Emigration from the United Kingdom to America from 1870 to 1897: 
° Chester ° Bristol ° Dartmouth ° Falmouth ° Harwich
° Hull ° Liverpool ° London (Billingsgate)
° Newcastle-upon-Tyne ° Plymouth ° Portsmouth
° Weymouth
England's major ports, such as London, Portsmouth and Plymouth were linked with the Royal Navy, but were also considered "market towns." Goods shipped in and out of world ports to and from London, Chester, Bristol, Yarmouth, Southhampon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (coal), Hull, Portsmouth, Harwich, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Falmouth, "Dover Castle," and Liverpool.
North China Herald, January 20, 1893
Shanghai, China
"IT FEARS NEITHER ARMY NOR NAVY."
Those things used to be called the wooden walls of England." The scene was the Naval Exhibition at Chelsea, in the summer of 1891. The speaker was a young man, and his auditor one of those lithe, brighthaired girls one so often sees in this island."
And aren't they the wooden walls of England, now?" she said, as a child might ask when Noah might be expected in Liverpool with his ark.
"Not exactly," replied her escort tenderly; "they are rather out of style. Come, I'll show what sorts of walls we have now,'" and he led her off in the direction of the beautiful models of the great steel ships of war.
The young fellow was right in assuming that this country had a big and powerful navy, but the chances of war decrease with the preparations made to meet it. Besides, the interests that would be put to hazard grow coustantly larger and nations avoid fighting as long as possible.
This is a hopeful consideration, and if England had nothing to be afraid of beyond the danger of being attacked from abroad, we might sleep in peace. But there is an enemy against which neither army nor navy is of any avaiL It defies the gunboats in the Channel and the redcoats on the shore, and kills more people than are ever likely to fall in battle.
If we could stop the ravages of this foe we should soon be able to surprise our distant colonies with the arrival among them of a splendid class of our surplus popultion. We allude, of course, to disease. Not to epidemics of cholera or influenza, but to diseases which are at work year in and year out, in every season, carrying off rich and poor alike. Unquestionably the worst of these is the one that attacks the digestive system, the one from which- springs the majority of aUments, which go under various names, as, for example, rheumatism gout, bronchitis, consumption, the several fevers, and others which were formly, erroneously, supposed to have distinct character, and to require distinct treatment.
Now, however, the best medical authorities recognise these ailments as symptoms and outgrowths of indigestion and dyspepsia, and treat them accordingly. In illustration of what can be done, we cite a single case. A man named Edward Kelly, who resides at 27, St. Vincent Street, London Road, Liverpool, having previously had perfect health, experienced a dull pain in the right side, and a bad taste in the mouth, furred tongue, loss of appetite, discoloured akin, unnatural languor and fatigue, and what he describes as a "sinking feelmg," as though the supporting power were exhausted beneath him.
This was in 1887, and he bore it without obtaining relief from the usual medical treatment until April, 1890, when one day, when he was working in a bonded warehouse, he says, "a dreadful pain struck me in the back, and I had great trouble in getting through my work. Getting worse," he continues, "I went to a doctor, who said it was inflammation of the kidneys. He gave me medicine and attended me off and on for six months, but with no beneficial result He said he could not understand how I could keep on with niy work. Still, I did struggle ou, though the disease was wearing me out. From a strong, able man, I became thin and weak, and was afraid I should have to give up my work. Last July, 1890, a Custom House officer recommended me to try an advertised preparation, entitled Mother Seigel's Syrup. I did so, and before I had finished the first bottle the pain left my back, and I began to digest my food and gain strength. By continuing to use this remedy I was soon as well as ever in my life. My master, seeing what the Syrup had done for me, also took it for benefit that now he always keeps it by him. I have no interest whatever in testifying thus, and only speak of the medicine as I found it."
Mr. Kelly evidently had a narrow escape from Bright's disease, a malady very common among all classes in England, and one of the surest and most direct products of torpid liver, itself a symptom of indigestion and dyspepsia. We mention this case not to put money in anybody's pocket, but for the sake of the sufferers who need help—no matter what it comes from.
(2) 13, 2a & 27ja 37
July 21, 1897, The Liverpool Courier
Liverpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom
The latest reports on British commerce are of a conflicting tneor, and will awaken mixed feelings in the patriotic breast. First there comes the sense of exultation. During last year a larger amount of merchant shipping entered and left the ports of the United Kingdom than ever before in the national annals.
The aggregate figures were 85 millions of tons, or just five millions more than ever passed through our ports in a single year. Then comes the sense of depression and anxiety. There is a constant transfer of our sailing ships and steamers from the British to foreign flags, chiefly ths Scandinavian. Last month thirty-one such transfers took place. It must not be supposed that when the ships carry the Norwegian ensign they cease from troubling; very much the reverse. They become our competitors with freer hands and lighter burdens, and undersell us in our own seas. This is a grievance of the shipowners--a just and sore grievance. But the British sailor has a grievance too--not one whit less real and irritating. He finds it very difficult to get employment. In British ships he is set aside in favour of the foreigner; the other day, for instance, A Shields shipowner declared that British nationality was a disqualification, and that he wanted--and got--Dutchmen for his ship. The British cannot look for compensation to foreign ships; they are deliberately closed against him, so that he is between two fires. His own countrymen decline to employ him, and foreigners are not permitted to do so. These are old complaints, but they are complaints for which the instincts of self-preservation should prompt a remedy. We depend for existence upon our navy, and we not only man our ships with aliens but place obstacles in the way of our own countrymen getting employment on our own decks.
When we look abroad we find a very different policy pursued to the mercantile marine. A German ship must carry German sailors. Even the freedom-loving Americans draw the line at their merchant service, and stipulate that ships that fly the Stars and Stripes shall be navigated by American citizens. A pregnant illustration of this policy was furnished when ships of the American line were transferred from the British to the American flag: their crews were changed—from captain's cabin to forecastle—from British to American. The same attitude is adopted by the Germans, and is exemplified in the Transatlantic liners running to North German ports and dropping in upon us to pick up our passengers--not obeying our laws or employing our countrymen, yet robbing us of our commerce. This is called free trade; it is suicidal trade. Germany is making rapid strides in her foreign commerce, prospering at our expense.
But there is another side of the medal presented by the experience of France, which, though following the same tactics, is not prospering. M. de Estournelles has just published in the "Revue des Deux Mondes" a lamentation on the decay of French commerce which deserves serious attention. The general survey is striking and cogent, and the most superficial knowledge of continental affairs confirms its accuracy.
"No nation in the world (says M. de Estournelles) is better situated than we for developing its marine; our coasts are washed by three seas, and look towards the West, Africa, the East and the Far East; our rivers, our streams seem to have been traced by the hand of a benevolent fairy in order to set our riches into circulation, to establish a current of exchange between the heart of France and her littoral. It only depended on us to remain the entrance into Europe. We have suffered this privilege to pass into the hands of our rivals— Genoa, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg. Our ports are almost empty, with the exception of a very few, notably Dunker, which is in good communication with the interior. Look at Havre, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Nantes, Calais, and La Pallice! Havre is a melancholy sight ; its life is visibly dying out." The same with Marseilles, which has lost its shipping, and tries to find an equivalent in manufacturing, but even the local products are exported through other channels. One aggrieved resident of Marseilles says— "We pay for expediting our goods per French boat from Marseilles to Yokohama 100 francs per ton: while from Genoa we pay only 55 francs 50 centimes. For shipments lo Australia we find no freight at all. This is why the last statistics of the Suez Canal show us that our merchant marine is losing its position more and more, in spite of the creation of our empire in Indo-China and our colony in Madagascar, and coming, in 1896, not only behind Germany, but after Italy, almost on a level with Holland . . . "
The New York Times, October 9, 1898
New York, New York, USA
Annual Output of British Shipbuilders
LONDON, Oct. 8.—The British shipbuilders have broken the record this year, with 598 merchant vessels, of 1,364,250 tons, under construction on Sept. 30, being 351,000 tons above the previous best record, while 92 warships, of 376,436 tons, are also building. Great Britain's maritime supremacy is shown by the fact that 498 out of the 598 merchant ships are being constructed for British owners.
Bristol
Bristol in south-western England is on the River Avon. The river traditionally marked the border between Gloucestershire and Somerset. In 1373, Edward III of England proclaimed "that the said town of Bristol be a County by itself and called the county of Bristol for ever," but maps usually instead show it as part of Gloucestershire. As the city spilled south of the river, it took the county with it. Bristol was the starting point of John Cabot's voyage to North America in 1497.
Renewed growth came with the 17th Century rise of England's American colonies and the rapid 18th Century expansion of England's part in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery in the Americas. Bristol, along with Liverpool, became a significant centre for the slave trade although few slaves were brought to Britain. During the height of the slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2000 slaving ships were fitted out at Bristol, carrying a estimated half a million people from Africa to the Americas and slavery.
Exploring Church History: A Guide to History, World Religoin, and Ethics by James P. Eckman
Competition from Liverpool from c.1760, the disruption of maritime commerce through war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to the city's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of the north and midlands. The long passage up the heavily tidal Avon Gorge, which had made the port highly secure during the middle ages, had become a liability which the construction of a new "Floating Harbour" (designed by William Jessop) in 1804-9 failed to overcome. Nevertheless, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801) quintupled during the 19th Century, supported by new industries and growing commerce.It was particularly associated with the leading engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London, two pioneering Bristol-built steamships, including The Great Britain, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Steam-powered cotton factories enabled Victorian Britain to produce more than half the world's supply of cotton. Coal-mining around Newcastle also expanded rapidly to meet demand. With the upsurge in railway construction, moving goods to shipping ports became easy, while ship-building itself went forward at a rapid pace.
Falmouth
In 1840, Messrs Brodie McGhie Willcox & Arthur Anderson, firm of London merchants, and Captain Richard Bourne, R.N., founded Peninsular Company and began providing monthly service between Falmouth and Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon and Gibraltar.Newcastle
Tyneside,
in northern England, covers part of the area of Tyne and Wear. It includes
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, Jarrow, North Shields, and South Shields -
all settlements on the banks of the River Tyne.
While Newcastle-upon-Tyne had been an important local centre since Roman times,
and was a major local market town from the Middle Ages, the development of
Newcastle and Tyneside is owed to coal mining. Coal was first known to be
dug in Tyneside from superficial seams in around 1200, but there is some evidence
that it may have been dug as early as 800 AD. Coal was dug from from local
drift mines and bell pits, and although initially only used locally, it was
exported from the port of Newcastle from the mid 1300s onward.
Blood on the Tracks: A History of Railway Crime in Britain
David Brandon and Alan BrookeThe valley of the River Derwent, a major tributary of the Tyne that rises
in County Durham, saw the development of the steel industry from around 1600
onwards. The combination of coal and steel industries in the area was the
catalyst for further major industrial development in the nineteenth century,
including the shipbuilding industry – at its peak, the Tyneside shipyards
were the biggest and best centre of shipbuilding in the world, and built an
entire navy for Japan in the first decade of the twentieth century.
March 24, 1882, IRON
London, United Kingdom
THE PROPOSED SHIPPING COUNCIL. The Newcastle Local Marine Board have passed a series of resolutions, in reply to a communication recently received from the Board of Trade on Mr. Chamberlain's proposal for the establishment of a Shipping Council, which will recommend themselves for adoption also by other similar bodies. The Newcastle Board say:—
We think that the above suggestions will meet the requirements of the case, provided always that the right of revising all decisions of local shipping councils be reserved to the Board of Trade.I. That the powers at present vested in the officers of the Board of Trade to stop unseaworthy ships and overloaded ships should be continued,
2. That the existing regulations as to the optional load-line marks should not be interfered with or altered.
3. That in all cases of detention of ships and steamers on the alleged ground of overloading or unseaworthiness, or from any cause, an immediate appeal should be made to the local shipping council, constituted as suggested in the sixth resolution.
4. That the shipping council for the Newcastle district shall include Hartlepool, Sunderland, North Shields, South Shields, Newcastle, and Berwick.
5. That the local marine boards of the suggested district should be reconstructed and made into a local shipping council.
6. That, the local shipping council should consist of shipbuilders, engineers, legal gentlemen, and shipowners, and seafaring men; so many to be elected by the Board of Trade, and so many by the shipowners.
7. That a shipping council so constituted would be composed of the most competent men of the district, and their decisions in all matters of dispute between the officers of the Board of Trade and the shipowner could not fail to command the confidence of all parties.
8. That a local shipping council would afford a ready and inexpensive mode of settling all disputes as to unseaworthiness, overloading, or other alleged causes for detaining ships by the officers of the Board of Trade, and would put an end to the cruel, expensive, and oppressive litigation so justly complained of by the shipowners and the Board of Trade. Finally, the Newcastle Board is decidedly of opinion that a shipping council, constituted as suggested by the Board of Trade in January last, to hold its meetings in London, is undesirable, and would not be satisfactory to it.
Weymouth
Weymouth is situated on the south coast of England and Weymouth Bay is part of the English Channel. In 1794 a packet steamer service was launched to operate between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. Subsequent services allowed for the "emigration" of several Dorset families to the islands.The East Indiaman, The Earl of Abergavenny, Weymouth's most well known shipwreck, sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805 with the loss of 261 lives.
Iron, February 28, 1890
London, United Kingdom
Britain and the Sea
Glen O'Hara
In this book, O'Hara presents the first general history of Britons relationship with the surrounding oceans from 1600 to the present day. This all-encompassing account covers individual seafarers, ship-borne migration, warfare and the maritime economy, as well as the British peoples maritime ideas and self perception throughout the centuries.
