SOURCE: The Saturday Magazine, No. 117. Supplement, April, 1834
The number of steamers belonging or trading to the Port of London has nearly doubled since 1829, and now exceeds 100, the largest of which is the Monarch, a magnificent ship of 1200 tons burden, recently built for the station between London and the Scottish metropolis. A list of the places where the London steamers sail to direct will, perhaps, give the best idea of the present extent of the trade, viz. Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ostend, Calais, Boulogna, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stockman, Hull, Yarmouth, Ipswich, Northfleet, Gravesend, Southend, Sheerness, Chatham, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Margate, Ramsgate, Dover, Exeter, Plymouth, Falmouth, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, and Liverpool.
The most striking illustration of the increase of this mode of communication is evinced in the instance of Gravesend, which, for the information of our country readers, we should state is a town containing about 10,000 inhabitants, situated on the banks of the Thames, about 30 miles, by water, below the metropolis. In 1821, the number of persons that landed at Gravesend from London, has only 27,291; in 1831, upwards of 240,000 persons landed and embarked there. This year it may fairly be estimated, from the formation of a landing-pier, and other causes, that the number will be increased to 400,000. About thirteen steamers, six of which have been constructed this year, some being of the power of 160 horses, will, in future, ply to Gravesend during the season. The passage to Margate, a distance of 84 miles, has been performed (excluding stoppages) by the Magnet and Royal William, in five hours. On the importance of steam for the purposes of towing in a river like the Thames, it is unnecessary to comment.
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