Maritime term

“ With the opening of ocean routes and the discovery of America, a rivalry in world trade and colonial expansion set in which has continued increasingly down to the present time, forming a dominant element in the foreign policies of maritime nations and a primary motive for the possession and use of navies. The development of overseas trade, involving the factors of merchant shipping, navies, and control of the seas, is thus an integral part of the history of sea power. ”

“ The proper evidence that a vessel is an American vessel and entitled to exercise the Treaty right is the production of the ship’s papers of the kind generally recognized in the maritime world as evidence of a vessel’s national character. ”

“ On National Maritime Day, we recognize the important role the United States Merchant Marine plays in supporting our commerce and national security. We honor the proud history of our merchant mariners and their important contributions in strengthening our economy.
Americans have long looked to the sea as a source of safety and well-being. Bounded by two oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and crisscrossed by inland waterways, America was destined to be a maritime nation. ”

“ The oversea voyage possesses a greater appeal to the imagination. Long distances, variation of the climes, storm and high ocean seas—a burthen of goods brought from a far country, all contribute to make an impression that the tale of a coasting voyage could not produce. Familiarity, perhaps, has robbed the short-carriers' sea-trip of what shreds of romance existed. In tide and out, the smaller vessels have grown to the sight as almost part of the familiar quays and wharves they frequent. ”

“ Her great length of sea coast, the productive fisheries east and, west, the facility for ship-building given by her forests, have stimulated her maritime activity to such an extent that in tonnage of shipping she now ranks fourth among the nations of the world, counting the United Kingdom as one. Her sailing ships are found in every quarter of the world, taking part in the carrying trade. ”

“ A large commerce is conducted on seas other than the ocean and the English seas, and it is equally necessary to distinguish between their open waters, and their ports and havens, and to provide for offenses on vessels navigating those waters, and for collisions between them. The term 'high seas' does not, in either case, indicate any separate and distinct body of water, but only the open waters of the sea or ocean, as distinguished from ports and havens and waters within narrow headlands on the coast. ”

“ Whilst it is true that the great mass of maritime law is the same in all commercial countries, yet, in each country, peculiarities exist either as to some of the rules, or in the mode of enforcing them. ”

“ Every master of any vessel of the burden of fifty tons or upward, bound from a port in one State to a port in any other than an adjoining State, except vessels of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, shall, before he proceeds on such voyage, make an agreement in writing or in print, with every seaman on board such vessel except such as shall be apprentice or servant to himself or owners, declaring the voyage or term of time for which such seaman shall be shipped. ”

“ I have now endeavoured to give as succinct an account of the whole course of the maritime legislation of the British Empire and its effects upon ships, seamen, and commerce as my space will permit, from the earliest period up to the close of the year 1875. Although it is not the province of an historian to enter upon controversial questions, much less to dive into the future, yet history is of little value unless we can gain knowledge from the past which can be made useful hereafter. ”

“ Owing to the conflict of claims which grew out of the controversy, maritime states had to moderate their demands and base their pretensions to maritime dominion on the principle that it extended seawards from land. ”

“ There were discouragements at that time for mercantile or maritime enterprise, which make us marvel the more at the energy of the men who with such slender vessels and knowledge of navigation, tempted the dangers of unknown seas. ”

“ Demurrage and Laydays.—
Time is usually of the essence of maritime and commercial transactions. Both parties must be punctual in the performance of their obligations. The shipowner must have the vessel at the appointed place and time for delivery to the charterer or to receive the cargo, as the agreement requires. The charterer must be on hand to receive her or to deliver the cargo for loading. The ship must pursue the voyage without deviation or delay. The consignee must be ready to receive his goods on their arrival. ”

“ Sometimes the arrival of a vessel refers, undoubtedly, to her coming into a port from any cause, or for any purpose, and for any period. It is admitted that this may be the literal and general meaning of the term with lexicographers, but in several cases it is used to denote a coming in for certain special objects of business, and to be followed by remaining there so long as to render an entry of the vessel proper, and a deposit of her papers with a consul prudent and useful. ”

“ As vessels of Great Britain and the United States are more largely occupied in navigating the high seas than those of other nationalities, it is the custom of those meeting upon the ocean to hail in English, and there is scarcely a captain in charge of a vessel of any nation that is not sufficiently acquainted with the English language to communicate in this way with another. ”

“ It is to be understood that every vessel of the United States, which is afloat, is bound to have with her from the officers of her home port either a register or an enrollment. The former is used when she is engaged in a foreign voyage or trade, and the latter when she is engaged in domestic commerce, usually called the coasting trade. ”

“ In consequence of the recent alteration of the British navigation acts, British vessels, from British and other foreign ports, will under our existing laws, after the 1st day of January next, be admitted to entry in our ports with cargoes of the growth, manufacture, or production of any part of the world on the same terms as to duties, imposts, and charges as vessels of the United States with their cargoes, and our vessels will be admitted to the same advantages in British ports, entering therein on the same terms as British vessels. ”

“ It may be conceded that if a statement is made that a vessel is on the high seas, without any qualification by language or circumstance, it will be generally understood as meaning that the vessel is upon the open waters of one of the oceans of the world. It is true, also, that the ocean is often spoken of by writers on public law as 'the sea,' and characteristics are then ascribed to the sea generally which are properly applicable to the ocean alone, as, for instance, that its open waters are the highway of all nations. ”

“ For such a country, a maritime law-the same in all the States-rendered uniform by the decisions of one high appellate court of admiralty-and in harmony with the general maritime law of the world-a law not rigid by reason of statutory provisions, but broad, flexible, and just-a common law of the seas, becomes of the first importance; and the necessity for such a system of law becomes imperious, when we approach the subject of supplies and repairs, which any vessel, at any moment, and at any place, may be compelled to procure forthwith, or perish where she lies. ”

“ In the same way, old books, old engravings, and crude old lithographs and woodcuts relating to almost every form of ships and shipping have been sought out and prized by an ever-growing circle of enthusiasts. This is not a passing fancy; there is something more solid behind it. I hope I am right in believing that the people of the United States are again turning their faces to the sea. Over the sea our ancestors or we ourselves have all come. We have filled the vacant spaces from the original colonies on the Atlantic Coast to the new and splendid civilization of the Pacific. ”

“ As if to perfect this strange, eventful history, a third edict, at once inhospitable and unjust, was launched by the Directory, January 18, 1798, prohibiting “every foreign vessel which in the course of her voyage shall have entered into an English port from being admitted into a port of the French Republic, except in case of necessity,” and, still further, handing over to condemnation “every vessel found at sea loaded in whole or in part with merchandise the production of England or of her possessions.” ”

“ In other countries, and indeed, in most countries in Europe, all their inland trade, such as it is, is carried on by the convenience of navigation, either by coastings on the sea, or by river-navigation. It is true, our coasting trade is exceedingly great, and employs a prodigious number of ships, as well from all the shores of England to London, as from one port to another. ”

“ Merchant ships of the largest size, perhaps the proudest which float, have navigated it for nearly two hundred years, to within a distance of nine or ten miles from Canton, with little difficulty, and very inconsiderable danger. No foreign commerce with any one port has been so valuable, so extensive, or carried on with so much facility. The difficulties of our intercourse, which have arisen within the last few years, have formed an epoch in the world's history, and stand forth as a leading beacon in the stream of time, pointing towards greater eras yet to come. ”

“ ART I. It is agreed, that, in any part of the Great Ocean, commonly called the Pacific Ocean or South Sea, the respective citizens or subjects of the high contracting powers shall be neither disturbed nor restrained either in navigation, or in fishing, or in the power of resorting to the coasts upon points which may not already have been occupied, for the purpose of trading with the natives, saving always the restrictions and conditions determined by the following articles. ”

“ One thinks of the old merchant marine in terms of the clipper ship and distant ports. The coasting trade has been overlooked in song and story; yet, since the year 1859, its fleets have always been larger and more important than the American deep-water commerce nor have decay and misfortune overtaken them. ”

“ Name of the captain? Where is he from? How many days out? What is the latitude and longitude? Good-bye, let go!"
They let go the reefs; the sails fall down again. The sailors and passengers of the two ships watch each other flee from sight, without a word: one crew goes to seek the sun of Asia, the other the sun of Europe, both of which will see them die. Time carries off and separates travellers on earth even more rapidly than the wind carries them off and separates them on the ocean; they make a sign to each other at a distance:
"God speed you, and a prosperous journey!" ”

“ In addition, it was provided that, in view of ‘the no little detriment and decay that hath and is likely to ensue to the navy’ by reason of the late concession, all foreigners who might wish to avail themselves of its advantages must in future ship their goods in English bottoms. ”

“ Ordinarily, the terms 'coaster' and 'coasting vessel' are applied to vessels plying exclusively between domestic ports, and usually to those engaged in domestic trade, as distinguished from vessels engaged in the foreign trade, or plying between a port of the United States and a port of a foreign country. ”

“ For in our country we have great inland seas, bordering on different States of the Union, with different laws, and also on foreign territory, which are navigable by vessels owned by residents of different States, and also by foreign vessels proper. ”

“ Although Great Britain supplies from its rivers and coasts three-fourths of the ocean-going steamers of the world, its own coasting and inland navigation affords but a very limited field for the employment of vessels of any kind compared with the shores and rivers of America, India, and China. ”

“ The great and almost impregnable barriers on the north are pierced by mountain-passes which have been throughout used as the pathways of commerce and communication with the external world. Towards the south the ocean from its very nature proved a far more effective and fatal barrier to the cultivation of foreign relations, till the rapid development of national shipping triumphed over that obstacle and converted the ocean itself into a great highway of international intercourse and commerce. ”

“ The voyage is a marine trip along a great winding Continental street, with stops at many corners and turns up many lanes. Up and down the coast means putting into innumerable wayports. This makes them more or less acquainted with one another, and one coast community feels an interest in what is happening in a neighbor port a thousand miles away. The vessels bring the gossip,—usually of trade, of the value of the last cargo, of quarantine, of troubles with the native longshoremen, of disputes with the minor officials, and of political events or the latest revolution. ”

“ The navigation of the ocean, which led to the discovery of a passage to the East Indies, and of America, gave a mortal blow to the nations situated on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea, who thus found themselves deprived of the commerce of the East. ”

“ With no United States steamers on the principal ocean lines or in any foreign ports, our facilities for extending our commerce are greatly restricted, while the nations which build and sail the ships and carry the mails and passengers obtain thereby conspicuous advantages in increasing their trade. ”

“ A ship is a kind of floating island.' Yet when a foreign merchant vessel comes into our ports, like a foreign citizen coming into our territory, it subjects itself to the jurisdiction of this country. ”

“ Commerce and travel and naval warfare concentrate themselves at the spot where a narrow channel connects wide seas, and the strip of land which severs two seas from one another interposes a barrier to water-borne trade and turns it off into other directions. ”