lines give it out by contract to a stevedore, who employs his own men.
About six gangs of twenty-five men each, and about twelve foremen
and dock-clerks are employed. As many men are employed as can work
to advantage. The day men are relieved by other gangs of men who
work at night. In rush times a few men are added to each gang. From
10,000 to 100,000 packages constitute an ocean steamship’s cargo.
The largest number of packages are carried at the season of the year
when the Bordeaux fruit canning trade is on, and the proportion of
small packages is increased. Some big packages, such as a street-car
completely boxed, or a steam-launch enclosed in a case, require
considerable power and much skill to load. Heavy machinery and enormous
cases are lifted from the dock, swung over the open hatchway, and
lowered to the cavernous depths as quickly and easily as though they
weighed but a hundred pounds instead of several tons.
The stowing of the freight requires experience and judgment. The
weight must be arranged so that the vessel stands upon an even keel,
and she must not be down at the bow, or too low at the stern. Then the
cargo must be stowed so that it will not shift. The importance of this
is seen when the rolling and plunging of the ship in a heavy sea is
considered. The cargo would not only be seriously injured if it tumbled
about, but the vessel would be unmanageable. The stevedores and the
’longshoremen who attend to this work are experienced men, and the
difficulty of loading ships with inexperienced men caused the owners of
many steamships to permit them to remain idle at the time of the great
London dock strikes.
Particular attention is paid to stowing the cargo of an ocean racer.
Every package is fitted into place, so that the cargo will be a solid
part of the vessel, and serve to ballast and trim her to the best
advantage.[19]
The North German Lloyd line holds the record for rapid loading and
unloading of cargo. The Eider arrived at 10 A.M., one day in January,
1890, and in twenty-nine hours her freight was discharged, and a full
cargo, the mails, and her complement of passengers were on board, and
the lines cast off for a return trip to Europe.
The ocean steamships are coaled at their docks. The barges containing
the coal are towed alongside, on both sides of the vessel, and the
work of coaling commences immediately after her arrival in port. It is
hoisted up by iron buckets, coaling on both sides going on at the same
time. It requires about four and a half days to coal one of the big
greyhounds. There are eight coal barges employed in the work; each of
these barges contains from 250 to 300 tons of coal. Some of the lines
get their coal from Baltimore, and others from Norfolk. The coaling,
as now conducted, is a tedious as well as a dirty process, and it is
difficult to understand why lines have not adopted the elevator method
which was tried on some of the naval and coastwise vessels some two
years ago, and proved a success, both as to economy, rapidity, and
cleanliness. The experiment showed that 500 tons of coal could be
stowed away in the bunkers by chutes in one hour.
[Illustration: A Cattle Steamship at Sea.]
The loading of cattle-ships is interesting. The vessels are tied up
to the docks in Jersey City and Weehawken, where the stock-yards
are located, and the cattle are driven up a narrow gang-plank. When
steamships take grain or other cargo in the hold and cattle on deck,
the latter are usually loaded from barges at the wharf, or while the
vessel is at anchor in the bay. Occasionally a fractious steer breaks
away from the drivers, and, plunging over the side of the gang-plank,
takes a bath in the water. A sailor jumps in and passes a rope around
the animal, which is then hoisted on board by means of a block and
tackle. The cattle are placed in strongly constructed pens between
decks, as well as on the upper deck. The space for each head of cattle
is fixed by law at 2 feet 6 inches by 8 feet. The pens hold half a
dozen cattle each. Experience has shown that there was greater loss
when more room than this was allowed for the cattle. A steer with
plenty of room in his pen would roll from side to side and become
bruised or crippled when a heavy sea was encountered. By packing the
cattle tightly, they serve as buffers for each other, and the loss is
diminished. Within the last two or three years the methods of shipping
cattle have been improved, so that the loss is now less than two per
cent.
The cost of shipping cattle from New York to Liverpool is about half
a cent per pound, live weight. This includes the care and the feed
during the voyage. From ten to a dozen men are employed to look after
the cattle on the trip. Very low wages are paid these men, as there
are always a number of applications on hand from impecunious men who
are desirous of working their passage to Europe by taking care of the
cattle. A few men are regularly engaged in the business of taking care
of cattle at sea. They are known as “cowboys of the sea,” and are big
burly fellows who are used to rough living and to facing danger. The
work of feeding and watering the cattle is not an easy task in fair
weather, and with a rough sea on it is dangerous. When severe storms
are met, the cattle become panic-stricken, and the men are obliged to
go among them and quiet them. Sometimes the pens are broken down in a
gale, and there is pandemonium aboard. Cattle-ships have arrived in
port with only a small portion of the number of cattle taken on board,
but as the losses fall upon the shippers and the reputation of the
steamship line is to some extent at stake, they are, therefore, more
interested in the safety of cattle at sea than anyone else. The efforts
of Samuel Plimsoll, M.P., and the cattle inspectors of Great Britain
and the United States, have materially improved the methods of this
traffic.
Ocean freights are lower than those by rail. They fluctuate from day to
day, and are affected by the supply, and by the available tonnage in
port. Grain was carried from New York to Liverpool in 1890 for three
shillings a quarter; the increased shipments in 1891 advanced the price
to from four shillings to four shillings and ninepence a quarter,
an advance of fifty per cent. The increased rate on grain affects
all other rates, as the steamships vary their cargo according to the
demands of the trade.
Just previous to the time the McKinley Bill went into effect, space on
the fast steamships commanded seven times the usual rate, and hundreds
of thousands of dollars depended upon the arrival of big consignments
of dutiable goods within the time limit. The demand for space on the
North German Lloyd line was so great that on one of the ships due to
arrive in New York just before the new law went into effect, when
shippers could not obtain room in the hold, several state-rooms were
hired, and filled full of cutlery and other goods on which there was
a considerable advance of duty. It will be remembered that in some
instances tugs were sent out beyond Sandy Hook to meet steamships and
sailing vessels which had been delayed, and hasten their arrival. The
Etruria reached Quarantine at 11 P.M. on October 4, 1890. Captain
Haines was taken off on a tug, which ploughed her way up the Bay. At
the Battery a team of fast horses was waiting, and the captain rushed
breathless into the Custom House, with barely one minute to spare,
before midnight, when the new law went into effect. Thousands of
dollars were saved by the timely arrival of the Etruria. The Zaandam,
which had been chartered to bring over a large cargo of Sumatra
tobacco, on which the duty was advanced $1.25 per pound, arrived a few
hours late, although she sailed three days ahead of the Werkendam, of
the same line, with a similar cargo, which arrived in time to save the
increased duty.
Every nation is interested in the extension of its ocean
freight-carrying business. The welfare of the farmer, the artisan,
and the merchant is interwoven with that of men who live on the sea.
Commerce and the industries go hand in hand, and the magnificent
showing that the former makes is only an indication of the prosperity
of the latter. No more apt illustration of the growth of the American
nation in the last quarter of a century can be pointed out than the
development of her ocean traffic.
Footnotes:
[18] There are several other lines, like the Liverpool, Brazil &
River Plate, and John Norton’s Son, which usually send out from four
steamships a year to one a month, but which are doing very little just
now, owing to the disorganized condition of trade in the River Plate
region. Reciprocity with Brazil is counted upon to increase their trade.
There is one line of steamships from New York direct to Indian,
Chinese, and Japanese ports by way of the Mediterranean Sea and the
Suez Canal. It is operated by Edward Perry & Co., and case oil forms
the bulk of the trade. About one vessel a month is sent out, and this
vessel has a tonnage of about 3,000 gross.
Carter, Hawley & Co., and Carter, Macy & Co., had during the year 1891
about 25 steamships consigned to them from China and Japan, the tonnage
of which was about 60,000 gross. Inward these vessels are tea-laden,
but on the return trip they are usually chartered by other firms for
general cargo.
[19] Certain kinds of freight admit of peculiar packing, of which
an instance occurs to me in the loading of American cheeses. The
side-ports of the ship are opened, and a series of inclined chutes
are arranged so that the cheeses roll by their own weight from the
truck on the pier through the open port, and are switched off on side
chutes, which carry them to their final resting place, where men stow
them in solid layers. Some vessels, not provided with side-ports,
hoist the packages on deck in nets and lower them down the hatchways.
Some of these products of the American dairy return to us as English
manufacture—the “Cheshire” and “Double Gloucester.”
STEAMSHIP LINES OF THE WORLD.
BY LIEUTENANT RIDGELY HUNT, U. S. NAVY.
IMPORTANT PART TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES IN ESTABLISHING OCEAN
ROUTES—RIVALRY IN SAILING VESSELS WITH ENGLAND—EFFECT OF THE
DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA—THE CAPE HORN ROUTE—AUSTRALIAN
PACKET LINES—THE PROBLEM OF A SHORT ROUTE TO INDIA—FOUR MAIN ROUTES
OF STEAMSHIP TRAFFIC—CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REGULAR SERVICE BETWEEN
EUROPE AND THE EAST—PORT SAID AND THE SUEZ CANAL—SCENES AT ADEN AND
AT BOMBAY—THE RUN TO COLOMBO, CEYLON—SOME OF THE BY-WAYS OF TRAVEL
FROM SINGAPORE—THE PACIFIC MAIL—FROM YOKOHAMA TO SAN FRANCISCO—TWO
ROUTES FROM PANAMA TO NEW YORK—SOUTH AMERICAN PORTS—MAGNIFICENT
SCENERY OF THE MAGELLAN STRAITS—BEAUTIES OF THE PORT OF RIO—THE GREAT
OCEAN ROUTE FROM LONDON TO AUSTRALIA.
Writers of maritime history give to the United States the credit of
establishing long lines of communication by sea with far-distant
countries. As early as 1789 the merchants of Boston despatched their
ships direct to China and the East Indies, some time before England
entered on this trade; for the American vessels not only brought their
cargoes to the home markets, but also trans-shipped spices, silks,
teas, sugar, coffee, and cotton to Europe. In those times a skipper
felt satisfied if he made the outward voyage of 15,000 miles, by way of
the Cape of Good Hope, in 150 days, and came back _via_ Cape Horn, some
17,000 miles, in the same time.
The development of the resources of the East by the East India
Company, and the richness of the freights carried by the United States
vessels—the proceeds of a single voyage often defraying the first cost
of the ship—induced England to enter into competition; thus starting
that rivalry between the sailing fleets of the two nations that was
long the admiration of the world. In 1845 the American clippers, long,
low, of good beam, very fine lines, and with yards so square and spars
so lofty as to set a greater spread of canvas in proportion to their
tonnage than any ship hitherto sailed, entered the race and left
all rivals far astern. Then followed the days of which the old “sad
sea-dogs” still love to tell, when every stitch of sail was carried
until the fierce wind blew it from the bolt-ropes; when for weeks
the lee scuppers lay buried in the seething waters and the flying
jibboom plunged deep into the white-capped waves; when the good ship
Sovereign of the Seas came into port 90 days from Hong-Kong, and the
town gathered on the wharf to welcome the daring navigators; while the
cargo of teas and coffees was sold at fabulous prices. And these old
salts still discuss the dinner given to the bold captain that night,
when the log of the voyage would be read and men would sit amazed at
hearing that in 22 days the ship had sailed over 5,391 miles, that for
four days her daily run had been 341.8 miles, and that in one day she
had done 375 miles, at the rate of 15.6 knots.
The discovery of gold in California started a line of travel 14,000
miles long from Europe and the Eastern seaboard of the United States
_via_ Cape Horn to the western coast of North America. Ships on this
line took out merchandise of every description to be used in building
and maintaining the city of San Francisco, and after landing this
freight, for which they received $25 a ton, they sailed for China,
whence, after loading with teas and sugars at $25 and $30 a ton for
freight, they returned direct to the United States or England.
In the meantime Australia had been opened up, and the Australian packet
lines, leaving London for Melbourne 12,000 miles away, were making
100-days voyages by way of the Cape, “with a chance of being drowned.”
This line carried many passengers, but it was not until 1850 that
this traffic began to assume such importance that vessels were run
on regular schedules for its accommodation. During the time of the
Crimean war this trade was enormous, and the Liverpool packet lines
between England and New York reaped a rich remuneration in spite of
serious accidents. It is reported that in the year 1854 no less than
nine emigrant ships foundered at sea.
The day of the sailing ship on short routes was now closing, for the
steamship entering into competition, gradually absorbed the lucrative
passenger traffic and much of the more valuable freight.
* * * * *
In looking over the history of the lines of the world, none is found
to have exerted more influence upon subsequent progress than the old
route between India and England. This route at first doubled the Cape
of Good Hope—a distance of 14,000 miles, so long and uncertain that
the East India Company frequently sent their despatches by way of the
Persian Gulf and then overland between Bagdad and Constantinople. The
successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by the steamship Savannah
suggested the possibility of a like means of communication with India.
Accordingly, the English side-wheel steamship Enterprise, of 470 tons,
122 feet long, bark-rigged, left Falmouth in the year 1825 and reached
Calcutta, after a voyage of 13,700 miles, in 113 days, of which 64 were
steaming days. This result, though unsatisfactory, stimulated efforts
looking toward remunerative steam navigation in the East. The first
steamship arrived at Macao, China, in 1830. As an inducement to people
to choose this novel mode of travelling, a Canton paper contained
the following notice of a steamer: “She carries a crew, a surgeon, a
band of music, and has rooms elegantly fitted up for cards and opium
smoking.”
The problem of a short route to Europe from India was practically
solved in 1830, by sending a steamer from Bombay to Suez, a distance of
3,000 miles, in 25 days. In a few years a regular line was established
between the two places, connecting with steamers at Alexandria by means
of a camel service across the desert. The camel post was succeeded by
four-horse vans, and later these were followed by the Suez Canal and
the railway.
With the progress of time sailing-ships have given way to steamships,
and the routes of communication which they, after years of navigation,
did so much to establish, have become the highways of an enormous
trade, along which large and swift steamships are constantly going
to and fro with the certainty and regularity of railway trains. A
steamer to-day leaves her wharf at the moment of time set forth in her
schedule, and arrives at the terminus of her voyage—it may be many
thousand miles away—with almost equal promptitude.
Like railway traffic, steamer traffic follows certain main routes or
grand trunk lines, having numerous feeders or subsidiary lines. The
great ocean thoroughfares of the world are:
1. The route across the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean Sea, Suez
Canal, and Red Sea, to India, China, Australia, and eastern Africa.
2. The route by the Pacific Ocean to Japan, China, and Australia.
3. The route by the Atlantic Ocean down the east coast of South
America, and around Cape Horn, to western America and Australasia; and
4. The route down the Atlantic and the west coast of Africa, around
the Cape of Good Hope, to East Africa, Australasia, and the East. The
number of steamers traversing these grand routes, and those tributary
to them, is estimated to be more than 11,000. In order to emphasize the
importance of ocean navigation, the appended table[20] of the number of
steam vessels, their money value, and the value of the merchandise they
carry, is given for the five greatest nations of the globe:
-------------+----------+-----------+--------------+--------------
| Number | Gross | Value of | Value of
| of Steam | Tons. | Vessels. |Trade carried
| Vessels. | | | in Vessels.
-------------+----------+-----------+--------------+--------------
Great Britain| 6,403 | 8,235,854 | $550,000,000 |$3,476,500,000
Germany | 741 | 928,911 | 63,500,000 | 1,624,000,000
France | 526 | 809,598 | 48,500,000 | 1,471,000,000
United States| 416 | 517,394 | 42,000,000 | 1,462,500,000
Italy | 212 | 300,625 | 22,000,000 | 415,000,000
Russia | 236 | 106,155 | 12,500,000 | 60,000,000
-------------+----------+-----------+--------------+--------------
[Illustration: CHART OF THE WORLD
SHOWING THE
Principal Steamship Routes.]
Owing to the various lines of communication which have been opened up,
the traveller is now offered the choice of a number of routes, each
vying with the other in attractiveness and interest. For instance,
the whole journey from London to Constantinople can be performed with
no more than 17 hours of sea-passage; or, if a more leisurely way
be preferred, the whole journey can be made by water. Therefore the
first thing to be done is to determine the route to be followed, and
the time to be given the trip. Then the dates of sailing should be
settled. These preliminaries concluded, there comes the question of the
selection of steamers. If England is to be visited, passage must be
booked on some line bound to that country. If, however, the objective
point be on the Continent, a room should be engaged on some line bound
for Germany, France, Spain, or the Mediterranean.
The number of steamers engaged in the regular passenger service between
the Eastern seaboard of the United States and the Old World is probably
greater than most travellers imagine. At the present time there are
upward of thirty-five distinct lines, each with a larger or smaller
fleet of steamers regularly engaged in Atlantic transport. Six of
these, the Cunard, the White Star, the Anchor, the Guion, the National,
and the Inman, sail between New York and Liverpool. Four others, the
Norddeutscher Lloyd, the Hamburg-American Packet Company, the Union
line, and the Baltic line, trade between New York and German ports.
The National line, the Hill line, and the Wilson line go to London;
two others, the Allan-State and the Anchor, to Glasgow. Two French
lines, the General Transatlantic and the French Commercial Steamship
Company sail for Havre and Marseilles. Two lines communicate with Dutch
ports, the Netherlands-American Steam Navigation Company, and the Royal
Netherlands Steamship Company; two more, the Red Star and the White
Cross lines, leave for Antwerp; one line, the Thingvalla, steams to
Copenhagen, and the General Italian Navigation Company, and the Anchor
line, make Italian ports.
The regular service by steam between Europe and the rich and varied
East, by way of the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, and India, is carried
on by several different companies, the best known of which are the
Peninsular & Oriental Company of England, the Messageries Maritimes of
France, the Norddeutscher Lloyd of Germany, and the Austrian Lloyd of
Austria. Each of these mail lines offers to travellers all that can
be desired in the way of food, quarters, comforts, and facilities for
seeing strange lands and peoples; so the selection of any particular
one must be decided by personal considerations.
The P. & O. (as the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company is
commonly called) is one of the most extensive steamship organizations
in the world, the yearly distance run on all its lines, main and
subsidiary, exceeding 2,500,000 miles. In 1840 the company began the
carrying of English mails in steamers between Alexandria and London,
receiving for this service a subsidy of $160,000 a year. To-day the
fleet numbers 50 vessels, which touch at ports of importance in the
Mediterranean, Egypt, the Indian Ocean, China, Japan, and Australia,
and the subsidy received for the transportation of mails to and from
all these parts is $1,750,000 per annum.
If the traveller wishes to go by this line, he may commence his journey
from either London or Plymouth, cross the Bay of Biscay, where the
chances of getting an ugly sea and perhaps a gale of wind are about
even, and entering the Mediterranean, make Gibraltar his first port,
5 days and 1,300 miles distant from London. A stay of 4 hours will
allow a short run on shore. A drive around the superb Rock is worth the
taking, also a visit to the battery, where the 16-inch 100-ton guns
keep watch over the threshold of the blue sea. Loquacious guides tell
of an under-the-sea tunnel between the fortress and Apes Hill, Africa,
through which monkeys have passed, and that once upon a time five
venturesome sailors started down this subway; three of them soon turned
back, those remaining—but “that is another story.”
[Illustration: Deck Quoits on a P. and O. Liner.]
From Gibraltar the P. & O. steamers steer for Malta, 980 miles away,
generally through a smooth sea, though in winter northwesters blow at
times with great violence off the Sicilian coast, raising a heavy sea
in the channel. In summer the winds are from the southward, hot, humid,
and prostrating, but they are not of frequent occurrence nor of long
duration. On the fourth day the traveller is landed in Valetta, with 8
or 10 hours at his disposal. He should see the interior of the Church
of St. John, where the floor is made of mosaic tablets in memory of
the old knights, each tablet bearing a coat of arms formed by the most
skilful inlaying of marble tiles.
From Malta to Port Said is 935 miles, made in 4 days. In winter there
may be a norther. The traveller has now, after having gone 3,200 miles
in 13 days, reached the port to which all ships bound southward make
their way. Here will be found P. & O. steamers that have come from
Brindisi with the Indian mails, having stopped at Alexandria to ship
them by rail to Suez. This route, known as the Indian Mail, is the
quickest of all between Europe and India. The train service runs from
London to Brindisi in less than 50 hours. From Brindisi, where the
steamer is waiting, and where the mails and passengers are hurried
aboard, the run is made to Alexandria, 825 miles away, in 3-1/2 days.
At Alexandria mails and through passengers are transported by rail to
Suez in 16 hours, and from Suez a steamer leaves for Bombay via Aden,
arriving 12 days later; the whole journey from London to Bombay, 4,020
miles, having taken 18 days.