X. Jfrt/tct /Je^ Ya^rr ^^^/ /J&\^ Ja.^*y PILOT LORE From Sail to Steam AND HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE VARIOUS INTERESTS IDENTI- FIED WITH THE DEVELOP- MENT OF THE WORLD'S gREATEST PORT jO\ XJ 1 922 A/7 Copyright 1922 By the United New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Benevolent Associations i Published by The United J\.ew York and New Jersey Sandy Hook. Pilots Benevolent Associations Under the supervision and direction of EDWARD L. ALLEN (oc/ition z^e Jziii 1922 Compiled and Printed by THE NATIONAL SERVICE BUREAU 110 WEST 40th STREET NEW YORK CITY FOREWORD N THE development of New York into the world's greatest port, probably no other group of men has been so continual a part of it, and so near the heart of it, as that always numerically small one, known as the "Sandy Hook Pilots." Being so intimate a part of it. probably accounts for the fact that members of the craft have, in some way or other, shared in most of the many interesting and tragic events that have marked its growth; events which left indelible imprints on the minds and lives of all who shared their thrills and dangers. 'tv It is upon such events, upon the acts of heroism they prompted, of deep-rooted courage, of noble sacrifice, and of duty's high obligation, that the dearest and most cherished traditions of our craft are founded. As time passes and memory dims, we feel it a duty as well as a very great pleasure, to honor the men whose lives and acts have honored our craft by perpetuating in printed word a record of their deeds. And that is the purpose of this little book. United New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Benevolent Assns. "PILOT TALES y \ \/ ^ IN MEMORIAM XIV ACTIVE AND RETIRED SANDY HOOK PILOTS .... XX11 THE FIRST PILOT 1 FIRST PILOT'S LICENSE 5 CRUISING FAR OUT TO SEA 9 TRAGEDIES IN THE SERVICE 13 AN ECHO OF THE CIVIL WAR 16 THE DAYS OF SENTIMENT 19 TALES OF DISASTER 21 LOSS OF THE COLUMBIA 25 SACRIFICES TO DUTY 27 DARING RESCUES 31 TOLL IN THE SIXTIES 38 THRILLING INCIDENTS 41 THE ROMEE'S LONG VOYAGE 43 AMERICA SAILED BY A PILOT 47 FOUNDERING OF THE EDWARD COOPER 51 VOICES FROM THE PAST 55 WAR SERVICE 58 SOME ITEMS FROM THE LOG 61 RACING FOR A SHIP 65 PILOTS CARRIED ACROSS 69 PILOTS AS COAST POLICE 72 BOARDING THE LEVIATHANS 76 GRATUITOUS SALVAGE WORK 79 UNITING THE PILOT SERVICES 83 FROM SAIL TO STEAM 87 SECOND STEAM PILOT BOAT 91 PULLING TOGETHER 95 THE PILOTS^ CLUB 99 COMMISSION CONTROL 102 PILOTS, BOATS, HARBORS AND HIGH LIGHTS . . . 107 REMINISCENCE AND COMMENT 110 STORY OF THE PILOT AND THE BOY 115 VII HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE VARIED INTERESTS WHO HAVE BEEN CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN "DEVELOPING THE SUPREMACY OF THE "PORT OF NEW YORK f\. \j THE WORLD'S GREATEST PORT 116 PORT FACILITIES 127 PORT OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY 129 UNITED STATES SHIP OPERATORS' ASSN 133 ALEXANDER & BALDWIN 200 ALL AMERICA CABLES 186 AMERICAN BLACK SEA LINE 297 AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING 130 AMERICAN DOCK CO. 243 AMERICAN EXPRESS CO 321 ARKELL & DOUGLAS 250 ATLANTIC MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. 181 ATLANTIC PORT RAILWAY 174 BAKER, CARVER & MORRELL 148 BALTIMORE & OHIO R. R. CO 266 BANK OF THE MANHATTAN CO 258 BARBER STEAMSHIP LINES 199 BENSEL, JOHN ANDERSON 225 BLACK DIAMOND S. S. CORP 286 BOWMAN, JOHN MCE 226 BOWRING & COMPANY 264 BRIGGS BITUMINOUS COMPOSITION CO 250 BRIONES & COMPANY 288 BURROWS, GEO. R., INC 217 BUSH TERMINAL 160 CAMPBELL, PALMER 291 CARIBBEAN STEAMSHIP CO 287 IX HISTORICAL SKETCHES {Continued) G £X XJ CHASE, CAPTAIN DANIEL C 180 CLARK, JAMES H 266 COLUMBIA BRONZE CORPORATION 228 COLUMBIA TRUST COMPANY 256 COLUMBUS MARINE CORPORATION 304 COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE (FRENCH LINE ) 170 COMPANIA TRASATLANTICA 320 CORY MANN GEORGE CORP 272 COSTON SIGNAL CO 269 CRANE'S SONS CO., THEODORE A 289 CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY 139 DELAWARE LACKAWANNA & WESTERN R. R. CO. . . . 233 DE RONDE, PHILIP 281 DOLLAR, CAPTAIN ROBERT 303 DONNELLY, WILLIAM T 313 DURKEE, CHAS. D. k CO 284 EAST ASIATIC COMPANY 319 ELLERMAN'S WILSON LINE 236 ELWELL, JAMES W. & CO., INC 267 EMERY, JOHN M 233 EXPORT S. S. CORPORATION 317 FEDERAL COMPOSITION & PAINT CO 248 FEDERAL SHIPBUILDING COMPANY 201 FERRIS, THEODORE E 295 FLETCHER, W. & A. COMPANY 230 FRENCH LINE ( COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE) 170 FUNCH, EDYE & CO 190 FURNESS, WITHY & CO 300 GARCIA & DIAZ 268 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 218 GRACE, W. R. & CO 224 GREAT LAKES DREDGE & DOCK CO 251 HISTORICAL SKETCHES {Continued) A XJ -e- HAMBURG-AMERICAN LINE 299 HARRIS, MAGILL & CO 263 HOBOKEN LAND & IMPROVEMENT CO 290 HOFFMAN, JOHN E 314 HOLLAND-AMERICA LINE 242 HOULDER, WEIR & BOYD 292 INTERNATIONAL FREIGHTING CORP 319 INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE CO 150 ISHERWOOD, SIR JOSEPH 198 KERR STEAMSHIP COMPANY 169 KLEPPE & CO 206 KOKUSAI RISEN KAISHA ... 296 LAMPORT & HOLT . 210 LAVERIE, ROBERT H 209 LEARY, DANIEL F 305 LEE & SIMMONS 277 LLOYD SABAUDO 221 LORD DRY DOCK CORPORATION 255 MALLORY, C. D. & CO 285 MERRITT & CHAPMAN DERRICK & WRECKING CO. . . . 306 MEXICAN PETROLEUM CORPORATION 207 MITSUI & COMPANY 310 MOORE, BENJAMIN & CO 185 MOORE & MCCORMACK CO 280 MORGAN LINE, (SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY) . . . 212 MUNSON STEAMSHIP LINE 234 NATIONAL STEAM NAVIGATION CO 313 N. Y. CANAL & GREAT LAKES CORP 294 NEW YORK CENTRAL R. R. MARINE DEPT 238 NEW YORK & CUBA MAIL S. S. CO 208 NEW YORK & PORTO RICO S. S. CO 252 NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA 282 XI HISTORICAL SKETCHES [Continued) XIXOX, LEAVIS 177 XORTH GERM AX LLOYD 271 XORTOX, LILLY & CO 185 XORWEGIAX-AMERICAX LIXE 260 ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATIOX 316 ORIEXTAL XAVIGATIOX CO 279 OSAKA SHOSEX KAISHA 309 PACIFIC STEAM XAVIGATIOX CO 262 PAXAMA R. R. STEAMSHIP LIXE 293 PAX AMERICAN PETROLEUM & TRAXSPORT CO. . . . 207 PEABODY, HEXRY W. & CO 210 PERSHIXG SQUARE HOTELS 226 PIERCE BROTHERS, IXC 222 PITOU, SPIRE & CO 197 POLLOCK, WALTER B 238 PORT OF NEWARK 174 POTTER, CHARLES H 192 POUCH TERMIXAL 243 RADIO CORPORATIOX OF AMERICA 235 RICHARD, C. B. & CO 236 ROOSEVELT STEAMSHIP CO 322 ROYAL IXSURAXCE CO 314 ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET CO 254 SCANDIN A VI AX- AMERICAN LIXE 193 SINCLAIR XAVIGATIOX CO 196 SMITH, R. A. C 127" SMITH & SOXS, SIR WM. REARDOX 278 SXARE CORPORATIOX, THE FREDERICK 275 SOUTHERX PACIFIC CO.'s MORGAX LIXE 212 SPAXISH ROYAL MAIL LIXE 320 STAXDARD OIL COMPAXY, XEW JERSEY 157 STAXDARD OIL COMPAXY, XEW YORK 155 XII HISTORICAL SKETCHES {Continued) /^\ \I STATEN ISLAND SHIPBUILDING CO 166 STEERS, HENRY, INC 302 STEPHANIDIS, STEPHEN D 297 STERLING, GEORGE W 241 STRAY STEAMSHIP CORPORATION 311 SUBMARINE BOAT CORPORATION 174 SUSQUEHANNA STEAMSHIP CO 191 SUZUKI & COMPANY 296 SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE 249 TALBOT, BIRD & CO 274 THREE STAR LINE 318 TIDE WATER OIL COMPANY 229 TIEBOUT, W. & J 283 TOD, ROBT. J 247 TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 135 TOYO RISEN KAISHA 305 TRACY, MARCUS H 292 TRANSMARINE CORPORATION 174 UNION SULPHUR CO 315 UNION TRANSPORT COMPANY 259 UNITED AMERICAN LINES 298 UNITED FRUIT CO 182 U. S. & AUSTRALIA LINES 298 UNITED STATES LLOYDS 220 VACUUM OIL COMPANY 246 VULCAN IRON WORKS 206 WESSEL, DUVAL & CO 312 WEST INDIA S. S. CO 276 WHITLOCK CORDAGE COMPANY 308 WHITNEY, J. F. & CO 252 WILLIAMS, WILLIAM E 244 YBARRA LINE 288 XIII Requiescat in pace & Co t^oge of our craft t&Ijoge libcg tyafoe been lo0t fn t^e pursuit of our calling it te but ourg to ^onor in our fumble *way and to beseech t^e <£>reat }Mlot t^e? nta^ at la 1 finti Safe refuge in t^e $ort of eternal ^eace. T7 XIV Hn iftemortam (New York Pilots) Henry Budd Lost from pilot boat Yankee No. 7. Dec. 3, 1852 Robert Curtis Lost from pilot boat Yankee No. 7. Dec. 3, 1852 Robert B. Mitchell Froze to death when pilot boat E. K. Col- lins No. 11 went ashore. Jan. 10, 1856 Thomas Freeborne Froze to death when bark John Minturn was wrecked on Jersey beach. Feb. 14, 1856 Thomas Orr Lost when pilot boat Washington No. 2 went down. Jan. 18, 1857 John - O'Keefe Lost from pilot boat Westervelt No. 19. Apl. 20, 1858 John Fredell Lost when brig Christiania was sunk by steamer North American. Dec. 27, 1866 James M. Clark Drowned from bark J. Sargent. Oct. 29, 1874 Howard van Pelt Killed when hawser parted, boarding bark Urkaine. Apl. 22, 1878 Fred Baudier Drowned from pilot boat Isaac Webb No. 8. May 17, 1879 Alfred Baudier Died from heart disease on board steamer Nevada. Jun. 18, 1879 John Campbell Lost when pilot boat Ariel Patterson was sunk. Mar. 5, 1883 Thomas Metcalfe Lost when steamer Alaska sunk pilot boat Columbia Dec. 3, 1883 Ralph Noble Lost when steamer Alaska sunk pilot boat Columbia Dec. 3, 1883 Christopher Wolfe Lost when steamer Alaska sunk pilot boat Columbia Dec. 3, 1883 Charles Arnold Lost when steamer Alaska sunk pilot boat Columbia Dec. 3, 1883 Walter A. Reddin Lost from pilot boat Francis A. Perkins No. 13. Jan. 24, 1887 John Martino Lost at sea when pilot boat Enchantress No. 18 went down with all hands in the blizzard Mar. 13, 1888 John E. Johnsox Lost at sea when pilot boat Enchantress No. 18 went down with all hands in the blizzard Mar. 13, 1888 XV 3n Jftemortam Daniel V. Jones (New York Pilots) Continued Lost at sea when pilot boat Enchantress No. 18 went down with all hands in the blizzard Henry W. Seguine Lost at sea when pilot boat Enchantress No. 18 went down with all hands in the blizzard Albert C. Mai.comb Lost from pilot boat Charlotte Webb No. 5 John Handran Lost from pilot boat Bateman No. 11. John L. Canvin Edward Collins James Smith Henry A. Devere William Murphy ~) Thomas Penna Patrick Walsh Francis Kelly George Sampson Walter Berry J Lost from bark Edward Cushing, being washed overboard. Lost from pilot boat Washington No. 22, when crushed between tugboat and bark he was boarding. Drowned while boarding steamer Van Dyk from pilot boat Edward Cooper No. 20. Lost while boarding steamer Banan from pilot boat Fannie No. 17. Lost at sea when pilot boat Warren No. 5 disappeared and was never heard from a i>a in on Mar. 13, 1888 Mar. 13, 1888 Mar. 18, 1889 Apl. 15, 1889 Jan. 22, 1890 Mar. 5, 1890 Feb. 27, 1892 Apl. 13, 1894 Gideon Maf^s Jolin J. Canvin Died from heart failure on board steamer Curio. Died from heart failure on board steamer Idaho Thomas F. Murphy Died from heart failure on board steamer Allianca Thomas Shields James Van Pelt Drowned while being taken out to steamer Talisman in a yawl, when yawl was swamped. Lost while boarding Standard Oil tank No. 95, having fallen from ladder. Feb. 5, 1895 May 19, 1895 Sep. 29, 1897 Sep. 30, 1901 Dec. 14, 1907 Sep. 19, 1915 XVI Jn JtfUmortam (New Jersey Pilots) McKxight Smith Drowned at sea when pilot boat Sylph foundered with all hands during a ter- rific blizzard. Winter of 1851 Theopholis Beebe Died of heart disease on pilot boat Mys- tery. Winter of 1866 Joseph Hizzey Drowned when bark he was piloting Mas driven ashore at Egg Harbor during a heavy Northeast gale. Winter of 1873 William Lucy Drowned while boarding vessel in heavy gale when yawl was thrown against vessel's side and capsized. Winter of 1875 Thomas Leach Washed overboard from pilot boat dur- ing severe gale. Winter of 1880 Richard Browx The man who piloted the America to suc- cess in the first International yacht race. Died ashore from the effects of exposure aboard ship in line of duty. Winter of 1884 William Warxeb Washed overboard from pilot boat James Gordon Bennett. Oct. 16, 1884 Gustave Texxesox Died of heart failure on board pilot boat David T. Leahy. Nov. 15, 1897 Joiix Godbey Joiix M. Lexxax Harry Mix \ Drowned when pilot boat James Gordon I Bennett was run into and sunk by the ) steamship Alene. August 1901 Frank Neilsojt Died from injuries received when steam- ship Monterey ran into and sunk pilot boat Hermit. Nov., 1903 William C. Hall Died from heart failure on board steam- ship Muncaster Castle. January -, 1908 XVII THEOPHOLIS BEEBE One of the first New Jersey pilots. Died of heart disease on pilot boat Mystery in the winter of I860 HOWARD VAN PELT Killed when hawser parted boarding bark Ukraine April 22, 1878 GIDEON MAPES Died from heart failure on board S. S. Cufic May 19, 1895 JAMES H. VAX PELT Drowned while boarding Standard Oil tanker September 19, 1915 >* ao "*— e <$-> -*-a - <■>• o »•— ^ • -* Si, &5 FIRST PILOT'S LICENSE THE year 1837 saw the first regularly appointed pilots, under the control of a State Commission, by virtue of an act passed by the New Jersey Legislature, but long before that the State of New York licensed experienced mariners to do piloting in New York Harbor although not under the control of any commission — as witness the picturesquely-worded license given one Zachary Hurler, who has the distinction of being the first duly licensed pilot in New York waters. Says this first license: "The people of the State of New York, by the Grace of God free and independent, to Zachary Hurler, mariner, greeting: Know ye that, we being well assured of the ability, skill and care and circumspection of said Zachary Hurler, we have nominated, constituted and appointed and by these presents nominate, constitute and appoint you, the said Zachary Rufler, to be one of the branch pilots of the Port of New Y r ork to and from Sandy Hook from and to the said port. You, the said Zachary Hurler, truly behaving yourself in all things, as becometh in the service and station of a pilot and observing, doing, fulfilling, keeping and per- forming all and singular those things which, on your part and be- half as a pilot aforesaid are and ought to be observed, done, ful- filled and kept, and that in and by all things according to the direc- tions, true intent and meaning of an Act of the Legislature of our said State of New Y'ork, passed the 14th day of April, 1784, entitled an Act for the regulation of pilots and pilotage for the Port of New York and for other purposes therein mentioned; to have and to hold the said office of branch pilot for the Port of New York to- gether with the fees, salaries, perquisites and advantages thereunto In testimony whereof we have caused these, our letters to be made patent and the Great Seal of our State to be hereunto affixed. Witness our greatly and well-beloved George Clinton, Esquire, Governor of our said State, Governor and Commander-in- chief of all the militia and Admiral of the Navy of the same by and with the advice and consent of our Consul of appointment of our City of New York the 22nd day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four and of our independ- ence the eighth." From 1805 to 1836 'there was little system in the pilotage in New York Harbor. The winter of 1835-1836 had been a particu- larly disastrous one for shipping along the coast. One winter's afternoon during that period two immigrant ships — sailers, of course —had worked in close to the Sandy Hook lightship. The wind was east-southeast, blowing very heavy and approaching a gale. The two packets hove to off the lightship with signals flying for a pilot, firing guns to further attract the port scouts, whose boats U \J r\. ^^r -6- \J \J r\. ^ W -e- w u w V.7 U were anchored well inside Sandy Hook bay. As has been stated, it was an off year for pilot efficiency in New York Harbor and the two immigrant packets were unable to get a pilot to bring them into the Narrows. The captains of the two immigrant ships had hove to with heads offshore and, not being able to beat to windward, were finally forced upon the Long Island shore. One of the ships went aground to the eastward of Rockaway and the other to the eastward of what is now known as Jones's Inlet. Each ship had from 150 to 300 passengers and by the break of the next day nearly every soul on board had perished. This catastrophe, brought about by the absence of direct control and organized management of the pilots then plying their trade, caused the appointment of the Commission of Pilotage for the State of New Jersey, with power to examine and appoint men qualified to act as either full branch or deputy pilots for the Ports of Newark, Perth Amboy and the Harbor of New York by way of Sandy Hook. The first group of pilots to be appointed under this act consisted of Theophilus Beebe, a fisherman who was running a smack out of Fulton Market, New York ; Lyman Beebe, Clinton Beebe and James Chapman, all of whom were ap- pointed as full branch pilots and Nicholas Van Gelder, Robert Pease McKnight Smith and two others, who were made deputy pilots. These men used a small fishing smack, temporarily, until the State of New Jersey built them a more suitable craft and that boat, when completed, was the largest pilot boat ever placed in commis- sion ; too big, in fact, to be handled easily for the work she was expected to do. So in 1837, we find twenty-three pilots working at the Sandy Hook station, in four pilot boats. Three of the boats cruised about while the fourth remained as a "station boat" in close proximity to the lightship. It was necessary then, as it is now, to maintain such a "station boat" at the lightship in order to insure the bringing back ashore of pilots who have taken ships out of the harbor and who are "dropped" after the lightship is safely passed. Otherwise there would be no assurance that a pilot could be taken off the outgoing ship. Besides these twenty-three sturdy New Yorkers, nine faithful men of the sea went out in the boat built for them by the State of New Jersey, making a total representation at Sandy Hook of thirty-two pilots, with competition running strong since the advent of the Jerseyites. T7 \S\ — 6 — s c — 2 > s Z S. 2 c > «2 s z Q <5 o H 1X1 < i— i Q < C pq D &H CRUISING FS£ "« < : ' i ^^ SO 6 — 3j ~ ■♦*> r^ £ o cs •-3? — U ^H g Ph f*q « -*^ ^> u a "■—i su w DARING RESCUES PILOTS and sailors on board the pilot boat Walter Adams added laurels to the record of tbe Sandy Hook men when they took off the passengers and crew, as well as all their effects, from the British steamship Alvena, bound from New York for Haytien ports, when that vessel was run down and cut through by a big British freighter at the entrance of Gedney's Channel off Sandy Hook, on the afternoon of January 19, 1897. The Alvena had to be beached and her decks were submerged at high water, so that the need of getting her passengers and crew off was an urgent one. It was the same pilot boat that happened along at the opportune time to rescue the 150 fishermen excursionists from the stranded steamboat John E. Moore, on Romer Shoal, on Thanksgiving Day of the same year. The Moore had gone aground in a dense fog and quickly filled with water. It was, indeed, a true Thanksgiving Day for the fishermen who were saved from drowning by the Sandy Hook pilots on that occasion. There was wild confusion when the John E. Moore struck on south of Romer Shoal on Thanksgiving Day morning. The John E. Moore had been in the service of transferring immigrants from incoming steamers to Ellis Island, under contract with the various steamship lines and was, in every way, a staunch and seaworthy craft. In fact, after having been raised, following the accident of 1896, she continued in this immigration service and is still engaged in it to this day. The steamboat had left the Battery early in the morning, some- what delayed by the dense fog reported off Sandy Hook and which had also thrown a heavy mist over the inner harbor. All on board were veteran fishermen, amply equipped with fishing material and also with that which, in those pre-Volstead days, made a fishing excursion complete in its attractive allurements. The Moore, under Captain Morrell, a careful and experienced navigator, made her way slowly down the upper bay towards the Narrows, then picked her way gingerly through the Narrows into the lower bay, Captain Morrell having intended to run down inside the "Oil Spot" and make a short cut to the Fishing Banks. The tide was running in and the fact that he had little headway and nothing could be seen beyond a few feet from the pilot house caused the skipper to lose his reck- oning. Nobody on board anticipated disaster and there was a lot of merrymaking on the Moore amid the sombre blowing of her fog whistle and the ringing of bells on vessels that were hove to in the dense fog in the lower bay. — 31 — tH \J "0" ,r\. W -e-e- u "0" w V7 *W" W *0* jCX. ^cx -£X XX. A sudden shock came as the bottom of the steamboat scraped a hard surface, the lead was thrown over the side following a quick order from Captain Morrell, with the engine-room gong sounding the signal for full speed astern. Then came a hard, grinding noise and a sudden stop of the boat as every man on her was tumbled off his chair or bench or out of the bunks in which many of the fishermen had hidden for a little nap before getting at the work of fishing when the boat should reach the Banks. As the fishermen rushed out on deck they found the weather so thick that they could not see their hands before their faces. It was plain that the Moore was beginning to settle with the sea pouring over the sides of the excursion boat and into the open door of the fireroom. There were hoarse cries from below and a great cloud of steam rose from below, enveloping those running about or struggling with one another on the deck. The cry of "Fire" did not tend to make matters any better and a panic was soon in full swing. Where the majority of the passengers on the Moore might have remained safely on deck until rescued in the face of the slow settling of the steamer on the rocks, the cry of fire caused the majority to lose their heads entirely and several of the fishermen jumped over- board into the bay. There was a wild scramble for the life- preservers as the mate of the Moore reported, after a dash into the hold, that the steamboat was taking water rapidly. The life- preservers were torn from their chests and fastenings, causing many of them to be destroyed in the fights that ensued for their posses- sion by the maddened and panic-stricken excursionists. Some of the passengers rushed to the life-rafts and others got into the life-boats before they were unfastened and made ready for lowering. Captain Morrell did everything to stem the tide of panic, calling on the ex- cursionists to be men, but his words were wasted, although he assured all oh the deck that the Moore could sink only a few inches more and that there was no chance of her going beneath the surface. Some of the passengers were restored to reason by the coolness of Captain Morrell but those who had leaped overboard were in a bad way. Then those still on board moved to the stern in a body, caus- ing the Moore to settle further by the stern and a new panic seized those who had intended following Captain Morrell's advice and re- main quietly on deck. In a few moments the rail on the after deck was awash and only the Moore's bow remained out of water. Finally a life-boat was lowered and manned by the Moore's crew was sent for help and a dory also was put over safely with two officers who had orders to row to Sandy Hook and telegraph to New York for help. 32 , V \ / , V \f \ / w ,r\ ,r\ \l \ 1 ,r\ \1 W\ XJ A l \f XJ XJ SBJESaiafSEB While the telegraph instrument was ticking its call for assist- ance help came to the sorely-pressed complement on the Moore in the shape of the pilot boat No. 6, the Walter Adams. She was bound up the bay when the accident to the excursion boat occurred, having just been relieved from "station duty" and was bringing home the pilots who had been left aboard after a week's absence from home. Besides Captain Hennessey and his crew there were on board the Walter Adams : Pilots Clarence Nichols, Henry Seguine, Thomas Burritt, Edward Earl, N. A. Wall, George Cramer, James Sayles, William Ferry, Andrew Anderson and Frank van Pelt. The pilot boat was coming in slowly through the channel. When she was off the south end of Romer Shoals the fog suddenly lifted a bit and Captain Moore saw the Moore on the shoal. At the same time those on the Moore saw the pilot boat, with her identifying number, and gave a mighty cheer. Captain Hennessey headed his boat directly for the Moore and the pilots prepared for the work of rescue, clear- ing their life-boats as the Adams ran as close in to the wreck as possible. The life-boats on the Adams were lowered and manned by the pilots just as the two remaining life-boats on the Moore were lowered, with a mad rush on the part of the excursionists to get into them. Fights started as men fought for preference in getting into the life-boats and finally the life-boats were capsized when dozens of the fishermen jumped into the boats at once. When the first of the pilot boat's yawls arrived alongside the Moore sev- eral of those who had been struggling about in the water were fished out. Then, when the yawl came under the Moore's rail several of the excursionists prepared to jump into the pilot rescue craft. Pilot Wall kept his yawl back, saying that the pilots would save all hands provided the passengers kept their heads. As many as could com- fortably and safely be taken into the yawl were transferred to the Adams and then the yawl came back for another load, the two life- boats from the Adams alternating in the work of rescue. Seven to nine men were carried on each trip, so that the work of transferring the 150 excursionists and the crew of the Moore took several hours to accomplish. But it was done without accident, the last man to leave the ship with Captain Morrell and his mate, who had, in the meantime, returned from Sandy Hook in the Moore's yawl, being an accordeon player who had been engaged to furnish the music for the fishermen on their excursion and who kept playing "She may have seen better days," as the last of the rescued were taken off the Moore. As the player himself was being transferred into the rescue yawl he sang "Say au revoir but not good-bye." — 33 — 2 ^ c ^ "6 c -»> ^ CO >— ■ w /^ — - o X Q r --. x •— ^ *-^> K E H ^o JO fa oo C f-l in o ir, s~ C 5 >— I ^ \ / \ /' Ol t7 1 ., w \ / ,yc\ Fei ' 7 \ I \ I / ., On both occasions the pilots had come on the spot at the psy- chological moment, as they had, eleven years before, come upon the Oregon, wrecked within sight of land and when the pilots rescued seven hundred passengers and crew of that ill-fated steamship and brought them safely into the harbor on the valiant little Phantom which pilot boat, two years later, met her own doom in the great blizzard of 1888, with the loss of six of her brave company. William O. Inglis, a reporter on the New York World, vividly described, at the time, the terrors of that blizzard as experienced on a pilot boat, tense hours when the brave hearts who had saved the lives of so many of their fellows found themselves without rescuers and were either cast ashore or sent down into the dark waters during those fearsome days at sea. The Oregon disaster was peculiar in that a new, staunch and, at that time, modern steamship was run down and scuttled by a disreputable coal schooner. The Oregon, of the Cunard Line, was but two years old and had, during her brief career, broken several of the records for fast transatlantic traveling when she went to her doom off Fire Island in March, 1886. The catastrophe occurred before daybreak. Mortally hurt, the Oregon tried to make shoal water but began to sink before she could be beached. The pas- sengers put off in boats, in a turbulent sea, and would have fared badly but for the timely arrival of the Phantom, with its company of hardy pilots. Every inch of deck room on the little pilot boat was jammed full with disheartened passengers and crew of the ill- fated Oregon, who had reason to be thankful, however, for the alert- ness of the Sandy Hook pilots and the promptness with which the intrepid little Phantom could be maneuvred and brought to them as a rescue boat. That none were lost in this lamentable accident was due solely to the pilots, a fact that w r as fully attested at the time and which received the fullest recognition from shipping men and the government. Two other rescues stand out in the long list of sea disasters in which the Sandy Hook pilots were able to give succor to those who fell victims to the hazards of the sea. Old mariners still vividly recollect the work done by the pilot boat Edward Cooper when she came upon the Thingvalia liner Island, helpless with a lost rudder off the Grand Banks. The Island had a large passenger complement and a heavy sea was running. The pilots on the Edward Cooper went into quick consultation and it was decided that the only way in which they could assist the crippled liner was to have the Edward Cooper act as rudder for the Island. Steel cables were passed astern 35 r\ r\ /-\ -\ \_/-\ k> vv AA AA ry. rv VV W aa aa K> AA AA AA l 7 ^ u \J \J \J \J |w VV u \J W w w u V7 |w to the pilot boat, fastened to her bits, and then the journey to Sandy Hook was taken up, the Island proceeding under her own steam with the pilot boat tugging behind, acting as a sort of drag on her stern and thus making it possible for the Thingvalia liner to steer a definite and safe course. Likewise did the Jesse Carrl, cruising about well outside the Hook, come upon the German bark Erna when that sailing craft was on the point of foundering. Heavy seas were piling over her decks, which were made untenable by the shifting of her cargo, and the bark was in sore straits indeed. The pilots on the Carrl launched a yawl, got a line from the wallowing bark, and started to tow the unwieldy cripple towards Sandy Hook, a distance of some fifty miles. As the little pilot boat and her helpless charge were nearing the Hook a great sea suddenly struck the Erna and turned her over. It was then that quick work had to be done by the pilots, who put over two yawls and rescued the crew of the German ship, which became a total loss. The rescues effected by the pilots outside of their work as pilots were without number, and hundreds of fishermen, professional and amateur, owed their lives to the promptness and bravery of the men who, presumably, were stationed at Sandy Hook and beyond only for the very commercial purpose of piloting incoming ships into the harbor and piloting outwardbound ships safely past the treacherous shoal waters off Sandy Hook and inside the lower bay. rs <& — 36 s * !5 &3 &2 o — O > — * 5 > re ^ Be ** > bd a o THE TOLL IN THE SIXTIES MANY of the pilot fleet went ashore on the beaches of New Jersey and Long Island and as several were pulled off and re- placed in the service, it is difficult to enumerate the total of the vessels thus wrecked and abandoned since 1858. The Virginia went ashore near Rockaway shoals, in the dense fog in 1860. The Edwin Forrest was lost on Fire Island beach, in 1862, and the W. J. Romer struck a sunken wreck in 1863. The William Bell, as before related, was captured and burnt by the Confederate privateer Talla- hassee in 1864, and another pilot boat by the same name went ashore off Amagansett during a gale and snow storm, in 1867. The Fav- orite and the George Steers were wrecked in 1865. The period immediately following the close of the Civil War was quite as disastrous for the brave men of Sandy Hook as the earlier days, as far as the destruction of their craft and the loss of brave lives was concerned. Pilot boat upon pilot boat had to be built to replace those sent to the bottom either through the great gales that over- took the Sandy Hook men in the pursuit of their strenuous vocation or through accidents of navigation. In 1866, two days after Christmas, Pilot John Fredell boarded the brigantine Chris tiania to bring her into port when the sailing vessel Avas rammed and sunk by the outgoing steamer North Amer- ica, six miles east off Sandy Hook. All hands on the brigantine were lost and it was not until seven months after the fatality oc- curred that the fate of Pilot Fredell became known. The North America, returning from her cruise overseas on a visit to New York harbor, reported the accident. Those were the days without wire- less and, as there had been no other vessel in the vicinity when the crash between the North America and Christiania occurred, there was no way of communicating the news of the catastrophe to these shores. Twenty years before, in February, 1846, Thomas Freeborne. having boarded the ship John Minturn, went ashore with that vessel in a gale that came up when fourteen of the crew were frozen to death, as well as the New York pilot. Freeborne on that occasion is recorded as having given his coat to the wife of the captain of the Minturn, thus bringing about his own end in a most unselfish manner. On the highest hill in Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, N. Y., there stands a monument to Thomas Freeborne, erected by the citizens of Brooklyn of those days, as a testimonial to the self- sacrifice of this Sandy Hook pilot. The G. W. Blunt was lost on the Long Island shore about thirty miles from Sandy Hook lightvessel, in 1875. The Caprice, that had been raised after having been run down in the Narrows, foundered — 38 — -fV rw .. .. ^ ' "J V7 u 1 \J -■ ■-[■' > if -©> L I / . /-N , j L' J / vv 1 f\T u / V7 off Barnegat, in 1878. The \V. II. Aspinwall was lost in 1880, and tlii' Francis Perkins struck a wreck on Barneffat shoals in a gale and snow storm, in 1887. In the blizzard of March, 1888, the Phantom and the Enchantress were lost at sea and the W. II. Star- buck ran into the steamship Japanese — one of the few pilot boats to take the offensive in an accident — and was all but wrecked. The Edmund Blunt and the Edward F. Williams, as well as the W. W. Storey dragged their anchors and drifted ashore at Sandy Hook together with the Edward Cooper and the Centennial were aban- doned in the Horseshoe, after ice jams had sent them ashore during the blizzard of March, 1888. It was during the great blizzard that the pilot boats Enchantress and Phantom, both of which had done splendid work time and again in the saving of lives were lost and were never heard from again. The Enchantress had a narrow escape in 1884. That was talked about in the cabins for many a year. She was weathering a gale off the Highlands and was under a double-reefed mainsail and the head of the jib. While tacking near the shore she missed stays, became unmanageable and ran into the schooner Sarah & Lucy, that was anchored in the lee of the land. Believing that the pilot boat would sink, the two pilots and five men that were on board leaped to the deck of the schooner. At that minute the wind struck the pilot boat's mainsail, the sheet of which was fast, and she forged away from the schooner, headed out to sea and disappeared in the darkness without a soul on board. The next day the schooner brought the men to the city. The same day the skipper of the fishing schooner Daboll saw a strange vessel beat- ing about wildly approximately fifteen miles south of Squam. He ran down to her, recognized her and thought something serious had happened on board. He kept close to her until she ran into the wind, when he boarded her and brought her to the city. The dam- age to the Enchantress was slight and the pilots who had abandoned her were greatly surprised when they sighted her coming up the bav. — 39 «M ^ OS CO o *-i z o •Jl &* fc U+ — - O s 3j ^■^ ^H •** ^ < • 5 H w ^^» long after his dead mates had been buried before Dexter, unable to drive the harrowing sight of his drowning comrades from his memory, requested the Pilot Commissioners to accept his resignation. The disaster to the James Gordon Bennett is one of the most har- rowing in the annals of the New York pilot service. J. F. Hopkins, President of the New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Association, is still here to tell the story of this graphic occurrence. He swam around for several hours after the Hamburg boat had cut down the pilot boat, saw some of the luckless members of the pilot boat's crew drown under his very eyes, and was himself saved only because lie kept floating until finally picked up by a rescue boat that happened to go back to the actual spot of the disaster, although believing that the place of the collision and sinking was half a mile farther along because the Alene had carried the wreckage of the rammed James Gordon Bennett fully half a mile by the force of the blow and her own speed. Incidentally it might be recorded right here that Frank P. Van Pelt, President of the New York Sandy Hook Pilots Association, and chairman of the executive committee of the two combind asso- ciations, also went through a number of accidents and disasters, and had several perilous adventures during his pilot service. On the pilot boat Isaac Webb No. 8 he was shipwrecked on the Rhode Island coast, where the boat became a total loss. He was washed over- board from Columbia No. 8, being unconscious for four hours, and he was on the Enchantress when that pilot boat collided with a schooner off Sandy Hook. When the steamer Santiago struck and sank the pilot boat J. F. Loubat No. 16 Captain Van Pelt was one of those rescued with difficulty. The two presidents, therefore, hold their positions by reason of severe and strenuous duties, well per- formed, and both have the unqualified esteem of every New York and New Jersey pilot in the service today. — 41 — aa W ^6' -6- K* .r V7 *^ U AA AA AA AA -6- -6- -6- ^ ^ w ', / w w On tlie evening of September 29, 1901, Thomas F. Murphy, who had been a pilot since the late '50s, took his turn at the rail when the steamship Allianca came up near the lightvessel and stopped for a pilot. Murphy had complained that he was not feeling well, and some of his fellow pilots had urged him to get into a bunk and skip his turn on duty. But the veteran was obdurate and insisted that he would stick to the rules. He brought the Allianca to a safe anchor- age off Quarantine that same night, and then went to a stateroom for rest. He never left the ship alive, and the next morning his body was taken ashore and to his home in Brooklyn. Thomas Shields, for twenty-seven years a pilot, left the steam- ship Talisman outside of Sandy Hook and got safely into the yawl that was to take him on board the pilot boat New York on the afternoon of December 14, 1907. A stiff gale was blowing at the time, and the veteran navigator had been chilled to the bone on the bridge of the freight steamer which he had seen safely past the Hook. A sea filled the yawl, and a second sea capsized her as she was nearing the New York, which was lying to windward of the outgoing steamer. The three men in the yawl including Pilot Shields, with the two apprentices handling the oars, were thrown into the sea. All caught lines thrown to them from the New York except Shields, who was too much hampered by heavy clothing and the thorough chilling he had been subjected to on the Talisman's bridge, and who could not move to save himself. He was lost notwithstanding the superhuman efforts that were made to save him. Another who sacrificed his life in the course of his duty was James H. Van Pelt whose father, also a Sandy Hook pilot, had also been drowned on duty. James H. was a cousin of Frank P. Van Pelt, now President of the New York Sandy Hook Pilots Asso- ciation. The younger Van Pelt was struck on the head by the gun- wale of the yawl that was placing him on board a tank steamer on Sept 19, 1915, and was dead when his limp body was tenderly lifted back into the yawl. The fatality in his case happened just before dawn, and was due to the darkness that prevailed when the veteran attempted to board the incoming oil-carrier. T7 — 42 THE VOMER'S LONG VOYAGE IN THE annals of the piloting activities in New York Harbor there is probably no better illustration of the seaworthiness of the pilot boats used by the brave guides around Sandy Hook than the story of the trans-Atlantic voyage of the William J. Homer in Feb- ruary, 1846. There was a lot of excitement in New York just before February 6, of that year, when it became known that the Romer, a seventy-foot sail craft, was to set sail for Cork. The pilot boat, commanded by Captain James McGuire, as navigator; John R. Wilkes, mate; James Connor, second mate; both of them Sandy Hook pilots; Marshall Green, cook and steward; George Colton, James McLeslie and Edward Fryes, seamen; and James E. Johnson, boatkeeper and apprentice pilot, a cousin of Josiah Johnson, for many years a Sandy Hook pilot. There were two passengers on board the Romer, one of them an attache of the British Legation at Washington and the other a special agent of the State Depart- ment. Extracts from the log of this eventful voyage of the Romer form a prized souvenir among the records of the Sandy Hook pilots. Says the log : "February 6, 1846. As we passed out Sandy Hook the big packet ship Patrick Henry was just astern of us and we hoped we might beat her on the run across. The wind was strong N.N.W. "12th. Experienced our first setback in a strong easterly gale. Hove-to under a reefed main storm try-sail. Shipped a sea which carried the binnacle overboard. Blowing a hurricane and our chances on keeping afloat slim. Gale abated, wind shifted to west, made sail the third day. "18th. Shipped a heavy sea which tore away part of cockpit. Running before it with great danger of being 'pooped' or broach- ing to. Here is where the Patrick Henry is getting the better of us. "20th. Lay-to with a drag out, blowing a hurricane and a tre- mendous sea running. "22nd. Just before noon lashed the captain to the mainmast, where he succeeded in getting the sun for the first time in several days. Lat. 43.28 passed a bark under close reefs heading west. * "24th. While laying-to about 7 :30 P. M. a squall from the N.W. struck us and buried the little craft to the hatches. For a few minutes she hesitated to right or remain over. When she did right one big green sea enveloped her but she shook it off. A little later it moderated, and in wearing ship a heavy sea "pooped" her, nearly washing the man at the wheel overboard. Then she broached to and we thought that was the end of the Romer, but it wasn't to be. — 43 — W W ./~s W ^* tt -6- ^ ^ w "0* "0* "0" "0" "0" "0" ^ /^ !^ r\ ,r\. W W w w |w \J During this gale we lost our drag with sixty fathoms of hawser, the square-sail boom and yards and two pigs of iron attached. "27th. On the afternoon of this day the gale of three days subsided and with a fair wind cracking on we soon forgot past dangers, while the little craft skimmed the dark waters like a stormy petrel on our course to the eastward. "March 1. We passed and spoke the packet ship St. Patrick from Liverpool for New York, the second vessel seen on the passage. "4th. For the first time during the voyage a dry spot was visible on the deck. "6th. At 4:30 P. M. made the Skelly Rocks bearing N.N.E. dist. 18 miles and at 11 P. M. made Cape Clear light 16 miles distant. "7th. At 9 P. M. pilot boarded us. and took the Romer into the harbor of Cork, three days after the Patrick Henry arrived at Queenstown, after a voyage across the Atlantic that could not have been more tempestuous, but the Romer survived it." It is interesting to note that the valiant little pilot boat turned' about exactly six days after arriving at Cork and left that port on March 13, regardless of the ominous date, for New York. On the return she took the southern course, reducing her time of passage two days, making the distance from Cork to New York in exactly twenty-eight uneventful days. It was the Romer that blazed the way, 1846, for the larger and more famous America, in 1851. Both boats were built on pilot-boat models and the America, challenger for the cup that has remained with us ever since, was navigated by Captain "Dick" Brown, also an experienced Sandy Hooker. The Romer, after making her famous round trip, resumed her work as a pilot boat and continued in that capacity for many years. T7 Fel 44 <•} ft. s ft. s «0 Si i ft. ft Q t3 00 ■fe- Ci TO © - © o ft s ft- CO . s ■fc- ft- C > f 1 t" 1 O © <*) &. < ^ © o 1— 1 to © 3^ K .§ "e <5 4) 5 ^ ^ r-2 *H e GQ i^ — t— iH t- ^ o 5 | *-< ^ © k H V. *~ ^flq ?, ^ IP '-K, =: si * -* $£MERIC$£ S&tILE -rt ^ o FOU ( NDE c RI ( NG OF THE EDWARD COOPER 1[KE many another pilot boat the Edward Cooper No. 20, after j figuring in the work of salvage and rescue for some years, fell victim to the sea's fury. Her doom came, strangely enough, on a Christmas morning, a morning that was far from being one of "peace on earth" for the intrepid souls who were outside Sandy Hook in the course of their sworn duty on December 25, 1892. The Edward Cooper had been out a week, cruising far out to sea, waiting for incoming ships. A southwest gale had been raging all night when, at five o'clock in the morning, Pilots Thomas Marks and John Hammer decided that they had been lying to in the gale, on the starboard tack, long enough. They waited for the sea to moderate sufficiently so that they might wear around to the port tack. It was while they were trying to get into a more favorable posi- tion with the gale that the wind suddenly shifted to the northwest and when those on the Edward Cooper made frantic efforts to steady her and hold her to the gale a big sea came over the starboard quar- ter, with the trim pilot boat a practical submarine as the waters rushed over her deck. The main boom was carried away by the tre- mendous smash of the sea, breaking the mainmast off at the deck. The fallen stick was held to the boat by the steel cables that con- nected it with the forestay and in the great sea that was running, with the pilot boat out of all control, the task of lashing the broken mast and preventing it from doing further damage to the boat as well as endangering those on board, was no easy matter. All hands — there Mere nine men on the Edward Cooper, includ- ing the two pilots — worked like Trojans to hold the fallen mast in place, and then to wear around on the port tack, which would have eased the dismantled pilot boat and given those on board some measure of control. But the fallen mainmast broke away from its make-shift lashings and, swinging suddenly around, cut the foremast off ten feet from the deck. By dint of superhuman effort, their clothes encrusted in ice, as was the deck and every particle of wreckage of the broken masts and stays, those on the Edward Cooper finally succeeded in bringing the pilot boat around to the port tack and in clearing away some of the wreckage that was threatening every moment to swamp the Sandy Hook boat. First the thick layer of ice had to be chopped away, the ice forming almost as quickly as it was removed, and then the heavy timbers and rigging stays had to be cut through. This, with the deck so slippery that every moment the workers were at their task threatened death, was hard and desperate work. — 51 — T7 S ^ ^ W £\ \J \&\ E XT ^«6*^ e-e- ^ V7 Not one of the nine could make a move towards attracting at- tention of a passing vessel if, indeed, they could have attracted one, for snow was falling so heavily that all about the struggling pilot boat crew seemed to be an impenetrable fog. So the two pilots and the seven men of the Edward Cooper's crew labored at the wreckage, out of which they finally fashioned a drag, or a sort of sea anchor, which tended to hold the derelict little schooner more steadily in the heavy sea. Another danger that threatened the pilot boat's complement was the foundering of the little vessel by reason of the great hole that had been made in her deck, clean down to the keel, as the foremast came tumbling down. Everything was filled with salt water and quickly encrusted with ice. There was not a drop of water to drink on board that had not been contaminated by the sea and the same held good with the provisions. For two hours — the longest two hours in the life of Captain Marks, who is still on active pilot duty — those on the Edward Cooper strove to keep their craft afloat, hoping that some vessel might, after the storm subsided, come their way and effect a rescue. At the end of those two hours every man on board was at the point of collapse from exhaustion. None could move about except with the greatest difficulty, owing both to the chilling grip of their water- soaked clothes and the weight of the encrusting ice over their outer garments. Then, at seven o'clock, crime a sudden rift in the snowstorm. As the nine men looked up from their work of self-preservation on the Edward Cooper's deck, they saw not half a mile away, the steamship Marengo, a freighter, bound for England. Those on the Wilson Line vessel saw the Edward Cooper as quickly as those on the Edward Cooper sighted the Marengo. The Marengo's captain "spoke," the derelict pilot boat at once, setting his signals to show that he was preparing to come to the pilot boat's rescue without delay. Signalling as best they could, the pilots told the Marengo's commander, that the Edward Cooper's two life-boats were out of commission. One had been smashed completely while the other, the transfer yawl, had been cracked in several places by the seas that broke on deck and by the swinging about of the derelict masts. The Marengo lowered a life-boat with a volunteer crew which managed to get away and, after several hours' work, transferred seven of the Edward Cooper's company to the Wilson liner. Cap- tain Marks and a sailor were left on the Edward Cooper after the second and last trip of the Marengo's life-boat, when the snowstorm set in again as dense as ever and all sight of the Marengo from the — 52 — W tv* "Q" W Ol v/ R5R^RFI \7 to ' / ^ ' 7 pilot's boats deck and of the Edward Cooper from the bridge of the Marengo was lost. Pilot Marks feared that, before the Marengo's boat could make another trip and take him and his sailor companion off the Cooper, the pilot boat would founder, as she was settling lower and lower in the water. So he and the sailor plugged up the cracks in the dam- aged yawl as best they could with what offered at hand in the way of rags with which to do the plugging, and managed to get the damaged yawl away from the plunging wreck. First, however, they poured kerosene over a portion of the dismantled Cooper and set fire to her — a brave thing in itself for they were not then sure that the yawl would not be smashed against the wreck and make it nec- sary for them to cling longer to the derelict schooner. But the yawl got away safely and Marks and the sailor rowed as they had never rowed before and probably never will row again. Another rift in the storm and they were able to make their way to the Marengo, but it took nearly an hour of maneuvering before the yawl could be brought alongside the steamship without bringing her up with a smash that would send Pilot Marks and his companion to their doom. The two last survivors of the Edward Cooper had hardly gripped the rope ladder that hung over the Marengo's side when the cracked and crushed yawl they had used sank from sight, almost under their feet. It is characteristic of the pilot's viewpoint that the one out- standing feature, in the minds of the Edward Cooper's survivors, of this particular Christmas Day's frightful experience, was not the foundering of the Edward Cooper and the narrow escape from death of all of her company, but the fact that it was Christmas Day and that they did not miss their Christmas dinner! They enjoyed that meal on the Marengo, where they were honored guests, of course. To still further carry out their viewpoint of the whole affair, they told afterwards how they had been transferred one week later, on New Year's Day morning, to the tank steamer La Campagne, bound for New York, on which vessel they had their New Year's Day din- ner so that, notwithstanding the slight incident of Christmas morn- ing, they had not missed their holiday meals. It is this viewpoint that, perhaps, best illustrates the character of the Sandy Hook pilot. Dangers are nothing to him, narrow escapes may be discounted as much as you like, but the missing of a Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's dinner in the safety of his home or the safety of some vessel, be that a pilot boat or steamship, is something really worth being entered in life's log! — 53 — E-t X o e-H 55 I— I O i— i Eh *■* o PQ Eh q >— * VOICES FROM THE PAST TIME and again a voice speaks as if from the grave in the history of the Sandy Hook pilots and their splendid fleet of little sailers before the days of steam pilotage. In 1873 Abraham Jones, Josiah Johnson, Frank Penay and Louis Samson built the Edmund Blunt No. 2, which did her full share of the work of piloting during the intervening years between her launching and the great blizzard in 1888. Then she went ashore in the blinding snowstorm of March, that year, on the Long Island coast. Abraham Jones had been a pilot at Sandy Hook since 1851 and was in the ill-fated Columbia when that pilot craft was cut in two by a schooner in the late sixties. With Johnson, Penay and Samson, he built the Edmund Blunt and remained in her until his death in 1881. The Blunt, upon the advent of steam in the pilot service, was sold along with most of the other sail pilot boats. A few months ago Chauncev H. Jones, son of the former veteran Sandy Hook pilot, in making a pleasure trip to the West Indies, came upon the little craft upon which his father had cruised the waters outside of Sandv Hook. The former Edmund Blunt is now doing ferry duty between several of the smaller islands of the West Indies group, a motor having been placed in her since she was purchased out of the New York pilot service. She appeared as staunch as when the elder Jones sailed in her during the old piloting days and undoubtedly will, barring acci- dent, do long service in her foreign surroundings. Captain "Dick" Brown who, as is told elsewhere in this history, was picked from the roster of the Sandy Hook pilots to sail the yacht American to victory in the first cup challenge race at Cowes, received a fine pair of marine glasses from Queen Victoria about a week after the historic event in 1851, upon the occasion of a five- hour sail on the America enjoyed by the Queen, the late King Edward (then Prince of Wales) and a favorite lady-in-waiting to the Queen. This relic of the first America Cup race is the prop- erty of a New Yorker, R. A. L. Brackett, Captain Brown's son-in- law. The famous pilot who won the America cup for us used the glasses for a long time after his triumphant return from England, in his work as Sandy Hook pilot. After their retirement from pilot work the Sandy Hook pilots have seldom undertaken other activities, especially not activities on land. Old Nathan Wood, still alive and active today at eighty-six, made the cryptic remark to the writer that "a sailor can never make a good farmer." Old Mr. Wood tried it, so he knows. He Avent through all kinds of weather and all manner of accidents but was unable to stick to his job as pilot until he had done his full — 55 — XT XT XT & m XT ^, XJ >c\ XT XJ £\ XT ZZ, XJ ZZ XJ ZZ XJ zz XJ MM duty, i.e., to bring the vessel under his care safely into port or safely out of it. But when, upon his retirement, he essayed the role of rustic on a quiet farm near Rutherford, New Jersey, he found he could not do his work at all after making the acquaintance of some poisoned ivy on his hand. Disgustedly he turned from his bucolic labors with the remark : "Give me seaweed instead of this land stuff. Seaweed never poisoned anybody." Occasionally, the pilots would play, but not often. Their play would take the form of racing their swift and graceful vessels in regattas of their own or as entries in such events along the Atlantic Coast. So it was that the pilot boat T. S. Negus No. 1 won a notable victory over her competitors at the famous Cape May Regatta in 1873, one of the greatest local yacht racing events along our coast for schooners of the smaller class. XT — 56 — NATHAN WOOD One of the oldest pilots in years and in point of service when he retired in 1917 at the age of 82 WA > * g 5 Ed ^ O Eh. O ~~ ^ ^ — , v. * ^ Eh ft =: a-* •"* 5 /^ = ^ v T-i *> SOME ITEMS FROM THE LOg FROM the logs of the steam pilot boats New York and New Jer- sey (the latter since lost) are taken a few random records of assistance rendered from time to time by the pilots and their boats to vessels and crews while in distress within the Sandy Hook cruising grounds since the reorganization of the pilotage system on December 1, 1895. Many of these records deal with pilot boats other than the New York and the New Jersey, but the logs were trans- ferred to the newer boats when these were placed in commission. The pilot boat Joseph Pulitzer, for instance, rescued part of the crew and some of the passengers of the schooner Georgiana Young, who had abandoned their ship after it had stranded in an easterly gale, on Roamer Shoal, and who were adrift in an open dory in the lower bay. That was in July, 1897, and in the same month the pilot boat Alexander M. Lawrence rescued those on the Virginia sloop Fawn, of which rescue note is made in another part of this history. A bit of Spanish War history is included in the phlegmatic paragraph in the pilot boat New York's log relating to the visit of the Spanish cruiser Yiscaya to New York Harbor on February 20, 1898, which visit 'was intended by the Spaniards to duly impress Americans with the futility of going to war with Spain's mighty navy. "The Spanish cruiser Yiscaya," says the New York's log, "after being delayed outside the bar on account of thick weather, unable to proceed, was convoyed by pilot steamer New York in that the said New York proceeded ahead of the Yiscaya and successfully led her up to the Narrows, from where she proceeded unassisted to her anchorage." On September 21, of the same year, the New York "fell in with the brig Ora well to leeward off the Highlands, wind northeast, in- creasing. Put pilot aboard of her and towed said brig from her perilous position to windward, from where she could fetch to a safe anchorage." "February 26, 1899. Off Sandy Hook lightship, supplied Brit- ish steamship Fernfield, outward bound, with marine glasses" is an- other modest entry in the log of the New York and the next month the same pilot boat recorded that she had "assisted during the night the U. S. S. Clearwater through the Gedney Channel with the aid of our searchlight, the Gednev's lighted buoys being out." In April of the same year the New York's log records that it supplied the outgoing steamship Thomas Melville ' (British) with a sextant and on June 13, 1899, the New York records having taken on board from the pilot boat Hermann Oelrichs, the crew of the — 61 — ^ 1 \ ,1 \ / \ w T7 T7 17 F&1 T7 P3] H V7 Y7 \7 T7 German steamship Macedonia, which was sunk off Seabright, X. J., in collision with the steamship Hamilton and which crew had been rescued by the Oelrichs. The United States transport Meade got in trouble outside Sandy Hook on November 6, 1899, and one hundred passengers and crew- were taken off the transport and landed at Quarantine station by the New York. On the evening of February 1, 1901, an accident occurred on the British steamship Circassian Prince, outside Sandy Hook bar, whereby her chief engineer suffered the loss of an eye. The New York took off the Circassian Prince's captain as well as the injured engineer, conveyed them to Quarantine, where the engineer's injuries were dressed by the doctors, and then conveyed the two men back to the steamship outside the Hook, from where the Circassian Prince proceeded on her voyage. "At 1:35 P. M. (July 18, 1901) saw smoke issuing from the ship Commodore T. H. Allen," says the log of the New York. "We steamed alongside and found ship abandoned by her crew ; we put five pilots and one apprentice on board and took hawser to the ship which, in the meantime, had drifted ashore. When hawser parted we went alongside, at 2:45 P. M. and later pulled her off and an- chored her in Sandy Hook Bay, still burning. Pilot boat New York and several tugs kept pumping until 10:30 A. M. next day, when the fire was extinguished." The pilot boats Ambrose Snow and Washington effected two rescues on September 8 and September 16, 1903, respectively, when the crews of the naphtha launch Chief (eight men) and an unnamed sloop (two men and a woman) were taken on board in safety. The Chief had become disabled in the lower bay and the little sloop had dragged her anchor in Gravesend Bay, fouled the pilot boat when the Washington was trying to effect a rescue, and had been pounded to pieces against the Washington's side. Of much interest to those whose business or pleasure takes them to and fro past Sandy Hook is the significance attached to the odd and striking names by which many of the lightships, buoys, etc., are known. Among the several that are thus designated is the Scotland lightship, which was so named after the British steamship Scotland was wrecked after having been in collision with an American sailing ship, only part of whose crew was saved. After proceeding a little way into port, the Scotland sank in what is known as the Outer Middle. A lightship was placed over the wreck by the company that attempted and later did raise the sunken Britisher and when this was — 62 f \ J V < '-J \J u -e- tfte f \ 1 w J \ 1 /.\ / ., /z\ "0"U^O"U*3 j .. ,. . accomplished the lightship was removed. Shipping interests peti- tioned the government to re-establish the lightship ;it this point and so came into being the Scotland lightship, named after the steamer that was sunk at that point many long years ago. Likewise came about the naming of Quickstep Buoy, near the West Bank, in the Lower Bay of New York Harbor. Many of the thousands of com muters and excursionists who pass the buoy during each year prob- ably think that the danger signal was named after a popular form of dance, particularly in vogue years ago. As a matter of fact, the buoy commemorates the sinking of the American bark Quickstep, after being run down by a British steamer outward bound. After the wreck of the bark was removed, a bell-buoy was placed on the spot to mark a shoal that had formed there and it has ever since then been called the Quickstep Buoy. T7 — 68 « 2 |0h ^j .5 i-sj to ■*- <; *— ■ , m c °s r. i^. ^ w o < -c Oh to O £ 53 Z ^ § HH ^: l-J ~- '■-* Kj s to l-H S -S: Oh 5 a < Z < 53 4i to 5i a ~5 Bq p ■^ s to " c* -— ; — O L_ C5 nd being thus forced to enjoy a vacation at the expense of the steamship company owning the vessel on which he was an involuntary passenger was, even with its loss of time, not one of the most severe hardships the Sandy Hook pilot could experience. On the way over and back again, as well as the time spent in the foreign port between the arrival and departure, the Sandy Hook pilot was the honored guest on board. Both in the old days, when the pilots worked in independent groups and today, when they pool their earnings of the combined New York and New Jersey Pilots Associations, such an involuntary absence would bring no personal money loss to the absentee, except that, in the old days, the particular independent group to which the absentee belonged would have one man less to work for that particular group and would, therefore, stand to lose some pilotage business. Speaking of being carried across, reminds the writer of an in- teresting incident that befell Captain George Oldmixon wherein he narrowly missed a trip to Southampton as the involuntary guest of — 69 — jX\ XJ Fel w w V7 u -e-e-e-e-e-e-e- XJ £X XJ r\ XJ XJ XJ XJ A XJ \i5\ /-X XJ Captain Mills, commanding the S. S. Philadelphia of the American Line. On December 14, 1907, the same day that Theo. Shields lost his life as related elsewhere in this volume, Captain Oldmixon was tak- ing out the Philadelphia. A terrific southeast gale was blowing and the air was so filled with the driven snow that one could hardly see a boat's length ahead! except during those odd moments in a storm when everything seems to ease up for a spell to give the storm king a chance to get a fresh hold for a still fiercer blast. Going down Ambrose Channel the gale caught the ship so hard that great green seas repeatedly broke over her bows. It was one of the worst storms ever experienced off Sandy Hook. After getting his ship safely past the lightship out into the fairway of the sea, Captain Oldmixon began straining his eyes and sounding the ship's whistle for the New York — the pilot boat then on station duty — but in the thick weather he could not pick her up so after a time he resigned himself to an involuntary trip to Europe, and Captain Mills laid his course for England. A few miles further out, however, during one of the brief lulls in the storm, Captain Oldmixon sighted the New Jersey, a faint blur in the storm about half a mile to windward, which, un- known to him, was aiding the New York on station duty on account of the severity of the storm. Although the storm was still raging with unabated fury he ordered the Philadelphia hove to and signalled the New Jersey to take him off, much against the wishes and advice of Captain Mills, who told him it was suicidal to try it in such a storm. It proved to be quite a difficult matter for the New Jersey to maneuver into the proper position to effect the transfer but after a time the yawl put off from the pilot boat and safely reached the steamer's side. Donning a life preserver and fastening a quarter- mile heaving line about his waist at the earnest request of Captain Mills, Captain Oldmixon climbed over the ship's side into the bob- bing yawl and started for the New Jersey. After a half hour's nerve-straining battle with the waves the yawl's crew brought her, ice-covered and half-filled with water, safely under the New Jersey's lee. With a parting blast from the whistles of the two vessels, and a hearty hand-clasp from his shipmates aboard the New Jersey, an- other one of the many thrilling incidents in the life of a pilot was closed. fffl 70 — ^3 . | , O ^ •^ ^■H (*»** 1-^ £ C w- h— ^ w»» c H > s H (?H- «> pa — C5 n s re fto > a w ^* . s w is w -«" * © h- 1 § c a ^ ><; <-1- 1^* a ~i PILOTS AS COAST POLICE THE Sandy Hook Pilots became popularly known as the "coast police" through their efficient work in rescuing the crews of small craft and scows that had drifted out to sea. Just how many lives were saved in this way by the sturdy harbor mariners must be guessed at, for no complete record has ever been kept of the rescues. The items gathered and at hand are so numerous, however, that it would require many pages to chronicle them all in this brief history of the New York Harbor pilots. A notable instance of this sort was the rescue of the crew of the little Virginia sloop Fawn, which foundered off Sandy Hook lightvessel on July 15, 1897, during a heavy storm. The crew of the sloop had been in sore straits until rescued by the men of the pilot boat Alexander M. Lawrence, on board of which was Pilot Connor, who brought word of the rescue to New York. The Law- rence had been on station duty off the lightvessel when those on board sighted the Fawn, shortly after darkness had fallen. The weather was what sailormen call "dirty," with heavy squalls of wind and rain and a great sea running. Seeing that the sloop was in a bad way, the Lawrence ran up within hailing distance and found that the Fawn was leaking badly and that the crew stood in need of instant assistance. The pilot boat put out a yawl and ran a line to the sloop and then, falling away when the line had been made fast, started into the harbor with the Fawn in tow. The Lawrence had not gone far, however, before a cry came from the sloop that those on board believed their little craft to be sinking. The pilot boat was brought into the wind, and, at the same time, the line parted. The fact that the pilot boat's yawl had been kept ready for instant lowering made it possible for two of the brave men from the Lawrence to get into it and pull away to the rescue of those on the Fawn with- out loss of time. Quick as were those from the Lawrence, the Fawn sunk before the yawl could reach her. It was hard going for the tiny rescue boat, for the tremendous seas all but swamped the frail cockleshell. There were three in the Fawn's crew, including the captain. The trio were taken out of the water just in time and then, when the yawl's lantern was knocked over as one of the rescued was being pulled into the boat, those on the Lawrence thought that the yawl had swamped and promptly a second yawl was sent out from the pilot boat, after the first. For nearly an hour the second rescue boat cruised about in the dark and the gale until those in her heard a faint call from the first yawl and finally all hands were safely transferred to the deck of the Lawrence. — 72 — \ / T7 T7 iff EEl \ / / ■, T7 £\ \f i ., XJ ./ ., ■■ / / s / . YTtT'tT £\ As illustrative of the unselfishness of the pilot service the inci- dent of February 5, 1903, when a tank steamer got into trouble out- side the Hook, through a derangement of her machinery, may be included in this narrative. A tugboat was dickering with a barken- tine for a tow from the lightship to an anchorage within the harbor when the steam pilot boat New Jersey megaphoned to the tugboat captain that a tanker was outside waiting for a tow and showing signals that she was not under control. To tow such a steamer in port might mean, especially to the towing concern in question, heav} r salvage as well as big towing charges. The tug's captain promptly abandoned the barkentine for the more remunerative "prize" but was dismayed, upon reaching the disabled tanker outside Sandy Hook, to find that the steam pilot boat New York had passed a line to the oil-carrier and was towing her into the Hook. In answer to the tug captain's rather forcibly expressed objection to the pilot boat taking the tow, the pilots shouted back that the steamer had been found in distress and perish the thought that a Sandy Hook pilot should ignore that signal. "And we're not asking any pay for it, either!" came the semi-apologetic shout from the New York. Similarly was the case, although somewhat sadder from the fact that a man had met with grievous injury on board the ship in dis- tress, of the four-master Margaret, bound from Norfolk to Boston with a cargo of coal, handled by Pilot R. J. Waugh, from the steam pilot boat Sandy Hook. Mr. Waugh noticed a schooner at anchor outside Sandy Hook and, thinking she desired a pilot, went out to her in a yawl from the Sandy Hook. Instead, he found that the master of the schooner was hesitating at paying a very heavy tow- ing charge into New York or a proportionately good price for having one of his men transfered to a hospital at Staten Island on a tug boat, the man having had his arm torn off in an accident with the donkey engine on board the schooner. With the pilots there could be no question as to what should be done so Pilot Waugh took the injured man in the yawl, transferred him as quickly as possible to the Sandy Hook, left an emergency yawl at the lightship until he could steam with all haste to the Narrows with the Sandy Hook and have the injured sailor put ashore and sent to a Staten Island hospital. And it is needless to say there was no question of transfer charge or anything else of the sort figuring in the trans- action. On still another occasion a woman who had been misdirected by a New York taxicab driver and taken to the wrong pier where she boarded the steamer Stockholm, bound for Sweden, instead of the — 7.*5 ^ \$\ \7 Y7 ww'B"^ F5T w Y7 ^ United States, which was bound for Denmark, was taken off the Stockholm when the pilot left that ship off Sandy Hook, transferred to the steam pilot boat where she was kept until the outgoing United States should come up, where she was to be placed on board with her sister and little baby, who were going abroad with her. When the United States came out of the .Lower Bay she was halted by the pilot boat and preparations were made to place the woman on ^cfkf d ; y* of her when it was found that the- si4ter and baby had not, finally ,%j-i taken that steamer because of the absence of the member of.the*-^t party who had gone to the wrong ship. So the woman was again* 1'." placed on the pilot boat and brought to Staten Island that right^ She had no money and was a stranger in New York, so one o££tKe .^ pilots took her to his home where she was cared for until she could' : communicate with her sister. In the meantime the pilots had Triader \. up a small purse for the luckless lady and she was finally seft ,on„v. her way rejoicing. ..g ^ ^ 74 — ^ ft- g o* . *- > C c fc n «i re re 1 «5 H XS1 < BOAR {J H O W in H o >1 I Si «J in 6V. B5 FROM SAIL TO STEAM THE pilot service in New York Harbor was revolutionized when the old sailing boats were discarded and the modern steam pilot boat New York was placed in commission. First, however, the pilots used the Walter Adams and the Alaska, both of them fishing boats with steam power, which were chartered pending the construc- tion of the modern pilot boat New York and her expected consort, the New Jersey. The Walter Adams had a tonnage of 175 net and a length of 133 feet and the Alaska had a net tonnage of 121 with a length of 141 feet. The pilots also used the fishing steamer Trenton as an auxiliary cruiser. For a time several of the old-time sailing boats were kept in the service for emergency and cruising duty out- side Sandy Hook. With the placing of the New York in commission in 1897 the Adams and Alaska were returned to their owners and went back into the fishing trade. The New York was designed and modelled by A. Cary Smith for the New York Sandy Hook Pilots' Association and her launching was a great event in maritime history on the Atlantic coast. The new steamer was sponsored by Marie Morse, daughter of the president of the Harlan & Hollingsworth Company, that built the boat at Wilmington, Delaware. Among the large number of those present at the launching ceremonies, on March 18, 1897, was a large delegation of the New York and New Jersey pilots and members of their families. The New York carries sixteen pilots, besides a regular crew comprising a captain, three mates, three engineers, a steward, a cook, two waiters, four firemen and six sailors ; the captain, mates and sailors being pilot-appren- tices. It might be stated here that the last three years of the apprentice's services are devoted to the duties of watch officer (cap- tains or mates), with the pay slightly raised from the original twenty-five dollars monthly, during these last three years of the men's apprenticeship. The vessel is 154 feet in length over all, has a 28- foot beam, outside measurements, and a depth of 20 feet, with a mean draft of 13 feet when in seagoing trim. She is constructed wholly of steel and fitted with engines of 1000 indicated horsepower. The New York is a powerful vessel, a cutter under water and a life- boat above water, as well as being a magnificent steam yacht inside. She has two working boats, or yawls, which lie on deck, one on each side of the engine-room skylight, just abaft the extended iron deck- house, which contains the hoisting engines to lift them clear over the side and place them in the water, ready manned, in all sort of weather. As additional proof of the great efficiency of the pilot service today it must not be forgotten that the steam pilot boats New York and Sand} r Hook can put their yawls over the side and into the — 87 — mm u VJ zv XJ t7 jz± \nl XCT XJ XJ ^ T7 m \J \J / \ \J 1 \ \J 1 \ VI / \ VI 1 , \J V7 water, ready manned, in exactly five seconds, truly a wonderful ac- complishment in latter-day life-boat launching. These derrick booms, quite distinct, on the starboard and port sides, are attached to the mainmast. There are two other life-boats, hung on davits, one on each side of the funnel. Five sails are fitted — four boomless staysails and one jib — not for use as sails in the usual acceptance of the word but to steady the New York in the many different and ever-changing circumstances that such a vessel will encounter during her active service. Immediately forward of the New York's funnel, in the iron deckhouse, is the "galley" or kitchen. Then comes the officers'' mess and, ahead of this, directly beneath the pilot house, the captain's and mate's rooms. These quarters, by 'the way, are not surpassed in comfort and complete appointment by any officers' rooms on any ship of whatever kind or size. On top of the pilot house is a search-light, manipulated from within the pilot house and capable of being placed in any position. The after deckhouse, also of iron, contains a stairway leading down to the two saloons and four double berths for pilots. There is, besides, an excellent smoking room shelter. There is a three-foot passage on the starboard side of the New York, extend- ing the entire length of the boat, making means of communication from the galley to the saloons, forward and aft, and to the pilots' rooms easy in the roughest weather. These rooms, forward and aft, have two berths in each. The engineers' rooms are forward of the forward saloon, with quarters for the firemen adjoining. The rest of the crew are berthed in the forecastle. Luxurious baths are pro- vided on board the New York and the men have roomy lockers all through the vessel. VJ VJ — 88 — "* ~ 55 ^ -- to e s to iL ?P g £?o t: t* & "-^ i— < "ft-- 45 — 2 © b h— ~ <^ O <2 <-«i > GO s >. H =5 Gc -C s «- y, • a- 2. w t^j r^ .»«* rs -* --* -* SO © o 3 . i& N ► ~. ^ *^5 *~s •— w- -» 2 i= -* ~. 3 "S © >. <+-. SB *e k t-i O •«S> ft - ^ ~c: o -a N o . 5* o o X ^ '~ O Hi f-i i— i <3 C/J H Is* r O PQ £ *j H «:*>"£ O i-l ti § •> i— i P-, C J- as . & K^ "^ ht p the hipi/( fen THE SECOND STEAM PILOT 'BOAT WITH the New .Jersey (since sunk) the Sandy Hook pilots got their second modern steam pilot boat. She went in com- mission on November 12, 1902. The New York and the New .Jersey Pilots' Associations now having united, the New Jersey and her sister pilot boat, the New York, jointly took up the task of doing full pilot duty at the lightship at the entrance to the harbor, using several of the old sailing pilot boats only for emergency. The New Jersey was a staunch craft — a credit to her Tottenville builders, A. C. Brown & Sons. Her machinery was in- stalled by Alexander Miller and Brother, Jersey City. The New Jersey was as complete in her appointments as the New York and, in addition, was so constructed that she could be used as an ice-breaking ram during severe winter weather. She had a length of 157 feet over all, a beam of 28 feet and a depth of 18 feet 6 inches and drew 14 feet of water. She was, therefore, just a frac- tion larger than the New York, except in the matter of depth. It was on July 10, 1914, in a dense fog, that the steamship Manchoneal, a rakish little fruit carrier, rammed the New Jersey off Fairway whistling buoy, at the intersection of the old (Gedney) and the new (Ambrose) channels. All hands on board the New Jersey were saved but the splendid pilot boat was doomed to end her brief career at the bottom of the waters of the lower bay. She sank almost immediately after being cut down and those who had been on board — her full complement besides a dozen pilots — had little opportunity to save anything except their own lives. By a strange working of Fate, a man who has done a great deal, not only for the merchant marine of the United States, but who also figures in history as the father of our first modern battleships, was brought into the lives of the Sandy Hook pilots through the pur- chase, by the latter, of the steamer Sandy Hook, to replace the lost New Jersey. The Sandy Hook was built in 1902 at the Cres- cent Shipyards, Elizabeth, New Jersey, by Lewis Nixon, famed as the designer and constructor of the battleship Oregon and other fighting vessels of the American Navy. The Sandy Hook was built as the Antice, a magnificent steam yacht, of 361 gross tons, a length of 168 feet 6 inches, a beam of 24 feet 4 inches and a depth of 12 feet 6 inches. She has 1,000 indicated horsepower and is in every Avay a splendid vessel. The Antice later was renamed the Privateer and came under the ownership of R. A. C. Smith, one time Dock Commissioner of the City of New York, a man who has always had the interests of the Port of New York at heart, and by him was used as a private yacht. Mr. Smith, ever an enthusiastic friend of — 91 — _ _ \& tt ^ -e-e- r\ r\ \_/~\ - - r\ - ^1 ry _ _ \J w W u _ w ■_ \J\ W the Sandy Hook pilots, placed a merely nominal price on the Priva- teer — one that hardly covered the cost of hull and boilers of the beautiful craft. The Nixon boat came into the possession of the New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots' Association soon after the catastrophe to the New Jersey and was renamed Sandy Hook. Her appointments, as may be guessed by the former char- acter of the newest acquisition of the pilots' association, were quite as luxurious as her consort, the New York, for it is conceded that the great risks and continued hardships that the Sandy Hook pilots face entitle them to every possible comfort during the hours that they can consider themselves at leisure. It is fitting that Lewis Nixon, who gave to his country some of the finest fighting ships and some of the finest merchant ships through his expertness as naval architect and naval constructor, should have built the staunch boat which is now doing its share towards maintaining the safety of the harbor for the peaceful shipping of the world, even though he did not, when he built the yacht Anstice, dream that his product would ultimately come into the very serious and vital service in which the Sandy Hook is engaged to-day. There is a rattling good story told in connection with the build- ing of the Anstice. Her keel was laid down in the Nixon shipyards for the purpose of supplying quick transfer in the most modern of refrigerating steamers for the big hauls of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. The Anstice was, in every way, a superior vessel in the matter of speed and staunchness and, it was believed, would be able to transfer the red snapper hauls, from the sailing fishing schooners and bring them to American harbors without interference with the operations of the fishing fleet. Everything went well, in theory, until the Antsice appeared in the Gulf of Mexico. With signal flags flying in honor of her maiden voyage, the Nixon boat proudly approached the fishing fleet and came alongside the nearest fishing schooner, whose holds were full of freshly-caught red snapper. Upon the Anstice's captain telling the schooner's captain that he had come to take over the hold-full of fish so as to allow the schooner to continue her fishing operations without going to a harbor to dis- charge, the Anstice's skipper was told he might just as well go back to where he came from — or to a warmer zone if he preferred. "The crews of the fishing schooners," he was told, "have decided that they like to get ashore just as well as the crew of the Anstice and they propose to get ashore just as soon and as often as they get their holds filled with fish." So the theory of transferring fish from the fishing fleet to the shore in a refrigerating steamer did not work out in practice because of the eternal human desire for an occasional sight, at least, of home, sweet, home. — 92 — AUXILLIARY MOTOR PILOT BOAT TRENTON Formerly ihe fishing schooner Kernrcood. Purchased for pilot service in 1907 J. F. HOPKINS President of the New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots' Association PULLING TOGETHER Bv J. Culbeet Palmes. Counsel for both the New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots' Associations since organization in 1895. MUCH of the romance and more of the picturesque associated with the pilot service disappeared upon its reorganization and the substitution of steam for sailing vessels. Dangers and hazards aplenty remain ; intelligence, courage and resourceful- ness are essential as of yore; but many unnecessary risks, much useless hardship and constant delay and trouble, vexatious and burdensome to commerce, have been eliminated. In 1895 combina- tion and efficiency displaced competition and wasted energy. Prior to that time all the tight little schooners, of which there were thirty, were antagonists, and, as the pilot first speaking an incoming ship was entitled to the fees, rivalries among the various vessels w r ere intense and the spirit of emulation as well as the desire for gain frequently took the pilot boats half way across the Atlantic in their eagerness to be the first to tender service. While the schooners were staunch and seaworthy vessels, manned by stalwart and ex- perienced crews, the hazards and hardships of the business were great and were specially onerous to the pilots of advanced years and superior experience. Moreover, a great economic waste was in- volved in the method of carrying on the business then in vogue as the number of pilots and the cost of operating the competing vessels was out of all proportion to their total earnings. In addition, the inconvenience to the merchant marine was serious and entailed un- necessary expense upon the commerce of the port. Improvements to the existing system had long been discussed by the body of the pilots, but, owing to the complex source of their authority, some being subject to the jurisdiction of New York and others to that of New Jersey, and because of the conflict of vested interests arising from the undivided and fractional ownership of the many vessels, and also because of the different points of view of older and younger pilots, the division of interests between pilots owning all or part of a boat and the so-called journeymen having no pro- prietory interests, the occasional feelings of embittered rivalry be- tween the different boats' companies and the suspicion and ill-will at that time existing between the New Yorkers and the Jerseymen, dissensions had gradually developed that proved almost insuper- able obstacles to any reorganization. At length a joint committee, representing pilots of both states, was appointed with instructions to form a working plan and, after much discussion and the recon- ciliation or compromising of many conflicting interests, the existing — 95 — tnxt XJ ^x XJ XJ JI\ XJ £Z. XI /Zv XX T7 XJ £\ XJ e XJ /Z\ XJ 850830 # \J u W system was finally adopted. The scheme involved the creation of two organizations, one composed entirely of New York and the other entirely of New Jersey pilots ; a working agreement between such organizations ; the purchase and retirement of the sailing ves- sels, and the construction and equipment of suitable steam vessels to take their place. A large amount of capital was essential to the success of the enterprise and this was furnished by the pilots them- selves without recourse to outside interests. This radical change was brought about with very little alteration in the existing laws, either State or Federal, and without interference with the disci- plinary control of the Pilot Commissioners of the two Common- wealths. So harmoniously and equitably were the conflicting inter- ests adjusted and so efficiently has the business of the Associations been conducted that, for twenty-five years, there has been no dis- agreement between the organizations or their members which their governing committees have not been competent to adjust. Financial embarrassments have been avoided, discipline has been maintained, litigation has been eliminated, justice has prevailed, service has been vastly improved, and the successful operation of more than a quarter of a century has proved the firm foundation upon which the organ- ization was erected. The welfare of the pilots themselves has been increased, their Commissioners have welcomed the Associations as aids, and all the maritime interests of the port are united in ap- proval of the service, which is now generally recognized as the best and most efficient in the world. The beneficial results of compul- sory pilotage, under government regulation, but allowing the free play of private initiative, operation and control, has been demon- strated and the entire absence of complaint or criticism from any source is the highest evidence of the superior character of the pres- ent pilot service. The conditions arising from the war provided a severe test of the strength, solidarity and efficiency of the organization. The Fed- eral Government took over its control and it became obligatory to conform to many necessary but embarrassing and confusing regula- tions. The expense of operation increased enormously with the gen- eral inflation of prices, while the earnings were still conditioned on the statutory fees. Much confidential and unrequited but patriotic- work was done which can never be recognized formally and, through all, the machinery of the organization and the splendid spirit of its personnel remained unimpaired and the return from conditions of war to those of peace was accomplished without friction. How- ever, the end is not yet. While much has been accomplished, much remains to be done. One or more additional steamers must be con- 96 — rs & -6- -6- \ i ,r\. W /~\ u / \, Y7 -e-e-e-e-e-e- ^ J ., \ I XJ "6- structed when times become auspicious and various betterments and improvements must continually be provided in order that the serv- ice may retain in the future its present pre-eminence among the pilot organizations of the country. ^ Y7 — 97 « &, =>. Q o H 1X1 H fc., I -1 3 ^ # =C Go ©^ I— I O H «9 e • 2 ■ta ■♦a as O ©} ^.=* ^ 05 S O Sh 4) S-, v. o «9 e O *^ Bh a. s THE PILOTS' CLUB SHORTLY after the free-for-all system of piloting, which made each individual pilot hoat the headquarters of a small group of pilots who were partners in that particular boat, was changed and the pilots organized into an association under a pooling agree- ment, the 152 pilots — 104 New Yorkers and 48 New Jersey men — in the service at the beginning of 1896, inaugurated the first Pilots' Club with an active membership of ninety-four. The Club had rooms on the fourth floor of 24 State Street. The first president was Eben Turnure and the vice-president was William V. Germond; the sec- retary Thomas Connors ; the treasurer T. F. Murphy and the serg- eant-at-arms Jacob M. Heath. The first trustees were John Hobbs, M. Sullivan, M. Carr, T. Lennan, James O'Sullivan, R. Bigley, G. Waldie and M. Lyons. A few years later the club moved to the building adjoining it to the south, 21 State Street, and more recently the entire pilot organization, Pilot Commissioners, New York Pilots Association, New Jersey Pilots Association, the combined New York and New Jersey Sandy Hook Pilots Association, the benefit associa- tion of the other organization and the Pilots Club moved to the com- modious top floor of the Municipal Ferry Building, known as the Whitehall Terminal of the Staten Island ferries. In their new quarters the pilots have an unbroken view of the Upper Bay and the approaches to the North and East Rivers, a large and comfortable club room, billiard room, executive committee room and general assembly room. It is there that the historic library and collection of relics of the pilot service is kept and it is from this eyrie that the pilots set forth on their tours of duty, taking the ferry to St. George, there to board either the New York or the Sandy Hook for incoming duty, or going overland to the various piers to board ships outward-bound and which they are to see safely past the lightship at the harbor entrance, from which point they are brought home- again, via the New York or the Sandy Hook, as the case may be,, to the St. George landing after an absence from the city of any- where from one to five days. The present officers of the Pilots' Club are Joseph A. Murphy, president; Leo Oldmixon, vice-president; Edward Braun, Jr., sec- retary, and Henry W. Wood, treasurer. The club is entirely apart from the other organizations of the pilots and is purely a social affair. They maintain a lunch-room of their own in the club-rooms in the Municipal Ferry Building, on the same floor that houses the other departments and organizations of the pilots. A regular stew- ard serves refreshments to the men who are waiting a call to a ship or who are waiting for their turn to board the steam pilot boat and take up station duty at the lightship. — 99 — V7 EHESJESj V7 Ea V7 Me\ A T7 V7 V7 V7 A\ T7 T7 HS A\ T7 A\ V7 ZA V7 Among the books in the club's library are some real old-timers in the list of magazines and contemporaneous journals, from which much of the romantic as well as the commercial history of the Port of New York may be secured. The older pilots love to settle down in a corner of the club room and spend hours in reading about the days that were, that bring memories back of events in which many of them figured prominently. Paintings and old prints adorn the walls, these pictures showing various old ships and old pilot boats and, in a number of instances — as will be seen by glancing at certain of the illustrations in this volume — depicting the painter's conception of the valorous deeds that were done at sea in the pilot service. 100 — ^B % j&^A ^^BB ":- ':■■ ■W^^' U ' i ™ J< ^§»i« l . ..,, t ■ ■El < Qk 4 l flfl Kr P ^ - ¥ •'" ifc-i W KJ: * A PILOT CLIMBING ABOARD THE SANDY HOOK AFTER BEING TAKEN OFF AN OUT-GOING VESSEL COMMISSION CONTROL AS has been said before in this history, the New Jersey Pilot /-\ Commissioners were the result of an act passed by the New Jersey Legislature April 17, 1816, and the New York Pilot Commissioners came into being through an act of the New York Legislature passed seven years later. In both instances the Pilot Commissioners form a supervising body over the New York and New Jersey pilots, regulating the licensing of pilots, the work of the pilot boats and the fees for pilotage. Both the New York and New Jersey Pilot Associations work in harmony with these commissioners. The New Jersey commissioners, of whom there are six, are appointed by the Governor, each for a term of three years. The New York commissioners, of whom there are five, are appointed in a different manner, although their powers and authority are on a par with those of New Jersey. Their terms are for two years each and three are appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of the City of New York and the other two by the Board of Marine Insurance Underwriters. The commissioners of both states are men of the highest standing in their respective communi- ties, who have the welfare of the Port of New York, both from the New York and the New Jersey standpoint, thoroughly at heart. The present New York commissioners are Marcus H. Tracy, president ; Arthur M. Smith and Joseph Morrell, appointed by the Chamber of Commerce, and George L. Norton and Melville M. Crockett, appointed by the Board of Underwriters. The present New Jersey commissioners are Benjamin Van Note, president; William Cox, Alfred Devlin, Thomas Goldingay, S. D. Haley and John Predmore. The New York and New Jersey pilots each have their own or- ganization, with their own officers. The New Jersey organization has for its President, J. F. Hopkins; Secretary, W. S. Devereux. The New York organization has Frank P. Van Pelt as President and H. Arnold as Secretary. These four men, together with New Jersey pilots, G. Oldmixon and J. E. McCarthy, and New York pilots, R. J. Waugh and A. Anderson, form an Executive Committee of eight representing both the New York and the New Jersey pilot associa- tions, with Captain Van Pelt as the chairman at present of this Executive Committee. Much comment has been raised at times over the question of compulsory pilotage and the question has had opposition brought to bear against it in an effort to make pilotage a matter of choice with sea captains. To the uninitiated it would seem, perhaps, that the master of a vessel capable of running his ship across the At- lantic Ocean between New York and a European port, for instance, — 102 — \/ \ / \ / ^ m \&\ to" M to- \J I \J would not need the assistance of a harbor pilot to bring his ship safely past Sandy Hook and into the Narrows. Many a navigator gets his license "for the Atlantic and all Atlantic ports" and would — again to the uninitiated — seem to he covered for the Port of New York as well as for deep water out in the Atlantic. Conditions in a harbor continually change, however, and a month's, even a three weeks' absence, makes a great difference in the channels at various times. That is one reason for there being a compulsory pilotage system but still another and a vastly more im- portant one is that, should there be no compulsory pilotage there would be no inducement for pilots to spend their days off Sandy Hook if their services should be taken in the case of storms, or other emergency, when the need of an expert harbor pilot becomes a necessity to the navigator of a vessel, just as a consultation with another expert physician becomes necessary to the attending phy- sician in a grave emergency. Coastwise shipping is not subject to compulsory pilotage, for trans-ocean shipping in the harbor of New York is heavy enough to provide sufficient revenue for the upkeep of an efficient pilotage force in the biggest American port. In some Southern ports there is compulsory pilotage for all shipping, coastwise and other ship- ping, for the reason that, unless all shipping were included, there would not be enough compulsory pilots to provide the funds neces- sary to keep the pilots on the job for every emergency. A port without compulsory pilotage would be subject to the whim of the navigator of the ship who might be incapable of bringing his ship safely through the harbor channels yet might believe that he was capable, thereby causing accident and interruption to navigation through his stubborn refusal to take on a pilot absolutely familiar with every danger point in the harbor. It need only be said that any New York or Sandy Hook pilot could bring a ship through Sandy Hook and the Narrows into the Port of New York even though every buoy and danger mark were removed from its an- chorage, something that no other navigator could do, no matter how expert in handling his vessel on long voyages. It was Michael Murphy, Sandy Hook pilot, who was sent to England to bring back the then seventh wonder of the world, the famous Great Eastern — not to pilot her across the ocean but to study the greatest ship of her day during the transatlantic voyage and be prepared to guide her safely past Sandy Hook and through the Narrows upon her arrival here on her maiden trip from England. It was an American Admiral who praised, without stint, the admirable handling of the great convoys of troop and merchant* — 103 — XJ Q^>*^ XJ XJ ^x XT zx XJ xfx^xfxxf £\ XJ XT if t \ w \J XI JZ\ XJ XJ M \J \J ships — but especially the ships on which our boys went overseas to help put a quietus on the World War — by the Sandy Hook pilots. It was during this war-time activity that the Sandy Hook pilots, in a period of nineteen months, handled 22,000 vessels without a single accident or an error of judgment and during one single Sun- day, in three and one-half hours, sixty-nine ships were safely handled by the pilots without anything happening to mar their safe transit through the unmarked channels of the Port of New York. Before the World War the movement of shipping in New York harbor was largely foreign, American ships being, for the most part, restricted to coastwise vessels. During the World War the work of piloting ships, while reduced from a merchant marine standpoint because of the tremendous losses in ships on the high seas and abroad through the acts of the enemy, was vastly increased by the great numbers of transports that were continually being sent over- seas to accommodate the legions of American fighters bound for France. When the war ended the amount of shipping of all kinds, including the returning transports at the beginning of the home- ward movement of troops, taxed the efforts of the Sandy Hook men to the utmost and since then the merchant marine fleets, now aug- mented by the thousands upon thousands of tons of American mer- chant shipping from every section of the universe, has kept the pilots busy as they seldom were before in the history of their pro- fession. Had there been no compulsory pilotage in New York harbor there could not possibly have been the same absence of disaster in the port during the past two decades that has marked local naviga- tion in that time. It is much more true to-day than it ever was before and those who know the difficulties of navigation and who do not look at the question without having weighed the facts are agreed that Congress did a wise thing when, under the guiding hand of the late Amos J. Cummings, it refused to pass an act repealing the present compulsory pilotage laws. There is a good story told of a British tank steamer that was ready to leave Baltimore one dark and dirty night when the harbor pilot refused to take her out before daylight, considering it a needless risk. The tramp steamer's captain refused to lose some ten hours and so started out without a pilot. The steamer got out and across the Atlantic without mishap and the Baltimore pilot was suspended because of his refusal to take the ship out of the harbor. But after her cargo had been discharged in London and part of a new cargo taken on board — enough to stiffen her — the tramp steamer's engineer proceeded to pump out her ballast tanks 101 ^ -6- W W u "u" w y u y ■„ u-' ■•. y >, .■' > y ■ y w ir ft -6- ^1-6- to see that they were perfectly dry. He pumped and pumped and kept it up for three hours, after which he found the tanks to be still full. He continued to pump all day and all night and still the tanks remained full, notwithstanding the continual flow of water through the pumps. Then the steamer was put in dry dock to solve the mystery and the discovery was made that she had several holes in her bottom and had simply been floating on her tank tops. The captain of the tramp then had a faint recollection that his ship had "scratched gravel" in Hampton Roads on the night that he essayed to take her out without the aid of an experienced harbor pilot, but he had said nothing of it in his log. The underwriters allowed that, instead of gravel, he must have run his ship over about three acres of rock, missing disaster by probably the fraction of an inch and that it was mere dumb luck that the tank tops held out through the transatlantic passage. It is not recorded whether the luckless Baltimore pilot was finally exonerated from blame for his refusal to take the steamer out under the circumstances. K5I y~A_ T7 — 105 - a "■« ^ ^ -* -» 2 § ? •*- g ^2 to ^ ^ cc to tu ^•~^ 8>j < > H E u c „ ~~1 to -2 -= o to CO S Q QJ to r-Sg -O to -^ to as o "T3 to S. Q k to o 5^3 +- ft < H in to "2 ■* i o * i rv p3 IS "2 to S Q &. 1 8 to « cc g to 5Ji to "a ^ S to PILOTS, "BOATS, HARBORS ANT> HIGH LIGHTS By R. A. C. Smith PILOTS, pilot boats and the Port of New York have been inter- esting facets on the general facade in my life and as long as I am conscious and able to get around I shall be interested in not only the Port of New York, but one of the very vital parts of it which exists in pilots as an institution and as men. My parents had sent me to school in London, England, where I was supposed to learn all the things one could know about account- ing and the business of over-seas development. The price of enter- tainment in London in those days was not excessively high but whatever the elevation it was beyond my particular purse and I had to provide my own entertainment. The fates led me to the acquain- tance of an artist and a studio where panoramas were painted. The artist needing a boy about my size allowed me to come around after school hours and boil the glue, mix the color, wash the brushes and turn the roll on which the panorama was being rolled up after a section of it had been painted. And the picture ! Nothing will ever eradicate from my memory that picture. It was considered by the artist his masterpiece. He had named it "The El Dorado." It was the story of a family of the Old World leaving for America. The part of it that lives most vividly in my memory was the steamer on which the family had successfully crossed the Atlantic at the point when it was being hailed by a pilot boat. Then the Lower Bay, and as a grand finale "Castle Garden" shown first by night and then by day, and the transfer of the fortune seekers from the steamer to "Castle Garden" and from there out to the conveyances that were to take them to transportation for the West and South. The final picture showed them in the new country prosperous, happy and all that sort of thing, but the picture of the pilot boat and "Castle Garden" were the particularly impressive things to me. By the time the artist had reached "Castle Garden" in the creation of the picture, I had become so enthusiastic over the developing masterpiece and had boiled the glue so well and kept the brushes so clean that he allowed me "to get into the picture" so to speak. In making the night effect around "Castle Garden" it was necessary to have sparkles on the waves in the water, made by moonlight reflection in nature and in the panorama made by lights behind slits in the canvas. I was the author of the slits. With a sharp knife I was allowed to cut out the spaces in the high lights in the waves of the water by which the effect was to be produced. I am not sure whether the impression of this picture was the inspira- tion, but I am sure it made my determination to go to New York. — 107 — V7 £X U\ XJ XJ ^=1 V7 XT a eg XJ ezez r/ XJ XJ XJ /A V7 XT XJ ffl xx XJ When I came to New York I came on the last of the side-wheel steamers from Havana and it was called the "Morro Castle," then owned by the Atlantic Mail Steamship Company, which was then passing out as a power in coast trade service. For a long time before we reached the water adjacent to New York I spent all my time at the forward rail looking for the pilot boat with the memory of my days on the paint bridge and the picture in the artist's studio where the panorama had been painted. After a while it seemed to me as though the pilot boat had missed us or that we had missed New York and we were going to sail on for- ever, but one pleasant morning there came rapidly up out of the horizon on a snappy north-east blow pilot boat No. 7. From the time that No. 7 came alongside until the pilot was aboard no action escaped my interested scrutiny. When the pilot came aboard I made it my business to become acquainted with him and we were friends for many years. It was a good augury, because I have been friends for many years with a great many pilots and in the days when my business took me to Cuba on frequent trips, I saw more and more of what an important part the pilot plays in the life of those that go to sea. Those were the days when pools were made as to whether the number of the pilot boat that reached us first would be odd or even, and I have seen some considerable sums change hands. It is perhaps not too much to state that when Mayor Gaynor appointed me to the Dock Department as Commissioner, I could not refrain from smiling at the curious things that fate does to us and of the peculiar coincidences that affect our lives and over which we seemingly do not have the slightest thing to say. The first day I went to the Dock Department on Pier A I looked out over the water across to the Aquarium, which still has all of the architec- tural appearance it had when it was known as "Castle Garden," and let the pressing business of the moment wait for just a few minutes while I ruminated on what seemed a specially curious se- quence of periods having to do with the Port of New York and pilots from the day when I put the high lights on the water of the Harbor on the panorama canvas to the then present time when as Dock Commissioner I was to put 50 or 60 million dollars worth of structures around the Harbor to bring it up to some of the efficiency required. xx T7 108 ^ o s O > W c+» C- W O Si H > © H *^ > *-• <* ^ 1— 1 > ^ Hi t% ^5 1— 1 a 00 09 AA AA V7 w IV XJ \J XI \J extension — all day long of every day in the week, and huge car floats bring to or take away from the military reservation long strings of filled or empty freight ears, with huge locomotives puffing over the twenty miles of tracks on the island, where formerly a ten-minute gallop on horse-back sufficed to cover the entire circuit of the re- servation for the army officers stationed there. There is a good story in connection with the Governor's Island improvement that ought to go down in history. Before a single foundation stone was laid for the new sea wall of the larger island, bids were asked for establishing and maintaining a light at the south- ern-most end of the proposed extension, "with a vessel anchored at the point." The successful bidder received, it has been said on good authority, ten dollars per day for providing "a vessel at an- chor" — besides pay for the services of a watchman at all hours on board the vessel. It has been told and never denied that the suc- cessful bider paid one hundred dollars for a little schooner and had her towed out to the point where the light was to be maintained. At high water the little schooner was maneuvered directly over the shoal, with some difficulty, settling down gracefully on the rocks at low water, and from that day until her presence was no longer nec- essary, about five years in all, she drew ten dollars a day for her lucky owner. When time came to remove the "vessel at anchor" they picked the loose boards and beams and loaded them on a float, for the schooner would have crumbled into pieces had a tow-line been fastened to her. Some eighteen hundred days at ten dollars per diem seems a fair return for an initial and total investment of something less than two hundred dollars. Thus we have shown that, besides offering the greatest natural shelter of any port in the world, the most extensive dock facilities, anchorage facilities and harbor transfer facilities, the Port of New York also may boast one of the greatest harbor-island military bases, one of the show spots, surely, of the port, and one of the most important harbor improvements ever undertaken. There are still greater improvements contemplated for New York Harbor, chief among which is the belt line elevated structure which, it is planned, will provide a continuous freight route touching at every pier along the Hudson and East Rivers, obviating the present necessity of rehandling freight to and from shipping, which is grow- ing in volume every year. Such a plan would do away with much of the harbor congestion in that the cumbersome freight-car floats would no longer be needed to transport freight cars from one section of the port to another between railroad terminals and the steamship piers. 122 — U . ., \ / t7 ^1 T7 g^SS^HS^SS / ., ' / ^ "■/ No outline of the Port of New York is complete without a men- tion of the fishing fleet, ;i most formidable adjunct to the port's com- mercial importance. Of course fishing is not done on the same pic- turesque lines — from out of New York harbor — as it was done in former years; but there is still considerable activity in the famous Fulton Fish Market, which has held its place at the same location through all the years and through the various periods of moderniz- ing. This applies equally well to the fisher folk as to the vessels they use in their trade and the manner in which they dispose of their wares. The advent of cold storage has taken much of the quaintness out of Fulton Market but every now and then there is a report of an old-time race between rival fishermen and the arrival of the swift, clean-cut although smelly fishing boats is always a matter of excite- ment and speculation along the East River water front. There has been rapid and splendid improvement in steamship piers during the last ten years. The advent of the Mauretania and Lusitania made the change of pier facilities imperative and the arrival of the Lusitania, the pioneer giantess of the seas, at the newly constructed Chelsea piers, then still uncovered, was an event that drew hundreds of thousands of persons to the section of Man- hattan just above Gansevoort Market. Before those days the ships of the Cunard Line, like those of the White Star Line, berthed just below Gansevoort Market, the piers now occupied by the Southern Pacific Company. The French Line used an old pier structure at the foot of Morton Street, while the American Line had its New York Terminal at the old piers at the foot of Cortland Street. The structure and roof of the old French Line pier was the original roof of Mechanics Hall of the Centennial Exposition and was brought over from Philadelphia in 1876 and placed over the open Morton Street pier. The historic pier structure was removed when the French Line moved to the new Chelsea pier and floated down the Hudson River to a junk yard. The sight of the historic pier being towed to a South Brooklyn "graveyard," where old ships and marine junk are gathered prior to being made over into salable parts, was one of the events in the harbor the day the old Mechanics Hall roof came drifting around the Battery on her way to the Brooklyn shore. In a resume of the statistical history of the Port of New York, former Collector of the Port, Byron R. Newton, brought some in- teresting figures showing the growth of commerce in New York viewed from a shipping standpoint. Including the coastwise trade, said Mr. Newton some time ago, the commerce of the Port of New York amounts annually to the enormous figure of more than — 123 A\ T7 A XJ j£\ XJ A\ V7 AX XJ _/-\ XJ JZ\ XJ mw A XJ XJ XJ "6**6* r\ r\ J \ \J \J \J / \ \J \J % five billions of dollars and the more interesting thing is that, so far as human vision can reach, the Port of New York has just be- gun to grow. Ordinary statistics are uninteresting but the statistics of the port of New York tell a story of magical growth. In the year 1850, Mr. Newton points out, the foreign commerce of the port of New York, imports and exports, amounted to $163,336,313. In the year 1917 — sixty-seven years later — the foreign commerce of the port amounted to $-1,391,318,859, an increase of nearly four and a half billions, or a growth of 2,700 per cent in sixty-seven years. In 1850 the port of New York transacted 19 per cent of the import and export trade of the United States ; in 1917 it trans- acted 50.2 per cent, showing through the interim of sixty-seven years a marvelous development and growth, during which time many other ports of foreign trade were established in this country. The port of New York has not only maintained its proportionate stand- ard of commerce in 1850, but has made an advance. It will thus be seen that through this one gateway of the hemisphere on the At- lantic seaboard there passes each year more than one-half the for- eign commerce of the country. While the commerce of most of the other ports of the world has materially diminished during the period of the world war the commerce of the port of New York has steadily grown, as will be seen by the following table of imports and exports of merchandise at the customs district of New York during the fiscal years from 1912 to 1920, inclusive: Year Imports 1912 $ 975,744,320 1913 1,048,329,629 1914 1,040,380,526 1915 931,011,058 1916 1,191,865,982 1917 1,338,199,355 1918 1,251,386,373 1919 1,443,504,899 1920 2,892,621,089 The above table not < Exports $ 817,945,803 917,935,988 864,546,338 1,193,581,088 2,332,286,213 3,053,119,504 2,613,048,763 3,204,992,419 Total $1,793,690,123 1,966,265,617 1,904,926,864 2,124,592,146 3,524,152,195 4,391,318,859 3,864,435,136 4,638,497,318 6,176,494,431 3,283,873,342 not only shows the remarkable growth of the commerce of the Port of New York at the end of the fiscal year of 1920 but taking in consideration that the total imports of the entire country during 1920 were $5,278,481,490 and the total exports of the country were $8,080,480,821 during the same fiscal year, shows that the Port of New York's imports during that year were 54.8% of the total imports of the entire United States and the exports 39.91^ of the country's total. If anything were needed — 124 — ^1 A \ \ I 1 \ *u / \, \ ! T7 \f fx. \ I J L \ / ^\ ' I J .. tr^ -{ , m ^ £\ ' / ^TO to show the pre-eminence of New York as a commercial port these figures furnish the indisputable proof. Nature's architect and development of the world's commerce have made the port of New York what it is, and these same factors will perpetuate and enlarge its importance as the commercial centre of the world. It is the natural, convenient and practical gateway to the great storehouse of the world today. Figures covering the entrance and departure of vessels from the various world ports for the year 1920 are not available, with a few exceptions, at this time, but it may be pointed out that the comparison between New York and Antwerp, one of the important ports of Europe, show which way the "wind blows" in the matter of shipping supremacy. During 1920 -15,637 vessels, aggregating 64,104,035 tons, entered and cleared United States ports, of which total 5,283 vessels entered and cleared from the Port of New York. If it is taken into consideration that there are twenty-six customs districts in the United States, of which the Port of New York forms one district, New York assumed the responsibility of nearly 10% of the total ship movements of the entire United States out of twenty-six customs districts. Of the total of 61,101,035 tons that moved in and out of the United States customs districts, the Port of New York moved a total of 17,101,188 tons, or between one- third and one-fourth of the total tonnage of shipping for the entire United States. As against the 61,101,035 tons of shipping that moved in and out of the Port of New York during 1920, but 20,- 703.000 tons of shipping moved in and out of the port of Antwerp during the same year and but 10,896,694 tons moved in and out of the port of Marseilles, another very active world port, during the same period. New York, therefore, safely holds its place as the greatest com- mercial port of the world and it is to the business men of New York, the shipping men of New York, the marine insurance men of New York and to all those who have contributed in any way to advanc- ing the port's interests as the greatest world harbor that credit should be given for this great commercial supremacy. It is in that spirit and the belief that any work purporting to portray the de- velopment of our Port would be sadly incomplete without fitting reference to the individual business interests which have been such vital factors in its growth, that the Sandy Hook Pilots have deemed it a pleasure to include in their book brief articles of interest re- garding such concerns which, in many cases, will be found of very great historical value. — 125 — R. A. C. SMITH Dock Commissioner of the City of New York during the administration of Mayor Gay nor PORT FACILITIES NO PORT in the world perhaps lias developed to so great proportions in such a short period as has the Port of New York. Commenting on its phenomenal growth and its great facilities, Former Dock Commissioner K. A. C. Smith has to say: "I shall always consider it a very great privilege to have repre- sented the City of New York in its port administration before and during part of the Great War. I came to the dock commissioner- ship after a lifetime spent in close touch with maritime affairs, and a full realization of the magnitude of the task of operating the greatest port in the world. It was not, however, until the actual outbreak of the war that the port was called upon to carry a bur- den which it was never designed to bear. How splendidly its facili- ties met the nation's need is now a matter of history. Federal, State and City authorities all worked in the utmost harmony. "The orderly building up of the port for commercial needs did not stop during the war. In the four and one-half years of my commissionership, over seven and one-half miles of new commercial wharfage space was provided, including immense freight piers in South Brooklyn, and the finest passenger pier in the world on the North River at 44th street, Manhattan, the first of a series of piers which the City must eventually construct. These structures were planned under my administration before the World War, and were built during those critical days because the officials were big enough to see that the Port of New York was bound to go forward and that it must be kept the premier port of the world. "The piers which were built served splendidly the purposes, help- ing out the army and navy by supplementing the Hoboken piers of the former German liners, which were used as the port of em- barkation. "Much has been said of the lack of organization of the port of New Y r ork — its congestion and the difficulty and expense w T ith which business is done in this harbor. There is undoubtedly some truth in these criticisms and complaints ; but that New York is the worst organized port in the world, as is so frequently stated, is very far from the truth. Many of the criticisms leveled at the Port are dictated from ignorance as to actual conditions and the underlying reasons for certain shipping practices which perhaps appear crude to the superficial onlooker. The Port undoubtedly suffers from lack of continuity of administration. The practically automatic changing of commissioners every four years does not make for efficiency ; and it is difficult to secure competent men willing to make the great personal sacrifice involved in accepting the office of dock commissioner. — 127 — XJ XJ ^ <£\ XJ ^-\ XJ £V XJ ZA, V7 ^R^ /Z\ XJ /Z\ V7 a-. XJ /I\ XJ XJ \xjW\ XJ "Whether the plan recently adopted of an interstate commis- sion will work out successfully remains to be seen. Much depends upon whether the development and management of the port is approached with a practical appreciation of its necessities. All of those sincerely interested in the future of the port will await with intense interest the production of practical plans by the interstate port authorities. "There is one point which particularly interests pilots and those engaged in the navigation of vessels, and that is the constant tend- ency to encroach upon the fairway of the Hudson River. Both during my commissionership and prior to that time as chairman of the New York State Commission on Port Conditions and Pier Ex- tensions, the matter was thrashed out very carefully with the Secre- tary of War, Hon. Elihu Root, and his successors, after numerous hearings before the N. Y. Harbor Line Board under the direction of its able staff of engineers headed by William M. Black, later Chief of Engineers ; and the city formally pledged itself not to seek further extensions ; to consider the Chelsea Pier extensions as temporary and to proceed in the carrying out of a program for taking care of the Leviathan type of passenger ships by constructing a great marine terminal in the neighborhood of West 44th street, already alluded to. The first step was the building of the 44th street pier, 1,000 ft. in length, 360 ft. slips with 44 ft. depth. The city should keep to its pledge and no further encroachments should be tolerated. "Our entry into the World War prevented the construction of the Staten Island piers, and other improvements on lower Man- hattan, which have since been carried out by the city." R5I T7 128 — THE PORT OF °MEW YORK AUTHORITY THE difficulties under a divided jurisdiction of two States and more than a hundred municipalities have heretofore precluded a rational and co-ordinated development of the Port of New- York's great natural advantages. Realizing what it meant to both States, New York and New Jer- sey in 1917 created a Commission made up of representatives of the two States and provided funds for the study of this problem. The creation of the Port District and the New York Port Au- thority, is the outcome of this study. Under laws passed by the States of New York and New Jersey, the Port Treaty or compact, was signed on April 30, 1921, by the designated representatives of each State. By this Treaty, both States agree to, and pledge to each with the other faithful co-op- eration in the future planning and development of the Port of New York, holding in high trust for the benefit of the nation the spe- cial blessings and natural advantages thereof. Thereby was created the Port of New York District, extending roughly from the City Hall, in Manhattan, 25 miles to the north, 16 miles to the east, 23 miles to the south, and 20 miles to the west; including the principal communities within what has been been called the Metropolitan District in New York and in New Jersey. By the Port Treaty there was created and placed in jurisdic- tion over this district the Port of New York Authority, a public corporation made up of three men appointed by each State. The Congress of the United States, realizing the value of co- operation between the communities in the development of the Port, approved this compact, and its approval was signed by President Harding on August 23, 1921. The members of the Port Authority are Eugenius H. Outer- bridge, of New York, Chairman; J. Spencer Smith, of New Jersey, Vice-chairman; Commissioners Alfred E. Smith, of New York, Lewis H. Pounds, of New York, De Witt Van Buskirk, of New Jersey and Frank R. Ford, of New Jersey. Offices are maintained at 11 Broadway, New York City. The Port Authority is directed by law to make studies, con- duct investigations, hold hearings and conferences, and to submit a comprehensive plan for the development of the Port District based upon the results of such studies, investigations, hearings and con- ferences, together with recommendations for such legislation as they may deem appropriate for the effectuation and consummation of such plan. — 129 — THE AMERICAN "BUREAU OF SHIPPING ONE of the feats already accomplished in our nation-wide efforts for the rehabilitation of our merchant marine, was the building up and establishment on a firm foundation of Amer- ica's classification society, the American Bureau of Shipping. This desideratum was early recognized as one of the principal obstacles to overcome in the renaissance of our ocean shipping, for without it we would still be dependent upon the classification facilities of our leading rivals in shipping, in order to aid in accomplishing that vital concomitant of a merchant marine, a successful marine insurance system controlled within our own borders by American companies. A group of the leading American ship-owners, marine underwriters and shipbuilders early in 1916, after debating various ways and means of accomplishing this object, decided that the best method of procedure would be to but breathe the breath of life in the then somewhat somnolent American institution known as the American Bureau of Shipping. This organization chartered by the State of New York, had then been in existence for nearly half a century, but on account of comparatively small needs incident to an inconsequential merchant marine, had very limited facilities for undertaking what was then seen by these men of vision, the classification of the immense fleet necessary to put the United States on the map as a contender in the ocean carrying trade. Donations of sufficient amount were immediately forthcoming from the patriotic supporters of the necessary reorganization, and Mr. Stevenson Taylor, a man well known and respected in the shipping industry and who possessed the necessary qualifications for this great undertaking, was unani- mously agreed upon to head the organization. How well he, with the patriotic backing of many leading Americans has succeeded in the task, is well shown in the success of the bureau today. Overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles the organization was built up to such a point of efficiency that the United States Government, by Act of Congress approved June 5th, 1920, gave it recognition, and declared it to be the official classification society for all branches of the federal government. It also, by the same act, placed two representatives, one from the Shipping Board and one from the Department of Commerce, on its executive committee. As a result of all these efforts, this society is today capable of furnishing recognized and reliable classification in this country for all American owned vessels, without recourse to the long established classification agencies of our foreign competitors. Its surveyors — 130 — ^1 17 VJ i> u •e- 1/ u u w may be found at all the larger American seaports, and at all places where ships are built or ship material is manufactured in this country. Now that the great rush of shipbuilding in this country has subsided, and we are about to enter upon normal conditions in all branches of industry, the managers of the society are engaged in perfecting various details which a national classification society should undertake, in order to make it of the greatest value in building up our merchant marine in all its branches. As our ships emerged from the building yards and became engaged in transporting our goods to the various ports of the world, it became incumbent upon the Bureau to expand its facil- ities for survey work at such leading parts of the globe, where they could be of the greatest service to our shipping. Hence, its Board of Managers appropriated a sufficient sum of money to establish exclusive agencies, after thorough investigation as to our needs, at ports most frequented by our merchantmen. Already competent surveyors, American citizens carefully selected, have been located at such ports as Shanghai, Hamburg, Antwerp, Havre, Bordeaux, Buenos Aires, Rio Janeiro, San Juan, Porto Rico, Havana, etc. Non-exclusive surveyors of the Bureau are to be found at nearly all ports where American ships may call, and as rapidly as our trade expands and the conditions warrant, exclusive surveyors will be detailed from the trained force at home, to the principal ports not now so covered. An alliance has been entered into with the British Corporation, the Registro Navale Italiano and the Imperial Maritime Corpo- ration of Japan, whereby all classification work in this country for those societies and all American Bureau inspections in ports of those countries will be looked after by the recognized exclusive surveyors of each nation. At certain other ports throughout the world exclusive surveyors for the members of the alliance will be maintained, where otherwise the conditions might warrant the emplo3 T ment of non-exclusive surveyors only for the individual classification societies. Recognizing the growing importance of internal combustion ngines, and the inadequacy of all existing classification rules for engines of this type, the American Bureau has recently thoroughly revised its rules for this type of motive power. They are to be promulgated at the beginning of the year, and all who have seen them unite in the opinion that they are the most comprehensive rules yet prepared. In addition to the services of its own tech- nical committee on engineering, the Bureau has had the coopera- — 131 — F5f ■£X XT XX T7 XX T7 XX Y7 XX XX XT XT xx Fel rx xx \7 Y7 RFRFR51F u w \T ^* V7 XX T7 A .£X \T^ tion and advice of a committee of engine manufacturers repre- sentative of the industry in this country. The Bureau's policy will be conservatively to modernize or amend its rules from time to time to keep pace with scientific advancement in the art of ship and engine building, or to recognize and give the advantages of classification to those branches of marine construction which hitherto has, in a manner, been sub- ordinated or ignored by the recognized classification societies. An important field of this kind is believed to be the standardization of rules governing the construction and equipment of the various t} r pes of harbor and river craft, such as barges, tugboats, railroad floats, river steamboats, both passenger and freight, etc., and the Bureau will shortly undertake to prepare some special rules to encourage this type of classification. Marine insurance under- writers of great experience believe that such procedure would be of benefit in eventually reducing insurance rates on this class of risks. 132 — THE UNITE® STATES SHIP OPERATORS ASSOCIATION By Chas. H. Potter. THE SHIPPING BOARD, hampered by lack of tradition and of shipping policies developed during long years of experi- ence, was confronted with the question of disposal or opera- tion of an unprecedented amount of tonnage. In seeking the solu- tion of this problem — the establishment of a sound national ship- ping policy — the Board was greatly embarrassed and hindered in its work by the various and often conflicting recommendations and criticisms with which it was overwhelmed by commercial and politi- cal interests scattered throughout the country. During this period the American Steamship Owners' Associa- tion was playing its full part in endeavoring to shape the future of our Merchant Marine. But its efforts were seriously handicapped by the fact that it represented and controlled only the owners of tonnage while numerous non-owning shipping companies which had been in business for many years, together with others operating Shipping Board tonnage which had come into existence since 1915 and which were entitled and destined to play their part in the future of the Merchant Marine of this country, were subject to no guiding influence and were without any group protection. The necessity of co-ordinating these new interests and bringing them under the guidance of a common organization which would not only protect their rights and concentrate their influence and activities behind a sound, conservative national shipping policy, brought into being the United States Ship Operators' Association which was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in October, 1919, to promote and advance the economical man- agement and operation of American vessels, government-owned or otherwise ; to cooperate with the United States Government officials and to facilitate the administration of its bureaus, having jurisdic- tion over maritime matters ; to work for the improvement of laws, regulations and rulings and to secure uniformity in customs and usages, in relation thereto ; to diffuse accurate marine information and to strengthen and enlarge friendly intercourse between men en- gaged in and about ships and shipping to the end that the Merchant Marine of the United States may attain its greatest efficiency. The United States Ship Operators' Association, Inc., has grown until it numbers among its members seventy steamship companies who are geographically located along the entire seaboard of this country. The officers for 1921 are: Charles H. Potter, of New York, President ; 0. D. Mallory, of New York, Vice-President ; F. — 133 — RSel za XJ -e-e A T7 A FS1 T7 IV V7 Felt^ H. Hasler, of New York City, Secretary ; Marcus H. Tracy, of New- York, Treasurer; Robert Strange, Counsel. Owing to the number and location of the members from Maine to California, it has not been practical to hold frequent meetings of all the members and the active work of the Association has developed upon the Gov- erning Committee. The members of the Governing Committee are : F. E. Hasler, Charles T. Megee, C. H. Potter, Marcus H. Tracy, J. T. Lykes, Warren A. Blake, Clifford D. Mallory, Winchester Noyes, James Xunoz, Matthew Hale, C. H. Callaghan, Willis D. Benson, H. K. Nutting, Charles Yates and Albert R. Lafonta. Due to the constantly changing relations between the Shipping Board and the Operators of Government tonnage, the work of the representatives of this Association on the Standing Committee on Managing Agents' Agreement with the United States Shipping Board, has been of the utmost importance. This committee grew out of a joint endeavor on the part of the American Steamship Owners' Association and this Association to establish a medium of contact between the operators and the United States Shipping Board. Through this committee the members of the Association are given a direct approach to the Shipping Board for all interpretations, recommendations and complaints. Likewise it is a source from which the members will be kept promptly and accurately advised of matters pending before the Board. The high- est commendation of the work of this Committee is the recogni- tion it has received from the Shipping Board. The establishment of a sound and stable American Merchant Marine in which its members will be co-builders and co-partners freed from unnecessary and unwise supervision, is the objective of the United States Ship Operators' Association. i& tt — 134 — TODD SHI z =0 KH O ■^ i» i— i 05 Q i^ tf -* 5D <5 Z ^?- £> «K, o O ■TS w ga E Q H Cj O U< r-o O #*< 5J i— i £ < OS f-H =c i— I D C5 c s < a !/) Cr< ^ cc M *S &i /-A "u* w "w* ij'ij' w L /1 ^ u \ /' T7 / ., / res ^ To carry on this trade four steamers, the "Britannia" (launched February 5th, 1840), "Acadia," "Columbia" and Caledonia," were built of wood by Robert Duncan & Co., and other shipbuilders at Port Glasgow, each being 207 feet long, 34.4 feet broad, 22.4 feet deep, and of 1,154 gross tons. Each had an indicated horse power of 740, a cargo capacity of 225 tons, and accommodations for 115 cabin passengers. The average speed was 8.5 knots on a coal con- sumption of 38 tons per day. All, of course, were paddlewheelers and they were the first passenger steamers to make regular sailings across the Atlantic. The first voyage of the "Britannia," the pioneer vessel of the Cunard fleet in 1840, deserves to rank not only as one of the great events of the last century, but as one of the epoch-marking incidents in the history of civilization. It signalized the dawn of that organ- ized ocean travel of which there have since been such mighty develop- ments. Rather more than a score of years previously the "Savan- nah," built in New York City, a steamship of 350 tons, was the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic, sailing from Savannah May 25, 1819, for Liverpool, and arriving there June 29th, after a passage of 35 days. She did not rely solely upon her paddlewheels ; in fact, she trusted more to her sails, being under steam for less than 100 hours. In 1831 the "First Royal William" made the entire voyage under steam. No further steam venture was made until the 4th of April, 1838, when the "Sirius" left London for New York with 94 passengers aboard, and she was followed from Bristol four days later by the more historic "Great Western" — the first steam vessel specially built for the Atlantic passage. The "Great Western" made the trip in 15 days, two da}'s less than the "Sirius," and with 200 tons of coal still left in her bunkers. This result was regarded as wonderful. The scientific men of the time had "proved" to the satisfaction of most of the world that no steamer could carry coal enough to feed her fires for a single trip across the Atlantic. The "Britannia," with 64 passengers aboard, started on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Boston on the 4th of July, 1840, the celebration day of American Independence, in the presence of an immense assembly, and on her arrival in America 14 days and 8 hours later, including a stop at Halifax — then considered a rapid passage — she was the object of an unprecedented ovation from the inhabitants of Boston, culminating in a magnificent public banquet at which their enthusiasm found vent in speeches of a most compli- mentary nature. Mr. Cunard, who accompanied the "Britannia" 141 «■ w /Zv W ^\ XT XT Msm W /ZX XT /Z\ XT ^\\^\\^\\^Ji\. on her maiden trip, was made the hero of the day, receiving as many as 1,800 invitations to dinner within twenty-four hours after land- ing. Later — in the very severe winter of 1844 — the merchants of Boston gave practical proof of their good will when the "Britannia" was icebound in the harbor and the mails imprisoned. At their own- expense they liberated the ship by cutting a canal in the ice seven miles long and 100 feet wide. The "Britannia," released from her bonds, reached Liverpool in 15 days. When the British Post Office Department offered to defray the expense of the cutting of the ice channel, the citizens of Boston declined to be reimbursed. The mail service was carried on with conspicuous regularity for three years when it was found that additional tonnage was neces- sary. The "Hibernia" was added to the fleet in 1843 and the "Cam- bria" in 1845. In 1847, when the Company's first mail contract had expired, the commercial relations between Great Britain and Amer- ica had increased to such an extent that the British Government de- cided to double the Atlantic mail service. A new contract was entered into with the Cunard Line providing for weekly sailings from Liverpool to New York and Boston alternately, the Boston steamer touching at Halifax, and the subsidy was raised to £173,340 per annum. This contract covered twenty years — until 1867. For the adequate accomplishment of this important agreement four new ships were built — the "America," "Niagara," "Canada" and "Europa" — and took their places in the service early in 1848, being followed in 1850 by the "Asia" and "Africa" and in 1852 by the "Arabia." Each was built of wood, of improved designs, as experience pointed out, but with no radical departures from the "Britannia" until the year 1856, when the "Persia," the first iron steamer owned by the line, was put into service to maintain the supremacy of the sea, which was now being contested by other lines,, notably the Collins Line, organized in 1848 by merchants of New York, Boston and other American ports, and heavily subsidized by the United States government. The Collins Line vessels entered the Atlantic ferry in 1849 and were first class in every way, having been constructed in New York City with a view to eclipse those of the Cunard Line, and keen riv- alry existed between the two companies. The struggle was a fierce one while it lasted. The Cunard Line would sacrifice nothing that was calculated to prejudice the safety of their ships or the lives of their passengers. New and better ships were added. Freight and passenger rates were enormously reduced and the competition for public favor became intensely exciting. This contest lasted for four — 142 — u \J "0" \ /' ^ , / *\J" "0* ,r\. /~\ r\ -6"6"6' \J \J j ears when the "Arctic" of the Collins Line was run into by a small French steamer off Cape Race in a dense fog and sunk with a loss of 322 lives, among whom were the wife, son and daughter of Mr. E. K. Collins, the managing director and promotor of the line. Two years later another great disaster befell the company in the loss of the "Pacific," which sailed from Liverpool on June 29th, 1856, and was never heard of again. The United States Govern- ment refused to continue the subsidy and the Collins Line with- drew from the Atlantic in 1858. The "Scotia," the last of the paddlewheel type and the finest specimen of the mercantile marine of the period, and a sister ship to the "Persia," came out in 1862. For } T ears these two ships were the most popular on the seas, conducting the first express service across the Atlantic, and getting a higher rate of fare than other ships. The "Scotia" held the world's record for the time — from Liverpool to New York in 8 days and 22 hours. So far the Cunard Company, the progress of which is virtually a history of modern shipping, had in deference to the preferences of most travelers at that time, adhered to paddlewheel propulsion, but the officials of the company were nevertheless convinced of the superiority of the screw propeller, which marine engineers had long been actively advocating. The line had been using screw steamers in the Mediterranean service and the Inman Line had already intro- duced the screw system in their Atlantic service. In 1862 the Cunard Line decided for the future to adopt the screw and the "China" was ordered, her length being 326 feet ; breadth, 40M> feet ; tonnage, 2,539; indicated horse power, 2,250; average speed, 13.9 knots. Having adequately fulfilled the expectations of her owners and builder, the "China" was followed in 1865 by the "Java," and two years later by the "Russia," the latter steamer generally regarded as the most beautiful ocean-going vessel then in existence. Her graceful proportions were regarded by practical men as the acme of nautical symmetry, and the beauty of her decorations and com- pleteness of her equipment were the delight of passengers. She proved to be one of the flyers of her day, crossing from New York to Queenstown in 8 days and 28 minutes. She was 358 feet long and of 2,960 gross tons. She consumed 90 tons of coal per day, compared with the 159 tons consumed by the "Scotia" to attain the same speed. She had accommodation for 235 cabin passengers and a cargo capacity of 1,260 tons. Her commander, Captain Cook, navigated her no less than 630,000 miles without a single mishap or casualty of any kind, carrying the while 26,075 cabin passengers^ 143 — "w" u - . "6- ^ -6- -6- V7 -6- ^ Q\ fa W V7 VJ The company's postal contract with the Admiralty expired on Dec. 31, 1867, and a new contract for one year was entered into with the Postmaster General (to whose department the arrangement of carrying mails on ocean steamers had been transferred) whereby the Cunard Company undertook to sail a vessel from Liverpool to New York every Saturday, calling at Queenstown; returning from New York every Wednesday and also calling at Queenstown. Owing to the competition which then existed for the carrying of the mails, the Post Office was able to dictate terms for the service, and accordingly the subsidy allowed was only £80,000. That sum was further reduced to £70,000 the following year when a contract was concluded to cover seven years, binding the company to main- tain a dual weekly service from Liverpool — sailing to Boston every Tuesday and to New York every Saturday, calling at Queenstown. It was found that the amount paid for the service was mani- festly inadequate, and when the mail contract was again renewed in January, 1877, the work was paid for in accordance with the weight of the mail matter carried. In 1870 the company adopted the compound principle for their engines, in preference to the old side lever system. The "Parthia" was the first vessel of the line fitted with compound engines, which, utilizing steam at high pressure, gave better speed results than engines of the old type. She was followed by the "Bothnia" and "Scythia" (1879) also fitted with compound engines. The newer existing vessels were similarly refitted. The "Gallia," launched in 1879, and the last iron Cunarder to be built, was fitted with three- crank compound engines. Thus in the gradual development of this line may be traced the progress of the shipping industry in general, and in the substitution of new ships of superior types the advance of science in relation to the steamship and marine steam engine may be closely followed. The same spirit of progress prevails in the company today. Thus all new steamers burn oil fuel, and big ones like the "Aquitania," "Berengaria" and "Mauretania" originally built to burn coal, have been converted into oil burners. The company's first steel liner, the "Servia," built in 1881, was practically the pioneer of what may be called the Express Trans- atlantic Service, as owing to the immense space required for the powerful machinery necessary for the high speed beginning to pre- vail, but little room was left for cargo. She was the first Cunarder to receive an electric installation. Her gross register was 7,392 tons and with her speed of 16.7 knots she reduced the Atlantic pass- — 144 — THE CUNARD BUILDING 25 Broadway, New York City £\ T7 XJ XJ MM "0* "0* -6- «- w ^ ^ v3> ^ ^& w age to 7 days 1 hour and 38 minutes. She was superbly fitted for those days and provided accommodation for 4-80 cabin and 750 third class passengers. In 1884 the "Oregon," built for another Atlantic line, was pur- chased by the Cunard Company. She attained a speed of 18 knots and was famed as the "Greyhound of the Atlantic." This sensa- tional result led the directors of the company to order from the same builders two new vessels of greater power and speed — the "Umbria" and "Etruria." These two were, in their day, the fastest ships afloat, attaining a speed of 20 knots. The "Etruria" held the Atlantic speed record for some time — accomplishing the west- tern passage in 5 days 20 hours and 55 minutes, and the eastern passage in 6 days 37 minutes. She was 500 feet long, with a gross tonnage of 8,110. The "Campania" and "Lucania" (1893) were also blue ribbon winners. These beautiful ships were each 625 feet long, 65.3 feet broad, 43 feet deep and with a gross tonnage of 12,950. Their aver- age speed was 22 knots an hour. The "Campania's" fastest pass- age between Queenstown and New York was 5 days 9 hours 6 min- utes. The "Lucania" had) a slight advantage over her sister vessel for speed, her fastest voyages being : Westward, 5 days 7 hours and 23 minutes ; eastward, 5 days 8 hours and 38 minutes. It was on the "Lucania" that Mr. William Marconi personally experimented with and introduced wireless telegraphy. Now his system supplies news for use in the "Cunard Daily Bulletin," published at sea on all Cunarders. The "Caronia" and "Carmania" — two ships beloved by the regu- lar traveler — marked a distinct development in the liners fitted with luxurious accommodations for large numbers of passengers and also large cargo carrying capacity. These great steamers are 675 feet long and of 20,000 gross tons. They are sisters in every way but one — the "Caronia" is propelled by engines of the reciprocating type driving twin screws, while the propulsive power of the "Car- mania" is derived from turbine engines whose force is distributed through three shafts, each of which drives one propeller. The "Carmania" was the first of the company's turbine liners. The Cunard Line has always had to cope with strong opposition in its efforts to hold the blue ribbon of the sea. This was lost to the "Deutschland" of the Hamburg-American Line in 1900. This ship had a speed of 23 V^ knots. Two years later this steamer lost to the "Kaiser Wilhelm II" of the North German Lloyd, whose rec- ord was a fraction faster than that of the "Deutschland." The Cunard Line then decided to regain the speed supremacy which it 146 1 \ \ I /-\ XT £\ \ / i \ XT XJ \xtW\ XT ' f u V7 / v/ ^ /-. u* had held for so many years and j)reparcd the plans for the "Lusi- tania" and "Mauretania." These vessels, were each 790 feet long and with a tonnage over 31,000, the greatest ships the world had yet seen. Attaining a speed of 26 knots per hour, the blue ribbon of the seas passed back to the Cunard Line and is still there. The "Lusitania's" best time westbound was 4 days and 15 hours. The fastest westward run of the "Mauretania" was 4 days 10 hours and 41 minutes. This express steamer represents all that is superlative in naval architecture, marine engineering and luxurious hotel accom- modations. The "wonder ship," as Lord Northcliffe calls the "Aquitania," entered the Cunard Service in 1914. She combined in her design and construction the result of the experience and valuable informa- tion deduced from the construction and performance of tile "Maure- tania" and the many other famous ships that preceded her under the Cunard flag. The "Aquitania" had only made three trips to New York when the World War broke out. She went in war serv- ice, at first as a transport, then as a hospital ship, and finally as a transport again, carrying many thousands of American troops. In 1920 she was reconditioned as an oil-burner and re-entered the trans-Atlantic service as its foremost passenger carrier. The "Aquitania" is 901 feet long, 97 feet broad and 92.6 feet deep. Her gross tonnage is 45,647 and her speed 23 knots. Her best time between New York and Cherbourg is 5 days, 11 hours and 28 minutes. On the last leg of a voyage to Cherbourg she made the record of 27.40 knots per hour for three hours. This is equal to 31 land miles. She has accommodations for 2,716 passengers and a crew of 900. The first and most obvious thing impressed upon the visitor is the extraordinary spaciousness and luxuriousness of her public rooms, comparing favorably with the highest grade metro- politan hotels. In 1921 the "Berengaria," of 52,022 tons, was purchased by the Cunard Company and converted from coal to oil fuel. Today she is the largest passenger ship in commission. This year also marked the entry of the "Scythia" into the company's service. This ship is 600 feet long and registers 20,000 tons. Big as she is, she carries but one funnel, being the first big British ship to be originally de- signed and built as an oil-burner. Four more of her type soon to appear in the sailing list are the "Samaria," "Franconia," "La- conia" and "Servia." There is a sixth ship which closely resembles this type, the "Tyrrhenia," of 16,700 tons. All are oil burners. The Cunard Line's Canadian Service, wiped out by enemy vessels during the war, reopens in the spring of 1922 with a fleet of new oil 147 — w "0" \J -e- -6- ^ -e- L '" x J -6- -6- vj* -6- \J W W W burners averaging 14,000 tons each. They are the "Antonia," "Andania," "Alannia," "Ascania," "Aurania" and "Ausonia." The well-known care and strict surveillance exercised in the con- struction of the vessels of the Cunard fleet and the rigid discipline maintained in every department of its service, have engendered in the public mind well-merited confidence and gained for the company a prestige unique in the annals of shipping. The Cunard Line has now over a million tons of shipping. "BAKER, CARVER & MORRELL THIS firm is a co-partnership, composed of Joseph B. Morrell and Amos D. Carver, and is a continuation of the business of Baker, Carver & Co., who succeeded to a business established at 29 South Street in 1827, and of J. B. Morrell & Co., who succeeded to the business of Watts, Parker & Co., established early in the cen- tury at 27 Old Slip, Franklin Market and 75 Front Street. Mr. Morrell joined the latter firm in 1875 and in 1888 acquired the business. Baker, Carver & Morrell was formed January 1, 1894, by the consolidation of Baker, Carver & Co. and J. B. Morrell & Co. The firm was then composed of Howard M. Baker, Capt. George A. Carver, Joseph B. Morrell and Amos D. Carver. Mr. Baker retired January 1, 1900, and Capt. Carver retired January 1, 1901. Their interests were bought out and taken over by the present firm. Mr. Morrell has spent 43 years in the business and has made it a very careful study, and is today, perhaps, the best informed ship supply merchant in the United States. Mr. Carver is the third generation of his family actively engaged in this line, and has been in it for 38 years, and brings to bear a fitness, not only ripened by long experience, but by an expert tech- nical knowledge of vessels operations generally. Compared with 1894 the business of the firm has multiplied twenty times. Ninety-five per cent of a vessel's outfit is actually carried in stock in New York City in their own warehouses. It is the aim of the firm to always carry a complete stock. The present home of the company was finished in 1912 and occupied April 9 of that year. It is of solid steel and concrete and is fireproof. It was built specially for the business and is occupied exclusively by the company. Mr. Joseph B. Morrell of this firm is a member of the board of New York pilot commissioners, appointed by the Chamber of Com- merce. — 148 — FAMOUS ROTUNDA OF THE CUNARD BUILDING Noted for the surpassing beauty of its mural decorations THE INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE COMPANY or the I. JVL. Jyl., as it is fiofcularly known, is the largest American Shifcfiing Company. NOT less than 117 fine ocean-going steamships, numbering the largest afloat, the Majestic, 56,000 tons, are included in its fleets. The aggregate tonnage of sea-going ships en- gaged in the company's operations is as great as was the ton- nage of the entire American merchant marine registered for for- eign commerce before the World War, or nearly 1,285,000 tons. Today the sun never sets on I. M. M. ships, and in the changing seasons some of them are always sailing summer seas. Their keels fret every sea, and their flags are thrown to the breeze in the ports of nearly every maritime country of the globe. While the great liners of the I. M. M. fleets are maintaining express passenger services with clocklike regularity on the Atlantic ocean ferry, other I. M. M. ships are plying to far distant ports in different parts of the world with passengers or freight, or both. The I. M. M. is a national institution, giving service to the producers, shippers and consumers of goods in every section of the United States. Although its headquarters are in New York, its ships sail from all the principal American ports on the Atlantic and Gulf. Its constituent companies number some of the strong- est and oldest under the American flag. The American Line, one of the cornerstones of the company, is the oldest passenger line under the American flag engaged in trans- Atlantic trade. Established in 1871, the American Line for five decades has sustained the honor of maintaining the American flag in the North Atlantic passenger trade, most of the time alone. The names of the American Line ships have become house- hold words to Americans who travel by sea. A new and significant activity of the American Line was inaug- urated in December, 1919, when this line established the first Ameri- can passenger service between the ports of New York and Hamburg. The ships employed in it are American built and American manned. They Ay the American flag, and are managed by Americans, from I. M. M. headquarters at New York. The passenger ships employed in opening the Hamburg service of the American Line were the Mongolia of 13,600 gross tons regis- ter, and the Manchuria, a sister ship ; and several large and modern freighters. — 150 — Oa J>Q ft! a Vi. e« 0= «-♦. n *• w h- ( to -* i— | W ^3 t"< c« a 3 TO TO TO a. s > 3 «- 2^ ^ * H 3 ^ ^■» • T H 1 &! > £« r/2 *e K &5 i— i ^ 3- •-d <^5 TO is *© s - O *-ta Oi OS Sa O O o ^*» o 3 FBl^ JI\ u ^cx. j^\ a \j MX v7 T7 T7 T7 t7 /C\ W -£X -£X -^- ^X -< r N. -XX T7 ^Zi XT RFI One of the strongest commercial ties between the United States and Belgium, long before these two countries were drawn closely together by their common sympathies in the great war, was the direct service between New York and Antwerp of the Red Star Line, one of the operating units of the I. M. M. To think of communication between the United States and the great little country that was the theater of the most tragic scenes in the world's greatest war, is to think of the Red Star Line and its ships. Two of the finest of these ships, flying the American flag are the Finland and the Kroonland. These vessels, built at the Cramp yards in Philadelphia, embrace in their design all the good points tested by years of service in the ships of the American Line. The same may be said of the other ships of this line, Lapland and Zee- land, some of which fly the Belgian flag, and others the British. The management of the fleet is entirely in the hands of an Ameri- can operating staff. One of the greatest units in the I. M. M. is the famous White Star Line, whose ships include some of the giants of the deep. Heading the list is the huge Majestic and the Olympic, the world's largest oil-burning vessels, two of the noblest of the leviathans that ply between Great Britain and the United States. These big ships, 56,000 and 46,359 gross tons, are 956 and 882.5 feet long respectively, many feet longer than the Woolworth Tower in New York is high. In beauty and strength, as well as in size, these two ships rank among the greatest modern steamships. Several other great vessels of the White Star Line are also of huge proportions and magnificent equipment. These include the Homeric, 35,000 tons; Baltic, 23,876 tons, and. the Adriatic, 24,541 tons, the Cedric and Celtic, each of 21,000 tons and the Megantic of 14,878 tons. The White Star service, maintained by tliese vessels, has been famous in the Atlantic passenger trade for generations. Another important service operated by the I. M. M; is that of the Atlantic Transport Line between New York and London. The war swept away some of the finest passenger ships of this line, but the Minnesota, 20,602 gross tons, the largest vessel built in an American shipyard, was spared. Pending the addition of new tonnage to replace lost ships, the sailings of the American Transport Lines are confined to freight vessels, which maintain a sailing every week between London and New York. 152 NUMBER ONE BROADWAY Adjoining this site was the first Dutch fort on Manhattan Island, known as Fort New Amsterdam. The first house was erected here before 1661f. In 1771 Captain Archibald Kennedy built here his residence which was used in 1776 by General Washington as his headquarters and later by General Hoxoe during the British occu- pation. It was later used as a hotel. Torn down in 1882, it was replaced by the Washington building which was transformed in 1920-1921 into this building for occupancy by its otvners, The International Mercantile Marine Company. aa AA AA r\ r\ AA u ^ vfa VJ u aa AA aa AA AA B^S V7 \J W \J \J \J \J vv W \J W Other important service by I. M. M. lines include the New York- Azores-Mediterranean passenger line sustained by vessels of the class of the Cretic, 13,500 tons ; the Boston-Liverpool passenger and freight service of the Leyland Line, and a long list of exclu- sively freight services from other American ports. In the develop- ment of these freight services, of which the public hears relatively little, the I. M. M. has made great strides in recent years with its American ships. Its freight sailings are frequent from the chief ports of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts — Montreal, Portland, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Mobile, Galveston, New Orleans — with occasional sailings from smaller ports such as Charleston and Savannah. The company maintains offices not only in the chief ports mentioned, for handling of its freight and passenger busi- ness, but also in San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Louis. The vessels of the I. M. M. fleets carried more than one-quarter of the total American Expeditionary Forces across the seas, or a grand total of 521,913 men, between April, 1917, and November, 1918. Vessels of the I. M. M. fleets also transported 2,549 car- goes of munitions and war supplies, a grand total of 14,988,294 tons. In the spring of 1920 the company purchased the Washington Building, known as Number One Broadway, an imposing structure facing Battery Park, and proceeded to remodel it for its own use. T7 R51 — 154 A PIONEER IN ITS FIELD THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF NEW YORK was one of the first concerns on the Atlantic seaboard to engage in the transportation of petroleum by water on a commercial scale. The first lighterage organization was formed back in 1884, on October third, to be exact, with an initial equipment that consisted of five towboats and forty-six barges. These vessels were operated in and around New York harbor. To handle the constantly in- creasing volume of business that the intervening years have brought, this original fleet has grown into one that includes, today, twenty- nine towboats and two hundred and twenty-eight barges in addi- tion to a large number of tank and general cargo vessels, all of which give employment to approximately twenty-eight hundred men. When petroleum first began to be transported by water it was shipped, like other fluids, in barrels and cases, the average capacity of the vessels used being about eight thousand barrels and requiring about eight days to load. The large modern tanker of today was unknown and transportation in bulk by tankers had been very little developed at that, time. In 1885, however, an important step for- ward was made in the water transportation of petroleum. The ship- ment of it in barrels obviously had many disadvantages. Accord- ingly this company took an old schooner, the "Amelia G. Ireland," and remodeled it by building several tanks in the hold, having an aggregate capacity of about two thousand barrels. This was the first oil barge to leave New York harbor and for several years plied between New York and Boston. During the next decade or two the transportation of oil in these early types of tankers was carried oh extensively but confined almost entirely to coastwise and Mexican voyages. However, in the latter part of 1904 a significant undertaking was planned which was destined to rank as a real achievement of its day. On December 16, the S. S. Atlas with barge No. 93 in tow, left New York harbor bound for San Francisco. The two vessels arrived at their destina- tion February 27, 1905, completing what, up to that time, was the longest tow ever made of an oil barge. Considering the fact that this was the first venture of its kind and involved a passage through the Strait of Magellan, the time made was indeed creditable. A sim- ilar voyage was made the following year, the S. S. Maverick leaving New York on October 12, 1906, with barge No. 91 in tow and arriving at San Francisco January 2, 1907. In the meantime another long towing voyage had been made which was of no little importance. In order to demonstrate the practicability of deep-sea towing, this company fitted out the S. S. Colonel E. L. Drake for a more or less experimental trip to Lon- — 155 — /3, XT XT XT XT XT £\ XT Si ^ /a, XT V7 /Z\ V7 XT M&\ \ / u don. This vessel left New York, towing barge No. 95, on July 3, 1905, and reached London seventeen days later. After a stop of five days, it left London on July 25th destined for Port Arthur, Texas, where it arrived August 18th. Subsequently, similar tows have been made around the world. While the towing of oil barges has been engaged in successfully for the past thirty years, the mod- ern self-propelled tanker is gradually and generally superseding this method of transportation. A recent development in the maritime activities of this company has been the transportation of petroleum products in bulk on the newly opened New York State Barge Canal by means of motor driven barges. After some improvements were made on the canal, the Standard Oil Company of New York was the first to take advantage of the opportunity it offered compara- tively large-sized barges. The operations of this company on the canal have greatly facilitated the distribution of petroleum products in bulk throughout the middle, western and Lake Champlain districts of New York State. At the present time, a large part of this com- pany's marine shipments are handled by the Standard Transporta- tion Company, a subsidiary organization, which operates a large fleet of tank steamers. The vessels of this fleet ply between various points on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard and the Levant, India, and the Far East. Large volumes of the multifarious petroleum products sold by the Standard Oil Company of New York are trans- ported in bulk and in packages by the up-to-date vessels of the Standard Transportation Company. The Standard Oil Company of New York feels that it may be pardoned for having a just pride in the share it has had in the growth of the Port of New York. It offers herewith its assurance of continuous interest in the greater development that the future unquestionably holds for it. fvfl X7 — 156 WORLDS BIGGEST OIL FLEET TIIK transportation of oil products by water is perhaps as old as the history of water transportation. While sailing vessels were first converted and later built for this purpose, the first tank steamer was built in 1872. The development of this method of transportation of oil in bulk from that time to the modern 20,000-ton steel tank steamers is a remarkable achievement. The earlier construction by installation of tanks was subse- quently abandoned because it was found that evaporation of leak- age and escaping oil filled the spaces between the tanks and sides of the ships with explosive gases, which made this transportation even more dangerous than carriage by means of barrels and cases. No repairs could be made in these spaces, no naked lights used, and the insertion of hot rivets incident to repairs was out of the question until with great difficulty the gases had been eliminated. This resulted in the use of the vessel itself divided thwartships and longitudinally into a series of tanks to contain oil, with coffer- dams at the forward and after ends of the oil spaces. Some of the earlier tankers were simply cargo vessels con- verted by erection of bulkheads and partitions, which permitted the carrying of oil in the holds. On these vessels the propelling machinery and boilers were amidships, but later more satisfactory results were obtained, with minimized risk from fire, by devoting the entire after end of the ship to boilers, propelling machinery and quarters for the engine force. Consequently this type of tanker construction was adopted and is still in general use. The majority of converted cargo vessels and the earlier con- structed tankers were found unsatisfactory. As oil will find a leak more quickly than water, closer spacing of rivets and more careful workmanship is necessary to insure oil-tightness than water-tightness. This has developed to such an extent that tankers are now so tightly and strongly built that different grades of oil are carried in adjacent tanks in the same vessel without danger of contamination through leakage. The modern tendency generally is toward the larger sized ships because it is found more economical both to construct and operate one large vessel than two small ones, and this applies with equal force to tankers. Of course, most of the modern tankers burn oil and the auxiliary equipment, for instance, pumps for loading and un- loading, are steam driven. The piping is larger and each year brings the addition of many other features of improvement in tanker construction, although the general principles date back to the first tankers. — 157 — ,r\, U w «■ ^ W ^"6"6- -6- "w* w The internal combustion engine has been successfully used for the propulsion of tankers and the recent successful perform- ance of the electrically driven merchant cargo vessels no doubt portends the use of this mode of propelling power on tankers, provided, of course, proper and permanent insulation and protec- tion of wiring can be secured to overcome any added fire risk in the proximity of the oil compartments. During the recent war the size of the fleet of the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) was materially increased both by the pur- chase of foreign vessels and a very extensive construction program in American yards. This has had the results of making the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) possessor of the largest privately owned fleet of tank steamers in the world and operator of the largest privately owned fleet of vessels under American registry. At the present time this Company owns 57 tankers of approx- imately 620,000 deadweight tons. The entire fleet operated by the Marine Department of the Company, including owned cargo vessels, barges, etc., and chartered tonnage, total 76 vessels, of over 745,000 deadweight tons. This fleet is engaged in the trans- portation of petroleum and its product between points of pro- duction and manufacture on the one hand and manufacture and consumption on the other. The majority of these vessels are above 10,000 deadweight tons, several of them being as large as 20,000 deadweight tons. In the operation of this fleet the Marine Department directly employs 340 in shore positions, in addition to agencies at various ports throughout the world, and the seafaring personnel totals approximately 2,200 employees. The house flag of the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) suggests to all steamship men of the highest standard of operating efficiency by perfect state of maintenance of hull and equipment, prompt dispatch and turn around, and successful operation. The explana- tion for this condition is undoubtedly to be found in the fact that the broad and liberal treatment accorded by the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) to its employees generally is extended to its seafaring personnel. Not alone do the seafaring personnel includ- ing masters, mates, engineers, firemen, cooks, stewards and sea- men receive the advantages of other employes in insurance, bene- fits in instances of illness or disability, and an opportunity to receive, in the purchase of stock of the Company, the value of $1.50 for every dollar invested, but they enjoy the benefits of a bonus system which was inaugurated with the beginning of the year 1921. — 158 — u "vv" *u" ^ ^ _/-\. ^^^ ^-6- r\ ^ /-\ This bonus system provides for payments to the particular personnel aboard ships directly responsible for the successful fulfillment of the principal elements entering into efficient opera- tion. Records are maintained of the performance of all of the vessels according to these principal subdivisions of vessel operation, and the full bonus is paid only when 95% or more of the 100% standard set for each respective vessel has been attained. When the rating is between 95% and 100% of the fixed standard, only 50% of the indicated bonus is paid. The bonus in each instance is a fixed percentage of the annual salary received by each individual. If any one vessel attains 100% or more in all sub- divisions upon which bonus is paid, the Captain and Chief Engineer receive an additional 10%. This liberal policy of the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) pro- motes among its employees, both ashore and at sea, the highest degree of co-operation and contentment and permits the latter to enjoy additional benefits commensurate with increased diligence and efficiency. The successful operation under the American flag of a fleet of the magnitude of that of the Standard Oil Company (N. J.) is perhaps one of the most encouraging and tangible justifications for belief in the practicability of establishing an American Mer- chant Marine the equal or superior to that of any other country. T7 R51 159 - BUSH TERMINAL-THE REALIZA- TION OF A GREAT WEAL IN PORT "DEVELOPMENT ON INDICATION of points of resemblance between a great terminal for the accommodation of railroad and ocean traffic and between terminal stations such as are being constantly developed and improved in every great city in the land may serve to illustrate more clearly the fundamental necessity of the terminal plan. As a rule the familiar terminal stations in the city form points of interchange for passengers between through and local arteries of travel and converging points for one or more lengthy railway systems. They not only expedite the journeys of the trav- eller or commuter, but without them it would be impossible for the great cities to handle the millions of persons that yearly pour over their converging transit systems. Local traffic would be jammed, and the cross currents of humanity, lacking means of ready trans- fer at focal points, would meet in inextricable confusion. The same principle underlies the rapid and economic interchange of sea and rail freight. If the streams of incoming and outgoing freight do no move easily and directly between steamer, freight car, or warehouse, the same confusing tangle will result as in the handling of passenger traffic. Recognition of the advantages of the terminal system is now general throughout the civilized world. It has evolved an economic principle of no mean importance to industry. Today an adequate terminal system is urged by foremost shipping men as a necessity to every modern port. In many instances the sav- ings it has effected have been the factor which has stood between success and failure of business interests which have enjoyed its facilities. The most comprehensive terminal system in this country was planned by a young man who saw the necessity of bringing the factory, the warehouse, the railroad, and the steamship into juxta- position. That man was Mr. Irving T. Bush. As a result of his enterprise there has been developed at Bush Terminal, South Brook- lyn, New York, the largest single coordination of industrial and shipping facilities in the world. It is not too much to say that a knowledge of Bush Terminal is essential to a full understanding of modern port development. It forms a striking and definitely worked out illustration of the inter-relation of industry and distribution. It has the only co-operative grouping in the world of manufacturers who are brought into direct relation to world lines of rail and ocean traffic. It is scarcely more than a quarter of a century ago that the site of Bush Terminal was a vacant waste. Its development since that — 160 — -6- W W k* |V7 -e- *6* "6**0" AA ^A -e- & V7 r> \ r '- w w \J |w period is an epic in American industry and shipping. First ground was broken on Bush Terminal in 1895. Mr. Irving T. Bush, then a young man scarcely beyond his majority and joint inheritor of a considerable fortune, cherished an ideal of what a modern terminal should be. He had a vision of a complete terminal plant upon those vacant acres. He clearly foresaw the ever-increasing congestion that was bound to develop at the piers of lower Manhattan. He was confident that increased facilities to care for the traffic of the port would be demanded with the growth of the nation and of the vast community centering in New York. But there were many who regarded Mr. Bush's plans as visionary. The proposed site seemed too far away. It was suggested that he might as well have planned a terminal at Coney Island. Though confronted by disheartening and seemingly impassable obstacles, the young man set about courageously to break through the wall of indifference and ignorance that stood before his goal. He was years ahead of his time for, although planned a quarter of a century ago, the fundamental arrangement of Bush Terminal, the geographical relation of piers, warehouses, terminal railway, and industrial buildings is a standard the world over. Moreover, Bush Terminal has been an instrument to aid in elevating the reputation of port development work. During the inception of Bush Terminal some of the greatest ports in the world suffered under a stigma of physical dclapidation and moral degradation that lowered the stand- ard of sea-faring men in the estimation of the public. Shiftless ports with their open vices might make good copy for romantic writers, but they slandered the dignity of those who followed the sea and made for the slow and costly handling of cargoes. Two incidents will serve to illustrate the nature of the obstacles overcome by Mr. Bush in his pioneer work for the Terminal. Then we will consider in detail some outstanding features of the great plants which covers about two hundred acres. Mr. Bush's first great disillusionment came when he had com- pleted his first pier. Shipping facilities in lower Manhattan were badly crippled even at that time, and it had seemed that facilities for loading, unloading, and storage in a cheap location would in- evitably attract patronage. But shipping men thought the pier too far away. When Mr. Bush found the pier was likely to remain empty, he chartered a ship, which he christened "The Independent," loaded her with bananas from Jamaica, and brought her back to his pier. But there was no way of distributing the bananas in Brook- lyn ; fruit dealers were unwilling to handle them at that point, and so Mr. Bush auctioned the ship load at a New York pier. After a — 162 — w \ / w w , L \/ / -, \ / ' / f^l^BiBI second and third trip to the West Indies, a line which had a monop- oly on the Jamaica trade, perhaps fearing competition in fruit transport from Mr. Hush, >aicl that they would be glad to help him make a demonstration of the value of his pier by landing non- perishable materials there. The only proviso was that Mr. Bush should make no charge for docking and handling the goods, which they agreed to land. Mr. Bush accepted the challenge and soon the pier was drawing business. A second disappointment came in the failure of many of the railroads to recognize Bush Terminal. Few of them, apparently, knew that it was on the map. In long wearying rounds, Mr. Bush visited the offices of all the freight agents. "When I was turned down, I considered that an invitation to begin negotiations had been extended," the writer once heard him say. Some of the Western railroads had never even listed Bush Ter- minal. It was not in their rate books. Mr. Bush sent wise young men to Michigan with instructions to buy several carloads of hay and consign them to Bush Terminal. The freight agent in Michi- gan scratched his head and said he did not know where Bush Ter- minal was, but he agreed to ship the hay, and when cars bearing in six foot letters "Bush Terminal, Brooklyn," made their way through Eastern yards, railway men sat up and took notice. Bush Ter- minal was on the map. The incredulity which Mr. Bush encountered among both sea and rail shippers, he also encountered among capitalists. They said he was a dreamer. That may be true; most men of vast accom- plishments are dreamers, but Mr. Bush's vision has been realized. An illustration of the capacity of the plant he inspired may be had from the fact that during the war the port of New York was allotted eighty per cent of the outgoing U. S. Army freight and Bush Ter- minal was allotted sixty per cent of that eighty. There was no time at which freight, munitions, or troops were delayed by failure in handling at Bush Terminal. The Bush Terminal Company was incorporated in 1902. The last of its eight piers to have been completed was pier No. 6, com- pleted July 1st, 1913. Six of the piers are 150 feet wide and 1,300 feet long; one is slightly less and one somewhat larger. The largest pier, double-decked, has an area of fifteen acres on both floors. The piers accommodate twenty-seven steamship lines. There are 122 Avarehouses immediately opposite and facing the piers, and with 29>2 million cubic feet of storage space. There are sixteen model loft buildings for the accommodation of manufacturing and indus- trial tenants, and with more than five and one million square feet of 163 — -e- :U|U -6- XJ \7 X7 t7 f^ V7 r:^\ \_T T7 t7 ,/ZX V7 \J w w u space. Two of these buildings, numbers 22 and 24, have been com- pleted within the last three years. There is a cold storage plant with one and one-half million feet of space. A million dollar fire protection system assures lowest insurance rates. Bush Terminal railroad, with more than twenty-three miles of track and modern equipment is a terminal for the ten main trunk lines reaching the port of New York. The loft buildings are occupied by the plants of almost three hundred industrial concerns. The company furnishes the manu- facturers light, power, storage, drayage, porterage and numerous other facilities at an extremely low co-operative rate. The manu- facturer may purchase as much or as little of these services as he desires. The warehouses include both one-story warehouses with a clear- ance overhead of twenty feet, and the multiple story warehouses which are four, five and six stories high. The one story warehouses are adapted for the storage of cotton hemp, jute, sisal, etc. The multiple story warehouses are adapted to the storing of coffee, cocoa, rubber, wood, burlap, etc. There are six six-story coffee warehouses. Bush Terminal is an agency for the accommodation and develop- ment of both traffic and industry. Its traffic activities consist of those of forwarding agent. It receives goods for export from the interior shipper, separates and classifies them, puts them in a ware- house free of storage for one month, marks them, packs them, and ships them to their destination, promptly. Goods are packed, in- voiced and shipped at an extremely low rate, a few cents a hundred pounds. One of the features of the plant is the provision that has been made for the accommodation and welfare of employees. There is an attractive two-story building designated as the Longshoremen's Club. This is equipped with a restaurant and lounging rooms for stevedores and dock laborers. This makes it possible for the men to obtain without inconvenience properly cooked wholesome food at a reasonable price. It also provides a place for them to go during spare time when the weather is inclement. An emergency hospital is maintained by the Company for its employees and those of its tenants. Two other institutions also care for the employees, branches of the Y. W. C. A. and the Y. M. C. A. The Y. M." C. A. provides social, athletic and recreational features. The building has bowl- ing alleys, billiard tables, a large gymnasium with full equipment, reading rooms and lounging rooms — 16 1 — ^ ^ ~ 1 g .5' X -a H «?• hrj s * -*^ 3. « > ST >- M a I! ^ a- 2 ^ & O Co O — » THE STATEN ISLAND SHIPBUILDING COMPANY BACK in 1895 a small group of men who had spent the greater part of their lives following the sea, decided that the Port of New York needed a steel shipyard. Their experience had taught them that a steel shipyard located in the port, could not help but be successful because of the great demand of harbor craft to supplement the call for larger tonnage, which call became, as every- one knows, a paramount demand during the hectic } T ears from 1915- 1920. That their venture was successful, the present plants of the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company stand ready to testify. The man who pioneered this enterprise was W. J. Davidson, who is still a most active president of this company. Associated with him at the start were a few of the leading men of the old Starin yard of whom Messrs. Clute, Carney and Hinton were the leaders. Of these associates the latter two — Carney and Hinton — have recently died, while James Clute is at present one of the owners of the Company. The first plant was located in a part of the present Port Rich- mond Yard and consisted principally of a small machine shop and boiler shop. Mr. Davidson had been for many years master me- chanic of the Starin Yard, and with the assistance of Mr. Carney looked after the mechanical end of the business. Mr. Clute had been chief boilermaker at the Starin Yard and occupied that position with his new Company. The small office served as a drawing-room and large layouts were made on the office floor. Such was the start of this remarkable Com- pany. "Service" and "Quality" were the two words most prominent in the minds of these pioneers and in time it became a by-word that if one wanted a good job done in the right way he could do no better than by letting Mr. Davidson do it. At Port Richmond adjoining the Davidson plant was the old Burke Dry Dock. It was more or less a rival firm and had its cus- tomers who had long known Mr. Burlee. Mr. Davidson early saw the benefits of an amalgamation of resources and the result was that in 1898 the two plants consolidated and formed the Burlee Dry Dock Company. In 1898 George H. Bates, just graduated from Stevens Insti- tute, walked into the Port Richmond office and, finding Mr. David- son in his shirt sleeves studying a layout on the office floor, per- suaded him that he needed a draftsman. He was made chief drafts- man, and in a short time began designing engines, the manufacture of which has become one of the principal features of the work of this Company. — 166 — A T7 Wi XX JZ± u* T7 xx xx T7 xx T7 XX T7 XX T7 xx T7 XX T7 FS^F^ At about the same time, with the advent of orders for steel hulls, it became necessary to secure the best hull man obtainable to sup- ervise this all-important work. The old guard heretofore mentioned were all engineers and the building of steel hulls necessitated a dif- ferent kind of experience than any of them had had. Mr. J. E. Bowers was brought up from the Delaware to fill this post, and so the organization was rounded out. The baby Company soon began turning out work in quantity and in quality to the complete satisfaction of all. The early hulls built included such a diversified line as carfloats, scows, barges — both coal and oil — yachts, schooners, ferry-boats, steam and der- rick lighters, seagoing and harbor tugs, dredges, drill boats, and in the more recent years the product has included mine sweepers, cargo ships, and huge oil and molasses tankers. It is doubtful whether any yard in the Country can show a list of ships that includes more types than have been built by this Company. The fact that the 3 r ard is located in New York Harbor has been largely responsible for this because nowhere else in the world can one find such a variety of craft as have business in this port. The upkeep and replace- ment of these craft insures the permanency of this yard which surely speaks well for the vision of its founders. Shortly after this Mr. Burlee withdrew from the firm and its name was changed to the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co. As the Company began turning out these craft and the work became heavier, it was apparent that it must enlarge its plant. J. H. Davidson, son of the president, who heretofore had been gain- ing valuable experience at sea, entered the Company and proceeded to take an active part in its administration. The old Port Rich- mond Plant was enlarged to its present size, additional dry-docks were built and shortly after, the site of the Mariners Harbor yard was acquired. It became the duty of the younger Davidson to de- A'elop the upper or Mariners' Harbor Yard, and, in a few years this plant was beginning to turn out its share of the work. Thus the Company maintained a healthy growth until the year 1915 when shipyards first began to feel the demands for work occasioned by the trouble in Europe. The war record of the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company is indeed an impressive one. We cannot take the space to detail all of this work but let us touch the high spots. Its production from 1915 to 1919 included six 3,500-D. W. T. cargo ships built orig- inally for the Cunard Line and commandeered by the government; eight mine sweepers for the U. S. Navy, which have performed won- derful service since their delivery and are now being converted into — 167 — ,tt Itt -6- -6- tt 1 w tW iU wrecking and salvage tugs ; six seagoing tugs for the U. S. Navy ; twenty-four reciprocating engines and condensers for the French Government ; conversion of a large number of yachts, merchant vessels and ex-German ships to craft suitable for war purposes and the remarkable part of this is, while it was all transpiring, the ship- yard had to be built. The Mariners Harbor Plant at the outbreak of the war had only two small ways and no buildings or shops to amount to anything. Thus, the entire plant had to be built and its present size and the permanency of its buildings and ways will attest to the amount of work thus entailed. Practically all of the ground had to be filled in and great quantities of piling driven and much dredging in the channel and approaches to the Plant. Since the War the Company maintained its growth with an ever- increasing volume of work until the Spring of this year, 1921, when it, in common with other industrial plants, felt the slump of busi- ness. A large number of oil barges have been built, an 1800-D. W. T., a 4000-D. W. T., and a 6300-D. AY. T. tanker have been built and a dredge for the U. S. Army. At present the plant is building a large seagoing tvig and the new municipal ferryboat which bears the name of ''President Roosevelt," and if quality of workmanship can do it, it will be a vesesl worthy to bear such a name. A recent addition to the Mariners' Harbor Plant is the new 10,000-ton floating drydock which was put in commission early in July, 1921, and has scarcely been idle a day since. This new dock rounds out the facilities of the plant for handling work of the big- gest character. Its reputation for small work has long been estab- lished, but the demands occasioned by the war made it imperative to do big work, and once it got fairly started in the game, the Company did not intend to forsake it. Therefore, with its boiler, machine, plate and angle, and joiner shops, its mold loft, foundry, new concrete shipwnys and six dry docks, ranging from 150 ft. to 475 ft., in length, nnd its excellent berthing facilities it stands at present com- peting with its rivals in all grades of work. Such is the history of the pioneer steel yard of the Port of New York. Among the many examples of its workmanship which may be seen today are the old ferryboat "Richmond" built in 1904 and still considered the pride of the line; the yacht "Undaunted," for- merly the "Karina" — the largest schooner yacht in the world; the tug "Gypsum King" — one of the largest seagoing tugs on the coast built in 1902: while one of the last products, the "Franklin" of the Galena Signal Oil Company, has proven the ideal tanker to transport various grades of lubricating oil in bulk without mixing the grades. — 168 — .. ., T7 T7 ./~x T7 FST ^x T7 IT T7^ IFel ^^ 'vji J J=x XT j ■ T7 XT J -A XT The old "Clairmont" of the Hudson-Fulton Exposition fame was built by this Company. The yachts "Resolute" and "Shamrock V" received their final overhauling at the Port Richmond Yard be- fore their races in July. 1920. While at present a most unique job is nearing completion, in the lengthening of the old tanker ••North- western''' by building 56 additional feet in her middle body, giving her 1,000 additional tons "carrying'' capacity and at the same time thoroughly repairing and reconditioning this vessel, which was given up for lost two years ago. This work is being performed right under the personal supervision of Mr. Davidson — the lengthening taking place on the large single section floating dock at the Port Richmond plant. Thus after twenty- seven years of continuous existence, the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company stands today ready and cap- able to tackle any character of marine work. For the convenience of its customers it opened an office at No. 1 Broadway, New York, in 1920, the younger Mr. Davidson assuming charge of it. Through this office the Company is able to keep in close touch with the various ship companies. THE KERR STEAMSHIP COMPANY THE KERR STEAMSHIP COMPANY is a succession of the firm of Kerr & Atkinson which sprung into being during the early days of the world war. When expansion made it neces- sary to incorporate the business the present organization was formed. Those chiefly responsible for financing and building up the vast amount of war business that the company enjoyed were: Edward F. Geer, who raised the funds ; Henry S. Quick, who procured immense quantities of freight ; and A. E. Clegg, who directed the office affairs of the company, H. F. Kerr, a British subject, acting in conjunction with Mr. Clegg. The earnings of this company were large during the period of the war. The company erected a twelve-story building on Beaver Street, where, for a considerable time after the war, it handled a fair share of the freight business from the Port of New York. Plans have been developing for over a year to institute passenger services to Europe. — 169 COMPAGNIE QE-NERALE T 00 «. a a. a. o Co a cr. 9 tfl Hi <^ hrf > Zfi a- H r-+- O re P3 *H W TO m re re re o 3 a .r\. W W 17 ^^[Q; VJ T7[t7 EI EL The ships of the ''Great White Fleet" are built particularly for services in tropical waters, the comfort and safety of pas- sengers being especially provided for. The passenger accommoda- tions are unexcelled ; the staterooms are large and spacious and many have private baths ; the cuisine is equal to that of the best hotels. These steamships furnish regular passenger, mail and freight service between the Atlantic ports of the United States and Cuba, Jamaica and the Atlantic ports of Central America and Colombia and through the connecting lines at the Panama Canal with the west coast ports of South America. In other words the ''Great White Fleet'" directly serves nine countries of the Western Hemisphere and is a prime factor in the commerce of twenty-three nations of that hemisphere. Each week sees at least four ships flying the United Fruit Company's house flag arrive at or depart from the Port of New York, and frequently the number is greater. In addition to its service from New York the company maintains passenger and freight services from Boston and New Orleans and freight service from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Mobile. Thus in twenty years the Carribean region has been brought so closely in touch with the United States, and local communication has been so vastly improved, that today it offers few perplexities to the traveler or shipper. All ships of the "Great White Fleet" are equipped with the most modern and up-to-date means of radio communication and the Com- pany has established a chain of high-powered radio stations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Swan Island, with a United States terminal located at New Orleans and smaller stations at Boston, Massachusetts, and Burrwood, Louisiana. As a consequence its ships are constantly in touch with each other and with the shore, a most important factor in any marine organization. Forty-two United Fruit Company ships (including the larger part of its English fleet) were engaged in the service of the United States and the Allies carrying troops and supplies during the Great War. Of this number thirteen were lost and have since been re- placed by newer and larger ships. Fel T7 — 184- NORTON, LILLY & COMPANY THE earliest records in the possession of tin's firm show trans- actions made in the vear 1841 by John Norton, the founder of the business. After carrying on a ship brokerage business for many years, about 1857 a line of sailing packets to River Plate ports was estab- lished, known as The Norton Line to South America. Later, about 1870, the firm established a line of sailers to South African ports, known as The Norton Line to South Africa. In 1893 steamers took the place of sailing vessels in both of these trades, and the lines carried on under the names of: The Nor- ton Line of Steamers, and The American & African S. S. Line. Within the next few years, the firm established themselves in trades all over the world, founding, in addition to the lines already established, the American & Indian Line, American & Australian Line, American & Manchurian Line and American Levant Line. The members of the present firm are: Skeffington S. Norton, Joseph T. Lilly, John B. O'Reilly, John J. Farrell, Edward J. Bran- dreth, and William J. Edwards. The firm acts as general agents for the following steamship Lines : Norton Line American & Manchurian Line Panama-Far East Line Atlantic-Gulf Far East Line American & Indian Line Ellerman & Bucknall S. S. Co. Ltd. American & African Line American-Mediterranean-Levant Line Isthmian Steamship Lines Societe Generale de Transports, American & Australian Line Maritimes a Vapeur Their main office is at 26 Beaver Street, New York City, with branch offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Newport News, New Orleans, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO. THE present business of Benjamin Moore & Co. was originally started by Moore & Morrissey, ship chandlers, in 1774, at the location where Pine and Pearl Streets are now, but which in those days was on the immediate water front. The concern con- tinued as above without change until the year 1812, when Mr. Mor- rissey died, and the firm reorganized as Benjamin Moore & Co. The firm's business is now under the direction of Charles H. Um- land, as president ; John Seikel, secretary, and Charles H. Umland, Jr., treasurer, and numbers among its customers many of the old- time concerns, for whom they have made sails, etc., for over fifty years. — 185 — EXPANSION OF AMERICAN CABLES CO-INCIDENT with the growth of the purely maritime interests of the port of New York have been other interests which have developed quite as rapidly and without which the port could never have reached the commanding position it now occupies. Of these, the cable companies whose lines reach out to all corners of the earth and act as what might well be termed the nerve system of Foreign Commerce, are important factors. Patiently and persistently the different companies are ever working to extend cable service to every trade port in the four corners of the globe. Each year records the opening of many new offices. Another link was recently added to the chain with the announce- ment by All American Cables, Inc., of the opening of their new ex- tension to Porto Rico. This latest achievement — the completion of the first American cable to Porto Rico — represents but a step in the policy of the company to offer adequate cable facilities to every important city in Latin America and, there, to knit more closely together the peoples of the three Americas. Other extensions that have also been made recently are those between Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Lima, Peru; Colon and Cartagena, Colombia; Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro ; Buenos Aires and Santos ; and between New York and Santiago de Cuba. In discussing the present conditions of the company, President John L. Merrill spoke particularly of its remarkable growth during the last few years. "The All American cables system of today embraces the Mexican Telegraph Company and the Central and South American Telegraph Company. The former was established in 1879 and the latter in 1881. The name All America (often misspelled All American) was chosen as the most fitting phrase to designate a service dedi- cated primarily to the needs of the three Americas — South, Central and North. All America Cables now has more than 23,000 statute miles of submarine telegraph lines and more than 3,000 miles of landlines. "In the fifteen countries served by the two component parts of All America Cables, Inc., there are maintained forty-four offices, manned by trained commercial and technical staffs. Skilled workers watch over the efficiency of office apparatus and landlines ; a fleet of cable ships is constantly cruising the high sea lanes, ready for any emergency. "All America Cables is proud of its physical and mechanical equipments ; it is more than proud of its personnel, because it is to the members of our staff that we must look for that spirit which is +he essence of Service. — 186 — C3 X 2 ~ a I—. -e-e-e-e-e-ets-e-e-e' JZ\ \7 £\ \J JZ\ W ^ LU /T\ U M&^ XT ^^-e- '"To this Spirit of Service we attribute the record of Achievement of the last forty years — a record which reveals constantly broaden- ing range of activity, constantly increasing speed and accuracy in the transmission of messages entrusted to us, and a steadily dimin- ishing cost. "Cablegrams are now being sent from the New York office to Buenos Aires without retransmission by hand. That means that despatches travel 7,452 miles purely by automatic methods, Avithout the intervention of a single operator. "This is done in a very few minutes — a record of speed. "Our struggle to reduce the cost of cabling has resulted in ac- complishments similarly astonishing. When the system opened its offices in Buenos Aires the rate per word was $7.50. Now the rate from New York to the capital of the Argentine is but fifty cents a word for messages sent on regular schedule, and only twenty-five cents a word for those sent on a deferred time schedule. The fifty- cent basis for messages to Buenos Aires was achieved in December, 1917, and the announcement of the change, at a time when the prices for all other services were mounting, was enthusiastically re- ceived by the governments and peoples of the three Americas. "The All America Cables of today is the evolution of an idea. Its directors and executive officers have a purpose founded upon a sincere belief that the commercial, political, and strategic interests of the Americas can best be served by an American-owned and operated system of communication. Trade development is depend- ent upon ships and cables. Political progress hinges upon the proper understanding of one nation by another, and this can be attained more readily through interchange of cables of daily news. "In faithfully pursuing our purpose, in steadfastly holding our- selves ready to serve the best interests of the Americas, and of the world, we believe we are serving a high ideal." The home office of the All America Cables, Inc., is located in its own building at 89 Broad treet, New York City. — 188 — — to trj 3 P a, Co > en 3 FUNCH, EDYE & COMPANY, Inc. ON MAY 1st, 1847, the firm of Fuhch & Meincke was organ- ized by C. F. Funeh, a Dane, and Captain C. Meincke, also a Dane, with offices at the southeasterly corner of Wall and Water streets, for the purpose of carrying on a ship brokerage business. In 1859, Mr. A. Wendt, who had extensive German con- nections, was admitted to membership of the firm and its name changed to Funch, Meincke & Wendt, and offices removed to the corner of Beaver and William Streets. The new member influenced the consignment of a large number of sailing vessels under the Ger- man flag and registering from the various ports in the Baltic. These latter became quite numerous and active in the Trans-Atlantic trade at the conclusion of the Crimean War. In 1867, Mr. Wendt who had suffered a severe breakdown in health retired from the firm, and in consequence the firm name was changed to Funch. Meincke & Co., and offices were removed to 14 South William Street. The business expanded very rapidly, and consisted principally of handling vessels under the German and Scandinavian flags. Shortly after the death of Mr. Meincke in March, 1869, Mr. Funch asso- ciated himself with Mr. H. W. 0. Edye (the latter having con- ducted a similar business in New York under the firm name of Robt. M. Sloman & Edye, and later as Edye & Brock) under the style of Funch, Edye & Co., and offices were taken at 27 South William Street, where they remained located for 25 years later. The busi- ness increased very rapidly, and at times during 1879-81 as many as 150 vessels under Scandinavian, Russian, German, Italian and Austrian and British flags were in port at one time to the firm's consignment. In 1871 steamers were added to the consignment and in consequence of a large number of sailing vessels having been loaded on the berth to various Belgian, Scandinavian, Holland and German ports, these activities were gradually transferred to steamers. In 1872 the Red Cross Line was inaugurated with steamers under the Belgian flag and carried on a regular service between Antwerp and New York. Later the Eagle Line which operated with general cargo between New York and Stettin and was subsequently merged with the Hamburg American Line, for which the firm also became freight agents. In further development of liner business the firm acted as agents of the Netherlands Ameri- can S. S. Company, now known as Holland American Line; Thing- valla Line, later absorbed by Det Forende Dampskibs Selskab and styled the Scandinavian American Line; the Nouvelle Cie Bordelaise de Navigation a Vapeur; United Tyser Line; U. S. & Java Line; LT. S. & China Japan Line: I T . S. & Brazil: Hansa Line to South — 190 — w \ / w w .1 \ w \ 1 "0" \ / U w ^-6*^ <^> \y / ., XJ / V T7 -e-e- T7 fX \/ % ■ I Africa; Hansa Line to India; Royal West India Mail. In 1915 all connections with German Lines were severed and such services were replaced by steamers under British and Holland flags. In 1917, on January 1st, the firm was incorporated and is continued as Fundi, Edye & Company, Inc. SUSQUEHANNA STEAMSHIP CO., Inc. THE SUSQUEHANNA STEAMSHIP CO., INC., Mas incorpo- rated under the laws of the State of New York in 1917. Their first steamer was the S. S. "Susquehanna." After ex- tensive repairs and reconditioning- was done this steamer was started in the Transatlantic General Cargo Trade, and was the nucleus of a very extensive and flourishing steamship business. Shortly after the acquisition of this steamer she was requisi- tioned by the United States Government and was used for war pur- poses until December, 1918. After her return she was again put into the Transatlantic Trade. In 1919 the Steamers "Lydia" "Redondo" and "Sacramento" were acquired and were also put into the General Transatlantic Cargo Trade, under the operation of the Susquehanna Steamship Co. In the early part of 1921 the Company acquired the Baltic Service berth and were allocated steamers by the United States Shipping Board for operation in this trade and they have success- fully covered this route and improved and increased its efficiency. The officers of this company are Mr. Frank Auditore, President,, who is one of the successful business men in the steamship business ; his brother, Joseph Auditore, was associated with him until his death in May, 1920. In 1920 Mr. Joseph D. Phillips, who is a well known steamship man of many years, joined the organization as vice-presi- dent and general manager, and in March, 1921, Mr. John B. Austin, Jr., joined the organization in charge of the Baltic Service. Mr. Joseph G. Stockham, Secretary, has been associated with the Presi- dent and his brother for the past sixteen years, and is one of the well known shipping men down-town having been in the steamship business for the past thirty-three years. This Company will be one of the largest factors in the steamship business as time rolls on and we wish them every success. Itt — 191 CHARLES H. "POTTER CHARLES H. POTTER has been actively associated with the shipping industry for the past thirty-three years. In the year 1886 he entered the employ of Parsons & Barnes, ship brokers, 36 South Street, New York ; in 1889 Captain Cyrus W. Chadwick, a well-known ship master, and Mr. Potter organized the firm of Chadwick & Potter to transact a general ship brokerage business, which partnership continued up to 1899, in which year Mr. Potter sold out his interest and joined the Luckenbach Steamship Com- pany ; after seventeen years' continuous service with the Lucken- bach interests, Mr. Potter resigned and organized the Potter Steam- ship Company, Inc., and the Potter Transportation Company, Inc., of which companies he is the President, located at 11 Broadway, New York City. Mr. Potter was elected President of the United States Ship Operators" Association in October, 1919, and re-elected for second term in 1920. This Association was formed in 1919 to "promote and advance the economical management and operation of American vessels, government owned and otherwise ; to co-operate with the United States government officials and to facilitate the administra- tion of its bureaus having jurisdiction over maritime matters; to work for the improvement of laws, regulations and rulings and to secure uniformity in customs and usages in relation thereto : to dif- fuse accurate marine information and to strengthen and enlarge friendly intercourse between men engaged in and about ships and shipping ; to the end that the Merchant Marine of the United States may attain its greatest efficiency." Mr. Potter, in April. 1920, was elected to serve two years as a Director of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York, resigning in 1921 to assume the duties of Vice-President, to which office he was elected. Owing to the death of President F. F. Boul- fon in August, 1921, Mr. Potter was called on to assume the duties of President of the Association. Mr. Potter is an ardent worker for an American Merchant Marine, serving on various committees working in conjunction with the U. S. Shipping Board. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, the New York Board of Trade and Merchants' Asso- ciation. T7 T7 — 192 — THE SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICAN LINE SERVICE has been the constant keynote of the United Steam- ship Company of Copenhagen ever since its inception. And the growth and steadily perfected development of this ideal of service is strikingly shown in its present important position. Favored today, alike by those who cross the Atlantic for pleas- ure and for business, the Scandinavian-American Line — the descrip- tive name under which the company operates its passenger service between the United States and the Scandinavian countries — typifies everything that makes ocean travel a delight. Any sketch of the Scandinavian-American Line and its fleet of commodious comfortable ships would be incomplete without a brief mention of the various stages of the company's history. We believe you will find this condensed history of interest. Amalgamating several smaller shipping firms, the United Steam- ship Company of Copenhagen was formed in 1866 and began busi- ness the following year. With a fleet of 22 steamships, having a total register tonnage of 4,919 tons net, regular routes were main- tained between the various ports in Denmark, and in addition, to Kiel, Stettin, Koenigsberg, Antwerp, London, Hull, several Norwe- gian ports, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Noting the dates that follow, marking the most decisive advances in a very rapid growth, enables you to get a clear idea of the ever- increasing importance of this company. 1875 saw the completion of the harbor of Esbjerg, on the west coast of Jutland, and with it the regular operation of a line of steamships between that port and England. 1880 was the date of still further expansion, when the important export routes for agricultural products, between Copenhagen and Newcastle, England, were taken over. This was followed closely by the acquisition of still other routes between Danish provincial ports and Newcastle. And it is noteworthy, that since 1884 the handling of Danish agricultural exports to England (with the exception of the route between Copenhagen and Leith) has been taken care of solely by this company. 1882, shortly after the opening of the St. Petersburg Ship Canal, the company again broadened its activities, and a line of steamships was put in operation between Antwerp and St. Petersburg. 1883 was likewise an important development year. It saw the extension of the company's service to Havre as a port of regular call ; and a still further extension of its service to Mediterranean ports. 1886 was another progressive year, when a route to Hamburg was established ; and one between Antwerp and Riga. — 193 — XJ re- ZZ\ XJ £\ XJ T7*fr A XJ M§M§ ^■e-e-e-©-^ 1887 opened up still other new routes — one to Hangd (Finland) and one to Oporto-Lisbon, with the extension of this route to Ma- deira in 1893. 1895 marked an epoch in the company's history. Busy as they had been up to this time, in developing their many European routes, attention was now turned to the development of the company's first route between Copenhagen and United States ports. Six big steam- ships were built and named "Kentucky," "Arkansas," "Louisiana," "Florida," "Alabama" and "Texas." These steamships plied be- tween Copenhagen and New Orleans, and in addition to great cargo capacities provided accommodations for a limited number of cabin passengers. 1898 witnessed still more important developments, for in this year the company took over the "Thingvalla Line," a long-estab- lished passenger service line between Copenhagen and New York. With the accession of this line, immediate steps were taken to put its trans-oceanic service on the highest plane of efficiency. New twin-screw steamers of the most modern type were built expressly for this service between Scandinavian ports and New York. 1899 the company established a regular service between Boston and Copenhagen. 1903-1904 initiated the opening of regular sailings between Scandinavian ports and Philadelphia, Newport News and Baltimore. 1907 saw still another addition to the company's service, with the establishment of the line to Buenos Aires, South America. And as a result of this steady progress, of this intelligent ex- pansion of its service, by the end of 1913 the company's fleet in- cluded 130 steamships and 14 seagoing lighters, with a total gross tonnage of 177,290 tons. 1914 the service of the Company's Lines was still further aug- mented with the commissioning of several new ships. The most not- able of these were the "California," the largest vessel afloat driven bv Diesel motor engines ; and the magnificent passenger steamer "Frederik VIII." The main office of the company is at Copenhagen but all matters relating to American business are disposed of by the New York office which is located in the Scandinavian-American Line Building at 27 Whitehall street. Agencies are maintained in Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. T7 194- — a 69 a- a- © s a 69 s ^ I— I I— « s a a' s a s s SINCLAIR NAVIGATION COMPANY SINCLAIR CONSOLIDATED OIL CORPORATION, founded by H. F. Sinclair, has become in recent years an important factor in the development of New York Harbor. This cor- poration which is engaged in all branches of the petroleum indus- try, has built up an organization covering a large part of the United States, and extending into many foreign countries. The executive headquarters are in New York City, — housed in one of the finest "sky scrapers" on the Island of Manhattan, the building having been bought for this purpose in 1919. The Sinclair company was fortunate enough to obtain one of the few remaining water front sites in New York Harbor. This property, which is known as Tremley Point, lies south of the Bayway plant of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, with a frontage of about one thousand feet on the Arthur Kill, and Hvith ready access to the trunk railway systems running out from New York on the Jersey mainland. It is not publicly known just 2iow extensive will be the improvements on this valuable property, but there has already been established a fuel oil installation which in its design suggests that it will eventually be a part of a large petroleum refinery. In the meantime Sinclair ships and barges are plying New York waters, and the steady increase in these activities indicates that New York Harbor will be one of the most important centers of Sinclair operations along the Atlantic Seaboard. The Sinclair company is strongly entrenched in and about Philadelphia, as well as in and about Providence, Rhode Island. One of its subsidiary companies, the Union Petroleum Company of Philadelphia, has a large plant at Marcus Hook, and this terminal lias been considered its chief exporting point. The Union Petro- leum has for years been one of the largest American exporters of petroleum products in bulk. The volume of business moving out of the Marcus Hook ter- minal has been growing, but shipping men have directed attention to the fact that the Gulf ports are also attracting a liberal per- centage of Sinclair shipments, due to the strategic locations of its refineries and terminals at New Orleans and on the Houston Ship Channel. On the other hand, it should not be overlooked that much of the Sinclair production of crude oil in Mexico may logi- cally be expected to find its way to the Atlantic Seaboard, and that in the next few years the Atlantic ports may be further helped by the bringing in of oil on the Sinclair holdings in Costa Rica and Panama, and also on the west coast of Africa. The poten- tiality of these holdings, coupled with the rapid extension of Sin- — 196 — u .' 'J w 1 \ VJ IV V\ tttt V i/\ T7 u^ yr (lair activities in Europe, give assurance that the Atlantic coast ports will figure largely in Sinclair shipments. The Sinclair subsidiary which owns and operates the Sinclair fleet, is the Sinclair Navigation Company. Most of its tankers are of the latest and most improved design. The total tonnage according to latest reports is 177 ,348 tons deadweight, plus 1,009 gross tons of ocean going tugs. This fleet which has no funded indebtedness of any kind against it can handle from 16,000,000 to 20,000,000 barrels of oil annually, according to ports served. Most of these tank ships were designed and built under the supervision of J. G. Johnson, vice-president and director of the Sinclair Navigation Co. The Sinclair company also owns and operates a number of bulk oil tank barges of about 32,000 tons deadweight. These barges are used at various points of distribution in the United States, Cuba and Mexico. In addition to this fleet the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Cor- poration and one of its affiliated French companies, the Mazout- Transports, have nearing completion two 9,000-ton tankers named "C. I. P." and "MOTRIX." These boats will be used exclusively in the French-American trade. SPIRE PITOU & CO. THE present firm of Spire Pitou & Company, whose senior partner is a son of the Spire Pitou who for nearly fifty years was in the shipping business at 17 State Street, when the Pilots Association had their offices there and whose Pilots took to sea the barrel oil sailing vessels bound for France. This was at a time when Mr. Pitou's father shipped crude petroleum to France in barrels on schooners. Now the son is chartering tank steamers to carry gasoline in bulk. Some change in business dur- ing forty years, but the firm has only moved once in that time from 17 State Street to 141 Broadway, where it now is located. Mr. Spire Pitou's partner is Mr. Frederick G. Kinscherf who has also been in the shipping business a great many years. This firm is doing a general chartering business and also acting as agents for foreign vessel owners. They have close relations with a great many of the biggest merchants and exporters in and out of the city and are rated as a very old and high-class firm. T7 T7 197 — SIR JOSEPH W. ISHERWOOD, 'BART WHILE, strictly speaking, there is no place in the list of those who have made the Port of New York the greatest mari- time haven in the world, for Sir Joseph Isherwood, Bart., at the same time it is felt that no history of New York harbor would be complete without fitting reference to the founder of the Isherwood System of ship construction. Quite outside of the commercial advantages of vessels built on the Isherwood longitudinal system, such as economy in building and operation and increase of cargo capacity without increase in draft, Sir Joseph has done something for mankind — and especially for the men whose lives are spent on the seven seas, that must not go unheralded to or unnoticed by those on shore who scan these pages. Tank steamers — the type of vessel that came into being in comparative recent years when the transportation of oil in bulk grew into large proportions — were considered a great hazard, not only in the matter of safety for the cargo but safety for the lives of their crews as well. In certain heavy seas these "tankers" were wont to have their "backs broken" through strain, and many a ship of this type broke in two and disappeared without a word ever being heard from those who had been aboard. It was Sir Joseph — then plain Mr. Joseph Isherwood, expert surveyor of Lloyd's Register of Shipping and a naval architect of exceptional sagacity- — who hit upon the longitudinal construction of ships and found that "tankers" built upon his plan would survive any ordinary bad weather and would, even when struck in a collision, provide the maximum safety for the men on board. The great test of the new system came when the world war broke out ; when all maritime governments availed themselevs of the Isherwood system and saved precious days by reason of the faster construction of oil carriers that were built on the Isher- wood plans. In this way Sir Joseph unquestionably did much to help win the war for the Allies and also, be it remembered, saved many hundreds of lives because the "Isherwood ships" were safer vessels than were ever built before. It Avas in recognition of his expertness as a naval architect and the consequent aid he gave the Allies, apart from the humani- tarian side of his research work, that King George V knighted the famous inventor and created him a Baronet of the United Kingdom ; an honor which, in Sir Joseph Isherwood's case, was highly merited and one that has met with approbation throughout the entire maritime world. — 198 — BA'RBER & CO, INC., A*ND ITS SUBSIDIARIES WHEN the question of the substantia] and tested eminence of Now York as ;i shipping center comes to mind, it brings up the thought of the great enterprises, long active, which have for years stood as exemplars of the city's importance in maritime affairs. Of these none is more representative or better known than the firm of Barber & Company, Inc., and its subsidiaries. Many years ago — in the early 1880's to be exact — the "Mon- arch Line" was inaugurated. It was a steamship line, operating between New York and London. The company owned five steamers, each of about five thousand tons, deadweight, and having a speed of from ten to ten and a half knots. This line was fostered and man- aged by Messrs. John Patton, Jr., & Company, of London, their New York agency being styled Patton, Vickers & Company. The "Company" of this firm was Mr. Herbert Barber, who had come from England to establish himself in New York for the purpose of representing the Monarch Line here. He brought with him an ex- cellent equipment for that service, having had, even at that time, many years of practical and informing experience in the steamship business. The Monarch Line was finally bought out by other companies in the latter part of 1886, and Herbert Barber, together with his brother James, who had previously handled the chartering end of the business here, established the firm of Barber & Company, in January, 1887. Several years after the inception of Barber & Company, it was incorporated, since which time it has been known as Barber & Co., Inc. Since that time the growth of the company has been phenom- enal, the business extending in all directions until the operations of the Barber enterprise have become practically world-wide, with operations so extended that it became necessary, as the business grew, to form other companies as adjuncts to their business. This necessity also led to the formation of Barber Steamship Lines, Inc., which company took over the handling of the entire steamship end of the business, Barber & Co., Inc., continuing as the parent and holding company of all of the other companies. The family of Barber corporations, as it now stands, is a very formidable and comprehensive one, the corporations being enumer- ated, with their special objectives, as follows: Barber & Co., Inc., the parent company, having supervision over all of the others. Barber Steamship Lines, Inc., handling the general steamship business and representing many well established lines of overseas transportation. 1 —199 — -& K* V7 «- ^ V7 n, /-\ w VV & 1 W VV Barber Sailing Ship Lines, Inc., handling the sailing ship busi- ness of the Barber enterprise. Macona Steamship Corporation, steamship owners. New York & Oriental Steamship Co., Inc., steamship owners. La Plata Steamship Co., Inc., steamship owners. Atlantic Piers Co., Inc., handling the terminals, and also the receiving and delivery of cargo. Atlantic Towing Co., Inc., handling the shifting of barges. Pier Machine Works, Inc., handling the repairs of steamers. Atlantic Stevedoring Co., Inc., handling the loading and dis- charging activities of the Barber lines. Virginia Coaling Corporation, which attends to the supplying of bunkers. Through these various corporations the activities of Barber & Co., Inc., constitute a very large and most efficiently self-con- tained organization, covering all of the various departments and port activities connected with overseas transportation by steam and sail. &?LEXS£ O *< o o H H > o H pp E O f 3 HISTORY OF THE 'MORGAN LINE" THE original line of steamers commonly known as the "Morgan Line," was inaugurated by Mr. Charles Morgan sometime in the late forties, and was operated in the early fifties between New Orleans, Texas and Mexican Coast points with a few small steamers, the names of which are not now available. Sometime (lur- ing 1858 or 1859, Mr. Morgan purchased from Mr. Cornelius Van- derbilt and added to the fleet, two other small steamers then operated between Brashear (now Morgan City) and Texas points. In the meantime in Louisiana, public spirited men had also con- ceived the idea and the ambition to open up the undeveloped section of Southern and Western Louisiana and bring the port of New Orleans, then an important city, in direct connection with the re- sources of Texas and Louisiana, it being their ambition to make New Orleans the great export port for the whole Southwestern country. The New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western Railroad was organized for this purpose, and the far-flung plans of the promoters called for a line extending through Lafayette and Alexandria and across the Sabine River at a point near Thompson's Bluff, west through Texas to El Paso, thence to Mazatlan in Mexico on the Pacific Ocean. In 1857, the first division of this Railroad, more commonly known as the "Opelousas Railroad" was completed and operated to Brashear City, a distance of eighty (80) miles, connection being made at that point with steamers of the Morgan Line and the Van- derbilt Line for Texas and Mexican points. These steamers were necessarily of a very light draft, as the depth of water in what was then known as "Ann Channel," and later on as the "Morgan Ditch," would not admit vessels drawing more than seven and one-half feet. However, after passing though this channel, ten miles in length, and entering Berwick Bay, there was sufficient depth to permit easy docking of vessels at wharves then located at what is now Morgan City, and connections were also made at this port with steamboats plying along the inland water- ways. At this time (1857) the Opelousas Railroad had erected large cattle pens at Morgan City to take care of large shipments of cattle received by steamer from Texas points for transportation by rail at New Orleans. What is now the Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad & Steam- ship Company was taken over by the military authorities of the L T nited States on May 1, 1862, and was operated and occupied by — 212 — \7 \ I M W \ / XT \ / ffi \ / /Ok ^1 ei M a-, t7 /"., W T7 them until February 1, 1866. The president of the Morgan Road during this difficult time was A. B. Seger, who conducted the affairs of the company with great devotion to the interest of the owners. When taken over by the United States the Opelousas Railroad had not been completed beyond Morgan City, but was cleared, graded and ready for ties and rail for a distance of sixty miles beyond that point, when the outbreak of the Civil War caused the suspen- sion of all work. After the Opelousas Railroad regained possession of its prop- erties in 1866, the rail and steamship lines resumed operations, the steamship lines being controlled by Mr. Charles Morgan, traffic arrangements with the railroad providing for the movement of freight to and from Texas and Mexican Coast points in connection with the steamship lines. The steamers operated in this trade by the Morgan Line were the "Matagorda," "Alabama," "I. C. Harris" and "Har- lan." In addition, the Morgan Line owned and operated the follow- ing steamers :-"Wm. G. Howe," "Clinton" and "St. Mary," all of about one thousand (1,000) gross tons each, and of about the same design with fairly good passenger accommodations. On April 5, 1869, Charles Morgan purchased at marshal's sale the New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western Railroad, extending at that time to Morgan City. Morgan City became for ten years the terminus of the Morgan road and from its Morgan's steamships and river boats supplied Texas and Louisiana. In 1870, the Morgan Line added to the fleet the steamship "Hutchinson," a side-wheeler of fourteen hundred (1400) tons gross, and afterwards changed to a propeller. This steamer was followed by the S. S. "Whitney," thirteen hundred (1300) gross tons, the S. S. "Josephine," thirteen hundred (1300) gross tons, the S. S. "Josephine," thirteen hundred (1300) gross tons in 1871, and the S. S. "Gussie," one thousand (1000) gross tons in 1872. The S. S. "Whitney" and S. S. "Josephine" were later placed in the Cuban and Mexican trade. In 1876, the Morgan Line began operating the New York-New Orleans Line with the following screw steamers : "Lone Star," "Algiers," "Morgan City" and "New York," all of about twenty- three hundred (2300) gross tons each, or a total of ninety-two hundred (9200) gross tons, steamers being used for freight exclu- sively. The Morgan road, which had been projected to Lafayette, but on which track had not been laid, was finally pushed through in 1878 and the Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad & Steamship Com- 213 — r\. U ^1 "0" \j rw" "0" ^ •e- & ^ "w* VV ./a. x\. j-\. pany was then organized, this being only a few weeks before Mr. Morgan's death. In 18T9, the S. S. "Chalmette" of thirty-two hundred (3200) gross tons was built and placed in the New York-New Orleans trade. It should be noted that the Morgan Line continued to operate steamers between Morgan City and Texas and Mexican Coast points, the former being known as the Texas Line, and the latter as the Vera Cruz Line, both of which were abandoned in later years. About this time the Havana Line was in operation, steamers touch- ing on their way south at Cedar Keys and Key West, Florida, and in later years at Port Tampa, Florida, returning northbound via Key West, Florida. In 1882, the S. S. "Excelsior" of thirty-five hundred (3500) gross tons was built and placed in the New York-New Orleans trade. The business had so increased that vessels had to be chartered while larger and faster ones were building. In 1880 the Southern Pacific Railroad reached El Paso from the Pacific Coast and in 1883 the gap was closed at Devil's River in Texas between construction working from the west and that from the east which completed the Southern Pacific's southern trans-con- tinental line. The first train from New Orleans reached San An- tonio on February 6, 1883, and the first train from San Francisco reached San Antonio on February 7, 1883. Operation of through train service from New Orleans to San Francisco then began and continuous service was established from that date. In 1884, the "Eureka," "El Dorado," and "El Paso" were built; in 1886, the "El Monte," and in 1889, the "El Mar." These were 14 knot ships of thirty-five hundred (3500) tons. They were fol- lowed in 1890 by the "El Sol," of forty-five hundred (4500) tons, with speed of 15 knots. At this time contracts for three more ships of the "El Sol" class were let, the "El Norte," "El Sud," and "El Rio." These ships were built and placed in commission as rapidly as possible. The last four ships were taken by the Government dur- ing the Spanish-American War and converted into cruisers. They proved so adaptable for the service that when the war was over the Government would not release them. This, of course, crippled the Line and more vessels had to be built to replace them. In the mean- time, the steamships "New Orleans," "Knickerbocker," and "Hud- son" were operated under charter. In 1899 and 1901, contracts were let and the "El Norte," "El Sud," "El Sid" and "El Rio," were built as rapidly as possible, followed right along by the "El Valle," "El Dia," "El Siglo" and "El Alba," all of the same design. — 211 T7 .XX T7 <^>^> \/ U XX T7 RS XX T7 XX XX T7 T7 XX T7 e- -6- 6i T7 «XX T7 -6- The organizing effect of the Southern Pacific began to be felt in 1874, when C. P. Huntington and T. W. Pierce acquired an in- terest in the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad. From that time until 1885, when the Morgan road and the other Louisi- anna lines were acquired and when the famous Sunset Route was firmly established, and until 1888 when the Houston & Texas Cen- tral was acquired, and finally in 1895 when the Houston East & West Texas became part of the system, the growth of the present Southern Pacific System was gradual. But the constructive genius of its heads, including the great Harriman, steadily made its impres- sion in the continuously increasing effectiveness of the system, until at the present time, while all of the operating companies of the Southern Pacific Lines are separate organizations, they are in prac- tical effect one system and as such were and are the greatest in- dustrial factor in the development and prosperity of the common- wealths through which they operate. In 1900, the Company began building the finest piers in the country at Galveston, the far West and Transcontinental trade hav- ing assumed such proportions that both ports, New Orleans and Galveston, had to be used, and in August, 1902, the New York and Galveston Line was placed in operation with three steamers per week, in order to take care of trans-continental trade. In the same month and year the Company took over the Crom- well Steamship Line, which added to the fleet the S. S. "Comus" and S. S. "Proteus," two combination freight and passenger steam- ers, each of forty-eight hundred (4800) gross tons, these steamers being operated from New Orleans proper to New York. The Company also acquired at this time from the Cromwell Line the S. S. "Louisiana," of twenty-nine hundred (2900) gross tons. This steamer was operated from February, 1903, in the Havana Line, until she sunk at New Orleans Docks, April, 1905. The Company continued to operate steamers from Algiers to New York, and also to Havana, up to February, 1903, when all business was transferred to New Orleans side of the river, and the docks and wharves at Algiers abandoned. In order to meet the increased passenger business, three combina- tion freight and passenger steamers were built in 1905 and 1906. They were the "Momus" and "Antilles," of 6,878 gross tons each, and the "Creole," of 6,754 gross tons. The "Momus" was placed in commission in December, 1906; the "Antilles," in May, 1907, and the "Creole" was commissioned in June, 1907. — 215 — VJ VJ VJ VJ VJ VJ VJ Tf -6" VJ Y7 T7 ^1 TJ TJ 1^ ^7 In 1909, the further increase in freight offerings necessitated an increase in the deadweight carrying capacity of the steamship lines, and to meet this demand, four fast freight steamers were built with a deadweight cargo capacity of 6,400 tons each, and speed of 15V2 knots. These steamers were named and placed in service in the following order. El Sol August 27, 1910 El Mundo October 1,1910 El Oriente October 29, 1910 El Occidente . December 7, 1910 Subsequently, in order to reduce the cost of operations, the following ships were converted into oil burners, making eight oil- burning ships in all, viz. : "El Sud," "El Alba," "El Mundo," "El Oriente," "El Valle," "El Norte," "El Sol," and "El Occidente." In 1912, it became necessary to build a tank steamer in order to transport oil from the Mexican fields to tanks at Galveston and Algiers, both for the steamship as well as the rail lines, and the tank ship Topila, with a capacity of 50,000 barrels of crude oil, was placed in commission in June, 1913. She was followed in 1917 by another tank steamer, the "Torres," of the same carrying ca- pacity. In 1916, before the U. S. Government entered into the World War, it was found necessary to further increase the cargo capacity of the fleet, and to meet these requirements the steamships "El Al- mirante and "El Capitan," were constructed with a cargo capacity of 6,500 tons each. They were especially designed for the handling of slow moving freight, and for this purpose their speed was lim- ited to twelve knots. Anticipating the retirement of the steamships "El Paso," built in 1886, the "El Monte," and "El Mar," built in 1889, because of their age, small carrying capacity, and obsolete type, making them expensive to operate, contract was let in December, 1919, for the construction of three freight steamers with a deadweight capacity of 4,000 tons each, which were named and placed in commission in the following order : El Estero November 24, 1920 El Isle January 18, 1921 El Lago March ' 8, 1921 The use of fuel oil by the rail and steamship lines, which will be still further increased by the contemplated conversion of other ships into oil-burners, made it necessary to provide additional facilities — 216 — ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^[^ ^ tr tj ^ tt [tr tt t7 r\7l[T7l T7 for the transportation of oil from the Mexican fields, and to meet this demand, contract was placed in March, 1920, for another tank ship with a deadweight capacity of 16, 340 tons, capable of trans- porting 100,000 barrels of crude oil. This vessel, the "Tamiahua," was completed and placed in commission September 29, 1921. QEO. R. ■BURROWS, Inc. IT IS with a great deal of pleasure that we have noted the rise to prominence enjoyed by the firm of Geo. R. Burrows, Inc. Although only a young firm in the sail-making business, it has been built up by men who were born and raised in the old school. There is an old saying that all things worth while build slowly, and when we consider new ideas applied by men imbued with old time principles, there is assurance of success, and the prestige gained is lasting. Time was when the jib-booms of the famous clipper ships crossed the street almost to the windows of buildings on the other side. Time was when there were more than two suits to a clipper ship with their thirty-two sails. Time was when machines were un- heard of and the square rigger would tug and pull on her hawsers for days patiently waiting while a score of men were hurrying to finish the new suit, that the ship might sail to the shores beyond. Reminiscence has its place, but we have all realized at one time or another, the value of experience, and when today a problem is approached, that priceless experience, gained through the years, shows us how the new ideas are based on fundamental principles born of the time before us. It is surprising, when we consider that today there is more canvas on a battleship than on the old square rigger. Over one thousand hammocks must be supplied the men ; the decks fore and aft must be covered with awnings ; the dynamos, boats and guns must be covered and screened. What the future brings, none can tell ; we are sincere when w T e wish Geo. R. Burrows, Inc., the full measure of prosperity due them, and as* time rolls on, let us not forget that old saying which will always ring out for time everlasting. "Where there's wind and w r ater, there'll be sail." T7 — 217 — gENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY'S ACTIVITIES IN THE MARINE FIELD THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY was incorporated in 1892, acquiring at its formation all the capital stock of the Edison General Electric Company, of the Thomson-Huston Electric Company, and of the Thomson-Houston International Elec- tric Company. The previous twelve years in the history of electri- cal industries was an era of invention and preparation ; incandes- cent and arc lighting and electric traction were growing arts, but were so clouded and delayed up to 1892 by the clash of divergent methods, that only a few realized their vast future utility. The General Electric Company started its activities in the ma- rine field about twenty-five years ago with the manufacture of Steam Engine-Driven Generating Sets which were used for lighting purposes. These sets have been installed in the ships of the United States Navy, in the Russian, Japanese, Brazilian, Cuban and other foreign navies. The ships built for the Emergency Fleet Corpora- tion by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island are fitted exclusively with G-E Steam Engine-Driven Generating Sets, as are numerous other merchant ships. In the last few years rapid strides have been made by the Com- pany in the development of main propulsion as well as auxiliary apparatus for ships. A large number of G-E Marine Geared Turbines have been built for, and are installed in various types of vessels of the U. S. Navy, such as scout cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, etc. The Company was the first in the world to build electric ship propulsion machinery for a naval vessel with the 5,800 h.p. set in- stalled in the IT. S. Collier "Jupiter," now the airplane carrier "Langley." This type of drive was then adopted by the Navy for all the capital ships so that the Company has now installed or under con- struction turbine-electric propulsion machinery for the U. S. Navy aggregating 957,800 h.p. Following the example of the U. S. Navy, the Japanese Navy is installing in the latest U,000 ton fuel ship G-E 8,000 h.p. turbine- electro propulsion machinery. The first American Marine Geared Turbine, i.e., a high-speed turbine driving the propeller through a double reduction gear was manufactured by the Company and installed in 1915 in the S. S. "Pacific." Thirteen additional units were built shortly afterwards and installed in merchant ships. When the United States entered the Great War, it was recog- nized that the effectiveness of our armies would depend on how rap- — 218 — A \ XJ / \ \J y XJXI / ,, \ I \ I x^^r<5Yd / L \f iW\ u u Wi idly merchant ships could be built and equipped. At this time the only double reduction Marine Geared Turbines in actual ser- vice were the fourteen units built by the General Electric Company. An order for a large number of Marine Geared propulsion units was placed with the Company. To fulfill the requirements for early delivery, the General Electric Company's facilities for manufactur- ing Marine Geared Turbines were increased, and special tools and equipment was procured. Delivery was made by the Company at the rate of one complete Marine Geared Turbine unit per day. Over three hundred units were thus installed in merchant ships. The great speed at which these units were manufactured by the Com- pany and the actual service rendered to the Government during the hostilities is clearly demonstrated by the fact that G-E equipped ships rendered more than four-fifths of the total service given by vessels propelled by double reduction geared turbines. When the demands of the United States Shipping Board for additional propulsion machinery became more insistent, the Com- pany, prompted by the success attending turbine-electric drive on the collier "Jupiter" and the Battleship "New Mexico," offered to build turbine-electric propulsion machinery for merchant ships. Up to date five Shipping Board ships have thus been equipped: S. S. Eclipse, S. S. Invincible, S. S. Archer, S. S. Independence, and S. S. Victorious . Seven more equipments are practically completed and will be installed in similar ships. Similar equipments have been installed on the express passenger and freight ships, S. S. Cuba, and the four latest U. S. Coast Guard Cutters, the U. S. S. Tampa, Haida, Mojave, and Modoc. An equipment of this kind consists of a high-speed turbine direct-connected to an alternating-current generator which delivers current to an alternating-current propulsion motor. This motor is directly coupled to the propeller shaft. All maneuvering is done from one central station, the control panel, on which are mounted all instruments and maneuvering levers. These equipments are the first of its kind to be installed in American merchant ships. The Company was the first to successfully apply the Diesel en- gine-electric system of propulsion to merchant ships. In February, 1920, the 500 ton fishing trawler "Mariner" of Gloucester, Mass., propelled by 400 h.p. Diesel engine-electric machinery, went into service. The reliability and efficiency of this kind of drive has proved itself and will be further demonstrated by the world's first Diesel engine-electric cargo ship the 2,000 M. S. Fordonian, 219 — mm XJ xx XJ xx LU ^ / \ AA /\ V7 vv VJ T7 /3, T7 m XJ /-■\ \7 .ZIY XJ M&& T7 ^Q. rr ^1 equipped with 850 h.p. Diesel engine-electric propulsion machinery. The General Electric Company furnished the electrical equipment for both installations. The efforts of the Company have not been confined to the devel- opment and perfection of propulsion machinery only. Realizing the advantages to be gained from electrification of the ship's auxil- aries, a complete line of electric appliances have been built especially for merchant marine service. This comprises generators and switch- boards for auxiliary power, motors and control for deck and engine room auxiliaries, for fans, refrigerating machines, etc., are welding sets, air compressors, radio apparatus, searchlights, lamps and lighting fixtures, galley appliances, etc. ; in short, every auxiliary apparatus found on board ship. To fulfill the demands for properly trained and competent engi- neers to take charge of the ship's machinery, the General Electric Company established a School of Marine Engineering at Schenec- tady. Two courses were conducted, one on Marine Geared Tur- bines and the other on Electric Propulsion Machinery. Up to date approximately 1,200 marine engineers have been trained, comprising naval officers, port engineers, U. S. Shipping Board engineers, engi- neers of private steamship companies, construction foremen from shipyards and repair yards, engineer graduates of state nautical school ships, etc. UNITED STATES LLOYDS, Inc. THE UNITED STATES "LLOYDS" was the first organization to conduct, in the United States, the business of marine in- surance on the plan of individual underwriting as at Lloyds, London. Organized in 1872 with a list of one hundred subscribers or un- derwriters composed of many of the foremost bankers and merchants of that time it has taken a prominent position in the insurance world for nearly fifty years past, and included in its managers during that period are the names of James F. Cox, A. Foster Higgins, John D. Barrett, Herbert Appleton and Douglas F. Cox. In 1918 the organization was incorporated as a stock company to do marine and fire insurance, and is now known as United States Lloyds, Inc., under the management of Appleton & Cox, Inc. Always enjoying the confidence and patronage of the insuring public, it has paid losses of over $30,000,000 to its policy holders. 220 — L LO YD SA BA UDO ■ SOCIETA ANONIMA 'PER AZWNI Fast Italian J\Lail Line THE LLOYD SABAUDO STEAMSHIP COMPANY— whose Home Offices arc in Genoa — was organized in Turin, Italy, on June 21, 1906, with a fully paid up capital of Lit. 15,000,000 which has from time to time been increased to Lit. 60,000,000. On April 4, 1907, the newly formed Company celebrated the in- auguration of its services with a reception on board the S. S. "Re d'ltalia," at which there were present government, municipal and maritime authorities and church dignitaries, and on the 7th of the same month this steamer left Genoa on its maiden trip to New York. There followed other steamers, such as the "Regina d'ltalia," "Principe di Piemonte," "Principe di L T dine" and "Tommaso di Savoia," the latter two having been assigned to South American trade. In 1914 the Company sold the "Principe di Piemonte" and pur- chased thirteen freight units, which performed very important work during the World Conflict, in connection with the provisioning for the account of the Italian Government. In the performance of their duty, two among the Company's best steamers — the "Valdieri" and the "Capodimonte" were sunk, but these were soon replaced by two others, bearing names similar to those lost. Another great step towards the complete development of the Lloyd Sabaudo's program is represented by the construction of the de luxe turbine quadruple screw steamer "Conte Rosso," the largest, fastest and most beautiful Italian steamer afloat. This steamer, which will make its maiden trip to New York early in 1922 has a displacement of 21.000 tons, a speed of 20 knots per hour and will be able to make trips between Italian ports and New York in less than nine days, thus establishing a record among the steamers at present plying in this trade. Moreover, the Lloyd Sabaudo has at present at a well advanced stage of construction a sister ship of the "Conte Rosso," the "Conte Verde," which possesses the same characteristics, that will make these two steamers the most popular in the Italian-North American trade. Resides the above, the Lloyd Sabaudo participated in the forma- tion of the Italian "Cantieri Navali F. Tosi" in whose shipyards at Taranto the freight steamers "Castelporziano" and "Valdieri" were constructed, and wherein two other freight units of 12,000 tons each are now being; built. — 221 — r\ AA r~\ AA /-\ x^'O'fil .r\. w \J \J V7 \J w AA w u V7 w \J "Q" ^ The Italian freight line "La Polare" is also under the full control of this Company since 1918, and the total displacement of the pas- senger and freight steamers of the Lloyd Sabaudo now reach about 200,000 tons. The activities of the Lloyd Sabaudo, however, were not only confined to the commercial field, for in the occurrence of the earth- quake at Messina, in December, 1908, its steamers were sent to the stricken zone for the purpose of lending any aid that may have been required of them, while during the entire period of the Italian- Turkish War in Tripoli, both the S. S. "Re d'ltalia" and "Regina d'ltalia" were assigned to hospital duty, which they performed unin- terruptedly for two years. These two steamers were also utilized to a very good advantage during the World War, serving in multiple purposes, to wit: hos- pital ships ; transporting allied troops to and from the war zone and the American troops, cattle, provisions and ammunitions from the United States to France and returning of the American troops ; the Saloniki campaign and many other valuable services. As new steamers were added to those owned by the Lloyd Sa- baudo, new services were established in addition to the original North and South American lines, and the ships of the Lloyd Sabaudo now touch also ports on the Black Sea, North Europe and Australia. A note worthy of interest is the fact that the president of the Lloyd Sabaudo is one of the greatest scientists of all times, Gug- lielmo Marconi. PEIRCE "BROTHERS, Inc. THE PEIRCE LINE is one of the very oldest Italian Steamship Companies in service from Mediterranean to U. S. Ports. The "Sicula Americana" "Societa di Navigazione ed Imprese Mari- time, with head office in Naples, is a Steamship Line which has had a regular passenger and freight service between Italy and the United States since 1907. Grande Ufficiale Giorgio W. Peirce is the owner of these two Lines. Peirce Brothers, Inc., of No. 17 Battery Place, New York City, with long experience as steamship people, are the General Agents for these two lines, besides handling other tonnage. Peirce Brothers, Inc., also engage in purchasing very large quan- tities of American coal for export to the various organizations of Peirce Brothers throughout Italy. The managing director of the New York office is Cavalier Louis Costa. — 222 — 09 in n O H o en in O o W f o k! 09 O d o > 09 o o W. V7 iffli ZZ\ XJ XJ XJ XJ rx XJ T7 X7 T7 JZ\^ XJ Zi T a f^ £± XT XJ the sheets and pillow eases alone would cover every roof on Manhat- tan Island, while the table-cloths would need most of those between the East River and Flatbush. The laundries turn out annually over 36,000,000 pieces of bed linen and 17,305,000 of table linen. In the 6,000,000 pieces of mail that are received and distributed annually arrive everything from letters to live animals. Early veg- etables from Florida and California, and tropical fruits are not uncommon. Even alligators have been received, and one parcel contained fourteen live rabbits. It would take a good-sized book to tell the many interesting things that happen in the Pershing Square group of hotels. They are a vital necessity to the Port of New York, in fact, just as neces- sary as the port is to the City of New York. Outside of New York the group includes the Griswold, at New London, Conn. ; the Belle- view, at Belleair Heights, Fla. ; the Sevilla, at Havana ; and the Westchester Biltmore now building, at Rye, N. Y. ; also the Provi- dence Biltmore, a new and very wonderful hotel, at Providence, R. I. COLUMBIA BRONZE CORPORATION THIS organization manufactures bronze propellers for steam- ships and smaller boats. The plant is located at Freeport, Long Island, New York, within twenty-five (25) miles of New York City, and is the nearest bronze foundry equipped for the manufacture of propellers and other heavy manganese bronze castings to the port of New York. The business was originally organized in 1871 as the Colum- bian Brass Foundry, near the water front in Brooklyn, and was moved to Freeport and started the manufacture of bronze pro- pellers in 1905. Since 1908 the growth of the business has been steady and substantial, and in the year 1920 it is believed that a larger number of bi'onze blades for built-up steamship propellers were cast in this plant than any other plant in the world, some 600 blades and about 60 complete built-up propellers having been manufactured there. The active officers are: Louis J. Hall, President; Wilbur H. Young, Vice-President ; Robert A. Patrick, Secretary. The New York office is located at 522 Fifth Avenue. — 228 THE TIDE W&FTER OIL COMPANY FORTY-THREE years ago all the crude petroleum that was refined at the seaboard was transported from the Western Pennsylvania oil fields in small wooden barrels or in two or three small upright wooden tanks loaded on a flat ear. In 1878 three men with the courage of their convictions formed the Tide Water Pipe Company, Limited, for the purpose of trans- porting petroleum to the refineries on the seaboard, and started the construction of a pipe line from the Bradford oil field to Williams- port, Pennsylvania. By June, 1879, the line was completed to Williamsport, and oil transshipped by rail to New York and Philadelphia. But all the problems were not solved. The competitive freight rate from the oil regions that had been $1.60 per barrel was reduced to 20c, and as though this were not enough, a rival company bought up all but one of the refinery customers for crude oil. This sole refinery was located at Sixty-sixth Street, New York City, and had been condemned by the New York Central Railroad Company and forced to move. This commercial blow w T ould have staggered most men and driven the company into bankruptcy; but the projectors had faith in the enterprise and the financiers believed in the men. Soon two great refineries were under way at Chester, Pennsylvania, and Bayonne, New Jersey, and later the pipe line was extended to Bayonne. In 1888 the Tide Water Oil Company was organized, taking over all the Tide Water interests in the East, and consolidating its refineries into one large plant at Bayonne. From the beginning the management took great pride in the quality and uniformity of its products, and bent every energy to- ward making its output the best that could be produced. To-day its trade-marked brands of Veedol lubricants and Tydol gasoline are as much a standard of quality to the users of automobiles as are its brands of kerosene to the inhabitants of the Far East. Where originally there was one Tide Water corporation engaged in one phase of the petroleum business, to-day there are fifteen companies, all busily specializing in some feature of producing, transporting, refining and marketing petroleum. A large factor in the success of the Tide Water Oil Company has been the faithful and untiring work of its old and experienced men — personal ownership of the business could not have done more. A record of one hundred and ninety-seven men who have served con- tinuously for twenty-five years or more is a record of which to be proud, and the Company regards them as one of its greatest assets. — 229 — W. & A. FLETCHER COMPANY ON THE Jersey side of the Hudson River almost directly op- posite the spot where, a little more than a century ago, Robert Fulton started the "Clermont" on its first voyage there is sit- uated one of the most complete and best equipped ship building and repair yards on the Atlantic coast. In this plant notable records have been made, unusual feats of construction have been accom- plished, experiments and developments have been carried out which have attracted the attention of the shipping fraternity, intensified the atmosphere of romance around the shipbuilding industry in this country, and sustained the historic interest attaching to that part of the Hudson since the launching of the woi'ld's first steamboat. A crowd of people, some confident and some skeptical, lined the shores of the river on that momentous occasion to watch an event which was the beginning of a revolution in the method of propulsion of ships. On the identical spot where many of these spectators stood, there now exists a plant supplied with machinery and appli- ances never dreamed of by Fulton, manned by a highly efficient or- ganization which has upheld the tradition of that notable achieve- ment and performed work which has been comparatively of as great a significance as the launching of the Clermont. The plant is that of the W. & A. Fletcher Company, whose nameplate is written largely upon the very foundations of our in- dustry of marine construction and engineering. Sixty-eight years ago the company was formed and a small shop opened in West Street, New York. The space at the disposal of the venturers into the new business was very limited, but despite this handicap the plant was well supplied with the necessary equipment, and work pro- ceeded apace. Contracts began to come in, and in an incredibly short time the Fletcher name was famous. The quarters on West Street, however, were soon taxed up to their full capacity, and it was found that if the company was to cope with the demands that were being made upon it a much larger plant would have to be built. Accordingly, in 1890, a site was acquired in Hoboken, where the present yard now occupies over two blocks of waterfront property on Hudson Street. There is nothing prosaic about the plant or its organization, for a survey of its achievements may be interpreted as one of the most graphic chapters in the his- tory of the growth of shipbuilding in America. If the fleet of ves- sels of all descriptions — river, sound and lake steamers, ferryboats, tugs and lighters — which have been equipped wholly or in part by the Fletcher Company could be gathered together, they would fur- nish the most perfect illustration of progress of the art of shipbuild- — 230 — c* m Q c- O fi- rs S w ^ ~l o^ s — -s- c o — *. w 2 a ^ u K u. S3 **1 o w C5 s- "* -i C5 o 3 ^3 a ^ •<= ZX L/XJ L^X ^X. L^X -£X -^X .XX ^X. .£X A \7 /x t7 ^ ei «" -6- -6- u VJ ing during the last half century, and would show clearly the various stages through which ships have passed in their development from the crude vessel of Fulton to the modern floating palaces. From its very inception the Fletcher Company has been closely identified with this development. Its officials have devoted special attention, however, to the perfecting of the marine engine, and have contributed in no small measure to the present efficiency of steam propulsion for vessels. The company's fame for the construction of the beam engine is world wide, and it is interesting to note that even at the present time, when this type of prime mover is so rarely used, they still use as their cable address "Beamengine." Success followed success in their engineering experiments, and with a prophetic eye to the future possibilities of the use of the steam turbine in ships, the heads of the firm carried out elaborate plans for its perfection. Their dream materialized in 1906 when they built and equipped the "Governor Cobb," which was the first turbine driven ship to be turned out in an American yard. Not content with this triumph they carried their efforts still further and in the fol- lowing year completed the "Yale" and "Harvard," which hold the rec- ord for speed among the passenger and freight ships engaged in commercial work in this country. The present plant has been carefully and conservatively devel- oped. Concrete roads connect the various shops with the piers and dry docks, and a standard guage track is laid along the roads and extended down the three piers. This track permits of the use of locomotive cranes and enables freight from the Ffoboken Shore Rail- road with which the track is directly connected to be quickly trans- ported. About a year ago a new floating dry dock was put in commis- sion ; this is of the 8,500-ton design with wooden pontoons and steel wings, measures 440 feet on the keel blocks, and has a draught at low water of 25 feet. Until the last eight years the Fletcher Company confined its activities towards the building of new vessels, and during that pe- riod was identified with the production of more than three hundred vessels of every type from the sturdy harbor tug to the swift, splen- did passenger vessels that ply our seas and rivers. The organization of skilled workmen with which the company has surrounded itself constitutes a unique phase in the history of the company. The advantages of the apprenticeship system were early realized, and the present staff has been built up from the boys who joined the company to learn their respective trades. The effective- ness of this svstem is reflected in the rapidity and thoroughness with which contracts are completed. — 232 — T7 \7 FS^ w \ / \ / @H@HSHSH@S^^ The Fletcher Company's activities are now carried on by the sons and grandsons of the original firm, Andrew Fletcher being presi- dent and treasurer, H. M. Fletcher, vice-president, and Andrew Fletcher, Jr., secretary. THE DELAWARE, LACK&£WANNS$ & WESTERN RAILROAD CO. EVERY railroad with terminals in New York Harbor is of ne- cessity required to identify itself more or less with the marine activities of the Port. Many of them operate great fleets of tugboats, lighters and barges to facilitate the movement of their tonnage. Of these the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. R. Company has perhaps as complete a marine organization as any, which is operated under the competent management of John M. Emery with headquarters in Hoboken. In 1903 the Lackawanna purchased the Hoboken Ferry prop- erty, the equipment consisting of 13 boats, with 3 ferries operating between New York and Hoboken. Five of these boats have since been sold and one lost by fire but 7 double deck steel boats have been added to the fleet at a cost of about $1,500,000. The Company now owns 15 ferry boats with a registered ton- nage of 17,791 tons, equipped with the most modern devices for safety and comfort, operating 4 ferry lines from Hoboken. The Company took over the lighterage business in October, 1904, purchasing the equipment from a company who had done the work for them under contract. The equipment at that time consisted of 7 tugboats, 4 steam lighters, 10 open lighters, 13 covered barges and 12 car floats — a total of 46 boats. The present lighterage division fleet consists of 197 boats, an increase of 151, as follows: 18 tugboats, tonnage 3,544; 5 steam lighters, tonnage, 1,937; 64 covered barges, tonnage 25,035 ; 45 derrick lighters, tonnage 21.450; 30 car floats with a carrying capacity of 365 cars; 35 grain boats, with a carrying capacity of 1,000,000 bushels; and 30 harbor coal boats with a capacity of 10,800 tons. For a number of years prior to 1916 the Company operated a fleet of sea-going barges with a carrying capacity of 24,750 tons,, handled by two sea-going tugs with a gross tonnage of 640 tons. This entire fleet, however, was sold in 1916. \S\ XT 233 THE MUNSON STEAMSHIP LINE THE Munson Steamship Line was originally started in 1872 by Walter D. Munson by the operation of sailing vessels be- tween the United States north Atlantic ports and Havana, Cuba. Later, as the business of the Company extended, charter- ing of steam vessels for the carrying of bulk cargoes of coal, oil, sugar and molasses was engaged in. The carrying of general cargo from New York to Cuban ports was begun in 1876, sailing vessels being operated in this service. During the years of 1914, 1915, and 1916, due to the fore- sight of Mr- Frank C. Munson, the Munson Steamship Line had built for its use 12 American steamers of the most modern and up-to-date design, making a total of 18 steamers which it now owns. The business of the Company was incorporated under the name of the Munson Steamship Line early in 1899. The Company has always been 100% American owned, all of its capital being held by American citizens. Mr. Frank C. Munson, son of the founder of the business and President of the Munson Steamship Line, is a typically ener- getic American business man who devotes himself unceasingly to making a success of anything he undertakes. It is to his untiring efforts and indefatigable zeal that the great steamship line owes the wonderful development and popularity which it has now at- tained, and to which the new steamers and the new office building are a fitting monument. The presidents of the Munson Steamship Line have been : Wal- ter D. Munson, its founder ; Carlos W. Munson and Frank C. Munson, sons of Walter D. Munson. The other officers of the Company who have ably assisted in the advancement of the inter- ests of the Line are: Alfred H. Bromwell, Vice-President ; Charles M. Dimm, Treasurer; John W. Reynolds, Secretary. And heads of departments who have long been with the Company and have worked up from the bottom, are: Captain Asmus Leonhard, Gen- eral Superintendent for Cuba ; Chester B. Kellogg, Freight Traffic Manager; Frank M. Kellogg, Manager Sugar Department; Leon- ard Brooks, Auditor; Frank C. Osborn, Manager Ownership Operations Department; Sinclair Graham, Manager Purchasing Department; George G. Mcintosh, Passenger Traffic Manager; R. A. Breese, Jr., New York Port Manager; Kenneth E. Knowles. Manager South American Department. — 23 1 — "RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA THE RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA was organized on October 17, 1919, at which time the radio interests of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America and the General Electric Company were merged into one Corporation. "Via RCA" is an abbreviation of the words — "Via Radio Cor- poration of America." The meaning goes further, however, for this Corporation is the result of over twenty years of pioneer work in the direct application of radio to the service of mankind. It is a strictly American organization, owned and controlled by Americans, and its world-wide activities in the art of trans-oceanic and marine communication are planned for the best interests of American Commerce. Back of the Radio Corporation of America stand the splendid research facilities of its associates in the field of electricity ; the General Electric Company, the American Telephone and Tele- graph Company and the Western Electric Company. These fam- ous companies are partners in the World Wide Wireless program of the Radio Corporation of America. To this end is lent every electrical development which can be advantageously applied to modern radio practice. It is for this reason, therefore, that the "radio way" has so prominently attained the three essentials of international com- munication : accuracy, speed and economy. Today, the RCA system maintains direct wireless service with Great Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan and Hawaii. In addition, plans are in progress for an extensive service be- tween the United States and South America and between South America and Europe. Radio communication is now a highly effective and practical business aid. Radiograms are being exchanged daily between the United States and foreign countries and between ships of all nations in ever increasing numbers, and American, European and Far Eastern business interests have come to appreciate the ex- cellent service which this modern method of international and marine communication offers. The Radio Corporation is not only the pioneer in continent to continent radio service but in ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore radio communication as well. To this end there has been established by the Radio Corporation of America at various points of both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts radio stations which incorporate the last word in marine wireless service. Thousands of vessels are therefore in a position to secure instantaneous communication to and from the United States when at sea. — 235 — ELLERMAN'S WILSON LINE, Ltd. HEAD office of the Company is in Hull, England, and the Company's Fleet, prior to the War, consisted of eighty- eight (88) 100-A British vessels, forty (40) of which were sunk by submarines and mines, including many first class passenger carriers; and twenty (20) new steamers with all modern improve- ments for carrying freight and passengers have been added to the fleet since the end of the war; and eleven (11) more are building at the present time. The New York-Hull service was started over forty years ago and now has developed to the present high state of efficiency, with regular sailings from New York. The Wilson Line steamers "Francisco," "Marengo," "Galileo," "Toronto," and "Idaho" compare equally with the finest freight vessels now crossing the Atlantic. The Wilson Line was founded by Charles Henry and Arthur Wilson. Charles Henry Wilson afterward became Lord Nunburn- holme. The Line was bought in 1915 by Sir John R. Ellerman, Bart, who now controls the Company. Up to last April, representation of Ellerman's Wilson Line Lim- ited, at New York, was in the hands of Sanderson & Son, but on April 1, 1921, Sir John R. Ellerman opened his own office in New York under the name of Ellerman's Wilson Line New York Incor- porated, who are situated at 18 Broadway, and are now carrying on the operation of the Hull steamers. The New York Office also operates the well-known Phoenix Line, between New York and Antwerp, Belgium; and likewise are joint Agents with Messrs. Norton, Lilly & Co., in operating the American Mediterranean Levant Line steamers to Levant and Black Sea ports. C. B. RICH$£R X en — 2 MARINE DEPARTMENT OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL 'RAILROAD THE history of the development of the Marine Department of the New York Central Railroad shows that the managements of the company, from its earliest operations, recognized the need of an adequate local harbor service in connection with the handling of the traffic of New York City. Prior to May 1, 1881, the railroad's lighterage work was done under contract, the late John H. Starin having been the last to render service under this arrangement. While the marine equipment needed in New York harbor during the New York Central's early operations was limited and would make a poor showing alongside the splendid equipment now in use, it was nevertheless adequate to handle the business efficiently at all times. The New York Central began doing its own lighterage work in New York harbor on May 1, 1881, when the New York Central Lighterage Company, with Charles A. Pool & Co., managers, was organized to handle the business. This arrangement continued until January 1, 1890, when Gibson L. Douglas succeeded Charles A. Pool & Co. Mr. Douglas resigned in the spring of 1897 to be- come vice-president of the West Transit Company, the New York Central's line of steamers plying the Great Lakes. Alfred K. Skitt succeeded Mr. Douglas and on November 23, 1898, he was succeeded by Walter B. Pollock, who is still in charge of the department. Shortly after Mr. Pollock's appointment the name of New York Central Lighterage Company was abolished and ever since then this branch of the railroad's service has been known as the Marine De- partment of the New York Central Railroad. The greatest growth in the railroad's Marine Department has been during the last twenty years. Among the first important changes made after Mr. Pollock became manager was the transfer of the operation of the West Shore ferries to the Marine Depart- ment on April 1, 1899. Prior to this time the ferryboats had been operated under the direction of the River Division Superintendent of the West Shore Railroad. The tremendous growth in the ferry business necessitated larger and more up-to-date facilities and as fast as new equipment was available the obsolete boats were sold. The old side-wheelers in use between New York and Weehawken, N. J., when the operation of the ferries was turned over to the Marine Department, have all been replaced by double-deck, screw ferry-boats, except the Buffalo, — 238 — T7 rt7 FST built in 1896, which is still capable of service and is held in reserve. It is expected that it will be replaced by a modern ferryboat at an early date. The old side-wheel boats, replaced by modern ferryboats, were the Chester W. Chapin, Midland, Albany, OsAvcgo, Newburgh, and Kingston. Instead of these old-fashioned side-wheelers the com- pany now operates boats with a capacity two and a half times as great. These boats are the West Point, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica, Niagara, Catskill, Weehawken and Stony Point. The equipment of the Marine Department of the New York Central consists of 306 units, classed as follows: Nine ferryboats, 62 car floats, 34 grain boats, 21 tugs, 7 steam lighters, 8 steam hoisting barges, 2 gasoline hoisting barges, 26 hand hoisting barges, 11 scow barges, 109 covered barges and 17 cov- ered refrigerator barges. The tugboats are all of steel construction and 19 of them have been built in the last twenty years. The steel tugs replaced old wooden ones which could no longer handle the increased business. Six of the seven steam lighters are of steel construction and one of wood. All of them have been built since 1900. These boats are used to carry express and light freight which requires prompt handling. The eight steam hoisting barges each have a lifting capacity of from twenty to forty tons and are used for handling heavy freight. The two gasoline lifting barges each have a capacity of five tons, while the twenty-six hand hoisting barges each have a capacity of from two to five tons. All of the hoisting barges, except two, have been built since Mr. Pollock became manager of the Marine De- partment. Eight of the eleven scow barges are of comparatively recent construction. Their chief use is to handle ashes from the steam tugboats and for lightering freight. The large fleet of 109 covered barges, used for transporting freight between steamers and wharves, has been developed almost entirely in the last twenty years. The covered refrigerator barges, of which the company now has 17, have all been built since 1899. They are especially designed for the transportation of perishable freight during warm weather and have proved so successful that the company contemplates building ten more in the immediate future. The 62 car floats are used to transport cars between rail ter- minals and pier stations in New York harbor, for the interchange of cars between railroads and frequently for the movement of cars to — 239 — u E5 ^ ^ 1^1 T7 ^ ^ K5RF1 W altera /-\ V7 GZ ^\ w ^ A T7 different parts of the harbor when shippers or consignees have a minimum of six cars. The large number of floats required to trans- port cars furnishes some idea of the great part played by the Marine Department of the New York Central in handling the harbor traffic. Thirty of the car floats are of steel construction and 32 of wood. All of them have been built since 1900. The number of floats and their respective capacity follows: Four, 8 cars; four, 10 cars, thirty-two, 12 cars; fourteen, 16 cars; eight, 17 cars. The fleet of car floats, operating 24 hours a day, is capable of moving back and forth between various harbor points hundreds of freight cars daily, thus playing a big part in transporting the large quantities of supplies required to keep New York going. The railroad's fleet of grain boats, 34 in number, transfers grain to the holds of ocean-going vessels through the means of floating grain elevators. The company's grain boats have all been built since 1899, prior to which time all grain moving over the New York Central and the West Shore Railroads had been transferred to ocean-going vessels by boats chartered from individual owners. The New York Central has always been a sea-going railroad. Its Marine Department has kept apace with the growth of the business of New York harbor and its extensive equipment makes it a vital factor in handling the traffic of the metropolitan area and the vast inland territory served, as well as enormous export business. The railroad's excellent lighterage facilities enable it to handle United States mails in New York harbor with remarkable efficiency. The New York Central, on August 1, 1921, under contract with the Post Office Department, began to meet all incoming vessels at Quar- antine for the purpose of taking off mails so that they could be delivered more expeditiously. This means of expediting mails com- ing into New York harbor was a part of Postmaster General Will H. Hays' program to speed up the delivery of foreign and coastwise mails and under this system mail now is frequently delivered in New York City or started on its way to interior destinations hours be- fore the steamships dock at their respective piers. Under the old arrangement the mail was not unloaded from the boats until after they had docked, frequently causing a delay of 24 hours or more. The New York Central harbor boats are also used to transport mail between harbor points. In the management of the Marine Department of the New York Central Railroad, Manager Walter B. Pollock is assisted by Cap- tain Reginald Fay, superintendent ; B. F. Ward, supervising engi- — 240 — W fr W _ w .1 \J ■6- \ / V7 i /1 neer; F. L. Pollock, superintendent of West Shore ferries, and J. N. Crocker, supervisor of mail traffic. During the twenty-six months of Federal control of the Ameri- can railroads for the prosecution of the War, Mr. Walter B. Pol- lock was Marine Director in charge of all marine operations in New York harbor, a period in which this was the centre of trans- portation operations of vital importance to the United States and its European allies. He has been president of the New York Pro- duce Exchange since June, 1920, whose members deal in grain, flour, cotton seed oil and other commodities, being the first railroad official ever elected to this very important and influential commer- cial organization. gEORGE W. STERLING GEORGE WARING STERLING was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, November 22, 1874. He entered the employ of Metropolitan S. S. Co. on January 1, 1890, and on January 1, 1912, upon the consolidation of the Metropolitan S. S. Co., The Main S. S. Co., and the Eastern S. S. Co. under the name of the Eastern S. S. Corporation, he was appointed freight traffic manager. On February 1, 1918, Mr. Sterling joined the Shipping Board, under Mr. Carey, director of operations, as manager of traffic de- partment in charge of making all Shipping Board rates. On Sep- tember 30, 1918, he resigned from the Shipping Board and re- turned to the Eastern S. S. Lines, and was elected vice-president. On November 1, 1919, he was again called to serve the United States Shipping Board and was made assistant director of opera- tions, in charge of all Shipping Board matters in New York City, which position he held till October 6, 1920, when he was appointed receiver of Victor S. Fox & Company, Inc., Consolidated Maritime Lines, and took over the management of six steamers and six sail- ing vessels. On November 17, 1920, he was also appointed receiver of the Atlantic-Adriatic S. S. Corp., taking over the management of seven steamers, and on December 20 of the same year he was appointed receiver of the American Star Line, taking over the management of two steamers. \J W 241 HOLLAND-AMERICA LINE ONE of the most popular of the trans-Atlantic lines engaged in passenger service between New York and the European continent is the Holland-America Line, widely famed for its staunch vessels and its excellent service ; but this is only one feature of the activities of that line, which is really the most important steamship organization of the Netherlands. The date of the organization of the line was on April 18, 1872, when, at the instigation of Sir Otto Reuchlin and A. Plate, Esq., a num- ber of bankers and manufacturers met and organized to establish a service between the Netherlands and the United States which should be an efficient medium for personal travel and carrying of freights, The line began with a service of two steamers, the "Rotter- dam" and the "Maas," small pioneer ships, from which has grown the present large and important fleet of passenger and freight steamers, tenders, lighters, etc., which with other vessels now building will amount to 415,159 tons. The present organization is under the patronage of the Prince Consort of the Netherlands, the officers being J. Rypperda Wierdsma, President; Adrian Gips and W. F. Pick, Managing Directors; and the board of directors is composed of W. Wester- man, President; E. P. de Monchy Rzn, Vice-President; S. P. Van Eeghen, Mr. Th. A. Fruin, I. J. Havelaar, H. Van Kempen, A. G. Kroller, W. F. Leemans, Jan Lels, Mr. W. A. Mees, Mr. F. S. Van Nierop, Jhr. M. Reuchlin, L. A. E. Suermondt, C. W. F. P. Baron Sweerts de Landas Wyborgh, J. H. Veder. The New York service of the Company is a passenger service from New York via Plymouth and Boulogne sur Mer to Rotter- dam. There are also passenger services between Rotterdam and Canada, known as the Canada Line, and between Rotterdam, Ant- werp and Spain to Cuba, Mexico, New Orleans, and back to Rot- terdam via Spain. There is a regular freight service between Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Newport News, New Orleans, Savannah to Rotterdam; from Galveston to Rotterdam and from New York to the Dutch East Indies (Java) and back to New York via Suez, Panama or the Cape of Good Hope; also services from Holland to British India and to South America, while in the course of 1920 a regular service has been started from Rot- terdam and other European ports, to San Francisco and other ports on the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada, with very large steamers provided with refrigerator space for the car- rying of perishable cargo. — 242 — 5TATEN ISLANDS GRES£T CHAIN OF THOUSS£NT> FOOT PIERS POUCH TERMINAL, &¥MERIC$£N DOCK, AND MUNICIPAL PIERS THAT portion of Staten Island, known as the easterly shore, has been familiarly known for many years, especially in ship- ping circles, as the "Gateway to New York," on account of the location of a Quarantine Station where all incoming vessels are com- pelled to stop before entering the Harbor, for inspection by health officers. As early as 1799, the State of New York established a Quarantine Station at Tompkinsville, probably on account of the sheltered an- chorage and depth of water at this locality, and the old Quarantine Station remained here until about 1869, when the development of Staten Island required that it be transferred to a new location further down the Bay and near the Narrows, where vessels with contagious diseases aboard could be detained further away from the City. The first ferry from New York, to Staten Island, owned and originally operated by Captain Vanderbilt, personally, landed its passengers adjacent to the old Quarantine Station and this point was used as a ferry landing for nearly 80 years or until the present City of New York established its magnificent municipal ferry service at St. George, a short distance north of the old landing. Shortly after the removal of Quarantine, the greater portion of the old grounds were sold to the American Dock Company, and a storage plant established there. Since 1872 this historic ground has been used continuously as one of the largest independent warehouse properties in the Port of New York, and although it was originally intended for the exclusive storage of cotton, new fire-proof buildings have been added in recent years, and the entire plant re-constructed with large piers to accom- modate ocean-going cargo steamers. One of the attractive features to receivers of cargoes at this Terminal is the railroad connections whereby merchandise can be trans-shipped direct from side of vessel into cars without extra handling or cartage, and it is the only Terminal in the City of New York having direct rail connections, with trunk lines of New Jersey, independent of float system. This Terminal now covers about 30 acres and has 33 warehouses containing 7.000,000 cubic feet of protected storage area, also four large covered piers, all 1,000 feet in length and from 70 to 185 feet in width. — 243 — F51 ax t7 XJ XI xx XT xx XJ £ (^ lHjlU a\ ^ ,a\ T7 .^ lw c^ V7 UT/l YT [^1 A V7 The American Dock piers adjoining on the north the 12 new Municipal Terminal piers which extend from Tompkinsville to Clifton are included in America's great chain of 1,000-foot piers, the finest and most modern development of port facilities in this country. The extent of this new development can be realized by the fact that the combined wharfage for ocean going steamers is greater than that provided on Manhattan Island and 48 cargo vessels can be accommodated at one time. The distance around these piers is six and one-half miles and provides an area of 1,800,000 square feet. The south end of this great chain of thousand foot piers is made up of the three modern type piers of the Pouch Terminal, Inc. Although the water frontage of this terminal is only 1,000 ft., it covers an area of 33 acres and has three covered piers, all completely protected by sprinklers inside and outside, each 130 ft. in width by 900 to 1,150 ft. in length with concrete deck, constructed on most modern type, adaptable for ocean-going vessels, railroad tracks ex- tending the full length of piers and having slip room between piers of over 300 ft. Linked together by direct rail connection, the American Dock, Municipal and Pouch Terminals, form a great terminal with 21 cov- ered piers 1,000 ft. in length covering a water frontage of two miles and forming the greatest chain of port facilities to be found in America. WILLIAM E. WILLIAMS THE HOUSE OF WILLIAM E. WILLIAMS, 62 Front St., New York, is a unique institution in the development of the Port of New York. About 12,000 square feet of space is occupied and well filled with large stock of all kinds of ship sup- plies and equipment. This house is the only one of its kind that is equipped with a pattern shop, foundry and machine shop where special items can 1 e made on short notice. In addition to making various items for ship's use, a full line of high pressure regrinding valves are manufactured in various types to suit different requirements. This is the only valve factory in Greater New York. Everything from a needle to an anchor can be supplied by this establishment. No expense has been spared in making 62 Front St. headquarters for the economical operation of supplying ships. Most ship owners have recognized this fact and a thriving business is the result. 2H K --^ *a ^ c~ ft ^r- 2 —-* -4 1 oncret e hant ft ft- to •% Si- ft g5 e cov lied a «*3 • 5 r-*- ~i- ft a ft cs > 5' «■ 2 ^ ^*» W k t-Lk ft ft i'^ ^ % s ^5 £ ft ft "4 o ? ft' So 3^ ?5- i— i > £ ^ ft —4. ^ 00 C3 0*4 »*«, ft* i^ 4 1 1 rr-^i g sj —+. ft 5 C^ r M & pS* * ft i •** Ob i mode pier. o Cfc ^ > &5 So I I const m the crt- H X Ci &a ft ^ S" > £5 &0 I I ©, © iction. ft, num © 1— 1 O ^1 ^ § ft ^ ~ „ & g "■* o © o *3 Os ^»- 05 ^j o BO. q' s - ^ o J3 ft ft <£> i ^-* O O H Co Oo © ft i ft ft ft v.. ft" >• 2 —+. a i^ ft "d c*> -»H g <2 ~ ft o Co l-H 3 -0 ^ © ft Hi' w r+. ft 5". V3 ?■*. ^ s~ ft Os ^5 Ob s. K-3 ft" 1 ft © a ^; ■*» © "-t. 1 3 i ■ S ft ft a I V^fcBk OUT OF ROBT. J. TOD, born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1886, has had 20 years shipping experience, commenced business at an early age with one of Cardiff's largest steamship owners. Then, looking for more experience, went to London where he 'was connected with ship owners and brokers for five years. Being a member of the Baltic Exchange, this gave him thorough knowledge of the business, and in 1911 came to New York and has now had 10 years' good Ameri- can experience. Is an American citizen, a member of the Produce Exchange and the Maritime Exchange and head of the well known firm of ship brokers, Robt. J. Tod Co., with offices at 25 Beaver Street, New York. Mr. Tod, through the large number of foreign and American steamers handled by him, always giving preference whenever possible to New York, is one of the men in recent years who has helped to make the port what it is today. — 247 — THE FE c* 1 05 ~i "T ^-i ?■■»■ r^ » 8g -^. **■■ a *■*» ^ Si- — +. r^ 55 •^»«, r^ "6 c~ (^ 6 ■^ *e ?> ^^ a CD •s ?■*. ■** C5 53 ~ Si e sx, ^C ' C5 Q" £■} ^ sx, *a £" -a ^ -v P3 ?A • a- 2- 3 Cc c^ L s-f. a ^ ^ *3 >-J g3 g !> ^c , y W y . u Commercial activity developed almost immediately. The Dutch sent several expeditions of colonists who engaged in fur trading, buying from the Indians and sending their purchases to Holland. These first attempts in foreign exports proved very profitable, so that expansion was rapid. By 161-4 a regular system of exchange had been created; ?J60 beads were declared equal to 1 fathom, and 6 wampum equal to 1 penny of English currency. Here were laid the foundations for our great commodity markets and our organ- ized domestic and foreign banking system of today. Thus since its origin, New York has always been primarily interested in commerce and finance, and its history ever since has been one of continuous and exceptional growth. Its remarkable development is pre-eminently attributable to foreign trade, and without question this foreign trade has been attracted in the first instance by New York's incomparable harbor. The increasing volume of our foreign business has depended largely upon a corresponding widening of our banking facilities so that as time went on, the role played by finance in the development of our metropolis has become more and more important. The bankers of our city have gradually extended their functions and strengthened their influence until today New York is the dominating financial center of the world. The Columbia Trust Company has participated in this devel- opment ; the history of its foreign department has been one of consistent and truly remarkable progress. Having begun opera- tions with a nucleus of a manager and one assistant, it now occupies the entire third floor of the bank's building at 60 Broadway. The Columbia Trust Company has thus become a prominent member of the group of financial institutions interested in foreign trade, and commensurate with its growth, it has assumed the greater responsi- bilities which the present age is imposing upon the banking com- munity. As to the future, due to the increasing complexity of industrial organization and the greater magnitude of enterprise, bankers will be called upon to contribute even more largely to the development of our metropolis. New York has grown to tremendous proportions^ yet its progress has by no means ceased. An intensive exploitation of its railroad facilities and its 780 miles of waterfront promise a rich reward. It is indeed impossible to predict the limit of New York's expansive possibilities. T7 — 257 EARLY SHIPPING DAYS OF THE BANK OF THE 9vlS£NHS£TTS£N CO. THE history of the Bank of the Manhattan Company has been closely identified with the maritime traditions of New York City. Founded in 1799, the group of men gathered for the enterprise included to a rare degree the outstanding leaders in the political and commercial life of the time. It is not surprising, when one considers the important place which shipping and trading had always held in the business activities of the little community, that much of the Bank's strength was drawn from its close relationship with the shipping industry and the men who were actually engaged in it. At the time that the Bank was founded New York had to its credit 135 years as a trading city. Many of the founders and first directors were men whose fathers and grandfathers before them, even back to the time of the Dutch, had made ships their business in life. The famous Marine Society, established in 1769, included among its most enthusiastic founders and first officers men who later were to help establish the Bank. The names of Leonard Lispenard, the first President, Robert and Philip Livingston, George Codwisc, James Creighton, Paschal Smith, Henry Tredwell and innumerable others appear in the roster of the Society, and also figured in the early history of the Bank. One cannot, perhaps, overestimate the influence of the Marine Society on the development of New York's shipping. Founded in the period of depression in commercial circles, following the non- importation agreement in 1765, it set out originally to relieve dis- tressed shipmasters or their widows and children who were facing hardship, and also constructively to promote maritime knowledge and the community's shipping interests. The Society was long active, and its members played no small part in the later develop- ment of the shipping industry. Many other famous shipowners and traders were active in the establishment of the Bank, and not a few appear in the Directorate. Captain Richard Randall, whose legacy, which made possible the famous Sailors' Snug Harbor, included fifty shares of the Bank stock; Gilbert and John Aspinwall, who traded to St. Petersburg; Henry A. and John G. Coster, trading with Holland and the Indies (John G. Coster was elected President of the Bank in 1826- ; Pre- served Fish, founder of the first packet line to Liverpool ; Archibald Gracie, John W. Low, and G. G. Howland — are all names famous alike in shipping history and the history of the Bank. — 258 — V _ \J .1 \r .. . w w 1 J _ ■' -J ^ / J w ' J u L/ -J- -, Among the founders of the pioneer Black Ball Line, established in 1816, were Francis Thompson and Isaac Wright, original stock- holders in the Merchants Hank (now merged with the Hank of the Manhattan Company). Aside from the individuals connected with the Bank who figured in the development of American shipping and commerce, the institu- tion itself used generously and wisely its financial resources to foster the growth of the industry. Its close contacts with shipping inter- ests, its rare background of knowledge and experience, gave it a commanding position for financial service and advice among ship owners and traders — a position which it has maintained to this day. THE UNION TRANSPORT CO., Inc. THE UNION TRANSPORT COMPANY, Inc., now an im- portant factor in the handling of ships in the Port of New York came into prominence during the War period. The war-time congestion of the harbor of New York made the work of handling ships a task of many problems. This company, in spite of these perplexities, made a record at that time for the efficient manner in which it dispatched ships and the quick turn-around of vessels which it proved able to accom- plish in spite of the unprecedented congestion of the port. This congestion with which the company was successfully battling attracted the attention of its President, Mr. Hugo Behrend, to the study of the port, its drawbacks and its needs and the relief measures necessary to enable the Port of New York to meet the enlarged demands for increased facilities for the efficient and prompt handling of vessels and freights. His interest in the welfare of this Port and his comprehensive knowledge of its problems is well known. The Union Transport Company, Inc., has added to its facili- ties two of the largest double deck docks in the new terminal now nearing completion at Stapleton, S. I. These docks, with every approved modern improvement for quick and efficient handling of in and out cargoes, excelling any heretofore available in this port, will soon be ready for service of the local steamship export and import trade, and bring relief, to all concerned from the delays, and high costs of present methods. — 259 — THE NORWEGIAN-AME'RICA LINE THE idea of a National Norwegian America Line was con- ceived in the early years of the present century by Mr. E. A. Svanoe, chief engineer, Mr. Stephen Stephenson, captain of the port of Kristiana, and Mr. Johs Bull, engineer, of Glasgow. It was intended to place the plan before the general public in 1905, but the critical development of relations between Norway and Sweden rendered that impossible and it was not until the Union had been dissolved and Norway had become an independent country that the actual work of organization was undertaken. By the spring of 1911 the organization had been perfected and Mr. Gustav Hen- riksen was appointed the first managing director of the company. The first two ships were named the Kristianiafjord and Bergens- fjord. They were each of 11,000 tons and both cost eight million kroner and were placed in commission in the fall of 1913. From the very first the venture proved remarkably successful and in 1914 another ship, the Stavangerfjord of 12,500 tons, was ordered built to meet the demands of commerce. She was launched in the spring of 1917. Only one misfortune has marred the success- ful career of the company ; that was the stranding of the Kristiana- fjord off Cape Race in a thick fog on July 15, 1917. All attempts to set her afloat failed and she became a complete loss. The fleet of the line today consists of two passenger ships of respectively 16,000 and 18,000 tons; six tramp ships with a gross tonnage of 32000; 150 tons of tugboats; 9 wooden barges; and 4 steel barges. The line has under construction six tramp ships with a gross tonnage of 47,000 ; two oil burning ships of 6,500 tons each ; and twenty steel barges. The remarkable development of the Line under the most diffi- cult circumstances is a good proof that from the very beginning it has been a greatly needed connecting link between Norway and the United States. Further enlarging its field of operations the com- pany recently started a new route to Canada in cooperation with the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Canadian terminals are Montreal in the summer and St. Johns in the winter. Under its wise management the Line will undoubtedly maintain its prestige as the best connecting link between Norway and America. The chief office of the company is in Kristiana, Norway, with American headquarters located at 8 Bridge street, New York City, under the management of Mr. A. F. Jones. — 260 — S. S. STAVANGERFJORD Of the Norwegian-American Line -PACIFIC STEAM NAVIGATION CO. FEW steamship lines have had a more remarkable beginning than the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the pioneer line in the South American west coast trade. Established in 1839, and starting with a small fleet of paddle-wheel and sail steamers this company has witnessed every stage of subsequent steamship devel- opment, and today, with its affiliated company, the Royal Mail, it has services and connections extending to every part of the South American coast, to New York, Southampton and Liverpool. Strangely enough, this typically English shipping organization owed its origin to the forcefulness and vision of an American, Cap- tain William Wheelwright, its promoter, having been a native of Newburvport, Mass. After being employed for some years as master of a sailing ship in the South American trade, Captain Wheelwright settled in Argentina in 1820, and afterwards lived in Chile and Peru, where he established a line of sailing vessels between Valparaiso, Callao and Panama. Subsequently he was appointed United States consul at Guyaquil. In 1836 Captain Wheelwright obtained concessions for steamship navigation, with port privileges, from Chile, Peru and other west coast republics and went to Washington with the idea of enlisting the support of the United States government. His scheme, how- ever, was regarded as visionary and received no encouragement from department officials or members of Congress. Having been rejected in his own country, he went to London, Avhere he gained the assist- ance of the Hon. Peter Scarlett, whom he had known in South America. Mr. Scarlett succeeded in interesting his brother, Lord Abinger, and other influential men, and plans were made for organ- izing a company. In addition to establishing a service along the Pacific coast of South America, ultimately designed to extend from Valparaiso to Panama, a system of communication across the isth- mus was considered. In 1839 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was incorpor- ated under a royal charter with a capital of £250,000. The first steamer, the Peru, made the initial voyage from Liverpool to Val- paraiso in September, 1840. Captain Wheelwright returned to South America on this vessel, having been appointed superintendent for the company at Pacific ports. Several steamers were added to the fleet in following years and in 1845 the company extended its services from Valparaiso to Panama. Four years later the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. established a canoe and mule service across the isthmus, with which the trans-Atlantic vessels of that company co-operated, while the P. S. N. Co. formed the link on the western coast. In later years this was replaced by the isthmian railroad. Today the company's steamers operate through the Panama Canal. — 262 — ^\ Captain Wheelwright, it may be added, retired from the com- pany in 1851 after seeing the enterprise firmly established as a brilliant commercial success. He engaged in railroad construction in Argentina for over fifteen years, but his health having failed, he subsequently went to England, where he died in 1873. From the early years of the last century to the present day the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. has kept pace with the remarkable developments that have occurred in all parts of South America. It has, moreover, kept in line with every stage of steamship improve- ment and has been able to maintain its lead in the South American trade, not only in the passenger service but also in cargo carrying. At the present time the company has a regular service of "0" steamers from Liverpool, via Spanish and Portuguese ports, to Brazil and the River Plate, the Falkland Islands, Punta Arenas and the principal ports in Chile and Peru, returning to Liverpool through the Panama Canal. There is also a service from Liverpool to Spanish ports and Havana, and via the Panama Canal to ports in Peru and Chile, returning by the same route. The company has two services out of New York to the west coast of South America via the Panama Canal. The "E" steamers run to Havana and the principal ports in Peru and Chile, the "Q" boats to ports in Col- umbia and Ecuador. Since its establishment, the head offices of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company have been in London. It has been repre- sented in New York for about twenty years by Sanderson & Son, 2f> Broadway. HARRIS, MAQILL & CO., Inc. HARRIS, MAGILL & CO., INC., was incorporated in the State of New York in 1916. Since its incorporation the com- pany has been actively engaged in the steamship business, with main offices at 35 South William Street, New York City. The concern maintains offices at New York, Norfolk, Philadel- phia and Savannah. From Norfolk and Philadelphia, in addition to acting as agents for some of the world's largest private owners of tonnage, the company operates a service to Avonmouth, Bristol and Manchester for the IT. S. Shipping Board. 263 BOWIAZ ONE of the most successful Spanish shipping concerns in the United States in relation to the comparatively short time they have been in business is the firm of Garcia & Diaz, with offices at 59-61 Pearl Street. The firm was originally established by Manuel Diaz, one of the widest awake, most progressive and far-seeing of the present genera- tion of younger Spanish business men, who, at a time when cargo space was eagerly sought all over the world, succeeded in interesting several of the largest Spanish ship owners to send their steamers to the States, and in a short time Mr. Diaz' office became the clearing house for the chartering of Spanish steamers in the port of New York. At the beginning of the year 1919 the volume of business had increased to such an extent that Mr. Diaz, in order to render the service that would meet the standard that he had set up to that time, found it necessary to look for an associate, and in June of that year he became associated with Marcelino Garcia under the present firm name of Garcia & Diaz. Mr. Diaz considered himself very fortunate in interesting Mr. Garcia as a co-partner, for, to his conviction, no other man could bave filled the gap to better advantage, as has been proven by the continued success of the firm, due in great part to his intelligent and active co-operation. Shortly after the inception of the co-partnership they estab- lished a regular line of cargo steamers with monthly sailings from New York to all ports in Spain, and, following the policy to which the success of the business is attributed, that is, the furnishing of the best service possible, their line now ranks second to none in the Spanish trade. Today the firm of Garcia & Diaz maintains a bi-monthly service to all ports in Spain and may be considered one of the best equipped to render the service that spells continued success. — 2G8 - CO ST ON SIGNAL COMPANY THE dangers of the sea have been much diminished by modern science and invention in the line of preventive devices, and espe- cially life-saving appliances, the manufacture of which has been developed to a high degree of perfection. The Coston Signal Com- pany of 57-59 Front street, New York, has been a leading factor in this development. The business now conducted under that name was established in 1840 by Benjamin Franklin Coston, inventor and manufacturer of night signals and ship rockets. The founder conducted the busi- ness until his son, William F. Coston, became of age some time in the sixties, and took active charge of the business. The business was developed under his management, and several life-saving appli- ances were added to the specialties of the firm. He continued at the head of the business until his death in 1901, in which year the business was incorporated, his widow, Mrs. Anna L. Coston, being the president of the corporation and having the active executive direction of the business until 1907, when she retired from active participation in the business, and is at present vice-president and a director of the company in an advisory capacity, and Mr. Jay W. Becherer became president of the company in which office he remains. Under his management the business has been expanded so as to include, in addition to the company's own life-saving spe- cialties and signals, a general business as dealers in a complete line of life-saving appliances for steamers, together with general steam- ship supplies and ship chandlery business, under the trade name of Coston Supply Company. Of their specialties, Coston Night Signals have for over seventy years established a standard of excellence and reliability never ap- proached by any competitor. They have been officially adopted by the United States Government in all branches of its service, and generally by the merchant marine of most countries. Coston Dis- tress Outfits consist of twelve red signals, each burning two minutes, properly packed in a metallic watertight case, and are among the articles required by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service in the equipment of life-boats. The Coston Ship Rockets, rising to a height of over 400 feet and throwing a shower of red balls that burn with great intensity are in wide use by ocean liners and other steam- ship lines and are standard everywhere; the Coston Life Buoy Water Light, approved by the United States Board of Supervising Inspectors, Department of Commerce, and by the British Board of Trade, and the Coston Deck Flare; Coston Life Boat Equipment — 269 — ^>^ XJ XT XT XJ £2k XJ XJ in tr XJ ei Y7 T7 T7 jCX XT /Z\ \J ZA V7 Z2x r7 (including oars, bread breakers, and water breakers, sails, sea drags and oil spreader, cork rings, day distress signals and life pre- servers), Compass, Lanterns, Boat Hooks, etc. The Coston Davit Turning Out Gear can be attached to any round bar Davit, and in many ways simplifies and makes safe the operation of the davit in every emergency. It has been approved by engineers, classification societies and the United States Steam- boat Inspection Service, and has been installed on a large number of ocean and coastwise vessels, including those of many of the largest lines. The Coston Positive Boat Releasing Gear, with its absolute safety of operation, elimination of danger of boat being detached by accidental movement during launching, quick instan- taneous release at any desired point of launching of boat under com- plete control of one man in charge of the boat, and many other fea- tures of safe and positive action, is in highest degree simple, safe, and absolutely foolproof. The Coston Line Throwing Gun, mounted on steel carriage for farger vessels, and in shoulder gun type for vessels under 300 tons, Coston Collapsible Lifeboats, besides Metallic Life Boats and Metal- lic Cylinder Life Rafts and lifeboat equipment of every kind to comply with the Seaman's Act are included in their line. The com- pany also handles deck, engine and cabin stores and Steamship supplies in general. In its specialties the company does a large domestic and export business, and constantly fills large orders for the United States Navy and also for the United States Army Transport Service. High merit in their life-saving specialties have made them standard equip- ment for vessels of the best class. ^ T7 270 — NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD, BREMEN ESTABLISHED 1857 with a capital equalling $3,000,000. As the first steamer, the "Bremen" of TOO Hp. and 2,000 Register Tons, departed from Bremerhaven Juno 19, 1858, reaching New York July 4th. Three additional steamers of simi- lar type were placed in service in the course of the year. In spite of severe setbacks caused by financial crises in the first few years of its existence, the Lloyd succeeded in creating a fleet of eight steamers, the "New York," "Hansa," "Amerika," "Her- mann," "Deutschland," "Union" and "Weser" so that in 1867 a regular weekly passenger, mail and freight service with what for these times were considered large and fast steamers, could be main- tained between Bremen and New York. In the same year the Bremen-Baltimore service was inaugurated with two 2,200-tons steamers, which was followed in 1869 by the Bremen-Havana-New Orleans and the Galveston service. In 1881 the company entered a new era in starting a fast express service with the steamer "Elbe," to be followed by the "Werra," "Fulda," "Eider," "Ems," "Aller," "Trae," "Saale," and "Lahn" of about 9,000 Hp. and 5,350 Register Tons the "Spree" and "Havel" of 12,500 Hp. and 7,000 Tons, so that in 1892 the company's steamers made 92 round trips between Bremen and New York, and 41 round trips between Bremen and Baltimore. In 1891 the steamers "Werra" and "Fulda" were placed in the Mediterranean service, laying the foundation to a line which eventually proved a valu- able asset to the company. On February 20, 1882, 25 years after so modest beginnings, the North German Lloyd fleet consisted of 29 transatlantic steamers, 7 steamers plying between European ports, 14 river steamers and 48 lighters of a total of 104,500 register tons. The passenger, mail and freight service to East Asia and Australia was opened in 1886, with branch lines to Japan and Korea, as well as to Samoa and Tonge Isle, which necessitated a considerable increase of the tonnage. Available space will not permit going too much into details, but we must not fail to mention the advent of the so-called "Barbarossa" class of steamers, a revelation to the travelling public, with their superstructure, permitting the placing of cabins and social rooms in the upper decks, giving them free access to the sea-breezes and thus securing fresh air and ventila- tion to an extent heretofore unknown, and eliminating the sicken- ing "ship smell" so feared by the average voyager. With the arrival of the express steamers "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," "Kronprinz Wilhelm," "Kaiser Wilhelm II," and "Kron- prinzessin Cecelie," and the steamer "George Washington," all — 271 — t7 ucxJL^x ^x T7 TJ <^, Cw T7 cs: T7 T7 e© u^. T7 ■ 'Jl -^ "/) ^ *<- w ^ "^ ^ O — *. 25 ^ ^_ 5J w «■ P3 c — ^ 2* 3 ^Q N; L^sJ -> X ~T x f- ^ N»- 2 Mk, i Q : =f- w jjj C5 J5 w C" - It 1 O »— i *• w 5 TALBOT, BIRD & COMPANY, Inc. TALBOT, BIRD & COMPANY, INC., was incorporated June 1st, 1916, and succeeded the firm of Talbot, Bird & Company which was organized about 1912 by James A. Alexander, John M. Talbot and Samuel Bird ; and represented the Marine Depart- ment of the ./Etna Insurance Company. Talbot, Bird & Co., Inc., are now marine underwriters and gen- eral managers for the _Etna Insurance Co. of Hartford, Conn., Franklin Fire Insurance Co. of Philadelphia, Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. of Springfield, Mass., and the Universal Insur- ance Co. of Newark, N. J. The scope of the corporation's underwriting on hulls and cargoes extends to risks throughout the world, agents representing them for the settlement and payment of claims at all the principal ports. Talbot, Bird & Co., Inc., have always been recognized and known in marine insurance circles for their sense of justice in the matter of disputed claims and the leniency in which these have been dis- posed of without recourse to law. They take a just pride in their reputation for prompt settlement of claims, which is the all impor- tant feature in its relation to merchants engaged in the export and import business, and foreign trade in general. The present officers of Talbot, Bird & Co., Inc., are: Samuel Bird, President; R. A. Fulton, Vice President; Harry Bird, Secretary. The Board of Directors is as follows : Samuel Bird, R. A. Fulton, Harry Bird, F. S. Bowen, J. S. Gilbertson, J. T. Byrne, G. W. Mclndoe. Mr. Samuel Bird is in charge of the underwriting and general finances. Mr. Harry Bird and Mr. Gilbertson are in charge of the claims department of hulls and cargoes. Mr. Gilbertson is chairman of the Average Adjusters Association of the United States, and a recognized authority on marine claims and adjustments. Mr. Harry Bird is also Vice President of the Board of Underwriters of New York. All the officers and Directors are engaged actively in the under- writing, loss and financial departments of the corporation, which gives them a strong organization for the maintenance of an impor- tant branch of America's foreign trade. ^ -6- 271 THE FREDERICK SNARE CORPORATION WHATEVER the craft that bears him, the wayfarer on the waters of New York Harbor will find it impossible to avoid contact with one or other of the many harbor works which in the course of the past twenty-one years have arisen under the hand of Frederick Snare Corporation, formerly known as The Snare and Triest Company. If he enters the harbor as passenger on an ocean liner his gaze will rest on the spacious wharves and the outstanding ferry terminal at Staten Island, on the more distant wharves along the Brooklyn shore, on the teeming city piers along the Hudson, and when his ship is safely berthed and he passes over the gangplank he will find himself on the spacious deck of a modern structure where meet the tides of travel from all parts of the globe. The ferry terminal and some of those wharves he viewed at Staten Island, many of those he saw in the Brooklyn distance and along the Hudson, and in all likelihood the very wharf at which he lands — all these were reared by the constructive skill of Frederick Snare Corporation. Should our wayfarer approach the City from Long Island Sound his interest will center largely in the succession of stately views of the bridges spanning the East River. He will pass under five of these wonderful highways. To all of these except the Man- hattan Bridge, the Frederick Snare Corporation has contributed important construction work, and in the case of one, the Wil- liamsburgh Bridge, it successfully rebuilt and reinforced import- ant parts of the structure, increasing its strength and capacity, with no interruption to traffic. Some of the wharves and sea walls he will pass along the East River are also evidences of the activities of Frederick Snare Corporation, for many of these have been built or remodeled by it. By whatever channel the wayfarer reaches his destination, the Narrows, the Hudson, the East River, the Harlem he will view the works of Frederick Snare Corporation. Piers and ware- houses bordering the Narrows, the Staten Island Ferry Terminals at St. George and the Battery, the Lackawanna Ferry Terminal, the Chelsea Steamship Piers, the bridges and wharves of the East River and the Harlem — all evidences of intelligent constructive enterprise, which has developed into an important industry and has very materially aided in the development of those port facil- ities so necessary for the harbor of New York. — 275 — WEST INDIA STEAMSHIP COMPANY THE WEST INDIA STEAMSHIP COMPANY is the out- growth of the shipping business founded by Daniel Bacon in New York City in 1885. Daniel Bacon is the son of the late D. G. Bacon, owner of a number of famous American clipper ships that carried the American flag on the high seas about the middle of the last century. Amongst these were the "Phantom,"' "Queen of the East" and the "Game Cock," which latter ship still holds a num- ber of Pacific ocean records. Mr. Bacon started his shipping career as a freight broker, but later he owned and operated during the years 1890 to 1900 the ship "Hoogley" and the barks "Pilgrim" and "Fred P. Litchfield." He also operated a line to Red Sea ports and Bomba}', loading char- tered vessels on the berth with case oil and general cargo for these ports. By 1900 these previous ventures had been succeeded by the own- ership and operation of the Steamships "Fortuna," "Caribbee" and "Banes" and the operation of a fleet of foreign steamships under time charters, and while these chartered vessels were occa- sionally despatched to European ports, their chief trade was between the United States and West Indian, Central and South American ports. Commencing with an occasional "round trip" and building up business gradually into a regular service with many yearly con- tracts for the carriage of hundreds of thousands of tons of coal, sugar, sisal, lumber and similar bulk cargoes, the business was in- corporated in 1904 as the West India Steamship Company, under which trade name it continued to expand, until from 1910 until the time of the armistice, the Company was operating continuously 35 to 40 steamships in the West India trade. In the meantime, Mr. Bacon had established an office in Havana, Cuba, which besides act- ing as agent for the West India Steamship Company, has also had for many years the agency of Messrs. Elder, Dempster & Co., Liv- erpool, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and several other steamship com- panies. In 1888 Mr. Bacon became the New York agent for Elder, Dempster & Co., and has continued to act as such ever since, repre- senting this firm in the operation of their Line from New York to West Coast of Africa. M 276 — LIGHTERAGE-ITS FUNCTION THE important part that lighterage plays in the maintenance of New York's supremacy as a port to say nothing of its por- tion as a manufacturing' and mercantile center is little realized by the average person. It was not until the Harbor Strike in the spring of 1919 that this was forcibly impressed upon the citizens of New York when the food supply of the city was seriously imperilled and the sub- ways, elevated roads, surface railroads and lighting plants were only saved from a complete shut-down for lack of fuel by the manning of some tied-up tugs by volunteer crews of owners. When every day spent in port by a ship meant the prolonging of the War, it was lighters that made it possible to reduce the time of ships in port to a minimum by their use as auxiliaries for over- crowded wharves and enabling ships to work the maximum number of gangs offshore and inshore at the same time. The functions of lighters are many in the port of New York. They are as shuttles ceaselessly darting to and fro in the loom of commerce. Ships arriving in New York from all parts of the world bring merchandise for trans-shipment by ships departing for various parts of the world — and this movement from ship to ship employs an ever-increasing fleet of lighters. The many manufacturing en- terprises situated on and near the waterfront are so located to make it possible to receive raw material and ship manufactures by lighter direct from ship to factory and vice versa, and the extensive ware- house system of the Port is to a great extent dependent upon light- erage service for its maintenance. The physical characteristics of the Port, making it largely de- pendent upon water transportation for its supplies of food and fuel has been responsible for the development of the most highly organ- ized system of inland water transportation in the World. In this development Captain Frederick William Jarvis was a pioneer, hav- ing established the business of the Jarvis Lighterage Compan}^, as a public lighterman, just after the close of the Civil War in 1866. A list of the customers of Captain Jarvis, who are still being served by this company, includes the names of many of the largest and most successful merchants and manufacturers in the Metropolitan District. The Jarvis Lighterage Compan}^ was purchased in 1911 bv H. M. Lee and William Simmons, the former having established the business of Lee's Lighters in 1899, and the latter, the business of the Simmons Transportation Company 1902. In January, 1921, the operation of these three companies was consolidated under the management of Lee & Simmons, Inc., thus bringing into being the — 277 — VT E3ES jC\ XJ JZ\ XJ XJ xj £X \3. IT XJ XJ 1 XJXJ r\ XJ ^\ XJ XJ largest plant and organization of its kind devoted exclusively to the service of the shipping public of the Port and tributary inland waters. Henry H. Lee, the father of H. M. Lee, has been engaged in the Steam Hoisting and Towing business in the Port of New York since the late seventies, under the corporate title of H. H. Lee Corn- pan}' and Lee's Towing Line, Inc. SIR WILLIAM REARDON SMITH & SONS, Ltd. IN a work of this nature, which undertakes to portray the inter- esting sidelights of business romance in a series of historical sketches of firms and individuals who have grown and developed co-incident with our port, it may not be amiss to give mention to the new blood, energy, and brains that is ever being drawn from the four corners of the earth to partake of the wonderful opportuni- ties here presented and to further enhance the fast growing reputa- tion of New York as the nerve center of world commerce. Such action on the part of men who have been the leaders of maritime in- terests in other ports is their acknowledgment that this is the coming maritime capital of the woi'ld, as it is fast growing to be the financial capital. Of such men, there is none perhaps, whose coming has such a sig- nificance in this direction as Sir William Reardon Smith, Bart., of Cardiff, Wales. Sir William has achieved notable success in the maritime affairs of his native land and comes to the great port of the New World amply qualified by experience and ability to take the same commanding position in his new sphere of activity. He is the head of the following English concerns with offices in both Cardiff and London, viz., the St. Just S. S. Co., Ltd. ; the Devon Mutual In- surance Co., Ltd. ; the Leeds Shipping Co., Ltd. ; and the Cornbor- ough Shipping Line, Ltd. The total tonnage of the fleets under his direction is in excess of 300,000. Associated with him in the man- agement of his large interests are his two sons, William and Doug- las, and his two sons-in-law, Mr. A. J. Popham and Mr. W. G. Liley. Sir William's American interests are conducted under the firm name of Sir William Reardon Smith & Sons, Ltd., and offices arc maintained at 44 Beaver street, New York City, with Mr. W. G. Liley in charge. — 278 — THE ORIENTAL "NAVIGATION CO. A LOVE for Franco and the cause of the Allies during the Avar is responsible, perhaps, more nearly than any other factor for the origin of the Oriental Navigation Company. The stress of the Allies at the time was particularly acute at sea. It was beginning to look as though England would be isolated and starved, and without England and her fleet, victory would be cer- tain for the German government. When the conflagration of war overtook Europe, Mr. Philip I)e Ronde, now president of the Oriental Navigation Company, was ex- tremely pro- Ally. So was his friend, Mr. Alberto Dodero, of Buenos Aires, with whom he had been associated during several years of ex- port and import business in South America. One day in the autumn of 1915 Mr. Dodero appeared in Mr. DeRonde's New York office and bluntly proposed a steamship service to French ports, a proposition which was immediately accepted. The commercial history is not greatly different in character from that of other companies which developed during the war, but the war history of some of its ships are interesting and involved the com- pany in some of the most spectacular events of the war. The first ship was the Brazilian S. S. Tropiero which made its first voyage to Havre. She sailed from New York late in 1915, arriving in Havre in January, 1916, after an adventurous voyage. About this time the world was. shocked by the execution of the Eng- lishwoman, Edith Cavell, by the Germans, and upon the return of the Tropiero to New York, the vessel was re-named the Edith Cavell. The Tropiero was subsequently sunk by a German submarine. The S. S. Orleans gained fame as the first American steamer to sail from New York for France after the German edict of February 1, 1917, declaring unrestricted submarine warfare on all allied and neutral tonnage alike encountered in the war zone. She braved the submarine perils and arrived safely at Bordeaux on February 26, 1917, where she received enthusiastic welcome from the whole popu- lace of Bordeaux — the day being observed as a holiday. The steamer was greeted on her arrival by all civil and military dignitaries of the town, a special medal commemorating the event was struck and presented to the captain in the presence of the American Naval attache at Paris, who, with a party of distinguished Americans, journeyed to Bordeaux to welcome the first American blockade runner. The Orleans was torpedoed and sunk on July 3, 1917. The first armed merchantman flying the American flag was the S. S. Aztec. She was also the first armed merchantman to be sunk, being torpedoed on April 1, 1917, with a loss of twenty-nine men. The S. S. Gorizia was also sunk on April 30 of the same year. — 279 — T7 jC\ X7 t7 H £X ,£X V7 T7 ^^ 17 T7 /IV v7 RFI ,r\. Kt The S. S. Guazu, the subject of the famous German "spurlos versenky" incident of the war was sold by the Oriental office of Paris after the vessel had successfully eluded the submarines and arrived in Europe. Her owners were the Messrs. Dodero Brothers of Buenos Aires, one of whom has been mentioned above. Since the war and up to the beginning of the severe depression in shipping, 1920-21, the company expanded rapidly and operated ser- vices to Brazil and River Plate, Black Sea and the Levant, East Africa and French Atlantic ports, requiring a fleet of thirty-five ships. During 1921 new services were inaugurated between Gulf and Hamburg-Bremen and between New York and Colombia. The company has confined its operations entirely to freight ser- vices. Among the ships owned by the company are two fruiters which are chartered to the United Fruit Company for West Indies service. MOORE & McCORMACK CO., Inc. M "OORE & McCORMACK COMPANY, INC., a corporation or- ganized under the laws of the State of New York prior to the World War is one of the newer American firms to become permanently established among the leading big ail-American com- panies of our Merchant Marine. The founders of the company, Mr. Albert V. Moore and Mr. Emmet J. McCormack have been en- gaged all of their lives in the shipping business with headquarters in New York, and the success of the firm is due to the long experience and close application of these two men. This company now operates a regular berth service with American flag ships between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston and U. S. Gulf ports, to Ireland, to Scandinavia and the Baltic, to the West Indies, Mexico and the Caribbean, to the East Coast of South America, to the Mediterranean and the Levant, to India, and to West Coast of the United States. The management of the Commercial Steamship Lines is entirely in the hands of the Moore & McCormack Company, Inc. In addi- tion to several other general agencies, both American and foreign. Besides its home office in New York the company also has branch offices at Philadelphia, at Havana, Cuba, at Cork, Ireland, and at Gothenburg, Sweden with well established agencies at all other ports, of call. When the United States Shipping Board started the United States Lines as a great trans-Atlantic passenger service Moore & McCormack Co., Inc., was selected as one of the three representative- New York companies to whom its management was entrusted. — 280 — PHILIP DE RONDE President of the Oriental Navigation Company THE NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA (Jafian TVlai) Steamship Co. J THIS great Japanese company was established in 1885 and today is considered Japan's foremost marine transportation company. It was the result of an amalgamation of two separate concerns, namely, the Kyodo Unyo Kaisha (Union Transport Co.) and the Mitsu-bishi Kaisha (The Three Diamonds Company.) The com- pany was then capitalized at Yen 11,000,000 and the fleet com- prised 58 steamers, approximately 69,000 tons. Today the fleet numbers 103 vessels with an aggregate of 500,000 gross tons and its steamers encircle the globe. At first the company confined its activities to the coastal trade, later extending its operations to Korea, North China and Vladivo- stock, and in 1893 inaugurated its first regular ocean service to and from Bombay, thus materially aiding the growth of the cotton industry in Japan. In 1896 it extended its activities to foreign waters, increased its capital to Yen 22,000,000, started the construction of twelve new steamers and established three main lines of passenger and freight service; i. e., the European, American and Australian lines, all of the steamers of these lines running under mail contract with the Japanese Government. In the year 1914, with the advent of the great world cataclysm, the company's extra freight steamers of the European Line began to operate from Europe to New York by way of the Atlantic, re- turning to Japan by way of the Pacific, through the Panama Canal, comjileting a round the world voyage. During this period the part played by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha for the cause of the Allies during the great European war was by no means insignificant. Foremost among its contributions was the maintaining of the regu- lar fortnightly Japan-Europe Mail Service and the dispatch of fre- quent auxiliary steamers throughout the continuance of the war. This undertaking entailed heavy risks to the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, resulting in the sinking of four mail steamers, including the Yasaka Maru, one of the finest ships, besides a new cargo carrier. In addi- tion to this eight of the company's steamers were allocated to the United States for service in carrying food-stuffs and war materials to the Allies. In 1915 the capital of the company was increased to Yen 41,000,000, and in 1916 a regular four weekly freight service was opened between the Far East and New York via the Panama Canal. — 282 — U W W 1 \ \1 L£X ^ A £X \1 w \ / w 1 gffillslEsj w %%\% In 1918 the Calcutta-New York freight line was established and the company's capital increased to Yen 100, 000, 000. While the Nippon Yusen Kaisha now has a magnificent fleet of 500,000 tons gross as previously mentioned, most of the vessels being of recent construction, the management has in the course of construction a further 500,000 tons gross which will include several steamers of fast speed and superior passenger accommodations. When the erection of this additional tonnage is completed the Nippon Yusen Kaisha will have altogether a gigantic fleet of 1,000,000 gross tons. Baron Kondo, the late president of the company, held that office for over 25 years, and at his death, which occurred quite recently, was succeeded by Vice-President Ito. The New York offices of the Company are located at 10 Bridge street. THE HOUSE OF TIEBOUT THERE is no finer example of the steady and consistent growth of a business firm built upon the right foundation than the house of W. & J. Tiebout. Established in 1853, this firm has ever since conducted its busi- ness in the immediate neighborhood of its present address, 118 Chambers Street, led by four generations of Tiebouts in succession. The present heads of the firm are John Tiebout, Sr., and John Tie- bout, Jr. Intelligent study of the requirements of the marine field, com- bined with a policy of offering only the best quality products at the lowest prices consistent thereto, have commanded such univer- sal recognition that the house of Tiebout is now the port of call of seafaring men. The complete range of all kinds of marine hardware, fittings, joiner equipment, etc., combined with immediate delivery on short notice, has stood the test of so many emergency calls that it has be- come a common saying among men using marine equipment, "Go to Tiebout first." A distinctive feature of the Tiebout line is the complete assort- ment of ship-finish hardware particularly suitable to work boats. For those desiring assistance in the selection of marine hard- ware, fittings and supplies, a complete illustrated catalog has been prepared. It will be sent upon request to those interested. — 283 — CHAS. . MALLORY & CO., Inc. ONE of the younger companies, comprised of "Old Heads," at the business in the port of New York, is ('. I). Mallory & Co., Inc. The president of this organization, Mr. Clifford D. Mallory, comes of a family long associated with ship operations and shipbuilding of the country, and spent, what might be termed an apprenticeship, with the Clyde-Mallory interest. Associated with this organization as vice-president, is Mr. W. S. Houston, who had his training in Scotland and Brazil, and for quite a period in the United States prior to combination of his interests with those of Mr. Mallory in the formation of their com- pany. Operators for quite a period of Shipping Board Tonnage, being tramped, world wide, their business has developed along the lines of many of the larger shipping organizations of the United King- dom ; that is, they are essentially managers of vessels. This phase of their business principally covers the activities of a fleet of six tankers, all of the largest size and latest type, with which they are, engaged in transporting oil in various directions. Further, they are managers of the fleet of six owned and chartered tankers, en- gaged in the transportation of molasses and oil to all sections of the world. The centering of the management of this tonnage with this relative newcomer in New York shipping circles means certain development of allied activities ; for instance, a chartering depart- ment with prominent connections abroad is in full swing. The company's activity has called for establishment of several branch houses at American and foreign ports, amongst which are included Baltimore, Norfolk, New Orleans, Galveston, Tampico, and at Glasgow for the United Kingdom, and Genoa, Italy, for the Mediterranean. This Company representing, as New York agents, many out- port shipping operators, are experiencing great success with the homeward business of the Baltimore-Oceanic Steamship Co., which maintains a general cargo service between North Atlantic Ports and Mediterranean destinations. The careful attention displayed in connection with this inward business points to its relatively certain continuation, and the visits of the Baltimore-Oceanic vessels to New York means better service to fruit, onion and general cargo re- ceivers. Incidentally, considerable disbursements with New York houses allied with the shipping industry accrue. The Company, since its organization, has followed a policy of conservatism, marked in a time of lavish outlays for office space, accessories and the like, and has devoted its entire attention to busi- — 285 — XT XT T7 .^x ^/x in ./x T7 ^«^>^^ Y7 T7 V7 T7 T7 ^ T7 l ^>^>^> LU T7 rr T7 EjfgjgaEsj ness in hand, rather than to "putting up a front," and based on such a sound principle even through "hard times" can report satis- factory progress. Its slogan since its inauguration has been, and will continue to be, "First, last and all the time, Service.'''' BLACK "DIAMOND STEAMSHIP CORPORA TION THE BLACK DIAMOND STEAMSHIP CORPORATION is an American company that has sprung into being with the ad- vent of the new merchant marine. It is a company that has every appearance of being wisely and efficiently managed, and this explains the success with which it is weathering the slump in freight rates which has so seriously affected a considerable num- ber of new American steamship lines and has proven a hardship to a number of the old ones. The Black Diamond Steamship Corporation holds its charter under the laws of the State of New Jersey and has established a cargo liner service between New York and Antwerp and Rotter- dam, which has more latterly been extended to the ports of Hamp- ton Roads, Philadelphia and Boston. While comparatiely young this company has been built on a firm foundation, as is shown by the rapidity of its advance to a leading position in the trade routes it now covers, operating at the present time a fleet of steel steamships. The Black Diamond Steamship Corporation conducts a berth business between Ameri- can ports and Antwerp and Rotterdam, besides which it charters ships for tramp business to all parts of the world. The officers of the company, to whom its success should be properly attributed, are: J. E. Dockendorff , President ; Lewis Iselin, Vice-President ; F. E. Huck, Vice-President and Traffic Manager ; V. J. Sudman, Treasurer; B. A. Harnett, Operating Manager; S. H. Magrill, General Freight Agent. The general executive offices of the company are located at 67 Exchange Place, this city. In addition it has offices at Chicago, 111., at No. 35 North Dearborn St., and in Baltimore, Md., at 30 South Calvert St., Philadelphia and Norfolk. 286 CARIBBEAN STEAMSHIP CO.. Ltd. OF THE many American steamship companies that came into existence during the War, the Caribbean Steamship Com- pany, Ltd., holds a unique position. It is one of the few younger companies which lias established itself as a permanent and important factor in America's merchant marine. The Company was founded in 1915 by Mr. M. G. Casseres, its directing head. It commenced operations with a chartered steamer of 1,100 tons total deadweight. As the Company met with success it gradually extended its activities and added to its fleet. Today it operates ten modern vessels, maintaining regular line services throughout the West Indies, the north and w r est coast of South America with connections for Central America. Much of the Company's success has been due to its policy, from its inception, of confining its activities exclusively to the West Indies, Central and South America thereby firmly intrenching itself for the future at a time when other Lines were either forced to sus- pend their services on account of the War, or w T ere attracted else- where by larger profits. The Caribbean Line, as it is generally known, now maintains a regular ten day service from New York to Jamaica, B. W. L, east coast Colombian ports, thence passing through the Panama Canal to the west coast Colombian ports and Ecuador, connecting at Cristobal for w r est coast ports of Central America and Mexico. It also maintains a regular fortnightly service from New York to Trinidad, B. W. I. ; Venezuelan ports ; Curacao, D. W. I. ; and Santo Domingo. In addition, it does a considerable business in the transportation of full cargoes of coal and sugar to and from the West Indies. The objects of its founder in organizing the Caribbean Line was to operate services from the United States to every principal port in the Caribbean, and it may now be well said that this object has been fully realized, as the Company now serves regularly every port of any importance in the Caribbean region, even extending to the Pacific. Much credit is due to Mr. Casseres, whose energy and persever- ance has culminated in the building up of an American shipping en- terprise which has won for itself recognition as one of the princi- pal carrying factors in the Caribbean trade, maintaining a high standard of service. All of the steamers owned by the Company fly the American flag. T7 T7 — 287 — THE Y R * c, a •«- -*• a re o a * * ° ~* S =r- ^ a ^ 6- ^ :?•■§ ^ 2 s S S -i » «. » a a a ^ a ^a re s re a * a &, ~a n 'Q « a ** 2- re * S-a h: n Ob ft ^a "■* a -* ►•*. a- co *« a • re a re a "■* =0 co k^ re © © I ~ a re © a « a s 2. re fcC,^ ? a a- a co »• ^ r« s a re a a *»v" a « 2 1? SJ- co s? ~ re »» 2 ^ a, re re ^ « a re > X X > « a o i > n > 2 25 FURNESS, WITHY & CO., Ltd. ALTHOUGH a British steamship company, Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., is very closely identified with the development of the Port of New York as the greatest commercial harbor in the world. From the early eighties, when the ships of Christopher Furness & Company came to New York from West Hartlepool, England, their home port, until the present day when the organiza- tion, one of the greatest in the list of steamship organizations, sends its ships under the name of Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., to all parts of the world, the Furness flag has been a familiar sight in all navigable tide waters of the globe. The history of Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., synchronizes very largely with the life of the late Lord Furness, known for a long period as Sir Christopher Furness. He was prominent in the affairs of the United Kingdom and sat for two terms, aggregating fourteen years, in the House of Commons. At an early age he began his career as a shipowner, under the style of Christopher Furness & Com- pany, at West Hartlepool. He travelled extensively in Sweden and was an important factor in developing the shipping of that coun- try. Owing to his ability and energy, his firm steadily expanded until, in 1891, it amalgamated with the shipbuilding firm of Ed- ward Withy & Company, of West Hartlepool, under the present name of Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd. At the time of the death of the late Lord Furness, which oc- curred in 1912, the firm had become one of the leading shipping companies of Great Britain and its services to the British govern- ment during the war received generous recognition. Today the fleet of Furness, Withy & Company comprises the enormous figure of 750,000 gross tons, covering 174 steamers either owned or controlled by the firm. Eighty vessels flying the Furness, Withy & Company house flag were torpedoed during the war. From 1912 to 1914 the late Sir Stephen Furness was chairman of the company, succeeding Lord Furness. Upon Sir Stephen's death, in 1914, the present Lord Furness, son of the founder of the compai^, became its chairman but retired in 1919, when he was succeeded by the Vice Chairman, Sir Frederick W. Lewis, Bart. Millions of tons of freight are annually taken in and out of the Port of New York by steamers of the Furness-Withy fleet. The acquisition by the company, in August, 1916, of the Prince Line, Ihe Furness-Withy fleet of owned and controlled tonnage was brought up to 1,400,000 deadweight tons, the Prince Line adding 181,211 gross tons to the fleet total, while the acquisition of the remaining interest in the Johnstone Line brought about 100,000 gross tons more. Other absorptions by the company since the — 300 — Pi u u 17 /Pi U \J -■ -- -■' •- / > u •6- it -e-e-g u L -/- ^ ^ war were 23,500 gross tons from Evan, Thomas, Radcliff & Com- pany, in May, 1917, and the Glen Line (James Gardiner & Com- pany), with 63,355 gross tons, in September of the same year. Later, in 1919, Furness, Withy & Company took over the New York-Bermuda service of the Quebec Steamship Company. In addition to these lines Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., owns, controls or has a considerable interest in Houlder Brothers & Company, Ltd. ; the Houlder Line, Ltd. ; Furness-Houlder Argen- tine Lines, Ltd. ; The Empire Transport Company, Ltd. ; the Brit- ish Empire Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. ; the British & Argen- tine Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. ; the Gulf Line, Ltd. ; the Lon- don-Welsh Shipping Company, Ltd. ; the Manchester Liners, Ltd. ; the Norfolk and North American Steamship Company, Ltd. ; the Neptune Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. ; the White Diamond Steamship Company, Ltd. (George Warren & Company, Ltd.) ; the Economic Marine Insurance Company, the Tilbury Coaling Com- pany, the Compagnie Furness (France) and the Anglo-Eastem Shipping Company, Ltd. Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., also has departments of its own which deal with chartering, insurance, ships' stores, sales and purchases, bunkering, etc. A huge fleet is kept in service between practically all the At- lantic ports of the United States and Canada and all the principal ports of Great Britain. There are also services to Havre, France, the Levant, South Africa, South America, the Far East, etc. In the United States and Canada, Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., are the general agents of the Manchester Liners, Ltd., and the Lloyd Sabaudo Line, of Italy, for both its passenger and freight services ; freight agents in New York of the Swedish-American Line, the Swedish-America-Mexico Line and the Transatlantic Steam- ship Company, all of Gothenburg, Sweden. They are also the gen- eral passenger and freight agents in New York of the Quebec Steam- ship Company. The head office of Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., was trans- ferred, in 1917, to "Furness House," Billiter Street, London, E. C. 3. The company's offices in Great Britain, aside from its head office in London, are at Liverpool, Cardiff, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-on- Tyne, Leith and Glasgow. In the United States the main offices are in New York, in a building specially erected for the company and which, like the home office in London, is called Furness House. It is one of the handsomest structures of lower New York, architec- turally, and its entrance and foyer are shown to visitors to New York from all over the United States, because of its beauty and rare artistry. Other offices of the company in the United States are 301 — XX XT XX XT XX XT EEI ^ tT ttkt jZ\ LU vTl XT XT YT XX 1 t71 XX XT XX as XX T7 located in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newport News and Nor- folk. The American offices are under the management of Mr. H. C. Blackiston, Director in the United States of Furness, Withy & Com- pany, Ltd., with headquarters at Fumes s House, 34 to 38 Whitehall Street, New York. Offices of the company are also maintained in Montreal, Quebec, St. John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. Johns, Newfoundland. Furness, Withy & Company, Ltd., also have affiliated offices in Paris, France, and Alexandria, Egypt. HENRY STEERS, Inc. THE name of Steers has been solidly built into the historical structure of the Port of New York by many feats of accom- plishment on the part of those who bear and have borne the name. It was the grandfather and granduncle respectively of Henry Steers and J. Rich Steers of the present well-known firm of Henry Steers, Inc., No. 17 Battery Place, who built the famous yacht America, which, under the command of Captain Dick Brown, aided by Captain Comstock as mate (both Sandy Hook Pilots), won the International cup, now known as the America's cup, in 1851, off the Isle of Wight. The old Steer's shipyard was located at the foot of 9th Street and the East River. Henry Steers, father of the present Henry Steers, received his early education as shipbuilder in this old yard. After acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business under the able guidance of his father, he established a shipbuilding plant of his own in 1860 at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, opposite 23rd Street, Man- hattan, where he built a great many steamers and yachts, among them being ships for the Pacific Mail Fleet ; the original Rhode Island and Massachusetts of the Fall River Line; and many other locally well known vessels. The sail pilot boat George Steers was one of the products of his yard, and a stauncher nor better sailer never cruised the waters off Sandy Hook. The present firm of Henry Steers, Inc., was established in 189-4 as contracting engineers. The business of the concern has grown steadily until it is now one of the foremost in the building of water- front improvements in this country. The old Greenpoint shipyard is still owned by the heirs of Henry Steers, although it has undergone vast improvements since the old shipbuilding days. It now has four large piers and warehouses and is known as the Steers Terminal Company. — 302 CAPTAIN ROBERT ^DOLLAR THE house flag of the Dollar Steamship Company is known in every one of the large ports touched by the waters of the Pacific and its founder, Captain Robert Dollar, is known to every big shipping man in the world as one of the outstanding fig- ures in the development of America's foreign trade. To all he is known and dearly respected as the dean of Pacific Coast shipping men. Although the Pacific is the main field of operations for the Dol- lar Steamship Company, Captain Dollar maintains offices in New York and is largely interested in many enterprises identified with the development of our port. Born in a Scottish lumberyard, of very poor parents, Captain Dollar was brought by his father to Canada at an early age, as a motherless lad. Before receiving any schooling to speak of, he was hired out as chore boy in a distant, uncouth, uncivilized lumber camp in the frozen North. The life was hard, but it made a man of him. Before emerging from his 'teens he realized that he must acquire some education before he could hope to get on in the world. And he meant to get on. An unexpected visit by the manager found him practising writing and figuring on birch bark, the only "paper" available. This led to his being given all the bookkeeping of the camp — to be done after regular working hours, however, without extra pay. After experience as a lumberjack and as a foreman, during which he had to boss an army of men, most of whom were as uncouth as their environment, young Dollar (having saved all his wages except the few dollars needed to keep him in rough clothing and to cover his precious few "incidentals") decided to start lumbering on his own account. He had mastered every phase of the business and was getting along well when — crash ! The terrific panic caused by "Black Friday" on the New York Gold Exchange, in 1873, swept down half the business concerns on the continent — young Dollar's among them. "Happy and lucky is the young man who fails when young," he was told by a veteran. Dollar did not grasp his wisdom then. He again became a foreman, worked and saved until he paid off every dollar of his debt, and then began accumulating a fresh stock of capital, determined to fare better the next time he launched out. He delayed action until he felt sure he had garnered enough capital, and this time no panic occurred to bowl him off his feet. He early saw the possibilities of exporting lumber to Britain and opened up a large and profitable trade. As his ambitions — and his capital — expanded, he looked for fresh fields of enterprise, and concluded that — 303 — W u *G" "0* RFRS za t7 A\ A YT A\ w .A W „A\ tr ^ Y7 AX 17 A\ \J mm the greatest undeveloped market for timber in the whole world was China. To China he went, not once but twice, to analyze the whole situation. Then he moved to the Pacific forests. He soon discovered, however, that it was one thing to prepare lumber for the market and another thing to find ships to transport it across the Pacific. Not only were vessels scarce, but the freight rates were ruinous. Why not, he figured, buy ships and do his own transporting? His first tiny vessel paid for itself in the first year. He bought another and then another. Today his steamships thread their way through every ocean, carrying not only lumber but all varieties of cargo, many of which are not only carried but bought and sold by him. COLUMBUS MARINE CORPORATION THE COLUMBUS MARINE CORPORATION is an American Company which has developed within the last few years. The Company has every appearance of being very efficiently managed, has very strong backing, and has been successfully weath- ering through the depression of business which has so seriously affected many concerns. The Columbus Marine Corporation is chartered under the laws of the State of Delaware and has established cargo shipments from Atlantic and Gulf Ports to Mediterranean and Adriatic Ports. While the Company is apparently young, it has built up an extensive trade and represents no less than 18 steamship lines be- tween Mediterranean and Adriatic Ports and North Atlantic and Gulf Ports. Besides loading steamers on berth, they also charter steamers for tramp business to all ports of the world. The active officers of the Company having a life-time experience in the steamship business and understanding this business thor- oughly, explains the good results produced by this Company. They are reputed to be worthy of the confidence their friends have in them, which is becoming stronger as time goes on. 301 — DANIEL F. LEARY DANIEL F. LEAHY, of the D. F. Leary Co., steamship agents and brokers, located at 45 Pearl Street, while one of the younger men of the shipping world is also one of the most progressive. During the fourteen years of his activity in the ship- ping field he has handled many ships, as agent or broker, to and from all the leading ports of the world. Starting with the general United States agency for the Norway Mexico Gulf Line, Ltd., he eventually undertook the agency for the Seeberg Steamship Line, Inc. Mr. Leary took a very active part in the successful handling of the vessels of these lines. Subsequently, he and his associates became the United States and Canadian agents for Messrs. Brys & Gylsen and their affiliated com- panies, who operated tramp cargo steamers from United States ports to all ports of the world. Mr. Leary handled all the details of secur- ing freights and cargoes for these steamers from different Atlantic Coast ports. TOYO KISEN KAISHA ONE of the noted events in the marine history of Japan was the organization of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha in July, 1896, by Mr. Soichiro Asano in conjunction with Mr. Y. Shibuzawa and other well known business men of Japan. The initial capital of the company was yen 6,500,000, which has been increased as the business of the company expanded, until at the present time it is yen 32,500,000, of which yen 22,750,000 is paid up. The company owns a fleet of nineteen modern passenger and freight vessels, aggregating a gross tonnage of 155,682 and operates fast lines of service between the Orient and all the principal ports on the west coast of North and South America, as well as a regular service between the Orient and New York, via the Panama Canal. The main office of the company is in Yokohoma, Japan, with agencies and branch offices in all the large ports of the world. The New York Office is located at 165 Broadway. 305 — THE MERRITT & CHAPMAN DERRICK & WRECKING CO., Inc. THE history of this Company dates back to 1860, when Captain I. J. Merritt was engaged in the salvage business as represen- tative of the Underwriters, and was practical head of the Coast Wrecking Company. The Merritt Wrecking Organization was formed in 1880, and merged with the Chapman Derrick Company in 1897, forming the Merritt & Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Co., Inc., the largest con- cern of its kind in the world. A fleet of sea-going salvage vessels, especially equipped with a complete assortment of modern salvage appliances and special tools, is maintained by the Company at various bases ready, at a moment's notice, to respond any hour of the day or night to calls from vessels stranded along the coasts, or otherwise in distress at sea. Prompt despatch being of vital importance, their office is open day and night. Each vessel carries in addition to its regular crew, a com- plement of skilled men known as the "Salvage Crew," consisting of Salvage Expert, Foremen, Engineers, Divers, Wreckers, Black- smiths and Carpenters ; all experts in applying their individual trades to the salvage business through years of experience — many of them having been in the Company's employ for upwards of thirty years. The Merritt & Chapman service for the protection of shipping covers the U. S. Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland to Florida, as well as the waters of the West Indies, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico ; and millions of dollars are saved yearly for shipowners and underwriters by this Company's operations. Not only is this service important and valuable to shipowners and underwriters, but it is a benefit to the port of New York, as most of the vessels saved by this Company are brought to New York for delivery to the owners, and many of them are repaired and reconditioned in the shipyards here. This Company also maintains a fleet of about thirty (30) large floating derricks, five (5) derrick propellers, also harbor tugs, most of which are located in the Port of New York. These derricks are capable of lifting from 75 to 250 tons, and the derricks Monarch and Colossus are the largest and most powerful of their kind in ex- existence. The main office of the Company is located in New York City at 17 Battery Place with branches at Norfolk, Va. ; Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md. ; Key West, Fla., and Kingston, Jamaica, B. W. I. — 306 -s a- a- 5 o n ti <■*. H 3 -J ,~i X "a to W a_ ■— ^ 2. a -s 2 to ft- o ^ -> ft- t^ s 5* — ►>« ^ o ^^« s „. © «J S- 6s TO v ' ft- o PS -■s s. w led d vorld ps 2 3' o V.' TO ha O i—.^ T! * c~* i— i 3- TO o a* w a ^ pa PS h- 1 -+. a H to"^: H ft*§ 8= to J* 3 to n -^. to TO -s K ft - ? > ►a ~ ST > 51 TO fs C-*l i— i 5* SXj < TO w e- ^tj so a -* ai .""* o ^ 3 to « 6s _ WHITLOCK CORDAGE COMPANY IN THE year 1825, at Elizabethport, N. J., Sidney B. Whitlock founded the business which has since developed into the Whit- lock Cordage Company, manufacturers of Manila and Sisal rope and twine. Thus it will be seen that for nearly a hundred years the Whitlock family has been making rope for sailors. When the Elizabethport plant was destroyed by fire in the early nineties, a new company was formed by Mr. W. P. Whitlock. It was not until 1905, however, after the present modern plant had been completed at Jersey City, that his associates finally persuaded Mr. Whitlock that they had at last perfected the rope which he was willing to have marketed under his own name. He realized that, to succeed, such a brand must not only be as good as the very best of those with which it must compete, but also a little better. The result is Whitlock Manila, a rope well known to sailormen, wherever American ships plow the seven seas. The present up-to-date, thoroughly equipped factory in Jersey City has direct rail connection for receiving raw materials and shipping finished rope. The New York ferries are within easy reach, and local deliveries are speedily made by a fleet of motor trucks. The impression a visitor receives of the Whitlock mill is one of cleanliness. He approaches the main group of buildings along walks bordered by lawns and flowers. With plenty of open space on all sides — a city park bounds the front of the property — there is a sense of fresh air and healthfulness about the place. For the manufacture of Whitlock Manila rope, very high grade Manila Hemp is imported from the Philippines in bales averaging 275 pounds. The hemp is carefully selected, then passed through a series of machines which comb and straighten out the fibres. Next it goes through a similar process on a smaller scale which finally reduces it to a smooth stream of hemp called a "sliver," and is ready for spinning. After the yarn is spun it is formed into the strands which make up all sizes of rope. Usually this rope is three-strand, but it may be four- or six-strand, according to the work to which it will be put aboard ship. Since larger rope must be easily handled for splicing, etc., the lay often needed is soft, but for regular marine use, medium or regular lay, three-strand, is considered best. The Whitlock Company guarantees that Whitlock Manila Rope is superior in every respect to the U. S. Bureau of Standards Spe- cifications, not only in strength, length per pound, and tare, but also in quality of fibre. And the necessity for a rope-user knowing — 308 — y\ \7 XJ) ,/ \ ,.' \. \/ /-\ w M XJ XJ \ f XJ / -., 17 / \ XJ / <. XJ / . u XJXJ M&\ exactly what quality Manila fibre has been used in making the rope he buys cannot be overestimated, for good rope cannot be manu- factured from poor Manila hemp — and there are over twenty grades of fibre which the rope manufacturer may choose. When a sailorman trusts his life to a rope, he can afford to take no chances, and never willingly does so — which is partly the reason for the continued and ever-growing success of this able maker of Marine Cordage. Any reader of this book is cordially invited to visit the Whitloek Mill and there see for himself with what skill and care Whitloek Manila rope is built. THE OSAK&? SHOSEK KAVUSHIKI KAISHA {Osaka ^Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd.) THIS Company, equipped with a capital of Yen 100,000,000\. and a fleet of over 468,000 tons gross, is now conducting about 50 regular services making important commercial high- ways of the world, the total length of which reaching more thaw 240,000 nautical miles. When the comparatively short period of the Company's existence is remembered and also its modest begin- ning, the progress it has made is marvellous. It was established in 1884 with a capital of only yen 1,200,000 and with a fleet of steam- ers having an aggregate tonnage of 17,000, the total miles covered by the lines of services was not more than 8,500, practically con- fined to the western half of the Empire. During the thirty-seven years that followed its establishment it has encountered many diffi- culties, but has, by pursuing a steady and progressive policy, over- come every obstacle, which is in itself an eloquent testimony to the remarkable development of the water-transport business in Japan. During the thirty-seven years of its existence the company has steadily expanded its field of operations until at the present time it operates a fleet of one hundred and ninety-seven vessels with a total gross tonnage of 468,703. Fifty lines of service are operated 1 to the ports of North and South Europe, the United States, India^ Australia, South America, the South Seas and China. The head office of the Company is in Osaka, Japan, with branches, in all the principal parts of the world. The New York office is located in the Woolworth Building. — 309 — MITSUI & CO., Ltd. MITSUI & CO., LTD. (Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, Ltd.) with an authorized capital of ¥100,000,000, or approximately $50,000,000 was organized by Mitsui families in 1909, as the successor to the firm bearing the same name which was one of the pioneer concerns in Japan engaged in the export and import busi- ness and today it constitutes one of the three direct undertakings of the same family, the remaining two being the Mitsui Bank, Ltd., capitalized at ¥100,000,000, or $50,000,000 and the Mitsui Min- ing Co., Ltd., with a capital of ¥100,000,000 or $50,000,000. The history of the Mitsui families dates back nearly three cen- turies when they established an exchange house, developing gradu- ally into a private bank of considerable importance, and with the opening of Japan's doors to the world in the middle of the last cen- tury, they organized one of the first modern banks in Japan. Simul- taneously the firm of Mitsui & Co. was organized to engage in gen- eral export and import business. Today Mitsui & Co., Ltd., or Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, Ltd., as it is known in the Orient, is one of the most important business factors in the Far East, while its position is no less important in the United States and Europe. Its extensive business, in almost every kind of commodity, literally from a pin to a locomotive, is carried on through- out the world with more than 70 branch offices located at all large business centers of the globe. It also conducts a shipping business, owning twenty-seven ocean- going and coastwise vessels, whose deadweight tonnage aggregates nearly 140,000 tons, besides numerous tugs, lighters, extensive wharves and warehouse accommodations at the principal ports in the Far East. This company also established a shipbuilding yard in 1918 at Tama on the inland sea of Japan, between Kobe and Moji. The works cover an area of 293 acres, and are equipped with 4 building berths. There are also two dry docks, the larger one of which is 480 ft. long and 74 ft. wide, and is able to accommodate steamers of 15,000 deadweight tons. This yard is equipped with the most mod- ern machinery for shipbuilding, and also for repairs of every descrip- tion and engages in constructional, electrical and mechanical engi- neering. It also maintains one salvage boat at the shipbuilding yard, which is available in Far Eastern waters on shortest notice. During the last war, two American Government steamers, S. S. Eastern Importer and Eastern Exporter, of 9,000 deadweight tons each, were constructed in this yard. — 310 — S. O. STRA Y & COMPANY THE firm of S. 0. Stray & Company, Inc., was established in the year 1866 in the City of Christianssand S, Norway. The business was started with the purchase of the Bark Veritas of about 390 tons net register, since when the company con- tinued to add sailing ships to their fleet from year to year, until the company was known as one of the largest and strongest sailing ship owners in Norway. Their ships traded all over the world, and espe- cially in the United States. They purchased their first steamer, the "Snorre" in 1904. In 1906 Mr. Emil Stray, grandson of Mr. Sven (). Stray, was taken into the business as a partner. Finally Mr. Emil Stray succeeded to the control of the company in 1912. By this time the company owned several steamers and a large fleet of sailing ships. In 1917 the company foresaw the necessity of opening their own office in New York, and accordingly Mr. Karl Krogstad was sent here to start the company of S. O. Stray & Company, Inc., with Mr. Karl Krogstad as president and Mr. C. V. Thavenot as secretary and treasurer. The company was primarily started with the pur- pose of attending to the chartering of the company's large fleet of sailing ships and steamers in this market and also to act as general chartering agents for various Norwegian ship owners. The com- pany was a success from the start and during the years following, up to the signing of the armistice, were the largest brokers in the chartering of foreign sailing ships. In 1918 Mr. Emil Stray came from Norway as one of the mem- bers of the Norwegian Shipping Commission and was instrumental in making an agreement with the Shipping Board, known as the "Nor- wegian Agreement," for the chartering of the entire Norwegian sail- ing ship fleet to the United States Shipping Board. This agreement covered the South American, Australian and African trades, and this sailing ship fleet practically replaced the regular steam tonnage hitherto employed in these trades and which, on account of the war, had been withdrawn for war purposes. It can, therefore, be said that the Norwegian sailing ship fleet performed an invaluable service in canning on the trade of this country during the dearth of steam tonnage from that time until the cessation of hostilities. In 1919 the company started to require more steam tonnage to replace the sailing ship fleet which, by then, had been sadly depleted by German submarines, mines and other war fatalities. The S. 0. Stray Steamship Corporation was organized in New York at the end of 1919 for the purpose of establishing a regular line service from New York to Norwegian ports, maintaining a regular semi- monthly service. This was eventually amplified, by combining with — 311 — -e* -e-e-e- W W ,r\, U U W a ^A AA V7 W ^ ^^ U w w u other important Norwegian ship owners, by a service to other Scan- dinavian and Baltic ports and were one of the first, since the end of the war, to start a regular service to Petrograd. This line was successful from the start, and shortly after the company established another line from the Northern States to Brazil and the Argentine, and maintains a monthly service with several first class Diesel motor ships. In order to insure prompt and efficient service for their shippers, the company acquired a lease on Pier No. 4, Brooklyn, where they have their own organization for loading and discharg- ing, receiving and delivering, etc. The present officers of the New York corporation are Mr. C. V. Thavenot, President; Mr. W. A. J. Kopp, Vice-President ; Captain Christophersen, Secretary and Treasurer and Marine Superintendent. The head office of S. 0. Stray & Company A/S is still located in Christianssand S, Norway, with Mr. Emil Stray, Mr. T. Isaksen and Mr. Karl Krogstad as managing directors. The company also maintains offices in Christiana ; Cardiff, Wales ; Rio de Janeiro ; Santos and Buenos Aires, also agents at all other ports of call. WESSEL, "DUVAL & CO. THE business of Wessel, Duval & Co. dates back to 1828, when it was established by Augustus Hemenway, of Boston. The firm during that period has been exclusively engaged in Ameri- can commerce — i. e., shipping the products of this country to Bolivia, Chile and Peru (including Ecuador up to a few years ago) and bringing back the products of those countries, of which nitrate of soda from Chile is the preponderant commodity. At the outset of its activities the firm conducted its business by its own fleet of sailing vessels, which it continued until sail was replaced by steam, and then, by reason of the prohibitive cost of operating steamers under the American flag in competition with foreign tonnage it had to choose between a foreign ship-owning department, affecting its distinctively American character, on the one hand, and relying on long-term time charters on the other, and chose the latter. The West Coast Line, which it operates, is the oldest in the West Coast service, and modern vessels of about 8,000 tons are employed. The route is via the Panama Canal, and the itinerary includes all the important ports in Peru and Chile. — 312 — WILLIAM T. DONNELLY WT. DONNELLY, consulting engineer and naval architect, 17 Battery Place, New York City, says that he came from the land and not from the sea, and that as a boy knew more about planting potatoes and hoeing corn than how to maneuver a boat in or out of water, but "a man drinketh that for which he thirsteth," and sooner or later, a man's calling follows his heart's desire. Mr. Donnelly's technical education, if such it can be called, com- menced in Cooper Union, and he makes the statement that it still continues in the broadest of all educational institutions, the work of the world. Mr. Donnelly's first marine work of importance was the design for a 10,000 ton floating dry dock for Frederick C. Lang in 1898. This has been followed by many others, not only in and around New York but up and down the Pacific Coast to the far islands of the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Donnelly speaks with pride of the fact that he purchased and read with great interest the first copy of Marine Engineering, was a continuous subscriber to that publication and was invited by its owner and editor, W. L. Aldrich, to write the "Twenty Years Review." During the late war, Mr. Donnelly served as a member of the Ship Protection Committee, a joint organization composed of mem- bers of the Shipping Board and the Naval Consulting Board. His most recent contribution to nautical affairs has been his electric propelled boats, the Dawn and New Era, which to date have sailed more than 6,000 miles up and down the Atlantic Coast. NATIONAL STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY, Ltd. KNOWN as the National Greek Line is a corporation having been incorporated in 1907, starting with the steamship Patris, this concern later acquired the Macedonia, which was lost as an auxiliary cruiser during the Balkan War of 1912. After the loss of the Macedonia, the Themistocles and the Megali Hellas were acquired. To further increase the tonnage of this line the S. S. King Alexander, formerly the Cleveland of the Hamburg American Line and also the Constantinople, formerly the Bremen of the North German Lloyd, was chartered. This company also owns 12 steamers used in coastwise traffic in the Mediterranean together with several cargo boats. The United States offices of the company are located at No. 20 Pearl Street, New York City, the main office being at Athens, Greece. The company maintains a regular service from New York to Piraeus, Constantinople, Varna. (Bulgaria) and Con- stantza (Rumania). Also New York to Piraeus, Beyrouth and Alexandria. — 313 — ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Ltd. IN reviewing the birth of the Royal Insurance Company, Limited, in 1845, it is difficult to discover any definite information regard- ing the reasons which induced its founders to embark upon the enterprise, but the flourishing and prosperous condition of commerce at that time and the improvement in inter-communication by means of early railway construction and the foundation of the American lines which had been inaugurated by the departure of the pioneer steamship Britannia probably strongly influenced them. The Company was provisionally registered March 11, 1845, with a capital of £2,000,000 in 100,000 shares of £20 each. The orig- inal application for shares greatly exceeded the capital require- ments. Registration was completed June 13th, 1845, and on the 10th of the same month the Directors announced their readiness to receive insurance proposals. Although the field of the Company's operations was extended cautiously and slowly, yet by 1851 many foreign agencies in all parts of the Avorld had been established and early in that year the direc- tors decided to extend to the United States, commencing with New York. The following year offices were opened in Philadelphia and Cincinnati and since that time further branch offices and agencies have been opened, until at the present time the Company is prepared to render service in practically any part of the United States. Following common experience the Company was not free from vicissitudes and hardships, contributed to largely by the vast con- flagrations which history has recorded. All losses, however, result- ing from these disasters were promptly paid and through prudent management and building up of reserves there has never been a report issued to shareholders recommending the passing of a divi- dend. In 1907 the Company's present New York quarters, the "Royal" building, 84 William Street, was opened. This change brought the Company on the very fringe of the insurance district at that time, but at this date William Street and Maiden Lane may be considered the heart of the district. On January 1, 1911, a marine department was established under the management of Mr. John E. Hoffman, and under his direction the Company has amply shared in the nation's maritime prosperity. Directly associated with the "Royal" in the marine department are the Queen Insurance Company of America, the Newark Fire Insur- ance Company, the Star Insurance Company of America and the Maritime Insurance Company, Limited, of Liverpool. In conclusion, the appropriateness of the Royal's motto, "Tutum te sistam" (literally, "I will place thee in safety") is demonstrated by the present position and resources of the Company. — 314 — STEAMSHIPS HERMAN FRASCH, J. R. GORDON, AND HENRY D. WHITON Of the Union Sulphur Company's Fleet ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION ORE STEAMSHIP CORPORATION is a subsidiary com- pany of Bethlehem Steel Company and was formed for the purpose of owning and operating steamers principally in the service of Bethlehem Steel Company and its asosciated and affiliated companies. The first of its fleet was the Steamship Cubore, delivered in 1917, and followed by three other sister steamers of the same size, namely,, about 11,600 tons total deadweight. These vessels are of special design for the ore and bulk cargo trade and so constructed as to require the minimum time in loading and discharging. A smaller steamer of about 6,100 tons deadweight, of the same construction, is also in service. To meet the requirements for the carriage of iron ore from Chile to the Bethlehem plants, Ore Steamship Corporation now has under construction five of the largest vessels that will fly the American flag. Each of the five steamers is of more than 20,000 tons deadweight capacity and in addition to being able to transport iron ore the- arrangements are such that they will also be able to carry their full deadweight capacity of bulk oil and other bulk cargoes. In 1922,. the total deadweight capacity of the fleet will be over 160,000 tons. In order to obtain the most modern facilities, Ore Steamship Cor- poration now has under erection at the Claremont Terminal of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in New York harbor, one of the most mod- ern bulk discharging plants on the Atlantic coast. This plant will have mechanical unloaders capable of discharging ore and other bulk cargoes at the rate of 1,500 tons per hour. It will be a valuable asset to the port of New York as by the economies it will effect it will divert a great deal of tonnage to New York that would other- wise go to other ports. It is contemplated to build a number of additional steamers of 20,000 tons capacity for this Company. In the near future its fleet will be an important one to the American Merchant Marine and the business of the port of New York. 316 — EXPORT STEAMSHIP CORPORATION THE EXPORT STEAMSHIP CORPORATION was organized and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in January, 1919. The Corporation was organized for the purpose of acquiring and operating vessels under the United States flag for the development of the American Merchant Marine. The first vessels allocated by the U. S. Shipping Board to the Corporation were operated to United Kingdom, Scandinavian, Greek, Turkish and Black Sea ports. Later additional Levant ports were added to the service, and during the past year the officers of the Corporation have devoted themselves almost exclusively to the trade with the Near East. The efficient operation of the Corporation has been recognized by the Shipping Board, being recently designated as the exclusive operator of Shipping Board vessels to Greek and Levant ports and having its scope of operation extended to include ports on the Egyptian, Syrian and Palestine coasts. No effort has been spared to convince exporters that their mer- chandise can be shipped as expeditiously in vessels operated by the Corporation as by foreign companies which were favored with the greater part of this business prior to the signing of the Armistice. The result of the earnest endeavors of the Corporation in this direc- tion has been very gratifying. Exporters have recognized the efforts of the Corporation to such an extent that its vessels have been carry- ing full cargoes of general merchandise for some time to Greek, Le- vant and Turkish ports, and among the exporters who have favored it with their business are the most prominent and old established in the trade. Regular sailings, efficient operation, constituting service to its clients, has been the constant aim of the Corporation, and there is every reason to believe that a continuance of the present policy will ■eventually secure for it even larger patronage than it enjoys at present. The carriage of American goods in American bottoms, operated by Americans, is the objective of the Corporation, and with the co- operation of American exporters the attainment of the objective is assured. T7 T7 — 317 — THREE STAR LIKE THE SOCIETE LES AFFRETEURS REUNIS, known in the United States under the name, "Three Star Line," was organ- ized in 1895, with two steamers, and engaged in the coastwise trade between Algeria and the northern ports of France. At the beginning many obstacles were encountered, but, due to the activity and the energy displayed by its young Director, Mr. Jean Stern, the numerous difficulties were overcome little by little, and the three-star green flag soon took a place more and more im- portant in European maritime traffic. Mr. Stern's object was to improve the commercial relations between France, its colonies of North Africa and foreign countries — create new markets, etc. When the war broke out the fleet of the Affreteurs Reunis amounted to 48,000 d. w. tons, but, due to the submarine war, suf- fered greatly and at the time of the Armistice it was reduced to 15,000 tons. But the man at the head of the Affreteurs Reunis feared no obstacles and in 1921 the fleet aggregated 45 ships, of a total d. w. tonnage of 150,000 tons, ranking fourth in importance among the great French steamship companies. Gradually Mr. Stern extended the scope of his operations, and, convinced of the development of commercial trade with the United States, during the spring of 1919 he inaugurated a freight service between New York and the Western Mediterranean. This new service rapidly became very popular among the big importers of North Africa, and at their request the sailing, which, at the beginning, took place every six weeks were consistently aug- mented. The new service, maintained with six steamers of the most modern type, now includes all the important ports of the Western Mediterranean, and sailings take place regularly every 15 days from New York and Philadelphia. It is interesting to note that, at a time when all the nations are trying to protect their merchant flag by direct or indirect subsidies, Mr. Stern is decidedly adverse to any aid from the government, even for passenger boats, and has proved it lately by organizing, without help or subsidy, a regular service of passenger steamers between France, North Africa and Senegal, which is very popular. ■6- ^ — 3 1 8 — THE EAST ASIATIC COMPANY, Inc. THIS company is the United States representative of The East Asiatic Company, Limited, of Copenhagen, Denmark, the pio- neers in the field of oceangoing motorships. The first time the New Yorkers had an opportunity to view one of these motorships was in 1914, when the port of New York was visited by the M. S. "Siam," but since then motorships have not been an usual sight in the North and East Rivers; in fact were quite common at one time. In spite of this, however, they are usually able to rouse the interest of onlook- ers on account of their appearance, which deviates from that of steamships generally by the missing smokestack. There are those who are predicting that the motorship is going to be the dominating type on the seas in years to come, and judging from the increase in tonnage of this class of ships during the past few years, they may perhaps not be altogether wrong. Besides their large fleet of motorships which is employed in vari- ous trades, taking them all over the globe, The East Asiatic Com- pany, Limited, also operates a regular line of passenger steamers ; the Baltic American Line from New York to the Baltic, Danzig and Libau being their ports of call. Of other regular lines of The East Asiatic Company, Ltd., one is between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and other Pacific Coast ports and European ports terminating at Copenhagen and one between European ports and Cuba, Mexico, Galveston and New Orleans and vice versa. /. F. C. LINES THE INTERNATIONAL FREIGHTING CORPORATION organized under the laws of the State of Delaware in 1916 with H. J. Lesser, President ; J. H. Graves, Vice-President ; Irving L. Ernst, Treasurer, and T. J. McManus, Secretary, has met with the success conspicuous among the managers and operators of American tonnage. This company started its business with the operation of a line of steamers from Philadelphia to the East Coast of South America and subsequently extended its services to cover a line from Philadelphia to the French Atlantic ports and from the River Plate to United Kingdom ports. Recently it has further extended its services to the East Coast of South America,, operating out of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Sa- vannah, Charleston and Jacksonville. The company's main office is. at 44 Whitehall Street, New York City. — 319 — COMPANIA TRASATLANTICA (Spanish < Roya/ T^lail Line) THE enterprise "A. Lopez & Co." was founded in Alicante, Spain, in the year 1856, establishing a regular service between Alicante and Marseilles (France) with the steamers "Alicante," ■"Madrid" and "Marsella." It also established a service across the ocean with the steamers "Ciudad Condal" and "Paris." On the 10th of September, 1867, the mail contract was obtained between Spain and Santo Domingo, Porto Rico and Cuba, which service was established with the steamers "Ciudad Condal" and "Paris," acquiring in that same year, six more vessels named "Canarias," "Cantabria," "Espaha," "Isla de Cuba," "Puerto Rico" and "Canto Domingo," said service being inaugurated with the mentioned steamers the early part of 1868. In the year 1877 this service was extended to Central America, with the addition of four more steamers. In 1881, this enterprise was transformed into a corporation under the name of "Compaiiia Trasatlantica" de Barcelona. In 1884 a new line was established plying between Spain and the Philippine Islands and in that year there were purchased eleven more steamers, to wit, "A. Lopez," "Cataluna," "Ciudad de San- tander," "San Francisco," "San Augustin," "San Ignacio de Loyola," "Vizcaya," "Panama," "Mendez Nunez," "Mexico" and "Habana." In 1886, a mail service was organized, comprising regular lines to the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentine, Fernando Poo and Morocco and on the 28th of June, 1887, contract was closed with the acquirement of the steamers "Isla de Panay," "Isla de Luzon," "Isla de Cebu," and "Isla de Mindanao." In 1913 there were built the steamers "Reina Victoria Eugenia" and "Infanta Isabel de Borbon" of 15,400 tons displacement each. The Company has now under construction and almost completed the new steamers "Alfonso XIII," "Cristobal Colon" and "Manuel Arnus." The first two are 16,000 tons each and the last one of 12,000 tons. The Company owns and operates twenty-one vessels, all of which are both passenger and freight carriers, sailing from the ports of Spain to the U. S., Uraguay, Argentine, Cuba, Mexico, Porto Rico, Panama, Colombia and the Philippine Islands. The New York office of the company is at Pier 8, East River, -which was built bv them in 1907. \J 320 THE S£MERICS$N EXPRESS COMPANY WHEN we make use of some modern convenience we are apt to lose sight of the romance of the development of that convenience. For there is romance in business and the stories of the development and growth in the United States of the railroads, the telephone, the telegraph and other great media of progress are as thrilling and as interesting as any other phase of our national life. So it is with the express business. The efficiency of this busi- ness, with its 135,000 persons employed in its various branches and its handling of approximately 1,000,000 shipments a day, is pretty much taken for granted. But this huge business developed out of an idea formulated way back in 1839. It was developed step by step through the various periods of American industrial progress, passing through without any serious difficulty many periods of de- pression and panic, and finally developing into one great Company that reaches every hamlet and city in the United States. It is curious and noteworthy in looking backward to learn how this service of transporting packages from one point to another lead gradually into demands by the public for the extension of that service along financial lines, so that finally one Company, at least — the American Express Company — became a great financial insti- tution and was able to continue its existence as a profitable and growing institution, even after turning over its main business of transportation to the American Railway Express Company — the single Express transportation agency in the United States at the present time. Transportation of packages, while at first only handled between points within the United States, soon developed into an international business and this in turn resulted in the American Express Company becoming an international financial institution. As the Express business necessitated the establishment of offices or agencies in the more important foreign centers, travelers looked to the American Express Company for some means of taking care of their funds so that they might be delivered to them safely at one point or another in their journeys. From these requests and demands grew the de- velopment of the Travelers Cheques, which have since become known in every portion of the world, and which are accepted and cashed at sight, even where other forms of currency may be questioned. The demand for Travelers' Cheques grew so rapidly that it necessitated the establishment by the American Express Company of thousands ■of banking connections in all parts of the world, and these connec- — 321 — rei ^^^^^^ MM RSH tions today are one of the important assets of the Company because they provide a service to the Company's customers that is unparal- leled. The services of the Company to the traveler, in a financial sense, became so important that there grew up a demand for the Company to take charge of travelers' entire problems and this necessitated the establishment of the Travel Department, in order to supply steamship, railroad and hotel and other accommodations. The Foreign Trade Department of the Company was also es- tablished because of the requests of customers of the Company for information regarding exports and imports and the opportunities for the extension of foreign trade by importers and exporters not only in the United States, but in other countries. Thus the development of this great Company has been brought about as a result of the original idea of one man who offered to carry valuable packages, at express speed, from one city to another a little over eighty years ago. Except for the transportation of pack- ages from one country to another, this part of the business has been turned over to one Company — the American Railway Express Company — whose sole business is that of transportation. But the various financial functions that have developed out of this original idea are being carried on by the American Express Company, which is now solely a financial institution and one of the most important in the international business world. THE ROOSEVELT STEAMSHIP CO. THE ROOSEVELT STEAMSHIP COMPANY was incorpor- ated during the year 1921 under the laws of the State of Dela- ware for the purpose of engaging in commerce and navigation. The titular head of this company is Captain Kermit Roosevelt, second son of the illustrious Theodore Roosevelt and Mrs. Edith Kermit Carew Roosevelt. In the days of the American clippers the Carews were strongly intrenched in trade and commerce and were pioneers in the upbuilding of American trade with foreign lands. Mr. Roosevelt's plans for developing an American organization to push forward American interests throughout the world are well known and his host of friends wish him every success in the ultimate accomplishment of them. The company is now operating from a modest office at 44 Beaver Street. — 322 GOTHAM PRESS. Inc. NEW YORK DATE DUE != APR 11 197G nfcl/J APR * !y/B ILL ntahs i l GAVLORD PRINTED IN U S A ■liSffi^ 010 ^ 1 - LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000 205 436 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed.