Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/137



• STEAMSHIP  COMPANIES. 125

the tedious  voyage  round  Cape  Horn. With this end in  view,  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1847,  the  secretary of the  navy  was  authorized  by  congress  to  contract for a  mail  steamship  service  from  New  York  via Panama to  Astoria,  Oregon,  touching  on  the  Atlan- tic side at  Charleston,  Savanali,  and  Habana,  and  on the  Pacific  at  San  Diego,  Monterey,  and  San  Fran- cisco. Under this  authorization  a  contract  for  a monthly  service  for  ten  years,  at  a  compensation  of $199,000  per  annum,  was  awarded  to  Arnold  Harris, who assigned  it  to  William  H.  Aspinwall  and  his associates. Here, then,  was  the  beginning  of  the Pacific Mail  Steamship  Company,  which,  stimulated by the  acquisition  of  California,  and  the  subsequent ^old discoveries — both  of  which  events  happened within less  than  three  months  after  its  organization — assumed mammoth  proportions,  and  became  the largest oceanic  transportation  company  the  world  has ever seen,  having  operated  some  sixty  or  seventy steamers, sending  its  monster  vessels  ploughing  the seas every  fifteen  days  half  round  the  globe  from New York  to  Hong  Kong,  by  way  of  Panama  and San Francisco.

Until the  autumn  of  1855,  the  operations  of  the Pacific Mail  Steamship  Company  were  limited  to  the Pacific, the  service  on  the  Atlantic  being  under  the auspices of  the  United  States  Mail  Steamship  Com- pany, which sailed  their  vessels  in  connection  with the Pacific  company. During the  year  of  its  organi- zation, which was  in  the  latter  part  of  1847,  three steamers were  built  and  despatched  round  Cape  Horn for San  Francisco,  via  Panamd:  first  the  California, then the  Panama,  and  lastly  the  Oregon,  although the Panama  being  obliged  to  put  back  for  repairs,  the Oregon was  the  first  to  arrive  at  her  destination. In this naming  of  their  crafts  it  would  seem  that  Cali- fornia, even then,  was  the  central  idea  in  the  minds of these  ship-owners,  although  it  is  afiirmed  that authentic  news   of    the    discovery    of  gold  had   not