These sketches of the growth and development of our shipping trade would be incomplete without some reference to those who built up its great prosperity—men who are entitled not merely to our consideration but to our admiration; men whose memories should be treasured by Liverpool people, because they afford to generations yet to come examples of industry and perseverance in the face of difficulties which should not be without beneficial effect if kept in remembrance. Things move so rapidly, and our memory is so limited that we are apt to view the things of to-day as of our own creation, and lose sight of the strenuous spade work done by our forefathers.
Much as we must appreciate the enterprise and ability of our shipowners of to-day, it is no disparagement of them when we claim that the work of those who have gone before was equally enterprising within its limits, and was even more strenuous and anxious. They had to do with a business world only just emerging from the chrysalis state, and without those helps and facilities which modern science has placed at our disposal. But while claiming this, we must avoid considering those who have passed before as “giants” of industry. They were simply the men who, when placed in circumstances of difficulty, always rise to the occasion and develop those faculties of industry, resource and imagination which are so happily characteristic of our race.
That we may, therefore, appreciate the labours of those who have built up our prosperity we must consider shortly the circumstances in which they worked and the tools they had to work with. We have already alluded to the difficulties which a ship’s husband had to contend with owing to the absence of “cables,” or any speedy means of communication with distant places, and to the anxieties attending the maintenance of the old wooden ships; but these did not entirely disappear when iron ships were introduced. The early steamers were badly designed, very short of freeboard, insufficient in strength and short of engine power; they were frequently loaded too deeply, and we had many casualties. One of the greatest improvements in the construction of an iron ship was the introduction of iron decks, which gave the constructional strength required, and when water ballast tanks were also adopted a ship not only gained additional strength, but also mobility and seaworthiness.
Charles MacIver
William Inman
Thomas H. Ismay