CHAPTER XI.
Changes produced by the opening of the Suez Canal—Sailing fruit-clippers—Introduction of steamers into the Mediterranean trade, 1840—Establishment of various steam lines, 1850—That of Messrs. Frederick Leyland and Co., &c.—Their fleets—Messageries Maritimes Company—Its origin and management—First contract for the conveyance of the oversea French mails, 1851—Extension of contracts, 1854-56—Brazil line, 1857—Vast extent of its fleet—Largest vessels—Trade viâ the Suez Canal—Presumed advantage of auxiliary engines—Not borne out by the results—Conveyance of the Australian mails—Peculiar conditions of contracts—Failure of the service—Stringent penalties—Australian steam services—Mr. Alfred Holt’s line of steamers to China—Its success—Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey, and Company—Messrs. Green and Company—Messrs. Rathbone Brothers—Messrs. George Smith and Sons—Letter from Mr. George Smith—Messrs. Smiths’ ships and their voyages to and from India—Changes in the mode of conducting commerce with India and China—Number of vessels through Suez Canal since its opening, and their nationality.
Changes produced by the opening of the Suez Canal.
Not the least interesting of the many changes in maritime commerce brought about by the opening of the Suez Canal, has been the restoration, though as yet to a limited extent, of the earliest commercial intercourse recorded in history between the Mediterranean and the once far East, and of the trade the merchants of the Levant and the Adriatic carried on with India by the agency of the Muhammedans in Egypt during the Middle Ages.
Directed to a different route by the re-discovery of the passage to the Eastern world by way of the Cape of Good Hope, this ever envied trade has, since the close of the fifteenth century, been conducted as we have seen from the Atlantic and northern ports of Europe, and during more recent years, from those of Great Britain. Consequently, the vessels belonging to the Mediterranean ports have been obliged to seek other and much less remunerative employment, which, since the decline of the great Italian Republics, has dwindled into comparative insignificance. Nor has the Mediterranean trade itself occupied a position of any importance during the last three centuries, indeed it has only revived since steam-vessels have given new life to those inland seas, which, throughout all time, have been so familiar to the mariner. It has been, hence, confined chiefly to that carried on between the inhabitants of the different countries bordering on the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, who, having little or no encouragement to export their surplus produce to other nations, never thought of employing vessels of a superior class to those which for ages had sufficed for their coasting trades.
Sailing fruit-clippers.
The first measure, which gave renewed existence to the maritime commerce of these peoples, was the repeal of the British corn laws, encouraging, as this did to an extent hitherto unknown, the importation of wheat from the ever luxuriant lands of Egypt, and from the numerous corn-growing countries bordering the shores of the Black Sea, the Marmora, and the steppes of Russia. Soon afterwards, the repeal of the duties on the fruits grown in such rich abundance in the islands of the Levant and along the coasts of the Mediterranean, gave new life to another branch of trade which had long lain dormant, and, while the former afforded greatly increased employment to the ships of all nations, the latter encouraged the production of vessels so superior to those previously in use, as, in speed, to outrival the once celebrated Baltimore clippers.
Introduction of steamers into the Mediterranean trade, 1840.
Curiously enough, however, the introduction of these fast fruit schooners, seldom exceeding in size 200 tons register, retarded the introduction of steamers to the trade of the Mediterranean till a much later period than would otherwise have been the case, considering their early and rapid extension in all other branches of commerce. Growers and merchants engaged in the fruit trade, as was the case with the shippers of tea from China at a still later period, were under the impression that steam would injure the flavour of their fruits; hence, for a time, declined to ship their produce in vessels propelled otherwise than by sails. They likewise preferred to export their raisins, figs, and currants in small quantities, convinced that they would thus obtain higher prices and a readier market, and consequently engaged vessels of 80 and 100 tons rather than those of greater dimensions. Many of my readers cannot fail to recollect the fleets of beautiful small Mediterranean clippers which were wont to crowd our docks at certain seasons of the year. Moreover, as these vessels made their voyages with extraordinary rapidity and regularity, the inducements to employ vessels propelled by steam were less urgent than in most other branches of trade.
Establishment of various steam lines, 1850.