CHAPTER XI.

Despondency of many shipowners after the repeal of the Navigation Laws-Advantage naturally taken by foreigners, and especially by the Americans-Jardine and Co. build vessels to compete with the Americans-Aberdeen "clippers "-Shipowners demand the enforcement on foreign nations of reciprocity-Return of prosperity to the Shipowners-Act of 1850 for the improvement of the condition of seamen-Valuable services of Mr. T. H. Farrer-Chief conditions of the Act of 1850-Certificates of examination-Appointment of local marine boards, and their duties-Further provisions of the Act of 1850-Institution of Naval Courts abroad-Special inspectors to be appointed by the Board of Trade, if need be-Act of 1851, regulating Merchant Seaman's Fund, &c.-Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 -New measurement of ships-Registration of ships-The "Rule of the Sea"-Pilots and pilotage-Existing Mercantile Marine Fund -Wrecks-Limitation of the liability of Shipowners-Various miscellaneous provisions-Act of 1855.

dency of

Owners

repeal of

gation

CONSIDERING the violent opposition offered by the Despongreat majority of shipowners to the repeal of the many Navigation Laws, it is not surprising that their de- shipspondency, when the Act came into operation, knew after the no bounds. Many of them resolved-and a few acted the Naviupon the resolution - to dispose of their ships at Laws. whatever price they would fetch, others determined to register them under a foreign flag; but few, if any, carried out their determination in this respect. On the other hand, as might have been expected, foreign nations, and especially the United States,

made extraordinary efforts to secure for their shipowners the more valuable portion valuable portion of the trade thrown open by the repeal of these laws. Hitherto the vessels of that country had more than rivalled British ships in the China trade; and, ever since the first Chinese war in 1842, when great expectations were entertained of an enormous increase of trade with that country, the Americans had made very considerable efforts to secure the larger proportion of it. To meet these efforts we had, before we were roused from our apathy by the repeal of the Navigation Laws, built various vessels of an improved description, such as the Alexander Baring, John o' Gaunt, Euphrates, Monarch, and Foam, which were equal to any American vessels then engaged in the trade with China. But, in 1845, various vessels were despatched from New York and Boston to Wampoa, of a novel form, which surpassed ours in speed. having low hulls, great beam, very fine lines, and with yards so square as to spread a far larger amount of canvas in proportion to their tonnage than any vessels hitherto afloat. To rival these we, in 1846, first directed our attention to the construction of clipper vessels," and as a test of these, Messrs. Alexander Hall and Co. of, Aberdeen, sent forth a schooner named the Torrington, to compete with the Americans then engaged in the coasting trade of China, and in the still more lucrative opium trade. As this vessel proved a success, others of greater dimensions soon followed.

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But in 1848, the Americans had found out a trade exclusively their own, which led to the construction of larger and still faster vessels than any they had

hitherto employed in the trade with China. The discovery of the gold mines in California gave an impetus to their shipbuilding hitherto unknown; and, for that trade, they brought out a class of ships such as the world had then never seen; their dimensions in tonnage being as great as the largest of our old East Indiamen, with a capacity for cargo far greater, and with lines as sharp and fine as almost any Baltimore clipper. The voyage of the first of these celebrated vessels was limited to San Francisco, from which she returned in ballast to New York, having earned sufficient freight on her outward passage alone to amply remunerate her enterprising owners. The others, however, which followed, continued their voyage from California to China, and having the peculiar advantage of their own "coasting trade," from which the vessels of all other nations were excluded, they obtained an immense advantage over all competitors.

Freights from New York to California, which, at first, were exorbitantly high, still averaged somewhere about 51. per ton: thence, these ships proceeded to China, and there, were able to load cargoes of tea and other produce direct for London or New York, thus securing on the round voyage from 81. to 107. per ton freight, while our ships, engaged in the direct trade between London and China, a voyage nearly as long, could only earn out and home little more than half that rate per ton. It was not therefore, surprising, that loud complaints were made by British Shipowners of the disadvantage in which their vessels were placed, when competing with those of the United States.

VOL. III.

U

Advantage na

taken by

and espe

the Americans.

Encouraged by this special advantage, the Ameriturally cans constructed for the California and China trades, foreigners, Vessels of still greater dimensions, and of a still finer cially by description, in which, for a time, they practically monopolised not merely the trade between New York and San Francisco, but also that between China and Great Britain. Attributing the depression from which they were suffering to the repeal of the Navigation Laws, as every branch of trade was then greatly depressed, our Shipowners naturally viewed, with great alarm, the rapid strides made by American shipping. Nor were their fears allayed by a reference to the Board of Trade returns; wherein it appeared that, while the increase of British shipping had, in the year previously to the repeal been 393,955 tons, there had been a decrease in the year after the repeal of 180,576 tons; while, concurrently with the falling off of British shipping, it was also shown that foreign vessels, entering inwards from foreign ports, had increased from 75,278 tons to 364,587 tons. Our position appeared, therefore, critical; and, had it not been for the resources we held within ourselves, and the indomitable energy of our people, foreign shipping might then have gained an ascendency which might not afterwards have been easily overcome.

American shipping, above that of all other nations, had, hitherto, been moving onward with such rapid strides that though, in 1815, at the close of the war, the tonnage of the United States was not more than one-half that of Great Britain, it had risen by 1850 to 3,535,454 tons (including river and lake steamers), against 4,232,960 tons of British

shipping, and bade fair, with the special advantages they now possessed, to surpass it in amount ere many years had elapsed. Under such circumstances, unusual efforts were necessary to maintain our position as the first of maritime nations.1 We had, however, one advantage which our great American competitors did not possess. We had iron in abundance; and, about this period, we were specially directing our attention to the construction of iron ships to be propelled by the screw.

Various of these vessels, to which I shall hereafter fully refer, were launched about the year 1850, and placed in competition with the American liners, which had long, all but monopolised the trade between the United States and Europe. Even if we could not build wooden ships, as was then feared, at as low a cost as the Americans, we had the advantage in labour, in the cost of equipment, and in being able to produce a superior class of vessels suited for the China and other distant trades, from our English oak."

1 At that moment our prospects were certainly very gloomy, and it was not surprising that many of our shipowners were disposing of their property. On the other hand, as most of our shipbuilders were idle, it was a favourable moment to contract for the construction of ships. I, therefore, embraced the opportunity, and contracted in one week for six ships of an improved description, of about 1000 tons each. Two of these I built at Sunderland, two at Maryport, one in Dundee, and one in Jersey. Most of the old school of shipowners thought I had lost my senses, and prophesied "ruin;" but others thought there was "method in my madness," and were thus encouraged to follow my example. Many of my readers may remember the jeering paragraphs which appeared in the Free-trade journals of the period, headed "Lindsay and more ruin," " Not so bad as they seem," and so forth. But the fact had an astonishing effect in rousing our shipowners from their dreams of despair, and I never had any reason to regret my "daring speculation.”

2 Mr. T. C. Cowper, of Aberdeen, himself a member of a well-known shipbuilding firm in Aberdeen, who had spent some time in China at