New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-02
MERCHANT MARINERS
Famous Types in the Sea Trade
of the World.

THE SEA TRADER: HIS FRIENDS
AND ENEMIES BY David Hannay.
illustrated. SvO, PIP Ni, 3S. Boston:
Little. Brown n co.
The literature of the sea, so far as
the landsman is concerned, deals al
most entirely with the picturesque ex-
ceptions with privateers, buccaneers
and pirates, with shipwreck, buried
treasure and sudden wealth beyond the
dreams of avarice. Not so this book,
which is a general survey Of the nor
nal conditions under which the trade
OF the world has been conducted at sea
from earliest times. II does not fail 10
deal, so far as this is necessary with
the romantic subjects refeUed TO above,
since they, too, are parts OF the his
tory Of the subject, but its main stress
is laid on the less eventful routine OF
/ the life and work Of ships, shipmasters
and sailors. and on the changes which
they have undergone in the course Of
centuries. The record ends with the
abolition Of sea trading monopolies and
the entrance into the field OF the fast
American clipper IN the first quarter OF
the last century.
As is so often the case, this record Of
sober, hard, everyday facts IS az read
able, as interesting, as their widest
Trade by sea began in the far and dis
| tant past by coasting The long sea
voyage was as yet impossible. This
oldest form Of sea trading still sur
wives among the islands Of the South
ern Pacific and, 10 a far less degree, in
the archipelago Of the eastern Mediter-
ranean, where, indeed, this survey be-
gins, with the voyage OF the feet OF the
! Egyptian Queen Hatshepitsu. thirty
five centuries ago, 10 the land OF Punt,
whence it returned loaded with rich
merchandise. including slaves. Mr..
Hannay briefly reviews the paucity Of
our knowledge Of the size Of the ships
Of Greek and Roman antiquity-he
even takes a glimpse at the veXed ques-
ton Of the construction OF the trireme
but, though there is much mention Of
/ large ships in the writers Of that dis
tant day, no evidence of them survives.
las a matter of fact, he says, ships
were weak and unfit for long and dan
| gerous voyages up 10 the end Of the
Middle Ages, with which, indeed, his
| continuous chronicle may be said to be-
gin. Most revealing are his occasional
references to the Sea trade Of the
| Orient for purposes Of illustration and
comparison. He accepts unquestion-
ingly Marco Polos description of the
mighty Chinese junks, "the Manzi ships
/ that sail hpon the Indian seas" Is it
| likely, he asks, that the great traveller
would have tried 10 tell a nautical
boldest and best seamen Of their day?
! The lot of the sailorman of the Mid
| die Ages was far from the hard one It
has been pictured TO be. His serious
| grievances and abuses arose later. The
author gives some details Of medieval
maritime laws, especially of the flaws
Of Oeron," commonly ascrlbed to FL
eanor Of Aquitaine, which in the
| thirteenth century were In force as far
north as the Baltic ports Then there
was the Catalan "consolato del marc"
from which it appears that the skipper
was not then the autocrat he later be-
came, but rather the president Of
floating republic, and, on occasion, the
chairman OF a debating society,"" as
Mr.. Hannay expresses 1t. With one OF
his illuminating references to the East
he shows how this is still the case
among the Malay crews of the island
trade Of the South Seas, for, as Gibbon
observed, similar manners would
naturally be produced by similar situa-
lions" The medieval sailor shipped
for short voyages. Crew, skipper,
owners, all belonged TO the same port:
unavoidable hardships Of food and
lodging aboard were counterbalanced
by conditions that commanded fair
treatment. Systematic ill-treatment OF
crews as source Of profit, since it en-