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diff --git a/78205-0.txt b/78205-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d200f2c --- /dev/null +++ b/78205-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8440 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78205 *** + + + + + Transcriber’s Note + Italic text displayed as: _italic_ + + + + +_BOOKS ON THE SEA BY_ + +E. KEBLE CHATTERTON + + +_HISTORICAL_ + + Q-SHIPS AND THEIR STORY + SAILING SHIPS AND THEIR STORY + SHIPS AND WAYS OF OTHER DAYS + FORE AND AFT: THE STORY OF THE FORE AND AFT RIG + STEAMSHIPS AND THEIR STORY + THE ROMANCE OF THE SHIP + THE STORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY + KING’S CUTTERS AND SMUGGLERS + THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY + THE OLD EAST INDIAMEN + + +_CRUISES_ + + DOWN CHANNEL IN THE “VIVETTE” + THROUGH HOLLAND IN THE “VIVETTE” + + + + +THE MERCANTILE MARINE + + +The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton. By _Dr. Hugh R. Mill_. Demy 8vo. +Illustrated. + + Price about 21_s._ net. + +The Life & Letters of Walter H. Page. By _Burton J. Hendrick_. In two +volumes. Sixth impression. Demy 8vo. + + 36_s._ net. + +The Letters of Lord & Lady Wolseley. Edited by _Sir George Arthur._ +Second impression, with a new index. Demy 8vo. + + 25_s._ net. + +Knole & the Sackvilles. By _V. Sackville-West_. With many +illustrations. Second impression. Demy 8vo. + + 25_s._ net. + +Woodrow Wilson & World Settlement. By _Ray Stannard Baker_. In three +volumes. Demy 8vo. Vols. I & II, 36_s._ net. Vol. III (sold separately) + + 18_s._ net. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +H.E. INDIA COMPANY’S SHIP “WILLIAM FAIRLIE.” + +Commanded by Captain Thomas Blair, leaving the harbour of Prince of +Wales’ Island. About 1828.] + + + + + THE + MERCANTILE MARINE + + + BY + E. KEBLE CHATTERTON + + + [Illustration] + + + LONDON + WILLIAM HEINEMANN, LTD. + + + + + _First published, 1923_ + + + _Printed in Great Britain_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +This volume is an attempt to trace the history of the Mercantile +Marine, and to show the reader how much we owe to our ancestors for the +ingenuity, enterprise, courage and perseverance by which the Merchant +Service has been built up for the good of nations, the increase of +trade and the spread of civilisation. + +In other volumes I have endeavoured to trace the history of ships. +The subject here considered is the birth and growth of a sea service, +without which the navies of the world become useless and indeed could +never have been brought into being. It is high time that the public +appreciated all that is meant by the term Mercantile Marine. + +The part played by commercial ships as fighting craft during the recent +war does not enter into this book. This section was largely treated of +in my _Q-Ships and Their Story_, and other writers have drawn attention +to the dangers and difficulties of freighters and passenger ships +carrying on through the period of hostilities. Those four years form +so small a chapter in the thousands of years during which the trader +has been winning its way across the seas, that it is unnecessary to +deal with them here. Our aim is rather to consider the progress of the +Mercantile Marine as a whole, from the earliest times to the latest +liner development. + +The story here submitted is the result of many years of research, +travel and ship study. I have had access to many manuscripts and +printed books too numerous to mention. I desire to return thanks to +Messrs. T. H. Parker, 12A Berkeley Street, W., for permission to use +some invaluable, rare prints; and to the Cunard and White Star Lines +for certain other illustrations of a magnificent service. + + E. KEBLE CHATTERTON. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTION 1 + + II. THE DEMAND FOR MERCHANT SHIPPING 7 + + III. THE MEDITERRANEAN MERCANTILE MARINE 17 + + IV. THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF THE NORTH 30 + + V. THE GROWTH OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE 42 + + VI. THE MERCANTILE MARINE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 53 + + VII. FISHERMEN AND MERCHANTMEN 62 + + VIII. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SEAFARIN 75 + + IX. MERCANTILE SUPREMACY AT SEA 90 + + X. MIGHTY MERCHANTMEN 103 + + XI. PACKET SHIPS AND BRIGS 119 + + XII. THE SAIL-CARRIERS 134 + + XIII. CRACKING-ON 150 + + XIV. THE TRIUMPH OF STEAM 168 + + XV. THE IRON AND STEEL AGE 182 + + XVI. THE MODERN MERCHANT SHIP 194 + + XVII. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GERMAN MERCANTILE MARINE 208 + + XVIII. THE AMERICAN MERCANTILE MARINE 220 + + XIX. THE MINOR MERCANTILE MARINES 229 + + XX. THE FUTURE OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE 238 + + APPENDIX 246 + + INDEX 249 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + _Facing page_ + + H.E. INDIA COMPANY’S SHIP “WILLIAM FAIRLIE” _Frontispiece_ + + SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH EAST INDIAMEN 74 + + SIGNAL CODE 74 + + CAPTAIN THOMAS FORREST 90 + + BRUNSWICK DOCK, BLACKWALL 92 + + CAPTAIN HENRY WILSON 98 + + CAPTAIN HON. RICHARD WALPOLE 98 + + COMMODORE SIR NATHANIEL DANCE 98 + + SIR WILLIAM JAMES, BART. 98 + + A CONVOY OF EAST INDIAMEN 112 + + A FINE PIECE OF SEAMANSHIP 118 + + CAPTAIN W. ROGERS 122 + + CAPTAIN JOSEPH HUDDART, F.R.S. 122 + + S.S. “NORTHUMBERLAND” 144 + + AUXILIARY S.S. “KENT” 146 + + S.S. “NORFOLK” 148 + + SAILING NOTICE OF THE WHITE STAR CLIPPER “RED JACKET” 156 + + CRACKING-ON! 158 + + SPARS AND STAYS 160 + + PORT OF LIVERPOOL 164 + + SCREW S.S. “LADY JOCELYN” 164 + + AUXILIARY SCREW S.S. “INDOMITABLE” 166 + + LORD YARBOROUGH’S YACHT “FALCON” 168 + + CLIPPER SCREW S.S. “HELLENIS” 170 + + S.S. “ORINOCO” 170 + + TWO EARLY MAIL STEAMSHIPS 180 + + S.S. “TRIDENT” 182 + + THE “ROBERT F. STOCKTON” 184 + + AN EARLY CROSS-CHANNEL STEAMER 184 + + THE FAMOUS “GREAT EASTERN” 186 + + THE FAMOUS “GREAT EASTERN” 188 + + S.S. “OCEANIC” 190 + + S.S. “SULTAN” 192 + + S.S. “ORIENT” 192 + + S.S. “SPAIN” 194 + + THE “BRITANNIC” 196 + + THE “CAMPANIA” 196 + + BERTHING A BIG LINER 198 + + MODERN NAVIGATION 200 + + S.S. “BERENGARIA” 202 + + S.S. “OLYMPIC” 204 + + S.S. “MAJESTIC” 204 + + ON THE BRIDGE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SHIP 206 + + BIG SHIP MASTERS 208 + + STOKEHOLD OF AN OIL-FUEL CUNARDER 216 + + STARTING PLATFORM 216 + + A FAST-DISAPPEARING SHIP TYPE 236 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +It is curious to observe how thoroughly most of us are the slaves of +habit, how limited we are in our imagination and sympathies until +something surprising, far-reaching and inevitable upsets our routine, +introduces a new force into our life and compels us to take note of +fresh interests. + +Until the recent war most people took the Mercantile Marine for +granted. In a vague sort of way the average person believed in it, but +rarely if ever stopped to consider what it meant or whether it had any +history. It was sufficient to concede the fact that there were steamers +running every week to most parts of the globe, and that passengers +and goods could be carried as convenient. But there was not the same +enthusiasm extended to the Mercantile Marine as there was to the doings +of the Royal Navies; and unless some new mammoth steamship advertised +herself by her size, speed or luxury, the Merchant Service was allowed +to continue its all-important work unheeded and almost despised. + +But then came the sudden change, which gave an entirely different +viewpoint. How few of us ever realise our good fortune until it +is taken away from our hold! The increasing success of the U-boat +campaign, culminating in the enormous sinkings of merchantmen in April +1917, and the consequent shortage of food in the British Isles, caused +the inhabitants for the first time in their lives to appreciate all +that they owed to the Mercantile Marine. It was then—and not till +then—they reminded themselves that the food supplies, which formed the +necessities of life, were brought into the country by a service whose +very existence had almost been ignored. + +Every meal and every food-card, every little inconvenience in regard +to hunger, henceforth turned people’s minds back to the prime cause; +and those who had been the most ignorant of seafaring matters now +began to think in terms of tonnage. From that time the average man and +woman and school-child have never ceased to be thankful that we had a +marine, whose duty was not to fight, but to keep us supplied with the +essentials of existence. Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty recently +said that the Mercantile Marine was a branch of that great sea service +without which the British Empire would cease to exist. In a normal +year, he said, the amount of food supplies forming the necessities of +life which are brought into the British Isles and taken out consists of +150,000,000 tons. Without the one service to carry these food supplies, +and the Royal Navy to protect the commercial craft on their lawful +occasions, the reader can now well imagine how long starvation would be +kept away. + +Thus we are about to trace the story of a service that is not merely +well deserving of our interest and enthusiasm, but is in itself so +fascinating that we shall feel almost ashamed that we never conceded +so much attention until harsh circumstances compelled us to reflect. +In order to maintain our bread and meat supplies, in order to prevent +overseas trade from utterly vanishing during those terrible years of +hostilities, 15,000 men of the Mercantile Marine perished. That in +itself would be a sufficient reason for inquiring into the history of +their service; but, quite apart from that, there is the plea that the +Mercantile Marine is the older of the two branches of the sea service, +for out of it grew the fighting service only years after man had learnt +to handle vessels. + +Over those far-distant periods when the ancient seaman was groping his +way towards knowledge we shall not require to spend much time. In other +volumes I have already traced the evolution of the ship from a crude +creature to a thing of beauty. Nor shall we need to be concerned with +the horrors of war. Our task is the pleasant and glorious study of +watching brave men creating a peaceable marine that will be the means +of interchanging commerce over seas at first uncharted; bringing back +new ideas and then taking out civilisation. All the time it is one big +struggle, varying only in kind and intensity. It is one long, strenuous +effort to achieve; and because it is all so human it demands our +attention all the while, as we sympathise with the incessant attempts +to overcome all sorts of obstacles. + +The human race springs from the land: consequently all the arts +of the sea have to be learnt from the beginning, and this means +centuries of experience, many disappointments and enormous faith and +courage. But human aspirations cannot be gainsaid. Progress will not +be denied. Man is not content to remain where he was, and that is +the basis of the whole story. The Egyptians created their Mercantile +Marine almost exclusively for the Nile. It was the Phœnicians who +felt the overwhelming desire to traverse the Mediterranean, and even +to go outside the gates we call the Straits of Gibraltar. The Greeks +inherited from the Phœnicians a ship which they modified but little, +as the Phœnicians had from the Egyptians. + +But whereas the Egyptians were a peace-loving race, and therefore their +ships were not built for fighting, we find the Greeks constructing +two distinct types of craft, and it is important to get this quite +clear at once, as the reader will presently agree. First there was the +swift-moving galley, relying chiefly on oars. She was built for the +purposes of fighting, and therefore does not enter into our subject. +But secondly there was the slow-moving, big-bellied craft, relying +almost entirely on her one mast and sail, which was used for the +purpose of trade from spring to autumn, and then laid up until the good +weather returned once more. Think of her with her great square-sail +going across to Egypt to bring back corn, calling at Rhodes on the way, +getting caught in terrible weather, but year after year, century after +century, doing the same voyages as a new generation of seamen grew up. + +So it was with the Roman merchant ships from every March to November, +blundering on their trans-Mediterranean voyages as corn-carriers. These +seamen were, as always sailors have been and will be, a race apart. In +the mind of most people nobody but a fool or a madman ever takes up a +seafaring career. Seamen were very scarce and had to be allowed special +privileges; and merchants who travelled in their ships marvelled that +they could use the stars for finding their way over the dark waters at +night. But the transportation of goods over the sea had to be done. +The shipowners formed themselves into corporations, and membership was +handed down from father to son, much as it is in a fishing village +to-day. + +One of the oldest professions is that of piracy. In those days a pirate +was not so much a sea bandit as a sea adventurer; the Greek word +_peirates_ and its Latin equivalent signifying one who _attempts_ or +_tries_ his fortune on the sea, much as we speak of the Elizabethan +“venturers.” None the less, until the growth of naval power piracy +always was the great enemy of the merchant ship; and even in Roman +times it at length became so serious that drastic measures had to be +taken to stamp it out, only to keep on recurring like a cancerous +growth until the age of steam practically wiped it out except in +Chinese waters. Over and over again in the following chapters we shall +see the innocent, cargo-carrying ship molested in this manner; but, for +all that, the seaman’s spirit remained undaunted, and the trade of the +world continued to be carried over the seas in spite of these known +risks. As it was in the Mediterranean, so it was later on in the North +Sea. + +From about 580 B.C. right down to the time of the Roman conquest, +the Liparian Isles were practically a republic of corsairs. The +Ionians and the Lycians were notorious pirates: the Ægean, the +Pontus and the Adriatic were the corsairs’ cruising grounds. The +Cretans, the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, the Cilicians, the +Carthaginians, the Illyrians and others, also, were the piratical +terrors to the Mediterranean merchant ships; and it was only as long +as Rome maintained a strong navy that the cancerous growth was kept +under, though not finally eradicated. Thus, in those early periods +when there was little enough to encourage it, the Mercantile Marine +of classical times struggled along, comparatively small in numbers +compared with the fleets of fighting galleys, but historically of the +highest importance, since from this small flame was to burst a great +blaze of light that has illumined the world; spread Christianity and +civilisation, learning, exploration, trade and peace. Those little, +beamy, single-sail, unhandy craft wallowing in the Mediterranean seas, +suffering so much at the hands of pirates, buffeted about by storms +and compelled to spend such long periods away from their home ports, +were playing a lonely, uphill game; but they were achieving more than +they could ever realise in the development of the world. Pioneers of +the sea, undertaking the utmost risks, they have made all subsequent +centuries their debtors as long as ships continue to be built and +the seas shall be traversed. Such, briefly, are the first stage and +the very remote period of the merchant ship in its long and glorious +evolution of usefulness. Let us now see how, influenced by progressive +trade, the Mediterranean continued to develop its shipping. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DEMAND FOR MERCHANT SHIPPING + + +In our own age so many amazing developments have taken place during the +nineteenth and twentieth centuries that we must not be misled. These +are the exceptions and not the rule in history. Between the merchant +ships of the late Roman Empire and of the next few centuries there is +no evidence to cause us to think the ships materially altered. On the +contrary, what little evidence we have goes to show that the cargo +ship, with her mast, yard and square-sail, continued to be much the +same in the thirteenth century as she was in the third, if we add a +mizzen-mast and a lateen sail. + +But all this time the Mediterranean trade had been developing, and +collaterally there was developed a Mercantile Marine. As the years +sped by, there came greater demands for the merchant ship. Thus in the +epistles of Cassiodorus, who was prætorian prefect under Theodoric +(A.D. 495-526), there is a dispatch to the tribunes of the “maritimi,” +or men of the seaboard, bidding them provide for the transport of +wine from Istria to Ravenna; and there is a reference to the frequent +voyages over the “immense spaces of the sea.”[1] By the eighth century +Venice was becoming a great trading port, and its merchants were +realising what the sea meant to them in regard to wealth. Indeed, they +even went so far as to sell Christian men as slaves to the Saracens in +Africa, thus incurring the Pope’s censure. + +To Constantinople Venetian merchant ships sailed with goods or +passengers, as, for instance, in the year 968, carrying Bishop +Luitprand thither. In fact, by the year 1000 the city of Venice was +pre-eminent in commerce, and its princes were merchants. Overseas +trading was at last recognised as a means to wealth, and so, +inevitably, by about 1171 the Venetian Navy becomes organised. That +was bound to come as soon as the Mercantile Marine became important; +but it was arranged rather on the lines of our Naval Reserve. For all +ordinary occasions it consisted of volunteers, for whose service there +was payment, and these citizens were also entitled to prize money. + +Indeed, throughout nautical history the navies of the world have always +been based on the Merchant Service. In these early days of Venice, +while Dalmatia, Istria and other communities supplied the men, Venice +provided the ships and rigging, the rest of the inventory and the +crew being forthcoming from the dependencies. Finally, in the time of +emergency hired seamen were obtained from foreign countries with whom +the Venetian commercial ships had traded. + +He who visits Venice, or is familiar with Ruskin’s _Stones of Venice_, +or at least has admired in some gallery the paintings of the great +Venetian masters, must inevitably think of the sea. Those richly +designed palaces, those luxuriant examples of architecture and art, +were expressive of a city grown wealthy by reason of her sea trade. +Her merchants amassed wealth because their ships enabled them to +trade—the sea is, in fact, the greatest road to riches. And the history +of Phœnicia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Venice, Portugal, Spain, Holland, +England in the past, and quite recently Germany, Japan and the United +States, is the story of overseas trade by means of merchant shipping. +Most important of all have always been the sea routes to the Orient, +for Eastern produce has ever fetched high prices in European countries. +As we look through the centuries of sea trade it was the fascination +of the East which spurred men to build, fit out and sail ships. It was +this which gave the incentive to make navigation a science; it was this +which created the spirit to explore unknown seas; it was this which +sent Columbus, later on, to the West in the hope of finding the East +Indies. The whole story of the East India Company—indeed of our Indian +Empire—is built up on the invaluable products which could be fetched +thence by peaceable shipping. + +It was in the seventh century that the twelve townships decided to +elect one supreme magistrate, called the “doge.” Venice thus insisted +on her own independence, and her geographical position enabled her to +rise into a consummate commercial state. Not merely did she eventually +dominate the Adriatic, but step by step she absorbed all the carrying +trade of the world. Keen, enterprising men of vision and foresight, +these Venetian merchants went far afield, in spite of the difficulties +and dangers of travel. For centuries the Chinese had been sending +merchant ships as far west as Ceylon, whence Indian ships carried the +silk and other goods a stage further west to the Persian Gulf; and +afterwards, as there was no Suez Canal, a land journey intervened until +the Mediterranean was reached. Thus, by the early years of the Middle +Ages, the Venetian ships of commerce brought across the Mediterranean +and up the Adriatic the costly skins, the peacocks’ tails, the purple +garments and other enviable articles which had come from India, the +Caspian shores and elsewhere. In the end, Venice captured the great +trade to India and China, and Constantinople was left behind in the +competition. + +But that was not all. Already by the seventh century the rise of +Moslem power had become such that in southern Europe Arab dominion had +obtained control of the Levant and Egypt. Presently the whole of the +north African coast, from the Nile to the Atlantic, fell under this +sway, and during the eighth century the Arabs overran Spain, southern +and central France, until in the same century they were forced back +across the Pyrenees. How does this affect the rise of the Mercantile +Marine? The answer is this. The Arabs were excellent sailors who were +also expert navigators, and incidentally the very word “admiral,” +which still survives in the sea service of all civilised powers, is an +Arabic word. The Arabs took to trading, and that meant the employment +of ships in the Mediterranean; so they introduced the triangular lateen +sail from east of Suez, and to this day the lateen has survived as the +characteristic local sail of Mediterranean craft. Thus between Venice +and Africa overseas trade was created, business made still further +business, and that in turn created a demand for shipping and for men +who would use the sea as a career. Later on it was the Arabs who were +to teach the Spaniards and Portuguese so much about navigation that +India and America were discovered. + +In the early years of the Middle Ages, then, we have the Arabian and +the Venetian ships trading about the Mediterranean, though frequently +the former became corsairs and made havoc of the latter, even going to +the length of raiding the Adriatic. But so far the peaceable Venetian +craft were literally merchant ships: they existed for the purpose +of carrying merchandise. There enters now another element—religion. +The Catholic faith, trade, pilgrims, crusades and Arabs—all these +influences had the greatest possible effect on the development of +merchant shipping. It will be remembered that in the seventh century +the Arabs had wrested the Holy Land from the Eastern Empire, but it was +not until the latter part of the eleventh century that western Europe +was really moved to action. Finally, in 1095, a holy war against the +infidel was resolved, and there followed the first crusade; and in this +expedition Venetian ships took part. The most famous crusade of all was +that in which the English king Richard Cœur de Lion engaged, and this +ended in a truce with Saladin by September 1192, on the understanding +that pilgrims should be permitted to visit Jerusalem without being +interfered with by the Moslems. + +Thus, we have in the fact of the Holy Land a magnetic attraction for +the ship. In order to carry armies and horses and pilgrims, whether +from England or Venice, to the coast of Syria, you must needs have +large numbers of ships, and of fair size and seaworthiness. This series +of voyages created also a much larger body of seamen and amassed a +tremendous amount of sea-knowledge from experience. In a word, then, +it was a new and enormous impetus to the development of the world’s +Mercantile Marine, as opposed to the purely warlike fast-moving naval +galley. The demand now was for tonnage—to carry human beings as well +as goods. Thus, notwithstanding that the crusades originated from a +strictly religious motive, actually they exercised a most remarkable +stimulus on trade, shipping and travel. Men who had never been +previously outside their own city or village became acquainted with the +sea, strange ships, new lands and novel ideas. They returned home with +fresh aspirations, the desire to carry on extended commerce, and the +realisation that shipping was the key to future riches. + +To trace the fitting out of all the crusades would be to go outside +the scope of our immediate subject, but it is enough if we look for +a moment at the direct effect crusading had on the Venetian shipping +industry. The gates, so to speak, whence middle Europe could gain +access to the Holy Land were Venice, Genoa and Marseilles. Seven +years after Richard Cœur de Lion had made the truce with Saladin and +left Palestine, a new crusade was being prepared for; and inasmuch as +Venice was so distinguished a seaport, envoys came to arrange for large +quantities of shipping. Landsmen knew practically nothing about the +sea and ships. They were no better informed than the farmer of to-day +resident all his life in the middle of the United States; so they +arrived asking for advice, information and generally to be put in the +way of obtaining tonnage sufficient to carry 4500 knights, 9000 squires +and 20,000 men-at-arms. This was no small order, even for Venice, quite +apart from the further request for fifty armed galleys to accompany +and protect the expedition. It meant, in fact, the creation of an +immense Mercantile Marine at really quite short notice. Indeed it was +comparatively a much bigger task than the sudden demand for tonnage in +1917 and 1918, when the thousands and thousands of soldiers had to be +packed into steamships and brought from North America to Europe. + +Venice rose to the occasion, for it was not merely a matter of business +to provide the shipping, but a matter of religion. The Holy Sepulchre +was in the hands of the infidels: that in itself was a sufficient +inspiration. And so about Pentecost in the year 1202 we can see the +hordes of pilgrims pouring down through the various passes of the Alps +to Venice. It was a huge business, and action in those days was slow +and, to our modern minds, dilatory. But the Venetians had got the ships +ready for the knights and squires and men and horses, though it was +autumn before they put to sea. Some of the cloth and provisions had +arrived in Venice in French ships via the Straits of Gibraltar, and +eventually, on October 9, the galleys and horseboats set forth from the +Adriatic port, and a month later appeared before Zara. + +During the Middle Ages the three great maritime powers were Venice, +Genoa and Pisa, and between them there was the greatest rivalry, so +that scarcely ever did two of the parties meet than there was conflict. +But Venice, being the pre-eminent, incurred the greatest amount of +jealousy. The part which Venice and Genoa played in maritime history +is not confined to what they did in any particular century, but lies +rather in the fact that they kept alive and developed the seaman’s art; +until, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Venetians made +a crude map which put into form the ideas that inspired the first +Italian voyages in the Atlantic, and Genoa in the next century produced +Columbus, who, after being wrecked in a sea-fight with some Venetian +galleys off the Portuguese coast, settled down in Lisbon and eventually +set forth on his historic voyage to the West. + +Ever since the second Punic War Genoa had been a big and important +seaport. Becoming a free city in 958, she had suffered much from +the Saracen raids, but when these infidel corsairs seemed likely to +establish themselves in Sardinia at the beginning of the eleventh +century, the Genoese and Pisan seamen united together against a common +foe, fitted out an expedition and hurled the Arab chief back to Africa. +In 1087 the Genoese and Pisans were sent by the Pope to dislodge +one Temim, a pirate chief who lived south of Tunis. The result was +important to the shipping industry; for, having beaten him and captured +his stronghold, the two cities stipulated for the free admission +of their merchant ships to trade with the Tunisian coast. Thus, in +clearing the seas of corsairs for a time, they also directly stimulated +their own commerce. + +Pisan merchant ships as far back as 1052 had been trading to Egypt +and the Levant, and in 1063 Ingulf, Abbot of Croyland in England, had +returned from a pilgrimage in a Genoese merchant ship he had found at +Jaffa. But it was not until the year 1090 that the conquest of Sicily +was effected from the Mussulman hands, and thus the Straits of Messina +became safe for shipping, and the vessels from Genoa and Pisa could go +ahead in safety with their Levantine trade. By the twelfth century, +Genoese, Venetian and Pisan seamen and merchants used to meet at Acre, +to their great financial benefit, though not without manifestations of +commercial jealousy. But we must dismiss from our minds all thoughts +of single ships sailing across from Italy to the Syrian coast when +they liked. There was hardly a time when there were not some pirates +or corsairs hovering about; so the seas might be rid of one chief, +but rendered dangerous by the rovings of another. Thus it was that +shipowners had to do exactly what British mercantile owners were +compelled to resort to in the latter part of the Great War, when the +enemy was attacking so many of our trading craft—the convoy system had +to be employed. + +Thus, from Venice, for instance, at regular intervals a convoy of +merchant ships would sail for Acre, escorted by as many as thirty or +forty galleys sometimes, as protection against piratical attack. If +the Venice-Acre trade route were cut, it would mean that the French, +the Germans, the Lombards, the Tuscans and other merchants would not +receive the silks, sugar, pepper and other very valuable Oriental +produce which the Venetians were bringing across in their ships. Thus +the navy of Venice was charged with the duty of protecting its merchant +fleet from the attacks of Genoese, Greek or Arab pirates. Just as +during our recent war convoys used to collect at Falmouth and other +ports prior to beginning their ocean voyage, so in the Middle Ages the +convoy—called a _mudia_—would collect at Venice, bound for Syria or +Egypt. There were only two convoys in the year, so the number of ships +was large, and well needed the strong galley protection. One convoy +left Venice in the spring and got back home in September; the other +left in August, spent the winter abroad, and returned in the following +May. In addition to these commercial convoys, there were also the +pilgrim convoys to Palestine. Genoa sent one convoy a year to Syria and +Egypt, but during the fourteenth century her ships were cruising in the +Black Sea and harassing Venetian craft which had penetrated the Sea of +Azov. + +Sea-travel in those mediæval times was thus no pleasure cruise: it +was comparable only to the anxious experiences of passengers at the +height of the recent submarine campaign. Except for religion or +trade, no one ever thought of going to sea. It was too dangerous +an undertaking, so punctuated with storms, and in all respects so +thoroughly uncomfortable, that it was to be avoided as far as possible. +Consequently those who used it as a living expected to be paid very +handsomely. It is difficult in these modern times, with all the safety +and luxury which a steamship connotes, to realise the horror with which +all seafaring was regarded. The result was that artists hesitated +to depict marine subjects; and even when they did, it was usually +to show a ship having a dreadful time in heavy weather. It is for +that reason that illustrations of mediæval ships are so few, either +in stained-glass windows, carvings, devotional books, or paintings. +People had no wish to be reminded of what was to them a very unpleasant +subject, except to those hardened few who preferred ship-life to +agriculture or trade ashore. Unlike present-day conditions, the +merchant himself was compelled to go to sea. There was no other means +of his reaching his markets; but he was heartily thankful to get +himself and his goods safe into port. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _The Early History of Venice_, by F. C. Hodgson. London, 1901. I +wish also to acknowledge indebtedness to the same author’s _Venice in +the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries_. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE MEDITERRANEAN MERCANTILE MARINE + + +It is fortunately possible to obtain from various sources an insight +into life as it was endured in a mediæval Mediterranean merchant ship, +and this will assist us considerably to form a sympathetic interest in +the development which was going on towards the ideal craft that was to +evolve five or six hundred years later. + +On a tomb in a church at Milan, a Pisan artist named Balduccio in +the year 1339 sculptured, fortunately for our knowledge, a merchant +ship of his time, and we may regard her as typical alike of Venice, +Genoa and Pisa. There is remarkably little difference in essentials +between her and a Roman merchant ship of about A.D. 200: that is to +say, the trading shipmen, having once found out a suitable type, stuck +to it, just as to-day there is a more or less standard type of tramp +steamer or steam trawler or steam drifter. Time had tested and given +its approval. Thus in Balduccio’s illustration we have a round, beamy +vessel not unlike the shape of a very fat banana, and with a stern +sweeping up from the water-line not altogether unlike that of the +so-called modern “cruiser stern.” The essential difference is that +this stern culminates in two small decks—a stern-castle, in fact, and +a forecastle, much smaller, overhanging the bows. There is also a +fighting-top. + +Although this is emphatically a cargo vessel, these castles and +fighting-top are there for the reasons already indicated by existing +conditions at sea, and in this elaborate castellation with even small +galleries aft we have the half-way house between the earlier and later +Mediterranean merchantman: between the cargo-carrier of Rome and +the carack, which was to develop into the galleon, thence into the +East Indiaman, and eventually into the glorious clippers of the late +nineteenth century. Thus this Pisan ship is for us most interesting, +and she still links herself to primitive times by the use of one single +square-sail and the old-fashioned method of steering by means of a +rudder, not aft, but on the quarter. It is controlled by a tiller, but +supported by tackles fore and aft, for it is now as heavy as a Thames +sailing barge’s leeboards. + +Everything about this Pisan craft indicates that she was well and +strongly built, and that expense was not spared. The elaborate work in +her stern galleries, the influence of contemporary land architecture +on her forecastle, the stout, thick rubbing strakes under which the +ends of the beam come flush, the good strong rigging (three shrouds +each side with tackles), the thick cable and the anchor secured to a +shelf outside the hull on the starboard side—all these details show +that the sculptor knew what he was depicting, and that the ship which +he copied was a real sea-going vessel as used by genuine sailormen, and +not the inaccurate muddled idea of an imaginative artist. The Pisans, +the Venetians and Genoese were making plenty of money, and they could +afford to send to sea a well-built, well-designed and well-found craft +that would not cause the merchants to feel nervous about their valuable +Eastern goods in the hold. + +With a mental picture before us of this slow, beamy, stout ship, built +specially for seaworthiness and capacity to carry goods, rather than +to excel in mobility, we can continue our study, and we shall be able +to learn a great deal of the conditions prevailing in the mediæval +Merchant Service if we examine the legal literature of the time. For +obvious reasons, when there was so much coming and going and so much +money at stake, maritime law began to assert itself from about the +seventh century A.D. onwards, until, about six centuries later, we have +practically every contingency catered for. Between the eighth and the +thirteenth centuries there was very little alteration in the ships, +the navigation and the manner of sea-trading. The big change comes +in the thirteenth century, when the commercial renaissance begins, +which, thanks to these vessels, made the great literary and artistic +renaissance possible, gave to the world the new learning, the golden +age of art, and left behind those wonderful achievements in stone. The +merchant ship, therefore, is the basis of all in life that we respect +and venerate. + +By 1255 Venice had its maritime law, though it was the old so-called +Rhodian sea-law,[2] which inspired the regulating of the mediæval +merchant ships all the time. The size of a ship was reckoned not in +tons, but in _amphoræ_ or else in _modii_. An amphora represented +about six gallons, a modios was the equivalent of about two gallons. +Thus a ship with all her tackle was valued at fifty pieces of gold +for every thousand modii of her capacity, though this was further +varied according to her age. Port dues at Ancona, for instance, were +calculated on the valuation of the ship. + +Now it is necessary once more to think of the conditions of service +afloat in those days as something quite different from those in our +modern Mercantile Marines, where, in spite of trades unions, the +captain is supreme and the crew simply carry out his orders, and the +passengers have to go wherever he takes them. In those days there was, +comparatively speaking, little knowledge of the sea except what was +obtained by personal experience. Thus a much-travelled merchant who +went backwards and forwards each year to the East would be almost as +competent as the master of the ship. Similarly the crew. The result +was—and it seems very strange to us moderns—that the ship was run not +on a well-disciplined principle, as every one obeying blindly the +master’s orders, but on a communal basis, backed up by the maritime +law. Sometimes, it is true, the sailors were paid fixed wages, in which +case they were also given their food; but frequently they undertook the +voyage on a profit-sharing basis. Thus the master received two shares, +the steersman one and a half, the master’s mate one and a half, the +boatswain one and a half, while each sailor got a whole share, and +the cook half a share. It was therefore to the interest of all to do +everything to get the ship safely from port to port. + +The little difference which existed between master, officers, men and +merchants enabled them all in an emergency to offer their opinions +as to weather, pilotage and so on, a decision being arrived at by +the vote of the majority. All this sounds thoroughly unseamanlike to +us, but that is because the seafaring art has long since become so +perfect and systematised, and the division of labour recognised as +a root essential. It was perfectly legal for the merchants, with +their valuable goods on board, to insist on the ship being taken into +a harbour, or to prevent her putting to sea notwithstanding all the +protests of the _naukleros_ or shipmaster. The identity of ignorance +among all on board, with the casting vote in favour of finance, bred +chaos and ill-discipline, that had to be put down with a firm hand +later on, as soon there arose competent navigators and specialists in +seamanship; but the time had not yet come. + +No one can possibly envy the life in a merchant ship of the Middle +Ages, with every possible opportunity for friction and the captain +not allowed a free hand. The passenger came on board in fear and +trepidation, bringing with him his own bed and bed-coverings, which, +as happened in 1278, for instance, were stolen from him occasionally. +A proper cabin he could not have, the sleeping space permitted to him +being three cubits long and one cubit wide. Under the Venetian statutes +every merchant or mariner could take on board free one mattress; the +former could also have one trunk, but this was not allowed to his +servant. The passengers brought with them for the voyage all their +food, wine, cooking utensils, and even their firewood, but there were +special precautions taken to guard against fire, which was one of the +eternal terrors in all ships even down to the nineteenth century. Thus +there is a curious regulation preventing passengers in Venetian ships +from frying fish, and another forbidding them to split wood. Water was +supplied free both to passengers and crew, but this was controlled by +measure, for economical reasons. + +Arrived on board, the passenger would deposit his gold with the captain +for safe keeping. He lived on biscuits, salt meat, vegetables, cheese, +onions, garlic and vinegar, and there was a Barcelona ordinance of 1258 +which compelled the shipowner to keep a supply of food to last fifteen +days, and this was to include bread, wine, salt meat, vegetables, oil +and water. As regards victualling, cargo ships found it easier than +pilgrim ships, for the former could usually hug the shore and put into +the land for provisions. Indeed it was one of the characteristics of +a good pilot that he knew where the ship could obtain fresh drinking +water. + +The merchant, with his costly goods, out of which he hoped to make +big profits, found himself in the company of rough mariners who were +lacking the innocence of the carved saints in a cathedral. Thieving +was going on all the time whenever there was a chance. Nowadays you +sometimes hear one seaman describe another as so dishonest that +he would steal the ship’s anchor if he could. It is an obvious +exaggeration, but the expression was perfectly accurate in the times +of which we are now speaking. There was a passage in the maritime law +which dealt with this species of theft. Thus, it runs, if a ship not +under way was robbed of her anchors, and the thief was caught and +confessed, he was to be flogged and to make good twice the damage. +Similarly, if a sailor robbed a merchant or the captain, he was to be +punished, and there are penalties laid down against swearing, blasphemy +and other vices. + +In these wooden ships, which often “worked,” and had to go through +heavy weather, the merchant would sometimes find his beautiful Oriental +silks ruined; so there was a regulation that when the water began +to rise in the hold the captain was to let the merchants know at +once, so that they could bring their linens and silks up on deck. But +apart from these risks there were those caused by bad seamanship, the +attacks by pirates at sea or robbers in harbour, the evil men who did +not hesitate to cut the cables of the visiting ship or waylay the +merchants and crew as soon as they came ashore; and there were the +wreckers who deliberately displayed false lights to lure the ship into +destruction—surely one of the lowest of all maritime crimes that could +be devised by the cunning of man. + +It was laid down that if a ship “in sail” ran into another ship lying +at anchor, or which had “slackened sail,” and it was during daylight, +the damage was to be borne by the captain, by those on board and by the +cargo. But if the incident occurred at night, the man who “slackened +sail” should have lit a fire or have shouted. Be it remembered that +these merchant ships, though the most seaworthy of any craft then in +existence, were very unhandy and not always under control in narrow +channels. It was impossible for any regulation of man to prevent them +encountering bad weather and even experiencing shipwreck, but by laying +these ships up in November, and not allowing them to sail until the +following March, the authorities were following the wise custom which +had been handed down since classical times, and embodied this practice +in their law. Against the corsair who attacked the ships of his +country’s enemies, and against the pirate who attacked every ship that +came his way, there could be no absolute guarantee unless the ship was +in a convoy escorted by armed galleys. + +But these corsairs made no false pretence about their work, and when +in 1165 the Pisans asked Trepedecinus, a well-known Genoese corsair, +where he was going, he merely replied that he was going to capture +them, their goods, their persons and cut off their noses. It was +therefore not unusual to carry in these trading ships some men-at-arms +with swords, shields and helmets. Thus, in a charter-party of 1236 +there is laid down that there are to be twenty-five mariners on board, +of whom ten are to be in armour. Quite apart from the convoy system, +it was customary for two or more ships to voyage in company for mutual +protection, the technical term for this being _conservagium_. It was +an arrangement that was mutual also in quite another manner, for if +one of the ships was sunk, the loss was spread among the others in the +consort—a still further instance of the sharing-out principle which was +so common at sea in these times. + +Gradually, then, the Mercantile Marine had become indispensable +to trade and to intellectual progress, but it was the growth of +pilgrim traffic which made certain landsmen affluent; for now men +called _cargatores_, or passenger agents, arranged the business +of transporting these devout people across the sea, and therefore +stringent regulations had to be passed to prevent the travellers from +being fleeced. Thus the _cargatores_ were compelled to supply the +pilgrims with good and adequate victuals; and, in order to prevent any +bribery or corruption, they were forbidden to enter into partnership +with the shipowner in regard to the food. Of course this was no small +undertaking at a period of the world’s history when there were no +such things as preserved meats or refrigerating chambers, especially +when the ships were crowded with a lot of sea-sick landsmen who had +never previously beheld the sea. All those who voyaged from Venice or +Marseilles had to carry enough food to last them for fifty days, and +in those rough ships and the Mediterranean climate you can imagine +the state of the food at the end of seven weeks. No wonder that a +pilgrimage was a real act of self-denial! + +It was customary in classical times to give names to the Mediterranean +ships, and this survived through the Middle Ages, where we find such +names as _Urso_, _Oliva_, _Aquila_, _Christiana_, _Cidona_, _St. +Blazius_. The Genoese ship went by the name of her shipmaster or owner. +After she had been built and fitted out, the greatest care was taken +to see that she was seaworthy and not overloaded. Thus the internal +arrangements, the ballasting and stowing of goods in the hold were all +supervised. The Venetian statutes kept a very tight control over their +shipping, regulating the places where the cabins were to be put, where +the sail locker should be, where the ship’s tackle was stored, and the +sleeping arrangements both for the merchants and the sailors. No detail +seems to have been too small for State supervision. + +The stowing of the cargo in the hold was left to the discretion of +the shipmaster, and there was a kind of Plimsoll mark used in these +Venetian ships; for this is what happened. On the outside of the hull a +mark was put, the ship was then loaded and examined officially before +setting forth on her voyage, and she was not allowed to proceed to sea +if this mark was more than a certain depth below the water-line, this +depth varying according to the ship’s age. If the mark were submerged +too much, a sufficient quantity of cargo had to be taken out until +she came up to her marks, and then the owner was fined. This was the +general rule, but exceptions were made in the case of craft sailing +within the Venetian Gulf or carrying victuals. + +The ballasting of the merchant ships was done either by the navigating +officer or else under the direction of a committee composed of this +officer and representatives of owners and merchants. But when once the +vessel had been properly ballasted, it was forbidden to remove any +ballast except for necessity in entering port, or with the consent of +the merchants or committee, though certain heavy articles, such as +lead, were permitted to be substituted for ballast. The heavy goods +were, of course, placed as low as possible, though such articles as +wrought silks and other light goods were allowed to be stowed on the +upper deck, where also food, carpenter’s tools and armour could be +placed. + +The owner of the ship was also at times her master, but when the +owner did not himself go to sea and himself appointed the master, he +contracted to carry the passengers and cargo, purchased the tackle and +engaged the seamen. Right down to Elizabethan times the navigation +of the ship was not necessarily carried out by the captain, but +by the pilot, though in the early days of Mediterranean merchant +shipping the masters seem to have been navigators as well, or, more +accurately, pilots. If the ship got wrecked there was, according to an +old constitution of A.D. 380, a practice of obtaining the true facts +of the incident in a manner far more drastic than a modern Board of +Trade Inquiry; for certain members of the crew would be selected as +witnesses, and they were then tortured until they should speak the +whole truth and nothing but the truth. + +The communal idea even went to the length of having sometimes several +skippers on the same ship, in order that no one should act without +the consent of the others; and what with the interfering advice and +remonstrances of the merchants and the not too disciplined crews, no +mercantile officer of to-day would find mediæval seafaring endurable. +The mariners could only be kept in check by the drastic law. Thus, if +one of them injured another, the first was to pay his wages to the +other during the whole time that the sick man was out of employment +recovering. Conversely the captain was prevented from maltreating his +men, and had to look after them. For instance, if the ship’s long +boat with some of the crew in it should break adrift from the ship, +the captain had to pay the lost men’s representatives their wages for +a whole year, in those cases where the men were in receipt of wages +instead of a share of the profits. + +There were plenty of opportunities for disgruntled mariners to forsake +the ship at the ports of call. In order to check this, the man who +deserted his ship was liable to forfeit double his wages received or +due. The usual custom was to engage the hands from the 1st of March +to the last day of November, and they received their pay on the 1st +of March, the 1st of June and the 1st of September. This did not mean +that the vessel necessarily put to sea at the beginning of March, but +in order to be sure of his men the _naukleros_ hired them before they +were actually required. Having once been engaged, the mariners were +forbidden by statute to leave the city, but at Pisa, when the ship was +about to sail, a crier was sent round collecting the men. + +It was not part of their duty to load or unload the cargo: that was +done by the stevedores, but it did fall to them to ballast the ship. +Each mariner, on being engaged, took an oath that he would carry out +his duties, and he had to obey the master. The only occasions on which +he could justifiably quit his ship were if he were made captain of +another ship, or if he had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to St. +James or the Holy Sepulchre or Rome. On the other hand, he could be +dismissed for theft, quarrelling, repeated disobedience, blasphemy +or debauchery. At Pisa, if a mariner made a disturbance on board, +the captain and other officials could put him into irons, and if he +resisted they could strike him even to the drawing of blood. + +No merchant of the twentieth century sending his goods across the seas +would have need to inquire into the inventory or seaworthiness of the +ship. Such things are taken for granted; but even in the carefully +regulated conditions of these old Mediterranean ships, it was customary +for merchants before putting their goods aboard to see that the vessel +was well furnished with sails, yards, anchors and arms, for she should +carry spare yards and sails of canvas (doubtless for hard weather), as +well as other gear. The merchants were also to ascertain that the ship +was water-tight, and the skipper was to fill up the seams with tow. The +Venetian statutes prescribed that a ship should have so many anchors +and ropes of a certain length and thickness. And thus, at last, with +anything from sixteen to forty mariners—according to her size—with her +merchants, their servants, men-at-arms and pilgrims and cooks, the +trading vessel was allowed to go forth. + +Such, then, were the conditions under which the Mercantile Marine was +emerging during these interesting years. Like other nations, Venice +began to lose her commercial supremacy soon after the Cape of Good Hope +had been discovered in 1486. The future of the overseas trading was to +be in the hands of Portugal and Spain, then to pass into the control +of the Dutch, the French, and subsequently into British hands, as some +day it may fall under the direction of the United States. But the +important fact to remember all the while is that Venice, Genoa and Pisa +did demonstrate to the world that civilisation, progress, literature, +art, riches, exploration all depended on the merchant ship. Having once +proved the truth of this idea, they have left behind for us in their +contemporary buildings the most striking expressions of the wealth that +is obtained only by means of the sea. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] See _The Rhodian Sea-Law_, edited from MSS. by Walter Ashburner. +Oxford 1909. A scholarly and interesting volume. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF THE NORTH + + +We can desire hardly any better evidence of the existence of a +Mercantile Marine than the fact that a body of laws had to be created +in order to regulate that industry. We have seen that from quite early +times there was in the Mediterranean a sea-law which in course of time +was available for any set of circumstances that might arise in regard +to trading ships. + +In like manner there came into being a code of maritime laws for +western Europe, and this was known as the Laws of Oleron. The code was +adopted by Alfonso X in the thirteenth century for the settlement of +disputes in maritime affairs. It was based on the sea-law of Rhodes +already referred to. Now, one effect of the crusade which Richard Cœur +de Lion undertook was that he came into contact with a number of ships +and seamen who had been sent from the island of Oleron to take part in +the crusade. And among the officers who had come with the fleet from +Oleron was one of the justiciaries of the navy. + +The nett result was that Richard brought home a roll of these laws, +and ordered them to be observed in English waters. They had been +framed for the benefit of the Merchant Service, and they were drastic. +Thus if a pilot lost the ship and the merchants sustained damage, the +pilot was to make full satisfaction, if he had the means; if he had +no means he was to lose his head. Now, based on these laws of Oleron, +came into being what was known as the “Black Book of the Admiralty,” +which contained the “ancient statutes of the Admiralty, to be observed +both upon ports and havens, the high seas and beyond the seas, which +are engrossed upon vellum in the said book and written in an ancient +hand in the ancient French language,” as a High Court Judge of the +seventeenth century described them. + +This so-called “Black Book” contains the most ancient laws of the sea +in force in this country, and continued to be the standard authority +in the Admiralty Court until the end of the eighteenth century, when +it suddenly disappeared, but in 1874 it was accidentally discovered at +the bottom of a chest belonging to a former Registrar of the Admiralty +Court. To-day this book is kept in a glass-topped, locked table in the +room of the President of the Admiralty Court. It was probably called +black to distinguish it from other books of reference, but the late +Sir Douglas Owen, who had examined it about the year 1911, said that +the cover was now very much the colour of a worn-out leather strap. It +measures 9½ inches high and 6¼ inches wide, the leaves being either +thin parchment or a stout tough paper. The first part of the book is +written in archaic French, but it was not all written at one time nor +by one person. In other words, as the Merchant Marine of England grew +in numbers and importance, as the trade with the continent got bigger, +so the English maritime law kept up with the progress. The first part +of the “Black Book” belongs to the time of Edward III or Richard II, +the latter part to the time between Henry IV and Henry VI. Thus, part +of the book shows that the English Mercantile Marine was of sufficient +size and importance in the period between 1327 and 1351 to necessitate +a body of laws. + +In character the ships of Northern waters were based on those of the +Norsemen—that is to say, they were double-ended, long, and propelled by +one large square-sail, or with oars when necessary. As time went on, +these craft became beamier, and approximated to the cargo ships of the +Mediterranean, the twofold objects aimed at being seaworthiness and +capacity for carrying as much as possible in their holds. But there +is this important fact to bear in mind, and its value can hardly be +exaggerated, as we shall presently find. The North Sea has from the +earliest records until the present day been the home of the herring, +and on the herring the nations of the North have prospered, built their +Mercantile Marines, grown rich, created their navies and expanded +commercially. The fishing fleets have only to put to sea and they can +extract silver fortunes—it is, so to speak, money for nothing, or for +very little. That is the broad, general statement, though in practice +it is modified by the migrations of the herring, which did actually +alter the trend of history. + +As far back as the third century the inhabitants of the Hebrides were +living on fish and milk, but ignorant of the cultivation of grain, and +even in the ninth century the Dutch came to Scotland to buy salted +fish. In the tenth century the Norwegians were fishing with their +herring-nets near Christiania, and off the East Anglian coast our own +fishermen were pursuing the industry on a large scale. Before William +the Conqueror arrived, Beccles, then a fishing town (but now inland +on the banks of a river), paid as rent to St. Edmund’s Abbey as +much as 30,000 herrings. In France by 1030 the herring-fishing was a +well-established occupation, and there were salt works near Dieppe for +preserving the catches. During the twelfth century our fishermen found +herrings very plentiful off the Tyne. Further north the English, Scotch +and Belgic fishermen were getting the herring near May Island off the +Firth of Forth, and in this same period the herring was being first +fished for in the Meuse. The Dutch were sending out small vessels to +use their nets in the North Sea, then later on packing the fish into +barrels, preserving them by cleaning their insides and thus beginning +to acquire wealth from the harvest of the sea. + +Thus the North Sea fisheries were to build up the Mercantile Marines of +the North. We were exporting herrings, wool, butter, cheese and cattle +to the continent via the Rhine, and already during the thirteenth +century a big Lorraine fleet, carrying cargoes of wine, used to arrive +annually in England; but it was the impetus given by the herring that +caused the north European countries to develop the sea instinct. The +fishing industry developed shipbuilding, created a great seamanhood, +spread the fascination of the sea as a career, and thus handed down +from century to century a great and wonderful school, from which in +Tudor times were to be obtained the crews who ventured forth with Drake +and others. You cannot suddenly bring into being this seafaring body, +as you can collect armies. And had it not been that for hundreds of +years the Englishmen had been out fishing, there would have been no +expansion of England either commercially or politically. The history of +the world would, indeed, have to be rewritten. + +By the time of Edward III the fishing had become so important to this +country that a law was passed forbidding any fisherman to give up his +trade; but, in return for this, fishermen and mariners were exempt from +serving in any capacity other than that to which they had been bred. +By the fourteenth century there were literally thousands of vessels, +each having at least six persons on board, fishing for herrings between +Denmark and Norway, and more than 300,000 people were in one way or +another engaged in the industry. In five days no fewer than sixty +foreign ships during one week came into Great Yarmouth for these fish. +Thus, side by side with our fishermen there was growing up a carrying +trade, herrings and woollen cloth being regularly exported to the +continent. By the fifteenth century ships from the British Isles, +France, Flanders, Zeeland, Holland and Germany with Scottish herrings +used to sail to the Mediterranean to sell the fish for the faithful +during Lent. + +Throughout the Middle Ages the herring-fishing of the North Sea was far +and away the most important of western Europe, especially off Scotland, +Sweden and Norfolk, whither the Dutchmen came both to use their nets +and to buy. The trade in salted and smoked herrings helped to make the +wealth of the Hanseatic and Dutch towns. And it is here that we find, +in the Hanseatic League, a force which corresponds to that of Venice, +Pisa and Genoa in the south; for in developing overseas trade it +encouraged the ship and seafaring. + +The word “hansa” signifies a guild or association, and the Hanseatic +League was an association of towns for the purposes of trade, Bergen, +London and Bruges being its principal foreign markets in the North Sea. +From the twelfth to the sixteenth century this trading league existed, +and, like Venice, had its rise to pre-eminence and then gradually +lost its supremacy. And, like Venice, too, the Hanseatic League kept +a tight hand over its merchant ships. Thus as far back as 1391 there +was an ordinance by the Diet that no merchant should sail from a North +Sea to a Baltic port, or vice versa, between Martinmas and Candlemas, +and the only exceptions were that ships carrying beer and herrings +might sail as late as St. Nicholas Day, December 6. For centuries a +merchant had signified a townsman, but when, from the beginning of the +twelfth century, the herring suddenly arrived in great shoals in the +Baltic, the inland dwellers of Germany came down to the sea, ousted +the Slav and thus began to get rich. The movements and migrations of +the herring are little more understood nowadays than they were then, +but it was sufficient for the Hanseatics that this silvery wealth had +arrived. Thus Kolberg became a famous emporium for salted herrings, and +this fishing industry was responsible for the Hansa towns obtaining so +much of their riches and power. And so it went on until, in 1425, the +erratic herring decided to forsake the Baltic and spawn in the waters +of the North Sea. This at once took away from the Hanseatics a large +portion of their means to wealth, though they were still busy with +their carrying trade. But what is one country’s loss may be another’s +gain, and it was so with the herring. + +For from the Baltic the herring had moved down to the Dutch coast, and +so the Netherlands found themselves with the good fortune of a silver +mine outside their own doors. Riches were there for the asking, and +they wisely availed themselves of the opportunity. They built more +ships, and the whole waterside went forth in clumsy, seaworthy craft, +and thus gradually the fishermen laid the foundation-stone of the Dutch +nation. It is an old saying that Amsterdam was built upon herrings; and +as the Venetian palaces were built on Eastern pepper and silks, so the +Northern capital arose out of the efforts on sea. It is impossible to +appreciate all that the herring-fishery has meant to Holland until one +has been through all the picture galleries in the Low Countries and +explored its harbours. In the former you find the herring busses riding +to their nets as the subject of any number of paintings, for the reason +that it was the most important aspect of Dutch livelihood; and around +the quays to-day you have only to notice the fine architecture in order +to see the relics of a wealth that came and passed away by means of the +sea high-road. + +There is nothing like trade for the encouragement of shipping, but it +was not until the end of the thirteenth century that the inland towns +of the continent required for their trade the highway of the ocean, and +thus the ports became important and the demand for shipping increased. +One of the most important of the Hanseatic sea trade routes was from +Bruges to northern Russia, whither hundreds of craft sailed every year, +owned by the Baltic merchants. And it was not until the fifteenth +century that the Dutchmen, Zeelanders and Frisians seriously competed +with the Hanseatics, for the latter was a very close corporation, whose +organisation was kept secret, and its ban was regal in its effect. +By its decree no German merchant was allowed to go into partnership +with an Englishman, Fleming or Russian, and the result was that for +centuries our shipping was kept out of the Baltic. All this time the +Hanseatic trade was doing a great deal to encourage its own shipping, +for there were needed many craft and seamen to carry eastwards from +Germany to Russia the produce of the looms and the breweries, returning +with furs, wax, skins, tallow and fat. Similarly the shipping went +across to Sweden to fetch the copper and iron, while to Bruges and +London this Russian and Swedish produce was brought for distribution. + +As in the cargo ships of the Mediterranean, so here in the north, the +merchants accompanied their wares “over sea and sand.” Some of them +would mutually arrange to charter a ship, and in order to encourage the +captain to get the goods safely across the sea, they would give him an +interest in the sales. Otherwise, as soon as pirates hove into sight he +might feel inclined to hurl the goods overboard, and a similar desire +was thus checked in the case of the ship labouring in bad weather. +Piracy in the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea and the Baltic went +on merrily during the Middle Ages, and played havoc with the merchant +ship, though, as in the south, this kind of activity was less a crime +than a specialised form of seafaring. In the Cinque Ports dwelt a class +of seamen commissioned, according to Matthew of Paris, to plunder all +merchant ships of any nationality other than English as they passed up +and down the Channel; so in the thirteenth century we find the Scotch, +Irish, Welsh and French all fitting out vessels to cruise about in +readiness for a cargo ship full of valuable goods. + +The English Channel and the North Sea thus became full of dangers, and +no merchant ship could put to sea without grave risk of capture. One +nationality was as bad as another, and a kind of international vendetta +went on in revenge for the losses by piracy. It became, indeed, a +matter of high politics, far too serious to be ignored, so that the +kings of England at various dates had to enter into negotiations with +the foreign authorities. Thus at the beginning of the fifteenth century +the Chancellor of England demanded from the Master-General of Prussia +full restitution and recompense for “sundry piracies and molestations +offered of late upon the sea.” During the next reign Henry IV, writing +to the same personage, admitted that both English and Prussian +merchants had suffered by these pirates “roving up and downe the sea.” +It was finally agreed that English merchant ships should be allowed +to enter Prussian ports unmolested, and that if Prussian cargoes were +captured in the North Sea by English pirates, and this merchandise +was brought into an English port, the “governour” of the port, if he +suspected piracy, was to have such goods taken out and put ashore in +safe keeping. And between this same Henry and the Hanseatic towns a +similar agreement was made which bound the cities of Lubeck, Bremen, +Hamburg and others to recompense the injured parties “for all injuries, +damages, grievances, and drownings or manslaughters” done and committed +by the pirates. + +The following incidents well illustrate the risks which these +merchantmen ran whilst pursuing their calling. About Eastertide in the +year 1394 the merchant ship _Godezere_, owned by four Englishmen, set +out from the Tyne for Prussia, loaded with a cargo of woollen cloth +and red wine. She was a 200-ton ship, her value with that of her sails +and tackle amounting to £400; her cargo, plus certain sums of money +on board, aggregating 200 marks. In the North Sea she encountered a +Hanseatic ship who gave the English craft such a hot time that the +_Godezere_ was captured, two of her crew slain, and the rest of them +were imprisoned for three years. In the same year the Hanseatic pirates +also attacked the Hull ship named the _Shipper Berline of Prussia_, +belonging to a Richard Horuse, and from her they took away goods to the +value of 160 nobles. Next year, off the coast of Norway, they molested +a ship called the _John Tutteburie_, and relieved her of 476 nobles +worth of cargo. A year later still, these Hanseatic pirates captured +the Hull ship _Cogge_, belonging to one William Terry, and took £200 +worth of woollen cloth as well. The pirates were no respecters of ships +so long as valuable goods were being taken across the North Sea, for +Dutch, Zeeland and English merchantmen and fishing craft were all made +to suffer. If the merchants and crew were not killed, they were thrown +into prison and not allowed their liberty until ransom was paid, so +altogether the trading ship had quite as exciting a time in the north +as in the southern sea. + +But it was just as bad in the Baltic, where the pirates found it such a +profitable business that they formed themselves into a corporation, and +became such a serious and powerful force that in 1392 they were able +to burn down Bergen and take the bishop prisoner. This much is to be +said for them: they had a sense of chivalry, and on occasions actually +gave back the empty ships to merchants after removing the cargoes, +and wished them a happy return with fresh and fuller freights. But so +mighty a scourge did these sea-raiders become that for a time they put +a stop to all fishing. In the spring of 1394 these lawless Hanseatics +sailed with quite a large fleet to the town of Norbern in Norway, took +the place by assault, captured all the merchants, together with their +goods, burnt their houses and put their persons up to ransom. + +Matters had now reached a crisis. For three years all fishing had been +stopped and these rovers had made maritime life impossible, so in +1394, by means of a tax, the Hanseatic League got together a fleet of +thirty-five large ships and 3000 men, and by this means broke the power +of this pirate confederation—for a time; for the scourge continued for +years after. It was a fine life for those who had run through their +money and desired adventure, and it attracted men of noble birth who +had gambled and drunk away their fortunes. Of these none was more +notorious than Stertebeker, who took part in almost every instance of +North Sea piracy at this time. Hamburg having denied to this reprobate +his knightly armour and forbidden him the city precincts, he threw in +his lot with the notorious pirates known as the Victual Brothers, whose +leader was Godeke Michelson. + +There was no limit to the depredations of this band. On one occasion +they attacked a ship in the North Sea named the _Dogger_, which was +lying at anchor while the crew were fishing. These Hanseatics took +away their fish, beat and wounded both master and crew, and owing to +the damage done lost the _Dogger_ a whole year’s fishing. Nor did the +daring of the pirates confine itself to the Baltic and North Sea: +they even raided the coast of Spain. Stertebeker was one of those +heavy-drinking Germans who had a curious method of dealing with his +prisoners; for if among them he found a poor, strong man he would test +the latter’s powers by resort to drinking. Stertebeker, whose own mark +consisted of two reversed goblets in a cathedral church, would cause +his own goblet to be filled with wine and handed to the prisoner. If +the latter could empty it at one gulp, he was a man after Stertebeker’s +heart, and was accepted as a comrade, otherwise he was dismissed. + +But there came a time when this terror to the merchant ships of all +nations had reached the limit. In the year 1422 the Hanseatic League +sent a fleet under Simon of Utrecht to fall upon the pirates, and +having come out from Hamburg, Simon found the enemy one evening lying +off Heligoland. So near did the Hamburg fleet get to them that one +daring fisherman was able to pour molten lead on the rudders of certain +of the pirate ships, and this loosened the rudders and rendered the +ships uncontrollable. On the following day the battle began, and went +on for three days and nights, but in the end Stertebeker was beaten. +He and seventy of his comrades were captured and carried in triumph to +Hamburg, where they were all condemned to death and executed, to the +great relief of the mercantile mariners. The rest of the pirates had +fled, or been killed or thrown into the sea, and in the captured ships +were found much linen and wax and cloth, which had been ill gotten from +unfortunate craft. But when the Hamburgers rummaged the ships all the +valuable metals they could find were a few goblets: until a carpenter +broke the mainmast, which was then found to be hollow, and full of +molten gold. However, this conveniently indemnified the merchants, and +a golden crown was made and placed on the spire of St. Nicholas church, +Hamburg. Stertebeker’s friend and accomplice, Michelson, was still at +large, but Simon went after him, got him, and eighty pirates lost their +heads. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GROWTH OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE + + +Chaucer, who flourished in the fourteenth century, has left us a +description of a merchant “shipman” of his time. He refers to him as +being a West-countryman living, “for aught I woot,” at Dartmouth, who +wore a gown of coarse cloth extending to the knee, and had a dagger +hanging on a lanyard. The hot summer had tanned his face brown, and +Chaucer describes him as a good fellow, who had drawn many a draught +of wine while the “chapman” (or merchant) was asleep. No man had such +skill in reckoning his tides, streams, dangers; and in his knowledge +of harbours, the state of the moon and pilotage, there was no such man +between Hull and Carthage. + + “Hardy he was, and wys to undertake: + With many a tempest hadde his berd been shake. + He knew wel alle the havenes, as they were, + From Gootlond to the cape of Finistere, + And every cryke in Britayne and in Spayne: + His barge y-cleped was the Maudelayne.” + +From the mere fact that Chaucer said as much as he did, it is clear +enough that English merchant ships at this time were trading up and +down Europe between Sweden and the Spanish coast, and that as a regular +thing. And some of these seamen were now also navigators. Chaucer, who +died in the year 1400, has left behind a treatise on the astrolabe by +which a mariner could “knowe the altitude of the sonne, or of other +celestial bodies.” An astrolabe was the ancestor of the sextant, an +instrument which had been used by the Arabs for long years before it +was used by the Christian seamen of the Mediterranean or the North. +As far back as the eighth century a learned Rabbi named Messahala had +written a treatise on the astrolabe, and it was chiefly from that +author that Chaucer derived his knowledge on the subject. During the +early Tudor period the cross-staff began to supersede the astrolabe. + +The growth of the English Mercantile Marine in the fourteenth century, +and the friction which occurred between these ships and the vessels +belonging to Norway, Prussia, Flanders, Scotland, Spain and Genoa, led +to the assertion by Edward III that his royal progenitors had been +lords of the English sea “on every side,” and in 1344 he had coined a +gold noble whereon he was represented standing in a ship crowned, with +sword and shield, emblematic of his sovereignty of the seas. It was a +statesmanlike attempt on behalf of the commercial ships to make the +sea a peaceful highway, when for so long it had been such a dangerous +thoroughfare. It had its counterpart in the Mediterranean; for the +raids by the Saracens had caused the Pisans to exercise the rights of +commercial and naval supremacy on the west coast of Italy; and in 1138 +the Genoese had exercised a similar authority in the Gulf of Lyons. +Similarly Venice had claimed sovereignty over the whole of the Adriatic +in the thirteenth century, though prior to that it had exacted a toll +from vessels passing through that sea. + +England, too, had her pilgrim trade to Santiago de Compostela, +thirty-three miles south of Corunna, where the shrine of St. James +caused these travellers to cross the Bay of Biscay to Spain. By the +fifteenth century this transportation of pilgrims had become a regular +trade, and in 1434 Henry VI granted a licence to carry no fewer than +2433 such enthusiasts. Indeed the earliest English sea song is that +which describes the life on board one of these pilgrim ships. The +manuscript is in the Trinity College Library, Cambridge, and it begins +by saying that “men may leve all gamys, that saylen to Seynt Jamys,” +for when these people have joined the ship at Sandwich, Winchelsea, +Bristol or wherever it may be, their hearts soon begin to fail, “for +som ar lyke to cowgh and grone, or hit be full mydnyght.” The cook is +ordered to get food ready, but the pilgrims have “no lust” for eating, +but lie “with they bowlys fast them by” and complaining that their +heads would “cleave in three”—“splitting,” as the modern martyr to +sea-sickness expresses it. Then the carpenter comes along and with his +gear makes small cabins for the unhappy passengers to sleep in. A sack +of straw formed the mattress, and in some cases the pilgrims found they +had to sleep near the pump and bilge-water in the reeking hold. “A man +were as good to be dede, as smell thereof the stynk.” For there are few +odours more objectionable than the bilge-stench of an aged ship, and in +those days, when refuse was thrown into the hold and there was little +idea of sanitation, a pilgrim’s voyage from England to Spain, across +the boisterous Bay, could not have been more pleasant than from Venice +to the Syrian shore. + +In this poem just quoted it is interesting to notice, also, the life +on board the merchant ship as regards the mariners. We see the master +at once ordering his “shyp-men” to stand by the mast and handle their +tackle. Then, with the old expression of the sea (still surviving in +sailing merchant vessels to-day), “Ho! Hissa,” they hoist away, whilst +one man reprimands another for standing too close to his neighbour to +allow him room to haul. Then one or two boys go up aloft, out on the +yard, and unfurl the square-sail, while the rest of the crew haul aft +the sheets. The captain then orders the boatswain to stow the ship’s +boat, and next “haul the bowline,” the ship being now on a wind; but +presently “veers the sheet” to allow her to run before the breeze. The +steersman is sent to the helm and told to sail no nearer to the wind, +after which the master calls the steward to bring him a pot of beer, +which is promised “with good chere.” It is now time to haul in the +brails of the yard, and one of the crew is admonished for not hauling; +and then see “howe well owre good shyp sayles.” The steward is told +to get food ready “and tary not so long,” whilst the ship’s pessimist +comes and prophesies a storm or squall. He is promptly told to hold his +“pese” and not to interfere. + + “Then commeth oure owner lyke a lorde, + And speketh many a royall worde, + And dresseth hym to the hygh borde + To see all thyng be well.” + +Thus, with the demand for shipping to carry cargo and pilgrims across +the open sea, there was every chance given to the Mercantile Marine, +and by the fifteenth century the single-masted ship had begun to be +displaced by the three-master, for the reason that the merchantman +was becoming bigger, and it was necessary to split the sails up for +ease in handling. Thus the big cargo ship now has a small square +foresail on her foremast, a big square mainsail on her mainmast, +and a triangular lateen sail on the mizzen-mast. The mere fact that +the last-mentioned, characteristic, Mediterranean sail was added +to northern ships during the fifteenth century, is evidence of the +influence which the Portuguese and Spanish ships were having on our +distant-voyaging vessels. Sea transportation was becoming the rule, and +no longer the exception; trade overseas was increasing; merchants and +seamen were fast becoming imbued with new ideas seen in strange lands, +and in fact the world was beginning to awake. + +The biggest of the ships carried a main topsail, and by this time the +rudder had been shifted from the quarter to aft, as it is to-day. +The hull is in a transition state, still feeling the influence of +the Viking type, but not yet a wholesome creature. The forecastle, +sterncastle and main topmast castle are still there, but they have +become amalgamated with the general design of the hull rather than +being mere additional platforms. There is a contemporary manuscript +which shows such craft under way, at anchor, and even being towed out +of harbour by the ship’s boat against a head wind, past a flaming +beacon which marks a promontory. And even at this time there were such +things as pilots’ guides for the coasts of England and Wales, as well +as sailing directions for the Bay of Biscay. + +But we must turn our attention south to watch what was going on in +the Mediterranean. Briefly this is what had happened. Already in the +thirteenth century merchant ships had become more enterprising, for +about the year 1270 Malocello had reached the Canary Isles, and in +1281, Vivaldi had set forth from Genoa to find the East Indies via +the west coast of Africa, but failed. For you must remember that +during the latter part of the twelfth century the compass, crude and +inaccurate, yet of immense utility, had been introduced into Europe +from the East. Then comes into our story that great man Prince Henry +the Navigator, son of the King of Portugal, and nephew of Henry IV of +England. Henry devoted his life to developing the science and art of +navigation, creating an observatory and nautical school at Sagres, +near Cape St. Vincent, and doing all he possibly could to encourage +maritime discovery. The result of this was that the Portuguese became +great sea-travellers, big shipowners and expanded in commerce and +colonies. Henry the Navigator was born in 1394 and died in 1460, and to +his foresight, organisation and enthusiastic intellect can be traced +the rapid and marvellous Portuguese achievements which followed at +sea. Thus in 1442 Madeira and the Azores had been discovered in the +Atlantic, trade with Africa materially increased, especially on the +west coast, and the traffic in black slaves become very profitable. +Then in 1486 the Cape of Good Hope was rounded and the sea route at +last opened to the East Indies, instead of the long and perilous +overland route to the Levant which had been used always up till +now. In 1498 Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon to Calicut, and two +years later the Portuguese had landed in Brazil. Thus by the dawn +of the sixteenth century Portugal had reached a wonderful height of +prosperity. The great Eastern trade was in her hands; Ceylon, the Sunda +Islands, Malacca and Ormuz in the Persian Gulf were hers; and all this +pre-eminence had been won by studying the problems of the sea and then +applying that knowledge in ships manned by practical navigators and +sailors. + +Portugal had risen up by the twelfth century as a separate kingdom, and +Spain had been passing through a period of complete anarchy, but on +the death of the Spanish Henry IV, Isabel and Ferdinand had ascended +the throne of Castile, and then law and order were restored, the last +Moorish stronghold was captured in 1492, and a few months later the +Genoese sailor Columbus, under the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella, +was allowed to set forth on his historic voyage which discovered the +West Indies. He returned home, went across the Atlantic again in 1493 +and discovered Dominica; then made his third voyage, in which he +discovered the mainland of South America in 1498, and finally, on his +last voyage, explored the southern shore of the Mexican Gulf. + +With the discovery of a sea-route both to the East and West Indies, +the whole future of the Mercantile Marine was altered. Instead of +carrying merchandise and pilgrims across Europe, there came the demand +for great ocean-going vessels that could carry home large quantities +of rich produce, that would make the European markets surprised when +they beheld these goods. Thus the Portuguese and Spaniards, like +the Venetians and Genoese, began to amass great wealth from their +merchant ships. Noble caracks were built, more and more men embarked +on a seafaring career, the art of navigation received much more +careful study, and mercantile maritime supremacy passed to the Iberian +peninsula. Thus the work of great shipbuilders and sea-carriers, +discoverers, colonisers and traders had for a time passed into other +hands. + +But success in one party always breeds jealousy in another: indeed, +if you examine the causes of all the great wars in history, or look +into the reasons for most private quarrels, you will find usually +that they come under the heading either of commercial jealousy or +religious intolerance. And when, as was the case in the sixteenth +century, you have both these factors united, you have the maximum of +intense feeling. The English seamen, perfectly naturally, began to be +jealous and envious of the lectureships and instruction which were +being given to these southern seamen. At Seville Charles V had founded +a lectureship on navigation in the sixteenth century. In England Henry +VIII founded three guilds, at Deptford-on-Thames, Kingston-on-Hull +and Newcastle-on-Tyne, for the same purpose, and Edward VI selected +Sebastian Cabot to be Grand Pilot of England. Henry VII encouraged +his shipbuilders by giving them a bounty on the tonnage built, and +in Henry VIII’s reign dockyards were established at Woolwich, Erith +and Deptford, in addition to Portsmouth. Books on the sea arts began +to be written in English, so that by the time the full force of the +commercial and religious hatred of the Spanish and Portuguese was +let loose, the English mercantile mariners were something more than +mere coastal seamen. From their fishing they had gradually become +cross-Channel carriers; from this they had risen to the ability to +trade regularly with Spain, with an occasional voyage even to the +Mediterranean; but now they were qualified by their ambition and +their greater knowledge to go wherever the sea existed. And thus we +get Drake going all the way round the world; the many voyages across +the Atlantic to the West Indies; the fights with the Spanish treasure +ships; the capture of the _Madre de Dios_ and _San Felipe_, thus +discovering the long-kept secrets of the sea-route to India. From the +captured caracks and galleons which had been built in the Iberian +peninsula, the English shipwright was able to enlarge his ideas and +to learn how to build real ocean-going craft bigger than most of the +Elizabethan ships. The introduction of cannon had been an additional +reason for making the ship a much stouter, loftier and more formidable +creature. Thus length, and beam, and draught increased; larger crews +and more officers were needed, and as each expedition came home with +strange products, merchant adventurers combined to fit out other +expeditions to inaugurate trade even in such remote spots as had not +yet seen a white man. + +And never a ship came home from her voyage without adding some valuable +information in regard to trade or geography or navigation or pilotage. +You have only to read the travels in Hakluyt, Purchase and elsewhere +to see how keen these Elizabethans were not to omit a single piece +of knowledge that would be useful for future voyages. They had been +able, almost suddenly, to realise that, given pluck, determination, +enterprise and endurance, the treasures of the world were theirs. They +could follow the sea for a few long voyages and then return to build +themselves comfortable mansions in Devonshire. And inasmuch as nothing +succeeds like success, every time the crew came home and spread the +wonderful tales of their experiences and showed the valuables they had +managed to obtain, other men were anxious to go forth and do likewise. +Nobles and gentlemen and city magnates invested heavily in these +trading voyages, selected the ablest seamen, and thus, incidentally, +were helping to build up the Mercantile Marine on a grand scale. + +Before Hawkins engaged in his trans-Atlantic voyages he was a Plymouth +shipowner accustomed to sail to the ports of Spain and the Canary +Islands with trade. At the Canaries he learns a good deal about the +West Indies, then goes further south to the west coast of Africa, +begins transporting niggers thence to America, returns to England with +plenty of money, and sets every one in the west of England talking and +anxious to have a share in this great new game. His relative, Francis +Drake, owner of a small brigantine in which coastal trading has been +carried on, is fired by Hawkins’ success, and accompanies him on one +of his expeditions. Young Francis has learnt his seamanship in a rough +school, having made friends with a shipmaster trading to the Channel +ports and gone to sea with him, and thus acquired his knowledge, until +finally the shipmaster dies and leaves him the brigantine in his will. +Several years of coastal work had followed, Drake had acquired both +money and reputation, and in the end could not resist selling the +coaster and buying the brigantine _Judith_, fifty tons, and going with +his relative across the Atlantic. + +What followed? Every time the English seamen came back with terrible +yarns concerning the treachery of the Portuguese and Spaniards, every +time the stories of the gallant fights were told, every time the +jewels and plate and pearls were seen and handled, the West countrymen +were stirred to their very souls. Religious and commercial jealousy, +racial hatred and the love of adventure, combined with the possibility +of becoming rich—all this created such a fire of enthusiasm that +the English Mercantile Marine was bound to increase in numbers and +aspirations. The moderate ambitions of the Middle Ages had passed away +for ever: the dawn of a new order of things had now already come. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MERCANTILE MARINE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + +By the middle of the fourteenth century the merchant ships had begun to +outgrow mediævalism; by the sixteenth they were able to go to windward +and to keep the sea for months on end. Thus, vessels had at last +begun to enjoy the freedom of the seas and to be independent of the +shore. It was a great achievement, considering how limited in size and +seaworthiness ships had been, and how limited in knowledge mariners had +remained until they had passed through the Middle Ages and emerged into +the clear, bright light of science. + +Men were getting away from convention and thinking for themselves, +but some of the old habits were dying very slowly. One very antique +custom was that of waits attending seafaring men. As late as 1466, +and probably even after, at the Cinque Ports musicians with fifes +and trumpets paraded the town and announced which way the wind was +blowing, so that merchant ships could put to sea if the wind was fair +for them. The use of the ship’s bell had been introduced into Tudor +ships before the end of the fifteenth century, for Henry VII’s famous +_Grâce Dieu_ in 1485 included this in her inventory, and the _Regent_ +in 1495 had two “wache belles.” In a volume printed at the beginning +of the sixteenth century, showing a typical merchant ship of the time, +with mast, square-sails, and castles from which to attack pirates and +other enemies, the artist has actually shown, in a rather conventional, +but none the less interesting, manner the skipper at the helm and the +merchants with their bales of goods in the vessel; but the pictorial +information of these early craft is so slight, and landsmen artists +dealing with technical marine subjects were so very inaccurate, that it +is only by most diligent and careful research that a nautical student +who understands the ways of a ship can follow the development of the +merchant craft through to the seventeenth century. + +Seamen have very rarely been good authors, until we come to +modern times; and writers have usually been unacquainted with the +technicalities of seafaring. The difficulty, therefore, has been great. +The only solution is to regard the efforts of ancient artists and +authors critically with the eyes of a seaman, and to make allowances. +With this concession, realising what a ship can do and what she never +could be asked to do; realising also that the artist’s intention was +not so much to bequeath to posterity an accurately rigged ship as to +depict an idea—as, for instance, the progress of a saint, in which +a ship appeared incidentally—we can find all these quaint artistic +efforts worth examining, and yielding up information. So it is with the +writers. Even that fifteenth century French humorist Rabelais helps +us if we allow for his ignorance of seafaring matters. So long as a +man writes of what he actually saw with his own eyes, and not what +he imagined, we have valuable and illuminative truth. Rabelais was +no seaman, but his description of the handling of the ship in a gale +is worth preserving. At the approach of bad weather we see the pilot +shortening sail. The terrified Panurge exclaims with horror that the +bitts are broken, the tackle is in pieces, the timbers are splitting, +the mast dipping into the sea up to the truck. His is the attitude +of the “all-is-lost” landsman who exists through all the ages of the +merchant ship. Thus he goes on: “Alas! alas! where are our topsails? +All is lost, by God! Our topmast is under water. Alas! to whom will +this wreck belong? Friends, put me here behind one of these bulkheads. +Lads, your top-crane has fallen.” He hears the rudder-pintle creaking. +“Is it broken?” Eventually the pilot heaves-to under her main-course, +but later the weather moderates so that the ship can resume her voyage. +“To the main topsail,” rings out an order. “Hoist! hoist! To the +main-mizzen topsail. The rope to the capstan. Heave! heave! heave! +Hands to the halyards. Hoist! hoist! Clear away the tacks. Clear away +the sheets. Clear away the bowlines. Port tack. Down helm. Haul taut +starboard sheet. Luff. Full and by. Up helm. (“Up, it is,” replied +the sailors.) Keep her going. Head for the harbour-mouth.” Thus, with +the steering tackles manned, and the ship sailing close-hauled on the +port tack, the pilot makes the helmsman keep her out of the wind and +straight for their haven.[3] + +But those who know their Hakluyt well, and take the trouble to read +those wondrous voyages with imagination, are richly rewarded by the +interesting side-lights thrown on the sixteenth-century seamanship +in the merchant craft. Among the instructions “for the direction of +the intended voyage for Cathay,” issued by Sebastian Cabot in 1553, +the “captain-general,” “pilot major,” masters, merchants and other +officers are first exhorted to be “knit and accorded in unitie, love, +conformitie and obedience.” Every mariner and passenger took an oath to +be obedient to the captain-general, and to every captain and master of +his ship. But even as late as the reign of Edward VI, the old custom +of the sea, which we have seen in the Mediterranean, prevailed. The +communal idea was not yet extinct. + +“Item,” runs the fifth instruction, “all courses in Navigation to be +set and kept, by the advice of the Captaine, Pilot Major, masters, +& masters’ mates, with the assents of the counsailers and the most +number of them, and in voyces uniformely agreeing in one to prevaile, +and take place, so that the Captaine generall, shall in all counsailes +and assemblies have a double voyce.” The fleet was ordered to keep +together, the merchants “and other skilful persons in writing, shal +daily write, describe, and put in memorie the Navigation of every +day and night, with the points, and observation of the lands, tides, +elements, altitude of the sunne, course of the moon and starres, and +the same so noted by the order of the Master and pilot of every ship +to be put in writing, the captaine generall assembling the masters +together once every weeke (if winde and weather shal serve) to conferre +all the observations, and notes of the said ships, to the intent it may +appeare wherein the notes do agree, and wherein they dissent, and upon +good debatement, deliberation, and conclusion determined, to put the +same into a common leger, to remain of record for the company: the like +order to be kept in proportioning of the Cardes, Astrolabes, and other +instruments prepared for the voyage, at the charge of the companie.” + +Thus the merchants, having financed the voyage, still had a +considerable say in the matter. The steward and cook of every ship +had to render a weekly account of the flesh, fish, biscuit, meat, +bread, beer, wine, oil and vinegar consumed. If an officer or seaman +were found inefficient, he could be put ashore anywhere “within the +king’s Majesties realme & dominion.” In order to keep discipline over +the crew—many of them the “bad hats” of the port from which the ships +had sailed—they were forbidden blasphemy, “ribaldrie, filthy tales or +ungodly talke, neither dicing, carding, tabling, nor other divelish +games to be frequented, whereby ensueth not onely povertie to the +players, but also strife, variance, brauling, fighting, and oftentimes +murther.” Every morning and evening, service was to be read in the +flagship by “the minister,” and in the other ships by the merchant or +some other learned person. “No liquor to be spilt on the balast, nor +filthines to be left within boord; the cook room, and all other places +to be kept cleane, for the better health of the companie.” + +The merchants were to look after the “liveries in apparel” given to the +mariners, which were not to be worn except by order of the captain. And +there was also a “slop-chest,” taken care of by the merchants, from +which a seaman could obtain “any necessarie furniture of apparel for +his body, and conservation of his health at such reasonable price as +the same cost, without any game to be exacted by the marchants.” Nor +could the merchants exhibit for sale any of their goods to foreigners +without consent of the captains and other officers. + +In this expedition for the purpose of trading there were three ships, +and from these details we have a fair idea of the way the pick of the +Mercantile Marine was being conducted on a grand scale, as contrasted +with the usual small voyages around the British Isles, or across the +North Sea, English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Such an expedition +as the one we are considering aimed at big things: the opening up of +a new trade route and fresh markets. Thus there were three ships in +this venture, the 120-ton _Bona Esperanza_, which was the flagship; +the 160-ton _Edward Bonaventure_; and the 90-ton _Bona Confidentia_. +In the first was Sir Hugh Willoughby, captain-general of the squadron, +or, as they called it, the fleet. In that same ship were the master, +his mate and six merchants, together with the master gunner, boatswain, +boatswain’s mate, four quartermasters and their four mates, two +carpenters, a purser, a cook and his mate, two surgeons and others. +Two men were landed at Harwich for sickness, and one other was ducked +at the yard-arm “for pickerie,” and then discharged. The _Edward +Bonaventure_ carried Richard Chancellor as captain and pilot major of +the fleet, a master, his mate, two merchants, a minister, officers and +mariners. The little _Bona Confidentia_ carried only a master, his +mate, three merchants, as well as the usual officers and mariners. Each +of these three ships had a pinnace and a boat. We know that these ships +could never lie nearer than seven points from the wind by the statement +that “the wind veared to the West, so that we could lie but North and +by West.” Not having charts of the strange unexplored harbours and +havens, the ship, on approaching the land, used to send her pinnace +ahead to find an anchorage, and then the big craft could follow in. +They used their lead for sounding, and consulted the globe, which was +the only knowledge of geography of distant countries possessed in many +cases. But it was no unusual thing to find in these exploratory voyages +that “the land lay not as the Globe made mention.” In this particular +expedition, whereon, by the way, Sir Hugh Willoughby and the company of +two of his ships perished in the bitter Lapland regions, there were all +sorts of anxieties through gales of winds, leaky ships, shoals, unknown +coasts, cold and general discomfort inseparable from crudely built +vessels. We can but admire the courageous enterprise which sent them +forth, and thus helped to lay the foundations of our Mercantile Marine +and seek a north-east passage to China. + +But, as we know from writers of the sixteenth century, the fact was +that the commodities and wares of England were in small request with +the neighbouring countries. Those goods which, within the memory +of the oldest inhabitants, had been in demand, were now neglected, +notwithstanding that English ships carried the wares into the harbours +of the foreigners. Contrariwise, there was a brisk demand for foreign +goods, and at a high price. Therefore certain “grave citizens of +London ... began to thinke with themselves howe this mischiefe might +bee remedied.” And observing that the Spaniards and Portuguese had +wonderfully increased their wealth by the search and discovery of new +countries and trades; and having taken the advice of Sebastian Cabot, +who was then in London, these wise merchants formed themselves into +a company, and each member put up £25, so that before long the three +ships already mentioned were bought and fitted out with the total £6000 +thus obtained, and victualled too. These shrewd Edwardians were doing +exactly what modern merchants do in a period of trade depression +and slump—they went out to look for business in new markets. But the +difference was that the former had first to get the ships and then fit +them out, instead of merely going to the office of a tourist-agency and +purchasing a ticket, and then voyaging in safety, comfort and with the +certainty of being in a particular place on a fixed day. + +In this north-east expedition, as soon as the money was obtained the +merchants bought exceptionally strong and well-seasoned planks, and +then the shipwrights set to work with the construction, caulking and +pitching them and covering the bottom with lead sheathing. That was +all comparatively straight-going, but the difficulty was to victual +the ships with food for eighteen months. Indeed, after setting out +from the Thames, some of the food by the time they reached Harwich +was already putrid and the hogsheads of wine leaking. Ships were +ballasted with stones, and before the wind these cumbrous craft would +sail well, but on a wind they made a good deal of leeway. But all +the time these sixteenth-century mariners were learning, and setting +down their records for others to learn. Thus one finds these pioneers +entering such remarks as “a south moone makes a full sea,” “Friday I +went on shoare and observed the variation of the Compasse, which was +three degrees and a halfe from the North to the West; the latitude +this day was sixtie nine degrees ten minutes.” And in 1557, among the +instructions given to masters and mariners of an expedition, it is +ordered that notes and entries be daily made of the navigations, and +that the young mariners and apprentices be taught and made to learn the +same. + +Thus, with every voyage north, south, east or west, with every slump +or boom in trade, the English Mercantile Marine was becoming more +efficient, less unscientific, and the love of seafaring became greater. +Those were the great days when, though the ships were of wood, the +men’s hearts were of gold, and nothing daunted them. Their gear was +none too good, their ships were roughly built, and yet no adversity +ever overcame their fine spirits. They were ready to struggle with any +difficulty. Take the case of the Elizabethan ship which got caught +in heavy weather one September. She hove-to, but was washed down by +almost every sea, and then the rudder was found to be broken and almost +falling off. Next day, as soon as the weather eased, a dozen of the +crew leapt overboard, remained under water as long as possible, worked +at the rudder-planking, bound it with ropes, and finally made such a +good job of it that it was again serviceable; but by the time they were +got aboard once more they were more than half dead. These ships were +always losing anchors, cables, boats and pinnaces; and even when they +had charts and globes, they were finding them full of errors; yet they +“kept on keeping on” and bringing their seafaring profession out of the +dark recesses of ignorance into the light of knowledge. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] _Mariner’s Mirror_, Vol. V. p. 81. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FISHERMEN AND MERCHANTMEN + + +Up to the end of the sixteenth century we have seen the progress of +the Mercantile Marine influenced by the pilgrim and cargo trade in the +south of Europe, and in the Iberian peninsula by the long ocean voyages +east and west for the purpose of spreading Christianity, trading, and +obtaining greater territory. In the north of Europe we have seen that +the crusades, as in the south, had their effect, and that pilgrims and +merchandise were regularly carried across the Bay of Biscay. + +But we have seen, too, that the Hanseatic League and the fishing +industry had from early times done much; nor were these influences +yet dead. It is interesting, as showing the far-sightedness of the +Hanseatics, to note that they were careful to get into their hands +the entire corner of hemp, from which ropes were made. Everywhere +the League had extended its tentacles as a powerful European trading +combine. The market of Bruges was a place where you met all the great +travellers and merchants of Europe. Every one who was any one in +commerce sooner or later came here. In London they had entrenched +themselves with characteristic German astuteness, and their privileges +had been marvellously protected by the English sovereigns from the +twelfth century. Indeed the Hanseatics became, so to speak, the +Rothschilds of Europe for financing regal schemes. The Wars of the +Roses and the hostilities with France were the means of making the +Hanseatics very useful financially, and they got their reward in the +shape of special privileges, which their depôt just above London Bridge +in Thames Street enjoyed for many a year. Down to the time of Edward VI +they indeed prospered exceedingly. + +In Portugal the League had established a factory at Lisbon, and thence +they traded with the Italian commercial republics and also got a +hold on the big Levantine trade. But during the reign of Elizabeth +Englishmen began to realise their own strength and capabilities at sea. +The defeat of the Armada, and the many fights with the Spanish and +Portuguese, had given them a confidence which they had never before +enjoyed. The English sailors were to justify their maritime ability +not merely against the southerners, but against these very powerful +and historic members of the northern league. Consequently they did +not hesitate to seize sixty Hanseatic ships about to enter the Tagus +with grain for the Spaniards. In 1598 the Hanseatics were turned out +of England, and though they were allowed eventually to come back, +and their property in the city of London was not sold until 1853, +when the Cannon Street railway station was erected, yet the rise of +English sea-power, expressed not merely in actual fighting, but in the +maritime spirit generally, had given the ancient league its death-blow. +Thereafter it merely lingered. + +But simultaneously with the decline of the Spanish and Hanseatic +Mercantile Marines was growing up the Dutch. And it cannot be +emphasised too strongly that this was owing to the herring having in +the fifteenth century begun to spawn in the North Sea instead of the +Baltic, as already mentioned. It seems curious that an innocent fish +should thus be the deciding force of international history. If you +examine modern Dutch charts you will still see marked channels and +shoals which show the intimate connection which that country had with +fishing. The “haringvliet,” or mouth of the Maas, and the “Schotsman” +shoal, off the island of Walcheren, at once suggest the time when the +Low Countries were acquiring wealth by their fisheries and doing a +good deal of trade with Scotland. Then they became more ambitious, and +built those fine great ships, which you see in the paintings of Vroom +and other artists, that were the means of bringing home from their +East Indies wealth in another form once enjoyed by the Venetians and +Spaniards. + +So invaluable had the fisheries been to the Dutch, both in regard to +shipbuilding and in creating a fine school of seamanship, that by +the time of Cromwell these Netherlanders were the “waggoners of the +sea,” had the world’s carrying trade and owned four-fifths of all the +merchant ships that sailed the seas. Now, having regard to the young, +keen sea spirit which had made the sixteenth century so illustrious, +it was hardly surprising that before long there should be trouble +between the English and the Dutch. It was analogous to the years which +immediately preceded the Great War of 1914. Collision was certain: +it was a question only of time. Thus, as early as 1608, Grotius, the +famous Dutch jurist, wrote his _Mare Liberum_, wherein he contended +that the high seas were open to all. Contemporary with him was living +the English jurist Selden, who in 1618 had begun his treatise _Mare +Clausum_. At the request of James I it was not published for fear of +complications with the Danes, but in 1635 Selden again took up this +work at the desire of Charles I. In the previous year Charles began to +levy ship-money, which really was intended in order to strengthen the +fleet against the Dutch in the probability of war. + +Legislation is merely the expression of the nation’s contemporary +fears, and in the long series of maritime Acts from the fourteenth +century onwards we can see the national nervousness of the time lest +the foreigner should dominate the success of our Mercantile Marine. We +have already seen Edward I styling himself “Sovereign of the Seas.” +Then in the last years of the fourteenth century we have what was +the first of the Navigation Acts. The basic aim was to exclude the +ships, seamen and trade of the foreigner and to encourage those of +our country. We will not bore the reader with a legal dissertation, +but it will help us to understand the difficulties of the time if, +very briefly, we show how the State was helping the subject of our +study. During the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth there +was legislation dealing with the privileges of English shipping. At a +later date the claim to the sovereignty of the seas was expressed by +compelling the Flemish subjects of Philip, who married our Queen Mary, +to pay a fine and an annual rent of £1000 for twenty-one years’ lease +of the fishing near the north Irish coast, whilst a similar lease with +similar conditions was granted by Mary to the Hanseatics. Without a +licence foreign subjects were forbidden to fish in English waters, +though with the decline of English sea-power in the seventeenth century +foreigners ceased to be bound by these claims. + +The doctrine of the “Dominion of the Seas” is inseparably bound up in +the growth of our Mercantile Marine and our fishing industry. Matters +reach a crisis in the dispute, and then the discussion is settled by +an appeal to force in the shape of war. The Anglo-Dutch wars were +fundamentally caused by the herring fisheries and the Mercantile +Marines of the two nations. Every other reason was entirely artificial +and subservient. Whether the seas could be free to all everywhere to +trade, whether the fisherman could shoot his nets where he liked—that +is the whole matter in a nutshell. And the more ships that were +built for trade or fishing, the more serious the crisis developed. +Proportionately the value of a navy becomes greater, and thus the +two services are bound to become less and less similar, as greater +commercial demands are made on the one and purely warlike requirements +are insisted on for the other. + +The seventeenth century was the crisis in the career of the Mercantile +Marine, for it was struggling for its very life amid many dangers, but +it emerged with an independence and character of its own. In any long +period of assured peace it reaches enormous heights of success, as, for +instance, during the nineteenth century. But during the Caroline period +a principle was being insisted upon. The position was this. Charles I +was determined to compel the Dutch to acknowledge the English claim to +the dominion of the seas, and that was the reason for the building, in +1637, of that marvellous and sensational warship the _Sovereign of the +Seas_, a triumph of Pett’s design, which Van der Velde depicted for +posterity. This 1683-ton “battleship,” as we should call her nowadays, +was an expression, both in name and character, of the English attitude +in regard to the use of the seas. + +“We hold it a principle,” Charles had instructed his Minister at The +Hague, “not to be denied, that the King of Great Britain is a monarch +at sea and on land to the full extent of his dominions. His Majesty +finds it necessary for his own defence and safety to reassume and +keep his ancient and undoubted rights in the Dominion of the Seas.” +Having forbidden foreigners to fish off our coasts without licence, +Charles’ fleet attacked and put to flight a Dutch fishing fleet which +had infringed this order. Some of these small craft were thus sunk by +our men-of-war, and many of the rest took shelter in harbour. Finally +the Dutch agreed to pay Charles I £30,000 for permission to finish that +year’s fishing, and to pay a sum annually for the like privilege. + +We can well understand the irritation which this line of action +caused so great a maritime power as the Dutch. Great sea pioneers +they certainly were, and before the first decade after the defeat of +the Armada had passed, they had been the first country to send out a +real Polar expedition. In 1651 came the celebrated English Navigation +Act, which prohibited the importation of goods into England except in +English ships, or in the ships of the country producing the goods. This +was quite obviously aimed at the great Dutch sea-carriers. Relations +became strained, the war-clouds gathered, and in the following year the +first of the three Anglo-Dutch wars broke out inevitably between the +English and Dutch republics. + +The Navigation Act of 1651 was confirmed by that of nine years later, +and thus the English Mercantile Marine had its future settled on sure +foundations. In a word, the disputes as to where fishermen could +shoot their nets to get herrings were the indirect means of giving +the merchant ships their unique opportunity. Holland’s carrying trade +fell into our hands, prosperity came to our country, the sailing +ships of our nation penetrated everywhere, and, as you can see by the +seventeenth-century architecture in the leading Dutch cities, the +wealth obtained overseas suddenly ceased to flow in a big way. It +is for those who have eyes a veritable story in stones, which ends +suddenly and dramatically. + +It is to the credit of the rulers of our country in the seventeenth +century that they realised what the fisheries meant to us. The Act +of 1651 was of great assistance in providing that no fish should be +brought into England or Ireland, or exported thence to foreign parts, +or even carried from one English or Irish port to another, except fish +caught by English and Irish fishermen in English and Irish ships. +In 1661 the Parliament of Scotland also passed navigation laws for +the encouragement of their native shipping, and one Act for founding +companies to extend the fishing industry. Very subtle, too, was the +proclamation of James I in 1621 against eating flesh in Lent or on +other “fish days,” the reasons given being “the maintenance of our +navy and shipping, a principal strength of this island, and for the +sparing and increase of fresh victuals.” This and similar proclamations +considerably helped the fishermen. + +In order fully to appreciate all that the fishing meant to the Dutch, +it is necessary to mention also that not merely did they seek the +herring as far away as the Thames estuary, the Orkneys, Shetlands and +the Irish coast, but, owing to the ingenuity and enterprise of one +Beuckels, they had learned how to cure and barrel this fish. In this +way they enjoyed a wonderful monopoly in supplying Catholic central +and northern Europe. In the year 1560, for instance, the value of +the year’s fishing trade to Friesland, Holland, Zeeland and Flanders +amounted to the enormous sum of £300,000. Just as to-day the steam +fish-carriers go out to fetch the catch home from the fleets fishing +off the Dogger Bank and elsewhere, so the Dutch in the seventeenth +century were using a fast-sailing type of craft, called “vent-jagers,” +to hurry into port the fresh herrings caught by the slow, round, tubby +“busses.” This practice was in vogue certainly by 1604. + +It was a statute of 1663, for the encouragement of our fisheries, +which forbade any fresh herrings being imported into England except in +English-built ships, and no ship could sail for Iceland from England +until March 10, thus protecting the fish at breeding time. The Act of +1666 prohibited the importation of herrings caught by foreigners. And, +having done all this, the time came when those Englishmen who owned +capital thought they saw an opportunity for getting richer. Thus in +1677 a Royal Fishery Company was incorporated, the Duke of York and +many peers and gentlemen being partners, with a capital eventually +increased to £12,580. This was spent in the construction of seven +busses, but some of these were captured by the French, who were now +growing up as maritime and commercial people, and were rivals to us in +our fishing. The remainder of the busses were sold off in 1680 and the +company ended in debt. + +Three years later another fishing company was started, and this failed +also, whereas the Dutch were doing well with their nets, employing +8000 vessels and 200,000 hands, thus amassing the enormous sum of +£5,000,000 a year. During the time of Charles II the Dutch fishermen +had brought great prosperity to Great Yarmouth, sometimes as many as +1000 busses and fish-carriers being off that port, and buying bread, +beer, flesh and butter from the East Anglians. They used to come ashore +and dry their nets, and the town would find 10,000 of these foreign +sailormen in their neighbourhood. To assuage their thirst, forty +brewers were kept busy in the port. Any one who has any experience +of human nature and of fishermen, will readily understand that there +were many feuds and quarrellings. Ever since 1540 the Dutchmen had +been herring-fishing off that port, and the Englishmen were none too +pleased at this visitation; nor were the Scotch, who in 1532 attacked +the Dutchmen and captured many of their busses, and for nine years +prevented them from using Scottish waters. + +As far back as the thirteenth century the herring had been caught in +great numbers off Great Yarmouth, and in 1270 the Yarmouth herring +fair was held for forty days. About that date some Flemish vessels put +to sea and killed 1200 English North Sea fishermen, nor will these +international fishermen’s quarrels ever cease as long as human nature +remains what it is. Before the end of the thirteenth century Grimsby +had begun fishing, and before the end of the sixteenth century the +first Hull whaler had started out on her special industry, whaling +having begun in England only four years previously. Few people are more +conservative than the sailor, and of his service the most conservative +of all is the fisherman, who did not take to steam generally for many a +long year after it had become dominant in the carrying trade. Many of +us can still remember the famous “blue” sailing fishing fleet out of +Great Yarmouth; and the Brixham fleet and others round our coasts still +stick almost exclusively to sail. In the olden days, wool, wheat, fish +and other cargoes were sold by the “last.” Wool is no longer thus sold, +but a hundred years ago wheat was thus reckoned at Great Yarmouth, and +round our coasts to this day fish is still disposed of in the old-time +manner, a Yarmouth “last” amounting roughly to 13,200 herrings or about +two and a half tons. + +In our British North Sea fishing craft the busses have given way very +largely to steam drifters, but off the Dutch shores the Scheveningen +“pink” is much the same craft in hull as were the vessels which caused +so much friction in the seventeenth century. The very word by which +these craft have been known is in itself symbolical of the antiquity +of the industry. The mediæval Venetians had “buzi,” and throughout the +Romance and Teutonic languages it has always meant a fishing boat, the +seventeenth-century Englishmen getting the use from the Dutch North Sea +craft. + +The two principal types of fishing craft in the North Sea were the buss +and the “dogger.” With regard to the former, the earliest illustration +I have discovered is that by Elandts in the Municipal Museum at The +Hague, made in 1664 from a picture of 1570. This “haring buys” is the +prototype of the seventeenth-century buss, and consists of two masts, +each having a square-sail. Like the modern drifter, the buss lowered +her foremast and rode to her nets. This Elandts buss is really nothing +more than a large open boat, with three hands in her; the length of +the craft I reckon not more than about thirty feet. A rather bigger +type, similarly rigged but with three masts, is depicted in the Dutch +Waghenaer’s _Speculum Nauticum_ of 1584 riding to her nets, with fore +and mainmasts lowered. Among the sixteen ships which Frobisher took +with him in 1578, one was the _Emmanuel_ of Bridgewater, and she is +described as a buss. It will be recollected that this was another +attempt to find the north-west passage to China, and this craft +performed most admirable service, and as she came homeward discovered +an island which had never before been sighted. Thus, there is no +question about the seaworthiness of this fishing type of craft. + +In the Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam, there is an interesting painting by +Bellevois showing a mid-seventeenth-century buss of a powerful type, +with three masts, a square-sail on each, and riding with her mizzen up, +but the other sails and masts lowered. Keymor, who wrote in 1601 on the +Dutch fishing, describes these craft as being from sixty to two hundred +tons, and carrying from forty to a hundred lasts. The anonymous author +of _Britaine’s Busse_, published in 1615, describes them as being +of from thirty-five lasts or seventy tons, and measuring fifty feet +on the keel, with a beam of seventeen feet. Her cost, together with +her boat, was £260. There is another fine picture of these craft by +Storck, hanging in the Mauritshuis at The Hague, the date being 1683, +and from the rounded stern and general lines of the ship it is easy +enough to see that she belongs to the same family to which the familiar +Scheveningen “pink,” so well known in modern art, belongs. + +Often in the mediæval records one finds reference to a North Sea +fishing type called the “dogger.” Exactly what these were like, it +would be impossible to say, except that they probably had not more +than two masts carrying square-sails, and that they were line fishers, +for cod and ling, and did not use nets, their size in the seventeenth +century varying from sixty to one hundred tons. It is reasonable to +suppose, from the later illustrations which exist, that the dogger was +in hull and square-sails not very different from the buss. + +The end of the seventeenth century, then, saw the British Mercantile +Marine both in respect of its fishing craft and its cargo-carriers, +going ahead. As regards the latter, the finest of all were the ships +of the East India Company of England and those of the Dutch East India +Company, with their stately hulls, lofty sterns, high freeboard and +two decks of guns. A picture of 1647 shows them with three masts, as +well as bowsprit, and they even carry topgallant sails on fore and +main. Such craft are, in fact, the connecting link between the last +of the mediæval ships and the first of the famous clipper ships. The +stolid majesty of their design and build, the elaborateness of their +seventeenth-century carvings, were expressive of that permanence with +which the Merchant Service now rightly regarded itself. Indeed so +prosperous had the British East India Company become in the seventeenth +century, that by 1681 this corporation owned about thirty-five ships, +ranging in size from 100 to 775 tons, and in customs alone the company +was paying £60,000 a year. They used to take out to India cargoes of +lead, tin, cloth and stuffs, bringing back home raw silk, pepper and +other Eastern goods. Trade prospered so well, indeed, that between 1682 +and 1689 as many as sixteen East Indiamen of from 900 to 1300 tons were +built, and all these ships had to be armed; for during the last decade +of that century these merchantmen ran the risk of being attacked by +French men-of-war as well as by privateers, so that in carrying from +thirty to fifty guns these East Indiamen were very powerful vessels for +any enemy to have to encounter. + +[Illustration: SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH EAST INDIAMEN.] + +[Illustration: SIGNAL CODE. + +Used in a British East Indiaman.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SEAFARING + + +Few people realise that the trade routes of the world are the lanes +along which history is constrained to flow. It is a fascinating study, +but we have little enough room to develop the subject here. The success +of Prince Henry the Navigator’s influence, the achievement of Vasco +da Gama, completely revolutionised the trade routes of the world, +transformed the European mercantile system, made the gate of commerce +not Venice but Lisbon, transferred the centre of progress from the +Mediterranean to the Atlantic; and the discovery of America accentuated +this new condition still further. + +What followed? First, the Dutch, having built up a shipping industry, +so to speak, on the backbone of the herring, were able to get the +trade of distributing these goods from Lisbon to the north European +countries. This, in turn, caused competition on the part of the +English, who were not intending to be left out of the new fortune. +Secondly, the Dutch and English began themselves to voyage to the East. +And thirdly, the discovery of the rich possibilities of the East and +West not merely made the Mediterranean commercially of little future +account, but gave to the nations of the European Atlantic coasts +an impetus to progress and a reason for strife which had never yet +occurred. The history of the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries is +confined to the struggle for the dominion of the seas—that is, maritime +commercial supremacy, caused by the flow of trade taking a new route. +The wars with the Dutch, the French and the Spanish were at heart the +struggle for possession of overseas commerce, and the recent war with +Germany was animated by the same cause. + +It is impossible to emphasise this trade route influence too much, +for without a clear appreciation of its place in history the sequence +of events becomes meaningless, and the rise and development of the +Mercantile Marine seem arbitrary. Prince Henry the Navigator started +a wonderful sea contest, and it has never stopped during the ensuing +centuries. As soon as one keen competitor drops out, another comes in +to keep up the running. That has been the impelling influence in the +history of the English Mercantile Marine. When Spain falls out, the +Dutch take her place. When they cease to be competitors, the French +become the pacemakers, to be followed by the Germans; and now that the +latter have disappeared almost entirely from the sea, the United States +ships of commerce will maintain this ancient contest. And so it will +go on, unless air routes cause another revolution in the transport of +merchandise, and give another sudden twist to the flow of history. + +The seventeenth century, then, saw a wonderful incentive to the +English Merchant Navy just because the East was calling. And, as a +result of this, there followed in due succession the creation of the +East India Company, the wonderful and famous East Indiamen built +chiefly at Blackwall; then, after the long monopoly came to an end, +the famous Blackwall sailing ships of the Wigrams and Greens, the +historic clippers, and finally the Peninsular and Oriental Steam +Navigation Company. From the year 1582 for the next three hundred +years from Blackwall, on the River Thames, sailing ships year after +year made their way to the Orient, and it is to my mind one of the +most remarkable continuities in the history of human things. It is +certainly one of the most, if not the most, critical of periods in +the development of the commercial marine. What Portsmouth has been to +the British Navy, the village of Blackwall has been to the British +Mercantile Marine. From the Blackwall yard were launched hundreds +of East Indiamen; from here came improved and novel designs for the +sailing ships that were to win and retain against all competitors +commercial supremacy at sea for the British nation. But for these craft +the trend of English history, of the world’s history, would be entirely +different. + +There would have been neither the cause nor the means of a powerful +navy; nor of Colonial expansion; nor would the position which Britain +possesses financially have been possible. I am omitting intentionally +for the present the development of the American trade, for that came +later. It was the Eastern overseas trade in the merchant ships of the +seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which was responsible +for an enormous part of the national wealth, many of our costliest +buildings and institutions, the founding of illustrious families, and +indirectly the awakening of Japan. All this dates back to Prince Henry +and Vasco da Gama—to the finding of a sea route to the East. + +It was in April 1582 that the first ship left for the East—when the +_Edward Bonaventure_ sailed from Blackwall, joined the flagship +_Leicester_ at Southampton, and, four weeks out from the London +river, accompanied the two other ships. They made a futile attempt +to reach India west about, and because the Spanish Fleet were in the +neighbourhood of the Magellan Straits, had to return to England. In +1595 Holland sent four ships round the Cape of Good Hope, and two years +later the expedition came back, after making a treaty with the King of +Bantam and thus opening up the Indian archipelago. In 1599 a number +of merchants in London petitioned Elizabeth for permission to have a +monopoly to trade with the East Indies, and on the last day of the +following year this privilege was granted for fifteen years, and thus +the first East India Company began. + +A small squadron of ships left the Thames in 1601 with iron, lead, +tin and presents for the Indian princes, doubled the Cape of Good +Hope on November 1, and reached Sumatra on June 5, 1602. By September +11, 1603, the flagship _Red Dragon_ anchored in the Downs, after a +most successful voyage, bringing home 1,030,000 lbs. of pepper in the +four ships. And thus the beginning of Anglo-Indian commerce started +so profitably that matters went ahead. The monopoly was extended and +prolonged, until as a fact it was not abrogated until 1833. Expedition +after expedition was sent out, until it became the normal routine; +the ships of the East India Company were a kind of bridge between +the Thames and the Orient. The Merchant Navy was thus on the way to +becoming something different from the fighting service, though it was +not until many years had passed, not until wars had ceased, privateers +and pirates had ended their activities, that the former could afford +to give up mounting guns and carrying gunners. Nineteenth century +peace thus gave a basis for separating the two types of ships and +the two kinds of personnel; and thereafter the Royal Navy and the +Mercantile Marine developed on divergent lines. But, up to that stage, +the East Indiaman differed little enough from many of her contemporary +men-of-war. Although formally the separation came earlier, it is from +after 1815 that the real separation takes place, and the amalgamation +never occurred again for a hundred years, when, temporarily, the ships +and men of the Merchant Service came to join up with the Royal Navy as +fighting units during the Great War. + +We need not follow in detail the events of the great East India +Company’s rule—by far the most extraordinary monopoly which Europe +has ever had with an overseas country. It is important, however, to +note the effect of this in stimulating shipping affairs. The Dutch and +English began to improve their ships as well they might for so long an +ocean voyage. As to the former, the picture galleries in such places as +Middelburg, and Rotterdam, and Amsterdam show what truly magnificent +craft they were, with their t’gallant sails, high poops, stern +galleries and ornate decoration. They were the embodiment of wealth. In +the first decade of the seventeenth century there was built in England +the _Trades Increase_, for the English Company’s Indian trade. She was +of about 1100 tons burthen, and was the biggest merchant ship which +had ever been built in this country. But she was really too big for +the knowledge of naval architecture then existing. Clumsy, unwieldy +and top-heavy, she got out to the East, but at Bantam, whilst she was +being careened to have her sheathing examined, she fell over on to her +side and became a total loss, the date being 1613. + +Nevertheless, shipbuilding did receive a great stimulus, and this +growing interest caused the formation of the Shipwrights Company, its +incorporation taking place in 1612; Phineas Pett, whose family for two +hundred years had been the greatest English naval architects, becoming +its first master. By this date of 1612 the yard at Blackwall, which was +to be during the next two and a half centuries so famous, was already +well established, and twenty years later almshouses were established at +Poplar for invalided petty officers of the East India Company’s ships. + +For when we think of the Merchant Service in England during the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it is almost exclusively of the +East Indiamen. It begins gradually, and becomes more important as time +goes on and the grip on the East gets tighter. The great port was +London, for it was not until the opening up of the trade with America +in 1756 that Liverpool began in any way to compete as a great shipping +centre, though actually it was not until 1815 that the Lancashire port +made great strides. Nevertheless we must not get a false impression. +The Tudor awakening had created comparatively few big ships, and +even in 1615 there were only ten craft of more than 200 tons burthen +belonging to the Port of London. Still, it was the eve of brilliant +developments, the like of which the world had never before known. +Though they could not have foreseen it, the Blackwall shipwrights were +preparing the way for the coming of the most perfect sailing ships +which the world has ever seen, or probably ever will see—the clippers +of the mid-nineteenth century. + +In 1661 Pepys goes by barge to the Blackwall yard to see the new wet +dock, the largest in England, and the “brave new merchantman _Royal +Oake_,” which was nearly ready for launching. In the following year +Evelyn refers to accompanying the Duke of York to an East India vessel +at Blackwall, and going aboard her where they drank punch and “canary +that had been carried to and brought from the Indies, which was indeed +incomparably good.” + +But before the East India Company had offices in the Blackwall yard +and superintended the building of its ships, they had a yard of their +own at Deptford. This dates from the year 1607, where they soon found +employment for five hundred carpenters, caulkers, joiners, and others. +Here there existed a wonderful organisation; large stocks of timber, +masts, yards, canvas, and other stores. There were such officials as +the ship’s husband, the clerk of the stores, the buyers, the clerk +of the yard, the master shipwright, the master pilot (who had to +survey the ships both here and at Blackwall), the boatswain-general, +treasurers, purser-general, the clerk of the cordage, the +surgeon-general, clerk of the slaughter-house (to look after the +victuals), and so on. It was a hive of great activity, and by the year +1621 they had built so many ships that the company owned 10,000 tons +of shipping. They had exported from England in their vessels £319,211 +worth of woollen goods, lead, iron, tin and other commodities, and had +brought home from the East £875,288 worth of cargoes, which were sold +in England for the immense sum of £2,044,600. The average profit made +by the first twelve voyages amounted to not less than 138 per cent. + +But after leasing the Deptford yard for twenty years, it was found to +be so costly that it swallowed up too much of the capital, which could +be employed more profitably in hiring ships. Therefore the Blackwall +yard became responsible for the building of practically all the East +Indiamen. The company went on from prosperity to wealth. In 1681 they +owned thirty-five ships of from 100 to 775 tons, and two years later a +£100 share would sell for £500. In 1667 was imported the first cargo of +tea, which in the nineteenth century was to be the means of bringing +into existence those wonderful tea-clippers. + +And now let us see something of the kind of existence which the +merchant sailor led during the seventeenth century. He and his mode +of life were regarded by the landsman as something strange, something +abnormal. Contrariwise, the sailor realised that his art was almost +beyond the landsman’s comprehension. That spirit, even in this +twentieth century, is anything but dead, and between the two avocations +there must always exist a big gulf. But we have to remember that in +the seventeenth century seafaring was still such a modern and rare +career (though yearly increasing in popularity) that he who made a +profession of it was an unusual being. “The sea language,” wrote the +seventeenth-century Sir William Monson in his _Naval Tracts_, “is not +soon learned, much less understood ... a boisterous sea and stormy +weather will make a man not bred on it so sick, that it bereaves him +of legs and stomach and courage ... when he hears the seamen cry +starboard, or port, or to bide alooff, or flat a sheet, or haul home a +cluling, he thinks he hears a barbarous speech, which he conceives not +the meaning of.” + +Similarly John Lyly, the dramatist who died in 1606, in his +_Gallathea_, gives a dialogue between a mariner and three sons of a +miller in which this difference is indicated. The landsmen will never +go to sea again, for the bread is hard and the meat salt, and the +mariner is pitied for being “pinned in a few boards, and ... within an +inch of a thing bottomless.” The mariner, however, rather delights in +showing his superiority over them. “I can shift the moon and the sun,” +he exclaims, “... the lodestone that always holdeth his nose to the +North, the two and thirty points for the wind, the wonders I see—would +make you blind. You be but boys. I fear the sea no more than a dish of +water.” He then tries to teach them the points of the compass, but they +cannot learn them. “O dullard,” he remarks in disgust, “is thy head +lighter than the wind, and thy tongue so heavy it will not wag?” + +Richard Braithwait, who wrote during the seventeenth century, published +in 1631, in his _Whimzies_, an essay on the contemporary sailor, whom +he admires for his pluck, disregard of danger and for his hardihood. He +looks upon him as a desperate, hearty good-natured fellow of dissolute +habits when ashore. “The bredth of an inch-boord is betwixt him and +drowning, yet hee swears and drinks as deeply as if hee were a fathom +from it.... Hee is most constant to his shirt, and other his seldome +wash’d linnen.... What a starveling hee is in a frosty morning, with +his Sea frocke, which seems as it were shrunke from him, and growne too +short, but it will be long enough ere hee get another.” + +The English writer Sir Thomas Overbury, who was arrested and confined +in the Tower, and died in 1613, has left behind a study of the +character of the sailor at this time. He wittily describes him as +“a pitched piece of reason, caulked and tackled, and only studied +to dispute with tempests.... A fair wind is the substance of his +creed, and fresh water the burden of his prayers.... In a storm ’tis +disputable whether the noise be more his or the elements’, and which +will first leave scolding.... His language is a new confusion, and all +his thoughts new nations. His body and his ship are both one burden. +Nor is it known who stows most wine, or rolls most—only the ship is +guided.” + +The references to life at sea in the seventeenth-century merchantmen +are not many, but here and there one comes across mention of some +ship or experience. Pepys, whilst sailing down the Thames estuary +on Sunday, April 8, 1660, writes in his diary: “We had a brave wind +all the afternoon, and overtook two merchantmen that overtook us +yesterday, going to the East Indies.” But there are two interesting +passages in English literature which show that going to sea in the +ships of this period was a terrible business. The first is found in the +autobiography of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, an English historian +and diplomatist, who describes his experience of crossing the English +Channel in a French ship in the year 1609. The second is taken from +Jonathan Swift’s famous _Gulliver’s Travels_. There is no need to ask +why fiction should be dragged into history; for Swift borrowed this +descriptive account of an East Indiaman in a storm almost word for word +from James Love’s _The Mariner’s Jewel_, and it gives us a glimpse +into the seafaring of the beginning of the eighteenth century that +bears the stamp of authenticity. And it is such peeps into the past +that are so invaluable to us in reconstructing the life led by the +rough seaman at this time, who was learning by his mistakes, risking +much by his ignorance, but doing so much for the great Merchant Service +that was to spread all over the world. + +Herbert, together with Sir Thomas Lucy returning from France, took +ship from Dieppe early in February and spent the night in the Channel +during a gale of wind. “The master of our ship,” he wrote, “lost both +the use of his compass and his reason. For, not knowing whither he was +carried by the tempest, all the help he had was by the lightnings, +which, together with thunder very frequently that night, terrified +him, yet gave the advantage sometimes to discover whether we were +upon our coast to which he thought, by the course of his glasses, we +were near approached.” That is to say, the master was anxious about +his dead reckoning, which was kept by guessing the distance run every +hour. The time was kept by means of hourly and half-hourly glasses from +Elizabethan times even to the eighteenth century aboard ship, according +to the number of times the sand ran through. + +Towards daylight the ship sighted Dover and the master made for it. +Here the local seafarers were in great numbers by the shore on the +look-out for wreckage, for the gale had blown down their own barns and +trees. But the French skipper was either a very bad seaman, or his ship +was extremely unhandy, for the craft went smack up against Dover pier +and split, whereupon the Frenchman cheerfully announced: “Mes amis, +nous sommes perdus.” Herbert, though in the toils of sea-sickness, +then emerged from his cabin, climbed part of the way up the mast +and waved his sword for help. A local six-oared boat then came off, +into which Herbert was the first to enter. Lucy was half dead with +sea-sickness, but was lifted from the cabin to the boat, and thus they +were saved. Other boats rowed off the rest of the men and the horses. +The ship, concluded Herbert, “was wholly split and cast away, insomuch +that in pity to the master, Sir Thomas Lucy and myself gave thirty +pounds towards his loss, which yet was not so great as we thought, +since the tide now ebbing, he recovered the broken parts of his ship.” + +Dean Swift, in _Gulliver’s Travels_, refers to the ship _Adventure_ +riding in the Downs at the end of June 1702. She was commanded by +Captain John Nicholas, a Cornishman, and bound for Surat. At the Cape +of Good Hope they landed for fresh water, but other reasons detained +them until the end of March. A good passage was then made till north +of Madagascar, when bad weather was encountered. The spritsail (the +square-sail set on a small mast at the end of the bowsprit) was +therefore taken in, the mizzen was handed, and the guns secured. Rather +than heave-to, the captain decided to run before the wind—“spooning” is +the technical expression—the foresail was reefed, the fore-sheet hauled +aft, the helm put hard aweather, and “the ship wore bravely.” But the +foresail became split, and the yard was hauled down. “It was a very +fierce storm; the sea broke strange and dangerous. We hauled off upon +the lanyard of the whip-staff, and helped the man at helm.” For there +was no steering wheel in use yet, and this was not introduced until +about fifty years later. The tiller from the rudder was controlled by +a vertical bar or lever, called a “whip-staff,” and the lanyards would +naturally enough be used, as it is employed to this day for assisting +the helm of sailing yachts. + +After scudding before the storm, the weather at last eased up. Then +the ship set her foresail and mainsail and hove-to, and finally set +the mizzen, main-topsail and fore-topsail, and with the wind S.W. ran +a course E.N.E. Then they “got the starboard tacks aboard” and headed +S.S.E. “We cast off our weather braces and lifts. We set in the lee +braces and hauled forward by the weather bowlines and hauled them tight +and belayed them, and hauled over the mizzen tack to windward and kept +her full-and-by as near as she could lie.” That is to say, the ship was +now trimmed to sail on a wind, the bowlines, which were connected by +bridles to the leech of the sail, being used to keep the weather edge +well hauled out tight, to make the canvas set properly. The mizzen, of +course, was still a triangular, fore and aft sail. Finally on June 3, +1703, a boy on the topmast sighted land. + +It is a little difficult in this highly specialised twentieth century +to appreciate the slight difference which existed between a merchant +ship and a man-of-war. Between the men of the Merchant Service and +those of the Navy there was thus little to choose. From the Elizabethan +days most merchant ships of any size had to be armed for their own +defence. Moreover the merchantman was as much privateer or pirate as +he was freighter. He had to be a fighting man, whatever else he might +be. Thus there was always at hand a reserve of crews which could be +“imprest” into the Navy. During the first quarter of the seventeenth +century the merchants were paying their crews thirty shillings a month, +whilst the men in the Royal ships were receiving less than half this +amount. The result was that for a time the merchant ships attracted the +best seamen. + +It was from the Merchant Service that some of the most distinguished +officers of the Royal Navy graduated. Admiral Benbow, for instance, had +been an apprentice in the Merchant Service, and was eventually given +command of a naval ship such as was usually given to a lieutenant. He +was promoted later to captain and to flag rank. This caused jealousy +and bad feeling, and the reader will remember that this Admiral, when +attacking the enemy in 1702 in the West Indies, was basely deserted +by some of his captains, but he carried on a running fight almost +single-handed for five days. + +Other names could be mentioned, too. Neither masters nor mates were +exempt from being impressed; and these rough, daring merchantmen, who +fought as hard as they drank, who despised the enemy as heartily as +they despised cowardice, were the very life-blood of the nation that +was growing up to prosperous adolescence. England was just realising +what was the meaning of the word sea. As Francis Bacon wrote in his +essay: “To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a monarchy.... +Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at +sea (which is one of the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great +Britain) is great; both because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not +merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass; and +because the wealth of both Indies seems in great part but an accessory +to the command of the seas.” + +It takes time for a nation to appreciate all that maritime progress +connotes. We in this twentieth century have seen that it required the +Great European War to enable the United States to realise this, and the +present American mercantile shipping activity and development are the +practical results of this appreciation. The Merchant Navy to a country +is the basis on which her fighting Navy is built. It is the avenue +along which her commerce must flow out and home. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MERCANTILE SUPREMACY AT SEA + + +The end of the seventeenth century saw the British Mercantile Fleet as +the world’s leading traders. The disappearance of their Spanish and +then Dutch rivals in sea commerce was brought about not by battle, but +by the steady pressure of sea-power, as in the recent European War the +continuous pressure of the Grand Fleet throttled the Germans. Just as +the Battle of Jutland failed to bring about the downfall of our late +enemies, so the defeat of the Armada did not succeed in breaking Spain; +so, too, no single battle in the Anglo-Dutch wars brought the maritime +progress of the great Dutch Republic to a dead stop. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +CAPTAIN THOMAS FORREST. + +Navigator and Surveyor, who formed in 1770 for the H.E. India Company a +new settlement at Balambangan.] + +This sea pressure having fulfilled its purpose, the English merchantmen +were able to scoop up from exhausted nations the world’s maritime +commerce; and the voyages of discovery, notably those of Dampier, +Anson and Cook, together with the enterprising penetration of the +East Indiamen, and to a smaller extent the West Indiamen (who enjoyed +the benefits of free trade), opened up fresh avenues of commerce. The +fighting fleets had opened up the oceans for the mercantile ships to +bring home riches. By the year 1688 the annual clearance outwards from +Great Britain was 191,000 tons of English shipping and 95,000 tons of +foreign shipping. In a hundred years the nation had become supreme, +simply because our forefathers, like any great business man, had +possessed the imagination to see that the ocean was the road to wealth, +and they had also not lacked the courage to put their maritime belief +to the test. + +Thus in the year 1701-1702 its Mercantile Marine consisted of 3281 +vessels of 261,222 tons, armed with 5660 guns and giving employment +afloat to 27,196 men. During the eighteenth century wet docks had to +be made both in the Thames and the Mersey, the first Marine Insurance +Company came into being, and Lloyd’s Register of Shipping was started. +The history of Lloyd’s is indicative of the progress of the Mercantile +Marine. In the seventeenth century a number of underwriters used to +meet in Edward Lloyd’s coffee-house in Tower Street for their business. +In 1692 this coffee-house was removed to Lombard Street, and then, in +1774, Lloyd’s gave up the coffee-house and went to their premises in +the Royal Exchange, where they have remained ever since. + +It is clear from Lloyd’s Register of Shipping that from 1764 to the +end of that century most of the British ships were of not more than +300 tons; but we have to bear in mind two important facts. Firstly, +the East Indian monopoly prevented competition, and therefore any +stimulus to build anything larger; and secondly, from 1775 to 1815, +with only small patches of peace, there was a long series of wars. +These hostilities naturally caused the tonnage of commercial shipping +to drop, but every time that peace was restored the figures began to +go up again; so that in 1793, when war broke out with France, Great +Britain possessed 16,079 merchant ships as compared with the 3281 at +the commencement of the century. It was therefore an amazingly live +industry, which required only a fair opportunity for its development. + +This development was, as might be expected, accurately reflected at the +Blackwall yard, in spite of the fact that the slips and shipwrights had +largely during those forty years to be employed for building men-of-war +for the Navy. By the middle of the century this yard had a wet dock, +three dry docks and a number of slips. It was the biggest private +dockyard in the country, and only the Royal yards could rival it. Here +the East Indiamen continued to be built, the direct ancestors of the +great liners of to-day. In the period 1750-1752 was here constructed +the East Indiaman _Falmouth_. She was a fine three-masted, full-rigged +ship of 668 tons burthen, measuring 108 feet 9 inches on the keel, and +having a beam of 34 feet. She carried topsails and t’gallant sails and, +with her large figure-head and rather wasteful, ornate design at bow +and stern, maintained her close connection with the ship architecture +of the seventeenth century. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +BRUNSWICK DOCK, BLACKWALL. + +Built especially for the use of the H.E. India Company’s ships, and +begun in 1789. It could accommodate sixty of these vessels.] + +During the next thirteen years were launched such East Indiamen as the +642-ton _Osterley_, the 642-ton _Tilbury_, the _Valentine_ and _Ajax_, +each of 655 tons. In 1768 no fewer than five such ships of 670 tons +were constructed and fitted out, and then, a couple of years later, +ships of 700 tons began to be built. The East India Company used to +charter such ships practically as long as they were seaworthy; and +Blackwall in those days was able to do everything that the monopolists +required; for here not only were the ships built, rigged and laid +up, but ashore the houses were the homes of seafaring families, +shipwrights, caulkers and every trade concerned in the building of +these craft. And then in 1789 was launched from this yard the big +1612-ton _Bombay Castle_, a powerful vessel of seventy-four guns, which +the East India Company presented to George III. There is a picture +by Dodd which shows as many as four other big ships on the slips at +this time, together with four or five similar craft fitting out in +the stream. It is comparable only to the Clyde in the height of its +twentieth century shipbuilding. + +With the increase in the number of these ships came, of course, the +greater need for docks where the vessels could lie in tiers in safety +and convenience; so in 1789 the Brunswick Basin was begun in the east +end of the Blackwall yard. Two years later the first ship was masted +here. This was the _Lord Macartney_, and you may guess of the keenness +and smartness of the men when you learn that her bowsprit and all her +masts were raised and fixed in the remarkable time of three hours and +forty minutes. To-day, with all the modern appliances of cranes and +labour-saving devices, this record is worth noting. Two years later was +launched from this yard the famous East Indiaman _Warren Hastings_, +which, as will be seen presently, was destined to become famous for her +achievement in 1806. + +These East Indiamen, the backbone and beauty of the British Marine, +were frigate-built, and stately rather than fast sailers, badly +designed, requiring much ballast, and essentially but little +improved since the sixteenth century. For during the latter part of +the eighteenth century it was the French who were the finest naval +architects. But two names become associated with the history of this +yard before the close of the eighteenth century, and it is with these +two families that the golden age of the sailing ship will ever be +remembered. In another chapter we shall see how much the Wigrams and +Greens did to make the British ships unique in the annals of sail. It +is therefore worth mentioning that in the year 1764 comes the first +mention of Robert Wigram. His father had been master of a privateer. +After his death the young Robert came to London and was apprenticed +to a surgeon. Two years later Wigram took his surgeon’s diploma and +then sailed in that capacity in one of the East India Company’s ships. +This was the _Admiral Watson_. Subsequently he also served in the +_Duke of Richmond_, but about 1770, after acquiring valuable knowledge +of the Eastern trade, he became a merchant, and later one of the +proprietors of this yard, his son William afterwards becoming one of +the directors of the East India Company. It was in 1782 that George +Green was apprenticed to the yard, and owing to his ability and other +circumstances, was destined also to become later one of the partners. +It is interesting also to mention that young Wigram, during his voyage +in the _Admiral Watson_, formed a friendship with the second officer, +whose name was W. T. Money. We thus see the first association of those +three names, Money, Wigram and Green, which are inseparable from the +finest fleet of sailing ships in its most historic period. + +But the time has not arrived to discuss the Victorian ships. The +Mercantile Marine of the eighteenth and the first part of the +nineteenth century had first to go through most trying times before +the blessings of permanent peace should arrive. We who are now alive +have not forgotten that for four years during the recent Great War +the merchant shipping of the Allies was subject to the attacks of our +enemies. But in the past it was for forty years, as we have already +seen, the British mercantile vessels had to endure this danger, and it +is our duty to observe how our seafaring forefathers carried on during +those trying times. The fighting spirit was by no means confined to the +Navy, and even apart from those forty years, there hardly seemed a long +period when the trading ship could proceed upon her lawful occasions +without fear of being attacked. If it was not a pirate, it was a +privateer or a warship of some kind. But the merchantman still went +about her business all the same, undaunted and undismayed. + +We are familiar with ancient works on naval tactics, but there is in +the British Museum a rare and somewhat damaged volume, printed in +the year 1702, called _The Art of Seafighting_, written by a retired +merchant mariner named Robert Park of Ipswich. It was undertaken on +behalf of the Merchant Service at a time when the privateers were so +active. Park was a “whole-hogger,” who knew no difference between +foolhardiness and courage. He was a real “hard-case” sailorman, typical +of his time, who had no use for luxury, but was a firm believer in +trade and liberty. In this volume he tells his readers how to prepare +the ship for close-fighting, by making the bulkheads musket-proof, +and so on. He tells them how a ship can be worked under fire without +showing a man on deck, gives valuable hints on gunnery and the +importance of sobriety in the duties of a gunner. In the third part of +the book he gives the very same advice which the British Admiralty in +the recent war used to issue to the steamship captains. Park sensibly +reminds his brother seamen that they are merchantmen, that they are +sent to sea not to fight, but to get their cargoes to port, and if +possible they are to avoid engagement. Nevertheless it was a wicked +crime to leave an attacked consort to become a prey to the enemy. + +He gives seamanlike hints on how a three-masted ship should escape. He +shows the ship stations and duties when preparing for battle, where the +master is to take up his position, where the gunner is to be stationed, +what the mate and the carpenter are to be doing. He gives the best +tactics with regard to the enemy’s boarding, and even discourses on the +handling of a fleet of merchantmen, incidentally maintaining that for +them the weather-gauge is not usually advantageous. He prefers having +a fleet in double, treble or even quadruple line, and gives diagrams. +It is a quaint book, of human as well as practical interest, and well +indicates the fine spirit of our eighteenth century merchantmen. Those +who read it must have found it extraordinarily useful. + +It may be as well, before proceeding further, to make quite clear the +meaning of the two expressions “privateer” and “Letter of Marque.” +Legally there was no difference, but in practice a privateer was a +vessel which took out a licence for the purpose of cruising against +the enemy’s merchant ships. In order to send the prizes into port +she necessarily carried a large crew. A “Letter of Marque” was a +merchant ship with a cargo bound for her port in the usual manner, +but possessing this licence which exempted her from convoy, nominally +protected her crew from being impressed, and gave her the right to +attack an enemy merchantman without having to wait until the latter +attacked her. In a word, she was primarily a merchantman, whereas the +privateer was a fighting merchant cruiser. + +But these British merchant captains were as clever as they were brave. +Take the following incident, which occurred at the end of January +1797 off the east end of Java. Here the French Rear-Admiral Sercey, +with a squadron of six frigates, was at sea when five homeward-bound +British East Indiamen came in sight. These five were all richly laden, +and their first duty was certainly to get their cargoes to England +and fight only if inevitable. The names of the British ships were the +_Woodford_, _Ocean_, _Taunton Castle_, _Canton_ and the _Boddam_. These +five were in charge of the senior officer, Captain Charles Lennox. The +latter took the situation in at once, and realised that it would be +useless to run away. Moreover the mere act of so doing would indicate +the inferiority of his squadron; so he did a very smart thing. He +hoisted the flag of Rear-Admiral Rainier at the mizzen, and made the +other four ships hoist pendants and ensigns as if they were men-of-war. +Furthermore, in order to maintain this gigantic piece of bluff, he +actually detached two of his ships to give chase and reconnoitre the +French squadron, and as these daring craft approached the _Cybèle_, the +latter crowded on sail to join her consorts and made the signal at her +masthead: “L’ennemi est supérieur aux forces Françaises.” Thereupon the +French Admiral also made sail. He certainly thought it curious that +when another of his frigates, the _Forte_, carried away her maintopmast +the British did not continue the chase, but the captain of _Cybèle_ +hailed him, whilst passing, that he had made out the enemy to consist +of two line-of-battle ships and four frigates! Admiral Sercey therefore +continued his retreat, and the East Indiamen were never engaged. It was +not till a month later that he realised how he had been fooled. + +The mere fact that a French naval officer should have taken East +Indiamen for line-of-battle ships is at once a proof of the stateliness +and formidable appearance which the company’s ships possessed. It shows +the great similarity which existed at that time between the ships of +war and of commerce. But finer even than this exploit was the following +brilliant achievement, which is one of the brightest incidents in the +whole story of the Merchant Service. It was on January 31, 1804, that +sixteen East Indiamen set forth from Canton for Europe. They were all +of a size of from 1200 to 1500 tons register, their names being the +_Earl Camden_, _Warley_, _Alfred_, _Royal George_, _Coutts_, _Wexford_, +_Ganges_, _Exeter_, _Earl of Abergavenny_, _Henry Addington_, _Bombay +Castle_, _Cumberland_, _Hope_, _Dorsetshire_, _Warren Hastings_, and +_Ocean_. The senior officer present was Captain Nathaniel Dance, in the +_Earl Camden_, and so was Commodore of all these ships. But it was a +fleet rather than a squadron, for, in addition to the above sixteen, +forty more vessels were also put under his charge to convoy them as far +as their courses remained the same. A convoy of forty sailing ships! +What a magnificent sight they presented, most of them carrying royals +and staysails, and the massive hulls with their stern galleries and +ornate figure-heads and painted ports heeling over gracefully to the +wind! + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN HENRY WILSON, + + A commanding officer in the H.E. India Company, who was wrecked in + the company’s ship “Antelope.” About 1788. + +CAPTAIN HON. RICHARD WALPOLE, + +Who commanded the H.E. India Company’s ship “New Houghton.” About 1805. + +COMMODORE SIR NATHANIEL DANCE, 1804. + +A very gallant mercantile officer. (See p. 98.) + +SIR WILLIAM JAMES, BART., + + Commodore in the H.E. India Company, Chairman of the Court of + Directors, etc. About 1805. + +(_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._)] + +For Commodore Dance it was a most responsible task. This fleet was +carrying many thousand pounds’ worth of goods. There was the danger of +pirates and the possibility of falling in with the French men-of-war; +and there was the ever-present danger of collision. But those were +the days of seamanship, and where would you find to-day any mercantile +or naval officer who could handle a fleet of forty sail? We know +all too well how difficult it was to handle much smaller convoys of +steamships during the recent war; and with engines it is mere child’s +play compared with dependence on wind and sail. To Commodore Dance, +then, I suggest the greatest compliment is due for his leadership and +tactical seamanship alone. But that was not all. + +Through night and day for a fortnight he kept his fleet under way +without mishap, and then at daybreak one February day when the fleet +was E.N.E. of Pulo-Auro, which was visible, the _Royal George_ made +a signal that she had sighted four strange sail to the south-west. +Commodore Dance therefore signalled the _Alfred_, _Royal George_, +_Bombay Castle_ and _Hope_ to go down and examine them. It happened +that in the Commodore’s ship there was a passenger named Lieutenant +Robert Fowler, R.N., lately in command of a ship that had been wrecked. +He now offered to go in the fast-sailing brig _Ganges_, which was +in the convoy. The Commodore assented, and she went away also to +examine the strange vessels. Before long the look-out ships signalled +that the strangers were actually a French squadron consisting of a +line-of-battle ship, three frigates and a brig. + +At 1 p.m. the British Commodore signalled his scouts to return, and +formed the line of battle in close order. Admiral Linois, who was in +command of the French squadron, as soon as he could fetch in the wake +of the East Indiamen, put about. The Commodore expected his rear to be +attacked, but at nightfall the enemy, preferring a daylight action, +hauled close to the wind. The British ships lay-to all night, the men +at their quarters, ready for action, and at daybreak the enemy were +seen also lying-to, but were three miles to windward. Both forces +now hoisted their colours, and as the whole of the China fleet had +been only recently painted, they presented a wonderful sight with +their clouds of canvas. Admiral Linois’ flag was in the 74-gun ship +_Marengo_, his other units being the 40-gun frigate _Belle-Poule_, +the 36-gun frigate _Sémillante_, the 22-gun _Berceau_, and the 16-gun +_Aventurier_. It was no chance meeting, for the French Admiral was +on the look-out for this China fleet, of whose strength and time of +departure he had been informed. + +At 9 a.m., as the enemy showed no intention of engaging, Dance formed +the order of sailing and continued his course, his fleet being under +easy sail on the starboard tack; whereupon the French filled and edged +towards the merchantmen. Four hours later, as it was obvious that +Linois was trying to cut off the rear of the fleet, Dance signalled +his fleet to tack in succession, bear down in line ahead, and engage +on arriving abreast of the enemy. This manœuvre was perfectly carried +out, the _Royal George_ leading, all of them in close order and under +t’gallant sails.[4] At 1.15 p.m. Linois opened fire upon the _Royal +George_ and leading ships, but this was returned in a very determined +manner. For about three-quarters of an hour the two enemies blazed +away at each other. The brunt was borne by the _Royal George_, but the +_Ganges_, _Earl Camden_, _Warley_ and _Alfred_ were all hotly engaged. +These five ships gave the French such a hot time that by two o’clock +_Marengo_ and her consorts ceased firing, hauled their wind, broke +off the engagement and stood away under all sail to the eastward. The +French warships had been beaten by British merchantmen and especially +by clever tactics. But that was not all. + +Dance now made the signal for a general chase, and for two hours these +merchant ships chased the warships; and then, remembering that his +first duty was to his ships and their valuable cargoes, Dance feared +that further pursuit would take his fleet too far from the mouth of the +Malacca Straits, so ordered his fleet to tack, and eventually entered +the straits. The _Royal George_ had one man killed, one wounded, and +she received some shot holes in her hull and sails; the other British +ships were practically untouched. The sixteen East Indiamen carried +from thirty to thirty-six guns each, though not one of these ships was +armed better than the _Aventurier_, and this point is to be remembered, +that a warship is always more or less ready to fight, whereas these +East Indiamen were full of cargo and the decks were greatly lumbered. +The Commodore by his determination and promptitude had saved the whole +fleet, and it is to the credit of these sixteen merchantmen that their +smart appearance, the regularity of their manœuvres, and their bold +advance made the French Admiral wonder whether, after all, these were +not British men-of-war escorting the others. + +For this remarkable victory the Commodore, officers and crews were +liberally rewarded. The Patriotic Fund Committee, which had originated +in Lloyd’s coffee-house in 1803, presented the Commodore with a sword +of the value of £100 and a silver vase of the same worth. Captain +Timmins of the _Royal George_ also received a sword, as did the other +captains and Lieutenant Fowler. The directors of the East India Company +set aside about £50,000, and rewarded their Commodore with 2000 guineas +and a piece of plate valued at 200 guineas. Captain Timmins received +1000 guineas and plate, the other captains receiving 500 guineas each +and a piece of plate. The chief officers each received 150 guineas, the +second officers 125 guineas, and so on through the ship, each seaman +receiving six guineas. + +Dance was given also £5000 by the Bombay Insurance Society. He was +offered a baronetcy, but declined it and accepted a knighthood, and +thus concludes one of the finest incidents in the history of the +Merchant Service. This action showed that the ships and men were not +merely magnificent for their own particular job, but that they could +tackle any emergency that came along. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] For list of an East Indiaman’s sails, see Appendix. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MIGHTY MERCHANTMEN + + +Most of the vessels in this fleet of East Indiamen had been built at +the Blackwall yard, or at least refitted there. In the year 1789 the +East India Docks were brought into being, or rather begun, for they +were not opened for another couple of years. This wet dock had become +very necessary, for the East Indiamen had no accommodation provided +for them now that they had become so big. And as long as they lay out +in the river a good deal of their valuable cargoes was subject to +pilfering. A joint-stock company was formed with a capital of £200,000, +and it was decided that the hatches of every ship arriving from either +India or China should be locked down before the ship reached Gravesend, +and that the captain and one officer should remain on board until the +ship was moored in the docks and the keys of the hatches handed over to +an officer of the East India Company. + +At the beginning of the nineteenth century the price of building these +ships was £13 12_s._ 6_d._ a ton. By 1803 it had gone up to £19. Five +years later there were ten of these ships lost; in fact the first +decade of the new century was unfortunate generally. There were losses +owing to disasters at sea, and the French war paralysed the Indian +trade. But the Blackwall yard was kept busy, and in 1813 it built ten +frigates for the British Government of from 1078 to 1571 tons, owing +to the lessons which had been learnt from the American frigates. Having +built so many East Indiamen, this mercantile yard was eminently fitted +for constructing such craft. And now that the firm consisted of Sir +Robert Wigram, George Green, Money Wigram and Henry Loftus Wigram, we +can see the time approaching when the famous Blackwall frigates were to +make their appearance, though we shall not come to them immediately. + +In 1814 was launched for the East India Company the 1263-ton _Lady +Melville_, and the firm of Wigrams & Greens was now making a great +deal of money. Three years later came the fine 1325-ton _Waterloo_. +The only other port in the kingdom that in any way rivalled London was +Liverpool. In 1751 there were only 220 ships belonging to Liverpool, +but the opening of the American trade five years later gave it a great +impetus. Then came those years of war which checked this, but on the +resumption of peace in 1815 the Mercantile Marine received a wonderful +impetus which has culminated in the magnificent Atlantic liners of +to-day. There was the great industrial awakening in Yorkshire and +Lancashire, a big trade was to be built up with America, and the haven +of the Mersey was geographically suitable for the exports and imports. +Britain was supreme at sea, foreign shipping had almost disappeared, +the demand for tonnage was increasing rapidly, and the Mercantile +Marine was very much encouraged. In fact, from 1815 to 1860 the service +passed through the most popular days of its long career. + +The first thirty years of the nineteenth century, just before the +Indian monopoly was lost, saw the East India Company ships at their +very best. We have spoken of the “Merchant Service” as a generic term, +for convenience; but, strictly speaking, it pertained to the service +in the ships of the East India Company, to distinguish it from service +in the Free Traders and the Royal Navy. During this time to be able +to get into the company’s service was about as good as a commission +in the Navy. The ships themselves were as fine as any naval corvette, +with similar discipline and similar personnel. Run like men-of-war, +owned by a very ancient and wealthy company of unique character, the +officers were of a social status equal to their cousins and brothers +in His Majesty’s vessels. It was only when this old monopoly was taken +away, and the romantic mixture of trade and sea-adventure gave way to +keen competition in the race for wealth, that ships, officers, men and +methods became of a different standard for a time. But this is always +excepting the famous Blackwall frigates, which were destined to keep up +the fine traditions of the old Indiamen. + +An officer in the East India Company was made to realise that he was +being honoured to be allowed to enter such a service. The captains +and first four officers were always sworn in before being allowed to +proceed to duty on board. They enjoyed the very lucrative privilege +of being able to participate in the company’s monopoly. The captain +of a 755-ton ship and upwards, for instance, was allowed as much as +fifty-six tons for his private trade, and he could even do better than +this by using as dunnage bamboos which could be sold in London. From +China he could bring home 9336 lbs. Therefore, although his pay was +only £10 a month—and we must not forget that a sovereign in those days +was worth very much more than it is to-day—the captain was able to +make very nice profits. The officers were also allowed a liberal amount +of wine, beer, butter, cheese, spirits and groceries. No wonder that an +officer was so often able to retire after a very few voyages and buy a +ship for himself. + +The 1200-ton East Indiaman carried a captain, six mates, surgeon, +purser, boatswain-gunner, master-at-arms, midshipmen, caulker, cooper, +cooks, carpenters, quartermasters, sailmaker, armourer, butcher, baker, +poulterer, officers’ servants, stewards; the crew numbering a hundred +and thirty. No one could become captain unless he had voyaged to and +from India or China as chief or second mate. These officers were better +seamen than navigators, but navigation was still crude and somewhat +unscientific in those days. The full uniform of the captain was a fine +blue coat with black Genoa velvet round the cuffs, black velvet lapels, +black velvet panteen cape. The gilt buttons bore the company’s crest. +Whenever officers appeared before the Court of Directors they were +compelled to wear full uniform, but undress uniform when appearing +before the Committee. + +Strict instructions were given to the captain that his new hands were +to wear the clothes provided by the company. The pay of the “foremast +men” was £2 5_s._ a month, but in addition to this they were entitled +to a pension from what was known as the Poplar Fund. Any captain, +officer or man who had served aboard these ships for eight years and +had regularly contributed to the fund was entitled to a pension. The +size of the pension was based on the amount of capital which an officer +possessed. Thus, if a captain said he was not worth £2500, or £125 a +year, he received a pension of £100. Allowances were made to the widows +and orphans of those who had served the company for seven years, and if +a man had been wounded or maimed so as to be incapable of further sea +service he was qualified for a pension even if he had not served eight +years. + +We mentioned some time back the fine East Indiaman _Warren Hastings_. +In the engagement which is to be described she lost her purser and six +men, and thirteen were wounded, including her chief, third and sixth +officers and surgeon’s mate. Therefore, although these were really +merchant ships, built to carry cargoes, with neither the facilities nor +the crew of a man-of-war, yet there was always the possibility of the +personnel being killed or disabled for life. In the case of the _Warren +Hastings_, extra special trouble had been taken to enable her to +defend herself against any French frigate she might meet. She mounted +twenty-six 18-pdrs. on her main or lower deck, fourteen on her upper +deck, and four 12-pdrs. on her poop. She left England in February 1805 +and reached China, then left again for home, but in a less suitable +condition of defence; for of her main-deck ports four had been caulked +up so as to give space for a storeroom, and the four guns had been +placed in the hold. Of her crew, forty Chinamen remained at Canton, and +a British man-of-war had pressed eighteen of her English seamen. Four +of her upper deck guns had also been stowed below. She therefore now +mounted only thirty-six guns. + +It was on June 21 at 7.30 a.m., when the ship was in Lat. 26° 13’ S., +Long. 56° 45’ E. that _Warren Hastings_, steering W. by S. before a +strong breeze from N.E. by E., under a press of sail, sighted to the +south-west a strange ship under treble-reefed topsails and courses. +This was the French 40-gun frigate _Piémontaise_, 1093 tons, with a +crew of 385, and able to fire a broadside of twenty-three guns, against +the _Warren Hastings_’ eighteen. The latter had a tonnage of 1856, but +a crew of only 138. The Frenchman had twenty-eight 18-pdrs. on her +main deck. She also carried eighteen other guns on her quarter-deck, +a total of forty-six carriage-guns. But she also carried swivels and +musketoons in her tops and along her gunwales. On each fore and main +yard-arm there was a tripod to contain a 5-cwt. shell, so that if she +got alongside her enemy its fusee could be lit by a man lying out on +the yard, and it would then be allowed to fall on the enemy’s deck, and +after its explosion the French would be able to rush on board. It was +thus in idea a revival of mediævalism. The historian James even went so +far as to refer to the Frenchmen as being “armed more like assassins +than men-of-war’s men; each having, beside the usual boarding weapons, +a poniard struck through the button-holes of his jacket.” + +Thus, in every respect except tonnage the East Indiaman was a more +powerful vessel, and the preliminary tactics are interesting. At +9 a.m., when the Indiaman was well on her weather-quarter, the +Frenchman shook out the reefs from her topsails and stood towards the +merchantman, who held on her course. Half an hour later the frigate set +her t’gallant sails and stuns’ls, and at 10 a.m. hoisted the British +blue ensign and pendant. There was nothing wrong in this _ruse de +guerre_, and often during the war of 1914-1918 British ships hoisted +neutral colours _before_ opening fire on German submarines. _Warren +Hastings_ suspected the frigate was not a British man-of-war, but +hoisted her colours and made her private signal. For, in order that +East Indiamen might be able to make themselves known on the high seas +to British men-of-war, a special code of signals was always arranged by +the Admiralty during war-time. This code was sent sealed to the Secret +Committee of the company and then handed over to the commanding officer +of each ship. + +The Frenchman took no notice of the signals, continued rapidly to +approach, so that at 11 a.m. the Indiaman shortened sail and cleared +for action: it was quite obvious now what was going to happen. At noon +the frigate took in her stuns’ls, staysails and mainsail, and then +hauled down British colours and hoisted French. After opening fire and +disabling part of the Indiaman’s rigging, the Frenchman again attacked, +this time killing and wounding several of the merchantman’s crew, +badly damaging the foremast, cutting away all the foreshrouds on the +port side and the ensign. The latter was quickly hoisted again at the +maintopgallant masthead. + +A third attack followed, during which the _Warren Hastings_’ foremast +was finally crippled. Thus, owing to the wind and heavy sea, the latter +could carry sail on only her main and mizzen masts, and now opened +fire. A hot engagement followed, and unfortunately her mainmast was +now damaged as well as her standing and running rigging, besides the +further loss of men killed and wounded. The fifth attack found her with +only the main topsail set, and the enemy poured in a terrible fire, +which knocked the spanker boom into splinters and carried away the +mizzen-mast, which, falling forward, disabled every remaining effective +gun on the upper deck. Troubles came not singly, for the lower deck +was on fire, the rudder was rendered useless, and whilst the surgeon +was operating, a shell entered and destroyed all his instruments. For +four hours and a half the Indiaman had sought to defend herself, but +in spite of the zeal and perseverance of her officers and men she was +compelled in her crippled state to lower her colours. + +Then, being thoroughly unmanageable, the Indiaman, with the heavy sea +running, happened to fall off, and crashed alongside the _Piémontaise_, +who was to leeward. Thereupon a number of Frenchmen leapt aboard the +merchantman with daggers and threatened to kill the lot, dragged the +captain about the ship and accused him of having tried to ram the +frigate so as to cripple her masts; and then stabbed the captain, +whereupon he fainted through loss of blood. The second officer, +surgeon, and a midshipman and boatswain’s mate were similarly stabbed. +Presently this fury died down, the Frenchman took the Englishman in tow +and both arrived at the Isle of France on July 4. + +Thus, life in these merchant ships, although well rewarded, was at any +time during those long years of hostilities liable suddenly to become +most exciting. Ships and men were sent to the bottom or taken captive, +but the service went on. Lest the reader should imagine these incidents +isolated events, let the following be related. On May 2, 1809, a small +squadron of homeward-bound Indiamen had cleared the Sandheads of Bengal +River, escorted by H.M. sloop _Victor_. After three weeks the latter, +in dark and squally weather of the night of the 24th, parted company. +By the 30th, owing to stress of weather, two ships had left the convoy, +and there now remained only the _Streatham_, _Europe_ and _Lord Keith_ +in company. The first two were 820-ton craft; the third was a vessel of +600 tons. The first two carried thirty guns apiece; the _Lord Keith_ +had not more than twelve. + +At five-thirty on the morning of May 31, when in Lat. 9° 15’ N., Long. +90° 30’ E., these three were on the starboard tack with the wind S.W. +by S. when a strange ship was seen seven miles off to the west of +south. This was the French 40-gun frigate _Caroline_, which mounted +forty-six guns in addition to her swivels. She had been cruising off +the Sandheads and had captured a few ships. Subsequently she had +learned from an American ship, the _Silenus_, which had sailed from +the Sandheads, of the number and probable route of the Indiamen. +But when first sighted the _Caroline_ was taken by the Indiamen for +the _Victor_. _Streatham_, being the senior ship, made the private +signal about 6 a.m., but having got no answer from the Frenchman, +signalled the other two to form into line, _Lord Keith_ leading, +followed by _Streatham_ and _Europe_, but the two last mentioned were a +considerable distance apart. Half an hour later the _Caroline_ hoisted +colours and attacked _Europe_, who quickly returned the fire. At the +end of half an hour the latter was disabled. Most of her guns were +put out of action, yards, foremast, sails and rigging cut to pieces +and hull damaged in several places. And then the enemy raked her from +forward and proceeded to deal with _Streatham_, which by eight o’clock +was so utterly crippled that she had to lower colours. Meanwhile _Lord +Keith_ and _Europe_ had been firing at _Caroline_, who now recommenced +the action with the last mentioned. Presently _Europe_ closed +_Streatham_, but on learning that the latter had surrendered, and that +_Lord Keith_ had escaped, running before the wind, also determined to +up helm. Then _Caroline_, after securing _Streatham_, went in chase +and captured _Europe_. On account of the leaking condition which the +two prizes were now in, it took three days to get them in a seaworthy +condition, but on July 22, with their valuable cargoes, they were +brought by _Caroline_ and anchored in the Bay of St. Paul, Isle of +Bourbon. It had been a heavy loss to the East India Company, though the +gallant merchant captains, with their ill-armed and badly-manned ships +(the crews consisting partly of cowardly Portuguese and lascars), had +done all that was possible. The one consoling feature was that _Lord +Keith_ managed to get right away, and actually arrived safely back in +English waters. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +A CONVOY OF EAST INDIAMEN. + +H.E. India Company’s ship “Inglis” leaving St. Helena in July 1830, +with H.M. Frigate “Ariadne” and the H E. India Company’s ships +“Windsor,” “Waterloo,” “Scaleby Castle,” “General Kyd,” “Farquharson” +and “Lowther Castle.”] + +Similarly on July 3, 1810, three outward-bound Indiamen, the _Ceylon_, +_Windham_ and _Astell_, each of them of 800 tons, were about thirty +miles west of the island of Mayotta on a northerly course with a fresh +S.S.E. breeze when three ships were sighted close-hauled on the port +tack. These were the two French frigates _Bellone_, _Minerve_, and the +recaptured ship-corvette _Victor_, about nine miles distant, and it was +about six o’clock, just as the day was dawning. Half an hour later the +senior Indiaman _Ceylon_ made the private signal, and, as no answer +was returned, the merchant ships prepared for action. Presently, as +_Astell_ signalled she was overpressed, the other two shortened sail. +Captain Meriton made the following signal from _Ceylon_: “As we cannot +get away, I think we had better go under easy sail, and bring them to +action before dark.” To this _Astell_ replied: “Certainly.” _Windham_ +answered: “If we make all sail and get into smooth water under the +land, we can engage to more advantage.” + +The wind increased so much that the Indiamen were compelled to +heave-to, and took in the third reef of their topsails. It was not an +ideal day for an engagement, as the ships heeled over so that they +could not keep open their lower-deck ports. Captain Meriton formed +his ships in line abreast, _Ceylon_ in the centre, and at 2.15 p.m. +_Minerve_ opened fire on _Windham_ and _Ceylon_. There was a heavy sea +running and the action became general. During the afternoon Captain +Hay of _Astell_ was severely wounded, and the command was taken over +by the chief mate. _Windham_ had her sails and rigging considerably +damaged, and about 4.30 p.m. a temporary lull occurred, when _Minerve_ +carried away her main and mizzen topmasts. And then Captain Meriton was +wounded, so the command of _Ceylon_ devolved on her chief mate, who a +few minutes afterwards was himself wounded and was succeeded by the +second mate. This ship had received great punishment throughout the +engagement: her masts, sails and rigging were badly damaged, many of +her guns disabled, her hull so injured that she was making three feet +of water an hour; six of her people were killed and twenty-one wounded. +Therefore before half-past seven she hauled down her colours and was +taken prize. _Astell_, already much injured, put out her lights, made +sail and escaped during the extreme darkness of the night. _Windham_ +was now left alone, and finding that she was too damaged to make sail, +continued the action to help _Astell’s_ escape, and then hauled down +her colours and was taken captive. + +The captains, officers and men had fought very gallantly against the +French, who were in superior force, and the East India Company, who +always could afford to treat their servants handsomely, awarded each of +the three captains the sum of £500, with a fine reward for the officers +and men. On Captain Hay of the _Astell_ the company also settled a +pension of £460 a year, and distributed £2000 among the officers and +crew. Furthermore, the Admiralty, to show their appreciation of the +ship’s gallantry, granted to the crew a protection from impressment +for three years. One of the men, Andrew Peters, had bravely nailed the +pendant to the maintop masthead, and having done so was killed while +descending the rigging. + +It is fine to read of the resource, the able seamanship and great +gallantry of these wonderful old ships right through two centuries +until well into a third. But there was a new era coming, and the +final link with Tudor romance and mediæval shipping ideas was just +about to be severed. Looking back on events, it seems to us moderns +perfectly amazing that the East India Company should have enjoyed +so rich and enormous a monopoly so long, and in the year 1814 they +lost this privilege so far as India was concerned. The result was +that a new impetus was given to shipbuilding and shipowning, and the +element of competition was introduced with free trade and no favour. +In the task of making the Mercantile Marine of Britain such a solid, +dignified, stately and honourable service for all those years the +company did much; nor is this influence by any means dead, for it set a +high standard for subsequent independent shipowners to follow, and it +permeates the big shipping lines of to-day. What the Orient had meant +in a small way to the Tudor and Stuart seamen and merchants, it was to +mean on a much bigger scale to the traders of the nineteenth century, +and the wealth of Great Britain was to benefit thereby. + +From 1814 the owners of the Blackwall yard began to build East Indiamen +for themselves to own and manage. In 1824 they built the _Carn Brae +Castle_, 570 tons, which was the first ship expressly built for the +passenger trade to Calcutta, and the finest ship of her day. She was +lost rather unnecessarily by the officer of the watch allowing her to +stand too close into Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, one day when the +captain and passengers were at dinner. In that same year Mr. Green had +purchased the _Sir Edward Paget_, which was the first of the well-known +passenger ships to India and Australia. She was elaborately fitted and +made quite a sensation. She was commanded by Captain Geary, R.N., and +in this connection the following true anecdote is recorded. The house +flag which she wore was a white ground with a red St. George’s cross +through the centre. One day, after arrival at Spithead, the Admiral at +Portsmouth sent his lieutenant off to inquire what ship was wearing an +admiral’s flag, and on learning that she was a merchant ship, at once +ordered it to be hauled down. A blue handkerchief was then sown on the +centre of the flag, and as this satisfied the lieutenant it was allowed +to be hoisted again, and continued to be the distinguishing flag of the +Wigram and Green ships until, some years later, the partnership in the +firm was dissolved. + +After this ship returned to Blackwall from her first voyage, Mr. +Green proceeded on board to make his usual inspection, and, much to +his dismay, was received with manned yards, with a salute, and the +ship’s band playing “The Conquering Hero.” But the _Sir Edward Paget_ +was not a man-of-war and Mr. Green was not an admiral; and it was all +very fine, but not suitable. He resented this kind of reception, and +the general man-of-war appearance everywhere on board so astonished +him, that he was not surprised also to find that when the accounts of +the voyage were balanced the style was not financially profitable. The +result was that a new captain came to the ship and there was a new set +of regulations before she went on her second voyage. + +In 1825 a couple of 1325-ton ships were launched by the yard, and here +we get the final resemblance to the ships of the Caroline period, for +the figure-head, poop, decorations and so on have been considerably +modified. By the year 1830 the firm had ceased to build any more +vessels to be employed by the East India Company; for although that +corporation had lost its Indian monopoly, as already stated, it still +retained a like privilege in regard to China. But the public mind was +opposed to this being continued; in 1832 Parliament had to face the +question, and in April of 1834 the company lost its commercial charter +for ever. But, seeing this revolution was approaching, individual +firms had in the meantime been preparing to compete in this Eastern +trade. Not merely did the Greens and Wigrams from 1830 build ships for +themselves, but they ordered them from the Tyne firm of T. & W. Smith, +and this firm also began to own East Indiamen themselves in competition +with the Greens and Wigrams. + +In 1831 the Blackwall firm consisted of George Green, Money Wigram, +Henry Loftus Wigram, Richard Green and Henry Green, but they were to +pursue a strange policy, which, if good for the Mercantile Marine, was +destined to ruin the firm. The owners of the Blackwall yard began to +build ships not for the firm, but for individual members of the firm—so +many for the Green family and so many for the Wigrams, but especially +for the former. Thus it came about that a Green fleet competed with +a Wigram fleet, whilst by the year 1841 the ships owned by the firm +itself numbered only two. Finally in 1843 the partnership was dissolved. + +But in 1832 they launched the 577-ton _London_ for Money Wigram, and +this was the real pioneer of the celebrated Blackwall frigates of which +we shall speak in a later chapter. We thus enter on that last stage of +ship development which was to precede the golden age of the sailing +ship, when the clippers made eternal fame for themselves. This yard +was still the biggest private concern in Europe, though Liverpool as +a great port was now going ahead. The beginning of the American War +in 1812 had given it a serious set-back, but after peace came in 1814 +there was a new era as well for the Atlantic shipping as for the East. +For America was going ahead. She had shown that she knew how to build +during the war frigates of an improved kind, and in peace she was now +producing better-designed merchantmen than ourselves. + +In 1816 was inaugurated the famous Black Ball Line of New York packets, +which were the precursors of the present-day Atlantic liners. These +Black Ball liners were full-rigged ships of from 300 to 500 tons +register, with full bodies and bluff bows, and yet they averaged +at first only twenty-three days on the outward voyage to Liverpool +and forty-three days homeward-bound. This was the only means of +communication in those days between America and Liverpool, and in 1836 +was started the Dramatic Line, consisting of 700-ton sailing ships. The +world’s trade was increasing, industrialism was prospering, the markets +of the whole world were now open to all, and there was a long spell of +peace ahead. Transatlantic shipping was encouraged so that these packet +ships increased in tonnage, and in 1846 the 1400-ton _New World_ was +built, being then the largest sailing ship in the world. Other famous +vessels were the _Isaac Webb_, _Albert Webb_ and _Guy Mannering_. +The ships of these two lines were exceedingly fine craft, and made +remarkable passages across to England, the Black Ball liners eventually +averaging twenty-one days and the Dramatic liners twenty and a half +days. The nineteenth century in regard to the sailing ship alone was +certainly a most wonderful period. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +A FINE PIECE OF SEAMANSHIP. + +The “Chesterfield” packet (Captain Robert Lea Jones) rescuing the crew +of a sinking ship. About 1795.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PACKET SHIPS AND BRIGS + + +As far back as the reign of Elizabeth a State post-office was +instituted for foreign letters, for the reason that the merchants +now required it. Owing to England’s geographical position, this, of +course, connoted the employment of sailing ships. By 1635 the weekly +continental service was doubled and accelerated. This arrangement +improved during the seventeenth century, and there were packet stations +at Dover for France, Harwich and Yarmouth for Holland and Hamburg, and +at Holyhead and Milford for Ireland. + +But it was Falmouth which became the headquarters for the post-office +packet service as far back as 1688. The reason for this is obvious +when you consider its location in regard to the Bay of Biscay, and +the facility with which even those unhandy sailing craft could come +in and out in all weathers and practically all winds. A very safe +harbour, with plenty of room and water, right at the western end of +the English Channel and easy of access, it was ideal for the departure +of travellers and mails for Spain and the West Indies. The result was +that, as the service became more numerous, shipyards were created +in Falmouth, inns were built for the travellers, and a seafaring +population grew up. + +The North Sea packets were of about sixty tons, but the Falmouth +packets were of 200 tons and heavily armed. They were not owned by the +post-office, but hired by private contract, as the East India Company +used to charter their ships. In fact, never did the post-office own the +ships, although the officers and men were its servants, and not the +contractor’s. The Falmouth packet service began in a quiet way in 1688 +with the hiring of two craft, and for years it was run at a loss. But +there were political reasons for keeping up connection with Spain, and +during the eighteenth century both the Spanish and West Indian trades +became important; and even by 1702 packet ships from Falmouth were +running to Barbados, Jamaica, the southern States of North America, to +Corunna in Spain, and in 1704 also to Lisbon. It was a separate method +of causing to grow up a body of fine seamen; it was one of the best +schools for encouraging navigation, which was still in a most crude +position; and generally it was one of the great influences towards +building up the Mercantile Marine. It was not until Cromwell’s time +that any real naval fighting service as distinct from the Merchant +Navy had come into being, and right up to the Napoleonic Wars the two +services were closely allied and practically interchangeable. We have +to remember also that merchantmen and packet ships had to fight enemy +warships whenever required. Of a peaceful voyage there was hardly such +a thing. + +Such incidents as that of May 16, 1744, when the _Townshend_ packet +fought against the Spaniards; or of July 25, 1759, when the packet +_Fawkener_ was attacked by a large French sloop between Barbados and +Antigua, are by no means isolated. Indeed, although they were forbidden +to seek engagements and were reminded that their first duty was the +safety of the mails, yet if they saw a chance of obtaining wealth at +sea by attacking a likely ship, they did so in spite of any authority. +These men were, like the age in which they lived, a hardy, rough, +corrupt lot of dare-devils. + +They carried cargoes of their own, contrary to regulations; they +stole, they smuggled, they mutinied—but we cannot go through the whole +decalogue. On the other hand, they were real sailormen, and the rule +that a packet was to put to sea from Falmouth immediately on receiving +the mails, whatever the wind might be, provided only she could carry a +double-reefed topsail, was maintained. The regularity of their voyages +was the nearest thing to the running of a modern steamship. In 1798 +there were sixteen packet ships to keep up the Falmouth to West Indies +service, and “on the quiet” captains, officers and crews would take +out quantities of cheese, potatoes, boots, shoes and so on, sell them +on commission for English merchants, and then bring back such goods as +wines, lace, tobacco, brandy, which would be smuggled ashore and then +sold all over the country by special men. This went on until 1810, when +the Lisbon and West Indian packets were strictly forbidden to carry +on these trades. The order brought the crews up with a round turn, +and a terrible moan went about in disgust. Their wages were certainly +too low, and this was the means of remunerating themselves. Anger and +indignation finally culminated in a mutiny. + +And yet the captains used to make no meagre living, even reckoned in +the money of the nineteenth century. They were paid £8 a month during +war-time and £5 in peace; but besides this they received large sums +in respect of the fares of passengers. One captain alone was making +£1000 a year by this means, and then there were the fees for carrying +bullion, to say nothing of their commission for selling goods, both +exports and imports. For instance, they were paid thirty-five guineas +by every passenger who proceeded from Falmouth to Gibraltar. By the +year 1808 there were thirty-nine packets at Falmouth—quite a fine fleet +for any one port in those days. Every week one sailed for Lisbon, one +for San Sebastian or other part of the north Spanish coast, whence +communication with the British Army in the Peninsula was maintained. +Each week, too, one packet sailed for the West Indies, whilst others +at longer intervals set forth towards the Mediterranean, Brazil, +Surinam, Halifax and New York. People were beginning to travel, and +between 2000 and 3000 passengers thus passed through Falmouth to and +from these ships yearly. It was a very encouraging factor for the +Mercantile Marine, especially as the Falmouth packets alone kept 1200 +men permanently employed afloat. + +Contemporary artists of the early nineteenth century have left for +us paintings showing some of the North Sea packet ships. Turner’s +well-known picture in the National Gallery of the English packet +arriving in Calais in 1803 is an instance. These craft were never +bigger than about eighty tons, and during the French wars ran for +a time between Yarmouth and Hellevoetsluis in Holland. But a West +Indian packet such as the _Duke of Marlborough_ with her 1804 tons and +brig-rigged, was a very different sort of ship. And in the very year +when Commodore Dance put Admiral Linois to flight, this packet ship, +whilst bound for the Leeward Islands, was in the month of April chased +by a schooner and captured. + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN W. ROGERS, + +Of the “Windsor Castle” packet. About 1808. + +CAPTAIN JOSEPH HUDDART, F.R.S., + +Who served in the H.E. India Company’s service for ten years. He lived +1741-1816, and was a celebrated hydrographer. + +(_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._)] + +As mentioned in the last chapter, the famous American packets which +ran from New York to Liverpool, came out in 1816. This famous Black +Ball Line was for years the pioneer, and began with five 400-ton ships. +During the first ten years these vessels averaged twenty-three days on +the eastward and forty-three days on the westward voyage, the fastest +eastward being the passage of _Canada_ in fifteen days eighteen hours. +These ships were flush-decked. Between the foremast and mainmast was +the galley, and in the long-boat were carried the sheep and pigs and +fowls for the ship’s food. A cow was also carried in a house over the +main hatch, and the passengers’ cabins were aft. + +These liners carried a black ball painted on the foresail and were +commanded by real hard-case captains who had caused much anxiety to +British shipping whilst in command of privateers during the war of +1812. In these ships passengers, mails and bullion were conveyed, two +vessels leaving each month. In 1821 two more lines were started, one +of which was the Red Star Line of packets to Liverpool. After the +Dramatic Line was founded in 1836 the packet ships gradually increased +to about 1000 tons, and the competition had become keener, packets now +running from North America to Liverpool, Havre and London. Captain A. +H. Clark, in his interesting volume The _Clipper Ship Era_, states +that all packet ships carried a white light at the bowsprit cap from +sunset to sunrise; but of course side-lights had not yet come in. It +is interesting to remark in this connection that probably the first +institution of side-lights was in 1834, for from January 1 the City of +Dublin Steam Company began to use a white light at the foremast head, +a red on the larboard bow and a white on the starboard bow, the two +latter being attached to the houses forward of the paddleboxes. Then +for a few years there was a diversity in practice, each company doing +what it thought best in this respect to minimise risk of collision at +sea. + +Up to 1846 the system in use by the British packet ships of Liverpool +was to have a white light under the cross-trees below the foot of the +foresail, with a red light on the port paddlebox and a white light +on the starboard paddlebox, but apparently the Milford steam packets +carried a red light on the starboard bow, a green light on the port bow +and a “common light” (presumably white) at the foremast head. It is +claimed that this was also the fashion adopted by the P. & O. Company. +In 1846 the Royal Mail Steam Company’s ships carried masthead and bow +lights, but colourless. The subject is a little difficult to elucidate, +but it is certain that there were in existence different usages as late +as this date, and it was not until at least two years later that any +sort of uniformity came in. It has been stated by another authority +that it was only as a result of the collision between the Collins +liner _Arctic_ and the French ship _Vesta_ on September 21, 1854, when +the former foundered with the loss of 323 lives out of 368, that the +carrying of side-lights was made compulsory and not optional. + +Even in the American packets most of the crew were British, and often +enough gaol-birds of the worst type, but the captains were pretty tough +and accustomed to handling men as well as ships, and the mates were of +the same order. These ships could reel off their twelve knots pretty +regularly, and sometimes did the voyage in sixteen days. With their +high-steeved bowsprits, their black hulls and square painted ports, +and carrying plenty of canvas, even to skysails and stuns’ls in summer +weather, they used to race against each other, sometimes even for very +high stakes. For quite a long time the Atlantic packet ships were able +to laugh at the steamships, but gradually from 1840 the progress of the +marine engineer and shipbuilder wore down the competition. Regularity +and reliability of running with increased comfort were bound to have +their influence on the carrying of mails, passengers and merchandise. + +Ralph Waldo Emerson in his _English Traits_ has left on record an +account of his passage across the Atlantic from Boston in 1847 aboard +the packet ship _Washington Irving_. She was of 750 tons register, the +mainmast measured 115 feet from deck to truck, and the length of the +ship from stem to stern on deck was 155 feet. “The shortest sea-line,” +he goes on to remark, “from Boston to Liverpool is 2850 miles. This +a steamer keeps, saving 150 miles. A sailing ship can never go in +a shorter line than 3000, and usually it is much longer. Our good +master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding sails alow and +aloft, and by incessant straight steering never loses a rod of way.... +Since the ship was built, it seems, the master never slept but in his +day-clothes whilst on board.... Hour for hour, the risk on a steamboat +is greater; but the speed is safety, or twelve days of danger instead +of twenty-four.” + +In one week the _Washington Irving_ made 1467 miles, but to Emerson, +as to most passengers in those days, this form of travel was anything +but pleasant. “I find the sea-life an acquired taste,” he sums up +rather sadly, “like that for tomatoes and olives. The confinement, +cold, motion, noise and odour are not to be dispensed with. The floor +of your room is sloped at an angle of twenty or thirty degrees, and +I waked every morning with the belief that someone was tipping up my +berth. Nobody likes being treated ignominiously, upset, shoved against +the side of the house, rolled over, suffocated with bilge, mephitis +and stewing oil. We get used to these annoyances at last, but the +dread of the sea remains longer.... Such discomfort and such danger +as the narratives of the captain and mate disclose are bad enough +as the costly fee we pay for entrance to Europe; but the wonder is +always new that any sane man can be a sailor.” Emerson found the worst +inconvenience was the lack of light in the cabin, but the fifteen days +from the time they left soundings were to him long, joyless and severe. + +The American poet James Russell Lowell has left us a character sketch +of a chief mate whom he describes as “not an American, but I should +never have guessed it by his speech, which was the purest Cape Cod, +and I reckon myself a good taster of dialects.... He used to walk the +deck with his hands in his pockets, in seeming abstraction, but nothing +escaped his eye.... He is as impervious to cold as the polar bear. On +the Atlantic, if the wind blew a gale from the north-east, and it was +cold as an English summer, he was sure to turn out in a calico shirt +and trousers, his furzy brown chest half bare, and slippers without +stockings. But ... he comes out in a monstrous pea-jacket here in the +Mediterranean when the evening is so hot that Adam would have been glad +to leave off his fig-leaves.... He ... always combs his hair, and works +himself into a black frock-coat (on Sundays he adds a waistcoat) before +he comes to meals, sacrificing himself nobly and painfully to the +social proprieties. The second mate, on the other hand, who eats after +us, enjoys the privilege of shirt-sleeves, and is, I think, the happier +man of the two.” + +But besides the shipping engaged in the East Indian, West Indian, +American, Spanish, Mediterranean and North Sea routes, the Mercantile +Marine was being built up by the fishermen and coasters, and we should +be providing an inaccurate picture if we did not consider them. In +an earlier chapter we saw how important were the fishing fleets down +to the end of the seventeenth century, and what a backbone they +have always been to the navies and Mercantile Marine. In 1704 Queen +Anne reorganised the various laws relating to the herring fishery +and permitted the use of all harbours and shores for landing fish +on payment of reasonable dues. A certain number of foreigners were +being employed by the British to help with the fishing, but in 1747 +the Dutch still had 3000 herring vessels and were employing 40,000 +fishermen. This was a great falling off since 1679, but still it was a +considerable industry, and bringing in £5,000,000. Not without reason +these Hollanders called their herring fisheries their gold mine, and +in the mid-eighteenth century they were employing over 1000 Englishmen +in their craft. Thus each nation learned a good deal of each other’s +methods, and this standardisation has continued to this day. + +Somehow the English fishery companies continued to be unsuccessful, for +in October of 1750 one more was incorporated, but the craft and gear +were purchased at expensive rates, more fish were obtained than could +be sold, and thus the company failed. But it was not merely the Dutch +who were rivalling the English and Scottish fishermen. During the +latter half of the century the Swedes and the Danes were very active. +In fact, British men-of-war had to be requested to afford protection +against the encroachments of foreigners. The British fishing craft were +often badly built, of ill design and not well-found, but legislation +was introduced to assist them. In 1771 a bounty of thirty shillings a +ton for seven years was granted to all decked vessels of from twenty +to eighty tons, provided they were of British origin and ownership and +engaged in the herring fishery. These craft were to meet for fishing at +Yarmouth, Leith, Inverness, Bressay Sound, Kirkwall, Oban, Campbelltown +and Whitehaven. But it is rather curious that the Scottish fishing +was abandoned to foreigners, who brought in the catches, and then the +fish were exported to the British West Indies as food for slaves; but +from 1809 the Scottish fishing began to prosper once more. During +the nineteenth century the rights of the European States over their +territorial waters were defined, for the constant quarrels between the +French and British fishermen as to where they could dredge for oysters +off the coast were somewhat of a nuisance. + +It is since the Sea Fisheries Act of 1868 that all fishing vessels have +been compelled to be registered and licensed, and then in 1886 was +instituted a Fishery Department in the Board of Trade. The twentieth +century has been notable for the way steam and motors have gradually +begun to take the place of sailing craft. The steam drifters are able +to follow the herring down the coast, but the big steam trawlers are +the principal fishing craft in the British Isles to-day. During the +war most of the British steam fishing craft were taken up by the +Admiralty for mine-sweeping or anti-submarine work, but by the year +1921 the national fishing had recovered so much that the total landings +amounted to over £16,000,000. It is from the North Sea trawlers that +most of the fish still comes, and of this a considerable quantity is +caught by the trawlers from Hull and Grimsby. One unfortunate result of +the war has been the loss of the Russian and much of the German trade; +for in 1913 the United Kingdom exported £5,500,000 worth of cured and +salted herring, of which Russia and Germany together took 80 per cent. +To-day from Hull alone there are about 250 steam trawlers fishing and +employing about 3000 hands aboard. If you add to this the number of +steam, motor and sailing fishing craft from the other ports, it is at +once obvious that these fleets form a very considerable portion of the +Mercantile Marine. + +We may take Hull as representative of modern fishing, but it is only as +the result of centuries of experience. Certainly as far back as 1535 +the quantity of fish there landed was considered so important as to +require an Act of Parliament to regulate the trade. Perhaps the least +known was the very important Hull whaling trade, which was carried +on for two and a half centuries until about 1868, when, owing to the +scarcity of whales, the industry died out, the last whaling voyage +being made by the _Truelove_, which had been built in Philadelphia 104 +years previously. This vessel made seventy-two whaling voyages, during +which she took about 500 whales, and besides these activities filled in +the time by general trading, in the Oporto wine trade, and even as a +“Letter of Marque.” Other whalers also went to the Arctic from Whitby, +Scarborough and London. You may guess how important was the industry +when we state that in the year 1821 no fewer than sixty-one whalers +left Hull, thirty-two for the area between Greenland and Spitzbergen, +and twenty-nine for the Davis Straits. + +But there was still another school for seamanship, and it was one of +the most important sections of the Mercantile Marine, for two reasons: +it not merely trained some of our finest officers and men, but it was +until late in the nineteenth century a wonderful fleet of coasters, +which passed away only at the coming of the steam collier. We refer +to those brigs which used to bring coal from the Tyne to the Thames. +These little two-masted vessels were manned by crews who were paid by +the voyage. The result was that they were interested in making a quick +passage. A contemporary writer, who was himself a privateer for a time, +regarded these collier crews as the most perfect in working their ships +in narrow channels, as the East Indiamen were the finest in the open +seas. + +This was in the eighteenth century, but from the time of the Stuarts +these _Geordie_ brigs had been plying their trade and building up a +fine body of seamen who formed a kind of pool from which ocean-going +ships could obtain officers and crews for bolder enterprises. In this +branch of the Mercantile Marine the famous discoverer, Captain Cook, +learnt his seamanship, which was to lead to such important events. You +may remember that whilst still in his teens he became apprenticed for +three years in 1746 to the Whitby owners of the 450-ton vessel which +carried coal from Newcastle to London, and after two years he served +for a time in the 600-ton collier _Three Brothers_. He then served +aboard her in the Norwegian and Baltic trades. In the seventeenth +century these “coal cats,” as they were called, were sometimes +three-masted vessels with square mainsail, square foresail, lateen +mizzen, and sometimes a main topsail, but of course no triangular +headsails, which did not come in until later. + +Captain H. Y. Moffat, who was born in 1844 and served as a boy in +the collier-brig _Premium_, has published some interesting facts +illustrating this kind of seafaring. His pay was £8—not a week, nor a +month, but a year. The second year he was to have £10, and the third +year £12. Each of these brigs carried a couple of boys, though the +rest of the crew were still paid by the voyage. They lived in a dirty, +dark, small fo’c’sle, and during the summer the brig would often run +coals across to Hamburg and Rotterdam, but in the winter to London from +South Shields. If the surroundings were hardly ideal for a boy, and +the pay utterly inadequate, it was a splendid chance for him to learn +his seamanship in a rough school. If the brig had a head wind anywhere +between Yarmouth and London—that is to say, among all those shoals, +these lads were kept busy heaving the lead all the time night and day; +for in those times there were no gas-buoys. + +As to the men, they knew their job perfectly, but they could neither +read nor write. They went aboard the ship with their marlin-spike, +pricker, palm, rubber, sail-hook, needles, etc., and even with +a well-scrubbed handspike for the windlass. Many of the modern, +dry-nursed steamship seamen, better educated and better fed though +they are, would have no right to be reckoned in the same category of +efficiency as these rough mariners, who still used the old-fashioned +hour and half-hour sand-glasses in their brigs. It was one of the +most glorious sights to see a fleet of these colliers beating up the +Thames. A waterman was always employed to assist each brig working +up the river, and he would come aboard anywhere between Woolwich and +Greenwich. If they were beating up with the flood tide, there might +be fifty or a hundred brigs all of a bunch, and it would often happen +that a brig could not fore reach because of the colliers just ahead. +The waterman would therefore put the helm down, let her come up into +the wind, and shake, but not so long as to lose way. This was known as +a “waterman’s nip,” and with great care he could make the brig take as +long to reach from one side of the river to the other as would allow +the crew time to eat their dinner. The collier crews were the smartest +men afloat for breaking out the anchor, for the reason that in working +their way in and out of so many narrow channels they frequently had to +bring up. It was always said that whenever an ex-collier’s crew shipped +aboard another vessel the windlass required only half the men to work +it. + +Thus, everywhere the mariner in his own particular sphere was an +expert at his job, and though he could never suspect it, he was making +history, helping on the development and civilisation of the world. It +was a lawless, irreligious, even blasphemous age in which he lived, +and it is easy enough to criticise him for his wild excesses. But, +having regard to the morals of the time, his poor pay, the disgraceful +conditions of service, and the hard life which he was compelled to +endure, is it to be wondered at that when he came ashore he was dragged +into debauchery? The responsibility rests largely on those who +enriched themselves by his bravery, his seamanlike skill and devotion +to duty. There is not one of us to-day who is not a debtor to these +old-time mariners for what they have done on our behalf, no matter what +their ship. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SAIL-CARRIERS + + +If you set aside the forty years from 1837 to 1877 you cover the +period which is unsurpassed for the glories of the sea. It is a period +when the Mercantile Marine in every ocean rose to such a standard +of seamanship as was never seen before nor will ever be witnessed +again. It is a time when the triumph of the shipwright and the skill +of the sailor combined to bring about the golden age. Every log-book, +ship-illustration or reminiscence that bears on this epoch should be +regarded with the utmost care and preserved for the wonderment of +posterity, for at present we are living so close to this epoch that we +hardly appreciate its worth. Those who come after us will rightly envy +us for having seen at least some of the ships and spoken with those who +handled them. For it was a time when wooden ships were run by men of +iron. + +The traditions inherited from the old East India Company after the +latter had lost its monopoly in India and China were too noble and +inspiring to be dissipated at once. The high grade of officers and +men remained for a long time a standard, especially when the captain +of an East Indiaman even as late as about 1830 was making anything +between £6000 and £10,000 a voyage. So, too, the Blackwall yard still +retained its name for building the best ships. And though they had +ceased to construct the stately but slow vessels which had been good +enough as long as the monopoly lasted, a big advance came in the year +1837, when Richard Green launched the 818-ton _Seringapatam_. She was, +in fact, the first of a new order of things. In her the double stern +and galleries were abandoned, and owing to her finer lines she became +famous for her quick and regular passages to the East, and was destined +to be the model for many vessels to follow. It was such men as Green, +Wigram, Somes, Dunbar, Baines and others who built up the Mercantile +Marine after the East India Company left the sea; for these men saw +their grand opportunity, and seized it. Most of these purchased some of +the best of the company’s ships. The _Earl of Balcarres_, for instance, +was sold for £10,700, and she voyaged for fifty-two years before she +became a hulk. The same price was paid for that fine ship the _Thames_; +the _Lady Melville_ fetched £10,000, the _Buckinghamshire_ £10,550 +and others realised between £4000 and £10,000. In certain cases the +company, seeing their approaching fate, began to sell as far back as +1830. + +Some of the captains, officers and men from the honourable company +were now taken on by these enterprising new shipowners about to enjoy +the benefits of free trade. But not more than one-fifth of these +“old-timers” changed over to the new régime, at any rate straight away. +Why? Firstly, these private owners were not too anxious to employ a +personnel who had been accustomed to work in ships where expense had +not been of the first consideration. Secondly, some officers thought it +beneath their dignity to serve in “free trade” vessels, and in any case +their remuneration could not be as high as had been possible during +the company’s extravagant existence. So the captains and officers +appealed to their late employers for pensions. They had entered the +East India Company’s service expecting provision for life, but now +they found themselves awkwardly placed. Not without reluctance the +company eventually decided to grant compensations to all commanders and +officers who had been in their employ for five years from April 22, +1834. Every commanding officer therefore received £1500 and the other +officers received proportionate amounts. But, in addition to this, each +commander also received £4000 for three unexpired voyages, £3000 for +two voyages and £2000 for one voyage, which they would have made had +they continued in the service. Nor was that all; for those commanders +who had served for ten years were given a pension for life of £250 a +year, the chief mates getting £160 a year, and so the scale ranged +down to the carpenters and gunners. The only condition was that these +assured the company of their inability to obtain further employment, +and that any income which they possessed was to be in abatement of +these pensions. Thus, to the very end, the old East India Company +treated its officers and crews very handsomely, especially when we +remember the value of a sovereign in those days. + +The _Seringapatam_ was the first of those famous Blackwall frigates +which were the direct descendants of the defunct East India Company. +The last of the series, also built by Green’s Blackwall yard, was the +_Melbourne_ (afterwards well known as the _Macquarie_), launched in +1875. Most of this historic fleet were built at the Blackwall yard, +at Smith’s Tyne yard, at Sunderland or in India, but especially +at Blackwall. They were all high-class ships which were run in a +high-class manner. The discipline was strict, the personnel was +excellent, and they were in every way worthy successors of the old +monopolists. If you talk to any of the officers still alive who served +in these Blackwallers, or read their reminiscences, you will understand +at once that it was thought an honour to be allowed into this new +service. + +These ships differed from any other merchant vessels in that they +carried midshipmen and not apprentices. These midshipmen were drawn +from the same families who supplied officers to the Royal Navy, and +were known as “young gentlemen.” Very often in the case of a country +rector who had two sons, you find the eldest going into the Navy and +the younger into a Blackwall frigate. If a guardian could get a boy +into one of these ships, there was no further cause for worry: a fine +career was assured. He went to sea in what were happy ships and he +gradually rose in his profession until he was making about £5000 a +year in the case of the best captains. The guardian or parent had to +pay a premium of £60 a voyage for the young midshipman, but those were +the days when the commanding officers were the finest navigators in +the world and had time to instruct the aspirant. It was a life totally +different from that of a modern apprentice. + +For some time the officers in these ships were allowed to wear the +lion and crown of the East India Company on their uniform buttons, +but eventually the house flags of the companies were substituted. A +great deal of the old dignity and semi-naval routine were retained in +this new service, with action stations and sail-drill. For they were +frigate-built and carried guns, so that they could readily be turned +into corvettes and be useful fighting units. In an interesting little +book entitled _Reminiscences of a Blackwall Midshipman_, published some +years ago, Mr. W. I. Downie remarked with pride: “It was a fine service +and afforded a good opening for younger sons, whose elder brothers +were in the Army or Navy, but whose parents could not very well spare +the means to dispose in the same way of all their sometimes numerous +progeny.” He himself joined up in the ’sixties, having considered +himself disappointed at not entering the Royal Navy, but lucky to +obtain a berth as midshipman in Green’s Blackwall frigate _Trafalgar_, +and bound to India. This ship was built in the year 1848, and was of +1038 tons, her construction being of teak. + +When lying at anchor with a few guns on her maindeck and her boat-booms +swung out and boats in the water, she might be taken for a frigate, +even by a seafaring man, but for the house flag at her main. She had +painted ports, square yards and enormous whole topsails. In such a ship +no officer or man dared address a superior on duty without saluting. +It was because of this excellent discipline and semi-naval character +that these well-found ships created such a fine pride of service among +its personnel. We shall speak presently of the other development in +shipping which was to proceed collaterally with the Blackwallers, +but it may be mentioned here that the latter frequently used to race +in the ’sixties against the clippers met on the high seas. Downie +mentions that these frigates often were able to hold the clipper ships, +especially in hard winds, for though the Blackwallers had high bulwarks +and heavy sterns, which made them in comparison look clumsy, yet +underwater they had fine lines. + +Every known device was resorted to in the effort to squeeze out an +extra half-knot, and the third mate of the Blackwaller would be sent +down with a gang of men to roust the lee cable out of the chain locker +and range it along the weather side of the deck. The fourth mate would +take another gang to pump fresh water out of the lee tanks into those +of the weather tanks that were empty. In light winds the hose would +be taken aloft to wet the sails—the old dodge of making the canvas +hold the wind better. Nor did they hesitate to race even against such +flyers as the crack clippers _Taeping_ and _Fiery Cross_, and in one +instance they competed with another sailing ship and beat her home by +twenty-four hours; and this after racing for 16,000 miles! Yes, they +were sail-carriers in those days. The Mercantile Marine was full of +expert seamen. + +This _Trafalgar_, for instance, carried, besides her commander, five +mates, several midshipmen, a full crew, a bo’sun and his two mates, +carpenter, sail-maker, fiddler and cooper. The last two would seem +strange to a modern apprentice, but the former used to sit on the +capstan and fiddle while the hands were heaving up the anchor with an +endless “messenger,” and would provide the music for hornpipes danced +in the second dog-watch. The cooper was a necessary rating, for casks +and barrels were used a good deal, and when not wanted were taken to +pieces and reconstructed as required. The midshipmen received their +occasional invitations to dine with the captain, as to-day in the +naval service. Sundays and Thursdays were the occasions when there was +champagne at the captain’s table, and a midshipman thought himself +lucky if his turn to be invited occurred on one of these days. + +The voyage was begun by the ship being towed out of dock down to +Gravesend, where she brought up for twenty-four hours to enable the +crew to get over their final shore carouse. The captain—in this case +a tall, thin man wearing an eyeglass, himself a scientist and a great +authority on the law of storms—would come on board, and the tug would +take the ship down to the North Foreland and then cast off. If it was +a fair wind the Blackwaller would then carry on down Channel. If it +was foul she would anchor and wait for a slant in the Downs. In spite +of their sailorlike, alcoholic weakness, these hands were very fine +fellows, specially selected, who had sailed in the old East Indiamen +or Blackwallers since boyhood, and very rarely did they ever serve in +other ships. There was, then, practically continuity of employment, and +it is the lack of this which in the twentieth century is the weakest +element of the Mercantile Marine. + +In these ships there was nothing slovenly, and every one had to be +correctly and smartly uniformed. The officers’ cap in those days had +the old-fashioned peak at right angles, like that still worn by the +officers of the Dutch Navy to-day. Every morning the captain’s steward +would convey to the midshipmen the instructions as to what rig was +to be worn, as, for instance, in fine weather blue jackets, white +waistcoats and trousers. In many other merchant ships there was trouble +with the crew, which consisted of a mixture of pier-jumpers, gaol-birds +and the riff-raff of all the European ports; but it was seldom that +the Blackwall men gave any trouble. Every Sunday there was service on +the poop in fine weather, or in the saloon when the weather was bad, +and all hands were supposed to attend. In harbour the Blackwall ships +always looked smart and clean, with yards squared to mathematical +precision like a naval frigate. + +As a sign of mourning the custom was to paint all the white parts of +the ship a pale blue, such as the white ribbon round the hull, the +lower masts, the boats, and so on. There were some ships in which +the discipline was stricter than in others, according to whether the +captain was more disposed towards man-o’-war fashion. Those ships which +ran to India were more strict in their discipline and more formal +in their routine than the vessels which sailed to Australia. In the +former the passengers consisted chiefly of Army officers and their +families, or civil servants going out to take up their appointments, +or of consumptives voyaging for their health. But in the Australian +ships life was more easy-going, with concerts, theatricals, dances, and +even bazaars. In both ships there was a good deal of fraternising and +philandering between the younger officers and the eternal feminine, +which was natural enough during those long voyages. + +The late Captain W. B. Whall, who died not long since, served as +a midshipman in the Blackwaller _Hotspur_ during the ’sixties, +and fortunately has left behind in his _School and Sea Days_ some +interesting recollections. The commander of this famous 1000-ton East +Indiaman was Captain Henry Toynbee, F.R.G.S., F.R.A.S., uncle of Arnold +Toynbee, the social economist and philanthropist. Whall describes how, +after the _Hotspur_ had anchored off Gravesend, the captain would be +received on board in true naval style. This commanding officer, who, +by the way was uncle to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the famous scout, +will always be remembered for his amazing skill as a navigator. Captain +Whall said he recollected on one occasion when the _Hotspur_ had been +ninety days out of sight of land, and had sailed over three oceans +bound for Calcutta direct, Toynbee came up on deck about 8 p.m. and +told the chief officer to send a man up to the foretopsail yard and to +order him to look two points on the starboard bow, and he would then +see the Lower Floating Light. The hand had barely got his head over +the sail when he cried from aloft: “Light two points away on starboard +bow.” And this was without having sighted anything since the Lizard! + +In contrast to this fine ability of an East Indiaman navigator must +be placed the rough-and-ready methods of those fine but ignorant +skippers of the fruit-trade schooners which were built and sailed +like yachts and went down as far south as the Azores. Often when +full-rigged ships were blown by easterly gales from the western end of +the English Channel as far west as the Fastnet, these splendid little +fore-and-afters would be able to make excellent passages to windward. +In old waterside inns of the West country you may still see pictures +of these ships with the canvas cut in realistic fashion to obtain +verisimilitude. They made wonderfully fast passages, and they were +most perfectly handled, but the captains, not being capable always of +working out their longitude, used to hail any passing ship and hang out +a blackboard with the question: “What is your longitude?” + +Such a ship as the _Hotspur_, well manned, well navigated, would go +round the Cape and land her forty passengers in Calcutta within three +months. They would come aboard at Gravesend with their own cabin +furniture, but included in the fare was an ample supply of liquor. +Often the charge for a stern cabin for a man and wife would be £300 +from Calcutta to England, and the ship would have also probably 500 +troops aboard, or a total of 600 souls. The decks would be encumbered +with sheep, hay, potatoes, bananas, hen-coops, and yet if any disaster +had occurred there was accommodation in the boats for not more than +about 100. Whall, who served in these ships for ten years, never once +saw a Blackwaller heave-to in a heavy gale. But that was because they +were well found and so well manned under the best commanders. In those +days the sailor ashore loved his grog too much, and when he left the +ship at the end of a voyage with probably £40 on him, he would proceed +to get drunk, then perhaps some one in the East End would drug him, +and finally, when he awoke up next day he would find himself without +so much as a penny. But at sea he was the best fellow in the world, +well-disciplined, able to go aloft in the heaviest weather to hand or +reef a sail and lay out on a yard. He was an expert at the wheel or +with the lead or marlin-spike, and a captain knew that his men could be +relied upon from the moment the ship left Gravesend. It was thus that +such ships as _Flying Cloud_, _Sovereign of the Seas_, _James Baines_ +and _Marco Polo_ could on occasions reel off their eighteen knots, or +420 knots in the twenty-four hours. In fact during the ’fifties the +sailing ships could make passages as fast as any mail steamer afloat. + +Every one who has had command of vessels and men realises how important +is the spirit of emulation and the pride of ship and service. Whall, +the son of a rector, remarked that all who served in these ships +looked down on the officers of the Liverpool contemporary sailing ships +as being less polished and wearing no uniform, though he admitted they +were perhaps smarter sailormen than the Blackwallers. In his memoirs +_My Life at Sea_, that experienced mercantile officer, Commander W. +C. Crutchley, R.N.R., says of a certain renowned clipper ship: “The +officers and men of that craft considered themselves very superior +beings to those who had not the good fortune to sail under the blue St. +Andrew’s Cross; but they, in their turn, were looked down upon by the +men sailing in the ships of Green, Dunbar, Wigram and Smith. In those +days it would have required a very careful M.C. to give the varying +grades of the Merchant Services their due order of preference.” + +It was the same at Southampton at one time between the officers of +the Royal Mail and the P. & O. Lines, who would not foregather on any +account, owing to their mutual jealousies. But those were the days +when ship-love and pride of service were more accentuated than to-day. +And yet in even some of the contemporary crack steamships there was +plenty to find fault with, and Crutchley, who served in the Union liner +_Roman_, which ran to South Africa, complains that even in that ocean +steamship there was neither engine-room telegraph nor standard compass; +for orders were shouted down the engine-room skylight, and the ship was +steered from right on the poop, with a binnacle on either side, that on +the starboard being the one used for navigating. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “NORTHUMBERLAND.” + +2,180 tons, 500 horse-power. Henry Skinner, Commander. About 1871. She +was one of Money Wigram & Sons’ Australian steamships. The famous house +flag will be seen at the main.] + +We have digressed from our main theme in order to show the spirit +which actuated the Mercantile Marine at that important period which +followed the abolition of the monopoly and saw the numbers of +shipyards, ships and mariners rapidly increasing, thanks to freedom and +competition. It is now time for us to watch this progress in detail. +If we compare the _Seringapatam_ with one of the East India Company’s +ships of say 1826, we can see indeed more points of resemblance than +of difference. Both are frigates, each has a bluff bow and heavy stern +that remind us of the Stuart ships, yet in the new type inaugurated +by _Seringapatam_ it meant a daring advance to omit the heavy double +stern and quarter galleries. She still retained her ship rig, her white +ribbon, her square ports and her high-steeved bowsprit, but in her was +the first break, architecturally, with the olden times. The sailing +ship was now in a new era. + +Even in the very year of Queen Victoria’s accession, Money Wigram +launched for the Australian trade the 293-ton _Emu_, for this was +beginning to open as an important lane of commerce. And in that same +year the yard built such different ships as the 461-ton whaler _Active_ +and the 621-ton steamer _Neptune_, the latter for the General Steam +Navigation Company. It was a couple of years later that they launched +the 852-ton _Earl of Hardwicke_ for Richard Green. This ship was +originally fitted with paddles and 100-horse-power engines to be used +in calms, but they were found unsuitable and removed in the following +year. And then in 1839 they launched the _Owen Glendower_, which was +such a splendid sailing ship that foreign merchantmen used to salute +her with the respect as for a man-of-war. She was a sister ship of the +_Earl of Hardwicke_. In that year, too, they built the Opium clipper +_Moa_ for Jardine, Mattheson & Co., though we shall come to the +clipper ships presently. Three years later the Blackwall yard launched +the two magnificent 1223-ton flush-decked, frigate-built sister ships +_Queen_ and _Prince of Wales_, as well as the 449-ton _Sylph_. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +AUXILIARY S.S. “KENT.” + +2,300 tons. G. Fairles Gibbs, Commander. Built and owned by Money +Wigram & Sons. About 1876.] + +And here we come to another severing of olden ties, for this was the +last ship which was ever built by the firm of Green, Wigrams & Green. +In the following year the partnership expired, a wall was built through +the yard, and the western portion was made over to Money Wigram & +Sons, whilst the eastern half became the property of Richard and Henry +Green. Sentimentally it seemed a pity that after all those years the +separation should have taken place; but, as already foreshadowed, it +was bound to come, owing to the difference in interests. The firm had +become _individually_ interested in shipowning, and not collectively. +Thus Wigram never owned so large a fleet as Green, and where a firm is +divided against itself obviously it must come to an end before long. +Richard Green and Henry Green went on building and increasing their +ownership until the discovery of gold in Australia, when they launched +many ships to cope with the rush. Richard Green did not die until 1863, +and just before his death one of his ships had made a voyage to China. +In his life he did much to improve the Mercantile Marine, and it was he +who was the chief mover and first chairman of what was originally known +as the Thames Marine Officers’ Training Ship, better known to-day as +H.M.S. _Worcester_. In the year 1922 this ship celebrated its sixtieth +anniversary, and during its existence has been able to turn out 3000 +officers for the Mercantile Marine, of whom so many distinguished +themselves during the Great War. Thus, directly through the Blackwall +yard there is an intimate connection between the merchant ships of the +time of Queen Elizabeth and those liners of to-day. + +The two finest ships in the Mercantile Marine of 1851 were the East +Indiamen _Marlborough_ and _Blenheim_, owned by Messrs. T. & W. Smith, +who had begun running ships to the East soon after the monopoly had +gone, in competition with Green and Wigram. It was the gold-diggings +of South Australia and Victoria from 1851 onwards which made a sudden +demand for shipping passengers out from England: in fact by 1853 the +demand was greater than the supply. But the only suitable vessels +available for first- and second-class passengers were these famous +Blackwall frigates, and the Greens were thus in a position to transfer +some of their large fleet from the Calcutta to the Australian trade. +Money Wigram, not having yet become a large shipowner, began to build +for this Melbourne trade. + +The Blackwall frigates were devoid of sheer, had long poops, short +maindecks, and were beautifully built of picked teak and oak. Green’s +ships were not as sharp-ended as Smith’s or Wigram’s, but Somes’ and +Dunbar’s were real old-fashioned, clumsy-bowed craft. The fastest of +Green’s ships were the _Alnwick Castle_, _Clarence_, _Windsor Castle_ +and _Anglesey_. The fastest of Wigram’s fleet was the _Kent_. The old +East India Company’s influence for a time so dominated these Blackwall +frigates that dignity, comfort and safety first were rather the +mottoes of the fleet, unlike the clipper ships, always snugging down +for the night. Some of the best-known Green ships were the 835-ton +_Madagascar_, built in 1837, the 852-ton _Earl of Hardwicke_, already +mentioned, built in 1838, but afterwards wrecked on the South African +coast in 1863; the _Owen Glendower_, built in 1839, the _Agincourt_ +(958 tons), in 1841, the _Prince of Wales_ (1223 tons), in 1842, the +_Monarch_ (1444 tons), in 1844, the _Alfred_ (1291 tons), in 1845, the +_Barham_ (934 tons), in 1846. The _Prince of Wales_ and _Queen_ of 1842 +were both 1223-ton ships, the former built for Green and the latter for +Wigram at the Blackwall yard. Pierced for fifty guns and flush-decked, +they were ready with their crew of seventy-eight each to be turned into +naval corvettes at once. + +The _Anglesey_, built in 1852, of 1018 tons, holds the record for +having made the biggest day’s run by a Blackwaller. This was 380 +miles, and her passage from Melbourne to the Start in seventy-nine +days with a crew of forty-six was a remarkable achievement. Wigram’s +927-ton _Kent_, built in 1852, was invaluable during the gold rush +to Australia. She was one of the crack sailing ships in history, and +actually beat the tea-clippers. It was a great innovation when, in 1866 +and 1868 respectively, the Blackwall yard built the 1451-ton _Superb_ +and the 1458-ton _Carlisle Castle_, for both were of iron, and owing to +Richard Green’s prejudice against iron the firm had to wait until after +his death to discard teak. The former became a popular passenger ship +to Melbourne; and the last of these famous Blackwall frigates was the +_Melbourne_, built for the Greens at the Blackwall yard in 1875 as the +finest iron passenger sailing ship in the world. Of 1857 tons and 269·8 +feet long, her passenger accommodation was excellent—a great difference +from the old East Indiamen. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “NORFOLK.” + +3,196 tons, 2,500 horse-power. J. Pyne O’Callaghan, Commander. One of +Money Wigram & Sons’ Australian ships. About 1879.] + +Until 1887 _Melbourne_ sailed regularly to the Australian port of the +same name, and was then bought by Messrs. Devitt & Moore, who changed +her name to _Macquarie_. In 1897 she was used as one of this firm’s +cadet ships, six years later she was sold to the Norwegians and changed +her name to _Fortuna_, and these owners eventually sold her, so that +now she is used as a hulk in Australia. So ended one interesting period +in one of the most important developments of the Mercantile Marine. The +combination of personal interest on the part of builder and owner; the +great pride in the ship not merely as a money-maker, but as a thing of +beauty and queen of the sea; the ability of officers and men serving +under a captain who was anxious to maintain the dignity of his line—all +these brought about a high standard of seafaring which was thoroughly +let down when owners without consciences sent crews to sea in ill-found +steam coffin-ships. The fine, historic reputation of the Merchant +Service received a shock, the best men were attracted by other walks in +life, and so for a while the standard deteriorated. There are many who +believe, rightly, that the Mercantile Marine of any country could and +should be run with fixity of employment and the same lofty standard as +the fighting navies. If that were done, the grade of officers and men +would be as high as it was in the days of the East Indiamen. Let it be +realised what a nation’s merchant ships mean to the country, and then +the public will concede it proper respect and give to that service its +best sons. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CRACKING-ON + + +We have seen in the development of our subject that it was only after +many centuries that the accommodation of the passenger aboard ship was +ever considered. We have noticed how the ship was built primarily not +for speed, but for carrying the maximum of cargo with the greatest +safety. But now there comes into our story the desire for speed as the +dominating factor, far more important than any other consideration, and +it is in the clipper ships that we get the first merchant vessels that +were constructed to cross the seas with the utmost despatch. + +It is to North America that this is due. Whilst our bluff, dignified, +heavy East Indiamen were slowly making their last voyages before the +China monopoly was to come to an end, a remarkable ship, built by her +owner regardless of cost, was to appear in Baltimore. This was the +_Ann McKim_, of 493 registered tons. This flush-decked vessel came out +in 1832. She was very fast, but had small carrying capacity, and was +the first clipper ship ever built, and having regard to the daring +improvement which America had made in frigates and privateers, it is +not surprising that this fast type of merchant ship should come from +the same country. The contrast, indeed, between the old East Indiamen +and the young clippers is exactly what exists between the Old World and +the New. Convention was put aside, shipbuilders thought out problems +for themselves and had the courage to put their convictions into hulls. + +But the first real out-and-out clipper ship was the _Rainbow_, which +was launched at the beginning of 1845 in New York. She was a 750-ton +vessel with hollow lines at the bows, and her greatest breadth much +further aft than had been thought practicable. When constructed, she +turned out to be a handsome vessel, exceptionally quick, and she was +the fastest vessel in the world. But after trading some time out to +China, she was lost in 1848, probably off Cape Horn. Now the cause of +attraction towards China at first was the trade in opium. It is not to +the credit of British, American or Parsee firms that this pernicious +drug was imported into China, where it had been declared illegal by the +Government as far back as 1796; but this illicit trade certainly did +much to develop fast-sailing ships. + +But besides the opium, there was the China tea trade after the East +India Company’s monopoly had run out, and happily this did even more +than the opium to improve the evolution of the quickest fleet of ships +under sail that the world has ever seen. In 1846 the 890-ton _Sea +Witch_ was launched in New York, and she made a wonderful series of +voyages to China and back, her best day’s run being 358 miles, which +was far superior to that of any contemporary steamer. Then came such +celebrated American clippers as the _Samuel Russell_, 940 tons, the +_Memnon_, 1068 tons, and others. The American trade with China was so +important that in one year forty-one ships with tea, silk and spices +reached New York from China. The American clippers were certainly the +fastest ships of the period, and the _Sea Witch_ was still to hold the +record for a long time. + +But now come two important events which were to have noteworthy results +on the Mercantile Marines of the world. The first of these was the +repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849, and the second was the +rush in that same year to California, caused by the discovery there +of gold in 1848. We will deal briefly with these factors and pass on. +Considerable opposition was made to this repeal, and indeed the first +result was that the tonnage of British shipping entering British ports +largely decreased and that of American shipping increased. After a +few years this competition proved a stimulus to both countries, but +especially it caused British owners to wake up in the Atlantic, as the +introduction of competition into the Eastern route had already done so +much good. + +During the ’forties and ’fifties the American Mercantile Marine was in +many respects superior to the British, for the reason that the baneful +monopoly had caused a kind of self-satisfaction, and therefore no +progress to speak of. The long series of Navigation Laws beginning in +1651, and the steady, comfortable, close trade to the East, had lulled +British shipping into a kind of stupor. It was only when competition +was thrown open to the world that British shipping really got going. +The first American ship to carry tea from China to England was the +_Oriental_, which left China in August 1850 and reached the London +River ninety-seven days out from Hong-Kong with 1600 tons. This was the +fastest passage which had yet been made to England. As a beautiful, +powerful, speedy, well-found ship the like of her had never been met +with in the Thames. Those who had never seen anything but the East +Indiamen were amazed at the innovation by the United States Mercantile +Marine. But the shock did a world of good. The arrival of tea, in an +American ship, in record time, from a country where there had been a +British monopoly for so long, caused shipowners and builders furiously +to think. + +The result was that two ships were ordered to be built at Aberdeen, +for during the last few years Messrs. Hall of that port had been +building some fast schooners. The _Stornoway_ and _Chrysolite_ were +thus launched, and have been called the first British tea-clippers, +though they were less beamy and powerful than the American clippers. +The first ship sailed out to Hong-Kong in 102 days, the _Chrysolite_ +also went out during 1851 in the same time, and on her way home her +best day’s run was 320 miles, and she even reached fourteen knots. She +got to Liverpool in 103 days, after a very fine maiden voyage. Then +came increased competition as the result of _Chrysolite’s_ achievement, +for the American Navigation Club challenged the British shipbuilders to +a race with cargo on board from England to China and back for £10,000 a +side. This stake was even doubled, but the challenge was unfortunately +never accepted by British shipowners until Richard Green in 1852 built +the tea-clipper _Challenger_, which in that year went out to China, +and after loading tea at Shanghai, fell in with the American clipper +_Challenge_, three times the size of the British ship. From Anjer they +raced home with their tea, and _Challenger_ beat the _Challenge_ into +the dock in London by a couple of days. It is only fair to add that +British naval architects had an opportunity of learning from American +progress in a very direct manner. For _Oriental_ had been previously +placed into the Blackwall dock and her lines taken off; and now +_Challenge_ went in for the same purpose. Thus, the American clipper +ships, with their original design, did have a very powerful effect on +the future of British shipping. + +The competition in the China tea trade continued, the British clippers +of this time made the rivalry very keen, and it is always a matter +of regret that there never was another real race between the two +countries. But now we must see how the California gold affected the +clipper. Briefly these are the facts. In 1848 San Francisco was a +mere hamlet, but this sudden discovery of a means to wealth caused a +tremendous flow of emigration to the West. Every one wanted to go, and +every one wanted to get there in the quickest possible time. Leaving +out the difficulties in those days of transcontinental travel, the only +way possible was by means of ships. The American clipper was thus the +solution, and they were therefore built in great numbers and in a small +space of time. In fact within four years 160 were launched, and they +sailed from New York to San Francisco in the remarkable time of 100 +to 120 days. Here, then, was yet another incentive to the increase of +the Mercantile Marine, to the shipbuilders and to those attracted by +the sea. It is comparable only to the impetus which we have seen was +received by the Elizabethan seamen. There has seldom been in history +such an extensive and speedy migration of people, all anxious to get +rich quickly. Once again the ship was invaluable in the service of man. + +In the year 1849 over 90,000 passengers landed in that San Franciscan +hamlet from ships. On the other hand, it became most difficult to +get crews to bring the ships back; for the seamen, too, had gone +gold-seeking as soon as the ship had anchored. The California clipper +period, as Captain Clark says in his _The Clipper Ship Era_, covers +the period 1850 to 1860, and it is during the first four of these +years that nearly all the 160 ships were built, most of them being +constructed in the neighbourhood of New York and Boston. It is claimed +for them that they were the fastest sailing ships which the world +ever saw, and the skippers cracked-on because these vessels were +able to earn enormous rates if only the passengers could be landed +at their port in the quickest time. Every one was making money—the +shipowner, captain, crew and then the gold-seekers. Ashore the riggers, +shipwrights, painters, sail-makers, metal workers, spar-makers, +pump-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, caulkers were in such demand +that there was prosperity for all, and plenty of it. And it is to this +period that a good many of the fast-dying sea-chanties can be traced. + +What of the crews that manned the American clippers? “The history of +men before the mast on board American ships,” says Captain Clark, +“is not a history of American sailors, for strictly speaking there +have never been any American merchant sailors as a class; that is, +no American merchant ship of considerable tonnage was ever manned +by native-born Americans in the sense that French, British, Dutch, +Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish or Danish ships are manned by men born in +the country under whose flags they sail.” This statement was written in +1910, and of course requires some modification to-day. But the advent +of the Californian clippers necessitated getting men from anywhere—some +sailors, many others not, and a whole lot of “bad hats” among them. +Of the Californian clippers built in 1851 one was the celebrated +_Challenge_, already referred to, a vessel of 2006 tons, one of the +largest clippers ever built, though absolutely the biggest was the +_Great Republic_, built in 1853. This was constructed by Donald McKay, +the famous Nova Scotian builder. She was of 4555 tons register, and +was the first ship to have an engine merely for hoisting the yards +and working the pumps. Rigged with four masts, she had the misfortune +to get on fire when nearly ready for sea, but was rebuilt, being the +largest merchant ship of her time, though registering now only 3357 +tons. + +The famous American clipper _Dreadnought_ came out in 1853, and voyaged +between New York and Liverpool, and on one occasion made this passage +in fifteen days twelve hours, and on another occasion in thirteen days +eight hours, though she was wrecked eventually off Cape Horn. But the +Australian gold discovery in 1851 had the same effect on shipping that +the China tea trade and the California gold rush had created. The +fastest vessels were required, competition became keen, and there was +no time to waste. Those owners, therefore, who had ships that could +carry passengers were in a splendid position from the first, for about +300,000 or 400,000 people each year for the next three or four years +had to be transported. From America no less than from England these +ships sailed away, and there was the same difficulty in Melbourne with +the crews as there had been in San Francisco. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +SAILING NOTICE OF THE WHITE STAR CLIPPER “RED JACKET.” + +(See p. 157.)] + +For British shipowners the difficulty was that there was but little +accommodation in most ships, so they thought of the American clippers, +which had been doing such fine work. James Baines & Co. of Liverpool +therefore had the clipper _Marco Polo_ built at St. John’s, New +Brunswick. She was a very handsome ship of 1622 tons, with considerable +rise of floor, very fine aft, and she carried a very large spread of +canvas. This was the pioneer of the clipper ships for the Australian +trade and the first of the Australian Black Ball Line, her passenger +accommodation being a great improvement on the ships usually trading to +Australia. She left Liverpool in July 1851, and made a record passage +in sixty-eight days to Melbourne, and during the ensuing years of the +gold rush was a very popular and successful ship. The British lines +running out to Australia at this time were the White Star (twenty years +before they entered the Atlantic steam competition) and James Baines & +Co.’s Australia Black Ball Line, just mentioned. + +These two firms both had clippers which were built in New England, and +one of these, the _Red Jacket_, was for the White Star Line. Named +after a noted Indian chief, with a full-length figure-head of him at +her bow, this fine ship was one of the most famous of the clippers, +and made a fine passage from New York to Liverpool in thirteen days, +one hour, when she first came out in February 1854, and on one of the +days made 413 miles. During that same year she sailed from Liverpool to +Melbourne in sixty-nine days. In his recently published _Reminiscences +of a Liverpool Shipowner_, Sir William B. Forwood has left an +interesting account of a voyage he made in this magnificent sailing +ship of 2006 tons, three years after she came out. “On the morning of +the 20th November, 1857,” he says, “I embarked by a tender from the +Liverpool pierhead. It was nearly the top of high water. The crew were +mustered on the forecastle, under the 1st Mate, Mr. Taylor. An order +comes from the quarter-deck. ‘Heave up the anchor and get away.’ ‘Aye, +aye, sir.’ ‘Now then, my boys, man the windlass,’ shouts the Mate, and +to a merry chantie: + + “‘In 1847 Paddy Murphy went to Heaven + To work on the railway, the railway, the railway, + Oh, poor Paddy works upon the railway.’ + +“‘The anchor is away, sir,’ shouts the Chief Officer. ‘Heave it a-peak +and cathead it,’ comes from the quarter-deck, and the tug _Retriever_ +forges ahead and tightens the tow-rope as we gather way. Bang, bang +went the guns, and twice more, for we were carrying the mails, and +goodbye to old Liverpool, and the crowds which lined the pierhead +cheered, for the _Red Jacket_ was already a famous ship, and it was +hoped she would make a record passage. + +“Next morning we were off Holyhead, with a fresh westerly breeze and +southerly swell. We were making but poor headway, and shortly the +hawser parted. ‘All hands on deck,’ was shouted by Captain O’Halloran, +and a crew of eighty men promptly appeared on deck, for we carried +a double crew. ‘Loose sails fore and aft; hands in the tops and +cross-trees to see that all is clear and to overhaul gear; let royals +and sky sails alone.’ + +“The boatswain’s whistle sounded fore and aft as the men quickly took +their positions and laid hold of the halyards and braces. + +[Illustration: + + [_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._ + +CRACKING-ON!] + +“‘Mr. Taylor, loose the headsails.’ ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ The topsail, +courses and topgallant sails were all loose and gaskets made up. ‘Now +then, my men, lead your topsail halyards fore and aft, and up with +them.’ Away the crew walk along with the halyards, and then with a long +pull and a pull all together the topsail yards are mastheaded to the +chantie: + + “‘Then up the yard must go, + Whiskey for my Johnny, + Oh, whiskey for the life of man, + Whiskey, Johnny.’” + +With the man at the wheel, keeping his eyes on the weather-luff of the +foreroyal, and allowing the sail to be just on the tremble, so as not +to lose an inch to windward, the _Red Jacket_ went tearing through the +seas, throwing them on either side in a sparkling cascade. By evening +the wind had increased, and the captain ordered life-lines to be run +fore and aft, and the decks to be sanded and the scuppers to be free. +The clipper plunges along, the man at the wheel eases her a few spokes +when a squall strikes her, and then bang goes the second jib, blown out +of the bolt ropes with the report of a gun. With seas coming in over +the forecastle, the hands set another jib, and by this time the clipper +is indeed travelling, for by the log she is doing eighteen knots. + +During bad weather the fifty saloon passengers and 600 steerage were +kept below and the atmosphere was stifling. There was none of the +comfort or luxury of a modern steamship, and the clipper was heeling +over in a way that would alarm many travellers to-day. But at last, +after sixty-four days, the _Red Jacket_ had made Port Philip Heads, and +so a record voyage to Australia. Those were the days when travelling +by sea was romantic and not as monotonous as a railway journey. With +the captain cracking-on to make a fast trip, with sails carrying away, +spars and gear as well, there was always some sport, some adventure. +Between 1850 and the following ten years Prince’s Dock, Liverpool, was +crowded with fine clippers raising their lofty masts and crossing their +great spars. And those were the days of wonderful feats of seamanship. +Sir William Forwood says that he remembers seeing the 600-ton +Brocklebank sailing ship _Martaban_ come sailing into George’s Dock +Basin under all canvas. Her halyards were then let go and sails clewed +up so smartly that the ship, as she passed the pierhead, was able to +throw a line on shore and make fast. Could you beat this for seamanlike +skill and discipline? + +[Illustration: + + [_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._ + +SPARS AND STAYS. + +Looking for’ard along the decks of a sailing ship.] + +But it is with the celebrated China tea-clippers from about 1860 +onwards that this skill reached such heights of proficiency. British +shipowners no longer found it necessary to have their clippers built +in America, and the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, together with the +enterprise learnt in a hard school, as the result of competition, +enabled British shipping to go ahead. The California boom, which had +produced America’s finest clippers, was dead. The great quantities +of American timber would soon be not wanted for shipbuilding, now +that iron was coming in and steam was replacing sails. But that which +gave the final character to the American Mercantile Marine was the +outbreak of civil war in 1861 between the North and South. From that +it never recovered until the new efforts, begun in 1917, to rebuild a +service that had been such a keen competitor during the clipper-ship +period. In the meantime, during the ’sixties and onwards, the British +Mercantile Marine, by the enterprise of the shipowners, the assistance +of legislation, the protection of the British Navy, the scientific +progress of shipbuilders and engineers, and by the skill and endurance +of its officers and crews, regained its supremacy after a stiff fight, +and opened up new trade routes in all parts of the world. And this +not merely in regard to the big lines, but especially in respect of +the tramp steamers going out with coal and bringing back all sorts of +essential produce. + +The Clyde was gradually beginning to take the place of the Blackwall +yard, and this became still more so as the need for coal and iron +increased, owing to the fact that the Thames is not convenient to +coalfields. It was in 1855 that Steele of Greenock built his first +tea-clipper, the _Kate Carnie_, about 600 tons, and thereafter he +built, among other beautiful and eye-pleasing ships, the historic +_Taeping_, _Serica_, _Ariel_ and _Sir Lancelot_, all under 900 tons, +yet exceedingly fast. From 1855 to 1881 is the comprehensive period +of these China tea-clippers, and their evolution should be compared +with that of the Blackwall frigates already dealt with. The Steele +clippers had a full midship section and fine ends, but some of the +other clippers were fined away like the hulls of schooner yachts. +Unlike the obstinate Blackwallers, many tea-clippers had a certain +amount of sheer. From 1863 both the Clyde and Aberdeen firms launched +composite-built clippers, and these were so beautifully tight as to +require practically no pumping, and so the cargoes of tea arrived in +perfect condition. + +The British tea-clippers of the period under consideration were +smaller than the American clippers, had less sheer, less freeboard, +and were more slim and graceful, with decks unencumbered except with +small houses; with less heavy spars, less beam, and were designed +to carry small cargoes of tea with the utmost despatch. They were a +small fleet in numbers, but their excellence was rather in a sustained +average speed throughout their voyages than in hourly or daily runs. +The longest day’s run by a tea-clipper was 363 miles, and this record +was made by _Cutty Sark_, and the only other clipper that could rival +her was the _Thermopylae_. These tea-clippers were economical to run, +handled by magnificent British seamen, and commanded by captains of +great experience, courage and enterprise. The composite construction +of wooden planking and iron frames gave these little ships unusual +strength, they were ballasted with shingle, and in light weather could +utterly outsail a Black Baller, a Californian clipper or a Blackwall +frigate. But because of their comparative smallness it is not to be +imagined that in heavy weather they could compete with the American +clippers of much greater tonnage and freeboard. _Cutty Sark’s_ rival, +_Thermopylae_, being of her own nationality, on one occasion did 358 +miles, and _Ariel_ 340 miles, in the twenty-four hours. + +But these tea-clippers needed proper handling, like sensitive horses, +and required to be humoured. Those were the days when the love of +ships by owners, captains and crews was something real, when clippers +were treated like human beings and given everything they wanted; and +their loss often meant the breaking of the owner’s heart. The personal +relationship between the owner, his ship and captain was something +very different from to-day. Before the advent of limited liability +companies and telegraph cables, instructions were given personally +by the owner, who would himself come down to see his ship start. In +many cases the captains were financially interested in the ships, and +it must be remembered that the best clipper-ship captains were hard +to find. Remembering that an owner required neither a mere dare-devil +nor one who merely played for safety, but a captain who would crack-on +without losing ship or gear, and whilst getting the last ounce out of +the ship would know instantly when to ease up, it is obvious that an +ideal commander would be a mixture of courage, iron nerve, initiative, +driving power, sound judgment based on experience, consummate +seamanlike ability and great physical endurance. + +It was when such skippers got command of these lovely little ships that +the tea was raced home in such splendid time. They had to watch their +ships from hour to hour during the three months’ race from China to +England, rarely going below, getting very little sleep, and the result +was that many eventually broke down. But we must think of them as the +keenest lot of captains who ever sailed the seas, and up to every dodge +to get the ship home quicker than the other fellow. They looked for +risks and accepted them freely, but they were not foolhardy, and they +knew just how much their ships could stand. Backed up not by mutinous +crews, as was often the case in the American clippers, but by thorough +seamen, all British, a captain knew that he could rely on them to +aid him in getting the most out of his ship; for they were not less +keen than himself, and were betting against the other ships. It meant +hard work, but no sailorman will ever grouse at this if he is in tune +with the reason. They took a pride in their vessels and were jealous +of a ship’s honour. Could the same be said nowadays of the crews of +steamships? Sentiment in seafaring has a tremendous practical value if +only it is appreciated and properly trained. + +In his volume _The China Clippers_, Mr. Basil Lubbock says that “in +the heyday of the racing, Foochow was the loading port par excellence, +and the Pagoda anchorage, just before the tea came down the river, +showed perhaps the most beautiful fleet of ships the world has ever +seen. The crack ships, which were always the first to load, began to +assemble about the end of April; and until the tea came down were all +engaged in painting, varnishing and smartening themselves up, and in +other ways, such as sheathing over their channels, preparing for the +fray. Then what a sight they made when all was spick and span, with +their glistening black hulls, snow-white decks, golden gingerbread +work and carving at bow and stern, newly-varnished teak deck-fittings, +glittering brass and burnished copper. Every ship, of course, had her +distinctive mast and bulwark colours.” + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +PORT OF LIVERPOOL. + +In 1798.] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +SCREW S.S. “LADY JOCELYN.” + +1,800 tons, 300 horse-power. Owned by General Screw Steam Shipping Co.] + +The tea-clipper _Fiery Cross_, launched in 1860 at Liverpool and +wood-built, was to become famous for her fast passages home. It was +customary in those days for the first vessel who landed the new teas +in England to receive a premium. This vessel won the premium on four +occasions. Then in 1863 Steele built the _Serica_ and _Taeping_, two +of the most famous clipper ships. The former was wood-built and of 708 +tons. The latter was composite-built and of 767 tons, and it was in +1865 that two more Steele composite tea-clippers were launched, also +to become famous. These were the 853-ton _Ariel_ and the 886-ton _Sir +Lancelot_. Very beautiful craft they were, and no ship-lover can regard +the existing pictures of these handsome craft without a thrill of +emotion. Symmetry, grace, proportion, curves, easy lines as to hull; +a good sail-plan, tall masts and fine spars; carrying in light winds +all sorts of kites and fancy sails, the supreme test came in the +ever-memorable race of 1866, which is one of the greatest events in the +whole history of merchant ships under sail. On May 28, 1866, there was +a whole fleet of these clippers loading at Foochow. At 5 p.m. _Ariel_ +began her voyage, by dropping down and anchoring for the night; and +then followed the _Fiery Cross_, _Taeping_, _Serica_ and _Taitsing_, at +intervals. On August 12 _Ariel_ passed the Cape Verde Islands, next day +came _Taeping_, _Fiery Cross_ and _Serica_, the _Taitsing_ not passing +until the 19th, but she had made up these three days by September 1. +On September 5 _Ariel_ picked up the Bishop Light, sighted _Taeping_, +and the two raced up Channel, doing their fourteen knots. _Ariel_ got +her pilot at six the next morning off Dungeness, followed immediately +by _Taeping_. In the Downs _Taeping_ got the more powerful tug, and +thus reached Gravesend nearly an hour sooner, and finally docked twenty +minutes before _Ariel_. It was a near thing after racing for three +months from one end of the world to the other. _Serica_ docked on the +same tide, _Fiery Cross_ was only about a day later, and _Taitsing_ +arrived in the river on September 9. And there were plenty more of +these races, for the skippers cracked-on and made these clippers do +marvellous things through the water. + +But in 1868 there was built at Aberdeen the famous clipper +_Thermopylae_, 947 tons, a bigger and more powerful ship than the +Steele clippers, and a veritable witch at sailing, whether on the wind +or to windward, and a wonderful sea boat, too. In November 1868 she +started on her maiden voyage from Gravesend, and reached Melbourne in +sixty-three days. Mr. Downie, already quoted, whilst a midshipman in a +Blackwaller, happened to be in Melbourne when _Thermopylae_ came in, +and went aboard to look over this new wonder ship. “She had immensely +square yards,” he says, “and most beautiful lines, fore and aft. Her +apprentices told me her skipper had driven her all the way, carrying on +tremendously, but her spars and rigging were all new, and of the best +material, and stood the severe strain in splendid fashion.” + +_Thermopylae_ broke records, and in 1869 got home from Foochow in +ninety-one days, though _Sir Lancelot_ less than a fortnight later +arrived after a voyage of only eighty-nine days. But then came the +splendid _Cutty Sark_. She is the only one of this long line of +tea-clippers still afloat and at work. In the autumn of 1921 she came +into the London river, and I was able to go all over her. But she had +changed her name to _Ferreira_ and was Portuguese-owned and rigged as a +barquentine. For all that, and the disappointing way in which she was +being kept up, she was in excellent condition, with a yacht-like hull, +every line of which suggested grace and speed. Composite-built, this +921-ton vessel was a little bigger than _Thermopylae_, and was launched +in 1869. Under Captain Moodie this vessel cracked-on, and she could do +her seventeen and a half knots, and anyone who has examined her bow and +stern will readily believe this. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +AUXILIARY SCREW S.S. “INDOMITABLE.” + +1,170 tons. Owned by R. James Brown, Sunderland.] + +And here, in the height of their glory, we must now leave these +clippers; for the opening of the Suez Canal told owners pretty +plainly that the future for them was to leave sail and go in for steam. +In 1881 _Thermopylae_ made her last passage as a tea-carrier, and all +the other clippers had either gone or were out of the running, and used +in other trades. Crews began more frequently to go into steamships, +famous captains retired, and the younger men, like the crews, preferred +the more comfortable life in a mechanically-propelled vessel. But for +years the American and British clipper ships were the glory of the +Mercantile Marine, as at one time the old East Indiamen had been before +the days of healthy competition. The influence of the scientific French +architects on the American builders of frigates and privateers is +traceable through the clipper ships which followed. Thus mutually one +nation is linked with another in the development of that great service +which has meant so much for the good of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TRIUMPH OF STEAM + + +The speed of life, the rate of progress, and the development of new +ideas have since the beginning of the nineteenth century been so rapid +that all the previous history of the Mercantile Marine, as in other +spheres of activity, seems ridiculously slow and unduly protracted +until we realise that a ship could not become efficient until she had +the right type of hull and the correct distribution of sails, nor be +able to steam until suitable engines had evolved by invention and long +practice. + +It is a cliché to speak of the “wonderful” nineteenth century, and +yet in regard to its effects on the sea services it is but expressing +a literal truth. The amazing fact is, that just as the sailing ship +was becoming perfect the steamship was beginning to take its place; +and just as the clippers had definitely created the golden age of +sail, steamers had become reliable, indispensable and destined to make +sailing vessels out of date. If steam and iron, and then steel, had not +been introduced into marine progress for another hundred years, and +the clippers had been allowed to have the seas to themselves, it would +have seemed but fair and natural, having regard to the centuries and +centuries which had been necessary to bring about, at last, so perfect +a creation of man’s science, art and bitter experience. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +LORD YARBOROUGH’S YACHT “FALCON.” + +351 tons. Off Cowes. About 1829. Afterwards used as a merchant ship.] + +But it was not to be. The story of the steamship, like that of the +sailing ship, is one of evolution; but compressed into a few years +instead of many centuries. As early as 1736 a steam vessel had been +patented by Jonathan Hulls, to be used as a steam tug. It is even said +that such a craft was built and experimented with in the following +year; but at any rate the experiment was not continued. The essential +idea was the use of a single paddle at the stern. Now follows the +trend of invention. In 1783 a two-paddle-wheel steam craft, turned +by a single horizontal steam cylinder, constructed by the Marquis de +Jouffroy, actually went ahead for some time against the current of the +Saône. For some time Patrick Miller had been experimenting with the old +idea of propelling craft by hand-worked paddle-wheels. In 1787 William +Symington had obtained a patent for a new steam-engine, and he was now +asked to design an engine that would turn these paddle-wheels. Thus in +the autumn of 1788 the engine was put into a double-hulled vessel, no +bigger than the smallest yacht, measuring 25 feet long, with 7 feet +beam, the engine being geared with chains and the two paddle-wheels +being placed between the two hulls, one wheel astern of the other. This +curious vessel was actually tried on Dalswinton Loch and was able to do +her five miles an hour. + +Then in 1801 was built the stern-wheeler _Charlotte Dundas_ at +Grangemouth, having engines supplied by Symington. She also had a +double stern with two rudders controlled by a steering-wheel. She +proved her efficiency to the extent of towing a couple of 70-ton, +loaded vessels for nearly twenty miles along the Forth and Clyde canal; +but as the owners of this waterway feared for the damage done to the +banks of the canal, the ship was condemned. We have to look upon these +as hardly anything more than interesting experiments, but six years +later we see the first real steamship, not in England nor Scotland, +but in North America, yet produced by a combination of British and +American brains. This was the _Clermont_, measuring 133 feet long and +18 feet beam, and was produced by Robert Fulton, an American engineer, +born in Pennsylvania of Irish parentage. In 1797 he came to Paris, +where he devoted his attention to steam navigation, and in 1803 built +a small steamboat which went up the Seine. Three years later he went +back to America, having seen the trial trip of the _Charlotte Dundas_. +He arranged with the British firm Boulton & Watt to make for him the +principal portions of a suitable engine, and these were sent across the +Atlantic to him and fitted into the wooden ship _Clermont_. The result +was that in 1807 this craft travelled by steam power from New York to +Albany up the Hudson, a distance of 150 miles, in thirty-two hours. +This was a veritable triumph, and definitely settled the question as +to whether steam vessels would ever become of practical utility. It +is, indeed, one of the landmarks of history, and when we look on the +ocean to-day and see such mighty steamships as _Olympic_, _Aquitania_, +_Majestic_ and _Berengaria_, to say nothing of the many thousands of +smaller steamers all over the world, it is nothing short of remarkable +that in little more than a hundred years such a stupendous change +should have come about. The advancement of the ship seems suddenly to +have been telescoped. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +CLIPPER SCREW S.S. “HELLENIS.” + +755 tons, length 206 ft. Owned by the Anglo-Ionian Steam Navigation +Co., Ltd. Built at Stockton. In 1861.] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “ORINOCO.” + +2,250 tons, 800 horse-power. Lieut. G. M. Chapman, R.N., Commander. +Owned by Royal West India Mail Company.] + +But the successive stages were not easy, and there was much to be +learnt. In 1811 on the Clyde was launched the _Comet_, a clumsy +little thing of 40 feet length on the keel, and able to steam five +miles an hour by means of one paddle on each side, as in the case of +the _Clermont_. During the next few years paddle-steamers began to +be built and introduced on the Clyde, Thames and Mersey. By 1817 a +steamer called the _Caledonia_ had been taken from the Clyde to the +Thames, whence, after receiving new engines, she steamed to Rotterdam. +A year later came the 90-ton _Rob Roy_, constructed by William Denny +and engined by Napier with thirty nominal horse-power. After running +for some time between Greenock and Belfast, she was transferred to +the Dover-Calais route, but in the meantime steamer development was +proceeding in other parts of Europe. For in 1815 a small craft called +the _Elizabeth_ was running on the Neva, another steamer was carrying +passengers between Cronstadt and St. Petersburg, whilst in Germany the +first vessel of this kind to be built was the _Prinzessin Charlotte_, a +double-hulled thing with a single paddle-wheel between the hulls. She +was running on the Elbe and Spree as early as 1816. + +Thus far small steamers had shown their utility for inland waters +and for short sea passages; but now comes another important event. +In the year 1818 there was built in New York the 350-ton full-rigged +ship _Savannah_, but she was also fitted with a low-pressure engine +of ninety horse-power, and a couple of paddle-wheels, one on each +side. These were so arranged that they could be hoisted on board. In +the following year she crossed the Atlantic to Liverpool in thirty +days, but this was largely a sailing passage, for she did not use her +engines except for eighty hours, and by the time she had reached the +Irish coast she had consumed all her fuel. On her return to America +her engines were removed and she became a sailing ship simply. Still, +for the first time in history a ship had been driven by steam in the +Atlantic, and it showed what could be expected presently. + +And then came a surprise. In that yard which had been building nothing +else but sailing ships since the time of Elizabeth, in that yard where +the flower of the British merchant fleet had always been constructed, +there was now actually being made a steamer! It seemed incredible, +but it was true, and it caused a great sensation at the time. In 1820 +had been formed the first steamship company, under the title of the +General Steam Navigation Company, and they gave the order for their +first steamer to the Blackwall yard of Wigram & Green. This ship was +the 401-ton paddler _City of Edinburgh_, for the Edinburgh trade, and +she was launched in 1821, the same year as the yard also launched the +1333-ton East Indiaman _Duchess of Atholl_, one of the finest sailing +ships of the time. It was significant of the big change that was coming +over the Mercantile Marine, though for many a year most of the officers +and men heartily despised any one who deserted sail for steam. + +In the following year this same yard launched the 180-ton paddler _King +of the Netherlands_ for the same owners, and in 1823 they built three +more steamers of from 244 to 510 tons. The _City of Edinburgh_ had been +launched in March, and had caused so much interest that the future +William IV and Queen Adelaide went to look over her and were surprised +at the magnificence of her passenger accommodation. The engines were of +only 100 horse-power, yet the Press at the time referred to them as +“extremely powerful.” Then in the following June was launched at Port +Glasgow the 420-ton three-masted schooner _James Watt_, which had a +long, narrow funnel, about as tall as her mainmast, and a paddle-wheel +on either side of the ship driven by engines of the same horse-power as +those for the _City of Edinburgh_. + +The steamship had thus got a good start, though as regards ocean work +the engines were auxiliary rather than the main propelling power. In +1825 the 176-ton auxiliary _Falcon_ reached Calcutta via the Cape, and +the 470-ton _Enterprise_ made the same voyage in 113 days, but for 103 +days she used steam. This was the biggest test which marine machinery +had so far endured. It proved a good deal, and therefore it is not +surprising that two years later there were eighty steamers classed +in Lloyd’s Register, and five years later there were 100. But the +Atlantic had not yet been conquered by steam, and when we realise that +_Aquitania_ was not in commission until 1914, we can well appreciate +the rate of progress that was afterwards made. In 1831 a vessel named +the _Royal William_, 176 feet long, was built in Quebec, and fitted +with engines made by Boulton & Watt that had been sent across the +Atlantic. Two years later this ship crossed the ocean to Cowes, having +done the 2500 miles in seventeen days, yet there is some doubt as to +whether she used her engines throughout the whole voyage. + +But the year 1838 was to be remarkable in the story of the Atlantic, +for on April 4 there started from Cork the 703-ton paddler _Sirius_, +which reached New York on April 22. She had steamed all the way, but +it had been a near thing, for her fuel gave out and she had even to +burn some of her spars. At one stage of the voyage her captain had +to quell a mutiny, for the crew began to assume that the ship would +never get across. Twelve hours after her arrival came into New York the +four-masted paddler _Great Western_, which had left Bristol on April 7. +She was a much larger ship, of 1321 gross tons, and had been specially +designed by that engineering genius Brunel to withstand Atlantic +weather. On the return voyage she took fifteen days, and _Sirius_ +seventeen. _Great Western_ was a most successful ship, both technically +and commercially. At the end of the first year she earned a dividend of +9 per cent., thirty-five guineas being the fare, and she carried 152 +passengers. She was not broken up until 1847. + +So far no steamer had crossed from Liverpool to New York, though the +sailing ships were still doing the voyage in about three weeks, but in +1838 a second _Royal William_ accomplished this. She was hardly the +kind of paddler to choose for Atlantic work, and had really been built +for the Liverpool-Kingstown route. Built and engined at Liverpool, +being 3 feet shorter but 2 feet wider than _Sirius_, she was thus +the first of those steamers to maintain the communication between +Liverpool and New York, which has meant so much to the mutual commerce +and development of ideas in the two countries. On April 2, 1839, the +three-masted paddler _British Queen_ left Portsmouth and reached New +York on April 16, or three days quicker than the first _Royal William_ +had done the journey in the opposite direction under sail and steam. +Encouraged by the success of _Sirius_, which had been chartered +because the _British Queen_ was not yet ready, the British Queen Steam +Navigation Company had also built the sister ship _President_, 1863 +tons and 700 horse-power; but after sailing from New York on March 11, +1841, with a few passengers, _President_ was never heard of again, and +thus the company came to an end. + +We have now reached a stage when a change was coming over the +Mercantile Marine slowly but without a doubt. A new competition was +beginning, yet so far sail was ahead and improving all the time. +But from the number of new shipyards which were springing up, and +the interest which they and owners were taking in the steamship, it +was obvious even soon after Queen Victoria’s accession that in the +steamship lay the future of the trading and passenger ship. It is to be +noted that during the time of the Honourable East India Company their +ships were primarily and essentially freighters. They earned their +profits by carrying valuable exports and imports. The few passengers +who travelled were officials going out to India in the service of +the company, or returning home. To-day the finest merchant ships in +the world are not freighters, but passenger ships. It is the tramp +which has succeeded to the carrying trade of those pioneer ships; and +after the Indian monopoly had disappeared, and there came a need for +people to go out East, it was quite an innovation to provide more +accommodation for passengers. Then the same thing happened in regard +to China, but especially with the emigration to Australia. Gradually +this element increased, people began to travel all over the world, for +business, for administrative reasons, for pleasure; and as the number +of passengers increased so the amount of cargo space was encroached +upon. Especially was this the case in the transatlantic ships, so that +to-day the principal liners on that route carry practically no cargo +beyond mails and the passengers’ luggage. Thus, within a hundred years, +the needs of the public have entirely altered the characters of the +shipping. + +It was natural enough that the East should for so long have instigated +all the improvements in shipping, for the reason that travellers +went to the Orient long before America was discovered, and the East +India Company had a continuous need for the best ships. But since the +introduction of steam and the rapid progress of the United States, +it is the West, and not the East which has always seen the greatest +enterprise in shipping. Bigger and better vessels, compound engines, +twin screws, triple screws, quadruple screws, turbines, oil fuel, +increased speed, luxurious accommodation—all these most important and +progressive factors in the Mercantile Marine have come as a result of +the Atlantic, and not the Oriental trade. + +In reality it is all traceable to the year 1840, though the +establishment of Lloyd’s Register in 1834,[5] the founding of the +Marine Department of the Board of Trade in 1846 and the repeal of the +Navigation Laws in 1849 have also to be reckoned as having powerfully +contributed to the improvement of British shipping. Some time since +I had in my hands the log of the sailing ship _Elizabeth_, which +sailed from the Thames in the spring of 1833, arrived in China the +following January, left there in March, called at St. Helena in June, +then crossed the Atlantic and reached Halifax in August. She was, I +believe, the last of the ships owned by the Honourable East India +Company to leave China before the monopoly ended. Now, as showing +the interlocking of human affairs, it is interesting to observe that +at Halifax she went alongside Mr. Cunard’s wharf, for he was the East +India Company’s agent in that port. Curiously, five years previously, +in reply to a letter sent to his firm by Messrs. Ross & Primrose, +Cunard had written: “We have received your letter of the 22nd inst. +We are entirely unacquainted with the cost of a steamboat, and would +not like to embark in a business of which we are quite ignorant. Must, +therefore, decline taking any part in the one you propose getting up.” + +Now in those days the arrangements for postal contracts were in the +hands of the British Admiralty, who were so impressed by the wonderful +steamship achievements of 1838 that they proceeded to issue circulars +inviting tenders for the carrying of American mails by steamers. It +so happened that one of these circulars fell into the hands of Samuel +Cunard of Halifax, who owned a number of sailing ships trading between +Boston, Newfoundland and Bermuda. He had been one of the shareholders +of the first _Royal William_, which had crossed in 1833 from Nova +Scotia to Cowes. Having read the circular and made up his mind, he +came to London in order to raise the required money, but the merchants +would have nothing to do with the scheme. From the secretary of the +East India Company he obtained a letter of introduction to Mr. Robert +Napier, a Clyde shipbuilder and engineer, who in turn introduced +him to Mr. George Burns, and the latter introduced him to Mr. David +MacIver. Each of these two last mentioned was an expert in the shipping +business, and in a few days the necessary capital of £270,000 was +subscribed. A tender was then made to the Admiralty for the conveyance +of Her Majesty’s mails once a fortnight between Liverpool, Halifax and +Boston. This was accepted in competition, and a contract was signed for +seven years. It was agreed that the service was to be carried on by +four ships, that fixed dates of sailings should be adhered to, and that +the company should be subsidised to the extent of £81,000 a year. + +Thus the famous Cunard Company was founded. Cunard came to London, +Burns to Glasgow and MacIver to Liverpool, and to these three men we +owe a great deal of the subsequent development of Atlantic shipping +and the progress of the Mercantile Marine. The company was at first +known as “The British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet +Company,” and in the year 1840 these four wooden ships were built on +the Clyde and supplied with engines by Robert Napier. The first was the +_Britannia_, followed by the _Acadia_, _Caledonia_ and _Columbia_. They +were propelled by paddle-wheels, carried 115 cabin passengers and 225 +tons of cargo, and they were all approximately 1154 tons, and 207 feet +long. Regardless of superstition, _Britannia_ began her maiden voyage +on a Friday, which happened to be July 4, a day which commemorated +another kind of Independence. After a fine trip of eleven days and +four hours she reached Halifax, and thence proceeded to Boston, just a +fortnight plus eight hours out from Liverpool. The citizens of Boston +celebrated the historic event with banqueting and enthusiasm, and thus +was forged one of those links which have bound the two nations together +for so many years ever since. + +Following the precedent of the Cunard Company, the Royal Mail Line +in March 1840, obtained a contract to carry the mails in at least +fourteen “good substantial and efficient steam vessels” to the West +Indies, whither previously the mails had been carried in gun-brigs. The +contract was for ten years from December 1841. All the ships were named +after British rivers, and they used to depart from Falmouth, the voyage +taking from seventeen to eighteen days. It is evidence of the great +spread of shipbuilding already that these fourteen ships were built at +Northfleet on the Thames, Greenock, Dumbarton, Leith and even Cowes. +The fleet cost about £1,000,000 sterling, but the Government gave them +a subsidy of £240,000 a year. The undertaking was very successful, and +presently Southampton took the place of Falmouth. Then in 1851 the +Royal Mail Line extended their service to South America. Gradually the +heavy subsidy dropped to £85,000 a year, and was finally abolished in +June 1905. + +As further evidence of the solid belief which the steamship had now +won, it is only necessary to refer to the Pacific Steam Navigation +Company, which received its charter in 1840. It is now amalgamated with +the Royal Mail Line, but in those days, whilst the latter served the +east side of South America, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company served +the Pacific coast of that continent by going round through the Magellan +Straits. Their two ships the _Chile_ and _Peru_ were in fact the first +two steamers which ever passed through those straits. What a wonderful +change since the time of Drake’s ships! + +But there is still one more important event which belongs to the year +1840, for this was the date when there was incorporated by royal +charter the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. The +foundation of the Peninsular Company dates back to 1837, and a regular +service of mail packets was instituted from London to Lisbon and +Gibraltar, though even a little prior to this date its ships had begun +running to the Peninsula. The first steamship owned by the Peninsular +Company was the 209-ton paddler _William Fawcett_, built in the year +1829, and she ran from London to Lisbon and Gibraltar. In 1840 the +line was extended to Malta and Alexandria, and its title changed from +Peninsular to Peninsular and Oriental. There was as yet no Suez Canal, +so from Alexandria passengers and goods were sent by the Mahmoudieh +Canal to the Nile, whence they proceeded by steamer to Cairo, and from +there travelled through the desert on camels as far as Suez. It was +thus a laborious business, 3000 camels being employed for transporting +a single steamer’s loading, every package requiring three separate +transfers; and for nearly thirty years this continued until the Suez +Canal was opened in 1869. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +TWO EARLY MAIL STEAMSHIPS. + +This picture of 1842 shows two of the General Steam Navigation +Company’s vessels at Rotterdam. The 600-ton “Ocean” leaving, and the +500-ton “Giraffe” arriving.] + +But this company first sent a steamer to India via the Cape in 1842. +This was the 1800-ton _Hindostan_, with 500-horse-power engines. In +1844 the P. & O. undertook the mail service from England to Alexandria, +and thus from Suez to Ceylon, Calcutta and China. The service between +Suez and Bombay was carried on by the East India Company, in order to +keep alive their navy, but in 1854 this service was absorbed by the +P. & O., who in 1852 had also started a branch line from Singapore +to Australia. Then in 1869 came the opening of the Suez Canal, and +thus was broken down the last barrier which separated India from the +trader. A tremendous impulse was given now to shipping; for the +first time vessels need not go round the Cape of Good Hope, and so once +again the Mediterranean ceased to be a backwater and the route to the +East was now more like what it was before the Portuguese, Dutch and +Elizabethan English had begun to undertake their Oriental voyages. It +is interesting to remark that in the same year which saw the opening +of the Suez Canal the two fastest clipper ships which ever sailed were +both afloat—_Thermopylae_ and _Cutty Sark_. The latter made her maiden +voyage in the following February. Thus, at a time when sailing ships +were passing the Cape at a record speed, the canal was being opened and +putting an end to the sail-driven vessel’s usefulness after so many +centuries, linking it up with Vasco da Gama and earlier. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] By the amalgamation of the Register of Shipping (1760) and the New +Register Book of Shipping (1799). + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE IRON AND STEEL AGE + + +In a very few years, then, the increasing success of the steamer, +together with the opening of the Suez Canal and firm establishment of +several steamship companies carrying mails east, west and south, gave +the glorious sailing ships a blow from which they have never since +recovered. Mechanically-propelled craft were now seen everywhere. In +1841 the Blackwall yard launched the 666-ton paddler _Princess Royal_ +and the 875-ton paddler _Trident_ for the General Steam Navigation +Company. The latter craft was one of the fastest vessels afloat, and +on Queen Victoria’s first visit to Scotland this ship so far surpassed +the royal yacht in speed that _Trident_ was chartered for Her Majesty’s +party on the return voyage. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “TRIDENT.” + +Of the General Steam Navigation Company, arriving at Woolwich on +September 13, 1842, with Queen Victoria on board after her visit to +Scotland. “Trident” was of 875 tons.] + +From 1840 to about 1860 the Cunard ships had practically a monopoly of +the Atlantic steamship trade, though as long as they used paddle-wheels +they were not very serious competitors with the sailing craft. It was +the advent of iron and steel, of the high-pressure and compound engines +which was to give the steamships the virtues of economy and efficiency +and thus a superiority over the old-fashioned craft. From 1850 for the +next eight years there was in the North Atlantic a certain amount of +opposition from a steamship company called the Collins Line, which had +been subsidised by the United States Government. After a burst of +keen rivalry, the Collins Line withdrew from the contest. In 1850 came +the Inman Line, which kept up the running for many years until in 1893 +it was reorganised and became merged in the American Line. In 1866 was +founded the Guion Line, which certainly had a great influence for a +time in accelerating the development of the big steamship. And then in +1870 came the White Star Line, which, excepting the Cunard Line and +a temporary influence of the two German lines, has done more for the +improvement in design and speed and comfort in regard to steamships +than all the other companies put together. + +We must now see how this all came about. It depended really on two +things: first, the use of iron, and subsequently steel, for the +building of bigger hulls; and secondly, the invention of the screw +propeller to take the place of the old-fashioned paddle-wheel. Briefly +how this came to pass is as follows. As far back as 1821 a Mr. Aaron +Manby had built an iron craft 120 feet long and 18 feet wide, and she +steamed from London to Paris, being employed for the next twenty years +on the Seine. She was thus the first iron ship to put to sea, and was +called the _Aaron Manby_, after her builder. Then in 1832 Laird & Co. +of Birkenhead built the 148-ton paddler _Lady Lansdowne_ for the trade +between England and Ireland. But it was not until 1843 that the first +really large iron ship, the famous _Great Britain_, was built, intended +as an improvement on the _Great Western_. + +But before we speak of the _Great Britain_ we must see something of +the way the propeller came in, for the two subjects are intimately +connected. At its best the paddle-wheel, except for excursion steamers +and certain kinds of tugs, is a very clumsy means of driving a ship +through the water. It is the most obvious, because historically it is +analogous to the action of the duck, of the first primitive man who +paddled his small craft, or of the later Egyptians who rowed with oars +down the Nile. But for open sea work the paddle-wheel is an awkward +encumbrance, and apart from tugs and pleasure steamers it was last +seen, in European waters at least, in the mail steamers running from +England to Flushing and Ostend comparatively recently. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +THE “ROBERT F. STOCKTON.” + +(Captain Ericsson, 1839.)] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +AN EARLY CROSS-CHANNEL STEAMER. + +This picture of 1855 shows the English and French Royal Mail Steam +Packets “Queen” and “Empress.”] + +But for a long time there had been efforts made to introduce the +screw propeller. As far back as 1804 John Stevens crossed the Hudson +in a little vessel driven by a screw propeller, but it was not until +thirty-two years later that John Ericsson, a Swedish engineer, +reintroduced the screw and patented it. In 1837 his propeller was +successfully tried in the 45-foot _Francis B. Ogden_, and in the +following year the Lairds built at Birkenhead the 63-foot _Robert F. +Stockton_, which obtained the extraordinary speed of thirteen knots on +the Thames, going with the tide, and she afterwards went across the +Atlantic, where she was turned into a tug. But in England Francis Smith +was at work on the screw problem and obtained a patent in the same year +as Ericsson, and his invention was tried with success in a 6-ton boat. +Smith’s patent was bought by a syndicate; and in 1838 was launched the +240-ton three-master _Archimedes_, fitted with Smith’s screw, and after +she had steamed round Great Britain and across the Bay of Biscay, the +prejudiced and “old-timers” began to believe in the new idea. Next +year was launched the much larger _Novelty_, which was the first +cargo ship to be fitted with a screw, and she proceeded from London to +Constantinople and back. She was also the first ship to be fitted with +an iron mast. + +We have thus arrived at the stage when the iron ship and the screw +propeller had become practicable, and thus the future of the steamer +was moulded. Wood was all very well until the demand for increased +tonnage arrived, but when it was proposed to construct the 3618-ton +_Great Britain_ there was nothing for it but to use iron. Here was +a ship to be 822 feet long with 50½ feet beam, able to carry 260 +passengers and 1200 tons of cargo. As no contractor could be found +willing to build such a ship, the Great Western Steamship Company at +Bristol constructed her themselves. She was designed by Brunel, but +she turned out to be an awkward, ill-fated monstrosity. Launched in +July 1843, she was unable to enter the river until December of the +following year, owing to delay in the alteration of the dock. It was +originally intended to fit her with the usual paddle-wheels, but the +arrival of the _Archimedes_ in the port caused Brunel to modify the +designs, so that his ship should be driven by a six-bladed propeller. +She was a curious, six-masted craft with a bowsprit and painted ports, +and in July 1845, after making a trip to London, left Liverpool with +sixty passengers and 600 tons of cargo, reaching New York after a +voyage of fifteen days. On the return journey her best day’s steaming +was 287 miles. One night during September of the following year, after +leaving the Mersey, she ran ashore off the Irish coast in Dundrum Bay, +where she remained for eleven months exposed to all weathers. Brunel +cleverly had a wooden breakwater, loaded with stones, built round her, +and she was eventually refloated and taken into Liverpool. She was now +sold for a quarter of her original cost of £100,000, was turned into a +full-rigged ship for the Australian trade, and eventually became a coal +hulk. + +But in spite of her failure this ship showed that an iron hull and a +screw as propeller were a practicable combination. She was divided +into five water-tight compartments, she was fitted with bilge-keels to +minimise rolling, and instead of the heavy wooden bulwarks possessed +by contemporary ships and inherited from the time when the Tudor ships +mounted their cannon, _Great Britain_ had iron rails with netting, so +that any seas shipped could get away easily. Thus, this unfortunate +vessel, in spite of her ill-luck, did introduce new ideas into the +Mercantile Marine. It was in 1856 that the Cunard Company built the +_Persia_, of iron. She was a 3300-ton ship, but had paddle-wheels, +and then, six years later, came their _Scotia_, which was the last +and finest paddle-ship ever built for the Atlantic service. She had +seven water-tight compartments and a double bottom, thanks to the +influence of _Great Britain_, and she lowered the record of crossing +the Atlantic to just two hours under the nine days. The sailing ship +as a passenger-carrier across that ocean was now definitely beaten, +and the future simply consisted in the more thorough perfecting of the +steamships; there was no going back now, notwithstanding the fact that +in the Eastern trades the full-rigged ships were still making such +wonderful passages. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +THE FAMOUS “GREAT EASTERN.” + +After her launching in 1858.] + +The advance of engineering and science, the amount of valuable data +which had been obtained during these years of steam propulsion, had +already brought steamship building to be no rule-of-thumb method, +but a highly technical art. About the middle of the century, John Scott +Russell, for instance, made some valuable researches regarding the +resistance of a ship’s hull passing through the water, and in 1860 Sir +Edward Harland, founder of the famous Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff, +introduced steamers into the Mediterranean with a length of ten times +their beam. This novel idea was so successful that when he came to +build the White Star steamships he carried out that same idea, which +was yet another important influence in the evolution of the modern +Atlantic liner. But even in 1852 a tremendous improvement was seen in +the hull of the _Victoria_, which was built of iron to the design of +Brunel & Scott Russell for the Australian Royal Mail Steam Navigation +Company. She was designed to embody the wave-line theory and for a +speed of ten knots, and instead of the clumsy, ponderous hulls, you +find in the _Victoria_ smoothness, gracefulness and sweet lines. It is +therefore not altogether surprising that she won the £500 prize offered +by the Colonies for the fastest voyage to Australia, her time from +Gravesend to Adelaide being sixty days, including two days’ delay at +St. Vincent. She was propelled by a two-bladed screw. + +Thus in the fewest possible years a remarkable change had come over +the Mercantile Marine, and though the old die-hards—those fine artists +of the marlin-spike—still heartily despised every kind of steamship, +yet others could see well enough that an entirely new order of things +had begun owing to the advance in engineering. The ship, as in +regard to other creatures, had to advance with the times. The first +settlement in Australia had taken place as far back as 1788, and now +required better lines of communication. So, too, with the East and +the great strides which North and South America were making. Pioneers, +emigrants, business men were exercising a pressure which could be met +only in bigger and faster ships. Thanks to the peace and prosperity +of the mid-Victorian era, new ideas were emerging. Gone were the +days of monopolies and worn-out rules: the last trace of mediævalism +in shipping had been severed, and men were thinking out freely and +unfettered the problems of transport. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +THE FAMOUS “GREAT EASTERN.” + +Also known as the “Leviathan.” Length 680 ft., beam 83 ft.; beam across +paddle-boxes 120 ft.; depth (deck to keel) 58ft.; 22,500 tons; draught +(laden) 30 ft.; paddle engines 1,200 horse-power; screw engines 1,800 +horse-power. Accommodation for 4,000 passengers.] + +It was quite a remarkable achievement that in 1853 the _Himalaya_ was +built at Blackwall for the P. & O. line. Here was an iron vessel of +4690 tons, which succeeded in making a record run to Gibraltar at an +average speed of thirteen and a half knots. No wonder that the year +after she was built she was purchased by the British Government. And +then came that wonder of the world, the historic _Great Eastern_, +which was the biggest ship ever built for nearly fifty years, until +the White Star _Baltic_ came out in 1905. The _Great Eastern_ is best +described as a costly freak, but she shows the marvellous courage and +enterprise of the Victorian age. It was Brunel’s idea that a ship +should be built so as to carry a very large number of passengers and an +enormous cargo all the way to Australia without having to coal anywhere +on the voyage. She was to be 679 feet 6 inches long, with 82 feet 8 +inches beam, of 18,915 tons, and driven by both paddles and a screw. +This five-funnelled, six-masted giantess was built by Scott Russell +on the Thames. She began to be built on May 1, 1854, but she was not +launched at Millwall until the last day of January 1858, the first +attempt to persuade her to enter the water being unsuccessful. As a +financial speculation she was a failure. The attempts to launch her and +the ensuing delay ran into thousands of pounds, and the company which +owned her had to be wound up, but she was sold to a new company for +£160,000. She was unfortunately now put on the Atlantic route, where +she was a financial failure also; then from 1865 to 1873 she was used +in laying the Atlantic submarine telegraph cables, for which she was +found suitable, and finally in 1888 she was beached and then broken +up. Though in a commercial sense she had never succeeded, the _Great +Eastern_ did prove that she was perfectly sound structurally, and never +exhibited any signs of weakness in spite of her enormous length. But +she was really years before her time. + +To have built this, or indeed any big ship, of wood could not have been +possible. What rendered practicable the increased length of ships, +able to carry high-powered engines with much space for passengers and +cargo, was the invention of the rolling-mill, which had been brought +about by Henry Cort, who died in 1800. Before this was introduced, +the iron after leaving the furnace had to be hammered into shape. But +nowadays iron and steel can be turned out into suitable plates, so that +shipbuilding really consists in riveting together so many plates as to +form a steel box with shaped ends. Instead of the soft sounds of the +adze and caulking chisel and the wholesome smell of tar, the shipyard +of to-day is a pandemonium of monotonous, buzzing pneumatic riveting +hammers. There is no loving selection of timbers and planking: the +steel plates and girders are just there ready to be put into position. +It is highly unsentimental, but inevitable that development should +proceed along these lines. During the ’seventies steel had been used +for shipbuilding more or less tentatively, but it was not until the +Allan liner _Buenos Ayrean_ that a steel ship was seen in the Atlantic. + +Mild steel, because of its ductility and strength and lightness, became +much more suitable than iron, and opened up another era in the story +of the steamship. With the exception of yachts, lifeboats and certain +fishing craft, this is now used universally for constructing hulls. +In 1873 the French had employed steel in building their warships, and +in 1881 the Cunard _Servia_ came out thus constructed. She was the +largest and most powerful ship then built with the exception of _Great +Eastern_, her measurements being 515 feet long, 52 feet beam and 7392 +tons gross. She lowered the Atlantic voyage to seven days, one hour, +thirty-eight minutes. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +S.S. “OCEANIC.” + +The first White Star Line steamship. Launched 1870. She measured 420 +ft. over all. She was the first of the modern steamship era.] + +But a most important influence on the future of the Mercantile Marine +was created when the White Star Line began their competition in the +Atlantic trade. Previously their flag had flown at the masthead of +a fine fleet of sailing clippers. In 1867 the managing owner of the +White Star Line retired, and Mr. T. H. Ismay took over control. He +began by using iron for his Australian clippers instead of wood, and +two years later gave an order to Harland & Wolff, Belfast, to build +steamships for the Atlantic. In August 1870 was launched the first of +the fleet. This was the _Oceanic_, 420 feet long, her beam being only +one-tenth of her length. That proportion was a radical departure in +shipbuilding, and very different from the beamy old “waggons,” as the +old sailing ships were sometimes called. This _Oceanic_ is really the +first of the modern steamships, and contained so many new ideas +as to make all the other steamships old-fashioned. For instance, she +introduced the practice of having the saloon extending the entire width +and placed in the middle of the ship instead of aft. The state-rooms +were placed forward and abaft the saloon, instead of opening out on to +it, which had been the custom derived from the sailing ships. Moreover, +the introduction of glass side-lights on a much larger scale made the +interior of the ship lighter and more pleasant. In fact, what with +this, the revolving chairs instead of the hard seats, the oil-lamps +instead of the spluttering candles, and other details of comfort, the +passenger saw that he was so well looked after that the White Star +became at once a popular line. Ever since that time one company has +vied with another to give the Atlantic passenger the maximum amount of +pleasure and luxury. How little do many of them appreciate the contrast +between the crack steamships of to-day and of fifty or sixty years ago, +when everything had to be learned by hard and costly experience! + +The _Oceanic_ was a 3808-ton vessel, and became the fastest steamship +afloat, her four-cylinder compound engines enabling her to average +fourteen and a quarter knots. The first Atlantic line to build all +its steamers of iron had been the Inman Line, which from 1850 to 1892 +was one of the chief competitors in that ocean. Founded by William +Inman, its successful policy was to capture the emigration trade which +had been carried on by the sailing ships. Their first ships had been +the _City of Glasgow_ and _City of Manchester_, built of iron and +propelled by a single screw. They inaugurated the custom of calling at +Queenstown, and began running to New York instead of Philadelphia. The +first so-called Atlantic “greyhound” was built by the Guion Line. In +1879 came their _Arizona_, which unfortunately ran at full speed into +an iceberg, but her water-tight bulkhead enabled her to get into St. +John’s, Newfoundland. Her advent was followed by the _Oregon_, built +in 1882, and she created a sensation by making the run from Queenstown +to New York in six days, fourteen hours. This was a 7375-ton ship, +which, with her speed of nineteen knots, made her the fastest vessel +afloat, and was purchased by the Cunard Company; but she in turn was +eclipsed by the two famous Cunarders, _Umbria_ in 1884 and _Etruria_ in +the following year. These two wonderful craft were to be used as armed +cruisers if required, and never were more satisfactory ships built to +give their owners so little trouble. In respect of speed, also, they +broke all records, _Etruria_ crossing from Queenstown to New York +in six days, six hours and thirty-six minutes in 1885, while seven +years later _Umbria_ surpassed this by maintaining an average of over +nineteen and a half knots. + +And whilst all this activity was proceeding in the Atlantic, ships +driven by steam were running regularly to the East, though the +competition in this sphere was not keen. In 1877 the Orient Line was +founded. One of their ships, the _Austral_, launched in 1881, was lying +in Sydney Harbour with her scuttles open, but owing to a heavy list +caused through unequal coaling the water poured in and she sank in +fifty feet of water. She was, however, refloated several months later. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “SULTAN.” + +2,225 tons, 240 horse-power. J. Maddison, R.N.R., Commander. About +1873.] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “ORIENT.” + +About 1879. Owned by Orient Steam Navigation Company. 5,386 tons, 5,400 +horse-power, length 460 ft., beam 46 ft. 6 in.] + +Up till the ’eighties it was customary for the crack liners to carry +three and even four masts with yards and both a fore staysail and +square-sails. It was a practice which exhibited the last suspicion of +steam, for it was argued that if the propeller should become damaged, +or the shaft break there would at least be canvas enough for her to +get along. But, with the introduction and general adoption of the +twin-screw, masts became fewer, yards and canvas disappeared, and +the seaman who had been brought up to go aloft and lay-out along a +yard found himself a mere deckhand. He had seen the golden age of the +full-rigged pass away, and the last resemblance in the steamship to the +Blackwall frigates and the clippers remained only in the clipper bows +of the Inman Line, who for so long kept up the useless but ornamental +bowsprit even as late as the ’nineties. It is with the launch of their +_City of New York_ and _City of Paris_, the latter in 1888, that twin +screws of a large size were introduced into the Mercantile Marine, and +here begins the final chapter in the steamship’s development, for it +gave her an independence and increase of efficiency which never before +has she possessed nor since lost. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE MODERN MERCHANT SHIP + + +The dominating factors which now influenced the development of the +Atlantic liner were speed and comfort. Owing to the rapid increase of +commerce between the United States and Great Britain, the West had +long since taken the place of the Orient as a magnetic attraction for +the shipowner. It is the Atlantic and not the route to India which has +seen the great improvements in the modern ship, and even if there had +been keener competition to the East, it would not have been possible to +increase much the size of steamships for the reason of the limitations +imposed by the Suez Canal. It is conceivable, however, that some day +the route to Australia round the Cape may become a lane of keen rivalry +to the advantage of ship development. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ + +S.S. “SPAIN.” + +5,000 tons register. Of the National Line (New York to London).] + +The struggle for the speed supremacy of the North Atlantic went +on. The _City of Paris_ was a flier. She could do her nineteen and +twenty knots. But the White Star Line replied with the _Teutonic_ +and _Majestic_, both launched in 1889. They, too, were fliers, for +the former broke the record by steaming from Queenstown to New +York in five days, eighteen hours, eight minutes, while the latter +did it in five days, sixteen hours, thirty-one minutes. They were, +of course, twin-screw ships, but of only 9984 tons, which in this +advanced twentieth century seems quite small for a crack liner. The +competition was continued by the Cunard Company launching in 1892 +the _Campania_, and in the following year the _Lucania_, fitted with +twin screws and triple-expansion engines. Beautiful ships these were, +with lovely lines and an amazing turn of speed. Steel had, of course, +long since taken the place of iron, and in the building of these two +wonderful vessels the plates were made of unprecedented size, and so +they required a smaller number of rivets. These were 600-feet ships, +and it was their length which helped to give them the 22-knot speed. +_Campania_ made the run between Queenstown and New York in five and a +half days, and averaged just under twenty-two knots for a whole year’s +east-bound voyages. This was a truly remarkable performance, for the +real criterion of efficiency is that a ship should be able not merely +to make one spectacular hour’s run, nor break the record for one day or +one voyage, but to keep on doing this all the time. Here is the test of +good steamship management ashore, perfect organisation aboard and the +reason for the highest praise to her officers and crew. + +The point we have now reached represents the era of keen competition +for the best-equipped and speediest steamships in the Atlantic, and +therefore of all the Mercantile Marines in the world. In this race the +Collins Line, though subsidised by the American Government, had already +disappeared, the reorganised Inman Line, which had been absorbed in the +American Line, in spite of its fine ships, ceased to be a dangerous +competitor. In the end it became a contest between the two British +lines, the Cunard and the White Star. The German liners now entered the +Atlantic as very serious competitors. It will be more convenient to +deal with the German Mercantile Marine in a separate chapter, but it +may be said here that it was the wonderful achievements of _Campania_ +and _Lucania_ which created such emulation that the North German Lloyd +Company scrapped their old-fashioned ships and in 1897 produced the +_Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, which by her mean speed of 22·81 knots +beat the Cunarders, and thus for the first time Germany won the “blue +riband” of the Atlantic, as the expression was in the ’nineties. + +In 1899 came the British reply in size though not in speed. This was +the White Star _Oceanic_, 13 feet longer than the memorable _Great +Eastern_, measuring 705 feet, as against the German’s 648 feet 7 +inches. _Oceanic’s_ 28,500 tons displacement showed the extraordinary +development which had taken place in the shipbuilding art in the +fewest years, and she was able to maintain a speed of twenty knots. +The Cunard’s next ships were two, _Ivernia_ and _Saxonia_, each of +about 14,000 tons gross—that is to say, roughly the size of the German +champion, but with an average speed of fifteen and a quarter knots. +They were comfortable and economical rather than record-breakers. But +the _Ivernia_ was the first Atlantic liner to break away from the +triple-expansion and use the quadruple-expansion system. The White Star +Line, in 1901 and 1908, respectively, brought out two enormous but slow +ships in the _Celtic_ and _Cedric_, the former being 20,880 tons and +the latter 21,034 tons, with an average speed of sixteen knots, and at +this time also came their 15,801-ton _Arabic_, with the same speed. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +THE “BRITANNIC.” + +This White Star liner was built in 1874, and broke the record for +speed. She measured 468 ft. long. Speed 16 knots; 5,000 tons.] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +THE “CAMPANIA.” + +Launched for the Cunard Company in 1892. Length 600 ft.] + +There was therefore a kind of lull in British enterprise, and in +1903 the Germans caused another sensation by the _Kaiser Wilhelm the +Second_, which was able to do her twenty-three and a half knots as +an average speed from New York to Plymouth. But a new development was +again to take place. Competition was so keen in the steamship world, +there was such an impetus to the builder, and so many clever minds were +working on the problems of propulsion, that it was inevitable that all +these wonderful changes should come about in such rapid succession. +In the year 1886 the triple-expansion engine had come into general +use. This had been followed by the quadruple-expansion, as already +mentioned, and now came a still further change. For some time the +turbine engine had been employed for driving electric dynamos on land, +for pumping stations, colliery fans and so on. But in 1894 this type +was installed experimentally in the 44-ton craft called the _Turbinia_, +which was seen racing along Spithead at thirty-four knots. It was a +wonderful sight, but it was not until 1905 that this type of engine was +introduced into merchant ships, when the Atlantic ships _Virginian_[6] +and _Victorian_ of the Allan Line were fitted with Parsons’ triplicate +turbines driving three propellers. In the same year the Cunard produced +their first turbine liner, _Carmania_, which on her trial attained a +speed of twenty knots. She was built of a strength in excess of Board +of Trade requirements, no fewer than 1,800,000 rivets being used in her +construction, each plate being 32 feet long. But for the excellence of +her construction she would never have been able to emerge successfully +from her famous duel when she sank the _Cap Trafalgar_ off the South +American coast during the first autumn of the recent Great War. + +Events happen so quickly, and one sensation follows so rapidly on +another, that we are apt sometimes to get quite a wrong perspective. To +me the _Carmania_ is one of the most interesting ships afloat. For nine +years before the war she did most excellent work as one of the finest +passenger ships, carrying many thousands of people across the Atlantic +in comfort and luxury. Then came the war, and _Carmania_ became an +armed merchant cruiser and was sent into South American waters. She met +the Hamburg-South America liner _Cap Trafalgar_, a very similar ship, +also armed as a merchant cruiser, off the island of Trinidada, and then +fought a terrific duel which lasted eighty minutes, during which the +Cunarder was pierced by seventy-nine shells, set seriously on fire and +generally made desolate. But she sank the _Cap Trafalgar_, and to-day, +and since the war, _Carmania_ has resumed carrying her thousands across +to New York in perfect luxury again, with verandah cafés, costly +furniture, palm trees and the rest, just as if nothing serious had ever +happened. Truly the modern ship is an amazing creature. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +BERTHING A BIG LINER. + +The “Mauretania,” assisted by tugs, coming alongside the quay at +Southampton.] + +During the war 56 per cent. of the Cunard ships were sunk, including +the memorable _Lusitania_; and the White Star Line, owing to the same +reason, lost close on 150,000 tons. The _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ +had followed the _Carmania_, and were the outcome of an agreement made +with the British Government to produce two ships capable of maintaining +a minimum average ocean speed of from twenty-four to twenty-five knots +in moderate weather. This has not only been maintained, but surpassed. +_Mauretania_ was built in 1907, with turbines, a length of 790 feet, +and her tonnage is 31,000 gross. In spite of all her running before +the war, during the war, and since, she still holds the record not +merely for the Atlantic, but for all seas in respect of merchant ships. +The test accepted by most shipping experts is two-fold: the highest +average speed for the whole voyage, and the fastest passage in days, +hours and minutes. On this reckoning _Mauretania_ still leads, in spite +of her younger sisters, for as recently as 1922 she averaged 25·29 +knots eastward-bound in June. Her fastest passage in July of that year +of five days, eight hours, nine minutes, entitles her still more to +possession of the “blue riband” of the Atlantic. But as showing the +remarkable consistency in running, if we take her three consecutive +passages eastward across the Atlantic in June and July 1922, there are +only _five_ minutes difference between the fastest and the slowest. +It is superfluous to comment on this achievement. At a time when +her fighting sister _Indomitable_ is being broken up, this powerful +merchantman still goes on beating records. Recently fitted to burn +oil-fuel, this turbine-driven, quadruple-screw, twenty-five knotter +will long be remembered in maritime history as _Lusitania_ will in +naval history.[7] + +The next famous Atlantic ships were the two White Star liners _Titanic_ +and _Olympic_. The tragic end of the former, when she foundered during +her maiden voyage, is too well remembered to need relating again. The +_Olympic_ left Southampton on her maiden voyage in June 1911. She is a +triple-screw vessel of 46,489 tons gross register, and thus much bigger +than _Mauretania_, but not quite so fast. Those of us who remember +passing _Olympic_ at sea during the war, zigzagging through the +submarine zone with 5000 soldiers on board and the ship’s boats swung +out, will never forget the sight. One hears many impossible yarns about +certain claims, but apart from her magnificent work in bringing armies +from America to Europe safely, this ship did definitely sink a German +submarine. This may be regarded as some compensation for the loss +of that new triple-screw White Star _Britannic_, a vessel of 48,158 +tons gross register, which was destined never to cross the Atlantic, +for which she had been constructed. The reader will remember that on +November 21, 1916, after much excellent service as a hospital ship, she +was sunk by enemy action in the Zea Channel, Ægean Sea. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +MODERN NAVIGATION. + +Captain Sir James Charles, K.B.E., C.B., R.D., R.N.R., and officers of +the “Aquitania” taking the sun’s altitude.] + +_Olympic_ came out as the world’s biggest ship, and she is one of the +fastest. On one occasion coming up Channel she recently touched 27·82 +knots for a brief spell, but her best average speed for a whole voyage +is 22·55 knots, and her quickest passage is five days, nineteen hours, +12 minutes. For the consideration of the big German liners who were +competing with these efforts the reader is referred to the chapter +dealing with the rise and fall of the German Mercantile Marine, but the +next British mammoth was the _Aquitania_, which was put into the +Cunard service just before the war began. She is over 900 feet long, +she can steam at a little more than twenty-three knots, and her best +passage, east-bound, has been five days, nineteen hours, forty-one +minutes. Her gross tonnage is 47,000. + +I watched _Aquitania_ being built, from the time when she was a mere +mass of steel, and finally saw her take the water in the Clyde, and +walked all over her half an hour before this impressive event took +place. She was barely ready for her intended work than she was turned +into an armed merchant cruiser and joined Admiral Phipps Hornby’s +Cruiser Squadron on the Atlantic trade route. But it was rather like +putting a race-horse to do the work of a cart-horse. _Aquitania_ was +then, like other merchantmen, coal-burning, and her endurance was +only six days, for she was built for the purpose of rushing across +the Atlantic, then filling up and returning as fast as she could. +She was thus not suitable for patrolling, and after colliding with a +Leyland liner, whilst under the command of a naval officer, _Aquitania_ +terminated her engagement as a warship, and then did far more useful +work during the time of hostilities, until she again took up her +peaceable service. + +This was the last British-built merchant ship to be constructed of +mammoth size that is still afloat. The White Star _Homeric_, which +joined the Atlantic service in the spring of 1922, is an ex-German +vessel. This ship is neither as big nor as fast as _Aquitania_, but she +is the largest twin-screw steamer afloat. Her best average speed for a +whole trip is 18·69 knots, and her best voyage is six days, nineteen +hours, twenty-two minutes. But the slump which followed the war and the +depression which came over the shipping trade made it undesirable to +lay down any more of these leviathans for the present, and there was +still another reason. + +In Germany were two such vessels, one of which was already built and +had been running for a year or two, and the other, a still bigger +ship, was not yet finished. These two ships were handed over to Great +Britain, the former being the _Imperator_, 52,022 tons, launched in +1912, which used to call at Southampton on her way from Germany to New +York. The other ship was the 56,551-ton _Bismarck_, whose keel had been +laid by the Kaiser in the year 1914. The _Vaterland_, as mentioned in +another chapter, measuring 950 feet and 52,282 tons, was acquired by +the United States. The _Imperator_ now became the _Berengaria_, and was +taken over by the Cunard Company; the _Bismarck_ became the _Majestic_, +and was put into the White Star service in the spring of 1922. She +was built at the Blohm and Voss yard, Hamburg, and with her enormous +tonnage and length of 956 feet is the biggest ship in the world. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +S.S. “BERENGARIA.” + +This Cunarder is the ex-German “Imperator,” 52,022 tons, launched 1912. +She measures 919 ft. long.] + +Though built in Germany, which learned the art from Great Britain, +these two ships are now the pride of the British Merchant Fleet, and +they are, together with the _Mauretania_ and _Aquitania_, consumers +not of coal, but of oil. The _Berengaria_ measures 919 feet long, is +practically 100 feet in beam, and represents an enormous amount of +capital; but she was laid aside for six or seven months so as to have +a complete overhaul and to be converted from coal-burning. With that +fuel she had been able to do a little over twenty-three knots, and her +best average speed has since been 23·38 knots for the whole voyage; +her fastest trip being five days, eighteen hours, forty-seven minutes. +You can imagine the responsibility of her captain, handling such +an enormous steel island. Let us forget for a moment such things as +her new ballroom, able to accommodate 250 dancers. Let us forget, too, +the cafés, gymnasia, palm courts, Turkish and swimming-baths and the +numbers of private suites, the velvet carpets, and baronial halls; let +us just think of her as a ship. + +Eighty-five feet above the water is the sun-deck promenade, and away +above that again rises the bridge. Here are all sorts of gadgets, +such as a bell that rings automatically when the temperature of the +sea drops below a certain degree, and so the warning is made to the +officer of the watch that icebergs are about. Tell-tale lamps act as +fire-indicators, and another bell rings to call attention to the fact +that there is smoke in some section of the ship. Steam pressure is +then made to drive water down a pipe to spray around the particular +compartment. There are telephones galore, from the bridge to the +engine-room, boiler-rooms, baggage-hold, purser’s office, engineer’s +office and, via the ship’s central exchange, to all parts of the ship. + +_Berengaria_, like _Vaterland_, had a good deal of trouble with her +water-tube boilers, which were similar to the German naval pattern, +but in _Majestic_ British engineers introduced some modifications +whilst she was still being completed at Hamburg. The point is this. +Whereas these water-tube boilers are all right for a man-of-war, which +normally steams at fifteen knots and only occasionally is whacked up +to twenty-one and above, the liner is driven hard all the time, and +has to maintain her full speed day and night until she gets across +the ocean. The amount of oil-fuel required for _Berengaria_ to cross +the Atlantic once is about 6000 tons, and this is carried in side or +wing-bunkers. A hundred tons an hour can be supplied to each of the +four boiler-rooms, and the engines are, of course, turbines. + +It is said that £1,000,000 was the price the White Star Line paid +for the _Majestic_, and she was a great bargain at that, for she +would cost four times that amount to be built to-day. There are +forty-eight boilers, and she can carry enough oil-fuel for the round +voyage Southampton-New York-Southampton. This means not merely greater +efficiency in regard to steaming, but saves time and expense in +bunkering and cleaning ship, for it takes only six hours and very few +men to get the 7000 tons on board. Her best average speed in a passage +is over twenty-four knots, and her quickest voyage five days, nine +hours, forty-two minutes. When she was handed over to the Reparations +Commission under the terms of the Peace Treaty her speed was returned +as twenty-three knots. But the White Star officials were not a little +surprised to find, while bringing the ship to Southampton from Hamburg, +that her turbines would develop much more power than they were +credited with, and that she was really a 25-knot ship. In fact, on one +occasion she did an average of twenty-seven knots for over five hours +eastward-bound. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +S.S. “OLYMPIC.” + +This 46,439-ton White Star liner was completed in 1911. During the war +she sank a German submarine.] + + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +S.S. “MAJESTIC.” + +This 56,551-ton White Star liner is the ex-German “Bismarck,” and is +the biggest ship in the world. The illustration shows her coming out of +dock at Southampton.] + +It is significant that more than half the length of the ship is taken +up with the propelling machinery. Never were such large machinery and +boiler plant installed in one vessel. If you think of an eight-roomed +house and multiply this by 400, you get some idea of her interior +space. She is practically a floating town, with its smart hotel, +suites, clubs, and so on located on her nine steel decks; and four +propellers to keep this town hurrying across the Atlantic. +Swimming-bath, two royal suites, 1245 state-rooms, a restaurant, +palm court, foyer, lounge—there is no end to her luxurious internal +arrangement. And yet there are all sorts of cunning devices to ensure +safety. To guard against fire, the steel bulkheads have been coated +with fireproof material; the main staircases are so arranged that +they can be isolated and thus ensure a means of escape to the upper +decks. There are 450 fire alarms distributed throughout the ship, which +indicate automatically to the officer on the bridge. + +There are three wireless stations. The largest enables her to maintain +permanent connection with both the Old and the New World during the +whole voyage. The second is for use over a distance of 800 miles, and +the third is for emergency. There are anti-rolling tanks, submarine +signalling gear, and indeed every ingenious device that the wit of man +could invent for the safety and welfare of the 4000 passengers she +takes care of each trip. During Cowes week 1922 King George V paid +to her, and through her to the British Mercantile Marine, a singular +honour in going aboard to inspect her. His Royal Standard was broken +out at the main, and this is one of the very few occasions during the +last four hundred years when a merchant ship, serving as such, has +legally hoisted this flag. It did occur in the year 1913, when His +Majesty inspected the _Mauretania_ at Liverpool; and on that day a +Harbour Board tug while taking the King to and from the liner flew the +Royal Ensign. But prior to that I think we have to go right back to the +year 1495, when Henry VII granted to John Cabot and his sons the right +to fly the royal banners and flags during their voyages of discovery. + +From the _Majestic_ to the earliest merchantmen of the Mediterranean, +even looking back a hundred years to the time when the old East +Indiamen of 1000 tons were wallowing along, or the Falmouth packets +were braving the Atlantic, seems to us a period of time that is hardly +believable. In spite of wars and every kind of crises, never has the +merchant ship so utterly and marvellously transformed herself within +such a few years. It is a triumph of man over matter that he can build +up such a creation as a 50,000-ton ship, but there are just two things +which always seem to me more wonderful still. The first is that you can +ever launch such a mass of steel safely from the land down the ways +into the water; and the second is that, having fitted her out for sea, +she can be made obedient to the mind of her commander—checked, spurred +on, controlled and moved about across the sea at will, with confidence +and remarkable regularity. It is an interesting experience to control +finance, it is a great task to control men, and it is a responsible +task to control the ship of State. But to control the biggest ship +in the history of the world, costing over £1,000,000 sterling and +containing several thousands of travellers, from quay to quay, through +any kind of weather that may come along—this to me seems, above all, a +full-sized man’s job. It is one that brings forth everything that is +best and noble in the calling of a sailor—courage, coolness, organising +ability, leadership, self-reliance, dependability, tact, discipline. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +ON THE BRIDGE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SHIP. + +Captain Sir Bertram Hayes (third from the right), with the Second +Captain and other officers of “Majestic”.] + +Below are the saloons, orchestra, dancing, laughter, luxury and +thousands of brilliant lights. On the bridge the silent darkness +of a black, starless night; just the glimmer from the bowls of the +gyro-compass repeaters, the quartermaster at the wheel, a couple of +messengers standing by, and the officer of the watch. And always the +wild roar of the wind as the ship tears on her way at twenty odd knots; +while forward is the swish of the sea as the fine bows throw each +bursting wave aside. It is a study in contrasts, just that immeasurable +gulf which has always existed between the life of the landsman and the +sailor from the earliest days of history until the present-day. To the +former “the wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor,” as +Emerson put it. But it was the same philosopher who admitted that “the +sea is masculine, the type of active strength.” + +And, happily, there is such a contagion as sea-fever. Without it there +would have been no Phœnician, Venetian, Spanish, Portuguese, Norse, +mediæval or later mariners; no new worlds to discover—nothing but a +very restricted communication and the minimum of progress. It would +have been a very stunted, dull existence. There would have been no +fine merchantmen of the sea and none of that glorious breed of seamen, +virile, strong and masculine. Let us be thankful for all that the sea +has taught us. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Now owned by the Swedish-American Line and named the +_Drottningholm_. + +[7] The speeds given for _Mauretania_, _Majestic_, _Berengaria_, +_Aquitania_, _Olympic_ and _Homeric_ are from New York to Cherbourg +Breakwater or to the Eddystone Light. The passages quoted are really +not faster than what was previously accomplished on the Liverpool +to New York route before these big liners were transferred to the +Southampton to New York route. Thus the fastest Atlantic voyage ever +made was by _Mauretania_ when she steamed from Queenstown to New York +in four days, ten hours, forty-one minutes. _Lusitania_ accomplished +this in only sixty-one minutes longer. The best average speed ever made +by a liner for one day was 27·10 knots by _Lusitania_, eastward-bound; +but the best average speed for a whole voyage was made by _Mauretania_, +before being converted to oil. She kept up 26·06 knots. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GERMAN MERCANTILE MARINE + + +For about seventy years the German Mercantile Marine had an interesting +career. It began in quite a small way, it was conducted with courage, +enterprise, far-sightedness and, eventually, with an astute cunning +which many people would describe under a stronger term. Its rise was +meteoric, and its descent at the time of its zenith was swifter still. +It is just because the true value of the sea began to be appreciated, +that Germany was able to build up such a vast and highly efficient +service within one generation. The result was that on the eve of the +Great War she was second only to the British Empire as a big owner of +steamships. + +[Illustration: BIG SHIP MASTERS. + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +Captain C. A. Smith, C.B.E., R.D., R.N.R., of the “Berengaria.” + + [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ + +Captain Sir Bertram Hayes, K.C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N.R., of the “Majestic.”] + +At that date 60 per cent. of Germany’s shipping was in the hands of ten +lines, working together with a solidarity that amounted practically to +a shipping union. These ten were the Hamburg-America Line, the North +German Lloyd, the Hamburg South-American Line, the Hansa Line, the +German Australian Line, the Kosmos Line, the Roland Line, the German +East Africa Line, the Woermann Line and the Hamburg-Bremen-Africa +Line. A month before the outbreak of war this huge organisation +comprised 3,194,000 gross tons, to say nothing of the German Levant +Line of 155,000 tons. Well organised, reaching to every part of the +world, subsidised by the German Government to the extent of £107,950 +a year, this association was extremely successful in obtaining +an enormous amount of the world’s carrying trade and in furthering +Germany’s political aspirations. It was able to put up the severest +competition and to draw away from the United Kingdom a good deal of +carrying trade, and in their fight with the British companies of +steamships the Germans were helped not merely by subsidies, but by +attractive through-rates over their railway system. It was their unity +and energy in organisation, their ability to cut rates, and their +attention to the smallest details which gave them their vast success. + +It is important to emphasise one great distinction. The British Isles +depend for their supplies and overseas trade on the tramp steamer. +Of the British tonnage before the war 60 per cent. represented tramp +tonnage and only 40 per cent. liners, and it was essential for the +nation to have a large amount of “loose” tonnage able to trade at +short notice to any part of the world, taking out, for instance, cheap +coal and coming back with cargoes of grain, cotton, wool, rice and so +on. This policy was the exact opposite of Germany, which built up its +Mercantile Marine on liner trades, and especially in the Atlantic, +their interest in tramp steamers being quite small. Now of those ten +German lines just mentioned the Hamburg-America and the North German +Lloyd, owning on the eve of war 1,093,000 and 716,000 gross tons +respectively, were at once the creative forces and the mainstays of +German shipping. Therefore if we consider their history we have before +us practically the whole evolution of the German Mercantile Marine. + +The Hamburg-America Line at the time war broke out was the largest +merchant steamship enterprise in the world, owning between 400 and 500 +ships, with seventy-five distinct services, its vessels calling at 400 +of the leading ports of the world and carrying over 400,000 passengers +a year. It was thus an enormous corporation, that makes the old +Honourable East India Company look ridiculous. As a means of providing +national wealth and the ready transportation of German goods into the +remotest corners of the globe it was invaluable. It was founded on +May 27, 1847, with a capital of 465,000 marks, and it ordered three +sailing ships in England of about 717 tons each, which carried a score +of first-class passengers and a couple of hundred emigrants and a +little freight. These were full-rigged, three-masted vessels, with +heavy quarters, the white riband and painted square ports and the +high-steeved bowsprit so familiar in English shipping. The average trip +from Hamburg to New York took forty days, and twenty-nine days on the +return voyage. These three ships were the _Deutschland_, _Nordamerika_ +and _Rhein_. + +In 1854 the company had already prospered so much, thanks largely to +the emigrant traffic, that it decided to go in for steam. The screw was +replacing the paddle in British ships and iron was being used instead +of wood. They therefore gave an order to Caird of Greenock to build a +couple of 2026-ton screw steamers having a speed of about twelve knots. +The first of these was the _Borussia_, a three-masted vessel with +sails, clipper bow and one funnel. She made her appearance in 1856. +Hitherto British and other seamen had been largely employed for crews, +but now only Germans, dressed in uniform, and disciplined after the +custom of a man-of-war, were allowed. The German Mercantile Marine was +beginning to exist by itself. + +The best speed obtained with these ships was sixteen days, and in +1858 came the _Saxonia_ and _Austria_, which reduced the passage +eastward-bound to a little over twelve days, the firm’s fleet now +consisting of eight sailing ships and four steamers. Presently the +former were all sold, and a fortnightly service to New York was +instituted, and other steamships were added. At the outbreak of the +American Civil War this line was carrying the United States mails and +calling at Southampton, and, after leaving the English port, New York +was reached in ten days. By the early ’seventies the fleet already +numbered twenty-five steamships, and was also running to the Spanish +Main, Mexico and West Indies. + +The White Star and the Hamburg-America were the first Atlantic lines +to adopt the twin-screw system for passenger ships. It was in 1887 +that the latter ordered the two steel, twin-screw ships _Columbia_ and +_Auguste Victoria_. The former was built at Birkenhead by Lairds, but +the latter was constructed at Stettin, and this was the first time a +German yard had attempted a ship of such a size, for she measured over +500 feet long, and she was of 8430 tons burthen. These two vessels +were immediately followed by two others, similar in type, of which one +was built on the Clyde and one at Stettin. With their three funnels, +high speed, improved ventilation, commodious cabins, bathrooms, suites +of rooms and general high standard of comfort, this quartette made a +sensation. It was the introduction of the German floating palaces into +the Atlantic. + +Reference to the previous two chapters in this volume will show that +the British Atlantic companies were meeting this competition, but if +you ask how was it that, notwithstanding the fact that the German +Empire had been proclaimed as recently as 1871, this new Mercantile +Marine had been able to build up such a trade in so few years, the +answer is this. The repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849 +enabled the Prussian ships to have the opportunity which came at +the right moment. But, secondly, it was the enormous increase of +emigrant passengers anxious to leave the European continent and try +their fortunes in the New World. I have no wish to weary the reader +with statistics, but the following few figures will substantiate this +argument. They are derived from a Board of Trade analysis based on +information afforded by the United States Immigration Bureau, and are +therefore beyond dispute. + +Bearing in mind that the first Hamburg-America ship sailed in 1847, we +find that whereas the average annual emigration from Germany to the +U.S.A. had been only 19,000 up to 1844, during the next ten years it +jumped to 95,000, dropped during the next decade to 49,000, but then +rose to 113,000 in the decennial period ending 1874, was 109,000 up +to the year 1884, then dropped to 28,000 by 1904, but rose to 34,000 +in the decade ending 1914. But in addition to these figures must be +added others. By reason of her geographical position Germany was most +favourably placed for capturing the emigrant traffic from the rest of +the continent, and of this she made the best advantage. It was not +until the decade ending 1874 that the Russians, for instance, began +pouring out from their own country to North America, and gradually the +German ships carried most of these. How valuable such a traffic was +can be at once realised. Beginning with an average of 2000 Russian +emigrants to the United States, this figure in ten years had increased +to 10,000, then to 38,000 and, finally, just before the war averaged +199,000. + +In 1894 the German Government erected what were known as control +stations at various places on the Russian frontier, ostensibly to +prevent the spread of cholera by Russian emigrants travelling through +Germany. The erection and management of these controls were vested in +the Hamburg-America and North German Lloyd Lines. But whatever was +their original purpose, these stations came to be used by the German +steamship companies for confining the increasing stream of emigrants +to their own lines, who made it as difficult as possible for persons +not travelling by those lines to get through the control stations. In +addition to this, the German Government so legislated as to make it +very awkward and more costly for emigrants to get to America in British +ships. Thus, Germany, by doing everything from intimidation and bluff +to legislation, did succeed in obtaining a most valuable emigrant +traffic, and so was able, quite apart from her own increasing exports, +to build up a thoroughly up-to-date and steadily improving Merchant +Navy. + +It is not to be wondered at that now she had learnt to construct steel +steamships for herself she made a bold bid for Atlantic merchant ship +supremacy. By the year of the Paris Exhibition in 1900 this line had +fourteen twin-screw steamers to carry passengers across. The latest was +the celebrated _Deutschland_, which was to win the “blue riband” of the +Atlantic; for this record-smasher succeeded in lowering the voyage +between New York and Plymouth to five days, seven hours, thirty-eight +minutes, and on one trip averaged 23·51 knots. This four-funnelled ship +was of 16,502 tons and measured 686 feet long. She was certainly an +eye-pleasing vessel, for it was before the practice of building lofty +superstructures had become the fashion. Her biggest day’s run was 601 +knots, and the sumptuousness of her passenger comfort made her a very +popular ship. In 1906 came the _Kaiserin Auguste Victoria_, 24,581 +tons, 687 feet long, and able to carry 4000 passengers and crew. She +was at the time the biggest steamer in the world. + +But before we mention the mammoth German liners we must see briefly +how the North German Lloyd grew up. Their first transatlantic steamer +was the _Bremen_, built by Caird of Greenock in 1858, but their +real progress commences with the year 1881, when the first German +“express” steamer entered the line. This was the 4510-ton _Elbe_, a +four-masted screw ship built on the Clyde, and during the next ten +years Glasgow built _Ems_ and seven other British-made vessels, whose +speed varied from sixteen to eighteen knots. They were able to carry +1200 passengers. But when we come to the ’nineties the passenger +trade was so good that the North German Lloyd could afford to scrap +its old-fashioned craft and build the twin-screw _Kaiser Wilhelm der +Grosse_. This was to become an historic ship. + +She measured 14,349 gross tons, and appeared in 1897. The Germans +were jealous of the achievements which had been made by the Cunard +_Campania_ and _Lucania_, and by attaining a mean speed of 22·81 knots +on her trip from New York to Europe did outstrip the Cunarders’ fine +record; and thus for the first time the “blue riband” of the Atlantic +temporarily passed to Germany. She was “made in Germany”—at Stettin—and +this triumphant voyage did a great deal to encourage the German +Mercantile Marine and German shipbuilders. She had been constructed on +the understanding that if during the trial trip across the Atlantic she +did not come up to the requirements of the contract, the North German +Lloyd were to be allowed to reject her. Actually she surpassed the +builders’ undertaking. + +In 1907, whilst coming across the Atlantic in October weather +eastward-bound, this handsome ship fractured her rudder; but instead +of taking her into Halifax, the nearest port, her captain held on for +Plymouth and thence to Bremerhaven, the ship having been manœuvred by +means of her twin screws. It was a fine achievement, but some ships +are born to be adventurous. At the beginning of the Great War the +_Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ was in Germany. She was fitted out as a +raider, left Hamburg on August 4, 1914, evaded the Grand Fleet, passed +round the north of Iceland, and on August 7 sank a British trawler, +then proceeded down the Atlantic, sank a couple and molested two more +ships, and finally went into the Rio de Oro, a lonely anchorage in +Spanish territory in North-West Africa. But on August 26 arrived H.M.S. +_Highflyer_, and as the German refused to leave territorial waters, +the British cruiser opened fire and destroyed her. Thus, after nearly +twenty years’ service, this former Atlantic greyhound ended her days as +an armed merchant cruiser. + +The North German Lloyd’s _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ was the next ship of this +line to cause a sensation. This was in 1903, and she was certainly a +triumph for the Stettin builders. Of 20,000 registered tons, she was a +little faster even than the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, for she kept +up an average speed of 23·58 knots between New York and Plymouth in one +voyage. Very useful was this speed to become eleven years later, for +she was in the North Atlantic when war broke out, and got safely into +New York on August 6. The _George Washington_, of 26,000 gross register +tons, was launched as the biggest of all the ships in the German +Mercantile Marine, though, with the speed of eighteen and a half knots, +by no means the fastest. She was added to the N.D.L. in 1908, and was +able to carry just under 3000 passengers for her owners when the list +was full. A very useful and luxurious ship she turned out to be, but +on the day after the war began she arrived in New York, was interned, +and is now one of the ships in the American Mercantile Marine. The +_Berlin_, another N.D.L. steamer, passed into the owners’ hands in +1909. She was of 19,200 gross tons, and originally could do her +eighteen knots. In the autumn of 1914 she laid the big minefield off +the north coast of Ireland, on which H.M.S. _Audacious_ and other ships +foundered. _Berlin_ afterwards scurried north and interned herself in +Norway. + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +STOKEHOLD OF AN OIL-FUEL CUNARDER.] + +[Illustration: + + [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ + +STARTING PLATFORM + +Of the engine-room in a Cunarder.] + +Such, then, was the progress of these two main supports of the German +Mercantile Marine until the coming of the mammoth Atlantic liners. +The ships of the Hamburg-America and the North German Lloyd were +admittedly as good, and sometimes better than, their competitors, the +Cunard and White Star; and during the period immediately preceding the +war, competition was very keen not merely on the New York route, +but in the trade with Central America, South America, East Africa and +Australia. The German Mercantile Marine was everywhere, and cutting +rates in an alarming manner. Her sea-borne trade was increasing, but +the bulk of her shipping still remained, on the eve of war, in the ten +powerful companies; and her main strength was still in the Atlantic +trade of the two big lines we have just been considering. + +The North Atlantic had long since earned the title of the cockpit +where the mercantile supremacy at sea was to be fought out. Germany’s +final bid was a great effort. For in the year 1912 was built the +23½-knot _Imperator_, a stupendous creature of 52,022 tons, with her +swimming-bath and super-luxury. In 1914 was put into service the +26·75-knot _Vaterland_, which was bigger still, for she measured 950 +feet long, against _Imperator’s_ 905 feet, and her tonnage worked +out at 52,282. The former at the outbreak of war was lucky to be in +Germany, where she remained until after hostilities. She was handed +over to the Cunard Company, who changed her name to _Berengaria_. The +_Vaterland_ got into New York on the day war was declared between Great +Britain and Germany, and was interned. She was eventually used for +carrying American troops to Europe, and after the war she passed into +the American Mercantile Marine, who changed her name to _Leviathan_. +When she was seized from Germany there were no plans of her available. +The United States Shipping Board, on making inquiries from her German +builders as to the price of these plans, were asked the enormous sum +of $1,000,000. This was declined, and the colossal task of preparing +these plans from the ship herself was successfully undertaken. But you +may imagine what it means to run a ship of this size when it cost the +American Mercantile Marine $50,000 a month merely to keep her efficient +whilst laid up. Finally there was finished in Germany during 1922 the +third mammoth, of 56,000 tons. Originally intended to be called the +_Bismarck_, she was handed over to the White Star Line, who changed her +name to _Majestic_. + +Before the war Germany’s Mercantile Marine, according to the Managing +Director of the Hamburg-America Line, consisted of 5,459,000 gross +tons. Of this amount approximately she lost owing to war operations +2,700,000 tons. By reason of the Treaty of Versailles she lost a +further 2,900,000 tons approximately, leaving her about 400,000 +tons.[8] If we select the spring of 1922 we are neither too near the +ending of the war nor too far removed from it to notice the efforts +which are being made to revive a merchant fleet which so suddenly +vanished from its high position. The Hamburg-America Line in 1922 had +but forty-three vessels of 165,707 gross tons, and the North German +Lloyd only twenty-five ships of 127,098 gross tons. A mighty contrast +to the summer of 1914. But both these and other lines were going ahead +with their building, and it was unofficially estimated that the German +Merchant Fleet on May 31, 1922, consisted of 1,546,000 gross tons. + +In accordance with the Peace Treaty all German merchant ships of any +importance were handed over to the Entente Powers. This, in part, was +as compensation for the loss of tonnage during the U-boat campaign. +But Germany recompensed her shipping companies for the merchant +vessels thus surrendered and gave them every encouragement to build +up once more the fleets which meant so much to her, financially +and politically. For the Shipping Redemption Agreement of 1921 +indemnified these companies, provided labour for the shipyards, and +ensured co-operation of the industries inland. The money paid to the +companies was taken from the national funds, but its distribution +and the supervision of the building programme have been entrusted to +a Shipowners’ Trust Company. Thus Germany still realises all that a +Mercantile Marine means to her, and she has every intention of building +it up again during the coming years. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] That is, tonnage built during the war. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE AMERICAN MERCANTILE MARINE + + +Throughout the course of this story the reader will have observed many +references to the American Mercantile Marine. Let us now consider how +it began, developed, waned and again revived. We have seen how the +enterprise of the New England builders was to have a profound effect on +British shipping, but we desire now to regard the subject as a whole. + +So long as a country, wherever situated, has a seaboard, it is very +evident that its civilised community will soon begin building craft of +some kind. The early colonists in America built a 30-ton vessel as far +back as 1607, and it is from this _Virginia_ that we must trace the +American Mercantile Marine. Seven years later a small ship was launched +at New Amsterdam, as, of course, New York was then called, and by the +second decade of the seventeenth century there were over 1000 ships in +colonial waters; for numbers of shipwrights had come over from England. +During the eighteenth century at Portland, Maine, and elsewhere were +built square-rigged ships, privateers, and the first schooners as well +as brigantines. This was quite apart from the shipping and timber sent +to England, and during the year 1769 the twelve colonies launched 389 +ships, representing 20,000 tons. + +In few countries of the world has the relation between war and +mercantile shipping been so accurately reflected, as we shall see as we +go on. The immediate result of the American revolution was to throttle +the Atlantic trade, and five of the first eleven Acts of Congress were +laws to encourage American shipping. In 1789 the State gave special +privileges to shippers engaged in the East Indian and China trades. +Many of these shippers and owners were located in Massachusetts, and +made fine profits, as, for instance, the _Mount Vernon_ of Salem, which +in 1799 made a profit of $100,000 in a single round trip to China; and +one ship made 700 per cent. on a cargo of pepper from Sumatra. + +The registered American tonnage in the foreign trade grew from 123,893 +tons in 1789 to 667,107 tons in 1800; for during the wars growing +out of the French Revolution the American Mercantile Marine actually +became the principal carriers of Europe, as at one time the Dutch and +the English had been. Thus for a second time the marine showed how +sensitive it was to the effect of war. But the war of 1812 caused +severe losses to American merchant ships, yet, on the other hand, +American privateers played havoc with English shipping. The effect, +even in those days of comparatively few ships, is at once seen by +looking at the port of Liverpool, the natural haven for American ships +arriving in Europe; for whereas in 1810, 6729 ships entered that port, +only 4599 came in during the year 1812. On the other hand, as soon as +peace returned these figures jumped up, and from 1815 to 1860 shipping +went ahead quickly. + +For the United States were fast developing their industries, opening +up trade, and therefore had every need of a Mercantile Marine. +The legislation of Congress in 1828 opened up American ports to +cargo-carrying British ships from any country where American vessels +were on a similar footing to British ships, and two years later the +West Indies were opened to American shipping. In 1849 Great Britain +adopted the Free Trade policy, and full reciprocity was established +between British and American merchant vessels. The history of the +clipper ships and the competition between Great Britain and the United +States for the ocean-carrying trade has already been related in this +volume. It is only necessary once more to emphasise that war had yet +again a good deal to do with the future of the American Mercantile +Marine, for the Civil War of 1861 took away any chance which remained +to American ships of continuing as the great sea-carriers. The American +mind had to concentrate on fighting. Meanwhile, much of the tonnage +had passed under other flags, while in Great Britain the accessibility +of coal deposits, the cheapness of labour, the successful introduction +of iron for shipbuilding, the great advances in ship construction, and +especially the wonderful progress of the steamship, had been able to +give back to Great Britain her supremacy as a Mercantile Marine. And +when the Civil War was over, America was too interested internally to +pay a maximum amount of attention to ocean trading. + +For the riches of the country were only beginning to be developed. +Mines and manufactures, railroads and so on were now needing all the +available capital. The New England shipyards, which for many years +had been so valuable owing to the ample supplies of timber ready to +hand, became unwanted in proportion as the Clyde, with its adjacent +coalfields, was becoming more important for building ships of iron and +then steel. It would be untrue to say that America ignored the building +of iron ships, and in the early ’seventies she was interested in a +mild way. The ’eighties passed without much enthusiasm for the subject, +and then in 1894 and following year the Cramp shipyard launched the +two fine transatlantic liners _St. Louis_ and _St. Paul_, both being +constructed of steel. There were many other steel ships built, and +orders were received from abroad, but, broadly speaking, and in strict +reference to merchant ships and not warships, America was not even now +a shipbuilding country. + +Those splendid schooners with which the port of Gloucester is for ever +associated, and those other sailing craft along the American coast do +not alter the statement, nor do the vessels on the American lakes and +rivers. We are thinking of ocean-going ships, which are the essential +feature of any Mercantile Marine. The trade between the Atlantic and +Pacific ports still remained for the old full-rigged clippers, because +there were not enough cargoes east-bound to make it worth while for +the steamship. And so America went on, content to allow her Merchant +Service to be comparatively small and unprogressive. + +But once again it required a war to call the national mind to consider +what a Mercantile Marine means to a country. The Spanish war of 1898 +did this to the extent that there was aroused a strong support for +the Panama Canal project. The Act permitting this dates from 1892, +and it is really from this year that the new phase begins, though +only gradually. If you make direct and shorter roads on land leading +to important trading centres, you obviously at once attract trade. If +in the same manner you shorten communications by sea, it will have a +similar effect. Quite apart from its warlike strategic value, which is +outside our subject, the theory of the Panama Canal was based on the +fact that it would reduce the sea route from New York to San Francisco +by most of 8000 miles, and to Sydney and Yokohama by about 4000 +miles. The 1892 Act also authorised admission to American registry of +foreign-built vessels not more than five years old. + +Then again came another war, the Great War, which began on August 4, +1914, the year in which the canal was opened. Too late America had +begun to learn the value of a Mercantile Marine, and now she foresaw +that there would be an inadequate supply of shipping to carry her trade +across the ocean. Immediately she tried to make up for this by passing +a law a fortnight after the outbreak of war removing the age limit in +the Act of 1892. And now it becomes necessary to look into the matter +somewhat closely, otherwise what followed is not intelligible. + +When the European War broke out, America, having regard to her +population, wealth, overseas trade and length of littoral, was in a +curious position. The following figures are for June 1914, and are +eloquent. In that month, of all the world’s _sea-going_ steel and iron +steam tonnage the British Empire owned 47·7, Germany 12, Scandinavia +8·7, France 4·5, the United States 4·3 and Japan 3·9 per cent. As the +war went on America realised at last that 71 per cent. of the world’s +steamships were in the hands of belligerents, and therefore the means +of transport for American exports and imports—in other words, the +exchange of wealth—had been taken away. Even farmers and cotton-growers +who had never seen the sea in their lives began to take an interest in +the subject when they suffered losses. It took the Great War to wake +up the great American nation, as it had taken the American clippers to +make our sailing shipowners become active. + +Shipbuilding in America suddenly began to revive, for from the end +of 1915 ships were required by Britain, France and Norway. Mines and +submarines had caused losses to the two first, while the third required +more ships than ever for the profitable trade she was doing with +Great Britain and France. Moreover, the American Mercantile Marine +needed ships for herself; and the result was that in 1915 there was a +net increase of nearly 500,000 tons added to its commercial service, +including shipping which had been transferred to it. The position in +the carrying trade outside America was this. A large number of ships +were interned in various ports, some thousands of tons had been sunk by +the German mines and submarines, and yet the Allies were now requiring +more for maintaining food for nations and supplies for the armies in +the field. In addition to this, many ships had been taken from the +Merchant Service for purely naval purposes and other objects, such as +supply-vessels to the Fleet. And the unrestricted submarine campaign +which Germany began in April 1917 was to make matters considerably +worse; for in April of that year 545,282 tons of British merchant +shipping alone were lost by enemy action. + +It was on September 7, 1916, that Congress passed a law creating the +United States Shipping Board, the original aim of which was to develop +more effectively the American Mercantile Marine. A very few months +later, on April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, +and on May 4 the first American warships to reach Europe, consisting +of six destroyers, steamed into Queenstown harbour. It is a day firmly +fixed in my own memory, as the vessel I was then commanding was the +first to go alongside them, north of Daunt’s Rock lightship. Now with +America a participant in the war, and about to send armies to Europe +together with necessary military supplies, the need for American +merchant tonnage became positively acute. In the whole of the United +States there were not more than sixty-one shipyards, of which only +thirty-seven were building steel craft. + +But America realised that ships must be built at once, regardless of +cost, both very quickly and in large numbers. Thus in a strange and +romantic manner there came unexpectedly a revival of the wooden ship. +An American writer has pointed out that of the entire transportation of +American troops about 48¼ per cent. were carried in British ships, and +43 per cent. in American Navy transports. But, with a fine patriotic +effort, shipbuilding of all kinds now went ahead, and soon there were +341 shipyards building sea-going craft. Actually 1284 launching ways +were now occupied. It was a remarkable lesson which war had taught +in respect of the Mercantile Marine. There is no room to go into +details, but it is sufficient to call attention to this exceptional +effort, which showed what could be done. Fabricated ships, that is, +vessels constructed by assembling the standardised plates made in the +engineering shops, rendered possible only through the existence of +numerous steel rolling mills, began to take the water; and if some of +these craft were not always well built, we must remember that they were +a temporary measure, and not intended to last. + +The total construction of ships in the United States during the +years 1910-1916 had averaged 450,000 tons a year. In 1917 it was +nearly 1,000,000, in 1918 it was 3,223,506 tons, but in 1919 it was +6,558,823 tons, up to the end of the year in each case. These figures +are given for the purpose of showing what can be done in a country +which makes up its mind to have a commercial marine. America had been +a long time learning its lesson, but there was no question that she +had learned. Therefore it is not to be expected that she will let +this hardly-acquired realisation be forgotten. Indeed, the evidence +is strongly the other way. On June 5, 1920, was approved the Merchant +Marine Act for the promoting and maintaining an American Merchant +Marine. It is sufficient evidence merely to read the declaration of +policy as stated by Congress: “That it is necessary for the national +defence and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic +commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine of the +best-equipped and most suitable types of vessels sufficient to carry +the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military +auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, ultimately to be owned +and operated privately by citizens of the United States; and it is +hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to do whatever +may be necessary to develop and encourage the maintenance of such a +merchant marine.” + +With the failure of any immediate benefits of this policy it is not +necessary here to deal. But of all the many results of the Great War, +few historically are more interesting than this revival. Competition +between British and American shipping is inevitable, but it is merely +a repetition of what happened in the clipper era; and we have seen +that in the long run this spirit of emulation has always benefited +the Merchant Service. Comparing the figures given above for June +1914, let us place alongside them those for June 1921, which are as +instructive as the first. For now we find in the percentage of the +world’s total sea-going steel and iron steam tonnage that the British +Empire owns 39·3, the United States 22·7, France and Japan each 5·6, +but Scandinavia 7·7. Thus to have leapt from 4·3 to 22·7 in so short a +space of time, and to have become second only to the British Empire, is +a remarkable achievement. + +The future remains to be seen. But we have noticed that the absence of +competition caused the East Indian portion—and that was the greater +part—of the British Mercantile Marine to get into a rut. It was only +the opening up to all of the East, the free and unfettered rivalry +there and in the Atlantic, which brought about progress and improved +conditions both for the trader and the passenger. In the face of the +lessons of history, is it not better to welcome competition rather +than to endeavour to hinder, by a series of laws which may do good, +but may also cause international friction, more dreadful wars, and do +little for the advancement of civilisation and the attainment of noble +aims? The practical value of history is that we are able to see at a +glance the mistakes of our forefathers. If it is not that, it is a mere +academic study. The world now realises that an adequate merchant fleet +is as necessary as an adequate fighting Navy. But it has required to +be confronted with big events before it could thoroughly grasp that +essential fact. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MINOR MERCANTILE MARINES + + +One important result of the war was to readjust the respective +positions of the nations of the world in regard to their merchant +fleets. Considering only steel and iron steam tonnage, the nations +were in the following order of precedence immediately prior to the +war: British Empire, Germany, Scandinavia, France, the United States; +Japan, Holland, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Greece. But to-day the +following is the order: British Empire, United States, and then there +is an immense drop to Scandinavia, France, Japan, Italy, Holland, +Spain, Germany and Greece about equal, and no Austro-Hungarian merchant +ships. + +Whilst Scandinavia still occupies the third place, she represents +only 7·7 of the world’s steam tonnage as against the United States’ +22·7 and the British Empire’s 39·3. Outside the belligerents the +Scandinavians were the most important merchant fleet throughout the +period of hostilities, and Norway was more important than Sweden. +From the earliest times in European history the sea-spirit has been +a real influence in Scandinavia, and some of the finest sailormen in +the world have come from there. It is that spirit which has built up +the Scandinavian merchant fleets, not merely through the sailing-ship +days, but after. To them were sold many of Britain’s clippers and other +vessels as steam gradually became dominant; and even now they purchase +obsolete British steamships, give them another name and put them into +service again. The Allan liner _Virginian_, the first Atlantic turbine +steamer, for instance, is now running in the Swedish-American Line. + +The war found the Scandinavians with a comparatively large merchant +fleet, not merely of steam vessels, but of sailing craft. Only those +who were in the North Sea at that time could realise this fact, and +as the years went on it became still more emphasised. For they were +able to sell their agricultural produce to Germany for high prices, +and they sold, also at a high rate, large supplies of food and of +timber to Great Britain. The result was that the enormous demand for +merchant ships brought great wealth to these Northmen. They placed a +large number of orders with British shipbuilding firms prior to peace, +and in one area alone these orders amounted to 450,000 tons. But then +came the slump, ships were not wanted, because trade became bad, many +shipowners were soon in financial straits and merchant captains found +themselves without employment. The result is, that notwithstanding the +boom, they owned in June 1921 only 7·7 as against 8·7 in June 1914 of +the world’s sea-going steam tonnage. On the other hand, they have shown +considerable enterprise in evolving the ocean-going motor ship. But +whereas the Baltic meant so much to their shipping, the revolutionary +upheavals in Russia and Germany have thoroughly disorganised that most +important section of their trade. To take one instance alone, before +the war, and even during those years, Sweden used to export in small +steamships large quantities of iron ore to Germany, but now these +exports have considerably diminished. Nevertheless, the possession of +these Scandinavian merchant fleets, consisting as they do principally +of small rather than big ships, is a strong factor to be considered in +the future. + +To-day the French Mercantile Marine is of the same strength as Japan, +owing to the last-mentioned country having gone ahead rather than the +former having gone astern. The acquisition of a number of ex-German +liners after the Armistice was something of a windfall, though it +was a long time before some of the big craft were requisitioned. +The Messageries Maritimes, for example, took over from the French +Government the _Lucie Woermann_ (4836 tons) and several bigger ships. +But as an influence in the shipping world, France is very different +from what she was during the time of Louis XIV and after. The naval +architects and shipbuilders in France during the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries were in many cases as good, and frequently better +than, those of England or Holland or Spain. But this supremacy had long +since left them by the time the steamship became prevalent. + +During the war the French Mercantile Marine was used entirely for the +prosecution of the one great cause, but France lost during that period +1,129,000 out of 2,556,000 tons of merchant shipping with which she +commenced hostilities. This has been more serious for France, because +whilst during hostilities the shipyards of Great Britain, the United +States and Japan were able to carry on building, the French yards were +almost exclusively engaged in manufacturing for their armies. In fact, +they were unable to launch more than 143,000 tons throughout the war, +though afterwards about a hundred ships were ordered in Great Britain, +representing nearly 500,000 tons. + +The French Mercantile Marine to-day consists of between 3,000,000 +and 4,000,000 tons. Of this the fine big Atlantic liners running +to New York make up a fair proportion, especially when we think of +the 34,568-ton _Paris_, one of the largest liners afloat, and a +singularly impressive ship to behold. As a result of the war Germany +had to hand over to the Allies 521 ships, of nearly 3,000,000 tons +displacement; and of these France was allotted 116, amounting to about +500,000 tons. But the greater part of her merchant fleet is based on +the Mediterranean, running from Marseilles to the Black Sea, and her +possessions in Asia and the Pacific, West Africa, and to North and +South America. Most of her exports go to her colonies; and the short +voyages across the Mediterranean to Algeria and Morocco, transporting +corn, wine, sheep and vegetables, will ever be a valuable means of +employing small tonnage ships. But it has needed a war to teach France +that the whole of her shipbuilding and marine transportation required +overhauling and revising. Her shipping industry was based rather on the +policy of making profits out of other industries than of becoming a +means of creating new trade routes and fresh avenues to wealth. It is +only now that she is realising the riches of her colonies which merely +wait to be developed fully. To France, curiously enough, belonged the +honour of owning the largest and finest sailing ship in the world. This +was the _La France_. Fitted with auxiliary motors in the early days +of the combustion engine, these were afterwards removed. She sailed +out to the Pacific in 1922, but had the misfortune to pile up on a New +Caledonian reef close to her destination and became a total wreck. Thus +perished the last link France had with its former race of brilliant +designers of sailing ships. + +In the rise of nations few phenomena are more striking than the way +the Japanese merchant fleet has leapt into prominence in so few years. +Even before the war she possessed only 3·9 of the world’s steam steel +tonnage, and was the sixth power in the world as a sea-carrier; to-day +she is actually bracketed fourth with France, and owning 5·6 of the +percentage of tonnage. The Japanese are essentially copyists, and +practically everything they know of shipbuilding or shipping in the +modern sense has been derived from Great Britain. The war came as a +grand opportunity to them, and as soon as the Germans vanished from +the Eastern trades, the Japanese stepped in and took what they wanted +at a time when our traders were busy with other matters. Thanks to the +heavy subsidies granted by their Government, they have put up a keen +competition, including the Indian coasting trade. Both geographically +and economically Japan is well situated so as to expand her merchant +fleet throughout the Orient and the Pacific, and all the evidence +points to her intention to take every advantage of her opportunities. + +According to the most recent figures, the Japanese merchant fleet +contained nearly 800 steamships of over 1000 tons, representing nearer +3,000,000 than 2,000,000 tons. The purchase of a large number of +second-hand ships from other countries at a time when, owing to the +slump, they could be bought for less than half their cost in Japan, is +one of the latest instances of her enterprise. The Italian proportion +of ownership in steamships has increased a point as a result of the +war and after, and the addition in 1921 of the big _Giulio Cesare_ was +a considerable acquisition to such a small marine. Built in England, +this 22,500-ton (gross) steamer was the largest vessel the Wallsend +yard had launched since they constructed the _Mauretania_. She can do +her nineteen knots and more, and being intended for the Genoa-Buenos +Ayres route, was fitted with ample luxury to tempt the South Americans. +But there is also a big emigrant trade from this port westward, and +more than half the accommodation in the ship is intended for them. The +outcome of the war brought Trieste, Austria’s only port, into the hands +of Italy, and this may have an important effect on Italian shipping in +the future. It used to be to Austria what Fiume was to Hungary, and +both States used to give large subsidies to their Mercantile Marines +and encourage transport to and from these ports. Just before the war +the Austro-Hungarian merchant ships represented only slightly over 1 +per cent. of all the world’s sea-going steel steamers, but now this +amount has dropped to nothing. Fiume was the port whence emigrants by +the thousand poured from their Slav, Teuton and Magyar homes on board +the liners bound for the United States. It was Hungary’s only port, +and then the World War put an end to its glory and made it a source of +grave international anxiety. + +But its close connection with the Mercantile Marine prosperity can be +seen at once. For one steamship line alone used to take from there +30,000 emigrants annually. They used to run three steamships a month +during the winters when bad harvests had caused the people to leave +their homes for the New World, and each of these ships was carrying +most of 2000. Then, having made $500 in America, they would for the +most part return, and thus there was still further traffic for the +shipping. The Austrian Lloyd Company owned about eighty steamships, +though chiefly of small tonnage, but some were built in Trieste of +about 4000 tons. With one steamship company the Hungarian Government +actually entered into a contract, to last ten years, by which the +former were to be guaranteed 30,000 emigrants a year; and a bonus of a +hundred francs was to be paid for every passenger short of that number. +It cannot be too much emphasised that the emigrant traffic has been one +of the foundations of some steamship companies. + +During the war the direct services from Scandinavia to America were +strengthened; but the French emigrant traffic has never been great. +Before the war the Italian steamship lines were largely under German +influence. No emigrants could be carried to or from Italy except in a +licensed ship; and a vessel more than three years old, not previously +employed in the Italian service, could not receive a licence unless her +speed was at least eighteen knots. But from the European continent by +far the greatest emigrant traffic went from Bremen and Rotterdam in the +two big German lines. + +The present position of Holland and Spain, almost at the bottom of the +list, shows pathetically that a country which in its day has been the +greatest sea-carrier, which owned and built the finest ships in the +world, may in a century or more be pushed out of the struggle unless +her fighting fleet is able to secure free passage for the merchant +vessels. Holland, at least, owns a small fleet of first-class liners, +principally for the North American trade and to the Dutch East Indies. +With regard to the former, Rotterdam has been to them a useful port +for attracting a good many emigrants every year. Prior to the war the +German lines were too wise to compete against the Dutch, preferring not +to separate forces in concentrating against the Cunard and White Star +Lines. Most Dutch steamship lines enjoy a measure of support from the +Dutch railways, but in the past there was also a good deal of support +from Germany. + +[Illustration: + + [_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._ + +A FAST-DISAPPEARING SHIP TYPE. + +Steam and motors have almost banished the full-rigged ship from the +Mercantile Marine, but a very few still survive.] + +The future of Mercantile Marines is the future of trade itself; for +shipping not merely takes goods to market, but actually creates those +markets in localities hitherto undeveloped. The sailing ship as an +ocean-carrier is certainly fast disappearing, and everything now is +reckoned on a basis of economy, but with strict regard to speed and +efficiency. The need for shipping, apart from temporary slumps in the +cycle of trade through prosperity to depression, must increase as the +resources of the world become greater. If the tramp steamer forces her +way up a shallow river and finds an abundance of a certain commodity +which by some sudden turn in social life is much in demand in London +or New York, this new trade will go on and on until a town is built on +the banks, the river is dredged, and eventually liners call there not +for cargoes, but to bring passengers. The town needs its regular mail +service, the inhabitants require costly manufactured goods from England +or America; and so, in the end, it grows to be a colony with its own +special exports and imports. The arrival of every ship increases the +trade, agents from commercial corporations land and start a new vein of +development. Finally, after a couple of centuries, perhaps, the colony +decides to have its own merchant fleet, and after it has got thoroughly +used to this, and had some risk of war, it realises that its +Merchant Marine must be protected by a fighting Navy. To-day Australia +has its own liners, and Navy, and yet it was only in 1788 that the +first thousand settlers landed there. In the exchange of wealth the sea +is, so to speak, the counter across which the deal is done. You may +live inland and forget all about the sea; you may hate it or you may +fear it; but it is there all the time, and it means everything to any +ambitious community. It is by means of the merchant ship that the sea +is, partially at least, controlled for the sake of land development and +the convenience of communities. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FUTURE OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE + + +If the attention of the reader has been thus far secured, he will +have appreciated the fact that to any nation owning a seaboard the +possession of a Mercantile Marine is as important as having a fighting +Navy. We have seen that Great Britain, the United States, France, +Germany, Japan—not to mention the rest—all realise more than ever the +prime importance of an efficient and adequate merchant fleet. You find +this in the official statements as well as in the remarks by their +shipping experts. As we said at the beginning of this volume, it has +taken a great war to cause this right thinking, but you may be assured +that from now onwards the merchant fleets are coming into their own, +and the service is going to be regarded before long with some of the +old respect that was ascribed to it in the palmiest days of the sailing +ship. + +It is sea-borne trade which makes a Mercantile Marine. It is the great +coalfields conveniently near big harbours that have helped to build up +the modern British marine after her shipping was temporarily eclipsed +by the American. The development of the world consequent on the coming +of the industrial age, the great increase of overseas trade therefrom +resulting, caused a loud and universal call for cheap maritime +carriage. The steamer satisfied that call, for the reason that she was +built economically near to the coalfields, and economically propelled +because she had cheap coal. She could therefore afford to carry goods +cheaply. Then, as we have also seen, this tramp is the forerunner of +the liner, and so the story goes on like a stone gathering momentum as +it comes down the mountain. + +So it all depends on cheap fuel quite as much as on cheap labour. The +Scandinavians have had the latter for years, but it never enabled +them to build up such a merchant fleet as one might have expected. +The world’s greatest shipping centre to-day is the Port of London, +notwithstanding the great set-back it received during the war, when the +presence of German submarines in the English Channel diverted much of +its ancient trade to western ports. Had it not been for the possession +of an enormous merchant fleet, consisting of a large proportion +of small and moderate-sized steamers, the Allied cause would most +certainly have been lost, irrespective of the Army in the field or the +Navy at sea. The British and German blockades, though exerted in the +one case by big ships and in the latter by submarines, had the same +effect: the paralysing of the merchant fleet. Take the blockade away +and the war could have gone on as long as a couple of men were alive. +The pivot of the whole thing is therefore the merchant ship, and she in +turn depends on her fuel. + +The fuel of the future will be oil, and you will find only a minority +of experts to deny this. Whether aircraft will ever become the +principal passenger-carriers over the world is possible, but remote. +For the carriage of goods the dependence will remain on merchant +shipping, and one of the incentives to the use of oil-fuel will be +brought about by increased competition. Oil is the more economical +fuel, for the reason that, other things being equal, one ton of +oil-fuel as now used in Diesel engines drives a vessel three times as +far as one ton of coal burnt under the boilers of a steamship. And yet +oil is twice as efficient as coal when the ship has water-tube boilers +and geared turbines. This is the statement of Sir Westcott Abell, the +Chief Ship Surveyor of Lloyd’s Register. The biggest liners have now +been converted into oil-burning, and it is conceivable that before long +we may have Diesel-engined Atlantic leviathans instead of steamers. +The absence of boilers will mean more room for passengers and cargo, +therefore increased earning capacity. + +Whether we think of oil as used for Diesel or for steam engines, it +certainly looks as if the future Mercantile Marines of the world will +be in the main oil-driven. In that case the outlook for the British +Mercantile Marine, which has been based on cheap coal, may cause some +anxiety. The possession of ample oil-wells in other parts of the world +may, and probably will, get over the difficulty; but it is one thing +to have coalfields at home, and quite another consideration to fetch +oil from the other end of the earth. Moreover the commercial fight +for oil-areas may conceivably lead to international strife, and the +prolongation of the war might depend on how long the supplies of oil +could be maintained for the shipping. In any forecast of the world’s +Mercantile Marines due regard must therefore be paid to the use and +supply of oil. + +The introduction of oil-fuel into the modern Atlantic ships has done +away with the old, laborious work of stoking, and necessitated from +the fireman a higher skill, more technical knowledge and keener +concentration; and he has to be on the move continually in order to +see that the burners are in good order and the flame is continuous. +During bad weather, or fogs, fires can be extinguished, and thus +economy gained. More bunker-fuel is being consumed on the ocean at +the present than ever, and although during the last twenty years a +complete revolution has been made in the engine-room by the use of +turbines and geared turbines, it is only with the introduction of +oil-fuel that the stokehold has become more progressive. In many cases +ex-naval men are now employed in the British oil-fuel liners. Their +experience of years in oil-fuel ships well fits them for this skilled +“stoking” in the modern merchantmen. And here may be the beginning of +another improvement. It is well known that the crew’s accommodation in +most men-of-war is superior to that in most merchantmen, especially +in regard to cleanliness. During the war it was surprising to naval +officers commanding armed merchant cruisers that such conditions were +allowed in liners which would never be tolerated in fighting ships. +One British admiral, in particular, was so impressed as to express +his opinions afterwards in print. Now, if the introduction of highly +skilled ratings from the Navy continues, it may be taken as certain +that the standard of life in the crew’s quarters will become higher and +thus a high-grade type of man will be attracted. There is going to be +a general levelling up in the Mercantile Marines of the world, so long +as there is peace assured. The world is wearied of war, and asks only +to be allowed to develop its resources in peace. Every one nowadays is +interested in commerce, and the time will come when the practice which +existed in the East India Company’s ships will be reverted to. Only +the sons of the best families will be thought to be good enough for +the national merchant ships: only the best sons will offer themselves +for the honour of controlling the ships which maintain the country’s +life-giving trade. In the time of the Elizabethans, before the East +India Company; in the Spanish and Portuguese and Venetian trade +supremacies, the pick of the nation were engaged in overseas commerce; +and in the twentieth century, when so much technical knowledge, so +much responsible capability are required of a man, none but the best +types of officers and men should be accepted or offered. Permanent +employment, good pay, pride in ship and service, high standard of +accommodation, and the most careful selection of candidates will go a +long way towards bringing about this desired end. + +In the olden days the sailor was a very gallant fellow, whose job it +was to go aloft and lay out along a yard and handsail in the foulest +weather. At sea he was heroic; on shore he was often a drunken +reprobate. Things have altered. The modern shipman is just as gallant, +as we know from his exploits afloat during the war. But he is better +educated, uses his head more and his fists less. He reads and thinks +and reasons for himself, and if he knows nothing of the old seafaring, +he is highly skilled in the working of the hundreds of wonderful +appliances which are essential to the modern merchant ship. To him the +shore is not always symbolical of debauch. He is better treated than +his ancestors, and his undoubted rights have begun to be respected. +The result is that there is a general improvement going on through the +Mercantile Marine not merely in regard to the ships themselves, but in +the personnel. + +The romance of the sailing-ship days has to be merged to-day in the +bigger romance of sea-borne trade. It is ridiculous to say, as one +lecturer recently stated, that the Mercantile Marine has no fine +traditions like the Navy, and therefore there is no enthusing force at +the back of it. To make such a statement—and I regret to say that it +was uttered by a distinguished merchant ship captain—is to be ignorant +of sea history. During the recent war, during all the previous wars, +through the ages of peace, back and back as far as we have any records, +you will find the marine merchantman doing fine things, piling up the +finest traditions. If that is not so, the whole purpose of this volume +has been missed. I have endeavoured to show what the Mercantile Marine +has done for the world throughout time in all kinds of ships. Sailors +are a conservative race, and there is at heart very little difference +between the best of each century. To them we all owe more than we can +ever repay or even realise. + +Whether the average merchant ship of the future is to be the +cruiser-stern vessel with oil-fuel and geared turbines, or with +Diesel engines, matters less than the spirit which animates the +officers and men. In the British Mercantile Marine the officers are +drawn from many sources, but the chief training establishments are +in the _Worcester_, lying in the Thames, the _Conway_, lying in the +Mersey, and in the Nautical College, Pangbourne. It is to these three +institutions especially that we look for the future mercantile officer, +on whom great responsibilities rest for the upholding and carrying on +of the magnificent heritage of tradition. In the United States this +preparation for the sea is being carried out with that thoroughness +which was shown during the war for making sailors out of raw landsmen. +The recruiting for the American Mercantile Marine, according to the +latest official report to hand, already consisted of a personnel +which was 68 per cent. American. Its Sea Training Bureau has training +stations and training ships, and in the first three years turned out +between 30,000 and 40,000 unlicensed ratings. In addition, there are +the Navigation and Engineering Schools and advanced courses for men +already holding licences. Such subjects as the operation, repair, +adjustment and general upkeep of marine turbines, and matters dealing +with electricity and oil, are included in the last-mentioned curricula. +The result was that in four years licences were granted to over 10,000 +graduates as masters, first, second and third mates, chief engineers, +first, second and third assistant engineers. And by means of a Sea +Service Bureau maintained at various Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coast +ports, during one year over 100,000 officers and men were placed in +United States ships. + +Thus, with glorious traditions behind them, and an equally glorious +future in front, the Mercantile Marines of the nations of the maritime +world have every reason to be proud of their respective services. +Competition there assuredly will be, not merely between British and +American, but, presently, German merchant fleets. That is all for +the good of the services concerned and for the world in general. The +lesson from past history is that maritime legislation in the long run +is better omitted except where it is necessary as a reply to that +of another country setting up unfair competition. The real freedom +of the seas is to allow the merchant ship to pursue her way freely, +unhampered; and to find her trade where she can, and be allowed to +develop that trade as it has been in the past by Venetian, Spaniard, +Dutch, Briton, American and others. To interfere with this system +is to court trouble which in the long run fails to benefit the very +organisation it was intended to protect. Navigation laws are all very +well in intention; but far better still is it to allow free trading +over the seas, free flow of emigrants and commerce, fair opportunities +for all. The best must win in the last instance, but why not let each +marine go about its own business as each trading concern ashore is +allowed to carry on its own affairs? The merchant fleets mean too much +to be controlled by the State in any country, except under exceptional +circumstances and with the most weighty excuse. That is one of the +lessons in the history of our subject, and we may leave it at that. + + + + +APPENDIX + +SAILS OF THE _ESSEX_ EAST INDIAMAN + + +The following is a list of the sails which the _Essex_ could set, and +it is worth placing on record now that the sailing ship is so rapidly +becoming a rarity. These details have been taken from a contemporary +manuscript which has been kindly sent me by Colonel E. B. Urmston, +C.B., whose great-grandfather served in East Indiamen from the time +when he joined as a midshipman in 1763, and afterwards commanded +several of these ships between 1783 and 1803. In 1795 he brought home, +as Commodore, a fleet of thirty East Indiamen without a convoy of any +of H.M. ships, and later in the same year was Commodore of the East +Indiamen fleet which accompanied Sir Ralph Abercrombie’s expedition +to the West Indies. His eldest son, Sir James Urmston, joined the +company’s service as a “writer” in 1798, and became President of the +company’s factory and affairs in China. + +This memorandum, already turning yellow with age, was made in 1816, +at the time Lady Urmston came home in the _Essex_, and with the aid +of existing pictures of East Indiamen it would not be impossible to +reconstruct a model on fairly accurate lines. It will be seen that +she was able to set twenty-seven sails on her foremast, twenty-one on +her mainmast, and seventeen on her mizzen: total sixty-five. It is +interesting as showing that at least one of these Indiamen was a real +sail-carrier. She was commanded by Captain Nisbett. + + ON THE FOREMAST 26. ON THE MAINMAST 21. ON THE MIZZENMAST 17. + + Fore course Main course Square cross jackyard + ” topsail ” topsail Mizzen topsail + ” t’gallant sail ” t’gallant sail ” t’gallant sail + ” royal ” royal ” royal + ” skysail ” skysail ” skysail + ” moon-raker ” moon-raker ” moon-raker + ” cloud-scraper ” cloud-scraper + ” star-gazer ” star-gazer + ” storm staysail ” staysail Driver + ” topmast staysail ” topmast staysail Ring-tail + Jib ” middle ” Watersail + Inner jib ” t’gallant ” Gaff topsail + Flying ” ” royal ” Upper ” + Outer ” ” upper ” Mizzen staysail + Cutter’s topmast jib ” topmast staysail + Upper ” ” t’gallant ” + + _On the bowsprit_: + + Sprit sail Mizzen royal staysail + Sprit topsail ” topmast stuns’l + ” outer topsail ” t’gallants’l + + _Studding sails_: + + Common lower studding sail Lower studding sail + Outer lower studding sail Common topmast studding sail + Common topmast studding sail Outer topmast studding sail + Outer topmast studding sail Common t’gallant studding sail + Common t’gallant studding sail Outer t’gallant studding sail + Outer t’gallant studding sail Royal t’gallant studding sail + Royal t’gallant studding sail Upper t’gallant studding sail + + + + +INDEX + + Aaron Manby, 183 + + Abell, Sir Westcott, 240 + + Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, 246 + + Ability of an East Indiaman navigator, 142 + + _Acadia_, 178 + + Acre, 15 + + _Active_, 145 + + _Admiral Watson_, 94 + + Adriatic, The, 9 + + _Agincourt_, 148 + + _Ajax_, 92 + + _Albert Webb_, 118 + + _Alfred_, 98, 99, 100, 148 + + Allan Line, 197, 230 + + _Alnwick Castle_, 147 + + American clippers, 151 + + American Line, 183, 195 + + American Mercantile Marine, 152, 220, 244 + + American packets, 123 + + American trade, 104, 151 + + American War, 117 + + _Anglesey_, 147, 148 + + Anglo-Dutch wars, 66 + + _Ann McKim_, 150 + + _Aquila_, 25 + + _Aquitania_, 170, 173, 199, 200, 201 + + _Arabic_, 196 + + _Archimedes_, 184, 185 + + _Arctic_, 124 + + _Ariel_, 161, 162, 164 + + _Arizona_, 192 + + “Art of Seafighting, The,” 95 + + _Astell_, 112 + + _Aventurier_, 100, 101 + + _Audacious_, H.M.S., 216 + + _Auguste Victoria_, 211 + + _Austral_, 192 + + Australian Black Ball Line, 157 + + Australian gold discovery, 156 + + Australian Royal Mail Steam Navigation Co., 187 + + _Austria_, 211 + + Austrian Lloyd Company, 235 + + + Baden-Powell, Sir Robert, 142 + + Baines, James, 135, 157 + + Balearic Isles, 5 + + Ballasting, 26 + + _Baltic_, 188 + + Barcelona ordinance, 22 + + _Barham_, 148 + + Beatty, Earl, 2 + + _Belle-Poule_, 100 + + _Bellone_, 112 + + Benbow, Admiral, 88 + + _Berceau_, 100 + + _Berengaria_, 170, 199, 202, 203, 217 + + _Berlin_, 216 + + Berthing a big liner, 198 + + Big Ship Masters, 208 + + _Bismarck_, 202, 218 + + Black Ball Line, 117, 123 + + “Black Book of the Admiralty,” 31 + + Black Sea, 16 + + Blackwall, 77, 80, 82, 92, 103, 115, 117, 134, 136, 146, 148, 172, + 182, 188 + + _Blenheim_, 147 + + Blohm & Voss, 202 + + _Boddam_, 97 + + _Bombay Castle_, 93, 98, 99 + + Bombay Insurance Society, 102 + + _Bona Confidentia_, 58 + + _Bona Esperanza_, 58 + + _Borussia_, 210 + + Boulton & Watt, 170, 173 + + _Bremen_, 214 + + _Britannia_, 178 + + _Britannic_, 196, 200 + + British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., 178 + + British crews in American packets, 124 + + British Navigation Laws, Repeal of, 152, 212 + + _British Queen_, 174 + + Brunel, 174, 185, 187, 188 + + Brunswick Basin, 92, 93 + + _Buckinghamshire_, 135 + + _Buenos Ayrean_, 190 + + Burns, George, 177, 178 + + + Cabot, John, 205 + + Cabot, Sebastian, 49, 55, 59 + + Caird of Greenock, 210, 214 + + _Caledonia_, 171, 178 + + _Campania_, 195, 196, 214 + + _Canada_, 123 + + _Canton_, 97 + + _Cap Trafalgar_, 197 + + Cargatores, 24 + + _Carlisle Castle_, 148 + + _Carmania_, 197, 198 + + _Carn Brae Castle_, 115 + + _Caroline_, 111, 112 + + Carthaginians, 5 + + _Cedric_, 196 + + _Celtic_, 196 + + _Ceylon_, 112 + + _Challenge_, 153, 154, 156 + + _Challenger_, 153 + + Chancellor, Richard, 58 + + _Charlotte Dundas_, 169, 170 + + Chaucer, 42 + + _Chile_, 179 + + “China Clippers, The,” 164 + + China fleet, 100 + + _Christiana_, 25 + + _Chrysolite_, 153 + + _Cidona_, 25 + + Cilicians, 5 + + City of Dublin Steam Company, 123 + + _City of Edinburgh_, 172, 173 + + _City of Glasgow_, 191 + + _City of Manchester_, 191 + + _City of New York_, 193 + + _City of Paris_, 193, 194 + + _Claremont_, 170 + + _Clarence_, 147 + + Clark, Captain A. H., 123, 155 + + _Clermont_, 170, 171 + + “Clipper Ship Era, The,” 123, 155 + + Clipper ships, 151 + + Clyde, The, 161 + + Coal brigs, 130 + + _Cogge_, 39 + + Collins Line, 124, 182, 195 + + _Columbia_, 178, 211 + + Columbus, 14, 48 + + _Comet_, 170 + + Communal idea, 22, 27, 56 + + Continental Service, 119 + + Convoy of East Indiamen, A, 112 + + Convoy system, 12, 15, 23 + + _Conway_, 243 + + Cook, Captain, 130 + + Cort, Henry, 189 + + Cost of building ships, 103 + + _Coutts_, 98 + + “Cracking-on,” 150, 158 + + Cramp shipyard, 223 + + Cretans, 5 + + Crutchley, Commander, R.N.R., 144 + + _Cumberland_, 98 + + Cunard Company, 178, 186, 190, 192, 195, 197, 202 + + Cunard losses, 198 + + Cunard, Mr., 177 + + _Cutty Sark_, 162, 166, 181 + + _Cybèle_, 97 + + + Dalmatia, 8 + + Dance, Commodore, 98, 100, 122 + + Demand for merchant shipping, 7 + + Denny, William, 171 + + Deptford, 81 + + Desertion, 27 + + _Deutschland_, 210, 213 + + Devitt & Moore, 149 + + Diesel Engines, 240, 243 + + Discipline, 20 + + _Dogger_, 40 + + _Dorsetshire_, 98 + + Downie, W. I., 138, 166 + + Drake, Francis, 50 + + Dramatic Line, 118, 123 + + _Dreadnought_, 156 + + _Drottningholm_, 197 + + _Duchess of Atholl_, 172 + + _Duke of Marlborough_, 122 + + _Duke of Richmond_, 94 + + Dunbar, 135, 144, 147 + + Dutch East India Company, 73 + + + _Earl of Abergavenny_, 98 + + _Earl of Balcarres_, 135 + + _Earl Camden_, 98, 100 + + _Earl of Hardwicke_, 145, 148 + + East India Company, 9, 73, 76, 78, 81, 104, 116, 137, 175, 176, + 177, 242 + + East India Docks, 103 + + East Indiamen, 18, 73, 76, 77, 79, 90, 92, 93, 97, 98, 99, 103, + 130, 145, 147, 148, 172, 246 + + _Edward Bonaventure_, 58, 77 + + Efficiency of the old-time mariner, 132 + + Egyptians, 3 + + _Elbe_, 214 + + _Elizabeth_, 171, 176 + + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 125 + + Emigrant traffic, 212 + + _Emmanuel_, 72 + + _Ems_, 214 + + _Emu_, 145 + + Enemies, attacks by, 94 + + English Maritime Law, 31 + + _Enterprise_, 173 + + Ericsson, John, 184 + + _Essex_, 246 + + _Etruria_, 192 + + _Europe_, 111, 112 + + Evolution of the ship, 3, 7, 17, 32, 45, 168 + + _Exeter_, 98 + + + _Falcon_, 168, 173 + + _Falmouth_, 92 + + Falmouth, 179 + + Falmouth packet service, 119, 122 + + _Fawkener_, 120 + + _Ferreira_, 168 + + _Fiery Cross_, 139, 164 + + Fishermen and Merchantmen, 62 + + Fishermen’s quarrels, 70 + + Fishery Department, Board of Trade, 128 + + _Flying Cloud_, 143 + + Forrest, Captain Thomas, 90 + + _Forte_, 97 + + _Fortima_, 149 + + Forwood, Sir William B., 157, 160 + + Fowler, Lieut. Robert, R.N., 99, 102 + + _Francis B. Ogden_, 184 + + Free Trade, 222 + + Free trade vessels, 135 + + French Mercantile Marine, 231, 232 + + French Naval Architects, 93 + + Fulton, Robert, 170 + + Future of the Mercantile Marines, 246 + + + _Ganges_, 98, 99, 100 + + Geary, Captain, R.N., 115 + + General Steam Navigation Company, 145, 172, 182 + + Genoa, 13 + + _Geordie_, 130 + + _George Washington_, 216 + + German Australian Line, 208 + + German East Africa Line, 208 + + German liners, 195 + + _Giulio Cesare_, 233 + + _Godezere_, 38 + + _Grâce Dieu_, 53 + + _Great Britain_, 183, 185, 186 + + _Great Eastern_, 188, 190, 196 + + _Great Republic_, 156 + + _Great Western_, 174, 183 + + Great Western Steamship Company, 185 + + Greeks, 3 + + Greens, The, 77, 94, 104, 115, 116, 135, 136, 138, 144, 145, 146, + 153, 172 + + Grotius, 64 + + Growth of the Mercantile Marine, 42 + + Guion Line, 183, 192 + + “Gulliver’s Travels,” 84, 86 + + _Guy Mannering_, 118 + + + Hakluyt, 50, 55 + + Hall, Messrs., 153 + + Hamburg-America Line, 208, 209, 211 + + Hamburg-Bremen-Africa Line, 208 + + Hamburg-South America Line, 208 + + Hansa Line, 208 + + Hanseatic League, 34, 41, 62, 65 + + Harland, Sir Edward, 187 + + Harland & Wolff, 187, 190 + + Hawkins, 51 + + Hay, Captain, 113, 114 + + Heligoland, 41 + + _Hellenis_, 170 + + _Henry Addington_, 98 + + Herbert, of Cherbury, Lord, 84 + + Herring exports in 1913, 129 + + _Highflyer_, H.M.S., 215 + + _Himalaya_, 188 + + _Hindostan_, 180 + + Holy Land, The, 11 + + _Homeric_, 199, 201 + + _Hope_, 98, 99 + + Hornby, Admiral Phipps, 201 + + _Hotspur_, 141, 142 + + Hour-glasses, 85 + + Huddart, Captain Joseph, F.R.S., 122 + + Hulls, Jonathan, 169 + + + Illyrians, 5 + + _Imperator_, 202, 217 + + Indian Empire, 9 + + _Indomitable_, 166, 199 + + Inman, William, 191 + + Inman Line, 183 + + Ionians, 5 + + Iron and Steel, 182 + + Iron Mast, The first, 185 + + _Isaac Webb_, 118 + + Ismay, T. H., 190 + + Istria, 8 + + Italian Mercantile Marine, 233 + + _Ivernia_, 196 + + + James, Sir William, Bart., 98 + + _James Baines_, 143 + + _James Watt_, 173 + + Japanese Merchant Fleet, 233 + + Jardine, Mattheson & Co., 146 + + _John Tutteburie_, 39 + + Jouffroy, Marquis de, 169 + + _Judith_, 51 + + + _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, 196, 214, 215, 216 + + _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, 215 + + _Kaiserin Auguste Victoria_, 214 + + _Kate Carnie_, 161 + + _Kent_, 146, 147, 148 + + _King of the Netherlands_, 172 + + Kosmos Line, 208 + + + _La France_, 232 + + _Lady Jocelyn_, 164 + + _Lady Lansdowne_, 183 + + _Lady Melville_, 104, 135 + + Laird & Co., 183, 184, 211 + + Laws of Oleron, 30 + + _Leicester_, 78 + + Lennox, Captain Charles, 97 + + Letters of Marque, 96, 129 + + _Leviathan_, 203, 217 + + Linois, Admiral, 99, 100, 120 + + Liparian Isles, 5 + + Liverpool, Port of, 80, 104, 164 + + Lloyd’s Register, 91, 173, 176, 240 + + London, Port of, 80, 104, 117 + + _Lord Keith_, 111, 112 + + _Lord Macartney_, 93 + + Lowell, James Russell, 126 + + Lubbock, Basil, 164 + + _Lucania_, 195, 196, 214 + + _Lucie Woermann_, 231 + + Lucy, Sir Thomas, 85 + + _Lusitania_, 198, 199 + + Lycians, 5 + + + MacIver, David, 177, 178 + + McKay, Donald, 156 + + _Macquarie_, 136, 149 + + _Madagascar_, 148 + + _Madre de Dios_, 50 + + _Majestic_, 170, 194, 199, 202, 203, 204, 206, 218 + + Malocello, 46 + + Manby, Aaron, 183 + + _Marco Polo_, 143, 157 + + _Marengo_, 100 + + Marine Insurance Company, The first, 91 + + “Mariner’s Jewel, The,” 84 + + Maritime Acts, 65 + + Maritime Law, 19, 30 + + _Marlborough_, 147 + + _Martaban_, 160 + + Mastery of the Sea, 88 + + _Mauritania_, 198, 199, 200, 205 + + Mediterranean, 7, 17 + + Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, 160 + + Merchant Ships of the North, 30 + + Merchantman as privateer or pirate, 87 + + Melbourne, 136, 148 + + Melbourne trade, 147 + + _Memnon_, 151 + + Mercantile Marine of the Sixteenth Century, 53 + + Mercantile Marines, The Minor, 229 + + Mercantile Supremacy at Sea, 90 + + Meriton, Captain, 112, 113 + + Messageries Maritimes, 231 + + Michelson, Godeke, 40 + + Middle Ages, 10, 13, 21, 37, 52 + + “Midshipman, Reminiscences of a Blackwall,” 138 + + Midshipmen, 137 + + Mighty Merchantmen, 103 + + Milford steam packets, 124 + + Miller, Patrick, 169 + + _Minerve_, 112 + + _Moa_, 145 + + Modern Merchant Ship, The, 194 + + Modern Navigation, 200 + + Moffat, Captain H. Y., 131 + + _Monarch_, 148 + + Moneys, The, 94, 104, 116, 146 + + Monson, Sir William, 82 + + Moodie, Captain, 166 + + Moslem power, 10, 11 + + _Mount Vernon_, 221 + + Mourning, sign of, 141 + + + Napier, Robert, 171, 177, 178 + + Navigation Acts, 65, 67 + + Navigation Laws, Repeal of, 176 + + _Neptune_, 145 + + _New World_, 118 + + Nisbett, Captain, 247 + + _Nordamerika_, 210 + + _Norfolk_, 148 + + North German Lloyd, 196, 208, 209, 214, 215 + + North Sea fisheries, 32 + + _Northumberland_, 144 + + _Novelty_, 184 + + + _Ocean_, 97, 98 + + _Oceanic_, 190, 196 + + O’Halloran, Captain, 158 + + _Oliva_, 25 + + _Olympic_, 170, 199, 200 + + Opium trade, 151 + + _Oregon_, 192 + + _Orient_, 192 + + Orient Line, 192 + + _Oriental_, 152, 154 + + _Orinoco_, 170 + + _Osterley_, 92 + + Owen, Sir Douglas, 31 + + _Owen Glendower_, 145, 148 + + + Pacific Steam Navigation Company, 179 + + Packet Ships and Brigs, 119 + + Panama Canal, 223, 224 + + _Paris_, 232 + + Park, Robert, 95 + + Patriotic Fund Committee, 101 + + Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 77, 124, 179, 188 + + Pepys, Samuel, 81, 84 + + _Persia_, 186 + + _Peru_, 179 + + Peters, Andrew, 114 + + Pett, Phineas, 80 + + Phœnicians, 3 + + _Piémontaise_, 108, 110 + + Piracy, 5, 37 + + Pisa, 13 + + Plimsoll mark, 25 + + Polar Expedition, The first, 67 + + Poplar Fund, 106 + + Portsmouth, Admiral of, 115 + + _Premium_, 131 + + _President_, 175 + + _Prince of Wales_, 146, 148 + + Prince Henry the Navigator, 47, 75, 76, 77 + + _Princess Royal_, 182 + + _Prinzessin Charlotte_, 171 + + Privateer, 96 + + + Quadruple-Expansion Engine, 197 + + _Queen_, 146, 148 + + + Rabelais, 54 + + _Rainbow_, 151 + + Rainier, Rear-Admiral, 97 + + _Red Dragon_, 78 + + _Red Jacket_, 157 + + Red Star Line, 123 + + _Regent_, 53 + + _Rhein_, 210 + + Rhodian sea-law, 19, 30 + + Richard Cœur de Lion, 11, 30 + + Rise and Fall of the German Mercantile Marine, 208 + + _Rob Roy_, 171 + + _Robert F. Stockton_, 184 + + Rogers, Captain W., 122 + + Roland Line, 208 + + _Roman_, 144 + + Roman merchant ships, 4, 17 + + Ross & Primrose, 177 + + Royal Fishery Company, 69 + + _Royal George_, 98, 99, 100, 101 + + Royal Mail Line, 124, 179 + + _Royal Oake_, 81 + + _Royal William_, 173, 174, 177 + + Russell, John Scott, 187, 188 + + + _St. Blazius_, 25 + + _St. Louis_, 223 + + _St. Paul_, 223 + + Sail-Carriers, The, 134 + + _Samuel Russell_, 151 + + _San Felipe_, 50 + + _Savannah_, 171 + + _Saxonia_, 196, 211 + + “School and Sea Days,” 141 + + _Scotia_, 186 + + Screw Propeller, The, 183 + + Sea Fisheries Act of 1868, 128 + + Sea language, 82 + + Seamanship, Fine, 118 + + Seamen as authors, 54 + + _Sea Witch_, 151 + + Selden, 64 + + _Sémillante_, 100 + + Sercey, Rear-Admiral, 97 + + _Serica_, 161, 164 + + _Seringapatam_, 135, 136, 145 + + _Servia_, 190 + + Seventeenth-Century Seafaring, 74, 75 + + Ship-money, Levying of, 65 + + Shipbuilding in America, 224, 225 + + _Shipper Berline of Prussia_, 39 + + Ship’s bell, Introduction of, 53 + + Shipwrights Company, 80 + + Side-lights, 123 + + Signal code, 74 + + _Silenus_, 111 + + Simon of Utrecht, 41 + + _Sir Edward Paget_, 115, 116 + + _Sir Lancelot_, 161, 164, 166 + + _Sirius_, 173, 174 + + Smith, Francis, 184 + + Smith, T. & W., 116, 136, 144, 147 + + Somes, 135, 147 + + Southampton, 179 + + _Sovereign of the Seas_, 66, 143 + + _Spain_, 194 + + Spanish Armada, 63, 67 + + Spars and Stays, 160 + + _Speculum Nauticum_, 72 + + State post-office, 119 + + Steam, Iron and Steel, 168, 182 + + Steele of Greenock, 161, 164 + + Stertebeker, 40 + + Stevens, John, 184 + + Stokehold of an Oil-Fuel Cunarder, 216 + + Stone ballast, 60 + + _Stornoway_, 153 + + _Streatham_, 111, 112 + + _Sylph_, 146 + + Suez Canal, 167, 180, 182, 194 + + _Sultan_, 192 + + _Superb_, 148 + + Swift, Dean, 84, 86 + + Symington, William, 169 + + + _Taeping_, 139, 161, 164 + + _Taitsing_, 165 + + _Taunton Castle_, 97 + + _Teutonic_, 194 + + _Thames_, 135 + + _Thermopylae_, 162, 165, 166, 167, 181 + + _Three Brothers_, 130 + + _Tilbury_, 92 + + Timmins, Captain, 101 + + _Titanic_, 200 + + _Townshend_, 120 + + Toynbee, Arnold, 141 + + Toynbee, Captain Henry, F.R.G.S., F.R.A.S., 141 + + _Trades Increase_, 79 + + Traditions, 243 + + _Trafalgar_, 138, 139 + + _Trident_, 182 + + Triple-Expansion Engine, 197 + + Triumph of Steam, The, 168 + + _Truelove_, 129 + + Turbine, The, 197 + + _Turbinia_, 197 + + + _Umbria_, 192 + + Union Line, 144 + + United States Merchant Marine Act, 227 + + United States Shipping Board, 225 + + Urmston, Sir James, 246 + + Urmston, Colonel E. B., C.B., 246 + + _Urso_, 25 + + + _Valentine_, 92 + + Vasco da Gama, 47, 75, 77 + + _Vaterland_, 202, 217 + + Venetian Statutes, 21, 25 + + Venetians, 8, 11, 13, 29 + + _Vesta_, 124 + + _Victor_, 110, 112 + + _Victoria_, 187 + + _Victorian_, 197 + + Victual Brothers, 40 + + _Virginia_, 220 + + _Virginian_, 197, 230 + + Vivaldi, 47 + + + Walpole, Capt. Hon. Richard, 98 + + _Warley_, 98, 100 + + _Warren Hastings_, 93, 98, 107 + + _Washington Irving_, 125 + + _Waterloo_, 104 + + West Indiamen, 90 + + West Indies Service, 121 + + _Wexford_, 98 + + Whall, Captain W. B., 141, 142, 143 + + White Star Line, 157, 183, 187, 188, 191, 194, 196, 198, 200, 202, 211 + + Wigrams, The, 77, 94, 104, 115, 116, 135, 144, 145, 146, 172 + + _William Fawcett_, 180 + + Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 59 + + Wilson, Captain Henry, 98 + + _Windham_, 112 + + _Windsor Castle_, 147 + + Woermann Line, 208 + + _Woodford_, 97 + + _Worcester_, 146, 243 + + World’s Biggest Ship, 206 + + Wreckers, 23 + + + MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. + RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, + PRINTERS, BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + pg 43 Changed: pilgrim trade to Santiago de Campostela + To: pilgrim trade to Santiago de Compostela + + pg 122 Changed: between Yarmouth and Helvoetsluis in Holland + To: between Yarmouth and Hellevoetsluis in Holland + + pg 128 Changed: Inverness, Brassey Sound, Kirkwall, Oban + To: Inverness, Bressay Sound, Kirkwall, Oban +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78205 *** |