Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/29



CHAPTER I.

Progress of the United States of America—Their resources—Discriminating duties levied by France, 1820, against American ships—Rapid rise of New Orleans, and of New York—Boston ships extend their trade to India and China—Stephen Girard, the rich and eccentric American shipowner, note—Mercantile marine laws of the United States—Duties of master and mate—Provision for Seamen—Special Acts relating to them—Power given to American consuls to deal with seamen on their ships—Superiority of native American seamen, owing to their education—Excellent schools and early training for them—Spirit and character of the "Shipping Articles" as affecting the seamen—the owners—and the master or consignee—Conditions of wages, and remedies for their non-payment; and other securities for seamen—Power of Appeal by them to the Admiralty Courts—Laws with reference to pilots—Character of American seamen, and especially of the New Englanders.

Perhaps no nation, in either ancient or modern times, ever made such prodigious strides in wealth, population, and power, and, necessarily, in commerce and navigation, as have the United States of America during the first half of the present century. Nor is this a matter for surprise. Practically, the American people had during that period started in life with the singular advantage, that they commenced their career with the accumulated wisdom of a long ancestry, with whom, unlike the nations of ancient times, they