II.

History

The need for vital and enriching trade has always induced countries to send their fleets to uncharted territories in search of resources and trading partners. Christopher Columbus was in search of an alternate route to the East when he landed in the New World. Later, merchant ships provided the lifeline for goods and communication between the American colonies and Great Britain. The colonists soon became skillful shipbuilders and sailors. An abundance of timber along the coast from Maine to Virginia encouraged ship construction and the development of a lively international trade.

During the American Revolution, the merchant fleet contributed substantially to the American victory. After independence, U.S. ships were barred from the colonial trade of the British Empire. Trade with other European nations was active, however, because of their need for America's farm, forest, and fish products. Lumber and food were exchanged in the West Indies for rum, molasses, and sugar. The Far East soon became a trading interest, and in 1787 the first voyage from the United States to Java and China was made by the U.S. vessel Empress of China.

The earliest U.S. ships sailed when cargo was offered. Often the captain and crew undertook to sell the cargo for a share of the profits. Later, cargo was carried at fixed rates for merchants, and sailings were at regular, stated intervals.

For 40 years after the War of 1812, U.S. shipping expanded, and shipbuilding and navigation improved. In 1816 an American company, the Black Ball Line, began regular passages from New York City to Liverpool; this was the start of modern steamship lines offering scheduled sailings on regular routes. By the 1840s American shipyards were producing clipper ships (see Clipper), the fastest oceangoing sailing vessels ever built. Clippers were specialized ships, built to carry cargoes of high value and small volume; they were used principally on the long voyages from the East Coast to the West Coast, India, and China. The U.S. Merchant Marine was at its most prosperous in the 1850s. After the repeal of the protective British navigation laws in 1849, American ships were able to join in the lucrative business of transporting tea from China to Britain. U.S. ships increased in total tonnage from 943,000 tons in 1846 to 2,226,000 tons in 1857 and were then able to compete on even terms with British ships in British ports.

Ships helped knit the United States together as a united country fronting on two oceans. They brought goods and people from the East Coast to the West Coast, especially during the California gold rush. Following the American Civil War, however, the U.S. merchant fleet declined as interest in the nation's western regions and its railroads increased. In addition, with the development of steam-powered vessels, sailing ships were becoming obsolete as major cargo carriers. Foreign shipbuilders, who had made rapid technological progress during the Civil War, gained further advantages because of their lower costs for labor and materials. Britain took the lead in building iron- and steel-hulled vessels powered by steam. By the beginning of the 20th century, only one U.S. transatlantic line was in operation. American ships were carrying less than 10 percent of U.S. exports and imports.

During World War I, goods piled up at U.S. ports as warring nations' ships were suddenly withdrawn from commercial trade. When the United States entered the war in 1917, it had to rely on foreign vessels to transport troops and supplies to the front. A great shipbuilding program was launched during the war; this program produced a surplus of ships, many of which were not suited to peacetime use.

A slump in shipping during the worldwide depression of the 1930s brought the U.S. merchant fleet to a very low level. It was generally obsolete and noncompetitive by the time the U.S. Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. To obtain a modern, efficient, competitive fleet, a program that called for the construction of 500 ships over a 10-year period was approved. This program was already under way when the United States entered World War II in December 1941. During the war, U.S. shipyards, using mass-production methods, built the world's largest fleet; about 5,600 merchant ships and warships. Some 674 of these ships were lost in the war.

After the war, American companies used many of the remaining ships for domestic and foreign trade. Before long, however, they were falling behind the newer, more efficient fleets of Japan and the European maritime nations, which had lower crew costs. In 1948 about 60 percent of U.S. waterborne foreign commerce was transported on American-flag ships; in the mid-1980s, American ships were carrying 4.3 percent of the nation's total foreign commerce.