What a packet was
The word “packet” originally meant a vessel that carried packets of official letters and papers on a regular route, and the term came to be applied to any ship running to a timetable. Britain had operated mail packets for centuries, including on the Falmouth station, which served the Atlantic and Caribbean. The Atlantic packet lines were different, because they were private commercial enterprises offering regular passenger and freight service between ports.
The Black Ball Line
Before 1818, a merchant ship generally left port when it had a full cargo, so a traveller or shipper could not be sure of a departure date. In that year a group of New York Quaker merchants and shipowners, including Isaac Wright, Jeremiah Thompson and others, established the Black Ball Line to sail between New York and Liverpool on a published schedule. The ships were to depart on a fixed day each month whether or not they were full, and to arrive as promptly as the winds allowed.
The first sailings were advertised for early in 1818. The line’s identity came from a red ball on a black swallow-tailed house flag, and its example was widely followed. The ships were small by later standards, typically a few hundred tons, and were fully rigged sailing vessels.
Rival lines
Other lines were quickly established. The Red Star Line and the Swallowtail Line, both founded in the early 1820s, and others after them ran services between New York and Liverpool, and further lines served Le Havre and London. By the 1830s there were sailings from New York to Liverpool several times a month. Boston and Philadelphia developed packet services of their own, although New York dominated, helped by the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which brought the produce of the interior to the port.
Competition produced bigger and faster ships. By the 1840s and 1850s packets were frequently well over 1,000 tons, and they were built in New York shipyards in large numbers. The most celebrated captains were known for hard-driven passages in heavy weather.
What the ships carried
The lines depended on a mix of income. Eastbound cargoes were dominated by American cotton, together with grain and other raw materials. Westbound, they carried manufactured goods from Britain, and as the 19th century advanced, a growing number of emigrants, particularly from Britain and Ireland. Cabin passengers paid for private accommodation, while steerage passengers filled the lower decks, a trade described in more detail in the account of emigrant steerage conditions. Mail was carried too, though official mail contracts were later important to the steamship lines.
Speed and seasons
Prevailing westerly winds in the North Atlantic made the eastbound crossing quicker. Typical eastbound passages were often about three to four weeks, while the westbound voyage into the wind could take five to six weeks or more, and winter crossings were hard on ships and passengers. These figures varied widely, and the best passages were much faster than the average. Navigators relied on the Gulf Stream and on the methods covered in the wider maritime navigation history to make the best of the weather.
The effect on trade
Regularity changed commercial behaviour. Merchants could plan shipments, send orders and arrange payment with some confidence. Information, including newspapers, market prices and business letters, moved faster and more predictably between the two countries. The packet lines helped to make New York the leading port of the United States, and gave Liverpool a central role in Atlantic commerce.
The challenge from steam
Steamships crossed the Atlantic from 1838, and from 1840 Cunard operated a regular mail service with subsidies. At first steamers were costly and carried little cargo, so the sailing packets kept their share of freight and emigrants. But steam offered even greater regularity and speed, and over the 1850s and 1860s the steamship lines took more of the passenger and mail trade. The American Civil War, during which many US-flag ships were sold abroad or at risk from Confederate raiders, further weakened the American sailing trade.
By the 1870s the transatlantic packet had largely given way to steamers for passengers and fine cargo. Some sailing ships continued carrying bulk freight, and the packet tradition survived in the names of later steamship lines. The wider story of the move to steam is told in the broader ocean liner history.
Legacy
The packet lines introduced the principle that a ship could sail on a promise rather than a cargo. That idea, rather than the vessels themselves, was their lasting contribution. Later liner companies adopted the same promise, with steam and larger ships behind it, and the connections they established between the American and British economies remained important for generations.