In 1840 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company obtained its charter and was the pioneer steamship line along the western coast of South America. Earlier than this, however—in 1835—a firm of London merchants began to run steamers from England to the Far East. These steamers, sailing more regularly and with more dispatch than the sailing vessels, were given the contract to carry the mails. This service became the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is still a vigorous and enterprising line, although now it sails out and back through the Suez Canal and not by the long route around the Cape of Good Hope.
One of the two oldest existing steamship lines is the General Steam Navigation Company, which I have already mentioned. Founded in 1824, this line still runs steamers from England and Scotland to the continent and the Mediterranean. In 1846 one of its ships—the Giraffe—carried the first cargo of live cattle to England.
While the Allan Line has operated steamships only since 1852, it may be said to have been founded about 1816, when Captain Alexander Allan began running several sailing vessels between Scotland and Canada. Although this line did not adopt steamships until thirty-six years after it was founded, it has had a leading place in the development of steamships. An Allan liner inaugurated the “spar deck” in order that a clear promenade deck might be constructed. The first Atlantic steamship to be built of steel—the Buenos Ayrean—was an Allan liner built in 1879. The Virginian and the Victorian were built in 1905 and were the first transatlantic steamships propelled by turbines. Such developments as these entitle a steamship line to great credit.
The largest privately owned shipping company in the world is the Wilson Line, and it is also one of the oldest. It traces its beginnings to 1835 and operates ships between Great Britain and Scandinavia as well as between Britain and the Far East, and to the United States. It also operates ships to South America and other parts of the world.
The World War radically affected steamship lines, almost eliminating some and crippling many. The peace brought about the enlargement of several at the expense of the German lines that, during the preceding two decades, had thrust their way to the very forefront of the shipping world, only to lose it all by the terribly mistaken policies that they themselves had helped to foster.
In 1900 the two greatest steamship lines in the world were the Hamburg-American and the North German Lloyd. In 1910 they were surpassed only by a consolidation of seven British and American lines known as the International Mercantile Marine. Yet these two huge companies, at the close of the World War, were left with hardly more than a handful of ships each, all of their greatest liners, as well as most of their smaller ones, having been taken from them to sail under the British, American, French, and other flags.
Consequently, the greatest steamship company to-day—and it is so great as to have no close second—is the International Mercantile Marine, made up of the White Star, the Leyland, the American, and the Atlantic Transport lines, the Dominion and British North Atlantic Company, the National Steamship Company, and some other allied shipping interests.
This combination of shipping lines is controlled by British and American capital, but most of its ships sail under the British flag. American shipping laws are partly responsible for this, because of numerous restrictions they insist upon, which have proved to be detrimental to lines operating ships under the American flag. Other lines, entirely American owned, have been transferred to foreign register for the same reason.
Prior to the World War American deep-sea shipping had shrunk to a woeful degree, and most of America’s imports and exports were carried in foreign ships. The war, however, changed all that, and the United States, in a remarkably short time, had built ships enough to place it second only to Great Britain on the sea. Many of these ships were hurriedly and badly built, it is true, and many ridiculous experiments were tried out, but, despite mistakes, a great merchant fleet was built and put into operation. This, of course, was a war measure, but with the signing of the Armistice America set herself the task of operating this huge fleet. Post-war trade, however, did not call for so many ships as were in operation, and vast fleets of ships were tied up to deteriorate in idleness. Not only America suffered. Great Britain, too, found herself with more ships than cargoes, and all over the world ships were tied up to wait for better times or to fall to pieces in the waiting.
This unfortunate condition, however, was not entirely without advantages. It forced economies in operation that resulted in increased efficiency, for ships could only continue to carry cargoes if they did so at low rates, and the shipping lines, therefore, studied every method by which they could reduce their costs of operation.