[405] The two officers who stood first for promotion received each 2,400l.; the two second officers in a similar position were each paid 2,200l.; the third officers, 2,100l.; and the remaining two officers received 2,000l. each. The other mates were remunerated in sums of from 1,600l. to 150l., whilst midshipmen who had made four voyages were paid 100l., and those who had served two voyages, 75l. each. Carpenters, gunners, and boatswains who had served five years in the service received each from 100l. to 150l.
CHAPTER XIV.
Progress of shipping—Thetis, West Indiaman—A “Free-trader”—Internal economy—Provisioning and manning—Shipping the crew—Crimps and agents—Duties on departure of ship—Watches—Duties of the Master,—Who has control over navigation—Making and shortening sail—Tacking, etc.—Ordinary day’s work, how arranged—Right of the Master over the cabin—Authority and usages in the English, Dutch, and Prussian marine—Danish and Norwegian system—Duties of Chief Mate—His duties in port—Tacking “’bout ship”—Reefing topsails—Log-book—Mate successor in law to the Master—Mode of address to Chief and Second Mates—Duties of Second Mate—Ordinary day’s work—Care of spare rigging—Stores—Third Mate—His general duties—Carpenter—Sail-maker—Steward—Cook—Able seamen, their duties—Division of their labour—Duties of ordinary seamen—Boys or apprentices—Bells—Helm—“Tricks” at the helm—Relieving duty—Orders at the wheel—Repeating of orders at wheel—Conversation not allowed while on duty—Colliers.
The close of the great European war, combined with the opening of the trade to the East Indies, and other causes of minor importance, produced various and somewhat important changes among the merchant vessels of all nations. The greatly extended field for maritime commerce, and the competition which arose, obliged the shipowners of different countries, among whom those of the United States, towards the close of the period to which we now refer, took the lead, to pay more attention than they had hitherto done to the combination of capacity with speed, and greater economy in the navigation of their vessels. Attention also began to be directed to the substitution, as far as practicable, of mechanical skill for manual labour. They saw that the ships of the East India Company, however magnificent, were not adapted to compete successfully or profitably in an unprotected trade. That of the British West Indies, which had ever been open to the free competition of British shipowners among themselves, had given a greater scope for improvement in these respects than the protected trade of the East; consequently in the trade with the West we find, at a comparatively early period of the present century, a class of vessels much better adapted for competition than any of the vessels in the service of the East India Company. An illustration of one of these, copied from Mr. Cooke’s interesting sketches, will be found on the [opposite page].
Thetis, West Indiaman.
Though the Thetis is somewhat modern, she is a fair representation of the type of vessels which had long been employed by the enterprising merchants, more especially of Bristol and Liverpool, in their trade with the West Indies. Unlike the vessels in the service of the East India Company, her capacity for cargo was considerably in excess of her registered tonnage, and her complement of crew less than one-half in proportion to her tonnage. Nor were these vessels inferior to them, either in speed or other sea-going qualities, though they too were greatly surpassed by those of a later period, their owners as yet understanding but imperfectly the advantages derived by increasing the length of their vessels in proportion to the breadth.
THE ‘THETIS,’ WEST INDIAMAN.
Hitherto vessels, for instance, of twenty-five feet beam, seldom exceeded one hundred feet in length, keel and forerake, and although the Americans, in their once famous “Baltimore clippers,” set the example of increasing the length to five, and even to six times the breadth of the beam, it was not until the English were thrown into competition with the shipowners of that nation, in every branch of their carrying trade, that they were induced, or rather obliged, to adopt, in this respect, the improved models of their enterprising transatlantic competitors.
After the trade to the East Indies had been thrown open, a number of vessels, ranging from three hundred and fifty to seven hundred tons register, were built. They were not, however, exclusively employed in the trade with the East, but were free to seek employment wherever they could obtain the most remunerative returns, and were to be found in all parts of the world in search of freight. An illustration of one of these vessels, known as Free-Traders, will be found on the [following page].[406]