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REMINISCENCES OF A LIVERPOOL SHIPOWNER
1850-1920
by
SIR WILLIAM B. FORWOOD, K.B.E., D.L.
Author of "Recollections of a Busy Life":
"Economics of War Finance": etc.
Illustrated with 22 Plates
Liverpool
Henry Young & Sons, Limited
MCMXX.
[Illustration: The Port of Liverpool--1873
_From the Picture by S. Walters_]
PREFACE
The following sketches were contributed to the Liverpool Press
(_Liverpool Daily Post_, _Liverpool Courier_, _Journal of Commerce_),
and they are now published at the request of many friends. Advantage
has been taken of the opportunity for revision, and to add further
reminiscences.
A chapter has also been added descriptive of the part played by the
British merchant seaman in the war; and another, published in 1917,
portraying the attitude and work of the British shipowner during the
war.
To do adequate justice to the history of our shipping during the past
sixty years would occupy several volumes. In the following pages all
that has been attempted has been to outline the principal events in
the fewest possible words, in the hope that they may serve for future
reference; and also keep alive that interest in our mercantile fleet
which is so essential to the prosperity of our Country and the welfare
of our people.
Bromborough Hall, Cheshire,
_August, 1920_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
The Passing of the Sailing-Ship 1
CHAPTER II
The Era of the Steamship 15
CHAPTER III
The Evolution of the Marine Engine 24
CHAPTER IV
The Makers of our Shipping Trade 29
CHAPTER V
Our Merchant Ships and the War 55
CHAPTER VI
Shipping and the War 69
CHAPTER VII
The "Red Jacket," 1857 87
CHAPTER VIII
The "Queen of the Avon," 1858 94
CHAPTER IX
The "Great Eastern," 1861 99
CHAPTER X
The Building of an East Indiaman 106
CHAPTER XI
Our Riddle of the Sands 113
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1--The Port of Liverpool, 1873 _Frontispiece._
2--The Sailing-Ship "Princess Charlotte" _Facing page_ 8
3--The SS. "Savannah" " " 16
4--The SS. "Great Western" " " 18
5--The SS. "President" " " 20
6--The SS. "Britannia" " " 22
7--The SS. "Great Britain" " " 24
8--The SS. "Scotia" " " 26
9--Portraits--Charles MacIver, William Inman,
Thomas H. Ismay, Sir Edward Harland " " 30
10--The SS. "Oregon" " " 34
11--The SS. "Umbria" " " 38
12--The SS. "Oceanic," No. 1 " " 42
13--The SS. "Nile" " " 44
14--Portraits--Sir Thomas Brocklebank, W. Miles
Moss, F. R. Leyland, Sir Alfred Jones " " 46
15--The Sailing-Ship "Aracan" " " 50
16--The SS. "Aquitania," with Convoy " " 56
17--The SS. "Oceanic," No. 2 " " 60
18--The SS. "Mauretania" " " 66
19--The SS. "Olympic" " " 70
20--The Sailing-Ship "Red Jacket" " " 88
21--The SS. "Great Eastern" " " 100
22--The SS. "Aquitania" " " 114
REMINISCENCES
OF A
LIVERPOOL SHIPOWNER
CHAPTER I
THE PASSING OF THE SAILING-SHIP
The old sailing-ship, with all the romance which surrounds it, must
long linger in the affectionate regard of all British people as the
creator of our great overseas trade and the builder-up of our
commercial prosperity. The sailing-ship was the mistress of the seas
for centuries. She founded our maritime supremacy, was the conveyor of
the first fruits of our manufacturing industry to the ends of the
world, and enabled us to train a race of sailors unequalled for their
skill, courage, and patriotism, who in times of national peril have
protected our homes and safeguarded the freedom of the world.
Liverpool owes her greatness as a city and her position as the first
port in the world to her shipping. Possessing the only deep-water
haven on the West Coast, she naturally became the port of shipment for
the manufactures of Lancashire and Yorkshire directly our export trade
began to develop. The beginnings of the shipping trade were small, for
in 1751 there were only 220 vessels belonging to the port. The opening
up of the American trade in 1756 gave a great impetus to shipping. It
was destined, however, to receive a serious check by the world-wide
war which started in 1756, and was waged almost continuously for sixty
years.
The first of this long series of wars known as the Seven Years' War
(1756-1761) was followed by twelve years of peace, and it was during
this time that our trade with America made its greatest headway. The
War of Independence with America, which broke out in 1773, proved most
disastrous to Liverpool. It paralysed our trade and there was dire
distress in the town. It is recorded: "Our docks are a mournful sight,
full of gallant ships laid up and useless." This unhappy war lasted
seven years.
But perhaps the most terrible period for our shipping was in 1810,
when America, feeling herself "crushed between the upper and the
nether millstone of Napoleon's mastery on land and England's supremacy
by sea," declared war and threw her strength into privateering. The
result to the trade of Liverpool was most disastrous. The number of
ships entering the port fell from 6,729 in 1810 to 4,599 in 1812.
When, in 1815, peace was again brought about, there was a most rapid
recovery in business in every direction.
Our British arms which had been victorious in the great war on the
continent of Europe had also made our country supreme at sea; foreign
shipping had almost disappeared, and our shipping trade reaped an
enormous advantage, our tonnage rapidly increasing.
The period from 1815-1860 may be termed the halcyon days of the
British ship, and the period from 1850-1880 witnessed the "passing" of
the sailing-ship. With the "passing" of the sailing-ship we have lost
many interesting and attractive features. The attitude of the
shipowner has entirely changed. His quiet, leisurely occupation has
gone, and with it much that was picturesque and gave pleasure and
enjoyment. With the advent of the steamer a new era opened up,
characterised by the hustle of increased activity. Speed is the
criterion aimed at, calling for constant and strenuous work.
The shipowner of the olden days had time to take a deep personal
interest in the upkeep of his ship. He strolled down from his office
almost daily to the dock where she was lying. Of the sixty-four
sixty-fourth shares into which the ownership was divided he probably
owned at least one-half; this gave him a very real concern in his
ship's welfare. He watched and supervised her construction with the
same solicitude as he would the building of his own house. And when
completed and she took up her loading berth in the Prince's or
Salthouse Dock, all fresh painted, the rigging tarred down, the
ratlines all taut and evenly spaced, every rope and hawser carefully
coiled down and in its place, it was excusable if the owner viewed
his ship with some pride. A large poster displayed in the ship's
rigging announced the port for which she was taking cargo and the date
of sailing--a date which was never kept. She remained in dock week
after week while her cargo gradually trickled down.
This long delay involved a loss of interest and earning power, and
also a serious loss of interest to the owners of cargo shipped by her.
Mr. Donald Currie, when he left the Cunard Company, made up an ownery
for five or six ships for the Calcutta trade, and was anxious that
Jardine, Skilmer & Co., of Calcutta, should take the agency at that
port. But they had suffered so much from the delay of their cargoes
that they made it a condition of their acceptance that Mr. Currie
should strictly adhere to his advertised dates of sailing; and
certainly he had no cause to regret it, for practically Jardines
loaded his ships with their own goods, and Mr. Currie's fleet rapidly
increased. This was the beginning of fixed days of sailing from
Liverpool, which are now almost universal.
Although the pleasure of a shipowner was more personal and greater in
the days gone by, it was accompanied by much anxiety, and the risks
were greater than those of to-day. A wooden ship was liable to decay,
and the periodical surveys by Lloyd's were times of much concern. They
might expose some defect which might involve the stripping and
rebuilding of the part affected. The highest class at Lloyd's A1 for
thirteen years, soon ran out, and the continuation of the class always
involved many repairs.
The preparation of a captain's instructions prior to the commencement
of a voyage entailed much thought; every contingency had to be
provided for; there were no "cables" by which subsequent instructions
could be sent, or the owner consulted.
Cargoes at the loading ports were uncertain, and the change of ports
in ballast had to be provided for. The most carefully-worded
instructions often failed to provide for the very contingency which
happened, or more frequently the captain did some stupid thing. The
owner was in dread lest his ship should find no homeward cargo and
have to shift ports, or lest she be damaged or dismasted, and put into
some remote port not contemplated in his instructions. He had visions
of heavy repair bills and bottomry bonds.
Sailing-ship owning was profitable to those who possessed high-class
ships, but I cannot recall many fortunes made out of soft wood ships,
the cost of their maintenance and repair being so heavy.
In a brief résumé of the history of the sailing-vessel it is not
necessary to pass in review the early steps taken in the evolution of
a ship, for shipowning did not assume a position of any importance
before the year 1600, when, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
East India Company was founded.
The East India Company's first ships were vessels of from 300 tons to
600 tons. They were all heavily armed, and only conveyed the cargoes
belonging to the Company. The "John" Company was highly successful,
and at the close of the eighteenth century had not only a large fleet
of ships, but also possessed a large portion of the continent of
India. The ships of the Company were remarkable vessels; they were
frigate built, large carriers, and stately looking, but badly
designed, very slow, required a large quantity of ballast, and their
cost was about £40 per ton. Improvement in design and equipment was
very slow; there existed no incentive to improvement; the profit made
was derived mainly from the cargoes they carried; and it has been said
that the improvements made in British shipping from the reign of Queen
Elizabeth to the Victorian era were so gradual as to be perceptible
only when measured by centuries.
When we speak of the ships of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries, we cannot but be surprised to find how slight
were the improvements made during these three hundred years. During
the latter half of the eighteenth century the finest ships were
constructed in France, and at that period the best ships in the
British navy were those captured from the French.
The treaty of peace between the United States of America and Great
Britain, signed in 1814, marks the beginning of a new era in the
history of shipping. The progress, however, for some years was slow;
design and construction were hindered by our obsolete tonnage laws,
which encouraged the building of a very undesirable type of ship.
Meanwhile America was going ahead. Not only did she produce more
ships, but they were well designed and equipped, and it was the
general opinion that the American ship was superior to the British
ship. When, in 1832, the monopoly of the East India Company came to an
end, and the commerce of the Orient was thrown open to all British
ships, there was at once an effort made to establish British shipping
on a broader and more substantial basis. The opening of the China and
East India trades gave rise to that competition which had been so long
dormant, and without which there can be little incentive to
improvement.
The American trade gave the first and great impetus to shipowning in
Liverpool. The famous New York packets, the pioneer Black Ball Line,
were established in 1816. This Line consisted at first of vessels of
from 300 to 500 tons register. These little ships with their full
bodies and bluff bows made wonderful passages, averaging 23 days
outwards and 43 days homewards. They were for many years the only
means of communication between this country and the United States. The
"Dramatic" Line was started in 1836, with vessels of about 700 tons,
and it is noteworthy that the "Sheridan," of 895 tons, built the
following year for this Line, was found to be too large for the
Liverpool trade; but the trade rapidly grew and the packet ships
gradually increased in tonnage. In 1846 the "New World" was built, of
1,400 tons. As a child I recollect being taken down to the dock to see
this ship, as being the largest sailing-ship in the world; and many
still living will remember the "Isaac Webb," the "Albert Gallatin,"
the "Guy Mannering," and the "Dreadnought." The ships of the "Black
Ball" Line and the "Dramatic" Line were grand ships, and made many
wonderful passages.
There are three outstanding events which greatly contributed to the
improvement of British shipping, and may be said to mark the beginning
of our great maritime position--the establishment, in 1834, of Lloyd's
Register; the founding, in 1846, of the Marine Department of the Board
of Trade; and, in 1849, repeal of the Navigation Laws. These laws,
devised originally for the protection of British shipping, and to
secure for it a certain monopoly of the carrying trade, had become
antiquated, and a hindrance to its development. It was not,
however, until we found the commerce of the world was largely being
carried by American ships, which were faster and better built, that an
agitation was started to abolish those laws.
[Illustration: "Princess Charlotte," 1815]
There was considerable opposition to their repeal, and the first
result was not encouraging; there was a decrease in the tonnage of
British ships entering our ports, and a large increase in foreign
tonnage, especially of American; and although this created a feeling
of despondency, and gave rise to the fear that we had lost for ever
our premier position in the overseas carrying trade, it really proved
a great stimulus to enterprise, and renewed exertion, and not many
years elapsed before we had regained, and more than regained, our
position in the shipping world.
To America belongs the credit of introducing the clipper ship, which
was specially designed to make rapid passages. The discovery of gold
in California created a great rush, and there was a gigantic movement
of human beings by land and by sea. The land journey across America
was long and hazardous, and this gave rise to a large emigration by
sea, and the necessity for providing a class of ship which would be
able to make rapid passages. This the old-fashioned frigate-built ship
was unable to do.
The era of the clipper ship may be said to date from 1848, when gold
was first discovered in California. The building of these ships in
America proceeded rapidly, and in four years one hundred and sixty
were built. They were the swiftest ships the world had ever seen,
making the voyage from New York to San Francisco in from 100 to 120
days. They were remarkable for their fine lines, lofty spars, and
great sail-carrying capacity.
The discovery of gold in California in 1848 was quickly followed by
the discovery of gold in Australia in 1851, and a rush of emigration
immediately set in, which had to be carried by sailing-ships. The
regular traders were small vessels with very limited passenger
accommodation; so shipowners very quickly turned their attention to
the clipper ships built in New England and in New Brunswick, which had
been so successful in the Californian trade.
The first clipper ship constructed for the Australian trade was the
"Marco Polo," of 1,622 tons. She was built in 1851, at St. John's, for
James Baines & Co., of Liverpool, and she was the pioneer of the
famous Australian Black Ball Line. The "Marco Polo" was a handsome
ship, built with a considerable rise of floor and a very fine after
end, and carrying a large spread of canvas. She made some remarkable
passages under the command of Captain Forbes, who did not hesitate to
shorten the distance his ship had to travel by sailing on the great
circle, and going very far south. The "Marco Polo" may be said to
have set the pace in the Australian trade. She was quickly followed by
such renowned ships as the "Lightning," the "James Baines," the
"Sovereign of the Seas," and the passages of these ships created as
much public interest as those of our Atlantic greyhounds do to-day. We
had also the White Star Line of Australian clippers, which owned the
"Red Jacket," the "Blue Jacket," and the "Chariot of Fame." The "Red
Jacket" made the record passage of 64 days to Melbourne, and was one
of the most famous of the American built clippers.
Although America can claim to have introduced the clipper ship, our
English shipbuilders were not much behindhand. The tea trade with
China offered great rewards for speed, and the ship landing the first
cargo of the new teas earned a very handsome premium. The competition
was, therefore, very keen. These tea clippers were very beautiful
vessels of about 800 to 1,000 tons, of quite an original type; and,
unlike the American clipper, they relied for their speed more upon the
symmetry of their lines than upon their large sail area. They had less
beam and less freeboard than the American clipper, and as their
voyages necessitated a good deal of windward work, this was made their
strong point of sailing, and probably they will never be excelled in
this. The names of the "Falcon," the "Fiery Cross," the "Lord of the
Isles," will still dwell in the memory of many.
In 1865 a memorable race took place between ten celebrated tea
clippers, and the evenness of their performances was remarkable. The
times of the passages of the first five, from the anchorage in China
to Deal, varied from 99 to 101 days, and the prize, 10s per ton, was
divided between the "Taeping" and the "Ariel"--the one arriving first
at Deal, and the other being the first to dock in London. There were
similar races every year, which always aroused great interest.
The greatest development in sailing-ships was brought about by the
substitution of iron for wood in their construction. The iron ship,
among other advantages, could be of larger size, was more durable, and
less costly in maintenance; and in 1863 a notable further improvement
was made when, in the Liverpool ship "Seaforth," steel lower masts,
topmasts, and topsail yards, and also standing rigging of steel wire
were introduced, and about the same time double topsail yards were
adopted.
We are apt to make light of the great increase in American shipping
since the late war, and think that the competition of America will not
last and will not be serious. We should, however, not forget how large
a proportion of the world's carrying trade by sea was done by America
prior to her civil war in 1863, and the excellence of her ships. The
tariffs she imposed after this war killed her shipping and made
shipbuilding, except for her coastwise trade, impossible. The result
of the late war has been to make the cost of shipbuilding nearly as
great in this country as in America, and she will certainly make a
serious bid for her share of the trade.
With the passing of the old sailing-ship we have lost much that was
picturesque and much that appealed to sentiment. The river Mersey at
the top of high water filled with sailing craft of all kinds, from the
great Australian clipper down to the Dutch galliot or the British
sloop with her brown sails, presented a panorama which has no equal
to-day, and called forth thoughts of adventure and perils by the sea
which a great Atlantic liner or even the modest coasting steamer fail
to suggest, although they may speak to us in the spirit of the
times--of that security and speed which has brought the very ends of
the earth together.
This short sketch of the old sailing-ship days would be incomplete
without alluding to the position of the sailor, which was far from
satisfactory. His life was hard and very rough. He usually lived in
the forecastle, which was close and damp. The chain cables passed
through it to the chain lockers below, the hawse-pipes had often
ill-fitting wooden plugs, and when the ship plunged into a head sea
the forecastle was flooded. There was no place for the men to dry
their clothes, and no privacy. Their food was salt tack, and it was no
wonder that they enjoyed their noggin of rum. These were, however,
days before we had the luxury of preserved provisions or ice-houses.
But the old British tar came of a hardy, good humoured race. I have
seen them when off Cape Horn take marling-spikes aloft to knock the
ice off the topsail, and merrily singing one of their chanties while
they tied in a close reef.
The pay of a sailor was small--£3 a month for an A.B.; and when they
returned home from a voyage they were pounced upon by the
boarding-house keepers, who did not let them out of their clutches
while they had any money left. The neighbourhood of our Sailors' Home
was a perfect hell, a scene of debauchery from morn to night. The
sailor had no chance, and when he sailed again he had no money to buy
any decent or warm clothes. Thanks to such philanthropists as the late
Samuel Smith, Alexander Balfour, and Monsignor Nugent, this reproach
to Liverpool was, after a great and long fight, removed, and the
interests of the sailor are to-day safeguarded in every way by the
Board of Trade, and greater interest is exhibited in his welfare by
the shipowner. While thus recording the conditions of a seaman's life
we must not forget that the conditions of life generally were much
harder and rougher than those of to-day, and the sailor had many
compensating advantages when at sea. It was while he was in port that
he required safeguarding.