After the Civil War tugs came into use for towing the sailing vessels through the Detroit and Huron rivers, and from these the use of barges in "strings" behind steamers that carried cargoes as well as served as tugs, was developed. This system ruled upon the lakes until the evolution of the iron ore trade led to the building of ships so large that they were unable to handle barges. In 1902 the ship able to carry 10,000 tons arrived.
Still larger ships have been built since 1902. A ship that can carry 12,000 tons' dead weight needs but thirty-five men, all told. The average cost of carrying freight on the best ships of the lakes is less than .8 of a mill per ton-mile. Through natural development this splendid efficiency has been attained, and the fleet in 1908 numbered 1942 ships measuring 2,341,686 tons.
Seven-masted Schooner THOMAS LAWSON
A feature of these ships to be considered is that they are all built for passing through certain shoal channels, the Welland Canal, and the canal at the rapids at the outlet of Lake Superior, for example. These channels have compelled the designers to adopt one cross-section of hull for all ships (at least below the water-line), and that cross-section is the largest that will pass through the channels. Because of this similarity of models the lake builders have been able to carry specialization in the work of construction as far as any builders in the world, and much further than it is carried in the Atlantic coast yards, where builders may have a battleship, a harbor tug, and a side-wheel passenger boat on adjoining ways. The lake ships can be built for the lowest price of any in the United States.
Contemplation of these facts, and upon the further fact that lake engineers seemed to be about the best the world had ever seen, led the lake capitalists to organize the American Navigation Company, which built two large cargo carriers, sent them down to salt water, and entered the general cargo trade. Those vessels were among the most economical ever built in the United States, all things considered, but they were unable to compete with the European ship.
A story told by A. B. Wolvin to the Merchant Marine Commission is significant here. A company of which he was president operated a line of steamers from Duluth and Chicago to Montreal and Quebec. The steamers numbered ten of the maximum size for passage through the Welland Canal—250 by 42 feet large, with a draft of fourteen feet, and a carrying capacity of 2200 tons. The cost of these ships, built under the best American conditions of specialization, was $140,000 each, and the operating expense was $135 a day each. While the company was engaged in its work, a steamship man from Sweden came and offered to put on twelve ships of the same size, each at a charter price of $2900 per month. His ships cost but $90,000 each, and the wages of crew and other operating expenses were so much lower than the American standard that he could make money at a charter price of $1000 a month less than the cost of operating the American ships. Having used these Swedish ships long enough to know them (for it was necessary to accept the offer to keep the Swede from starting in opposition), Captain Wolvin testified:—
"They are better from the standpoint of construction.... The vessels carry well; they run well. We have no trouble with the crews."
The crew of the Swedish ship numbered seventeen; that of the American, twenty-two. And the Swedish wage was far less.
The bearing of these facts in any consideration of the power of the ship-owners who are now in control of the deep water traffic of the world is obvious.