Time Lord by Clark Blaise Page A

impromptu celebration of their nation’s birthday. He was teased into carrying an American flag at the head of a deck parade, to which he agreed on the condition that an American would similarly honor the Union Jack. That accommodating American, the Irish-born William Dawson, later became the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a lifelong friend. Fleming was always sociable, helpful, and approachable; he was particularly adept at what these days is called “networking.”
    The return crossing had taken only eight days from Liverpool to the first North American landfall, Cape Race, Newfoundland—one-sixth the time of his original sailing in 1845. But as the ship headed south toward New York, heavy fog set in, as it often did off the Grand Banks and along the New England coastline, requiring careful navigation and adding an additional ten days to the journey before the arrival in New York Harbor.
    Fleming was elected ship’s historian for the voyage, a custom of the time to celebrate the passage in some witty and charming manner for publication in the local papers. He was still writing when the ship entered Long Island Sound; still writing when the pilot-crew came aboard spreading news of a Union victory at Vicksburg, and, as he put it, “that General Lee was having the worst of it in his invasion of the states north of the Potomac.” The passengers gathered on deck to congratulate the captain and to praise the ship. Mr Fleming, ever the engineer, ascertained that the ship had burned three hundred tons of coal and now stood three feet higher in the water than it had in Liverpool. Then he handed over his article, which was published in the
New York Herald
the next day under the headline NEW CANADIAN PASSAGE PROPOSED in the Marine Affairs column. In its way, it is as remarkable a piece of prophecy as Joseph Howe’shad been in 1851, predicting a trans-Canadian railroad with nothing but the Atlantic Ocean at his back.
    What Fleming proposed was closer in spirit to his two major future projects, standard time and worldwide cable, than to any of his accomplishments to date:
    Twenty years ago from five to seven weeks was considered a fair passage across the Atlantic, and although much has already been done through the instrumentality of science and iron and steam to destroy the terrors of an ocean voyage, it requires no effort to perceive that much more must be accomplished before the line of passenger traffic between Europe and America is perfected.
    We must have more
Great Easterns
and the time at sea must be reduced to the minimum number of days. Half the time we have spent on board this magnificent ship has been occupied in coasting and I cannot understand that the owners of the vessel can be any better disposed to keep us at sea than we are to remain on dry land. I do not here speak for myself but for the generality of travellers as I rather like a sea voyage when time admits, but it seems very clear that the ocean voyager will ultimately be confined to the shortest duration between land and land.
    The great bugbear has always been the length of the sea voyage and sea sickness which has hitherto accompanied it. Now length of the voyage would be diminished one half if a proper land communication existed between the eastern coast of Newfoundland and the railways of America. Seasickness barely finds a footing aboard the
Great Eastern
. I believe the doctor of the ship could report that there has been less sickness of any kind amongst the 1500 souls on board than generally exists in any town of the same population.
    Now distance between Ireland and Newfoundland is less than 1700 miles which at the rate of sixteen miles an hourwould require four and a half days to run it. The
Great Eastern
runs it without any effort in five and three-quarter days and considering the improvement which can be made in speed, I feel sure that allowance of five days for the ocean voyage would be ample. With regard to connecting St John’s or some