d their names
were adopted; the new steamers being called the _Atlantic_, _Pacific_,
_Arctic_, _Baltic_, and _Adriatic_. The first of these was dispatched
from New York on the 27th of April last, and arrived in the Mersey on
the 10th of May, thus making the passage in about thirteen days. The
voyage would have been made in a shorter time but for two accidents: the
bursting of the condenser, and the discovery, after the vessel was some
distance at sea, of the weakness of the floats or boards on the
paddle-wheels. About two days were entirely lost in making repairs; and
the speed was reduced, in order to prevent the floats from being
entirely torn away from the paddle-wheels. These things considered, the
passage was very successful. The average time occupied during 1849 by
the vessels of the old line between New York and Liverpool was 12; days;
but their voyages were longer than those of the _Atlantic_, as they
called at Halifax. The shortest passage was that made by the _Canada_
from New York to Liverpool _via_ Halifax in eleven days four hours.[25]

The _Atlantic_ remained for nineteen days at Liverpool; and during all
that time she had to lie in a part of the river called the Sloyne, in
consequence of none of the dock-entrances being wide enough to allow her
to pass in. Her breadth, measuring across the paddle-boxes, is 75 feet;
of the vessels of Cunard's Line, about 70 feet; and the widest
dock-entrance is barely sufficient to admit the latter. The _Great
Britain_, though longer than any other steam-ship that ever entered the
Mersey, is not so broad, as, being propelled by the screw, she has no
paddle-wheels. A dock at the north shore is now in course of
construction expressly for the accommodation of the _Atlantic_ and her
consorts.

For several days during her stay at Liverpool the _Atlantic_ was open to
visitors on payment of sixpence each, the money thus realized (upward of
L70) being paid over to the trustees of the Institution for the Blind,
whose church and school are now being removed to give greater space
round the station of the London and Northwestern Railway. On the day of
my visit crowds of people were waiting at the pier for the steamer that
was to convey them to the _Atlantic_. Whitsuntide visitors from the
manufacturing districts were hastening on board the numerous vessels
waiting to take them on pleasure excursions to the Isle of Man, North
Wales, or round the light-ship at the mouth of the river.