e
next, they have no sea-going steam vessels, which after all is the great
desideratum of steam navigation. Even in the number and tonnage of
their mercantile steam vessels they are not equal to us, as I shall
presently show, nor have they yet arrived to that security in steam
navigation which we have.

The return of vessels belonging to the Mercantile Steam Marine of Great
Britain, made by the Commissioners on the Report of steam-vessel
accidents in 1839, is, number of vessels, 810; tonnage, 157,840; horse
power, 63,250.

Mr Levi Woodbury's Report to Congress in December, 1838, states the
number of American steam vessels to be 800, and the tonnage to be
155,473; horse power, 57,019.

It is but fair to state, that the Americans have the credit of having
sent the first steam vessel across the Atlantic. In 1819, a steam
vessel, built at New York, crossed from Savannah to Liverpool in
twenty-six days.

The number of _sea-going_ steam vessels in England is _two hundred and
eighty-two_, while in the United States they have not more than ten at
the outside calculation. In the size of our vessels also we are far
superior to them. I here insert a table, shewing the dimensions of our
largest vessels, as given in the Report to the House of Commons, and
another of the largest American vessels collected from the Report of Mr
Levi Woodbury to Congress.

_Table shewing some of the Dimensions of the Hull and Machinery of the
five largest ships yet built or building_.

[Table to be added in a later edition.]

But the point on which we are so vastly superior to the Americans, is in
our steam vessels of war. They have but one in the United States, named
the Fulton the Second. The following is a list of those belonging to
the Government of Great Britain, with their tonnage:--

+=========+=====+=========+=====+===========+=====+
Y YTons.Y YTons.Y YTons.Y
+---------+-----+---------+-----+-----------+-----+
YAcheron Y 722YFearless Y 165YMyrtle Y 116Y
+---------+-----+---------+-----+-----------+-----+
YAdder Y 237YFirebrandY 495YOtter Y 237Y
+---------+-----+---------+-----+-----------+-----+
YAdvice Y 475YFire Fly Y 550YPhoenix Y 809Y
+---------+-----+---------+-----+-----------+-----+
YAfrican Y 295YFlamer Y 496YPigmy Y 230Y
+---------+-----+---------+-----+-----------+-----+
YAlban Y 294YFury Y 166YPike Y 112Y
+---------+-----+---------+---