American Merchant Ships and Sailors

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Ti­tle: Amer­ican Mer­chant Ships and Sailors

Au­thor: Willis J. Ab­bot

Re­lease Date: April 18, 2005 [eBook #15648]

Lan­guage: En­glish

Char­ac­ter set en­cod­ing: ISO-646-US (US-​ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTEN­BERG EBOOK AMER­ICAN MER­CHANT SHIPS AND SAILORS***

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Tran­scriber's Note: Gen­er­al: Var­ied hy­phen­ation is re­tained. In list of Il­lus­tra­tions De­Long is one word; in Ta­ble of Con­tents it is De Long; in text it is De­Long. More Tran­scriber's notes will be found at the end of sec­tions.

AMER­ICAN MER­CHANT SHIPS AND SAILORS

by

WILLIS J. AB­BOT

Au­thor of _Naval His­to­ry of the Unit­ed States_, _Blue­jack­ets of 1898_, etc.

Il­lus­trat­ed by RAY BROWN

New York Dodd, Mead & Com­pa­ny The Cax­ton Press New York

1902

[Il­lus­tra­tion]

BOOKS BY WILLIS J. AB­BOT

[Il­lus­tra­tion]

Naval His­to­ry of the Unit­ed States

Blue Jack­ets of 1898

Bat­tle­fields of '61

Bat­tle­fields and Camp­fires

Bat­tle­fields and Vic­to­ry

Pref­ace

In an ear­li­er se­ries of books the present writ­er told the sto­ry of the high achieve­ments of the men of the Unit­ed States Navy, from the day of Paul Jones to that of Dewey, Sch­ley, and Samp­son. It is a record Amer­icans may well re­gard with pride, for in wars of de­fense or of­fense, in wars just or un­just, the Amer­ican blue jack­et has dis­charged the du­ty al­lot­ted to him cheer­ful­ly, gal­lant­ly, and ef­fi­cient­ly.

But there are tri­umphs to be won by sea and by land greater than those of war, dan­gers to be braved, more men­ac­ing than the odds of bat­tle. It was a glo­ri­ous deed to win the bat­tle of San­ti­ago, but Ful­ton and Er­ic­sson in­flu­enced the progress of the world more than all the heroes of his­to­ry. The dai­ly life of those who go down to the sea in ships is one of con­stant bat­tle, and the whaler caught in the ice-​pack is in more dire­ful case than the block­ad­ed cruis­er; while the cap­tain of the ocean lin­er, guid­ing through a dense fog his colos­sal craft freight­ed with two thou­sand hu­man lives, has on his mind a weight­ier load of re­spon­si­bil­ity than the ad­mi­ral of the fleet.

In all times and ages, the deeds of the men who sail the deep as its po­lice­men or its sol­diery have been sung in praise. It is time for chron­icle of the high courage, the reck­less dar­ing, and of­ten­times the no­ble self-​sac­ri­fice of those who use the Sev­en Seas to ex­tend the mar­kets of the world, to bring na­tions near­er to­geth­er, to ad­vance sci­ence, and to ce­ment the world in­to one great in­ter­de­pen­dent whole.

WILLIS JOHN AB­BOT. Ann Ar­bor, Mich., May 1, 1902.

[Il­lus­tra­tion: NEW ENG­LAND EAR­LY TOOK THE LEAD IN BUILD­ING SHIPS]

List of Il­lus­tra­tions

PAGE NEW ENG­LAND EAR­LY TOOK THE LEAD IN BUILD­ING SHIPS _Fron­tispiece_

THE SHAL­LOP 2

THE KETCH 5

“THE BROAD AR­ROW WAS PUT ON ALL WHITE PINES 24 INCH­ES IN DI­AM­ETER” 7

“THE FARMER-​BUILDER TOOK HIS PLACE AT THE HELM” 8

SCHOONER-​RIGGED SHARPIE 11

AF­TER A BRITISH LIEU­TENANT HAD PICKED THE BEST OF HER CREW 18

EAR­LY TYPE OF SMACK 21

THE SNOW, AN OB­SO­LETE TYPE 29

THE BUG-​EYE 34

A “PINK” 38

“IN­STANT­LY THE GUN WAS RUN OUT AND DIS­CHARGED” 42

“THE WA­TER FRONT OF A GREAT SEA­PORT LIKE NEW YORK” 55

AN ARMED CUT­TER 57

“THE LOUD LAUGH OF­TEN ROSE AT MY EX­PENSE” 65

“THE DREAD­NAUGHT”--NEW YORK AND LIV­ER­POOL PACK­ET 69

THERE ARE BUILD­ING IN AMER­ICAN YARDS _fac­ing_ 82

“A FA­VORITE TRICK OF THE FLEE­ING SLAVER WAS TO THROW OVER SLAVES” 95

DEAL­ERS WHO CAME ON BOARD WERE THEM­SELVES KID­NAPPED _fac­ing_ 98

“THE ROPE WAS PUT AROUND HIS NECK” 103

“BOUND THEM TO THE CHAIN CA­BLE” 114

“SEND­ING BOAT AND MEN FLY­ING IN­TO THE AIR” 128

“SUD­DEN­LY THE MATE GAVE A HOWL--'STARN ALL!” _fac­ing_ 132

“ROT AT MOLDER­ING WHARVES” 140

“THERE SHE BLOWS!” 144

“TAK­ING IT IN HIS JAWS” 146

NEAR­LY EV­ERY MAN ON THE QUAR­TER­DECK OF THE “AR­GO” WAS KILLED OR WOUND­ED 162

THE PRISON SHIP “JER­SEY” 163

IF THEY RE­TREAT­ED FAR­THER HE WOULD BLOW UP THE SHIP _fac­ing_ 176

“I THINK SHE IS A HEAVY SHIP” 179

“STRIV­ING TO REACH HER DECKS AT EV­ERY POINT” 186

“THEY FELL DOWN AND DIED AS THEY WALKED” 199

“THE TREACH­ER­OUS KAYAK” 203

THE SHIP WAS CAUGHT IN THE ICE PACK _fac­ing_ 204

ADRIFT ON AN ICE FLOE 206

DE LONG'S MEN DRAG­GING THEIR BOATS OVER THE ICE 210

AN ARC­TIC HOUSE 224

AN ES­QUIMAU 227

THE WOOD­EN BATEAUX OF THE FUR TRADERS _fac­ing_ 236

“THE RED-​MEN SET UP­ON THEM AND SLEW THEM ALL” 241

ONE OF THE FIRST LAKE SAILORS 243

“TWO BOAT-​LOADS OF RED­COATS BOARD­ED US AND TOOK US PRIS­ON­ERS” 245

A VAN­ISH­ING TYPE ON THE LAKES 249

“THE WHALE­BACK” 253

FLAT­BOATS MANNED WITH RI­FLE­MEN _fac­ing_ 266

“THE EVENING WOULD PASS IN RUDE AND HARM­LESS JOL­LI­TY” 271

THE MIS­SIS­SIP­PI PI­LOT 286

A DECK LOAD OF COT­TON 290

FEED­ING THE FUR­NACE 293

ON THE BANKS 314

“THE BOYS MARKED THEIR FISH BY CUT­TING OFF THEIR TAILS” 322

FISH­ING FROM THE RAIL 328

TRAWL­ING FROM A DO­RY 333

STRIKES A SCHOONER AND SHEARS THROUGH HER LIKE A KNIFE _fac­ing_ 334

MINOT'S LEDGE LIGHT 345

WHISTLING BUOY 354

REV­ENUE CUT­TER 360

LAUNCH­ING A LIFEBOAT THROUGH THE SURF 364

THE EX­CIT­ING MO­MENT IN THE PI­LOT'S TRADE _fac­ing_ 366

**Tran­scriber's notes: Il­lus­tra­tions: Most quirks were left as writ­ten, on­ly changes made list­ed be­low. List reads: “THE LOUD LAUGH OF­TEN ROSE AT MY EX­PENSE” Tag reads: “THE LOUD LAUGH ROSE AT MY EX­PENSE” Added miss­ing il­lus­tra­tion to list: AF­TER A BRITISH LIEU­TENANT HAD PICKED THE BEST OF HER CREW 18 Changed MOUL­DER­ING to MOLDER­ING to match il­lus­tra­tion and text Page 227: Changed Il­lus­tra­tion tag “AN ES­QUIMAUX” to “AN ES­QUIMAU” to fit text.

Con­tents

PAGE CHAP­TER I. 1

THE AMER­ICAN SHIP AND THE AMER­ICAN SAILOR--NEW ENG­LAND'S LEAD ON THE OCEAN--THE EAR­LI­EST AMER­ICAN SHIP-​BUILD­ING--HOW THE SHIP­YARDS MUL­TI­PLIED--LAW­LESS TIMES ON THE HIGH SEAS--SHIP-​BUILD­ING IN THE FORESTS AND ON THE FARM--SOME EAR­LY TYPES--THE COURSE OF MAR­ITIME TRADE--THE FIRST SCHOONER AND THE FIRST FULL-​RIGGED SHIP--JEAL­OUSY AND AN­TAG­ONISM OF ENG­LAND--THE PEST OF PRI­VA­TEER­ING--EN­COUR­AGE­MENT FROM CONGRESS--THE GOLD­EN DAYS OF OUR MER­CHANT MA­RINE--FIGHT­ING CAP­TAINS AND TRAD­ING CAP­TAINS--GROUND BE­TWEEN FRANCE AND ENG­LAND--CHECKED BY THE WARS--SEAL­ING AND WHAL­ING--IN­TO THE PA­CIF­IC--HOW YAN­KEE BOYS MOUNT­ED THE QUAR­TER-​DECK--SOME STO­RIES OF EAR­LY SEA­MEN--THE PACK­ETS AND THEIR EX­PLOITS

CHAP­TER II. 53

THE TRAN­SI­TION FROM SAILS TO STEAM--THE CHANGE IN MA­RINE AR­CHI­TEC­TURE--THE DE­POP­ULA­TION OF THE OCEAN--CHANGES IN THE SAILOR'S LOT--FROM WOOD TO STEEL--THE IN­VEN­TION OF THE STEAM­BOAT--THE FATE OF FITCH--FUL­TON'S LONG STRUG­GLES--OP­PO­SI­TION OF THE SCI­EN­TISTS--THE “CLER­MONT”--THE STEAM­BOAT ON THE OCEAN--ON WEST­ERN RIVERS--THE TRANSAT­LANTIC PAS­SAGE--THE “SA­VAN­NAH” MAKES THE FIRST CROSS­ING--ES­TAB­LISH­MENT OF BRITISH LINES--EF­FORTS OF UNIT­ED STATES SHIP-​OWN­ERS TO COM­PETE--THE FA­MOUS COLLINS LINE--THE DECA­DENCE OF OUR MER­CHANT MA­RINE--SIGNS OF ITS RE­VIVAL--OUR GREAT DO­MES­TIC SHIP­PING IN­TER­EST--AMER­ICA'S FU­TURE ON THE SEA

CHAP­TER III. 89

AN UG­LY FEA­TURE OF EAR­LY SEA­FAR­ING--THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS PRO­MOT­ERS--PART PLAYED BY EM­INENT NEW ENG­LAN­DERS--HOW THE TRADE GREW UP--THE PI­OUS AUS­PICES WHICH SUR­ROUND­ED THE TRAF­FIC--SLAVE-​STEAL­ING AND SAB­BATH-​BREAK­ING--CON­DI­TIONS OF THE TRADE--SIZE OF THE VES­SELS--HOW THE CAP­TIVES WERE TREAT­ED--MU­TINIES, MAN-​STEAL­ING, AND MUR­DER--THE REV­ELA­TIONS OF THE ABO­LI­TION SO­CI­ETY--EF­FORTS TO BREAK UP THE TRADE--AN AW­FUL RET­RI­BU­TION--ENG­LAND LEADS THE WAY--DIF­FI­CUL­TY OF EN­FORC­ING THE LAW--AMER­ICA'S SHAME--THE END OF THE EVIL--THE LAST SLAVER

CHAP­TER IV. 121

THE WHAL­ING IN­DUS­TRY--ITS EAR­LY DE­VEL­OP­MENT IN NEW ENG­LAND--KNOWN TO THE AN­CIENTS--SHORE WHAL­ING BE­GIN­NINGS OF THE DEEP-​SEA FISH­ERIES--THE PRIZES OF WHAL­ING--PIETY OF ITS EAR­LY PRO­MOT­ERS--THE RIGHT WHALE AND THE CACHALOT--A FLUR­RY--SOME FIGHT­ING WHALES--THE “ES­SEX” AND THE “ANN ALEXAN­DER”--TYPES OF WHALERS--DECA­DENCE OF THE IN­DUS­TRY--EF­FECT OF OUR NA­TION­AL WARS--THE EM­BAR­GO--SOME STO­RIES OF WHAL­ING LIFE

CHAP­TER V. 155

THE PRI­VA­TEERS--PART TAK­EN BY MER­CHANT SAILORS IN BUILD­ING UP THE PRI­VA­TEER­ING SYS­TEM--LAW­LESS STATE OF THE HIGH SEAS--METHOD OF DIS­TRIBUT­ING PRI­VA­TEER­ING PROF­ITS--PIC­TURESQUE FEA­TURES OF THE CALL­ING--THE GEN­TLE­MEN SAILORS--EF­FECTS ON THE REV­OLU­TION­ARY ARMY--PER­ILS OF PRI­VA­TEER­ING--THE OLD JER­SEY PRISON SHIP--EX­TENT OF PRI­VA­TEER­ING--EF­FECT ON AMER­ICAN MA­RINE AR­CHI­TEC­TURE--SOME FA­MOUS PRI­VA­TEERS--THE “CHAS­SEUR,” THE “PRINCE DE NEUFCHA­TEL,” THE “MAM­MOTH”--THE SYS­TEM OF CON­VOYS AND THE “RUN­NING SHIPS”--A TYP­ICAL PRI­VA­TEERS' BAT­TLE--THE “GEN­ER­AL ARM­STRONG” AT FAY­AL--SUM­MA­RY OF THE WORK OF THE PRI­VA­TEERS

CHAP­TER VI. 193

THE ARC­TIC TRAGEDY--AMER­ICAN SAILORS IN THE FROZEN DEEP--THE SEARCH FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN--REA­SONS FOR SEEK­ING THE NORTH POLE--TES­TI­MO­NY OF SCI­EN­TISTS AND EX­PLOR­ERS--PER­TI­NAC­ITY OF PO­LAR VOY­AGERS--DR. KANE AND DR. HAYES--CHARLES F. HALL, JOUR­NAL­IST AND EX­PLOR­ER--MIRAC­ULOUS ES­CAPE OF HIS PAR­TY--THE ILL-​FAT­ED “JEAN­NETTE” EX­PE­DI­TION--SUF­FER­ING AND DEATH OF DE LONG AND HIS COM­PAN­IONS--A PITI­FUL DI­ARY--THE GREELY EX­PE­DI­TION--ITS CARE­FUL PLAN AND COM­PLETE DIS­AS­TER--RES­CUE OF THE GREELY SUR­VIVORS--PEARY, WELL­MAN, AND BALD­WIN

CHAP­TER VII. 233

THE GREAT LAKES--THEIR SHARE IN THE MAR­ITIME TRAF­FIC OF THE UNIT­ED STATES--THE EAR­LI­EST RECORD­ED VOY­AGERS--IN­DI­ANS AND FUR TRADERS--THE PIGMY CANAL AT THE SAULT STE. MARIE--BE­GIN­NING OF NAV­IGA­TION BY SAILS--DE LA SALLE AND THE “GRIF­FIN”--REC­OL­LEC­TIONS OF EAR­LY LAKE SEA­MEN--THE LAKES AS A HIGH­WAY FOR WEST­WARD EM­IGRA­TION--THE FIRST STEAM­BOAT--EF­FECT OF MIN­ER­AL DIS­COV­ER­IES ON LAKE SU­PE­RI­OR--THE ORE-​CAR­RY­ING FLEET--THE WHALE­BACKS--THE SEA­MEN OF THE LAKES--THE GREAT CANAL AT THE “SOO”--THE CHAN­NEL TO BUF­FA­LO--BARRED OUT FROM THE OCEAN

CHAP­TER VI­II. 261

THE MIS­SIS­SIP­PI AND TRIB­UTARY RIVERS--THE CHANG­ING PHAS­ES OF THEIR SHIP­PING--RIV­ER NAV­IGA­TION AS A NA­TION-​BUILD­ING FORCE--THE VAL­UE OF SMALL STREAMS--WORK OF THE OHIO COM­PA­NY--AN EAR­LY PRO­PELLER--THE FRENCH FIRST ON THE MIS­SIS­SIP­PI--THE SPANIARDS AT NEW OR­LEANS--EAR­LY METH­ODS OF NAV­IGA­TION--THE FLAT­BOAT, THE BROAD­HORN, AND THE KEEL­BOAT--LIFE OF THE RIVER­MEN--PI­RATES AND BUC­CA­NEERS--LAFITTE AND THE BARATAR­IANS--THE GEN­ESIS OF THE STEAM­BOATS--CAPRI­CIOUS RIV­ER--FLUSH TIMES IN NEW OR­LEANS--RAPID MUL­TI­PLI­CA­TION OF STEAM­BOATS--RE­CENT FIG­URES ON RIV­ER SHIP­PING--COM­MODORE WHIP­PLE'S EX­PLOIT--THE MEN WHO STEERED THE STEAM­BOATS--THEIR TECH­NI­CAL ED­UCA­TION--THE SHIPS THEY STEERED--FIRES AND EX­PLO­SIONS--HERO­ISM OF THE PI­LOTS--THE RACES

CHAP­TER IX. 303

THE NEW ENG­LAND FISH­ERIES--THEIR PART IN EF­FECT­ING THE SET­TLE­MENT OF AMER­ICA--THEIR RAPID DE­VEL­OP­MENT--WIDE EX­TENT OF THE TRADE--EF­FORT OF LORD NORTH TO DE­STROY IT--THE FISH­ER­MEN IN THE REV­OLU­TION--EF­FORTS TO EN­COUR­AGE THE IN­DUS­TRY--ITS PART IN POL­ITICS AND DIPLO­MA­CY--THE FISH­ING BANKS--TYPES OF BOATS--GROWTH OF THE FISH­ING COM­MU­NI­TIES--FARM­ERS AND SAILORS BY TURNS--THE ED­UCA­TION OF THE FISH­ER­MEN--METH­ODS OF TAK­ING MACK­ER­EL--THE SEINE AND THE TRAWL--SCANT PROF­ITS OF THE IN­DUS­TRY--PER­ILS OF THE BANKS--SOME PER­SON­AL EX­PE­RI­ENCES--THE FOG AND THE FAST LIN­ERS--THE TRIB­UTE OF HU­MAN LIFE

CHAP­TER X. 341

THE SAILOR'S SAFE­GUARDS--IM­PROVE­MENTS IN MA­RINE AR­CHI­TEC­TURE--THE MAP­PING OF THE SEAS--THE LIGHT­HOUSE SYS­TEM--BUILD­ING A LIGHT­HOUSE--MINOT'S LEDGE AND SPEC­TA­CLE REEF--LIFE IN A LIGHT­HOUSE--LIGHT­SHIPS AND OTH­ER BEA­CONS--THE REV­ENUE MA­RINE SER­VICE--ITS FUNC­TION AS A SAFE­GUARD TO SAILORS--ITS WORK IN THE NORTH PA­CIF­IC--THE LIFE-​SAV­ING SER­VICE--ITS RECORD FOR ONE YEAR--ITS ORI­GIN AND DE­VEL­OP­MENT--THE PI­LOTS OF NEW YORK--THEIR HARD­SHIPS AND SLEN­DER EARN­INGS--JACK ASHORE--THE SAILORS' SNUG HAR­BOR

**Tran­scriber Notes on Ta­ble of Con­tents: Chap­ter V reads “Ef­fects on the Rev­olu­tion­ary Army”; Chap­ter on page 155 reads “Ef­fect on the Rev­olu­tion­ary Army”; Chap­ter VII reads reads “Be­gin­ning of Nav­iga­tion”, Chap­ter on page 233 reads “Be­gin­nings of Nav­iga­tion”

Amer­ican Mer­chant Ships and Sailors