419
From this, and the more complete Tables of the Board of Trade, it appears—
(1.) The annual amount of tonnage built in the United Kingdom has doubled since 1860. (2.) The highest point was reached in 1874, when the tonnage built was 603,867. (3.) The tonnage built for foreigners fluctuates much, and is of small amount compared with that built for home purposes.
Since 1870 comparatively few sailing-ships have been built, so that the progress in carrying power is much greater than the figures indicate.
J
In the year 1880, out of a total of 77,873 tons built in British possessions, 71,331 tons were built in British North America, and of this amount, 67,374 was wooden sailing tonnage, mostly of large size. Steam-ships built in British possessions are insignificant in number and size.
The record of tonnage built in the United States, the next largest ship-building country, shows rapid and large fluctuations, instead of the steady rate of progress exhibited by the Returns of the United Kingdom. The maximum was reached in America in 1855, when the tonnage built amounted to 583,450. In 1859 the total fell to 156,601. It rose again, after minor fluctuations, to 415,740 in 1864, and in 1874. to 432,725; while in 1880 it declined to 157,409. American tonnage is mainly sailing, and built of wood, almost entirely so in the earlier years. These figures may perhaps be taken to imply great capacity for ship-building, a capacity which, though not at all times exercised, may be called into action at short notice, in times of emergency, or when the state of trade renders the business profitable.
The next Table affords a comparison between the merchant navies of the British Empire, the United Kingdom, and foreign countries. The figures for foreign countries can only be given down to 1879.
The figures are net tonnage.
Year.
Sailing.
Steam.
Total.
British Ships
1860
9,728,303
I
4,186,620
1870
11,731,122
13,841,058
13,914,923 25,072,180
1880
10,372,947
30,976,087
41,348,984
Foreign ships
1860
9,993,516
780,853
10,774,369
1870
9,836,729
1,731,273
1880
11,149,174
6,237,905
11,568,002 17,387,079
1860
19,721,819
4,967.473
24,689.292
1870 1880
21,567,851 15,072,331 21,522,121 37,213,942
36,640,182
58,736,063
Total
This shows that--
(1.) The tonnage entered and cleared annually in the foreign trade* of Great Britain has more than doubled since 1860.
(2.) Sailing tonnage has remained practically stationary since 1860. (3.) Steam tonnage has increased seven-fold in the sanie time.
(4) Sailing tonnage is equally divided between British and foreign ships.
(5.) Steam tonnage is divided between British and foreign ships in the proportion of 5 to 1. The above conclusions confirm what was stated before with regard to the progress of British and foreign shipping.
It appears that of the total tonnage entered and cleared in the United Kingdom. the pro- portion in ballast varies from 12 to 17 per cent. in British, and 20 to 26 per cent. in foreign ships. The tonnage entered and cleared in the United Kingdom in the trade with British possessions only is as follows:-
Year.
Sailing.
Steam.
Total.
British Empire..
1860
5,210,824
1870
5,947,000
500,144 1,202,134
5,710,968
7,149,134
1880
5,497,889
2,949,282
8,447,171
United Kingdom
1860
4,134,390
452,352
4,586,742
1870
4,506,318
1,111,375
5,617,693
1880
3,799,221
2,720,551
6,519,772
Foreign countries*
1860
5,840,831
311,890
6,152,721
1870 1879
6,628,683 6,797,503
647,997 1,296,966
7,276,680 8,094,469
British ships Foreign
79
Total
!
1860.
4,335,862 733,398
1870.
5,495,050 548,978
1880.
8,264,595 1,167,542
5,069,260
6.044,028
9,432,137
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
The
Showing a rapid but less marked rate of increase than is found in the total foreign trade. The trade with North America presents certain special features which deserve remark. trade with British North America shows an irregular and interrupted progress, from 1,846,938 tone in 1860 to 3,092,005 tons in 1880. The trade with the United States exhibits, on the other hand, a sustained, and since 1870, an extremely rapid, growth. The total tonnage entered and cleared was :-
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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From this it appears that-
(1.) The merchant navy of the British Empire is equal in tonnage to all the other navies of the world put together. It is more valuable, and of greater power, owing to its larger proportion of steam.
(2.) The total amount of foreign sailing tonnage exceeds that of the British Empire, but the steam tonnage of the latter, of which 92 per cent. belongs to the United Kingdom, is double that of all other nations put together.
(3.) The increase of British shipping since 1860 is almost entirely in steam, while two-thirds of the increase of foreign shipping is in sailing tonnage, and the tendency is towards a continued increase in the preponderance of both British steam and foreign sailing tonnage.
(4.) The total amount of British steam tonnage was six times as great in 1880 as in 1860. The increase cannot be stated Foreign steam tonnage has not increased in the same proportion. exactly, owing to the incompleteness of the Returns.
Another Return shows that-
(1.) Of the total sailing tonnage of the Empire, 72 per cent. belongs to the United Kingdom, and 20 per cent. to the North American Colonies, leaving only 8 per cent. for the remaining British possessions.
(2.) Of British steam tonnage, 92 per cent. belongs to the United Kingdom, 3 per cent. to the North American Colonies, and 2 per cent. to Australia, leaving only 3 per cent. for the remaining British possessions.
The next point for consideration is the extent to which shipping is employed in commerce. The following Table shows the tonnage entered and cleared in the trade of the United Kingdom with foreign countries and British possessions:-
In the year 1860 no Returns are obtainable for Italy or for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and an estimate has been made; the Returns for Norway and Sweden, Denmark, and Germany for 1860 are also estimated.
In 1860
1870 1880
3,356,614
3,799,965 8,993,831
Thus, although for the ten years preceding 1870 the advance was slow, a movement, the first indications of which appeared in 1867, has developed with such rapidity, that the tonnage in this trade has trobled itself in the thirteen years which have since elapsed. This movement is, without doubt, mainly due to recent improvements in steam machinery, which have so greatly reduced the cost of steam freight, that, as Mr. Farrer 'states in his evidence, freights by steamer between Liverpool and New York have decreased to from one-half to one-third of what they were twenty years ago. The great bulk of the homeward trade consists of food imported into the United Kingdom, a fact of the greatest importance, which will need further consideration.
The conditions no less than the amount of this shipping have also greatly changed. Before the American civil war two-thirds of the tonnage was American (of which all, or nearly all, was Since 1862 the conditions as regards sailing), a small proportion foreign, and the reat British. American and British ships have been reversed, and while American tonnage has not, on the whole, varied much in amount, British tonnage, which is nearly all steam, has steadily increased, till in 1880 it absorbed 77 per cent. of the trade. The tonnage of other foreign countries had also risen to 16 per cent., leaving only 7 per cent. to American ships.
It is notorious that the great transfer of trade from Americau to British ship-owners took place in consequence of the operations of the Confederate cruisers. There were at that time compara- tively few trading steamers, and the Americans were the greatest builders of the wooden sailing- ships, in which the great bulk of commerce was carried on. At the present time the bulk of commerce is carried in steamere, which, under existing circumstances, are more largely and more economically built in this country than anywhere else. Hence it is by no means certain that the transfer of trade would not equally have taken place, though perhaps by slower degrees, in conse- quence alone of the superior commercial advantages which British ship-owners enjoy, and are able to offer.
The statements given above afford a general indication of the distribution and progress in recent years of the mercantile shipping of the world. It remains to give some account of the condition of shipping at the present time, with respect to the size of ships, and the speed and coal-carrying capacity of steamers.
• The foreign trade includes the trade with British possessions.