Benedict William Ginsburg

“ In the nine years which passed between this union and the outbreak of the war with China in 1894, the services between Japan and neighbouring countries were extended, and the development of the cotton trade induced the government to inaugurate a service between Japan and Bombay. During the war the vessels of the line were used for the transport of troops, and many additional ships had to be acquired. The result of the war gave an enormous impulse to trade and navigation. ”

“ We have already referred to some of the vessels fitted with refrigerating apparatus for the carriage of dead meat, and to the cargo steamers of the Atlantic companies, which are supplied with conveniences for carrying valuable racehorses and cattle. The experience of many years has enabled the owners of some of these lines to exhibit a wonderfully low record of loss, the percentage of deaths at sea to numbers carried being small beyond the dreams of, say, the 'seventies. A tenth of 1% over a somewhat extended period is not an unprecedented average. ”

“ The cargo (intermediate) liners, on the other hand, all load in London, and many of them, before their final departure from the Thames, visit Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam, for the purpose of picking up cargo. On these North Sea trips passengers are carried, and facilities are given for their accommodation on board during the calls at the various ports. The new company carries out the contracts of its two constituents and thus despatches every Saturday a mail steamer from Southampton via Madeira to the Cape and Natal. ”

“ Other large steamers built for its Hamburg-Southampton-New York service are the “Kaiserin Augusta Victoria” and the “Amerika,” which, though larger, has not the “Deutschland’s” speed. A service from Hamburg to New York direct for third-class passengers only is also maintained. The Hamburg Company has extended its influence and enlarged its fleet by purchases from and absorptions of other fleets. Thus it has acquired vessels from the Carr Line and the Hansa Line of Hamburg, the Rickmers Line of Bremen, as well as from the Hamburg South America and the Hamburg-Calcutta companies. ”

“ The oldest business under its management is the African Steamship Company, which was incorporated by royal charter in the year 1852 for the purpose of trading with West African ports. It received a subvention of £30,000 per annum for a monthly mail to the Gold Coast, and began its work with an unambitious little fleet of four 700-ton vessels. These were at first, however, equal to all the traffic which the trade could offer them. As time went on the number and size of the vessels employed was increased. ”

“ The fleets embraced in it are not necessarily all those whose tonnage reaches above the lower limit shown. There are now a number of lines whose total exceeds 100,000 tons which are not shown in the list. Amongst them may be cited the Hamburg- Pacific Line, the German line to Australia, the Union Company of New Zealand—which contains many small vessels, the Forende Company of Copenhagen and the Anglo-American Oil Company. The table shows how whilst the principal lines are largely increasing their fleets, one or two companies are falling back in their gross amount of tonnage. ”

“ The steamship “Giraffe,” built in 1836, brought over the first cargo of live cattle from Rotterdam to Blackwall in 1846. The company runs steamers from London to Edinburgh, Hull and Yarmouth, and from London to Antwerp, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Havre, Hamburg, Oporto, Ostend, Rotterdam, Charente and the Mediterranean port. Vessels are also run to some of the ports above-named from Hull and Southampton. There is also a passenger service between Harwich and Hamburg, and excursion services in summer to the watering-places at the mouth of the Thames and on the Kentish coast. ”

“ By 1910 they had increased to a fleet of sixty-two iron and steel steamships, with a gross tonnage of about a quarter of a million tons. The whole eastern coast of the Adriatic and the Levant is visited by them with frequent services. There is a line to the west as far as Brazil, and a monthly mail service between Trieste, Brindisi and Bombay. There is also a monthly ordinary service between Trieste, Bombay, China and Japan, and a monthly branch in connexion with it between Colombo, Madras and Calcutta. ”

“ It was then announced that the firm had assumed the management of the African Company. The two concerns were, and are, continued as distinct organizations, but they naturally work very closely together. The African Company soon began to break fresh ground, building not only superior vessels for the improving West African service, but also constructing large cargo vessels for the general Atlantic trade. These were soon engaged in the trade between the Mersey and the St Lawrence on the one hand, and between Liverpool and the southern ports of the United States on the other. ”

“ The vessels of the West African lines ply as well from Hamburg and other North Sea continental ports as from Liverpool, while closely connected with the firm, though sailing its vessels under the Belgian flag, is the Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo, which runs a service from Antwerp to West African ports. ”

“ The ships generally commence loading at Glasgow, and occasionally at other West Coast ports. They usually carry the greater part of the cargo from Liverpool, the most important element being fine goods (manufactured cottons, &c.) from Lancashire and Yorkshire. Abroad the regular service has been extended to the principal Japan ports—Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama, and, as opportunity arises, additional ports of call in China and Korea have been added to its itinerary. The following local services have their headquarters at Singapore: (1) Singapore to West Australian ports, including Fremantle. ”

“ Para, Manaos, Maranham, Paranahyba and Ceara are the chief Brazilian ports served by the company, whilst the steamers make calls on the eastern side of the Atlantic at Cardiff and Havre as well as at Spanish and Portuguese ports. The company carries the British mails to Para and Manaos, whilst it also takes the United States mails between New York and north Brazil. In addition to its transatlantic passenger traffic the Booth Line is largely developing a tourist trade to Vigo, Oporto and Lisbon in the Peninsula as well as to Madeira. ”

“ The company determined to run vessels to America, Europe and Australia. The capital was greatly increased, and orders were given for the construction of twelve twin-screw steamers of over 6000 tons each for the European line, and three of 3800 tons each for the Australian line. In 1899 the Japanese Diet resolved to grant subsidies to the company’s European and American lines. All its lines therefore now, with few exceptions, run under the mail contract of the Japanese government. There is a regular fortnightly service of twin-screw vessels between Yokohama, London and Antwerp ”

“ In the “Otaki” triple-screw vessel, added to the fleet in 1907, the company initiated a combination of reciprocating engines for using the high-pressure steam and turbines to make use of it subsequently. The company’s ships sail from London, calling at Plymouth, Teneriffe, Cape Town, Hobart, on the way out, and sometimes at Montevideo or Rio and Teneriffe on the return voyage. Communication with the different ports of New Zealand, as well as to Australian ports, is carried out by the vessels of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. ”

“ In time the company introduced a regular steam service between Edinburgh and other east coast ports and London, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Havre in the north of Europe. It gradually obtained a strong hold upon the passenger and fine goods trade to the Continent, holding the mail contracts between London and Hamburg, and London and Rotterdam. In the early ’seventies the pressure of foreign competition made itself severely felt, and in 1876 the increase of the American cattle trade told on the profits of the company ”

“ At first it depended on chartered vessels, but gradually it acquired a fleet of fast clipper iron sailing-ships which reduced the voyage to 90 days. These vessels took out a large number of government emigrants between 1874 and 1882. In 1881 one of these ships inaugurated the frozen meat trade from New Zealand, thus opening up a business which has since grown to colossal proportions. The trade increased so rapidly that it was found impossible to conduct it by means of sailing ships, and in January 1883 the company despatched from London the chartered steamship “British King,” of 3559 tons. ”

“ Four big ocean steamers were constructed for the American line and three for the English, and large docks for repairs were established at Bremerhaven. The first voyage was made in June 1858, when the "Bremen" started for New York, carrying many steerage passengers, but only one in the saloon. The second ship, the "Hudson," was shortly afterwards burned while lying in harbour. At the end of the first year both lines showed a loss. At the end of the second year matters improved, the English cattle trade especially showing great progress. ”

“ The White Star Line was from 1877 regularly employed under contract with the British government to carry the American mails from Liverpool and Queenstown to New York. Besides this weekly mail and passenger service, a fleet of twin-screw cargo vessels maintained a subsidiary service between Liverpool and New York. These vessels were especially designed for the conveyance of cattle and horses. ”

“ Fortunately for the P. & O. Company the government decided to establish regular monthly steam communication between England and Ceylon, Madras and Calcutta, and also from Ceylon, eastward to Singapore and Hong-Kong. Only the P. & O. could at that time have contemplated undertaking such a service. In 1844 the contract was signed, and by it the company was to receive a subvention of £160,000. The Indian portion of the service opened on the 1st of January 1845, and during that year the extension to China was effected, and nine new steamers were put on the stocks. ”

“ Starting from Hamburg, its vessels run to New York, Portland, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Galveston and New Orleans, and to Canadian ports. In Central and Southern America, there are lines to Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Amongst the West Indian Islands Cuba receives special attention from this line. There is a service to Eastern Asia, China and Japan. From Stettin its steamers run to New York, and from New York to the Mediterranean, Brazil and Eastern Asia. ”

“ Royal William " from Canada in 1833, and the desirability of seriously attacking the problem of ocean navigation was apparent to the minds of shipping men in the three great British ports of London, Liverpool and Bristol, Three companies were almost simultaneously organized: the British & American Steam Navigation Company, which made the Thames its headquarters; the Atlantic Steamship Company of Liverpool; and the Great Western Steamship Company of Bristol. Each company set to work to build a wooden paddle steamer in its own port. ”

“ The average speed was perhaps 9! knots, and the consumption about 21^ tons of Welsh coal per day. These and succeeding steamers were at that date the only vessels carrying high-pressure steam on long voyages, and they traded regularly round the Cape, being the only line that did so. When the Suez Canal was opened in 1870 they changed the route. The trade from the United Kingdom to China has since steadily grown, and increasingly large cargoes are also procurable homewards from the Far East, in spite of the successful competition of Indian and Ceylon teas. ”

“ The Hansa Company of Bremen ; the Chargeurs Reunis of Havre ; the Holland-American Line, which has of recent years added to the fleet several fine twin- screw liners, built at the Belfast yard ; the Compania Transatlantica of Barcelona, which performed so great a feat in the transport of troops from Barcelona toCuba in the latter days of Spain's dominion over that island; the Pacific Mail Company of the United States; and many others might be noticed. ”

“ American Line.—Though the American Line, as now constituted, is of comparatively modern origin, it is the successor of several much older organizations. Of these the oldest is the Inman Line, last acquired by it. On the 16th of April 1850 an iron screw steamship of 1609 tons gross register left Glasgow on her maiden trip to New York. ”

“ Immediately on its formation the company entered into arrangements with Messrs Harland & Wolff of Belfast for the construction of a fleet of high-class passenger ships, and it is worthy of notice that the terms upon which Messrs Harland & Wolff built the White Star ships were peculiar. ”

“ It had already ceased to employ British shipbuilders and now constructed its own tonnage in its own yards. The extension of its services to Japan followed, and eventually it put forth branches which served Madagascar, Mauritius and Zanzibar, as well as Australian ports and the French colony of New Caledonia. Some of the steamers employed in the mail services to the Far East and South are of a very fine character. In 1909 its fleet traversed 1,019,046 marine leagues and carried 197,320 passengers and over a million tons of cargo. ”

“ The introduction of the turbine engine at the beginning of the 20th century gave further subdivision of machinery and increase of economy, whereby greater speed became possible and comfort was increased by the reduction of vibration. ”

“ It has frequent ser- vices of passenger and cargo vessels to the ports of northern Europe, carrying passengers in the season as far north as the North Cape. Of course the winter season necessitates considerable variation of summer services to Baltic ports. In 1903 the fleet of the old- established Hull firm of Messrs Bailey & Leetham was absorbed, and in 1908 that of the North-Eastern Railway Company. There are also steamers leaving Grimsby, Manchester and Liverpool regularly for Scandinavian and Baltic ports ”

“ Before 1850 practically all the steamships crossing the ocean, with the famous exception of the " Great Britain," were paddle-boats. After the advent of the Inman liners the screw began to be everywhere substituted for the paddle. In the second place, the Inman steamers were the first which regularly undertook the conveyance of third-class passengers, to the extinc- tion of the old clipper vessels which had hitherto carried on the traffic. ”