Shipbroker

“ The injury to the vessel may be so great and the necessity so urgent as to justify a sale, and under such circumstances, the master becomes the agent of all concerned, and is required to act for their benefit. The sale of a ship becomes a necessity within the meaning of the commercial law, when nothing better can be done for the owner, or those concerned in the adventure. If the master, on his part, has an honest purpose to serve those who are interested in ship and cargo, and can clearly prove that the condition of his vessel required him to sell, then he is justified. ”

“ Occasionally a ship gets loaded within a brief space with oil and whalebone, by which, of course, the owner or charterer makes a splendid profit, and the entire crew obtain a handsome share. But frequently does it happen that, after a voyage of fifteen months and more, there is not a single fish taken, in which case the hardy sailors, who are entirely dependent for their pay upon a share of the spoil, have had all their labour and undergone all their privations in vain, while the freighter is poorer by a good round sum. ”

“ There is no way of doing so more effectual than by exposing the vessel to sale; by which the enterprise of such men is brought into competition as are accustomed to encounter such risks, and who know from experience how to estimate the probable profits and losses of such adventures. And we here say that the power of the master to sell the hull of his stranded vessel exists also as to her rigging and sails, which he may have stripped from her, after unsuccessful efforts to get her afloat ”

“ Then, if he be a regular tradesman, he is in his glory; but if a promoted seaman, he will usually be just a terrified unit of the crew, badgered by the master and flouted by the men. And the ship herself suffers accordingly. It is false economy, saving at the most but a few shillings a month, and should never be indulged in. ”

“ Here is a discovery to give a respectable merchant more uneasiness than the undutiful conduct of fifty nieces! This vessel is then the famous brigantine of the notorious ‘Skimmer of the Seas!’ a man whose misdeeds in commerce are as universally noted, as the stoppage of a general dealer! Pray, Master Mariner, do not distrust our purposes. We do not come, sent by any authority of the country, to pry into your past transactions, of which it is quite unnecessary for you to speak; and far less to indulge in any unlawful thirst of gain, by urging a traffic that is forbidden by the law. ”

“ No course was left for him but that which he pursued, to discharge the cargo, and get on shore the sails, &c., as soon as possible; and sell them there, to save what he could, for whom it might concern.
The vessel was, in fact, got off by the purchasers. We are not to judge by the event, but by the situation at the time of the sale. The captain may act with perfect propriety in selling; a ship may be, to all appearance, in a desperate situation, and yet she may most unexpectedly be saved. That was the case of the ship Argonaut. ”

“ As I write, the actual head of the greatest shipping concern the world has ever known, is a Wall Street banker, whose knowledge of the sea was gained from the deck of a private steam yacht or the cabin de luxe of a fast liner, and who has applied to the shipping business only the same methods of stock manipulating that made him the greatest railroad director in the world before he thought to control the ocean as well. With steam, the sailor has become a mere deckhand; the captain a man of business and a disciplinarian, who may not know the names of the ropes on a real ship ”

“ In practice the men got their wages not in hard coin on board, but in pay-tickets, which had to be presented at an office, and were only cashed when all the red tape had been duly complied with. As a ship’s commission in war-time might last four years, we can easily imagine what this might mean for a man who had been pressed out of a home-coming merchant-ship at the beginning of hostilities, and also what it meant for his wretched wife and family. ”

“ The captain receives payment, whether in cash or commodities, and weighs the camwood, or measures the palm-oil, at the merchant's store. If credit be given, the merchant is responsible, and receives a perquisite of five per cent on all sales. The captain takes up his residence on shore, and sends for goods from his vessel, as they are wanted; while the mate and crew remain on board, to despatch and receive the cargo. Every vessel has in its employ several Kroomen, by whom all the boat-service is performed. ”

“ Advances made by the crimps at extravagant rates are paid by the owners without the knowledge or consent of the crew as soon as the vessel leaves port. No wages are paid, all being on shares; and the share of the crew is so small and the advance account and articles supplied from the ‘slop-chest’ so great that it is the usual thing for each man to find himself in debt to the owners on his return from no matter how successful a voyage. None of these practices are allowed on board the British vessel, and the crew are not only paid monthly wages, but participate in the profits of the voyage. ”

“ Until quite lately, sailors of merchant ships could be kept for days waiting to be paid, and, sickened with lingering for long weary hours about the office of the broker or agent who withheld their money, fell into the hands of the harpies who were, and still are constantly on the look-out to plunder them. ”

“ The insurance companies make their money, not on the ships' hulls, but on the cargoes which the ships carry. A single ship in one season will carry dozens of cargoes. We are the shuttles which carry backwards and forwards the cargo values on which the companies earn their rates. In fact, we help to earn their money for them. Where would be the cargoes without the ships? 'Gin Plimsoll had his way he'd wipe all the British ships off the seas, but we're no so bad as he wad paint us. ”

“ The primary reason for the existence of a merchant ship is, of course, her ability to pay her way and earn money for her owners. When a ship ceases to be able to do this, the sooner she is converted into a hulk or broken up, the better. So the true measure of a nation's merchant marine is its earning capacity, not merely the number or tonnage of its ships; and judged by this standard, the merchant marine of the United States was at this time far in advance of the merchant shipping of the whole British Empire. ”

“ Are you aware that the master of a ship has charge of all the cash in hand, pays the men advances, receives freight and passage money, and runs up bills in every port? All this he does as the owner's confidential agent, and his integrity is proved by his receipted bills. I tell you, the captain of a ship is more likely to forget his pants than these bills which guarantee his character. I've known men drown to save them—bad men, too ”

“ But the barges in tow are by no means put inder the control of the master of the tug to the same extent as the tug herself, and the cargo, if any, on board of her.
A general ship carrying goods for hire, whether employed in internal, in coasting, or in foreign commerce, is a common carrier; and the ship and her owners, in the absence of a valid agreement to the contrary, are liable to the owners of the goods carried as insurers against all losses excepting only such irresistible causes as the act of God and public enemies. ”

“ Unless the ship herself is let to hire, and the owner parts with the possession, command, and navigation of the same, the charterer or freighter is not to be regarded as the owner for the voyage, as the master, while the owner retains the possession, command, and navigation of the ship, is the agent of the general owner and the mariners are regarded as in his employment and he is responsible for their conduct. ”

“ It is the duty of the vessel owner, and of the master as his appointed agent, to do all that in good faith ought to be done to carry the cargo to its place of destination, and for that purpose the cargo owner should contribute to the expense as far as his interests may apparently require, but he is under no obligation to sacrifice his cargo, or to allow it to be sacrificed, for the benefit of the vessel alone. ”

“ The owner of the vessel is bound by his contract to carry the goods. If the perils of the sea require a transshipment, it is his privilege and duty to make it. But if there be a difficulty in obtaining a vessel, the master is not bound to pay an excessive freight. ”

“ The captain was expected to “break his orders in any part,” if he could drive a better bargain than his employer had been able to foresee at a distance of ten thousand miles from the market. Merchants as well as navigators, the old-time shipmaster found compensation for these arduous responsibilities in the “privileges” which allowed him a liberal amount of cargo space on their own account, as well as a commission on the sales of the freight out and back. His own share of the profits of two or three voyages to the Far East might enable him to buy and ship and freight a vessel for himself. ”

“ But, if we are insistent in our search, we may borrow from the naval charters, and read that not all the glory of our sea-history lies with the thunder of broadsides and the impact of a close boarding. Engagement with the elements—a contest with powers more cruel and implacable than keen steel—efforts to further able navigation, the standard of our seamanship—drew notable recruits to the humbler sea-life. The small crews and less lavish gear on the freighters brought the essentials of the sea-trade to each individual of the ship's company. ”

“ Upon these authorities we are of opinion that, as applied to merchant vessels, the crews are organized and the service of each sailor begins with the signing of the shipping articles, and that the lien of the seaman upon the ship for his wages, and reciprocally the lien of the ship upon the seaman for his services, where such lien still exists, dates from that time. The difficulty of securing a crew would be greatly enhanced if, after signing the articles and perhaps drawing advance pay, seamen were at liberty to desert before rendering themselves on board. ”

“ Such as are not willing to fall, must pay twelve pence for ransom; if he be an officer, two shillings; and if a passenger, at their own pleasure. If the ship never passed that way before, the captain is to give a small rundlet of wine, which, if he denies, the mariners may cut off the stem of the vessel. All the profit accruing by this ceremony is kept by the master’s mate, who, after reaching their port, usually lays it out in wine, which is drank amongst the ancient seamen. ”

“ The merchant was then greatly dependent on his captain, who must judge markets, buy and sell, and shape his course without direction from home. So the custom arose of giving the captain—and sometimes other officers—an opportunity to carry goods of their own in the ship, or to share the owner's adventure. In the whaling and fishery business we shall see that an almost pure communism prevailed. ”

“ Then—as later, in the keen sailing days of our clipper ships—their hardest taskmasters were foremast hands, watchmates, the men they lived with and ate with and worked with—bitter critics, unpersuadable, who saw only menace and a threat to their own safety in the shipping of a man who could not do man's work. On the decks and about the spars of a merchant vessel, each man of the few seamen carried two lives—his own and a shipmate's—in his ability to 'hand, reef, and steer.' There was no place on board for a 'waister,' a 'swabber,' longshoreman, or sea labourer. ”

“ With such a boat furnished and ready for business, it is the duty of the captain to go out and hire his crew, and fit her out for a month's work. Such an investment in 1857, on the upper river, would approximate the following figures:
With this wage-list and expense-account before them, the captain and his chief clerk, who may also be a part owner in 164 the boat, are face to face with the problem of meeting such expenses from passenger and cargo lists, and at the same time providing a sinking fund with which to build another craft within four years. ”

“ Its commerce is speculative but vast and successful. It is a frequent circumstance that a ship goes out without a cargo for a voyage around the world. In such a case the captain puts his elder children to school, takes his wife and younger children and starts for some semi-barbarous place where he procures some odd kind of cargo which he exchanges with advantage for another somewhere else; and so goes trafficking around the world, bringing home a freight of the highest value. ”

“ Oh, yes, of course we must place a limit; say ten times the value of the ship. Make as good a bargain as you can. Part of the arrangement must be that Sparling & Bilge write a letter to the captain, telling him that they have sold the boat, that it belongs to me, and that they have transferred to me whatever contract they made with him, the officers and the crew; that I will be responsible hereafter for the pay of the same. Then find out what can be done toward changing the name of the steamer. I wish to paint out the word Rajah and substitute, out of compliment to you, the name Blue Peter. ”