Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-03-13
NEW YORK SHIPPING.
NOTES ON THE COMMERCIAL MAG
NIFicENcE OF THE METROPOLIS.

Steamers Driving Ont Sailing Craft.
Why New York Has Always Been ouy
Chief seaport-Pior to Isoo-HaIcyon
Times.
see that about 1000 foreign vessels ar
rived at the port of New York last year.
The total number of foreign and domestic
vessels that arrived here in 1886 is esti-
mated at. 80, 0D0. The Hebrew prophet.
Ezekiel, breaks into feryid eloquence ID
celebrating the commercial splendor OF the
great emporium of $500 years ago. Tyre.
with it's multitude of ships and its traffic
in gold, purple and ivory, the wine Of
Helbon, silver, cassia, white wool and
precious stones; but what was Tyre.
though it was merchant of the people
for many isles" and traded with Judah
| and the land of Israel, Arabia, Sheba and
the princes of Ketlar, compared to this
lions whelp of the western world, New
York
Hither comes the gold Of Europe. the
opium, coffee and precious gums of the
orient, the altar of roses from Turkey, the
precious stones of far-off mines. the fruits
of Sicily, France and Spain, the rich silks
OF Lyons, the wines of Bordeaux, the fine
linen of Belfast, the bananas, cocoanuts.
oranges and sugar of the West Indies. the
tin OF Cornwall and Malacca, the tea, cas-
STA and camphor of Marco Polo's ear
CatIay, the spices of Zanzibar and Cey-
lon, and, in word, all the rich products
OF the earth. And they come, for the most
part, in great steamers, compared to
which the ships of Syria and Phnnicia
would seem little larger than the ordinary
lighter in the harbor of New York.
UNDER FOREIGN FLAG
In 1885 some 5000 vessels, carrying O.
foreign flag, came to New York. The
number has decreased since then, because
steamers are driving out sailing craft, and
one voyage of good sized steamer is equal
to half a dozen or more of the average
sailing vessel. Most of the vessels leaving
here for foreign ports go to Great Britain.
Germany, France, Italy and the West
lnaies, though many go to remote parts in
ASA and Africa. Most of the vessels in
the foreign trade are owned abroad. For
several years no American craft carried
grain to foreign lnarts. American vessels
take considerable petroleum to various
parts of the world but there is this disad
vantage in that branch of traffic, that a
vessel once given up to the petroleum trade
is never thereafter suitable for any other.
New York has always been the chief
seaport of the United States, owing to it's
magnificent harbor and to the fact that
the Hudson river penetrates to a near
range of mountains without falls, rapids
or other distractions to navigation Prior
to 1870, vessels went to Europe at no
stated time, as there were no regular
lines and they sailed only when they had
secured cargo. Passengers were thus
often obliged to wait many weeks for a
ship to sail. The discomforts of pas
sage to and from England were almost
uncomfortable. DIR. Johnson, the famous
English moralist and photographers des
cribed a ship as worse than prison be
cause the accommodations were equally
unsatisfactory, while there was the add
tional danger of being shipwrecked or
drowned. At the beginning of the pres
emit century the usual size of a seaworthy
ship was about that of the Erie canal
boat of to-day, that is, from 100 to 15c
tons. A vessel of 800 tons was considered
marine monster, The passenger on the
ocean in the early part of the century,
moreover, ran a risk unknown at the pres
ent day, namely, the danger of capture
by pirates, though this evil was then
dying cut. Piracy, however, was not
completely suppressed in the north Allan
tic until the second quarter of the presen!
century, and the passenger on the early
American vessels in the days of Adams
jefferson and Madison might see ar
ominous craft bearing down upon his ship,
run up the black flag and compel the
peaceable trader to surrender.
FIRST DAYS OF STEAMERS
The steamers began to come to New
York about 1910. DIR. Dionysius Lard
ner, an eminent English scientist. had
demonstrated to the satisfaction of tn,
multitude the absolute impossibility of
steamer crossing the Atlantic, on the as
sumption that no vessel could carry coal
enough for the trip. In the first days o.
the steamers it took about three weeks tC
cross to London; in 1850 the time wa
fifteen days; by 1860 it had been reduced
to thirteen days; now the trip is some
times made in u little less than seven
days. The early Collins and Cunard
steamers We're from 1900 TO 9, 500 tons in
size; now the steamers plying between
here and Liverpool are from G, 900 to 1000
tons capacity, and they are twice as long
in proportion to their width as formerly.
They are the greyhounds of the ocean.
The days of the old packets and clip
pers were the halcyon times of American
shipping. The old time captain was an
autocrat. He was the absolute master of
his vessel and of every man on board of
her He often received salary of 5000
year, which was very handsome
emolument i'll those days-say from 1880
to lS50-and the captains We're generally
wealthy. The captains of the great Liv-
erpool passenger steamers now receive
only 81, 500 u year, and those in command
of the German steamers only s., 200. The
old clipper ships were the especial pride
of Americans. The stately ships, how
ever, that once traded with Liverpool
Havre, Canton and hundred other ports
have had to give way to that wonderful
creation Of human ingenuity, the modern
steamer, and the day is not far distant
when the sailing craft will be a stranger
to the high seas.-New York Cor Kansas
City Times.