SHIPPING LINES
The development of ships has been largely influenced by competition.
The ship that can make the quickest voyages can demand the highest
freight rates for most things. Furthermore, a fast ship can make more
voyages than a slow one, and the owner may make a greater profit
because of the greater amount of freight handled. These factors, and
others less evident, enter into the operation of ships.
To-day great shipping lines control most of the earth’s merchant ships.
As we know these lines they are a growth of hardly more than a hundred
years, but thousands of years ago their counterparts existed.
Phœnicia was the greatest trading nation of the ancient world. Ships
sent out by the traders of Phœnicia sailed to every corner of the
Mediterranean, and even went out into the Atlantic, where they braved
the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay and sailed up the English Channel
on their adventurous trading voyages. For every ship that sailed to
distant parts, however, many remained nearer home, visiting ports but
a little distance off, and returning with less romantic but equally
important cargoes.
Many merchants of Tyre, of Acre, and of Sidon were shipowners. Some
sent their ships to Egypt, some to Greece, some to Sicily and Italy,
some to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. Some traded with Cyprus and
the Ægean Isles, some with Asia Minor. Some again sent their ships to
the Adriatic. It was only a few who risked their ships and cargoes on
those long voyages to the ends of the world, out beyond the Pillars of
Hercules, and north along the tide-washed coasts of western Europe to
where the days were far longer in the summer than the nights, and where
the winter nights left but little of the day.
Naturally, the traders who were successful built other ships, and sent
them in the same trade that had made their fortunes, for that was the
trade they knew. If a ship-owner had had great success in sending his
ships to the Bosphorus, the natural thing for him to do with any new
ships he might build was to send them there. When he died and his son
came to rule over the destinies of his business, what would be more
natural than for him to continue to send his ships to the same part of
the world?
Naturally, the frequent wars of ancient times upset the plans of
merchants even as wars upset such plans to-day, but barring such
unfortunate events, trade went on in the more or less even tenor of its
ways, save for rather numerous difficulties caused by pirates and by
storm or shipwreck.
One can almost imagine Tyre and Sidon with their streets of merchants’
houses, over the doors of which, if they were given to the modern idea
of signs, which is unlikely, hung shingles reading “Ithobal and Son,
Traders to the Bosphorus and the Euxine.” “Assurbani-pal, Ship-owner
and Trader to the Valley of the Nile.” But whether or not their places
of business were decorated with such signs, their warehouses were full,
and ever and anon their ships departed and returned, laden with goods
of value that they carried across the seas.
Properly enough, then, some of these old traders may be considered the
operators of some of the very earliest shipping lines.
One can almost imagine some old and experienced trader talking solemnly
with the builder of his ships.
“Tuba’lu, my friend,” one can think of him as saying, “that last galley
thou builtest for me was all but lost while on her very first voyage to
the Bosphorus. Tiglath, her captain, tells me that just as he passed
the rocks that lie off the island of Chios, a summer storm, not great,
but rather sudden, smote him. His ship was so distressed by it that he
all but gave himself up for lost. He has told me that, had his prayers
to the gods to end the storm availed him not, most certainly would he
have been dashed to pieces, and all my cargo of precious wares would
have been lost. He tells me that the ship is not fit for storms, and
that had he not, by the goodness of the gods, been favoured by good
weather for all the rest of his voyage, he could never have returned
with his cargo, which has made for me so good a return upon my moneys.
What thinkest thou of the ship?”
“My good friend Ithobal,” the builder of ships might be supposed to
have replied, “methinks the ship was just a bit too deeply laden when
she left Tyre. So deeply did she lie upon the waters that I warned
Tiglath against the very danger that he later came upon. Yet did he
heed me not, saying that to make moneys for his master he had need to
carry many goods.”
“And so he has, Tuba’lu, my friend,” Ithobal might have replied. “My
ships must carry many goods to make profits for me on such long and
dangerous voyages.”
“Then, Ithobal, my friend,” the ship-builder possibly replied, “but
let me raise her sides by a cubit and mount upon her stern a larger
steering oar. Methinks her safety will be then assured.”
So it might be supposed that ships were improved in those far-distant
days.
Traders similar to those of Phœnicia were common in Greece, in
Carthage, in Rome, in Venice, and Genoa, and in other ports for
thousands of years. Until the introduction of machinery and the use
of steam power for manufacturing goods the cargoes of ships were
limited largely to valuable goods taking up but little space, and so
such methods were efficient enough, especially as the purchasing power
of the masses was small, and their necessities were almost entirely
homemade.
The period following the 11th Century showed some increase in the
amount of freight handled, and a result of the discovery of America
was to enlarge this still more. Still, however, the greater portion
of the population of European nations had simple wants and simpler
pocketbooks, and not for another three hundred years did the mighty
purchasing power of great numbers of people begin to make itself felt
in a demand for imported goods.
With the introduction of machinery, however, and especially with the
introduction of steam, the workmen found it possible to purchase what
had theretofore been unthinkable luxuries, and the demand for imported
goods grew enormously.
The East India Company was an early concern in this new epoch of
world trade. In 1600 this organization was founded and, by government
charter, was given a monopoly on trade to the Far East. Because there
was no competition this company grew fabulously rich, bringing to Great
Britain wonderful cargoes of goods not securable except in India and
China. This, however, was but a greater attempt at trading, and except
in size and in organization was not greatly different from the methods
in vogue two thousand years before.
It was not until the 19th Century that shipping lines as we know
them came into existence. Actually it was the steamship that brought
about the introduction of shipping lines, although the famous old
packet lines that ran between Europe and America went by the name of
lines several years before the first steamship line was organized.
The first of these packet lines was the Black Ball Line, which was
established in 1816. So successful did this line become that it was
followed within the next few years by several others. The Red Star
Line, the Swallowtail Line, and the Dramatic Line were some of the
most important. Winter and summer the packets operated by these lines
raced across the Atlantic, sailing on scheduled dates, and making
remarkably short passages, and giving remarkably good service for the
times. The ships were not large, some of them being hardly more than
three hundred tons burden, but for the first ten years of the Black
Ball Line’s existence the ships of that line averaged twenty-three days
for the eastward passage and forty days for the westward, which was
much lower than the average of other ships of the time. These packet
lines continued in operation until about 1850, when they had largely
faded from the sea, unable to compete with the steamships then becoming
reliable, comfortable, regular, and fast.
The first steamship line to organize was the City of Dublin Steam
Packet Company, which began operations in 1823. During the following
year the General Steam Navigation Company was incorporated, and several
other British steamship lines followed rapidly. At first these were
for the coasting trade, where the regular service they maintained was
valuable in the extreme, for railroads had not yet appeared. Before
long, however, these lines began visiting the continent, and the
transatlantic voyages of the _Savannah_ in 1819 and the _Royal William_
in 1833 drew the attention of steamship-builders and operators to the
advantages of transoceanic routes.
In 1837 three companies were organized—the British and American Steam
Navigation Company, the Atlantic Steamship Company, and the Great
Western Steamship Company. In 1838 their first ships sailed to America.
The _Great Western_ made her first crossing in 13 days and a few hours,
almost equalling at her very first attempt the fastest voyage (and
that from America to Europe) a sailing ship ever made. Brave as was
the start made by these three lines, however, they soon went out of
business.
It is probable that one of the most serious blows they received in
their short periods of activity resulted from the success of Samuel
Cunard in securing from the British Government the contract for
carrying the mails from Liverpool to Boston and Halifax. This contract,
which included a fairly sizable subsidy, required that Cunard build
and operate four steamships, which the subsidy enabled him to operate
successfully despite the competition of the other three lines. Cunard’s
steamers, being all alike and of very nearly the same speed, and being
despatched at regular intervals, soon took from his competitors the
little business they had, and they went out of business or transferred
their ships to other duties.
The Cunard Line, then, from the Fourth of July, 1840, when the
_Britannia_ sailed for Boston, has been a successful transatlantic
line, and is to-day the oldest transatlantic line in existence, as well
as one of the finest and most powerful. At first this company was known
as the “British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company,”
and its first ships, the _Britannia_, the _Acadia_, the _Caledonia_,
and the _Columbia_, were each 207 feet long, about 1,150 tons, and
could carry 115 cabin passengers and 225 tons of cargo.
In 1840 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company obtained its charter
and was the pioneer steamship line along the western coast of South
America. Earlier than this, however—in 1835—a firm of London merchants
began to run steamers from England to the Far East. These steamers,
sailing more regularly and with more dispatch than the sailing vessels,
were given the contract to carry the mails. This service became the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is still a
vigorous and enterprising line, although now it sails out and back
through the Suez Canal and not by the long route around the Cape of
Good Hope.
One of the two oldest existing steamship lines is the General Steam
Navigation Company, which I have already mentioned. Founded in
1824, this line still runs steamers from England and Scotland to
the continent and the Mediterranean. In 1846 one of its ships—the
_Giraffe_—carried the first cargo of live cattle to England.
While the Allan Line has operated steamships only since 1852, it may
be said to have been founded about 1816, when Captain Alexander Allan
began running several sailing vessels between Scotland and Canada.
Although this line did not adopt steamships until thirty-six years
after it was founded, it has had a leading place in the development
of steamships. An Allan liner inaugurated the “spar deck” in order
that a clear promenade deck might be constructed. The first Atlantic
steamship to be built of steel—the _Buenos Ayrean_—was an Allan liner
built in 1879. The _Virginian_ and the _Victorian_ were built in 1905
and were the first transatlantic steamships propelled by turbines. Such
developments as these entitle a steamship line to great credit.
The largest privately owned shipping company in the world is the Wilson
Line, and it is also one of the oldest. It traces its beginnings to
1835 and operates ships between Great Britain and Scandinavia as well
as between Britain and the Far East, and to the United States. It also
operates ships to South America and other parts of the world.
The World War radically affected steamship lines, almost eliminating
some and crippling many. The peace brought about the enlargement of
several at the expense of the German lines that, during the preceding
two decades, had thrust their way to the very forefront of the shipping
world, only to lose it all by the terribly mistaken policies that they
themselves had helped to foster.
In 1900 the two greatest steamship lines in the world were the
Hamburg-American and the North German Lloyd. In 1910 they were
surpassed only by a consolidation of seven British and American lines
known as the International Mercantile Marine. Yet these two huge
companies, at the close of the World War, were left with hardly more
than a handful of ships each, all of their greatest liners, as well as
most of their smaller ones, having been taken from them to sail under
the British, American, French, and other flags.
Consequently, the greatest steamship company to-day—and it is so great
as to have no close second—is the International Mercantile Marine,
made up of the White Star, the Leyland, the American, and the Atlantic
Transport lines, the Dominion and British North Atlantic Company, the
National Steamship Company, and some other allied shipping interests.
This combination of shipping lines is controlled by British and
American capital, but most of its ships sail under the British flag.
American shipping laws are partly responsible for this, because of
numerous restrictions they insist upon, which have proved to be
detrimental to lines operating ships under the American flag. Other
lines, entirely American owned, have been transferred to foreign
register for the same reason.
Prior to the World War American deep-sea shipping had shrunk to a
woeful degree, and most of America’s imports and exports were carried
in foreign ships. The war, however, changed all that, and the United
States, in a remarkably short time, had built ships enough to place
it second only to Great Britain on the sea. Many of these ships were
hurriedly and badly built, it is true, and many ridiculous experiments
were tried out, but, despite mistakes, a great merchant fleet was built
and put into operation. This, of course, was a war measure, but with
the signing of the Armistice America set herself the task of operating
this huge fleet. Post-war trade, however, did not call for so many
ships as were in operation, and vast fleets of ships were tied up to
deteriorate in idleness. Not only America suffered. Great Britain, too,
found herself with more ships than cargoes, and all over the world
ships were tied up to wait for better times or to fall to pieces in the
waiting.
This unfortunate condition, however, was not entirely without
advantages. It forced economies in operation that resulted in increased
efficiency, for ships could only continue to carry cargoes if they
did so at low rates, and the shipping lines, therefore, studied every
method by which they could reduce their costs of operation.
This, of course, brought about many rearrangements. Some formerly
successful lines went bankrupt. Many new and inexperienced lines
disappeared. Many masters and mates found themselves ashore without
work, forced to take employment at whatever tasks they could get. But
new lines did make their way, and most of the experienced lines managed
to hold on, even going into new fields, as the practical elimination of
the German lines gave them some opportunity to do. And following the
war, American ships became known in ports where the American flag had
not been seen for a generation or more.
This probably means that America is on the seas to stay. No longer do
internal developments take the attentions of the entire nation. The
growth of manufacturing, the lack of wide public domains open to the
“homesteader,” the widespread American interests overseas, all point
to a permanent merchant marine, not, perhaps, so great as is Great
Britain’s, because America is not so vitally dependent on the sea as is
Great Britain, but great because America is great, and growing because
America is still developing.
In this development shipping lines are the vital factors. Individual
ships are merely pawns on a world-wide chessboard. A single ship can
do nothing in the complex structure of modern commerce. Lines must
maintain regular service. They must maintain home and foreign offices.
They must know where cargoes are to be had and where they are to go.
They must have armies of agents and brokers constantly in touch with
them. Their ships must be able to voyage and return, voyage and return
again, always filled, never idle, never at a loss for cargoes, else
their costly structures will crumble, their finances wane, and they
will find themselves faced with bankruptcy, disruption, reorganization
or destruction.
Because of world economics shipping lines find it possible to develop
or find themselves broken. Because the margin between success and
failure is usually a narrow one shipping lines find it essential to
seize upon every development that increases efficiency and decreases
cost. Simple steam engines became compound, because shipping lines
had to operate their ships with a smaller outlay for fuel in order to
compete with sail. Iron gave way to steel, because greater strength was
thus secured with less weight. The turbine has made its way against
the reciprocating engine because of its increased efficiency and its
consequent saving in expense. Oil is being more and more widely burned
instead of coal, because its efficiency makes it cheaper through the
use of fewer men, through increased steaming ability and less weight,
as well as its cleanliness (on passenger ships) and the reduction in
time used in coaling.
Shipping lines are very similar to railroads. A railroad train would
be of no use to any one if it were owned and operated as a unit, even
though it had all the tracks in a nation at its disposal. The train
is practical only because the railroad company maintains freight and
passenger stations, foreign and domestic agents, and all the detailed
force that a modern railroad requires. Furthermore, it sends its
trains over certain routes at certain specified intervals, ready to
move freight and passengers as they are ready to be moved. So must
a shipping line be operated. Ships must be where they are needed,
else freight accumulates or is diverted to other lines. The huge
investments ships require necessitate that there be no loss of time and
consequently ships must not wait for freight to come to them. Because
ships carry great amounts of freight and cannot lengthen or shorten
themselves, as trains can, to accommodate fluctuating quantities, it is
often necessary for freight to go in “tramp” steamers to ports which
attract small amounts of freight. But cargoes must be waiting at those
ports for shipment to some other or the ship loses time and the line
loses money. Because of this agents are for ever busy, cablegrams are
for ever being flashed through the ocean depths, or ships are diverted
by wireless in order to take advantage of temporary conditions.
These are the duties of shipping lines, and the vast companies of the
modern world of the sea are amazingly capable, brilliantly alert, for
ever in touch with shifting channels of trade, alert to fill the needs
of a busy world that pays them only for the service it demands.
Perhaps the fierce competition of to-day seems harsh, yet it is
constructive. Perhaps it bears too heavily upon many deserving
individuals, yet through it has come about the vast improvement that
has marked the shipping world in the last hundred years—an improvement
that has shortened voyages, limited the time between continents,
reduced the very world until voyages around it are now almost
commonplace summer holidays.
Without competition the old East India Company sent its ships from
England to the East for 300 years, and served Britain little better
at the end of that time than at the beginning. With competition the
transatlantic voyage has been cut from forty days to little more
than four. Giant ships plough every sea and offer their magnificence
to every passenger who cares to pay the passage money. No longer do
silks and spices fill the holds of the argosies of the deep. Iron ore
or polished motor cars, bales of cotton or crates of textiles, toys
or machinery, hides or shoes, lumber or furniture—it matters not.
Given only a place of origin and another place overseas where buyers
wish it delivered and ships there will be to carry it. There is not
a single harbour between the eternal ice of the two polar seas that
is not visited by ships. There is not a person of the billion and a
half who inhabit the globe but is affected by them. The natives of
Central Africa buy cotton goods made in England of cotton grown in
Alabama. The Eskimos of the frozen north hunt for seals with guns
made in Connecticut. Oil that gushes from the rocks of Transcaucasia
is refined, and burned in motor cars as they roll along the Champs
Élysées. Copper from the Andes is made into roofing for houses
everywhere on earth. Toys made in Czechoslovakia or Japan fill the
counters of the toy shops of Britain and America.
No longer do oceans divide the world. As shipping lines continue their
development they cannot fail to weld the world into a vast economic
unit, interdependent and friendly, useful to one another and to
unnumbered generations of the future.
To-day we look back to the beginnings of the shipping lines and smile
as we think of their trifling activities. In a hundred years they
have grown from infancy to vigorous manhood, but their future will
not be one of senility. Instead, as years go by, their growth will
greatly continue, and a hundred years from now the point of view of our
children’s children will probably be to the shipping lines of to-day
what ours is to the lines of a hundred years ago.