t once a
week, subsequently twice a week, and latterly three times a week--from
Liverpool, and another from New York or Boston. During that long period
many hundred thousand passengers have been carried by that noble fleet.
Yet, despite the dangers of the Atlantic, and the liability to accident
in a thousand ways of such a voyage, the Cunard line can thankfully say
that they have never lost a life--nay more, although they have had a
contract with the British Government since they started for the
conveyance of the North American mails, the company have never even lost
a letter! Such a claim cannot be made on behalf of any other line
afloat. But it would be quite a mistake to infer that this wonderful
exemption from misadventure is due to luck or chance. On the contrary,
the skilful management of the line has been the chief, if not the sole
cause of its matchless reputation. Every consideration of profit has
from the very outset been subordinated to a painstaking and anxious
regard for the efficiency of the fleet, and for the safety and comfort
of the passengers. Without a single exception, all the Cunard Liners are
noted for their seaworthy qualities, which have been admirably preserved
by the existence of the company's engineering works at Liverpool; and
the instructions for the navigation of the fleet are most complete and
peremptory. Thus, it will be seen that a combination of rare
administrative qualities, together with the intrinsic superiority of
their ships, have been the means of realising for the Cunard Company a
character which is altogether without a precedent, while the same causes
have imparted to the most timid passengers a confidence in the Cunard
line which they would not be justified in placing even in a railway
company. In short, the Cunard Company have brought about a condition of
things which our grandfathers could not have believed possible. They
have set at naught the dangers of the mighty deep, and rendered ocean
travelling more safe and interesting than travelling on the dry land.
Truly, those who have had the management of this gigantic business are
entitled to be regarded as the pioneers of a high standard of progress,
the highest standard, indeed, that has yet been attained, or is possible
of attainment, in the direction of one of the greatest ends of
civilisation--that of making the navigation of the ocean compatible with
perfect safety to human life. In illustration of the style of
management,