The merchant navy of the United Kingdom affords employment to nearly 200,000 men and boys of the sea-faring class. The local marine office of London pays out $45,600 per month in salaries, and the wages paid each year to British seamen amount in round numbers to $60,000,000. Cardiff takes a leading position among the ports of Great Britain. It is the greatest coal-exporting town in the world. About eighty vessels a day, conveying nearly 6,000,000 tons of coal per annum, sail hence to every quarter of the navigable world. It is therefore not surprising that sea-faring men constitute a large and important though a floating population of the metropolis of Wales. Over 36,000 sailors were shipped at Cardiff under the auspices of the board of trade during the year 1883. Three-fourths of the whole number were British seamen (the word "British" embracing all the nationalities of the United Kingdom); the remaining one-fourth being foreigners, chiefly composed of Italians, Germans, Norwegians, Austrians, and Greeks. Foreign sailors while in port live at boarding-houses kept by their countrymen. These hostelries are numerous both at the docks and in special parts of the town. The foreign seamen as a class are regarded as sober and reliable men; masters of vessels hold them in high esteem. The Scandinavians in particular are steady men, and experts in all that appertains to their vocation. It is a common remark among ship-owners that the British seaman has deteriorated. It is true that the character of his work has changed with the ascendency of steamers upon the sea; and the peculiar skill and dexterity developed by experience on sailing vessels are less frequently to be observed now than in the old days of clipper ships. But the moral and social condition of British seamen, which still leaves abundant room for improvement, is much better to day than in any period in the past. A quarter of a century ago it was the rule for seamen to take their earnings ashore and spend them upon drink and its consequent vices in the most reckless fashion. Still, however, seamen are undoubtedly the most improvident of the working classes. Cases are still too numerous where sea-faring men reach home after long voyages, and receive large sums of money, which are wasted within a short time. Despite the excellent efforts of the marine staff of the board of trade, they continue to fall prey to that despicable class known as "crimps" or "runners," who infest large seaport towns everywhere. I have known a case in which a seaman who had been away three years was, on his return, paid off with £97 ($471.42). Within three weeks he was looking for a ship, destitute, and with scarcely a decent coat on his back. He had fallen into the hands of crimps. They had fleeced him thor-, oughly and without mercy. In common with most seaport towns, there is at Cardiff considerable dissipation, but this does not exist now to the same extent as formerly. Cardiff corporation, in pulling down at great expense a nest of brothels which existed a few years since near the then shipping office in Whitmore Lane, removed an eyesore and a great moral blot. Unfortunately, these brothels are still far too uumerous in the town. At the Sailors' Home board and lodging cost about 16s. ($3.89) to 18s. ($4.38) per week, and this is about the rate which prevails at the boarding-houses; but at the latter the men are very often expected to take "outfits," on which much profit is made. There is a hospital ship, the Hamadryad, of which the Marquis of Bute is patron, for the benefit of sick and injured seamen. This ship, an old 21-gun frigate, was supplied by the admiralty in 1866. She was towed around from Plymouth and moored at the top of the old canal dock. The hospital was opened on the 1st of November, 1866, and is supported by voluntary subscriptions of 28. (48 cents) per 100 tons register received from each vessel entering the port. The committee of management consists of twenty-four members, and the subscriptions are gratuitously collected by Lord Bute's officials at Cardiff, and by the Taff Railway Company at Penarth. There is also a seaman's mission ship (the Thisbe) stationed in the West Bute Dock. The seamen's church on board this ship (like the Hamadryad, an old man-of-war) was opened in 1866, under the control of the Church of England Seamen's Mission. Divine service is held on board every Sunday, and from Advent to Easter on Wednesdays. The reading-room and library are open daily, and are well attended. Lectures, illustrated by calcium light, are delivered in the reading-room. There are two foreign churches, the Lutheran and Evangelical German, the former of which cost £500 ($2,430), and seats two hundred and fifty; the latter seats one hundred and ten. The music hall and the circus are a sailor's idea of amusements. For the benefit and protection of seamen, three excellent agencies in connection with and under the management of the board of trade may be referred to: (1) There is the money-order system for transmitting the wages of seamen to their homes; (2) the Seamen's Savings Bank; and (3) the transmission by the board of trade officials of the men to their homes, their wages being afterwards forwarded to them. The money order system is used at Cardiff by seamen of all countries, the bulk of the money orders, being, however, for British seamen. In the savings-bank department the foreigners number perhaps two-thirds of the depositers. They open accounts, and go on repeated voyages. When they have accumulated a good sum they draw it out, and either go home or remain in this country, and with the money thus saved open a small business. A vegetable and fruit store for the supply of vessels is with them a favorite business. They also open boarding. houses and small groceries. These observations do not, of course, apply to officers, whose earnings are often invested in one or more sixtyfourth" of the ship they sail. Many of them become masters, next wners, and a small proportion of them managing owners on shore. 66 These men know all about a vessel and the perils of the sea, and woe be unto the board of trade if a mistake as to facts or conclusions is made by that department. These old sea-captains have mangled, if they have not murdered, the merchant shipping bill of 1884. Foreign seameu are generally supposed to be more thrifty than their British brethren. With respect to the transmission scheme, it may be explained that the board of trade officers board vessels on their arrival, and all sailors wishing to go home without waiting for their ships to discharge receive railway warrants to their destinations and a form for the withdrawal of wages at their respective homes. They are also supplied with a small cash advance, generally 10s. ($2.43). The wages are forwarded in one or two days to the mercantile marine office at the port of residence. The men are then able to draw their money close to their own homes, and are thus saved from the great temptations which surround them when they are off at distant ports. Board of trade officers accompany the men to the railway stations to see them safely off. Owing to the protection thus afforded, Jack is not preyed upon by "crimps" now as he used to be, and it goes without saying that his family reaps substantial benefits from the protective measures of the board of trade. At London, Avonmouth, and Greenock steam launches are actually provided by the board of trade in order that seamen may be reached at the earliest possible moment and saved from land-sharks. Mr. W. Turner, the chief superintendent of mercantile marine at Cardiff, Mr. Charles Hughes, assistant superintendent, and Mr. James Evans, superintendent of outdoor staff, and other officials of the department, take an active interest in the welfare of sailors, and are worthy of all praise. There are at Cardiff 113 licensed pilots, whose earnings during 1883 amounted to £38,111 ($186,677.46). They are comprised in three classes, first, second, and supplemental, and are under the authority of the pilotage board. Subjoined will be found tables of, first, the proportion of British and foreign seamen at Cardiff; second, the wages paid at Cardiff in steam and sailing vessels; third, a scale applying to six months' running agreement, under which seamen find their own provisions; fourth, similar particulars supplied by our excellent consular agent at Newport. SEAMEN'S WAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN. Seamen (British and foreign) shipped at Cardiff during the year 1883. |