Слике страница
PDF
ePub

TRANSITION FROM SAIL TO STEAM.

The period from 1855 to 1872 was marked by two important changes in the emigrant carrying trade the almost complete substitution of steamships for sailing vessels, and the practical elimination of American ships from the business.

Writers on the history of sail and steam navigation agree that steamships played no part prior to 1850 in the transportation of other than cabin passengers. In that year the Inman Line of steamships, only recently established, began to compete with sailing vessels by providing third-class, or steerage, accommodation. The effect of this competition for the next ten years was very slight, clippers and packet ships continuing to carry the bulk of emigrants. In 1853 the Inman Line was advertising accommodations for only a limited number of steerage passengers, while other steamship companies did not offer any until several years later. The HamburgAmerican Line, organized in 1846, traded for nine years with sailing vessels, their first steamers being added to the fleet in 1856. The North German Lloyd was formed by a consolidation of all steamship lines-local and otherwise-in Bremen, and in 1859 began a steam service to New York, which eight years later became weekly. Up to 1862, the Cunard Line, which had been in operation for twenty-two years, did not carry steerage passengers."

Once established in the emigrant carrying trade steamships quickly monopolized the greater part of the business. This fact is illustrated by the following table and chart, which show the number of immigrants landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships in the years 1856 to 1873 inclusive:

TABLE 4.-Passengers landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships, 1856 to 1873 inclusive.

[blocks in formation]

a Our Ocean Railways, A. Fraser Macdonald; The Ocean Carrier, Joseph R. Smith. American Navigation, Henry Hall; History of American Shipping, William Schaw Lindsay.

[graphic]

Passengers landed at Castle Garden, New York, from sailing vessels and steamships, 1856 to 1873 inclusive.

it was not long until steamships had a complete monopoly of the passengers carried on sailing vessels and steamships after 1873, but No consistent data are available to show the relative number of

business.

= STEAMSHIPS

= SAILING VESSELS

Meanwhile the second change referred to was going on rapidly. American vessels had for many years carried more steerage passengers than had those of any other nation. There is reason to believe that there were periods when more were carried to United States ports by American vessels than by those of all other maritime nations combined. From the beginning of January to the end of June, 1847, for example, the amount of tonnage employed in the carriage of emigrants from Europe to the United States was about 421,750, twothirds of which was under the American flag.a

With the introduction of steam, England quickly took and held first place in the transportation of the mails, cabin passengers, and the more valuable freight. Her position assumed the character of a monopoly, which was successfully assailed by American enterprise for a brief time only. The competition with sailing vessels for a share of emigrant traffic began in 1850, and it found a clear field for foreign enterprise. During the period of transition from sailing vessels to steamships several unsuccessful attempts were made to establish transatlantic steamship lines under the American flag, but, as is well known, they failed in competition with the lines of other nations. The part played by American steamships in emigrant transportation from 1856 to 1870, inclusive, in comparison with the ships of other nations, is shown by the following table, compiled from annual reports of the commissioners of immigration for the State of New York. This table shows the number of voyages made by steamships sailing under the American and other flags which landed passengers at Castle Garden in the years specified.

TABLE 5.-Number of voyages by United States and other steamships landing passengers at Castle Garden, New York, 1856 to 1870 inclusive.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

a Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships. (Rep. Com. No. 386, 33d Cong., 1st sess., p. 47.) Includes steamers from Aspinwall, Havana, Rio de Janeiro.

c Including Bremen and Hamburg.

In 1880 the United States had fewer than 15 steamers crossing the Atlantic and Pacific, while foreign nations had 200 in their trade with the United States alone." So, soon after the disappearance of the sailing vessels from emigrant traffic, came the transfer of the vast bulk of ocean trade, including the mails, freight, cabin passengers, and emigrants, to vessels carrying foreign flags.

a History of N. A. Steam Navigation, Henry Frye.

CHAPTER III.

PERIOD OF THE STEAMSHIP, 1873 TO 1908.

From the preceding chapter it will be seen that when the steamship had forced the sailing vessel from the emigrant-carrying trade the United States had few ships carrying emigrants, and practically no effective law regulating the carriage of steerage passengers at sea. This condition prevailed in 1873, when an investigation of steerage conditions was made under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. In the report which resulted from that investigation" a general revision of the passenger laws was urged, but Congress did not enact further legislation upon the subject until 1882, when "An act to regulate the carriage of passengers at sea" was adopted.

b

When this act was under consideration, Congress was confronted with a condition entirely different from that which had prevailed when the earlier passenger laws were enacted. The sailing vessel was no longer a factor to be reckoned with, and the reduction in the length of time required for the voyage on steamships, together with the generally improved conditions in the steerage, had reduced the death rate on emigrant ships to a minimum. Mechanical improvements had made it possible to eliminate dangers that in earlier days were accepted as inseparable risks attendant on all ocean travel. There was now a certainty and regularity about the length of time required for the voyage, and the arrival and departure of vessels, which simplified the problems of the emigrant who in earlier times had been accustomed to reckon the journey across the ocean in terms of weeks or months instead of days. By reason of the shortening of the time required for the voyage, hunger and thirst were now remote dangers, and epidemics, which had created such havoc on sailing ships, had practically disappeared. If such conditions as would tend to bring suffering and sickness upon emigrants still existed, they were due to carelessness and disregard of rules on the part of the carriers, or of the passengers themselves, rather than to the inherent difficulties and vicissitudes of ocean trade.

It was believed that if all shipowners and captains had observed the spirit and intent of the law of 1855, this, together with the influence of competition, would have made further legislation unnecessary. Not only did some fail to observe the spirit of the law, but in cases where the penalties attached might be avoided some carriers deliberately violated the letter of the law, and forced upon emigrants conditions that were doubly reprehensible because unnecessary.

During the investigation of 1873 the steamship companies were subjected to severe criticism from various sources. It was proven that

a Steerage Passengers on Emigrant Vessels. (Ex. Doc. No. 23, 43d Cong., 1st sess.) See Appendix A.

« ПретходнаНастави »