The Tramps of the Ocean.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 1, 6 July 1910, Page 35

The Tramps of the Ocean.

THE PUBLIC KNOWS THE GREAT LINERS, BUT TRAMP STEAMERS CARRY THE COMMERCE OF THE EMPIRE.

THE British public has a vague notion that there is a stigma implied in the name Tramp steamer, of which the Trampowner has reason to be ashamed. According to Mr. Kipling, the liner is a lady, and by inference, the Tramp is a kind of charwoman, sustained in “a precarious livelihood” by odd jobs. Indeed the Press, as well as the public, the Houses of Parliament, and many prominent ministers appear to think of the British Mercantile Marine as a marine of liners alone. The truth is that the liners are not the British merchant navy, they are only one part of it. At the end of 1901 the total number of sailing vessels flying the Bri-

tisli Hag was 7227; of steamers there were 8147. Leaving sailing vessels out of account, it is estimated by various well-informed officials of shipowners’ societies that out of these 8147 steamers, about 6947 were tramps, and only 1200 were liners. In fact, liners composed only one-seventh, while tramps composed six-sevenths of the total number of British steamships. This great volume of tonnage must not be ignored by either the statesman or the writer if he is to have an accurate knowledge of our mercantile greatness. Our supremacy lies in our Tramp shipping. We are still predominant in liners, but it is in this class of shipping that Germany and America can most boldly attack us. In tramps we have a long

lead, for, excepting the small Scandinavian Heets ami a few continental firms, the world’s tramp shipping is British. The peculiar quality of the Tramp is that she is bound to no one route and restricted to no regular succession of ports. She goes wherever, within the limits of the oceans, there is cargo to be carried. 'rhe term “Tramp” is applied not only to the shaky old schooner or small collier that plies on the coast— the “Bolivars” of the merchant-fleet—but also to

The officers alone in liners are of a higher class than in tramps. In the latter wages vary from £6 10/ a month for second mates, to £8 or £lO a month for chief mates; these wages are in addition to board and lodging aboard ship. Their ambition is to crown their seafaring careers, which began with their apprenticeship. with the title of “captain.” when they command wages of £l5 to £2O a month in tramps, and are able to (‘arn perquisites and commissions into the bargain. It frequently happens that

the fine steamers now built in great numbers on the Clyde, Tyne, and Wear, and at Hartlepool and Belfast. The modern cargo steamer of any size up to ten or twelve thousand tons can be turned out in a few months by any of the best equipped yards. The speed of production does not reduce their strength or standard of efficiency, and no better workmanship than that of the present time has ever been put into iron or steel ships.

“secret commissions” reach the cash-box of the tramp’s captain, but many of his perquisites are admitted by owners to be quite legitimate, and by their help his normal income over and above board and lodging may reach £250 or £3OO a year. Under exceptional circumstances he may even exceed this. His qualifications must not end with skill in navigation or discipline. He is parson, doctor, and magistrate while at sea. He has to know something of foreign customs, com-

mercial law, and the meanings of documents ashore, and he must lx* capable of bargaining with a Scotsman or a Levantine Greek. HU active, resourceful life is typical of the various managers and owners who successfully direct our shipping. The personal qualities of a race account for its predominance or inferiority; and the gigantic fleet of small and large sailing ships and steamers flying the British flag which controls the Tramp shipping of the world, unaided by Government subsidy or privilege, has reached its present volume partly as a result of the natural advantages ami skill of our ship and engine-builders, but largely as the

product of the hardy virtues of enterprise, courage, untiring effort, and economy of the least advertised section of British Shipowners.