Calais
10th March 1826
My Dear Mr F.
My carriage here is rated very reasonably at 1400ff of which ⅓ is to be deposited as usual. I have measured your fourgon, <1> with the help of a lantern & climbing over other carriages, as it was stowed away in a corner –
| Front wheel | Hind wheel | |||||
| Diamr | 34¼ | inches English | Diamr | 56¼ | inches | |
| Axle tree | 4¾ | to 1st shoulder | Axle tree | 4¼ | to 1st shoulder | |
| 5½ | to 2d do | 5[illegible deletion]¼ | to 2d |
The axletrees have 2 irregular shoulders [illustration]
I conversed a good deal on board with a Mr Saunders a sensible man connected with the Genl Steam Navig:n Company–<2> He informed me they have just built 2 steamers for St Petersburg, burden 700 tons each has 2 engines of 120 Horse Power (not large enough for velocity, but to economise the storage for Fuel.) They are to sail every fortnight from London, touch first at Gothenburgh (Sweden) then at Stockholm then Petersburg – Passengers can land at those places & wait for the next vessel.– Time in all to St Petersburg, 6 days – First vessel will be launched in March at Blackwall, <3> the maker is under contract to have her ready to sail the 1st June –
As to the Hamburgh vessels, this year they will steam once a week. –
Yours Afftly
H. Talbot
[address panel:]
Monsieur le Capitaine Feilding
31 Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Baggage-waggon.
2. In June, 1824, the General Steam Navigation Company was incorporated by an Act of Parliament with the intent (never fully realised) of establishing a world-wide shipping service. Little over a year later, it had a fleet of fifteen steamers, all built in an old East India Company depot in Deptford. It was the first British firm to operate a steamship on the Thames, and the first to offer steamer service to foreign ports. Initially a passenger operation, it turned to conveying freight and livestock in the late 1820s. A century after its founding, it was absorbed into the P&O Lines.
3. Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames River, London.