Douglas Owen

“ The ship will, however, sooner or later require a higher rate of freight for ports of slow despatch, and this increased expense in transport will undoubtedly operate in favour of rival ports. For the ports themselves are but stepping-stones to or from a market or industrial centre, and the market will always select the cheapest route for its trade. With the increase of populations in the Old World and the development of new countries, the transport of emigrants and of travellers for business and for pleasure became a highly important and lucrative source of employment for steam shipping. ”

“ Trade follows cheapness, and, with the world's industrial development, the striving for cheapness took at the outset the form of economies in production. The day of small trade with large profits was passed, and producers of all kinds now aimed at a large output at diminished cost, and contended themselves with a smaller ratio of profits on a larger business. The utmost economy was studied with a view to successful competition, especially in overseas markets ”

“ In modern ocean carriage size means cheapness, the transport of a given weight of cargo being cheaper in a single vessel than in two vessels each of half the size. For not only does this concentration of carrying power effect economy of officers and crew, with their wages, provisions and accommodation space, but in shipbuilding also size makes for cheapness. Thus, if, for example, two steamers each carrying 2000 tons will cost together say £4C, OOO, a single vessel of equal carrying capacity can be supplied for £35,000. ”

“ The proximity of Italy to the Holy Land tended greatly to the prosperity of the Italian shipping. In very early days the commerce of northern Europe was principally carried on by inland routes. With the increase and civilization of the populations, the cities on the navigable rivers and on the sea found the advantage of ocean commerce, and strove for supremacy in trade. In Britain many an ancient seaboard town, from Bristol to far north Inverness, largely owing to the enterprise of the Flemish and the German merchants, became important as a trading centre. ”

“ In England certain of these societies, notably the company of Russian merchants, the Turkey merchants and, for long, the East India Company, occupied positions of influence and importance, the last-named company especially becoming possessed of much shipping, including large vessels, well armed, for prize-making or defence. The needs of trade and shipping were for long but little understood and often arbitrarily obstructed, but as a broad general principle it was recognized by the crown that the national trading interests required for their protection special privileges and concessions. ”

“ At the beginning of the 19th century American shipowners had laid themselves out to obtain command of the Atlantic trade, from which the British Navigation Act did not debar them. With this aim, ships of great sailing power and carrying capacity were constructed, being provided in addition with ingenious labour-saving devices which materially enhanced their economy in working. Successful in their attempts on the Atlantic trade, the Americans now set themselves to gain predominance in the trade with China, for which they provided vessels of unexampled speed. ”

“ If 8 tons be taken as the capacity of an ordinary railway truck and 30 trucks be allowed to a train, ~it will be obvious that a single modern cargo ship will require a vast procession of rolling stock to clear her cargo. A single cargo of 10,000 tons, for example, will require some 125O railway trucks for its removal; or, allowing 6 yards' length to the truck, 7500 yards of rolling stock, without engines and vans. And, in fact, congestion of shipping owing to delays is frequently the cause of bitter complaint in the case of certain ports. ”

“ At the present time it is the navigable depth of ports and canals, and the need of adequate dry docks, rather than the obtaining of cargoes, which are the controlling factors in the size of great ocean vessels. But the heavy interest on the capital cost of these vessels and their working expenses call for the utmost despatch in their loading and discharge, and with the simultaneous arrival of several vessels of large tonnage, the question of prompt discharge is one of great and increasing difficulty. For many modern steamers will carry 10,000 tons of cargo, and some a great deal more ”

“ New conditions in ship construction, the commercial demand for expedition and the manufacture of new articles of commerce together resulted in an increased risk of fire on ships both at sea and in port, with great loss primarily to underwriters, more especially by the flooding of holds full of valuable cargo. To overcome this danger steamships are being increasingly equipped with an apparatus which on the outbreak of fire enables the holds to be filled with a fire extinguishing gas. ”

“ From the point of view of the Dutch, indeed, it was a “ vile act and order, ” to be resisted at all costs. From the prolonged hostilities which ensued England finally emerged supreme at sea. For some time the French, under the powerful encouragement of Richelieu and subsequently of Colbert, had been devoting themselves to colonial enterprises both across the Atlantic and in distant India, to the eventual important increase of French shipping, whilst on the other hand Spanish shipping was declining. ”

“ In 1876, under pressure of public sympathy with the views of Mr Plimsoll, an amended Merchant Shipping Act was passed (39 & 40 Vic. c. 80) , making it a penal oience to knowingly send a ship to sea unseaworthy, and requiring a loadline to be fixed on British vessels, the line to be indicated on ocean going vessels by what is now universally known as the Plimsoll mark. The opening in 1869 of the Suez Canal created a revolution in the eastern shipping trade. Year by year steamships increased greatly in number and in burden. ”

“ With the growth of populations and the development of means of transport, both by land and sea, a great increase arose both in production andlconsumption, and competition became very keen for markets, both home and foreign. In this competition the cost of carriage is always an element of great importance, even though the freight payment may bear but an insignificant relation to the value of the goods carried. ”

“ In the event of failure to comply with the conditions, a merchant is exposed to forfeiture of the rebate, and in addition to measures in the nature of a boycott on the part of the conference lines. Notwithstanding, attempts are from time to time made by steamers outside the ring to gain admittance, with the consequence of occasional freight wars, and with the incidental result that goods are sometimes carried, for example, from America to a British colony at lower rates of freight than similar goods manufactured in England. ”

“ British merchant shipping, too, had apparently outgrown the supply of seamen, for towards the close of the century it was permitted to British vessels to carry foreign seamen to the extent of three-fourths of the crew. The traffic in African negroes gave much employment to British shipping. The war with America led to the harrying of British commerce by American privateers cruising off the English coasts. War premiums were very high and the insurance obtainable was insufficient. ”

“ To the second class belong the “ seekers” or “ tramps” which come and go wherever profitable employment offers, and which more especially lay themselves out to be chartered to carry full cargoes of coal, timber, wheat, nitrate, jute and such like. These vessels, some of which are of great capacity, are frequently in competition with the liners. This competition sometimes results in “cut rates ” of freight, to the serious loss of the great ship owning firms and companies. With the establishment of regular lines, moreover, there grew up competition between rival lines, with similar results. ”

“ As populations and their needs increased, the traders, gaining confidence by experience, built larger vessels and extended the area of their barter, sailing in companies, for mutual safety and defence. Of the early days of this traffic, as developed in the East, we have but little information, but in the Eastern seas, apparently, the Chinese usually came no farther than the coast of Malabar. The Malays seem in all ages to have traded with India and probably with the coast of Africa. ”

“ It is now indeed becoming a common practice on the part of ocean steamship companies to employ a surplus or superseded vessel of their fleet solely in carrying holiday tourists to a succession of foreign ports. ”

“ The seas swarmed with privateers, armed and equipped as sordid speculative enterprises, occasional rich prizes stimulating the greed of many citizens, not a few of them, no doubt, the owners of ships and merchandise which had in like manner fallen to the enemy. ”

“ From times remote the fishing industry produced a hardy race of shipmen, the maritime nations being all more or less engaged in an enterprise rendered doubly lucrative by the want of flesh meat and the regulations of Holy Church. ”

“ In the defence of the national shipping the great Navigation Act was in 1651 placed upon the British statute-book. Under this far-reaching act the trade between England and her colonies and the British coasting trade was strictly gizglffg confined to English' bottoms, English owned and 16511 manned substantially by English seamen. The act contained further provisions in support of British shipping, the effect of which was greatly to prejudice foreign shipping in its competition for the British carrying trade. ”

“ These remarks must not be concluded without mention of the important part played in the evolution of modern shipping by the system of marine insurance and by the rules of classification. For the cost of insurance is a heavy tax on the profits of the shipowners, ' and only by providing vessels of the best construction and maintaining their reputation can owners gain the advantage of low insurance rates. And not only so, but by the merchants also, to whom insurance premiums are a no less serious consideration ”

“ Or, put another way, if for £40,000 two steamers can be built to carry between them 4000 tons, for the same sum a single vessel can, it is stated, be provided to carry 4700 tons. Consequently, the size of vessels is continually on the increase, and no sooner is a navigable channel at much cost made deep enough for the great vessels knocking at the door of the port, than still larger are constructed, and shipowners complain anew that the harbour depth provided is insufficient. ”

“ And indeed, though the steamers continued to be under the British Hag, the extent to which they remain substantially under British ownership cannot be affirmed. It was stated in 1908 that on completion of its building programme the combined fleet would consist of 132 vessels of together, 1,159,704 tons. The general adoption of steamships in place of sailing vessels was gradually followed by their separation into two classes, one devoted to a fixed service on regular lines of employment, the other to promiscuous trade. ”