Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/15

 Great Eastern) that had ever crossed the ocean. Thus, in 1867, the company possessed twelve ships, eight paddle and four screw-steamers.

I give these details so that every one may appreciate the importance of this company in maritime affairs. No enterprise connected with transatlantic transport has been conducted with such ability, or crowned with so great success. For six-and-twenty years the Cunard “liners” had crossed the Atlantic, and had never missed a voyage, had experienced no serious delays, nor even lost a man, a letter, or a vessel. So passengers choose them still, notwithstanding the great competition, as can be perceived from an abstract from the official reports. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that some excitement should have been created when the news came of an accident that had happened to one of the best steamers.

On the 13th April, 1867, the sea was smooth, the wind light, and the Scotia was in 15° 12' W. long. 45° 37' N. lat. She was steaming over thirteen knots. Her draught of water was about six metres and a half, her displacement 6,680 cubic metres.

About four o'clock in the afternoon, while dinner was proceeding in the saloon, a shock, but not a very great one, was distinctly felt somewhere on the starboard quarter abaft the paddles.

The Scotia had not struck; it had been struck, and, moreover, by some sharp or pointed thing, which contused her. This “hulling” of the vessel was so gentle that no one on board would have felt anxious had not someone run upon the bridge and exclaimed, “We are sinking! we are sinking!”