MEANS OF NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION
=354. Transportation by sailing vessels and steamers.=—Steam has won
for itself, in the course of the century, the commanding place in sea
transportation as well as in land transportation. The struggle with
competitors has lasted longer and the victory has been less complete.
Steam navigation, however, offers such advantages in sureness, safety,
speed, and cost, that sailing vessels have been forced out of some of
the most important branches of commerce, and must content themselves
with what the steamers leave them. Reference to the table at the
opening of the preceding chapter will enable the student to follow the
development of the means of transportation by sea in the course of the
century, and to observe the growth in importance of the steamer. In
explanation of the figures of carrying-power it should be said that a
steamer is regarded as having three or four times the efficiency of a
sailing vessel of equal tonnage; such an estimate is, of course, a mere
approximation, and, indeed, the figures of tonnage, especially in the
earlier part of the century, are themselves very uncertain.
=355. Development of sailing vessels.=—European sailing vessels at
the opening of the century followed substantially the clumsy lines of
the old East Indiamen. The chief credit for the improvement of wooden
vessels is due to the Americans, whose clipper ships, marvels of grace
and speed, were without rivals in their day. The clipper _Dreadnought_
made the passage from New York to Queenstown in less than ten days, and
in 1846 the American _Tornado_, starting from England with an early
steamer of the Cunard line, reached America before her. The _Great
Republic_, an American four-masted clipper, was of 3,400 tons and was
the largest sailing vessel in the world; British ships of this period
rarely exceeded a thousand tons in register.
The suggestion of iron for building ships was met at first with
ridicule; some people, of course, thought that an iron ship would
surely sink, and more serious objections were found in the cost, the
derangement of the compass, and the fouling of the ship’s bottom.
Iron, however, came gradually into use for steamers, and, after 1850,
was applied more and more generally to the constructions of sailing
vessels. Iron vessels were actually superior in buoyancy to wooden,
drawing less water and carrying more cargo with a given tonnage;
they were cheaper in the long run, because they are stronger, more
durable, and less exposed to destruction by fire. Furthermore, iron was
absolutely essential if the size of ships was to be increased. Builders
of wooden ships were limited by the average height of trees, and, in
spite of all devices, could not construct a frame sufficiently strong
for a vessel exceeding about 300 feet in length. The size of an iron or
steel ship is practically unlimited. The cost of ships constructed of
metal has decreased with advances in the manufacture of iron and steel;
remedies, fairly satisfactory, have been found for the derangement of
the compass; and though it has been found impracticable to apply copper
sheathing to steel ships, the fouling of the bottom is an evil of minor
importance.
=356. Relative decline of sailing vessels, notwithstanding
improvements.=—During the second half of the nineteenth century the
wooden ship gradually disappeared from the seas, giving place to
vessels constructed first of iron and then of steel. The country
which suffered most from the change, as will appear later, was the
United States; the country best prepared to profit by it was England.
The English now rapidly enlarged the dimensions of their ships, and
improved their rig and model. Some of the modern steel ships carry
5,000 tons of cargo, or even more. A study of winds prevailing
on the ocean, to which an American officer, Maury, made important
contributions, enabled sailing vessels to choose a course which, on
many routes, shortened the duration of the voyage a third or more.
Steam has been applied for handling the cargo, and for managing the
rudder and sails.
In spite of all improvements the sailing vessel has not been able to
keep its share of sea-borne commerce. So much depends on certainty in
modern business that the merchant will gladly pay a higher freight
rate to be relieved of the element of uncertainty which is bound to
attend navigation by sails. Steamers now exceed the sailing vessels of
the world not only in tonnage, and still more in effective carrying
capacity, but even in number also, if only vessels of 100 tons and
above are counted.
=357. Steamers used at first chiefly for internal navigation.=—American
inventors made a practical success of steam navigation soon after
1800; a brief notice of their work will be given later. The steamer
was used at first, however, chiefly for internal navigation and for
short coasting voyages. It was of immense importance in furthering the
development of the Mississippi Valley in America; and it soon made a
place for itself on the European rivers. About 1840 there was a rapid
development of steam transportation on the German rivers, and this
has not ceased to grow in volume and efficiency. Chains have been
laid along some of the river beds; on the Elbe, for instance, a chain
extends all the way across Germany and even into Bohemia; and by this
means steamboats are enabled to haul their barges up-stream against a
strong current. The application of steam to ocean navigation did not
become of great importance until about the middle of the century. At
that time only one fifth of the steam tonnage entering British ports
came from foreign ports; the rest was employed still in the coasting
trade.
=358. Beginnings of steam navigation of the Atlantic.=—The credit for
the first passage across the Atlantic by steam has often been ascribed
to the American ship _Savannah_, which arrived at Liverpool in 1819
after a voyage of twenty-nine days. This boat, however, should be
classed as a sailing ship with auxiliary engine, rather than as a
steamer; the paddle-wheels were arranged to be removed and hoisted on
deck when the wind was fair. It made most of the distance by sailing,
and the scanty supply of coal gave out before it reached its port, so
that, as the log reads, there was “no cole to git up steam.” A Canadian
boat, the _Royal William_, actually did make the whole passage under
steam in 1833, but stopped at Pictou for coal on the way; while the
first regular steamship to cross without recoaling was the _Great
Western_ in 1838. The considerable intervals between these trips show
that navigation of the ocean by steam was still in its experimental
stage. Indeed, in the very year 1838, in which the _Great Western_
and the _Sirius_ began the period of practical application, a leading
English scientist set out to prove by arguments and statistics that the
project of connecting Liverpool and New York by direct steamer trips
was “perfectly chimerical.” The Cunard Company was founded the next
year; and some measure of the appreciation of the American people is
given by the fact that when Mr. Cunard arrived at Boston in 1840, on
the first trip of the new line, he received (it is said) no less than
1,873 invitations to dinner within twenty-four hours!
=359. Improvement of the means of steam navigation.=—The early steamers
were moved by paddle-wheels, which offer special advantages for use in
shallow water, but which are not so efficient as the screw propeller in
the open sea. They require heavier and bulkier engines which must be
placed in the best part of the ship, they waste power, and they show
the effects of wear and tear more quickly. The _Great Britain_, which
made its first voyage in 1845, was noteworthy on two accounts: it was
the first large steamer (over 3,000 tons) to be built of iron, and it
was the first to introduce the screw in ocean navigation. These two
improvements were adopted by the Inman line (1850) and were gradually
accepted by other builders.
In the second half of the century various improvements have added still
more to the efficiency of the ocean steamer. Early steamers ran under
such a low steam pressure that we find recorded in the log-book of one,
“Broke the larboard steam-pipe, lapped it with canvas and rope-yarn and
proceeded”! Higher pressures were introduced, and after about 1870 the
steam was more fully utilized by compound engines, of which some have
three or even four sets of cylinders. The introduction of twin screws,
first applied to the _City of New York_ (1889), has added rather to the
safety than the speed of a passage, by permitting further development
of the system of water-tight compartments.
=360. Gains resulting from increase in size.=—Another most important
factor in the development of efficient steamers has been mere growth
in size. A ship’s carrying power varies as the cube of her dimensions,
while the resistance offered by the water increases only a little
faster than the square of her dimensions. Large ships, therefore,
consume less coal per ton of cargo, and as large boilers and engines
consume coal more efficiently than small ones, there is a double
gain. Here again, as in the case of railroads, the introduction of
cheap steel has been of immense importance, and may fairly be said
to have revolutionized the art of ship-building since 1875. While in
1880 nine tenths of British steamers were still constructed of iron,
the proportion had sunk in 1890 to less than one twentieth, and the
employment of steel is now almost universal. From steel are constructed
the great cargo-carriers and the fast express steamers of the modern
oceanic service. Some conception of the progress that has been made
can be got by a comparison with earlier conditions. In 1841 the total
steam tonnage of the British Empire was 188,000; nowadays a single
steamer (_Leviathan_, _Majestic_) has a tonnage in excess of 50,000.
The horse-power of British steamers in 1841 was estimated at 75,000;
nowadays a single steamer, has an indicated horse-power almost equal
to that total. The boilers of a modern express steamer (_Teutonic_)
were required to evaporate 120 _tons_ of water every _hour_, yet so
thoroughly is the heat utilized that it was said of a steamer some
years ago that the burning of a sheet of paper would move a ton a mile.
=361. Resulting decline in freight rates.=—Even in 1884 a competent
writer could make this interesting statement: twenty years before, a
steamer of 3,000 tons had to allow for coal and machinery on a given
voyage 2,200 tons, and must confine the cargo to the remaining space;
at the date when he wrote the great improvements had reversed the
proportions, so that only 800 tons were needed for motive power and
2,200 were devoted to cargo. Manifestly steamship owners would be
enabled by a change of this character to lower greatly the charges for
transportation, and freight rates have, in fact, declined steadily in
the course of the century. Lancashire spinners could transport their
raw cotton from the source of supply in America at one sixteenth the
cost which they had to bear sixty years before. Even in the last
quarter of the century ocean freight rates dropped to one half, one
third, or even one fourth, of the figures prevailing in 1874.
Conditions such as have been thus briefly suggested explain the immense
increase in sea-borne traffic during the century. For the carriage
of that traffic the merchant has now at his disposal not only the
sailing ship and the “tramp,” the general-utility steamer, but also
a multitude of special boats for special services: the tank-steamer
for transporting liquids cheaply, the cattle steamer for live stock,
and the steamer with refrigerators for dead meat, the fruit steamer,
etc. The use of oil as fuel and the introduction of explosion motors
of the Diesel type promise to raise still higher the efficiency of
transportation.
=362. Modern ship canals.=—This survey of the development of the means
of navigation may fitly be closed by a brief consideration of the
modern ship canals and their contribution to the growth of trade. There
were, in 1900, a round dozen of these canals, capable of receiving
sea-going ships. Some, serving special ports (Amsterdam, Manchester,
etc.) were of purely local importance. Others have disappointed the
expectations of their promoters. The canal across the isthmus of
Corinth has been a distinct failure, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal,
between the North and Baltic seas, has not yet acquired the share of
commerce which its projectors promised for it. Leaving aside the St.
Mary’s canal in America there was up to 1914 but one ship canal which
had proved its commanding importance, namely the Suez Canal.
A map of the world shows two narrow strips of land left by nature
almost as though with the design of stimulating men to pierce them,
the isthmus of Suez and the isthmus of Panama. A canal at either point
unites not countries or small seas, but continents and great oceans,
and saves thousands of miles in the routes of trade. The American
isthmus presents great difficulties to the construction of a canal,
but the Suez route runs through a district composed almost entirely of
sand, with no elevation above 50 or 60 feet and with considerable parts
actually below the level of the sea.
=363. The Suez Canal, and its services to commerce.=—The scheme of
reopening the route across the isthmus of Suez, which, as said in the
first chapter, had been made practicable for small vessels before the
time of Christ, and had been rendered useless in the Middle Ages, was
certain to rise as commerce between Europe and the East increased in
volume. It is said to have been entertained by Napoleon I among others,
but the credit for its accomplishment belongs to a French engineer
and promoter, Ferdinand Lesseps. After more than ten years spent in
preparation, work was finally begun in 1860, and the canal was ready
for use in 1869.
The success of the Suez Canal may be gaged, from the investor’s
standpoint, by the fact that dividends have risen to 20 per cent, from
the public standpoint by the fact that the tonnage accommodated by the
canal in 1891 exceeded ten million, in 1907 exceeded twenty million,
and in general has been roughly equal to the tonnage entering and
leaving any one of the great seaports of the world. The duration of
the voyage to India has been shortened by a third, and more than half
of the voyages to the East are now made through the canal rather than
around the Cape of Good Hope. The canal has been an important influence
in furthering the growth of the world’s steam tonnage, for it is
practically barred to sailing vessels by the difficulties of navigation
in the Red Sea; no sea-going sailing vessel has passed through it
for years. It has made possible the movement of bulky wares formerly
excluded from the trade with the East by the expense of transportation:
rice, wheat, petroleum, and coal. It has not, however, produced one
result which was expected, the diversion of trade to the countries of
southern Europe, as in the time before the passage around the Cape
had been discovered. Three quarters, in tonnage, of the ships using
the canal have been British, and ships from the countries of northern
Europe make up most of the remainder.
=364. The Panama Canal.=—Lesseps could not match in America the success
which he had attained at Suez. A French company promoted by him started
work at Panama in 1881, but became bankrupt before it had made much
progress. Mismanagement at home, disease on the isthmus, above all the
tremendous difficulties which nature has placed in the way of a canal
at sea level, contributed to this result. The United States took up as
a national enterprise a work which now offered but little attraction
to private capital, bought out the French company, and in 1904 made
arrangements to begin operations. Taught by the experience of the past
the government decided on a canal with locks, reaching an altitude of
85 feet above sea level, and took the precautions suggested by sanitary
science to protect the laborers against the menaces of plague, yellow
fever and malaria. Under army engineers the work was carried on to a
successful conclusion, and the canal was opened to traffic in August,
1914. The cost of construction was about $350,000,000.
In the first year of its operation the Panama Canal accommodated
about five million tons of shipping; in the year ending in 1920 the
figure had risen to about ten. The dislocation of traffic caused by
the European War, and interruptions occasioned by earthslides in the
Gaillard cut, made the growth of traffic slow and somewhat irregular.
Figures for the traffic of the Suez Canal given in the preceding
section show that the canal across the American isthmus could not
rival in its early years the position of its older competitor for the
world’s trade. Even more impressive is a comparison with the figures
of traffic through the Sault Ste. Marie canals, on the northern border
of the United States. The cargo tonnage by the lake route in 1920 was
over _eight_-fold that carried through the isthmus. The Panama Canal,
to 1920, had just about paid the expense of operation and maintenance.
There seems no question, however, that apart from important military
considerations, the construction of the canal will be justified by the
contribution that it will make to the commercial development of the
Pacific.
=365. The postal service about 1800.=—Increased facility in sending
communications to a distance has attended the improvement of the means
of transportation by land and sea. During the early part of the century
the postal service was still cramped by old methods and high charges.
In England, for instance, in the period after 1827 and before the
reform, postage of fourpence (eight cents) was charged for the carriage
of a letter any distance not exceeding 15 miles, and the postage
increased with the distance: 8 pence for 80 miles, 12 pence for 300,
15 pence for 600, etc. The government charged, in some cases, nearly
five hundred times the actual cost. Under these conditions little use,
naturally, was made of the post, and it carried, on an annual average,
only three letters for each member of the population. Many letters were
sent illicitly by private means of conveyance, and the postal revenue
remained nearly stationary for many years before 1839, in spite of the
growth of the country in population and business activity. Conditions
were better in some states of the Continent, notably Germany, but would
still be regarded everywhere as backward.
=366. Postal reforms and their results.=—A new era in the English
postal system dates from the introduction by Rowland Hill of the penny
post; after 1840 a letter weighing not over half an ounce could be
sent to any place in the United Kingdom if prepaid by a stamp costing
one penny. Similar reductions were adopted in other countries; and new
facilities were extended for the mailing of cards, printed matter, and
periodicals, samples of merchandise, etc. An international Postal Union
was established in 1874 among the chief countries of the world, which
agreed on common rates of foreign postage, and arranged to cooperate
in carrying on the postal service. This Union has improved greatly
the means of distant postal communication, and has grown to include
practically the whole civilized world, with the exception of China.
It is easy to follow the effects of the various reforms and
improvements in the increased use of the mails. In the United Kingdom,
for instance, the number of letters sent per head of the population has
increased as follows: 1839, 3; 1840, 7; 1872, 28; 1882, 35. The post
has developed from a luxury into a social and industrial necessity, and
the extent to which it is used in any country furnishes a fair index by
which to judge of the country’s advancement. The following countries
may be taken as examples, the figures showing the number of pieces
of mail sent annually about 1900, per head of the population: United
States, 100; United Kingdom, 85; Germany, 81; France, 55; Italy, 17;
Japan, 13; Spain, 12; Russian Empire, 5.
=367. The telegraph before the application of electricity.=—In passing
to another subject, electricity, we may still consider ourselves as
continuing the discussion of the applications of steam, so dependent
are we still on coal and steam for the means of producing and using
this new force. Among the manifold applications of electricity in
modern life we must here confine ourselves to its use as a means of
communication.
The telegraph, a word meaning “far-writing,” existed long before men
thought of applying electricity to its operation. The need of sending
messages quickly to distant places had led in many countries, before
1800, to a system of signaling by means of instruments much like the
semaphores of the modern railroad. The crudeness of such a system is
apparent. Communication depended entirely on clear weather and careful
observers. Under favorable conditions the speed of signaling was
really surprising; a despatch could be sent, for instance, from Paris
to Strassburg, by 45 stations, in 6-1/2 minutes. It was estimated,
however, that of the messages received only a quarter reached their
destination promptly, another quarter were from six to twenty-four
hours late, while half had to be forwarded by the ordinary post. Aerial
telegraphy, therefore, never attained to great importance, and was
restricted largely to government business.
=368. The electric telegraph.=—Practical telegraphy dates from about
1840, when the inventions of the American Morse, and the Englishman
Wheatstone, made the use of electricity possible wherever an insulated
conductor could be laid. Imperfect as were the early instruments they
accomplished their purpose with remarkable success. The telegraph,
indeed, has probably undergone less change in the course of its
extension and practical development than any other invention of equal
importance. We must look, therefore, to explain the great extension
of its use, as shown in the statistics at the opening of the chapter,
not so much for technical improvements as for a recognition of the
value of the telegraph on the part of the public. It found an immediate
application on the railroads, and provided them with a means of
intelligence and control almost as important as is the nervous system
to a human being. It was used at once, moreover, by governments. Little
by little it made its way into business life, where it has found
its chief field of usefulness, and where it has effected some most
important changes, to be noted later.
Since about 1880 the telephone has made a place for itself beside
the telegraph, serving the convenience of individual consumers as
the telegraph serves the needs of the great captains of industry
and commerce, and constantly strengthening its position also as an
instrument for the transaction of business.
=369. Submarine telegraph lines.=—The telegraph, which soon became
of national and international importance, was still of restricted
influence so long as it was confined to the land lines. Experiments
on a modest scale, about the middle of the century, had shown the
possibility of conducting the electric current through an insulated
cable under water, and the world waited only for men of faith and
energy to connect continents by submarine lines. A group of prominent
Americans, of whom Cyrus W. Field was the leader, took up the project
of an Atlantic cable, failed twice in their attempts to lay it,
and succeeded in 1858 only to find, after a few days of successful
operation, that the cable had ceased to work. The project rested during
the Civil War, but in 1866 was finally accomplished. The extension of
submarine cables since that time may be followed in the statistics of
the preceding chapter. Cables now unite the peoples of all civilized
nations, and form an indispensable part of the modern world of thought,
politics, and commerce.
=370. Wireless telegraphy.=—To the men who were struggling to unite
continents by electrical conductors the idea that connection for the
purposes of communication could be established without any conductors
whatever would have seemed an idle dream. Yet this result has been
attained by wireless telegraphy. Electrical waves sent broadcast from
a transmitting station affect delicate instruments “tuned” to receive
them at a distance of thousands of miles, and enable messages to be
sent across unsounded seas or untraversed deserts with equal facility.
Wireless telegraphy has not displaced the older form, which still
is and probably always will be more reliable in operation. For many
purposes, however, it is a useful supplement, and for one important
use it is an indispensable substitute. Wireless instruments can be
established as readily on board ship as on land, and so permit ships to
communicate with each other and with the shore. Ships can summon aid
in time of emergency, and can regularly keep in touch with their agents
so that their movements can be directed to suit the need of markets.
In 1914 over 500 wireless stations had been established on land, and
nearly ten-fold that number on board ship.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
1. American clippers. [Marvin, Amer. merchant marine, chap. 12; Clark,
in Harper’s Magazine, 1908, vol. 117, p. 92 ff.]
2. Is it probable that steamers will drive sailing vessels entirely
from the seas? People once thought that railroads would cause a
decline in the demand for draft-horses; has that been the case?
3. The life of the merchant sailor. [W. Clark Russell, Scribner’s
Magazine, July, 1893, 14: 3-19.]
4. Early voyages by steam across the Atlantic. [Fry, 33-42.]
5. Improvement of marine engines. [Thurston, chap. 5: Maginnis,
chap. 11 (technical, good plates and pictures); Chadwick in Ocean
steamships, pp. 1-56.]
6. The building of an ocean steamer. [Rideing, in Ocean steamships,
pp. 91-111.]
7. Freight traffic by ocean steamers. [Gould, Scribner’s Magazine,
Nov., 1891, or in Ocean steamships, p. 217 ff.]
8. Passenger travel. [Same, Magazine, April, 1891, Steamships, p. 112
ff.]
9. Steamship lines of the world. [Hunt, Scribner’s Magazine, Sept.,
1891, Ocean steamships, p. 253 ff.; Encyc. Brit.]
10. Write the history of one of the great steamship companies: Cunard,
Inman, White Star, North German Lloyd, Hamburg American, etc. [Fry,
Maginnis.]
11. Engineering achievements in modern ports. [Vernon-Harcourt, chaps.
9, 10.]
12. The Manchester ship canal. [Vernon-Harcourt, chap. 13; Porritt in
Yale Review, vol. 3, 295-310.]
13. The Corinth Canal. [Vernon-Harcourt, chap. 14; U. S. Monthly
Summary, Dec., 1901.]
14. Construction of the Suez Canal. [Vernon-Harcourt, chap. 14; Encyc.]
15. Effects of the Suez Canal. [Fairlie; U. S. Monthly Summary, Dec.,
1901.]
16. Effect of the Panama Canal on routes and traffic. [Hutchinson
gives a study of results as anticipated; see U. S. Statistical
Abstract and periodical literature for actual results.]
17. Development of the English postal system in the nineteenth
century. [Social England, 6: 237-246; Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria,
2: 118 ff.]
18. The railroad mail service. [Amer. railway, p. 312 ff.]
19. From the figures of trade given in sect. 319 and from the figures
of population in the Statesman’s Year-Book a table can be constructed
giving the commerce per head of the people of different states, for
comparison with the postal statistics in the text. Note, however, that
these statistics include domestic mail, while figures of internal
commerce are lacking. The U. S., for instance, would seem to have but
slight commerce per capita, in spite of the active use of the mails,
because the bulk of our trade is internal and does not appear in
statistics.
20. Development of the telegraph. [Iles, chap. 13.]
21. Extension of the telegraph system in the United States. [Eckert in
Depew, One hund. years, chap. 19.]
22. History of the submarine telegraph. [Iles, chap. 14; Charles
Bright, The story of the Atlantic cable, N. Y., Appleton, 1903, $1; U.
S. Monthly Summary, Commerce and Finance, Jan., 1899, pp. 1653-1675.]
23. Development of the telephone. [Hudson in Depew, One hundred years,
chap. 20.]
24. Distribution of wireless stations. [Map in Statesman’s Year Book,
1914, plate 4.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For carefully studied accounts of ocean transportation in its
different aspects see Joseph R. Smith, *Organization of ocean
commerce, Boston, 1905, The ocean carrier, by the same author, N. Y.,
1908, and Emory R. Johnson and G. G. Huebner, *Principles of ocean
transportation, N. Y., 1919. These books offer bibliographies which
may be used to supplement references here given. On the development of
sailing ships, beside the older books by Lindsay and Cornewall-Jones,
see Adam W. Kirkaldy, British shipping, London, 1914, A. H. Clark,
The clipper ship era, 1911, books by Basil Lubbock on ships of the
clipper period, and references given later for American shipping; on
steamships there are satisfactory accounts in Fry and Maginnis and in
the collection entitled Ocean steamships. Excellent chapters on the
different ship canals, with further references, are given in Johnson
and Huebner. See also Lincoln Hutchinson, The Panama Canal, N. Y.,
1915.
Summary accounts of the development of the postal service,
satisfactory for the purposes of most readers of this book, will be
found in the encyclopedias. A scholarly study of the development,
particularly in the first half of the nineteenth century, is
provided by J. C. Hemmeon, History of the British post office,
Cambridge, Harvard University, 1912. The various applications of
electricity are fully treated by Iles. Other books aiming to describe
electrical applications for the general public are by Tunzelmann in
the Contemporary Science Series, Park Benjamin, and Philip Atkinson.
Consult the A. L. A. Catalogue for further references.