CONCLUSION.
And now, approaching the conclusion of the whole matter, the end of
what I feel to have been an important task, while the way in which it
has been performed is an open question, I ask myself, "What is likely
to be the effect of this book upon the minds of those for whom it
has been written? Will they think that the British Mercantile Marine
is a profession which they should exert all their influence to keep
their young friends and relatives out of, or will they feel, as I do,
that, in spite of all its obvious drawbacks, it should be by no means
neglected as an opening for enterprising adventurous youngsters, the
right stuff of which British sailors are made?"
I have been compelled, in truth, to say many hard things of the
Merchant Service, but there is such a thing as speaking the truth in
love. And as I love the Merchant Service with all my heart, and desire
most earnestly to see it flourish and prosper more and more, I am the
more anxious that nothing I have said will be taken as spoken in a
carping or pessimistic spirit. I want to see the Mercantile Marine
purged of the foreigner, not because I hate the foreigner of any
nation, but because this peculiarly and particularly maritime nation
of ours cannot afford, in the face of the undoubted hatred manifested
towards it by practically every continental people, to allow the
life of its citizens to be dependent upon the good-will of aliens.
In spite of what not only continental writers, but many of our own
scribes, may and do say about our unctuous hypocrisy, there can be no
doubt that the chief characteristic of the British nation to-day is
its careless magnanimity. Warned by innumerable writers of the risks
we wilfully expose ourselves to, we go on with a good-natured shrug
of the shoulders in the same reckless fashion. We welcome, as if we
were in a new colony with millions of acres undeveloped, with all our
resources at their spring-tide, a continuous flood of aliens to our
shores and in our ships. We not only give them all the advantages we
ourselves possess, but actually strain a point, wherever possible, in
their favour. Finding no reciprocity anywhere, no feeling of kindliness
for all our generous treatment of aliens, we are unmoved, nor is our
policy, or want of policy, altered. And this grand air of indifference,
which is not assumed, but real, is to the last degree galling to our
continental neighbours. Their attitude becomes daily more difficult
to understand. Rejoicing to see how we are, as they firmly believe,
exposing all our most vital, most vulnerable points to their attack,
both in matters of war and peace, they are yet almost frantic with rage
at what they are pleased to call our abominable insular insolence, our
refusal to be frightened of them. I do not pretend to justify our
insouciant attitude, I only note its universal presence.
In the matter of our Mercantile Marine, I feel sure that we are heaping
up for ourselves a most awful mountain of disaster in the way in which
we are allowing it to become really a foreign service. One thing we
could do, and should do at once--apply the same rule to the Merchant
Service that is in force in the Royal Navy. There no alien, unless he
has become naturalized, can hold any post whatever. It sounds a small
reform; but it would have, I am sure, the most far-reaching effects.
At present it is quite possible--indeed, it will be found actually
the case in some instances--for a British ship to be wholly manned
by foreigners, from the master to the boy--sailing ships, that is.
Foreigners in steam are mostly confined to the crew; and, as I have
said before, I know of no instance where foreign engineers are employed
in our ships at all. Because, in the first place, they, our home-bred
engineers, are the best in the world; and, secondly, because they have
behind them the support of a great Trade Union, that--although I do
not suppose many sea-going engineers are active members of it--would
speedily make its voice heard and its influence felt, if any attempt
was made to bring in foreign engineers.
For reasons which I hope I have made abundantly clear in the preceding
pages, such support cannot be found for the seaman--that is, for the
foremast hand. But the officers might do much more than they are
doing. There are several societies for the mutual help and defence
of Mercantile Marine officers, some doing excellent work, others
doing scarcely anything at all. I will not particularize, for that
would do no good. I will merely say that if all these societies
would amalgamate, would all pull together and enlist the sympathy
and active support of shipmasters and officers, retired as well,
they would be a body extremely powerful in their influence on behalf
of the best interests of their profession. Such a body, composed of
serious-thinking, well-informed, and trustworthy men in full touch
with the subject, could do more in one year for the upraising and
nationalizing of the Merchant Service than will ever be done by
isolated efforts, however earnest. For their own sakes they would not
neglect the foremast hand; in the best interests of the service they
could not. Even by the present local efforts of some of these societies
much good has been done, enough to show what might be done were they
all united.
As to the ships themselves, perhaps enough has been said already to
indicate the transition stage through which we are passing. For while
it is undoubtedly true that the sailing ship is doomed to extinction in
the near future, at the present day there is still an enormous amount
of sailing tonnage afloat. Thousands of good seaworthy sailing ships
still come and go between distant shores, doing good work, not only
in earning profits for their owners, but in rearing sailors for the
British Mercantile Marine. But we are not building any more to replace
them. We have come to the conclusion that the future of sea-traffic is
to the steamer. Doubtless many ship-owners, in the present abnormally
inflated state of the coal market, are sighing over the fact that they
are so dependent upon the black dirty stuff for the due working of
their ships, and vainly wishing for the days to return when the clean
free winds furnished all the motive power needed. But we cannot go back
again to sail. Even the Norwegian timber droghers are taking to steam,
and that is a portent indeed. It is the beginning of the end. The end
will come, for all sailing ships still making long voyages, with the
opening of the Panama Canal. Then, at one fell swoop, the 'Frisco trade
in grain, the South American trade in nitrate, will pass into the hands
or holds of the steamships. Huge cargo carriers, able to stow eight or
ten thousand tons away with ease, will go lumbering steadily down the
gulf and through the canal. They will range the western sea-board of
the Americas, sweeping into their capacious maws every ounce of cargo,
and stimulating production in an amazing way.
Presently also will come the petroleum-propelled ship, the
electrically-engined ship, as the carriage of coal becomes more and
more of a burden, while its price steadily rises. Meanwhile, the
inventive genius of America will surely find some way of re-creating
for herself a splendid Mercantile Marine. I cannot think that she
will always be content to see all her vast carrying trade over-sea
practically in the hands of Britain and foreigners. At present it seems
to be evident to all, except the average Americans, that such efforts
as have recently been made with that object in view are foredoomed
to failure. Only one thing is required for the rehabilitation of the
American Mercantile Marine, and that is, that owing to the rapid
filling up of all uninhabited land on the American continent, the
teeming millions along her sea-board shall turn their earnest attention
to the possibilities of money-getting that there are in ship-owning and
sailing. Then they will insist upon some reasonable laws being passed
that shall help, not hinder, the expansion of American sea-traffic, and
the thing will be as good as done.
That, however, will require some considerable time yet. Meanwhile, the
sailing ships, wooden ships too, will probably linger longest in our
North American colonies. But they too must disappear. Already they are
feeling the pinch very sorely, with economically run tramp-steamers
cutting them out everywhere. This is obvious now when the thrifty
Norwegians are running tramp-steamers in lieu of the ramshackle
old craft with which they have so long monopolized the lumber and
ice trade. To a seaman the spectacle of steamers in the home ports
discharging ice comes as something of a shock, for he remembers what
class of vessels have always been used for this, perhaps the roughest
of all the carrying trades known.
But the great work to be done is the dissemination of popular
information with regard to maritime matters. To burn into the minds
of our people at home what the merchant ship means to them; to make
the villager understand that the cheap and abundant food, which may be
purchased even in remotest inland hamlets, has been brought thus to
his door from the other side of the world by the unceasing strenuous
labours of seamen and the sleepless enterprise of ship-owners. I
look earnestly for the day when every newspaper in the kingdom will
be considered incomplete without its column of readable shipping
matter--true tales of latter-day daring, of courage as high as any
manifested in the attempt to destroy life in battle; when the British
seaman shall no longer feel that he is as completely isolated from the
thoughts and sympathies of his countrymen as if he were an inhabitant
of another planet; when the British man-o'-war's man, whether he be
blue-jacket or stoker, shall know of a truth that his friends at home
realize what he is doing during his long absence from home: how he, for
their sakes, in order that the steady stream of food-bearing ships from
prolific lands far away shall never cease by day or by night through
the years, keeps sleepless watch all round the world.
Let no one think that this is a small matter. The acquisition of
knowledge like this is not only of the highest importance in itself,
but it will bring with it a vast amount of cognate information that
now is much neglected. Geography will become what it should be, a
popular science, because the immense value of it will be recognized.
Economical science will also assume an interest which it has long
lacked for all but the minutest percentage of fairly well-educated
people. Politically, such an education of the people will be of the
highest value, preventing them from being led away by clap-trap and
jargon, and enabling them to understand why our country has risen to
its present enviable height of prosperity, and how essential it is to
the well-being of every man, woman, and child in the community that
the peaceful flow of over-sea traffic shall never be interrupted.
Beyond and above all this there is the liquidation of the debt due to
the sailor; the recognition of the fact in practical ways that without
him we should not merely be without at least half of what he has taught
us to look upon as the necessities of life, necessities which less than
a century ago were looked upon as the highest luxuries, but that we
should be a feeble population of slaves groaning under the iron rule of
some military continental despot, who would rob us of our very blood
and marrow, and give us in return leave to live that we might toil for
him and his satraps until, early worn out, we were flung aside to die
and obtain that liberty in death that we were denied in life. We want
to atone as far as we may for our long neglect, through ignorance,
and by our united intelligent efforts to show that at last we have
awakened to the fact that in our Mercantile Marine we possess the most
magnificent heritage ever built up for a free people by the courage and
endurance of its sons.
THE END.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Sixth Impression. With 8 Illustrations and a Chart.
Large post 8vo, 8_s._ 6_d._
THE CRUISE OF THE 'CACHALOT' ROUND THE WORLD AFTER SPERM WHALES. By
FRANK T. BULLEN, First Mate. The Volume includes a Letter to the
Author from Rudyard Kipling.
_TIMES._--'Mr. Bullen has a splendid subject, and he handles it with
the pen of a master.... "The Cruise of the 'Cachalot'" is a book
which cannot but fascinate all lovers of the sea, and all who can
appreciate a masterly presentation of its wonder and its mystery, its
terrors and its trials, its humours and its tragedies.'
_The Rev. Dr. HORTON, in his Sermon on behalf of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, referred to Mr. Bullen's 'Cruise of the
"Cachalot"' in the following terms_:--
'It is a very remarkable book in every way: it seems to me worthy to
rank with some of the writings of Defoe. It has absolutely taken the
shine out of some of the romantic literature of such writers as even
Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. By the strange law that truth is more
wonderful than fiction, this book is more wonderful than the wildest
dreams of the creator of imagination.'
Second Impression. With 8 Full-page Illustrations specially drawn by
ARTHUR TWIDLE. Large post 8vo, 8_s._ 6_d._
THE LOG OF A SEA-WAIF. Being Recollections of the First Four Years of
my Sea Life.
_WORLD._--'In "The Log of a Sea-Waif," Mr. Bullen has surpassed all
his previous efforts. We have read many stories of sea life, but do
not remember to have been so fascinated and enthralled by any of them
as by this masterly presentation of the humours, hardships, and minor
tragedies of life in the forecastle.'
_TIMES._--'Full of thrilling adventure, admirably told.... We
must leave Mr. Bullen's touching story of his early struggles and
adventures to speak for itself. His descriptive powers are great, his
literary imagination is vivid, and he finds abundant opportunities
for the display of both.'
_REVIEW OF REVIEWS._--'To most of us "The Log of a Sea-Waif" will
come almost as a revelation. We know of no other book, with perhaps
the sole exception of "Two Years before the Mast," which can compare
for a moment with Mr. Bullen's work.'
_LITERATURE._--'The book is one of uncommon interest. Mr. Bullen
has the art of the narrator, and a power of putting a scene
vividly before the reader, with occasionally a masterly vigour
of description. It is well worth buying; the stamp of reality is
impressed upon every page.'
_BOOKMAN._--'A mine of information and of interest for those who
concern themselves with seafaring folk.... A brave and inspiriting
story.'
_PALL MALL GAZETTE._--'Those who love the sea, and have a soft spot
in their hearts for the men who make their living upon it, will
heartily enjoy Mr. Bullen's book, as we have done.'
Crown 8vo, paper covers, 1_s._; cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._
THE WAY THEY HAVE IN THE NAVY. Being a Day-to-Day Record of a Cruise
in H.M. Battleship 'Mars' during the Manœuvres of 1899.
London; SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15, Waterloo Place, S.W.
NEW SIX-SHILLING NOVELS.
ELEANOR.
By Mrs. HUMPHRY WARD,
Author of 'Robert Elsmere,' 'Marcella,' 'Sir George Tressady,' etc.
THE ISLE OF UNREST.
By HENRY SETON MERRIMAN,
Author of 'The Sowers,' 'In Kedar's Tents,' 'Roden's Corner,' etc.
THE BRASS BOTTLE.
By F. ANSTEY,
Author of 'Vice Versâ,' 'The Giant's Robe,' 'A Fallen Idol,' etc.
A DAUGHTER OF THE FIELDS.
By KATHARINE TYNAN,
Author of 'The Dear Irish Girl,' 'She Walks in Beauty,' etc.
THE MARBLE FACE.
By G. COLMORE,
Author of 'A Daughter of Music,' 'The Strange Story of Hester Wynne,'
etc.
LOVE IN A MIST.
By OLIVE BIRRELL,
Author of 'The Ambition of Judith.'
THE MAN TRAP.
By Sir WILLIAM MAGNAY, Bart.,
Author of 'The Pride of Life,' 'The Heiress of the Season,' etc.
LOVE AND HONOUR.
By Miss CARR.
A CARDINAL AND HIS CONSCIENCE.
By GRAHAM HOPE.
London: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15, Waterloo Place, S.W.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
THE GREAT BOER WAR.
By A. CONAN DOYLE, Medical Officer in charge of the Langman Field
Hospital; Author of 'The White Company,' 'Rodney Stone, 'The Green Flag
and other Tales of War and Sport,' etc. With Maps, large post 8vo,
7_s._ 6_d._
This work is the outcome of Dr. Doyle's experiences with the Army in
South Africa. The author's painstaking methods in historical work are
as well known to readers as his skill as a story-teller; and this
history of the Boer War is differentiated from other accounts in that
it covers the whole arena of the military operations.
FIFTY YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA:
Being the Recollections of the First Premier of Natal.
By the Hon. SIR JOHN ROBINSON, K.C.M.G. Crown 8vo.
DOMESTICITIES.
By E.V. LUCAS. Small fcap. 8vo.
CONFERENCES ON MEN AND BOOKS.
Crown 8vo, 6_s._
THE LIFE OF THOMAS LITTLETON,
Fourth Baron Lilford. By his Sister. With an Introduction by the Right
Rev. the Bishop of London. With a Portrait, 16 full-page Illustrations,
and a Facsimile Letter. Large crown 8vo, 10_s._ 6_d._
_AN ANTHOLOGY OF ANGLO-IRISH VERSE._
A TREASURY OF IRISH POETRY IN
THE ENGLISH TONGUE. Edited by the Rev. STOPFORD A. BROOKE and T.W.
ROLLESTON. Crown 8vo, 7_s._ 6_d._
Among the Contributors to the Volume are Mr. LIONEL JOHNSON, Mr. A.P.
GRAVES, Professor W. MCNEIL DIXON, DR. GEORGE SIGERSON, DR. DOUGLAS
HYDE, MR. D.J. O'DONOGHUE, Mr. W.B. YEATS, and Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL
('A.E.').
SHAKSPERE'S PREDECESSORS IN
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. By JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS. Large crown 8vo, 7_s._
6_d._
This Volume will be uniform with the New Editions of Symonds' Travel
Sketches and 'The Renaissance in Italy.'
_NEW VOLUME of the HISTORICAL SERIES FOR BIBLE STUDENTS._
Edited by Professor CHARLES FOSTER KENT and FRANK KNIGHT SANDERS.
THE LIFE OF JESUS OF NAZARETH.
By Professor RUSH REES, of Newton Theological Seminary. Crown 8vo, 6_s._
London: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15, Waterloo Place, S.W.
PALL MALL GAZETTE.--'When the Haworth Edition was announced we expected
something with which no other version has provided us, and we are not
disappointed.'
In 7 Volumes. Large Crown 8vo. cloth, gilt top, 6_s._ each.
THE HAWORTH EDITION
OF THE
LIFE AND WORKS
OF
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
(CURRER BELL),
AND HER SISTERS
EMILY AND ANNE BRONTË
(ELLIS AND ACTON BELL).
_WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS._
Including Views of places described in the Works, reproduced from
Photographs specially taken for the purpose by Mr. W.R. BLAND, of
Duffield, Derby, in conjunction with Mr. C. BARROW KEENE, of Derby.
Introductions to the Works are supplied by Mrs. HUMPHRY WARD,
AND
An Introduction and Notes to Mrs. Gaskell's 'Life of Charlotte Brontë'
by Mr. CLEMENT K. SHORTER, the eminent Brontë authority.
CONTENTS OF THE VOLUMES:
1. JANE EYRE. By CHARLOTTE BRONTË. With a Photogravure Portrait of
Charlotte Brontë, from a Drawing by G. RICHMOND, a Photogravure of
Rochester and Jane Eyre, from a Water-colour Drawing by FREDERICK
WALKER, A.R.A.; a Facsimile of the Title-page of the first edition,
and 8 Full-page Illustrations.
2. SHIRLEY. By CHARLOTTE BRONTË. With a Facsimile of the Title-page
of the first edition, and 10 Full-page Illustrations.
3. VILLETTE. By CHARLOTTE BRONTË. With a Photogravure Portrait of M.
Heger, Facsimiles of the Title-page of the original edition and of a
page of the original MS., and 8 Full-page Illustrations.
4. THE PROFESSOR, by CHARLOTTE BRONTË, and POEMS, by CHARLOTTE,
EMILY, and ANNE BRONTË, and the Rev. PATRICK BRONTË, &c. With
Facsimiles of the Title-pages of the first editions, and 8 Full-page
Illustrations.
5. WUTHERING HEIGHTS. By EMILY BRONTË. AGNES GREY. By ANNE BRONTË.
With a Preface and Biographical Notice of both Authors by CHARLOTTE
BRONTË. With a Portrait of Emily Brontë, Facsimiles of the
Title-pages of the first edition, and 8 full-page Illustrations.
6. THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL. By ANNE BRONTË. With a Portrait of
Anne Brontë, a Facsimile of the Title-page of the first edition, and
6 Full-page Illustrations.
7. THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË. By Mrs. GASKELL. With an
Introduction and Notes by CLEMENT K. SHORTER. With Photogravure
Portraits of Mrs. Gaskell and of the Rev. A.B. Nicholls, a Portrait
of the Rev. Patrick Brontë, 11 New Illustrations, Facsimiles of a
letter by Charlotte Brontë, and of a page from Charlotte Brontë's MS.
of 'The Secret,' &c., &c.
The LIFE AND WORKS OF THE SISTERS BRONTË are also to be had in 7
vols. large crown 8vo. handsomely bound in cloth, price 5s. each; in
small post 8vo. limp green cloth, or, cloth boards, gilt top, price
2s. 6d. each: and in small fcp. 8vo. bound in cloth, with gilt top,
with Frontispiece to each volume, price 1s. 6d. each; or the Set, in
gold-lettered cloth case, 12s. 6d.
London: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15, Waterloo Place, S.W.