ocean greyhound than the Lucania or the New I/orh will reduce the
time from our Greater New York, with its three million inhabitants, to
London with its five million, two days more. And this will not be one of
the victories of politics, but among the most notable achievements of com-
merce, associating the name of Austin Corbin with the greatest project of
these closing years of an eventful century.
[Chicago Evening journal, Novemher 20, 1895.]
Austin Corbin is still trying to change the port of New York to Long
Island. “ As the western terminus of a new transatlantic route,” he says
in the November North American Review, “ it is proposed to select Fort
Pond Bay, six miles west of Montauk Point, on Long Island, and II4 miles
from New York City. To enter this harbor, all large steamers would depart
from the usual route between Great Britain or Europe and New York at a
point a little south of Nantucket Shoals, and proceed in a straight course to
the entrance of Block Island Sound, west of Block Island ”; thence through
the Sound, between Shagwong Reef and Cerberus Shoal; thence through
“absolutely unobstructed waters, into Fort Pond Bay.” For the eastern
terminus, Milford Haven, the most westerly port of Wales, is suggested; to
reach which port vessels, instead of taking the usual course to Queenstown
and Liverpool, would bear directly eastward to Milford, and would “ thus
avoid the disagreeable and dangerous trip through a channel full of ship-
ping at all hours of the day and night.”
[Times-fierald, Chicago, Novemher I8, I89 5.]
QUICKER OCEAN TRANSIT.
An interesting discussion has been raised in the N ovember North
American Review by Mr. Austin Corbin, a New York banker and million-
aire, in respect to quicker transit between New York and London, the two
commercial centres of the world. Nothing is more evident than that hours
and sometimes even minutes hecome of the highest importance to men en-
gaged in great husiness adventures comprising hoth continents, and that
the telegraph cannot ta/ee the place of mail and express service. There-
fore it is that business men everywhere are considering ways and means
for reducing the time of communication between Europe and America.
101
It is now pretty certain that the ocean flyers have accomplished about
all that is possible in their race against time, and so far as steam naviga-
tion is concerned, with such machinery as can now be devised, the limit of
speed has been reached.
Taking such a vessel as the Lucania, her average time is six days and
a half, though, of course, she has made a day’s better time on occasion,
but the average, taking the year round, is what is to be counted on, and it
is not likely that there will soon be built a better or swifter boat than this
Cunarder. How, then, can the time between the countries be reduced?
Mr. Corbin answers the question by proposing a shorter route so far as
the ocean voyage is concerned. He points out that the distance between
Fort Pond Bay, the most eastern extremity of Long Island, and Milford
Haven, the most western port in Wales, is about the shortest ocean run
that can be made, and that taking that route, by the aid of the railroads,
fifteen hours and forty-seven minutes can be gained in the voyage from
New York to London, and one day and eight hours can be gained between
London and New York.
Mr. Corbin further shows that the terminus at Fort Pond Bay is very
much safer in every way than that of New York, and that the delays caused
by darkness and fog along the southern coast of Long Island and from
Sandy Hook to New York would be entirely done away with.
Accepting Mr. C orbin’s facts, tlzere is no doubt tkat ke makes an ex-
tremelyplausible skowing for t/ze establis/zment of a steams/zit line between
Fort Pond Bay and .Milford Haven.
At all events, as machinery seems to have reached the limit of its
power, the shortening of the water route, supplemented by fast-flying rail-
way trains, seems to be the only present solution for the reduction of the
time between the eastern and western continents.
[C/zicago Record, November 30, 1895.]
Austin Corbin, in the November number of the Nortk American Re-
view, writes on “ Quick Transit Between New York and London.” At the
outset it is recalled_that Mr. Corbin, who is the President of the Long Island
Railroad Company, has a vital interest in the project which he suggests for
a shorter route and closer communication between the New World and the
Old. He proposes a route for transatlantic steamers, having for its west-
ern terminus Fort Pond Bay, “which is one of the finest natural harbors in
the world,” located on the north side of Long Island, one hundred and
fourteen miles from New York City ; for the eastern port he chooses Mil-
ford Haven, on the west coast of Wales.
Mr. Corbin cites many advantages of Fort Pond Bay over the Port of
New York. After describing at length the land-locked harbor of Milford
102
he makes note of obstacles encountered on the present routes of transat-
lantic steamers. He says :
“ This prevalence of fogs increases the necessary reduction of speed in
approaching the coast at the entrance to the Solent, and makes navigation
to Southampton much more dangerous. This can be fully understood
when it is remembered that all vessels must pass the Needles and run up
the narrow channels between the sand banks of Southampton water before
they can reach their destination. The Mersey channel is not less exposed
to these dangers, as it is always more or less filled with shipping. But Mil-
ford Haven has free and uninterrupted access to and from the sea, and is a
harbor into which the largest vessel afloat, or which is contemplated, can
steam at any hour of day or night. It has a depth of thirty-four feet at the
pier where vessels would land for discharging mails and passengers. At
the end of this pier is the Great Western Railway Station, which could be
entered without stepping from under cover, and from which special trains
could be run to London in less than five hours.”
By the scheme which he suggests Mr. Corbin claims that many deten-
tions to the mails would be avoided. Calculation on the best average time
now being made over the Queenstown and Southampton lines convinces
him that on the former run fifteen hours and forty-seven minutes would be
saved by adopting the Milford Haven route, while one day eight hours and
eleven minutes would be gained over the best average time to Southampton
now made by the steamer New Yorh. In summing up the advantages of
the proposed route, Mr. Corbin says :
“ The gain of a very few hours would be of the utmost importance in
the matter of mail service. Granting that all existing mail steamers could
make the ocean voyage fast enough to deliver the mails in the same time
which the Lucania takes, it would rarely be possible to get a reply by the
return steamer sailing a week later, except during the summer months.
Even then it is by no means certain, and little if any opportunity is afforded
for inquiries and investigation. Nothing is really gained, therefore, by the
present fast steamers of the Cunard line, for before the second return mail
is due to leave the slow steamers of every line are able to deliver their mails
so as to enable a reply to be sent by the same return steamer. The saving
of a few hours would completely change this and make the exception the
rule. Steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, on receipt of mail which had
left New York on Saturday morning, would be able to deliver their mails in
London the following Friday evening at the latest, so that areply would be
sent on Saturday’s returning steamer, which would reach New York on
Thursday night or Friday morning. The return letter would in these cases
be nearly across the Atlantic when the reply, under existing conditions, is
posted in London. By this route passengers would be able to be in tele-
graphic communication with the rest of the world at least fifteen hours
longer than by either of the other passenger routes.”

[Chicago T z'mes-Herald, Yanuary 3, 1896.]
ANOTHER WARNING FROM THE SEA.
The narrow escape of the Cunarder Cephalonia off the English coast in
St. George’s Channel reminds us once more that there is one problem of
103
the sea science has not yet conquered. The most powerful electric lights
cannot penetrate the dense mist that settles upon the ocean, and when near
the shore nothing but the most exacting watchfulness and trained skill can
safely navigate a vessel.
Sound can penetrate a fog bank, but the ear is less alert in measuring
distances than the eye and can be more easily deceived. Its direction is
always hard to judge. But it is upon sound mainly that the navigator must
rely when a fog has settled around his vessel, and it is the faculty of deter-
mining its direction and distance that must be cultivated. This becomes
something like a sixth sense in experienced seamen, and it is marvelous to
what a degree it may be brought. But this, after all, is but a personal qual-
ity and not an invention of science. The brain and hand of man have yet to
wrest from nature some means of safe navigation through a fog.
[Meantime tkis almost disaster s/zould emjfi/zasize again tke dangers of
t/ze Englisk coast, particularly along tkat ckannel. T /zose s/zores kave
been strewn wit/2 t/zousands of wrecks and more t/zousands of precious
lives kave been lost.
T kese considerations skould again direct t/ze attention of t/ze American
lines to [Milford Haven as tke terminusof tke ocean passage. Mr. C orbin’s
plan for rapid transit is tke best tkat kas yet been proposed.
[Ckicago T imes-Herald, ffanuary 27, 1896.]
THE “ST. PAUL” MISHAP AND ITS LESSON.
The imminent peril encountered by the American liner St. Paul on
Saturday off the New Jersey coast and the great risk to the Campania on
the same day call attention once more to the dangers of navigation in a fog.
The steamers were racing, as they should not have been when so near
the coast, and in danger of the heavy fogs so prevalent there at this season,
and their narrow escape ought to be a lesson to their captains for all future
time. But if it will tend to call the attention of the public to the dangers
of the present “ ocean lanes ” both at the American and the British coast
approaches, something beneficial may result. Only a few weeks ago the
Cunarder Cep/zalonia, in a fog, ran upon the rocks in St. George’s Channel
and narrowly escaped being wrecked.
If the terminus of the ocean voyage at Liverpool or Southampton or at
New York was unavoidable, and no other could be found, of course there
would be nothing to say, and the fog risks must continue to be accepted;
but this is not so. In fact, a muc/z better, safer and swifter ocean route
/zas already been pointed out by Mr. Austin Corbin in a carefully written
article publisked in a recent number of t/ze Nort/z A mcrican Review, to
w/zick t/ze T imes-Herald /zas already called attention.
Mr. Corbin says that Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern extremity of Long
104
Island, is one of the finest natural harbors in the world, and certainly the
most accessible. The region thereabout is also more free from fogs than
any other part of the coast. By using this as the American end of the line
the dangerous navigation along the southern shore of Long Island and the
eastern shore of New Jersey is avoided. For instance, if it had been the
terminus of the St. Paul's voyage her passengers and mails would have
been safely landed there on Friday night and been in New York by rail the
next morning, instead of running the risk of their lives and of loss off the
storm-beaten coast of New jersey.
On the other side of the Atlantic Milford Haven, in Wales, promises
equal advantages as a harbor, and by making that the other terminus ves-
sels would not have to encounter the perils of St. George’s Channel or of
the English Channel. Besides the avoidance of danger by adopting these
harbors, nearly a day in time is saved between London and New York.
Congress probably has no direct power to compel steamship lines to
accept these harbors, but it might make its subsidies and the carrying of
the mails dependent on their acceptance. At all events, there is fresh food
for thought on the subject in this so near disaster to the St. Paul, the latest
of our American-built ships.
[The Occident, Chicago, i7anuary 24, 1896.]
“QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON”
Is the title of a quarto pamphlet of thirty-two pages, with maps and
charts, by Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Com-
pany, New York, which treats in the most practical and comprehensive
manner of the necessity of calling into existence a system of quick trans-
atlantic conveyances which shall bring about greater commercial facilities,
comfort, safety and, greatest of all advantages, speed. The thoughtful
author describes in,detail and illustrates by charts the soundings and dis-
tances between nearest points of the United States and England, and
shows conclusively that much time, labor and money may be saved by the
plan suggested. The western terminus of the routes is to be at Fort Pond
Bay, II4 miles from New York City——a harbor with the greatest natural
facilities. Mr. Corbin shows, by careful comparisons of ocean steamers’
trips, the days and hours consumed over the several routes both eastward
and westward, and shows how a vast saving in wages, fuel, provisioning
and time might be gained if the ocean routes were shortened and railway
facilities be substituted. Aside, however, from this economic view, the more
important humane advantages are apparent, showing that by the proposed
plan the dangers of the elements, intricate sailings, strandings, detention
by fogs and collisions, may be lessened, if not greatly obviated, thereby
causing the saving of many lives and valuable properties.
105
This grand project is now being put into a practical shape by a new
steamship company forming both in this country and possibly in England,
which shall bring both continents in closer and more rapid connection of
from say one to two days, at least, over all shortest time trips thus far
recorded, and that the Fort Pond Bay site with its magnificent shipping
facilities for its western terminus and Milford Haven of the British Isle as
its eastern terminus, are to be the leading features. The project should
have the greatest encouragement, not only through our Government’s sub-
sidies, but by all trade and industrial heads in this country. The people of the
United States owe it to themselves to encourage this project, as it will
assuredly head off a similar movement hinted at by our Canadian neighbors,
who design to establish a route between Newfoundland and London,
which would place America’s postal, traffic and commercial affairs com-
pletely into British hands. T /zis latter folicy alone s/zould entitle t/ze fro-
fosed new steamskzf comfany to be fostered by t/ze feofle of tke United
States. We trust t/zat tke new froject will at an early day establisk its
new line. We doubt not tkat all good citizens of tkis country will second
our good wiskes for t/ze frofosed new steams/zif comfany.
[T ke Sentinel, ./Milwaukee, W is., November 5, 189 5.]
FROM NEW YORK TO LONDON.
It is so far from diflicult to outline on paper methods of more rapid
transit between two distant points that not even Mr. Austin Corbin’s name
can allay the suspicion with which one begins, in the Nort/z American Re-
view for November, his article on “Quick Transit Between London and
New York.” But when the article is finished the suspicion is almost gone,
though not entirely. Mr. Corbin’s figures are derived from such author-
itative sources, his forecasts have so much probability in their favor, that
one is inclined to grant his main contention. This contention is, first, that
the saving of a few hours between London and New York would result in the
saving of days in the time which a person who sends a letter from one of
these places to the other must wait before getting an answer by letter ; sec-
ondly, that these necessary hours may be saved by the establishment of a
steamship line having its western terminus at Fort Pond Bay, which is on
the north side of Long Island, six miles west of Montauk Point, 114 miles
by rail from New York, and its eastern terminus at Milford Haven, which
is on the west coast of Wales, 273 miles from London.
The first part of Mr. Corbin’s proof, when he compares the fastest pos-
sible speed by this route with the fastest possible speed by existing routes,
may be disregarded. He reckons this speed at a mile a minute by rail and
21.90 knots an hour by sea, this ocean time being the average of the Lu-
cania on the quickest eastward trip ever made across the Atlantic. The
106
computation is interesting, but it is effaced by Mr. Corbin’s own later com-
putation, when he contrasts what he hopes would be the average time by
' the proposed route with the best average time made in 1894 between Lon-
don and New York, by the Southampton and Queenstown routes by the
New I/orh and the Lucania. Upon the Queenstown route the mails do not
go by ocean steamer from Queenstown to Liverpool, but are carried ashore
at Queenstown and sent to London by way of Kingstown and Holyhead.
Mr. Corbin says the average time by the Queenstown route by the Lucania
has been 6 days I 3 hours 58 minutes, and by the Southampton route by
the New Yorh has been 7 days 6 hours 24 minutes; he estimates that the
time by the Fort Pond and Milford Haven route would be 5 days 22 hours
II minutes, a gain of I 5 hours and 47 minutes over the Queenstown route,
and of I day 8 hours I I minutes over the Southampton route. In this
estimate Mr. Corbin takes the schedule railroad time, and not his own mile
a minute time, for the distance to be traveled by rail. Why, since he makes
this sacrifice to caution, does he adhere to his 2190 knot an hour time for
the steamers which are to sail by his proposed route, while accepting a
lower average, the average of aotual performance during I894, for the
steamers which sail by the old routes? Here is the crux of Mr. Corbin’s
demonstration, and it is by his answers to this question that he must fail or
succeed. Well, Mr. Corbin has two answers, both ingenious and one per-
suasive. The old lines, he says, “ being well established and having their
full complement of ships, cannot afford to discard their older steamers and
adopt newer and faster ones.” This is not to be taken for granted. What
else have the old lines been doing for the last fifteen years? Mr. Corbin’s
second answer, however, is doubtless the one to which he attaches most
importance. The harbors of Milford Haven and Fort Pond Bay are deeper,
less affected by tides, easier of access, less crowded with shipping than the
harbors at the termini of the old routes. These advantages are so great that
Mr. Corbin believes the Fort Pond and Milford Haven steamers could main-
tain their maximum of speed almost up to their docks at each terminus.
“ According to statistics of the Meteorological Society the number of fogs
prevailing at and around the Scilly Islands [which must be passed in ap-
proaching Southampton] is nearly double the number found on the south
coast of Ireland, the approach to Milford Haven.” Besides, both South-
ampton water and the Mersey Channel, the approach to Liverpool, are filled
with shipping at all hours of the day and night. At the American end
“the risk from collision on the much-frequented North River and New York
Bay is escaped, and the long delay at Sandy Hook and the slow passage
through the twenty-five miles of tortuous and crowded channels from Sandy
Hook Lightship to the New York piers are done away with.” These advan-
tages are certainly considerable, and we do not doubt that Mr. Corbin is
right in thinking that a saving of time might be made. He thinks the sav-
ing would be so great that a reply to a letter mailed in New York on Sat-
urday morning could be mailed in London-in time to get the steamer leaving
107
Milford Haven the following Saturday. This, he says, is now the excep-
tion. His proposed route would make the exception the rule.
It would be interesting to have Mr. Corbin, or somebody else with his knack
of hopeful computation, estimate the saving that could be made by a route
between Milford Haven and some port in Nova Scotia. The estimate
would be more valuable, perhaps, if the estimator allowed for the slowing
up of the steamers on their approach to the piers.
[Evening Wisconsin, Mz'lwaukee, fanuary 31, 1896.]
THE MILFORD HAVEN ROUTE.
T ke stranding of t/ze steams/zzf St. Paul on tkefersey coast kas caused
muck discussion in marine circles as to tke danger of affroac/zing t/ze
entrance to New York /zarbor in a fog. The St. Paul and the Camfania
were undoubtedly trying to beat each other into port, and the captains of
both steamers probably took more chances than they would ordinarily have
done. The captain of the St. Paul says that the stranding of the steam-
ship was the result of a false call of the leadsman, who reported seventeen
fathoms of water when there was only seven fathoms. But navigators say
that the channel of North River is definable on the bottom of the sea with
a lead line, and a ship might find seventeen fathoms in crossing it, and
immediately discover dangerously shoal water when the opposite bank of
the submerged channel is reached.
The incident will give Austin Corbin a valuable opportunity to exploit
his long-mooted proposition to establish a line of steamers from Fort Pond
Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island, to Milford Haven, the most west-
erly port of Wales. The Government charts show Fort Pond Bay to be a
harbor of great and uniform depth that can be used by the largest steamers
at all times, without danger of detention. The harbor at Milford Haven is
landlocked, and has a minimum depth suflicient for the largest steamers.
The idea of running steamers from the eastern end of Long Island instead
of from New York City is to shorten the time of the voyage across the sea.
It is calculated that fast trains could carry passengers from New York City to
Fort Pond Bay, and that the steamships of the line could proceed at full speed
throughout the entire distance between the terminal ports, because of the
depth of water and the absence of the danger incident to the approach of
the coast at Sandy Hook. Mr. Corbin shows by close and detailed figures
that it would save I 5 hours and 47 minutes as against the time consumed
on the Queenstown route, and 1 day 8 hours and 13 minutes over the
Southampton route.
But if commercial considerations do not dictate a change of route, the
matter of danger in approaching the coast will have small influence in com-
108
mending a new port of arrival and departure. Accidents like that suffered
by the St. Paul have been comparatively few, and they have been without
loss of life. If it were not for the interest naturally aroused by the peril of
a huge steamer, which represents a large financial investment, and the
national pride that has been awakened in the performances of the steamers
of the new American line, the stranding of the St. Paul would have caused
little or no excitement.
[News- Trz'hune, Duluth, !ldinn., Fehruary 5, 1896.]
“ Quick Transit Between New York and London,” is the title of a very
handsome pamphlet just issued by Austin Corbin, the well-known President
of the Long Island Railroad Company. The pamphlet contains Mr. Cor-
bin’s article which appeared under the title given in the November issue of
the North American Review, together with certain points which the space
allotted in that publication would not permit, and it is profusely illustrated
with fine half-tone engravings. Beautiful maps in colors, that are geo-
graphically correct, add much to enjoyment of the article, which, by the
way, treats of the subject in an able and exhaustive manner. Perhaps no
one is better qualified than Mr. Corbin to speak on the subject of rapid
transit, whether it be transatlantic or transcontinental in its character, and
his handsome contribution is worthy a place in every library.
[Duluth, M inn., Evening Herald, Novemher 9, 1895.]
In the November issue of the North American Review there is an
article by Austin Corbin again calhng attention to the scheme of shortening
the steaming distance between London and New York by having steamers
run to and from Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island. The
gain of time thus figured out by the Queenstown route to London is fifteen
hours and forty-seven minutes, and by the Southampton route, one day
eight hours and eleven minutes. This would be a material gain and would
put mails that leave New York Saturday morning in London on the follow-
ing Friday evening, thus making it possible to get off replies to letters on
the Saturday’s returning steamer.
[The Hawh-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Fehruary 2, I 896.]
“ Quick Transit Between New York and London” is the title of an
elaborate prospectus published by Austin Corbin, of New York. It is a
study of improved methods for rapid transit between the two great English-
109
speaking nations, suggesting a short route designed to be free from the
inconveniences, delays and hazards due to tides, fogs and storms encount-
ered in narrow and crowded waterways along dangerous coasts. Mr.
Corbin’s belief is that the Atlantic express line of the future will not trouble
itself with ordinary and cheap freights; merely a passenger traffic with a
limited amount of express freight is the great and important object. By a
series of elaborate maps and statistical data he endeavors to demonstrate
that a short line can be made between the United States and England by
steamers starting from Fort Pond Bay, near the eastern end of Long Island,
and terminating in Milford Haven, on the west coast of England, which has
a particularly favorable harbor and approaches and freer from the peril of
collision with shipping. Mr. Corbin /zas made a very strong argument
for kis favorite route. We kave studied it witk some interest and are
imfressed witk its feasibility.
[Davenfort, Iowa, Democrat, _/anuary 19, 1896.]
In the November number of the Nortk American Review, Hon. Austin
Corbin, the President of the Long Island Railway Company, and one of the
greatest financiers in this country, has an article entitled “Quick Transit
Between New York and London.” This article has attracted very general
discussion, and Mr. Corbin has been congratulated by business men upon
both sides of the Atlantic upon the force of the arguments he has presented
in support of his position; but in the limits of a magazine article there was
not room to cover all the points Mr. Corbin desired to make clear. This
restriction has been overcome in an elaborate pamphlet of thirty-one broad
pages, which Mr. Corbin has issued. This is supplied with numerous
colored maps and some striking illustrations. It will do excellent service in
the way of public enlightenment.
[Refublican, Davenfort, [a., fanuary 29, 1896.]
“ QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW YORK AND LONDON.”
The second edition of this timely volume has just been issued “ with
the kind consent of the Nort/z American Review,” in very attractive form.
It is by Austin Corbin, who is thoroughly conversant with the demands of
business for quick oceanic transit. The work as it now appears is enlarged
and in other respects changed from the form in which it first appeared in
the Review. It has two full-page illustrations, each entitled“ Then” and
“Now.” The old stage coach with its six miles per hour and the modern
railway with its sixty miles per hour, and the sail vessel with its sixty days
between the two continents and the modern transatlantic steamer which
accomplishes the same distance in six days.
110
There are also several maps showing the proposed route by which the
time consumed between New York and London could be reduced by some-
thing like fifteen hours, and at the same time many dangers incident to
entering crowded ports could be avoided. There would also be a reduction
of expense in heavy pilot charges and lessening of rates of insurance. The
American terminal would be Fort Pond Bay, near the eastern extremity of
Long Island, which is open to the navigation of the world, and from which
passengers would be transferred under a covered passageway to railway
trains, making sixty miles per hour regardless of fogs or storms, and thus
reducing the distance on the whole considerably, and substituting I I4 miles
of rail for 125% of dangerous ocean travel. The European terminal pro-
posed is Milford Haven, on the coast of Wales, directly west from London.
Mr. Corbin thinks that the American people should insist upon an
American terminal for a fast line of mail and passenger steamers, and that
if they do not do this a line will be established with a Canadian terminus
which will attract much traffic from this country. Mr. Corbm evidently has
in mind some sort of subsidy also.
The whole subject of transportation is one vital to the interests of
American producers and one upon which there is at this time a general
awakening. While waterways are being provided at enormous expense
between the interior and the seaboard, it is important that ocean transit
should also be brought up to the greatest possible limit of efliciency and
cheapness. Mr. Corbin’s work is attracting widespread attention, and no-
where will it be read with greater interest than in Davenport, which was his
former home.
[Davenport la., T imes, Fehruary 3, 1896.]
QUICK TRANSIT.
There has recently been published the second edition of a pamphlet
containing Austin Corbin’s article on the subject of “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London.” The article originally appeared in the November
issue of the North American Review, but in republishing it, Mr. Corbin
has had an opportunity to take up certain points which the allotted space in
the periodical would not permit. With the same keen insight into future
demands and the means of supply which characterized Mr. Corbin when a
Davenporter, and which has since made him peculiarly successful in every
undertaking of consequence, the western capitalist and railroad king has in
his article portrayed the need as set forth by his subject and the manner of
its satisfaction. The article proposes a new transatlantic route. For its
western terminus it selects Fort Pond Bay, which is one of the finest natural
harbors in the world, and which is located on the north side of Long Island,
six miles west of Montauk Point, and II4 miles from New York City. As
the eastern terminus, Milford Haven, the most westerly point of Wales, is
111
chosen. From the termini of the transatlantic route to the objective points
of New York and London the distance is to be traveled by rail. Every
advantageous detail in the entire route is carefully given in the article. The
pamphlet is illustrated with elegant steel engravings, illustrating the “ then ”
and “now” methods of both overland and ocean travel. The article is
elucidated by fine maps, geographically correct. The subject has been
given careful study by Mr. Corbin and is very interesting. Without doubt
it will have much bearing on the future conditions of travel. Mr. Corbin’s
Davenport friends will await developments with great interest.
[T be Cafital, Sedalia, Mo., fanuary 24, 1896.]
QUICK TRANSIT FROM NEW YORK TO LONDON.
We are in receipt of an interesting article written by Austin Corbin, of
New York, on quick transit between New York and London. The travel-
ing public knows that from New York out to the open ocean, or from
Liverpool or Southampton out to the open ocean, is through tortuous channels
between headlands extending many miles, which necessitates a slowing up
of speed. These channels are frequently covered with merchant vessels
which require of steamers slow speed and great caution to avoid serious
collisions.
Mr. Corbin’s proposition is to adopt Fort Pond Bay, on the north side of
Long Island, six miles from Montauk Point, which has a deep and capacious
harbor, 114 miles from New York, and Milford Haven, on the coast of
Wales, 273 miles from London.
From the points of divergence on the different ocean routes of vessels to
these ports the distance is as follows :
Total time from point of divergence via Liverpool to London Post
Office, seventeen hours and nine minutes.
To same, leaving mail at Queenstown, to London Post Office, twenty
hours and twenty-four minutes.
Total time via Southampton to London Post Office, nineteen hours.
Total time required from point of divergence via Milford Haven to
London Post Office, thirteen hours and twenty-seven minutes.
By this latter route steamers would have open, unobstructed waters
where the maximum speed could be maintained every mile of the way.
Taking the present average speed of steamers, and present schedule of
railroad time, and the time that can be saved by the Fort Pond and Milford
Haven route over the Queenstown route is fifteen hours and forty-seven
minutes, and over the Southampton route is one day eight hours and thirteen
minutes.
If Mr. Corbin can kave /zis sckeme adofted by t/ze American and Eng-
lis/z steamslzzf comfanies, it will be kailed witk delzg/at by all Americans
who cross t/ze Atlantic.
112
[The Hot Springs Sentinel, Arh., /anuary 26, 1896.]
We have before us a pamphlet issued by the Long Island Railroad
Company, of New York, containing a valuable article on the subject of
quick transit between New York and London. It shows the peculiar
advantages of Fort Pond Bay, on Long Island, I14 miles from New York
City, as a point from which vessels may embark and debark to and from
London, making the maximum of speed from the start, and avoiding the
delay incidental to harbors of less uniform depth. From this point the
largest vessels can enter or depart day or night throughout the year without
danger of detention. The greatest advantage offered by Fort Pond Bay as
a harbor is the fact that the mails may be delivered in London from New
York, and vice versa, in several hours less time than from other harbors.
Fort Pond Bay is connected with New York City by the Long Island Rail-
road.
[0maha, Neh., Bee, Novemher I0, 1895.]
QUICKER INTERNATIONAL TRANSIT.
Much interest has been attracted to the project of Mr. Austin Corbin,
President of the Long Island Railroad, and one of the most practical of
Americans, for shortening the time of travel between the United States
and Great Britain. Although much has been written about a proposed
steamship line from the east end of Long Island to the westernmost harbor
of England, yet only recently has Mr. Corbin himself confirmed the reports.
His article in one of the current reviews shows that he expects to see
estabhshed within a few years a service that will make the time on the
ocean only a little over four days, and will shorten the time of travel be-
tween New York and London by nearly or quite a day.
Mr. Corbin’s plan is nothing less than a new transatlantic steamship
route, an avoidance of the long delays at Sandy Hook, and the slow passage
through the channel, a considerable saving of time between the post offices
of New York and London, and a trip of between four and five days across
the Atlantic. It is stated that when Mr. Corbin first conceived this project
some of his friends thought it chimerical, or at least that it involved too
many difficulties to make it practicable, but he appears to have solved all
the problems connected with it. The necessary capital is assured, required
legislation has been obtained. British and American interests have been
harmonized, and it is announced that two enormous steamships, of greater
power than any now afloat, have been contracted for to be employed in this
service.
Mr. Corbin regards his project as of national importance, and it seems
to be so viewed quite generally in the East. One journal says in reference
to it that in these days of rush and competition the transportation manager
113
who saves an hour to his passengers seems as much a public benefactor as the
man who makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, and
Mr. Corbin proposes to save many hours in time, as well as to avoid many
of the annoyances and discomforts which now attach to the trip between
New York and London. It is the opinion of expert marine architects that
the limit of speed in steamship travel, when conjoined with safety and com-
fort, is nearly reached. Nothing but racing machines, they say, will make
the trip between the present termini in less than six days. Yet there is a
demand for quicker transit, and this Mr. Corbin’s project, the practicability
of which is not seriously questioned, is designed to meet. The further
development of his plan will undoubtedly be regarded with a great deal of
interest, and he appears to have now the confidence in its success of prac-
tical and substantial financiers and business men.
[T ke Argus, Fargo, N. D., ?anuary 29, 1896.]
Austin Corbin, President of the Long Island Railroad Company, has
reprinted his article on quick transit between New York and London, from
the Nortk American Review. Mr. Corbin’s article is in beautiful dress,
with elaborate and correct maps, showing how this problem of quick tran-
sit can be quickly solved. It is a national matter and one in w/rick every
American skould take a fride. A mail line across the ocean should have
an American terminus, and not a port of landing in Canada. Mr. Corbin’s
article is thoroughly interesting and those who will address him, at 192
Broadway, New York, will doubtless receive a copy, which should be read
and understood by all persons interested in the subject of ocean transit.
[T be Herald Salt Lake City, December 8, 189 5.]
“ Quick Transit Between New York and London ” is the title of a work
by Austin Corbin, of the Long Island Railroad Company. It proposes and
shows to be practicable the shortening of the sea voyage from this country
to England. The route laid out is by rail from New York to the farthest
point on Long Island, that is, Montauk Point, or rather Fort Pond Bay,
thence by steamer across the Atlantic direct to Milford Haven, in South
Wales, thence by rail to London and other places. This, according to the
figures shown in the work, would save about fifteen and one-half hours of
sea travel. That is not the only advantage. The dangers to shipping in
the approaches of New York and the still greater dangers in the Irish Sea
and St. George's Channel would be entirely avoided. Mails would receive
quicker transmission, and communication from Milford Haven to all points
114;
in the British Islands by rail being easy, the plan looks feasible. The
whole route is explained and illustrated with maps. The soundings at the
points of departure and arrival are given. The matter is treated in detail,
and though it will no douht he fought hy New York and Liverpool, it has
so many recommendations that oioposition to it may very lihely he over-
come. Mr. Corbin presented his views in a recent number of the North
American Review, and that has led to the elaboration and illustrations
which make the work now considered both valuable and attractive. Pub-
lished by the Long Island Railroad Company.
[Salt Lahe City Trihune, fanuary 31, 1896.]
CORBIN’S OLD PLAN.
It must be reasonably clear that when the St. Paul was stranded the
other night off Long Branch, she had been racing with the Campania, and
the chances are that both ships, because of the racing, drifted out of their
rightful track, and permitted themselves to come dangerously near the
coast, in the fog which had settled down. One member of the life-saving
service insists that when called upon to go to the stranded St. Paul, he saw
the outlines of another huge steamer coming dangerously near, that he
sent up a warning light, which was replied to by a signal from the ship,
showing they had seen his danger signal. Then the ship swung around
and disappeared out at sea.
Another account says the Campania was actually grating on the sand,
but that she succeeded in backing off. However, that is no matter. Ships
will heat racing so long as the question of speed is an important one, and
the shzjh that makes the fastest voyage will draw to her the most passen-
gers, hecause men reason that if they can reach port a day sooner on a
fast ship than they can on a slow one, they will ta/ee one day less rish of
storm and disaster. Again, it is a clear case that in the event of an acci-
dent, the ship that is moving the swifter, other things being equal, has the
better of the accident, because, as Farragut used to say, when he was a boy
he saw a candle shot through a board, and believed a wooden ship could
sink an ironclad if only the momentum were given to it to strike a swift
enough blow.
Considering these things, Austin Corbin has reawakened the old plan
which has been working in his mind for so long, to make the Atlantic ter-
minus of the great steamship lines at Fort Pond Bay, on the extreme east-
ern point of Long Island. He declares that it is one of the finest natural
harbors in the world, and certainly the most accessible; that the region
thereabout is also more free from fogs than any other parts of the coast.
By using that port the dangerous navigation along the southern shore of
115
Long Island and the eastern shore of New Jersey would be avoided.
Then, on the other side, he wants the ships to land at Milford Haven,
Wales, and he says that by making that the port the great ships would
avoid the reefs of St. George’s Channel and of the English Channel. It
will be remembered that only a few weeks ago the Cunarder Cefkalonia
ran upon the rocks in St. George’s Channel and narrowly escaped being
wrecked. Mr. Corbin says that by adopting these two ports-—that is, by
going out by rail from New York to the eastern extremity of Long Island,
and taking the ship there—-a day will be saved in the journey across the
Atlantic.
Commenting upon it, the Ckicago T imes-Herald says : “ Congress
probably has no direct power to compel steamship lines to accept these
harbors, but it might make its subsidies and the carrying of the mails de-
pendent upon their acceptance.” We take it the only question with steam-
ship men in the matter is the sending of the freight to be carried by the
steamers by rail across Long Island. As freight cannot be carried as
cheaply by rail as by water, the cost of both passengers and freight would
be as much increased as the freight or passage across Long Island or by
small vessels along the Sound would amount to. It would give an added
sense of safety, however, to all people who traverse the sea were those two
ports to be selected, because many a great ship has gone to pieces on the
jersey coast, and many another great ship has been beaten to death on the
rocks that border St. George’s Channel.
[Signs of tke Times, Oakland, Cal., February 6, 1896.]
We have received from Mr. Austin Corbin a pamphlet containing an
article of his, printed in the North American Review, of November last,
enlarged, elaborated and illustrated with four nicely prepared maps, geo-
graphically correct. The title of the pamphlet is “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London.” Mr. Corbin proposes for his western terminus
Fort Pond Bay, in the eastern end of Long Island, and for the eastern,
Milford Haven, on the west coast of ‘Wales. These harbors are not affected
by tide or storms, and but little by fogs, both harbors being greatly superior
in this respect to New York, Liverpool and Southampton. Taking the
fastest time made by the Lucania for the standard, Mr. Corbin’s proposed
route would shorten the time from the Post Oflice in New York to the Post
Office in London by nearly sixteen hours, making the entire trip in five days,
twenty-two hours and eleven minutes. We vote for tke new route, and
lzofe Mr. C orbin’s eflorts may frove successful.
116
[Star, I/Vilmington, Del., Fehruary 23, 1896.]
Mr. Austin Corbin has prepared a very interesting and valuable pam-
phlet on “ Quick Transit Between New York and London,” the purpose
being to show that a gain of about eight hours time can be made by adopt-
ing Fort Pond Bay, at the eastern end of Long Island, as the American
terminus, and Milford, on the west coast of England, as the English ter-
minus of the great ocean steamship lines. The argument as to time, and
also in the matter of avoiding the hazards due to tides, fogs and storms
usually encountered in narrow and crowded waterways, seems irresistihle,
Mr. Corbin submits figures which show that under similar conditions the
saving that would be effected by adopting the new route would be about
eight hours and thirty minutes. This, in the matter of mail alone would
be an immense advantage, and the project is likely to receive the serious
attention of the great steamship companies.
[Toronto World, Novemher 6, I89 5.]
TIME AND GEOGRAPHY ON CANADA'S SIDE.
The leading article in the November number of The North American
Review is on the subject of quick transit between New York and London.
The object of the writer, Mr. Austin Corbin, is to show that a quicker route
between Europe and America must be established to prevent the best part
of the transatlantic traflic between the two continents being controlled by
Canada. In order that the United States may secure supremacy in the
transatlantic business, it is proposed that Fort Pond Bay be adopted as the
starting point for passengers on this side of the water and Milford Haven
on the other side. Fort Pond Bay is a harbor on Long Island, I 14 miles by
railroad from New York, and if it were adopted as a port of departure,
125% miles of dangerous ocean travel would be saved. Milford Haven is
said to be the most favorable point for landing passengers in Europe. It
is pointed out that the total gain derived by adopting the Fort Pond Bay-
Milford Haven route would be : over the Southampton route, 8 hours and
36 minutes ; over the Liverpool passenger route, including the Queenstown
detention, 10 hours ; over the Queenstown mail route, 6 hours and 46 min-
utes. TheNew I/or/2 Sun, in commenting on the article in The Review,
says that the quic/zest route will always command the mails and with the
mails go the passenger trafiic. All other things heing equal, the shortest
passenger route will always appeal to the greatest majority of ocean travel-
ers, the numher of people who prefer the sea to the land heing no greater
117
now t/can it was wken Noak built tke ark. The more our American con-
temporaries eulogize the proposed short route by way of Fort Pond Bay,
the more do they prove the advantageous position that Canada occupies in
regard to transatlantic and transcontinental traffic. By selecting one of
the many harbors of Nova Scotia, such as Terminal City, or of the lower
St. Lawrence, which are open the year round, a route via Canada could be
established which would shorten the ocean travel by fully one and a half to
two days, and which would beat any other line to New York by several
hours and outclass any competitive route for Chicago by fully a day. No
matter what route the Americans may adopt, by using equally fast boats as
those used by the Americans, Canada can establish a route that will land a
passenger in Chicago as soon as any route by the United States can land
him in New York. It is only by virtue of Canada’s excellent geographical
position that the citizen of Chicago can be placed as near Liverpool as the
resident of New York. What is true of Chicago is relatively true of all the
Western States. The establishment of an Atlantic ferry that involves only
four days’ trip on the ocean means that a fewer number of boats will be
required to equip the line, and each boat will be capable of making more
trips during the year and thus become more productive. According to the
Nortk American Review, a struggle is now going on between Great
Britain and the United States for the control of the transatlantic and trans-
continental mail and passenger business. While it is possible for the
Americans to establish a fast service at the present time, it is quite certain
that before long the transatlantic business will seek the best and shortest
route, and that route certainly lies by way of the Dominion of Canada.
Faster service on the railways, which is coming forward very rapidly, is the
one thing that is wanting to make the Canadian route an actual fact. When
it is possible to travel from Terminal City to New York at the rate of 60
miles an hour, there is no question but that city or some other city possess-
ing similar advantages will be the gateway to and from Europe. Time is
on the side of Canada. Transatlantic travel is coming this way of its own
accord before long. In the meantime, that is no reason why we should not
do everything in our power to secure it as soon as possible.
[London Fair Play, Novernber 29, 1895.]
Mr. Austin Corbin has written an interesting article in this month's
Nort/z American Review (November), entitled “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” in which he deals with the present transatlantic
mail routes via Queenstown-Holyhead, Liverpool and Southampton, in
comparison with a new route called “ Fort Pond Bay-Milford Haven
Route." The universal demand, says the writer, is for the shortest possible
118
sea passage for travelers and the quickest delivery of the mails between
the two great distributing cities, London and New York. Fort Pond Bay
is six miles west of Montauk Point, on Long Island, and II4 miles from
New York City, and is said to be one of the finest natural harbors of the
world. By its adoption as the Western terminus the navigation of the
entire southern shore of Long Island and the eastern coast of New Jersey
is avoided, and the risk of collision and often long delays in the passage
between Sandy Hook and New York piers are done away with. Mr.
Corbin shows by figures that, given a uniform speed for steamer
and railroad, and a uniform time for transfer of mails and passengers
at each port, the combined advantages in favor of the Fort Pond Bay-
Milford Haven route would be over Queenstown-Holyhead 6 hours 46
minutes, over Southampton 8 hours 36 minutes, and over Liverpool Io
hours I minute. But, he says, the real advantage of the Fort Pond Bay-
Milford Haven route is much greater than the theoretical, and states that
a careful record of all steamers carrying mails by the Queenstown-Holy-
head route between 1st May and 5th September has been kept, and that
the average time from the arrival of the steamer at Queenstown to delivery
of the mail at the General Post Office was 21 hours 40 minutes, and that
only twice was it less than 18 hours.
He therefore takes I8 hours as the assumed time, and from the return
made to the House of Commons last March respecting the transatlantic
mail service, he takes the average of the Lucania to Queenstown of 5 days
I8 hours 58 minutes, and, adding I hour from New York Post Office to
ship, makes the average time between the two post offices 6 days 13 hours
and 58 minutes. For Southampton he takes the American liner New
York, which averaged 7 days I hour 59 minutes, and, adding one hour
from New York Post Office to ship, and 3 hours 25 minutes, the average
time from Southampton to London, the result is 7 days 6 hours 24
minutes. The new route would show a total of5 days 22 hours II
minutes, or a gain over Queenstown-Holyhead of I5 hours 47 minutes,
and over Southampton I day 8 hours II minutes. In conclusion, Mr.
Corbin says that nothing is really gained by the present fast steamers of
the Cunard Line, for it would rarely be possible to get a reply by the re-
turn steamer sailing a week later, except during the summer months, and
that the slow steamers of every line are able to deliver their mails so as to
enable a reply to be sent by the next outgoing steamer. The saving of a
few hours, therefore, would be of the utmost importance, for it would com-
pletely change this and make the exception the rule. This, according to
Mr. Corbin, can easily be done by the proposed new route, and he thinks
that unless one of the present companies utilizes the manifest advantages of
this new American harbor, it is only a question of time when a new line
with at least equally good ships and service will be established. Milford
has struggled very hard, and many would be glad to see a trial given to
the proposed new route. I
119
[T ke Western ./flail, Cardiffl England, November 18, 1895.]
AMERICAN TRAFFIC.-—-QUICK TRANSIT BETWEEN NEW
YORK AND LONDON.—-ADVANTAGES OF THE MILFORD
HAVEN ROUTE.—VIEWS OF AN AMERICAN.
The Nortk American Review of this month contains an article from
the pen of Mr. Austin Corbin on the question of “ Quick Transit Between
New York and London,” in which the advantages of a new route, with Mil-
ford Haven and Fort Pond Bay as the termini, are clearly demonstrated.
Fort Pond is located on the north side of Long Island, six miles west of
Montauk Point, and 114 miles from New York City. The bay is of uni-
form depth, and the largest steamers can enter or depart from it day or
night throughout the year without danger of detention. In selecting this
harbor for the western terminus of a new transatlantic route, Mr. Corbin
points out that the entire southern shore of Long Island and the eastern
coast of New jersey are avoided ; the risk from collision on the much-fre-
quented North River and New York Bay is escaped, and the long delay at
Sandy Hook and the slow passage through the twenty-five miles of tor-
tuous and crowded channels from Sandy Hook Lightship to the New York
piers are done away with. Having chosen Fort Pond Bay as the western
terminus of the proposed route, the selection of a British port of arrival
and departure becomes the chief matter requiring consideration. Of the
competing ports of Liverpool, Southampton and Milford Haven, the last is
the most accessible at all times, and possesses in the highest degree all the
advantages necessary for a port of arrival and departure. The tides in the
Haven are very slight, running not more than a knot and a half per hour,
while in the Solent they run four knots and a half per hour. Fog is
much less prevalent in the approach to Milford than around the Scilly
Islands, which must be passed in approaching Southampton. The Mersey
Channel is not less exposed to these dangers, as it is always more or less
filled with shipping. The fastest eastward steaming yet made is certified
by the Cunard Company to have been 5 days 8 hours and 38 minutes
by the Lucania. The average speed was exactly 21.9 knots per hour, and
Mr. Corbin has taken this rate as the standard in the calculations which he
has made. The passenger and mail routes by way of Queenstown would
coincide with the route to Milford Haven until they reached the meridian
of Fastnet, at a pointten miles south of the Fastnet Light. From this
point the two courses would diverge, but the exact distances to the respect-
ive termini can be easily ascertained. Then follows a table showing that
the times taken from the point of divergence to the London Post Oflice
would be as follows : Queenstown mail route, 17 hours 9 minutes; passen-
ger route to Liverpool, leaving mail at Queenstown, 20 hours 24 minutes ;
Milford Haven route, 14 hours 19 minutes.
It is a little more difficult to compare the Southampton route with the
Milford Haven route, but Mr. Corbin estimates the time taken from the
120
point of divergence to the London Post Office at 18 hours 59 minutes, com-
pared with 14 hours I9 minutes via Milford. It will thus be seen that
steamers using the Milford Haven harbor would gain 4 hours 40 minutes
over the Southampton route, 6 hours 5 minutes over the Liverpool passen-
ger route, and 2 hours 50 minutes over the Queenstown mail route. It is
much easier to determine the gain made by using Fort Pond Bay, and the
times from the point of divergence to the New York Post Oflice are given
as follows: Present route, I3 hours 27 minutes; Fort Pond Bay route, 9
hours 31 minutes. This shows an estimated saving in favor of Fort Pond
Bay of 3 hours 56 minutes, based on the assumption that vessels are run at
full speed to the Sandy Hook Lightship. But the actual gain would always
be greater than the estimated. Practically the same results may be ob-
tained by taking the distances from the Government chart. Taking the
different expedient courses, and using the same standard of speed in all
cases, 21.9 knots per hour and amile per minute by rail, the time required
to transport the mail from the New York Post Office to the London Post
Office over the various routes works out as follows:
Queenstown mail route, 6 days 2 hours 57 minutes.
Liverpool passenger route, leaving mail at Queenstown, 6 days 6 hours
12 minutes.
Southampton route, 6 days 4 hours 47 minutes.
Fort Pond Bay and Milford Haven route, 5 days 20 hours I I minutes.
But Mr. Corbin goes on to show that the real advantage of the Fort
Pond Bay-Milford Haven route is much greater than the theoretical, inas-
much as that route has open, deep-water ports, a straight course with en-
tire exemption from bars, and almost absolute freedom from crowded
waterways. The gain of a few hours would he of the utmost imfortance
in the matter of mail service, as it would enahle correspondents to get re-
plies to their letters hy the return steamers sailing a week later, which is
rarely possihle now except in the summer months. Even then it is hy no
means certain, and little, if any, opportunity is aforded for inquiries
and investigation.
[London Financial, Novemher 27, 1895.]
AN ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO AMERICA.
The world is so busy with successful enterprise that attention is never
now directed to the magnificent docks, which were constructed many years
ago at Milford Haven, with the confident expectation that they would attract
a good share of the traffic with the United States. For some reason or
other, perhaps because the constructors of the docks thought the traffic
would come of its own accord, there has been nothing but talk about the
advantages of the route. New York looks to London to find a new line of
steamers, but the voice of the charmer meets with no response. The Great
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Western Railway, who are, of course, greatly interested, cannot be moved
to activity. Possibly a Scotter is wanted at the head of affairs to breathe
life into Milford Haven as has been done into Southampton. Anykow,
tkere are good foints about tke ./ldilford Haven route wkick are wanting
botk as regards Liverfool and Soutkamfton. The largest vessels can come
straight into the docks at Milford Haven from the Atlantic. There is no
question of navigation and tides as in the Mersey or the Solent. So far as
this end of the route goes, it is a question of the railway journey to London,
and if a saving of ten or twelve hours on the whole transit can be shown,
the commercial success would be assured. The saving of time does not
result altogether from the shortening of the sea passage at this end. It
is proposed to start the new line of steamers from Fort Pond Bay on the
north side of Long Island, thus avoiding the tortuous channels from Sandy
Hook to the New York piers. But as this improvement on the American
side would affect vessels leaving for all European ports, it is surprising that
New York merchants do not get the experiment tried. Is it the old story
of getting the English capitalist to risk his money?
[St. _/ames Gazette, London, Eng., ]\’ovember 20, 1895.]
Two more instances are given to-day of the spirit in which Mr. Chamber-
lain has entered upon his duties at the Colonial Office. The Government
/zas decided to support a fast mail service between Canada and Great
Britain to the extent of £75,000 a year. This announcement has been re-
ceived with great gratification at Ottawa, and there is no doubt now t/zat tke
new line will be started. And yesterday, moreover, Mr. Chamberlain
agreed to assist in forming a joint commission of colonial representatives
for reporting on the projected transpacific cable. This brings the project
one step nearer to practical realization, and it ougkt not to be long now
before t/ze ideal of inter-Britannic communication—all-Britzsk cables
and all-Britis/2 railway and steams/zzf lines—becomes an established
fact.
[Globe, London, Eng., November 19, 1895.]
THE TRANSATLANTIC ROUTE.
In an interesting article by Mr. Austin Corbin in the Nort/z American
Review, the question as to the best transatlantic route is once more raised
in a clear and exhaustive form. The subject is not by any means a new
one. \Ve have very often had the merits of Milford Haven as an eastern
terminus impressed upon us both by the directors of the Dock Company of
that place and by others. It is a curious fact, /zowever, t/zat no convinc-
ing or serious argument /zas ever yet been ogfered by tlze otker side in ref-
utation of tire claims fut forward by t/ze ./Wilford feofle. Certainly the
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geographical advantage of Milford Haven as an eastern terminus appears to
be undeniable. Any one looking at a map of Great Britain with an unpre-
judiced eye cannot fail to be struck by the fact that nature has provided us,
in the shape of Milford Haven, with an ideal harhor for our transatlantic
trade. Its advantages, indeed, are so obvious that were it not for the rival
commercial interests of ports which have already firmly established them-
selves, it is impossible to doubt that it would be the one great point of de-
parture for the New World. The harbor is approached with safety and
ease, and is accessible at all times; its -entrance is a mile and a half wide; it
is completely landlocked, almost free from fog, has 35 feet of water at its
piers, and passengers can go straight from the ship to their trains without
stepping from under cover. In addition to all this, the harbor possesses,
according to its champion, another and most important qualification. Its
use as an eastern terminus for the transatlantic mail service enables letters
to be delivered in London no less than fifteen hours sooner than by the
Southampton route. This would mean that the American mails would be
delivered in London on Friday in time for a reply to be sent by the follow-
ing day's mail. What is good for the mails also is good for the passengers,
.and there can he little douht that the latter will always patronize the
shortest route. Whether these natural advantages of Milford will be strong
enough to outweigh the commercial influence of Southampton and Liver-
pool remains to be seen.
[Financial News, London, Eng., Novemher 20, 1895.]
In the current number of the North American Review, Mr. Austin
'-Corbin has an interesting article on quick transit between New York and
London. Obviously, that route is the best which is shortest and safest, and
-which possesses deep-water ports at both ends from which vessels can at
-once attain full speed ; and in Mr. Corbin’s opinion these advantages would
be gained by a service between Fort Pond Bay, on the north side of Long
Island, and Milford Haven. According to his calculations, there would be
.a saving of eight hours thirty-six minutes over the Southampton route, and
ten hours over the Liverpool route, including the detention at Queenstown;
while the course would be less dangerous, as avoiding the crowded shipping
in the Solent or the Mersey on this side, and the tortuous channels from
Sandy Hook to the New York piers on the American side. Here, then, is
an opportunity for enterprising financiers; and we can only add that if
Fort Pond Bay possesses the qualities attributed to it, we wonder that Mr.
Corbin and other millionaires have not already made an experiment with
it; for its adoption does not depend on the selection of Milford Haven, the
gain in time at either end being about equally divided.
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