All such places along the Mediterranean coast early became known to navigation, for the early sailor was inclined to skirt the shore, fearful of the perils of the open sea. At first these sheltered spots were left, of course, as Nature had made them. Perhaps a bar at the mouth made entry difficult; perhaps the prevailing winds drove piled-up seas into the broad mouths of others; perhaps marshes surrounded others still, and in such cases these harbours were less used than those without such disadvantages.
But wherever a fine harbour existed there grew up a port, for ships, except those meant for war, have no uses save to carry the goods and passengers that originate ashore. If, on some one of these finer harbours, a port sprang up, and if a rich interior country was easy of access from it, because of a navigable river, perhaps, or because caravan routes converged there, or an easy defile through some mountain range led to some rich valley not too far distant, these ports became important. They grew in size because the ease of land or inland transportation permitted the people of the interior to bring their goods for sale. Because of their increased size they attracted the makers of cloth, of leather goods, of glass, of metal ware and cutlery, and of all the great list of goods that go to make up commerce. These artisans came to important ports because the ease of distribution made it simpler for them to sell their wares.
A MAP OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK
The Lower Bay has not yet been developed, but about the Upper Bay and along the Hudson and East rivers hundreds of piers are in everyday use. While New York is a huge port and while it can continue to grow for many years it has numerous disadvantages, one of the chief of which is the absence of a belt line railroad.
At first, the ships being small, they could be drawn up on the beach, but as trade increased it was found advisable to build warehouses and sea walls, so that goods could be stored and easily loaded and unloaded. The port having become important, it became vital to protect it from pirates and other enemies, so walls were built about it on the landward side, and sometimes sea walls were built on the water side, in which a narrow entrance was left open during the day and closed with a heavy chain or a floating barricade at night. These sea walls were often as important to shield the ports from storms as to protect them from enemies. Thus the early ports developed, and within these walls were not only all the traders with their goods, but shipyards and those who supplied ships with cordage, lumber, and sails, as well.
This simple type of port was the rule down to long after the Middle Ages. As a matter of fact, the great complete structure of the modern port has been developed within very recent times—principally since the introduction of steam.
Naturally enough such cities as Venice and Genoa, in their heyday, about or a little after the year 1200, were no longer simple ports, but by comparison with even minor ports of to-day they were simple places.
With the development of steam, however, ports became more and more complex. The increased size of ships, the great investments that demanded no loss of time in loading and unloading, the vast increase in the amount of freight and the number of passengers handled—all these, and many other reasons, compelled ports to add complexity to complexity, until the person unfamiliar with the great doings of a busy modern port stands aghast at the vast collection of quays and docks, jetties and sea walls, steam tugs and canal boats, ferryboats and barges, floating grain elevators and great suction dredges, ocean liners and ocean tramps, and a great variety of complicated equipment in the shape of shipyards, coal pockets, factories, warehouses, railroad terminals, and many other things too numerous to mention.
