History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 1 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

It is my intention to write a History of Merchant Shipping; I am not aware that there exists any work of the kind contemplated. No doubt everything relating to the vessels of ancient times has been published in one form or another, as also an account of all that is known of the maritime commerce of the Middle Ages; but this information is widely scattered, and frequently so diffused among other matters of a very different description, that considerable research is necessary to ascertain where it is to be found. I desire to remedy this inconvenience, and to furnish from those fragmentary materials a consecutive, though necessarily a condensed, account of the Merchant Shipping, Ancient and Modern, of those nations which at different periods have carried on an extensive over-sea commerce. I shall also presume to correct some errors and misapprehensions which have found their way into the writings of men who, though far more competent to undertake the work of an historian, have not had an opportunity of gaining a practical knowledge of this special subject.

It is only from Holy Writ, from the fragments in the works of heathen historians and poets, and from the sculptured monuments of the East, that information can be obtained about the vessels and commerce of very ancient times. From such sources I shall endeavour to compile, in a manner as brief as possible consistently with perspicuity, a narrative of how these vessels were constructed, manned, and navigated, separating, as far as my knowledge and experience will permit, facts from fiction, and omitting legends frequently accepted as historical truths. It can serve no good purpose to record descriptions of ships evidently the creations of romance; and, in a work professing to deal with established facts, care must be taken to admit nothing improbable unless well authenticated.

It will not be the least pleasing portion of my work to furnish, as fully as I can, a description of the manners and customs of the seamen of all nations, and, at the same time, to notice incidentally their habits, prejudices, and superstitions. To illustrate the effects produced upon maritime commerce by the laws of different nations, it will be necessary to direct attention to those legislative measures which have had a marked bearing upon its prosperity or otherwise. Towards the close of this work, the merchant vessels of our own time, the cost of construction, speed, and capacity for cargo, will be fully described, as well as the number and duties of the crew, and the expenses of management. I shall endeavour to supply every material fact connected with the business of the shipowner, which nowadays is separated from that of the merchant, so that hereafter a complaint may not be urged against me for having followed the example of other writers, and by so doing omitted interesting and instructive knowledge, simply because it was of a character hitherto considered beyond the province of the historian.

Many years have already been employed in collecting materials for this work, but hitherto time has been wanting for the study and elucidation of a subject which, from the nature of my avocations, can hardly fail to prove interesting to myself, whatever it may be to my readers. To trace the origin of navigation, and to detail the numerous steps by which the merchant vessels of the great trading nations of the world have reached their present state of perfection; to record those discoveries in science and art connected with navigation, which enable the mariner to cross the ocean without fear and with unerring certainty; to dilate upon those triumphs of man’s genius and skill whereby he can bid defiance to the elements; and to enter in these pages the names of the men who have benefited mankind by their maritime discoveries, or by affording greatly increased facilities for intercourse between nations, is to me a task of the most gratifying description.

But as many of my readers may not take so lively an interest in a subject necessarily dry in its character and technical in its details, I shall endeavour to describe everything relating to shipping in clear and condensed language, so as to induce them, if possible, to accompany me in my researches; and it is to be hoped that at least the ships and commerce of the ancient Egyptians and Phœnicians, and of those nations which, like Carthage and Assyria, have long since passed away, may prove not uninteresting to the general public.

Passing from very remote ages, I purpose to examine the maritime commerce and shipping of the different nations which flourished from about the time when, on the decline of the power of Rome, the Italian Republics arose; and thence through the Middle Ages, till Spain sent forth her celebrated Armada, to the period when Great Britain, slowly but surely extending her influence upon the ocean, claimed to be “Mistress of the Seas.”

Considerable space must likewise be devoted to an account of the principal institutions connected with shipping, and to the vast changes which have taken place in the over-sea carrying trade since Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and Christopher Columbus discovered a new and now mighty world to the West.

But the larger portion of this work will be devoted to the progress of Modern Shipping. Since the introduction of steam, the merchant navies of the world have increased to an enormous extent; and in comfort, beauty, and speed, the vessels of the present day immeasurably surpass those of any other period. Modern appliances in their propulsion, while altering the mode in which commercial pursuits are conducted, have also materially changed the seats and centres of maritime commerce. Changes such as these necessarily require to be fully described, and their results carefully recorded.

As the ports of Great Britain are now free to the vessels of all nations, it will be my duty to explain the nature of the navigation laws of Cromwell and of the reciprocity treaties of Huskisson, and to show how, step by step, all barriers to free navigation have been removed. The fallacy of endeavouring to enrich ourselves by the ruin of our neighbours will be exposed, and, from the experience of the past, I shall hope to inculcate lessons of use for the future.

Ample materials are to be found for the elucidation of most of these subjects, and there can be no excuse to plead, beyond my own incapacity, if I fail to produce a work which shall hereafter be useful for reference, especially with regard to the merchant vessels of modern times. Though the enterprising traders of Tyre extended their commercial intercourse to all parts of the Mediterranean and even to the Northern and the Erythræan Seas, yet her merchants, “who were princes,” and her traffickers, who were “the great men of the earth,” have left no records of their vast commerce, nor of the vessels which were engaged in it. No mercantile man appears to have written an account of how he conducted his trade, or given to posterity a drawing of his ship; nor, indeed, to have recorded anything relating to the great maritime state to which he belonged. Our limited knowledge of Tyre is derived therefore almost exclusively from other sources. If these early navigators had taken one-half the pains to transmit to posterity the sum of their acquired knowledge, practical and historical, which the Egyptians have done, a vast amount of information would have been added to the science of ancient navigation and commerce. Unfortunately, almost every vestige of Phœnicia has been swept away, a significant example that the most extended commerce, enjoyed by a purely trading people, cannot alone save them from eventual insignificance and oblivion.