February 24, 1824. Treaty With Tunis Amended.

As follows:

Whereas Sundry articles of the Treaty of peace and friendship concluded between the United States of America and Hamuda Bashaw, of happy memory, in the month of Rebia Elul in the year of the Hegira 1212, corresponding with the month of August of the Christian year 1797; have by experience been found to require alteration and amendment: In order therefore that the United States should be placed on the same footing with the most favored Nations having Treaties with Tunis, as well as to manifest a respect for the American Government and a desire to continue unimpaired the friendly relations which have always existed between the two Nations, it is hereby agreed & concluded between His Highness Mahmoud Bashaw Bey of Tunis, and S. D. Heap Esquire Charge d'affaires of the United States of America, that alteration be made in the Sixth, eleventh, twelfth and fourteenth articles of said Treaty; and that the said articles shall be altered and amended in the Treaty to read as follows.

ARTICLE 6th

If a Tunisian Corsair shall meet with an American vessel & shall visit it with her boat, two men only shall be allowed to go on board, peaceably to satisfy themselves of its being American, who as well as any passengers of other Nations they may have on board, shall go free both them & their goods; and the said two men shall not exact any thing, on pain of being severely punished. In case a slave escapes and takes refuge on board an American vessel of war he shall be free, and no demand shall be made either for his restoration or for payment.

ARTICLE THE 11th

When a vessel of war of the United States shall enter the port of the Goletta she shall be saluted with twenty one guns, which salute, the vessel of war shall return gun for gun only, and no powder will be given, as mentioned in the ancient eleventh article of this Treaty, which is hereby annulled.

ARTICLE THE 12th

When Citizens of the United States shall come within the dependencies of Tunis to carry on commerce there, the same respect shall be paid to them which the Merchants of other Nations enjoy; and if they wish to establish themselves within our ports, no opposition shall be made thereto, and they shall be free to avail themselves of such interpreters as they may judge necessary without any obstruction in conformity with the usages of other Nations; and if a Tunisian Subject shall go to establish himself within the dependencies of the United States, he shall be treated in like manner. If any Tunisian Subject shall freight an American vessel and load her with Merchandise, and shall afterwards want to unload, or ship them on board of another vessel, we shall not permit him untill the matter is determined by a reference of Merchants, who shall decide upon the case, and after the decision, the determination shall be conformed to.

No Captain shall be detained in port against his consent, except when our ports are shut for the vessels of all other Nations, which may take place with respect to merchant vessels, but not to those of war. The Subjects and Citizens of the two Nations respectively Tunisians and Americans, shall be protected in the places where they may be by the officers of the Government there existing; but on failure of such protection, and for redress of every injury, the party may resort to the chief authority in each country, by whom adequate protection and complete justice shall be rendered. In case the Government of Tunis shall have need of an American vessel for its service, such vessel being within the Regency, and not previously engaged, the Government shall have the preference on its paying the same freight as other Merchants usually pay for the same service, or at the like rate, if the service be without a customary precedent.

ARTICLE THE 14th

All vessels belonging to the Citizens and inhabitants of the United States, shall be permitted to enter the ports of the Kingdom of Tunis, and freely trade with the Subjects and inhabitants thereof on paying the usual duties which are paid by other most favored Nations at peace with the Regency. In like manner all vessels belonging to the subjects and inhabitants of the Kingdom of Tunis shall be permitted to enter the different ports of the United States, and freely trade with the Citizens and inhabitants thereof on paying the usual duties which are paid by other most favored Nations at peace with the United States.

Concluded, signed & sealed at the palace of Bardo near Tunis the 24th day of the Moon jumed-teni in the year of the Hegira 1239: corresponding the 24th of February 1824: of the Christian year; and the 48th year of the Independence of the United States; reserving the same nevertheless for the final ratification of the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(Signed) S. D. HEAP

Charge d'affaires of the U. States of America at Tunis

(Seal of MAHMOUD BASHAW.)

(Seal of HASSAN BEY.)

The immediately prior treaty, from 1816, read:

Treaty of Peace and Amity, concluded between the United States of America and the Dey and Regency of Algiers.

The President of the United States and the Dey of Algiers being desirous to restore and maintain upon a stable and permanent footing, the relations of peace and good understanding between the two powers; and for this purpose to renew the Treaty of Peace and Amity 1 which was concluded between the two States by William Shaler, and Commodore Stephen Decatur, as Commissioners Plenipotentiary, on the part of the United States and His Highness Omar Pashaw Dey of Algiers on the 30th of June 1815.

The President of the United States having subsequently nominated and appointed by Commission, the above named William Shaler, and Isaac Chauncey, Commodore and Commander in chief of all the Naval Forces of the United States in the Mediterranean, Commissioners Plenipotentiary, to treat with His Highness the Dey of Algiers for the renewal of the Treaty aforesaid; and they have concluded, settled, and signed the following articles:

ARTICLE 1st.

There shall be from the conclusion of this Treaty, a firm, perpetual, inviolable and universal peace and friendship between the President and Citizens of the United States of America on the one part, and the Dey and subjects of the Regency of Algiers in Barbary on the other, made by the free consent of both parties, and on the terms of the most favoured Nations; and if either party shall hereafter grant to any other Nation, any particular favor or privilege in Navigation, or (commerce, it shall immediately become common to the other party, freely, when freely it is granted to such other Nations, but when the grant is conditional, it shall be at the option of the contracting parties, to accept, alter, or reject such conditions in such manner as shall be most conducive to their respective interests.

ARTICLE 2d

It is distinctly understood between the contracting parties, that no tribute, either as biennial presents or under any other form, or name whatever, shall be required by the Dey and Regency of Algiers from the United States of America on any pretext whatever.

ARTICLE 3rd

Relates to the mutual restitution of prisoners & subjects and has been duly executed.

ARTICLE 4th

Relates to the delivery into the hands of the Consul General of a quantity of Bales of Cotton &c and has been duly executed.

ARTICLE 5th.

If any goods belonging to any Nation with which either of the parties are at War, should be loaded on board vessels belonging to the other party, they shall pass free and unmolested and no attempt shall be made to take or detain them.

ARTICLE 6th.

If any citizens or subjects belonging to either party shall be found on board a prize-vessel taken from an enemy by the other party, such citizens or subjects shall be liberated immediately and in no case, or on any presence whatever shall any American citizen be kept in captivity or confinement, or the property of any American citizen found on board of any vessel belonging to any Nation with which Algiers may be at War, be detained from its lawful owners after the exhibition of sufficient proofs of American citizenship and American property by the Consul of the United States, residing at Algiers.

ARTICLE 7th.

Proper passports shall immediately be given to the vessels of both the contracting parties on condition that the vessels of War belonging to the Regency of Algiers on meeting with Merchant vessels belonging to the Citizens of the United States of America shall not be permitted to visit them with more than two persons besides the rowers; these only shall be permitted to go on board, without first obtaining leave from the Commander of said vessel, who shall compare the passports and immediately permit said vessel to proceed on her voyage; and should any of the subjects of Algiers insult or molest the Commander or any other person on board a vessel so visited, or plunder any of the property contained in her, on complaint being made to the Consul of the United States residing in Algiers, and on his producing sufficient proofs to substantiate the fact, the Commander or Rais, of said Algerine ship or vessel of War, as well as the offenders, shall be punished in the most exemplary manner.

All vessels of War belonging to the United States of America on meeting a cruiser belonging to the Regency of Algiers, on having seen her passports, and certificates from the Consul of the United States residing in Algiers; shall permit her to proceed on her cruize unmolested and without detention.

No passport shall be granted by either party to any vessels but such as are absolutely the property of citizens or subjects of the said contracting parties, on any presence whatever.

ARTICLE 8th

A citizen or subject of either of the contracting parties, having bought a prize vessel condemned by the other party or by any other Nation, the Certificates of condemnation, and bill of sale, shall be a sufficient passport for such vessel for six months, which considering the distance between the two Countries, is no more than a reasonable time for her to procure passports.

ARTICLE 9th

Vessels of either of the contracting parties, putting into the ports of the other, and having need of provisions or other supplies shall be furnished at the Market price, and if any such vessel should so put in from a disaster at sea, and have occasion to repair, she shall be at liberty to land and reembark her cargo, without paying any customs or duties whatever; but in no case shall be compelled to land her cargo.

ARTICLE 10th

Should a vessel of either of the contracting parties be cast on shore within the territories of the other, all proper assistance shall be given to her and her crew; no pillage shall be allowed. The property shall remain at the disposal of the owners, and if re-shipped on board of any vessel for exportation, no customs or duties whatever shall be required to be paid thereon, and the crew shall be protected and succoured until they can be sent to their own country.

ARTICLE 11th.

If a vessel of either of the contracting parties shall be attacked by an enemy party within cannon-shot of the forts of the other, she shall be protected as much as is possible. If she be in port she shall not be seized or attacked when it is in the power of the other party to protect; her; and when she proceeds to sea, no enemy shall be permitted to pursue her from the same port within twenty four hours after her departure.

ARTICLE 12th

The commerce between the United States of America and the Regency of Algiers, the protections to be given to Merchants, Masters of vessels, and seamen, the reciprocal rights of establishing consuls in each country, the privileges, immunities, and jurisdictions to be enjoyed by such consuls, are declared to be on the same footing in every respect with the most favoured nations respectively.

ARTICLE 13th

The Consul of the United States of America shall not be responsible for the debts contracted by the citizens of his own country, unless he gives previously, written obligations so to do.

ARTICLE 14th.

On a vessel or vessels of War belonging to the United States, anchoring before the city of Algiers the consul is to inform the Dey of her arrival when she shall receive the salutes which are by Treaty, or custom given to the Ships of War of the most favoured nations on similar occasions and which shall be returned gun for gun; and if after such arrival so announced, any Christians whatever, captives in Algiers, make their escape and take refuge on board any of the said ships of war, they shall not be required back again, nor shall the Consul of the United States or Commander of the said ship be required to pay any thing for the said Christians.

ARTICLE 15th.

As the Government of the United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of any Nation, and as the said states have never entered into any voluntary War or act of hostility, except in defence of their just rights on the high seas, it is declared by the contracting parties, that no pretext arising from Religious Opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the Harmony between the two Nations; and the Consuls and Agents of both Nations shall have liberty to celebrate the rites of their respective religions in their Own houses.

The Consuls respectively shall have liberty and personal security given them to travel within the territories of each other by land and sea and shall not be prevented from going on board any vessel they may think proper to visit; they shall likewise have the liberty to appoint their own Drogoman and Broker.

ARTICLE 16th

In case of any dispute arising from the violation of any of the articles of this Treaty, no appeal shall be made to arms, nor shall War be declared on any pretext whatever. But if the Consul residing at the place where the dispute shall happen, shall not be able to settle the same, the Government of that country, shall state their grievance in writing and transmit the same to the Government of the other, and the period of three months shall be allowed for answers to be returned, during which time, no act of hostility shall be permitted by either party; and in case the grievances are not redressed and a War should be the event, the Consuls and Citizens and Subjects of both parties, respectively shall be permitted to embark with their effects unmolested, on board of what vessel or vessels they shall think proper, reasonable time being allowed for that purpose.

ARTICLE 17th.

If in the course of events a War should break out between the two Nations the prisoners captured by either party, shall not be made slaves; they shall not be forced to hard labour or other confinement than such as may be necessary to secure their safe-keeping, and shall be exchanged rank for rank; and it is agreed that prisoners shall be exchanged in twelve months after their capture and the exchange may be effected by any private individual, legally authorized by either of the parties.

ARTICLE 18th

If any of the Barbary powers or other States at war with the United States shall capture any American vessel and send her into any port of the Regency of Algiers, they shall not be permitted to sell her; but shall be forced to depart the Port on procuring the requisite supplies of provisions; but the vessels of War of the United States with any prizes they may capture from their enemies shall have liberty to frequent the Ports of Algiers for refreshment of any kind, and to sell such prizes in the said Ports, without paying any other Customs or duties than such as are customary on ordinary commercial importations.

ARTICLE 19th.

If any of the Citizens of the United States or any persons under their protection, shall have any disputes with each other, the Consul shall decide between the parties, and whenever the Consul shall require any aid or assistance from the Government of Algiers to enforce his decisions it shall be immediately granted to him: and if any disputes shall arise between any citizens of the United States and the citizens or subjects of any other Nations having a Consul, or Agent in Algiers, such disputes shall be settled by the Consuls or Agents of the respective nations; and any disputes or suits at law, that may take place between any Citizens of the United States and the subjects of the Regency of Algiers, shall be decided by the Dey in person and no other.

ARTICLE 20th.

If a citizen of the United States should Kill, wound or strike a subject of Algiers, or on the contrary, a subject of Algiers, should kill, wound or strike a citizen of the United States, the law of the country shall take place and equal justice shall be rendered, the consul assisting at the trial; but the sentence of punishment against an American citizen shall not be greater, or more severe, than it would be against a Turk, in the same predicament, and if any delinquent should make his escape, the Consul shall not be responsible for him in any manner whatever.

ARTICLE 21st

The Consul of the United States of America, shall not be required to pay any customs or duties whatever on any thing he imports from a foreign country for the use of his house and family.

ARTICLE 22d

Should any of the Citizens of the United States of America die within the Regency of Algiers, the Dey and his subjects shall not interfere with the property of the deceased, but it shall be under the immediate direction of the Consul, unless otherwise disposed of by Will. Should there be no Consul, the effects shall be deposited in the hands of some person worthy of trust, until the party shall appear who has a right to demand them, when they shall render an account of the property; neither shall the Dey, or his subjects give hindrance in the execution of any will that may appear.

ARTICLE ADDITIONAL & EXPLANATORY

The United States of America in order to give to the Dey of Algiers a proof of their desire to maintain the relations of peace and amity between the two powers upon a footing the most liberal; and in order to withdraw any obstacle which might embarrass him in his relations with other States, agree to annul so much of the Eighteenth Article of the foregoing Treaty, as gives to the United States any advantage in the ports of Algiers over the most favoured Nations having Treaties with the Regency.

Done at the Palace of the Government in Algiers on the 22d day of December 1816. which corresponds to the 3d Of the Moon Safar Year of the Hegira 1232.

Whereas the undersigned William Shaler a (citizen of the State of New York and Isaac Chauncey, Commander in chief of the Naval Forces of the United States, Stationed in the Mediterranean, being duly appointed Commissioners by letters patent under the signature of the President and Seal of the United States of America, bearing date at the City of Washington the twenty fourth day of August A. D. 1816. for negotiating and concluding the renewal of a Treaty of Peace between the United States of America, and the Dey and subjects of the Regency of Algiers.

We therefore William Shaler and Isaac Chauncey, Commissioners as aforesaid, do conclude the foregoing Treaty, and every article and clause therein contained, reserving the Same nevertheless for the final ratification of the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice, and consent, of the Senate of the United States.

Done in the Chancery of the Consulate General of the United States in the City of Algiers on the 23d day of December in the Year 1816 and of the Independence of the United States the Forty First

[Seal] Wm SHALER

[Seal] I. CHAUNCEY

Monday, August 30, 1943. Hornets

CV-12, the second aircraft carrier of World War Two to be named the USS Hornet, was launched.

CV-12 being launched.

CV-8, the USS Hornet that had been in the Doolittle Raid, was sunk in October, 1942.

CV-12 was the eighth U.S. Navy ship to bear that name, the first being a merchant sloop acquired by the infant U.S. Navy in 1775 and captured by the Royal Navy during the Revolution.  A second USS Hornet, also a sloop, was acquired in the Mediterranean during the First Barbary War, but served for only a year.

CV-8 was named in honor of a sloop of war commissioned in 1805.  She's served in the War of 1812, but had been lost due to a material failure at sea in 1829, going down with all hands.

The foundering of CV-8's namesake.

The fourth was a schooner acquired in 1814 that mostly served the Navy by running messages.

The fifth ship to bear that name was a captured and renamed Confederate steam ship.  Its career with the US Navy was brief, and she then went on to a brief career with filibusters, being renamed Cuba.

The Red Army captured Sokolovskym Yelna, and Taganrog.

In his second act of heroism, Lt. Kenneth Walsh, would push his deeds over the top as a Marine Corp aviator and win the Medal of Honor.  His citation reads:

For extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron 124 in aerial combat against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area. Determined to thwart the enemy's attempt to bomb Allied ground forces and shipping at Vella Lavella on 15 August 1943, 1st Lt. Walsh repeatedly dived his plane into an enemy formation outnumbering his own division 6 to 1 and, although his plane was hit numerous times, shot down 2 Japanese dive bombers and 1 fighter. After developing engine trouble on 30 August during a vital escort mission, 1st Lt. Walsh landed his mechanically disabled plane at Munda, quickly replaced it with another, and proceeded to rejoin his flight over Kahili. Separated from his escort group when he encountered approximately 50 Japanese Zeros, he unhesitatingly attacked, striking with relentless fury in his lone battle against a powerful force. He destroyed 4 hostile fighters before cannon shellfire forced him to make a dead-stick landing off Vella Lavella where he was later picked up. His valiant leadership and his daring skill as a flier served as a source of confidence and inspiration to his fellow pilots and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service.

Lt. Walsh had joined the Marine Corps in 1933 and retired in 1962, flying again in action during the Korean War.  He died at age 81 in 1998. 

The Lackawanna Limited wreck occurred when a Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad passenger train, the New York-Buffalo Lackawanna Limited collided with a freight train. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collision, and about twice that number injured, many from steam that poured into the railroad cars.

Water Transportation

After walking, but only barely, and before the horse, there were the rivers and streams.  And the oceans.

And they were the highways.

Recently, I posted a thread on equine transportation.  Sometimes it will be claimed that, before the train, nothing moved faster than the horse. That is very true, but with qualifiers.  Horses can cross streams, and they can swim too, but they're limited in these regards. Beyond that, even with a horse, the rider is working more than non riders suppose.  Indeed, riding a horse, particularly riding a horse the way working riders ride them, is pretty good exercise.  One old infantry general of the 20th Century noted that cavalry officers outlived infantry officers, which he attributed to their constant riding.

And of course one horse can only carry so much.

But water is different.  One boat, even one canoe, can carry quite a bit, and for efficient transportation, water courses are hard to beat, as long as the water goes where you also want to go.

In our paved and engineered world of today, water transportation isn't really appreciated.  People who want to go from North Platte Nebraska to St. Louis would not think of trying that by canoe, and people who wanted to go from St. Louis to the Pacific would look at the Interstate Highway routes, not the watercourses.  But that wasn't always so.

I'll confess that, unlike walking, which I like to do, and unlike horses, which I like, I'm not a huge fan of watercraft, and for that reason, even though I know that rivers were the highways of antiquity, this is a historical topic I'm not really that familiar with, or even interested in.  But the purpose of this blog is to explore the past as it really was, not as we'd have it, and therefore this matters in this context.  And, while the only boat I own is a canoe, and that's the only boat I want to own, perhaps this is more interesting that I figure it is.  So let's take a look.

The boats of antiquity were undoubtedly canoes or boats that we can regard as canoes. Crude compared to the Old Town canoe that you would look at over at the sporting goods store, their efficiency and utility is demonstrated by the fact that they're still with us, and like the horse, even though most of us don't require them for the outback, a lot of us like them.  I like mine for that matter.

Canoes are fun, and apparently the temptation to take a photograph from one has been around for a long time.

Canoes have existed pretty much in every culture, everywhere.  Whether they were burnt out or dug out logs, or manufactured with hide and frame, the canoe is basically boat 1.0, and it's hard to replace.  Whether made of wood, fiberglass, or aluminum, the basic canoe is still pretty much the basic canoe.  And that applies to what are basically canoes 2.0, the kayak, as well.

Canoes in antiquity served to move people over long distances.  Whole tribes of people moved hundreds of miles on rivers via canoes, and really bold folks took ocean going varieties distances that would scare most of us, for good reason.  In our country, the canoe was the basic vehicle of the fur market for a long time.  Indian tribes had them and used them, and so did fur trappers.  It's popular to imagine the trapper riding from St. Louis, or Quebec, to the Rocky Mountains, but they didn't do that.  They rowed upstream, hard work, but efficient, and traded for horses when they got where they were going.  When they turned around to go the other direction, they traded the horse away and floated downstream.

 

 Outrigger canoe on Maui, the early variants of which took the Polynesians clean across the Pacific.

As technology improved, boats did too of course, and all manners of boats were developed over time.  It was a long time before rivers ceased to be highways.  In Medieval England the rivers were the highways, and while the well to do had horses, they were very limited by the vast quantity of water that Great Britain features. To really get somewhere, for a long time, you took the boat.  Chances are that you leased a boat from somebody whose occupation that was. The water taxi, has a long origin.

And if you were taking goods to market, you probably took them by boat, at least if they were substantial in quantity.  Packing goods in no doubt occurred, but floating them in is easier.  And so it was in our own country for much of its history.  River ports were very important means of transporting every manner of goods, and to some extent, on truly major rivers, they still are.

But not like they once were.  Consider that in 1876, when the Army engaged in its famous summer (stretching into fall) campaign on the Northern Plains, part of the Army went by boat.  We don't think of it that way, but the River boat The Far West went all the way up the Yellowstone River.  It was, indeed, a specially designed shallow bottom river boat made for traveling the shallow rivers of the west, with a gin pole that allowed it to muscle its way past or over shallow shoals.  Cavalrymen charging into the Little Big Horn valley that summer were attired in part in straw boaters, brought upstream and sold by a trader on the Yellowstone.  Nothing plies the Yellowstone commercially today.

And so efficient was inland travel by water that artificial watercourses were created everywhere. They were the highways of their day.  Interior canals for transportation were created right up to the railroad days in Europe, when the railroads suddenly made them obsolete.  In this US, this was done to some extent as well, with some still in use.  The most famous of all American canals, and one of the most important in our history, amazingly remains in use, having been enlarged and improved over, time.  That canal inspired a song that remains in The American Songbook.

The Erie Canal crossing the Genosee River, by bridge.  1900.

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And every inch of the way we know
From Albany to Buffalo

Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

We'd better look 'round for a job old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Git up there mule, here comes a lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Chorus

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
A friend of mine once got her sore
Now he's got a busted jaw,
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe,
And kicked him in to Buffalo.

Chorus

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Don't have to call when I want my Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She trots from her stall like a good old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
I eat my meals with Sal each day
I eat beef and she eats hay
And she ain't so slow if you want to know
She put the "Buff" in Buffalo

Chorus

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

This all deals, of course, with interior transport, where waterways were once incredibly important.  They still are, of course, and barges and even ships still run everyday on the nation's most significant rivers.  But this hasn't dealt with external transport, i.e., ocean going ships.

Ocean going ships remain the most important factor, rather obviously, in international trade.  Anything of any significance, except people, tends to nearly always go by ship if it has any size to it at all.  Prior to transoceanic air travel, everything in international commerce went by ship, including people.  The importance of the oceans to commerce has been so vast that it's formed a primary focus of international law and national diplomacy.  Being a seafaring nation, whether we think of ourselves that way or not, we've been in the forefront of keeping sea lanes open from day one.  We may like to think that we stayed out of other countries affairs up until World War Two forced us on t the international stage, but this isn't so.  We went to war when the country was in its infancy against local forces out of Algiers over the issue of freedom of the seas.  We fought a naval small scale spat with the Japanese while we were fighting each other in the Civil War.  We indeed "opened" Japan, and as is being explored in the 1870 to 1918 blog we dabbled in Hawaiian affairs pretty darned early.  So, even as an infant nation, we plied the seas internationally and would fight over the right to do so when we felt we had a right to do so.  We did just that in World War One, when we were horrified by German unrestricted submarine warfare, the German decision that may have resulted in the loss of the war for the Germans, and the downfall of the German Empire.

Troop ship, World War One. This ship is an ocean liner, at one time the basic means, and in fact the only means, of getting across the Atlantic or Pacific.  Now, they're really a thing of the past, replaced by "cruise ships" which are similar, but which are taken in part for the experience itself.

The importance of the oceans to commerce, while still vast, didn't diminish at all until after World War Two, when for the very first time commercial air travel started up.  Moving at first people and mail, commercial air travel expanded into packages and even larger items, and now occupies the field in transporting people, who would rather endure a flight of hours rather than weeks or days.  Who could blame them?  But what's interesting about that, while it is a huge change, it also means that on the oceans, less has been changed by technology, no matter how advanced it may have become, than perhaps in other areas that we've discussed.  Certainly modern transportation has cut down on continental port to port shipping, but on the high seas, ships still dominate over anything else. 

The technology has certainly changed, and massively.  And quickly as well. Sailing vessels remained a viable commercial ship, with augmented coal fired steam engines, well into the 20th Century.  The largest of these ships ever built, the massive six masted schooner Wyoming, was launched in 1909, not even a century ago.  It tragically broke up in heavy seas in 1924.  As late as the 1940s some vessels of this type, although smaller, still sailed.

The Wyoming.

By that time, and indeed for quite some time prior, big ocean going steam powered ships had become common, so ships like the Wyoming and other fast clipper ships seem to be an anachronism, even if they were not. But the big ship era had really taken over, and had been a strong presence for quite some time by then.  For commercial shipping, they've grown even larger, with current commercial ships being unbelievably large.  As noted, they don't move very many people, however, and indeed a modern ocean going ship has a crew so small its almost unbelievable.  Oil tankers, for example, just have a handful of crewmen.  Only fighting ships and cruise ships have significant numbers of crewmen.

So, here we have the second oldest means of getting around still being one of the most important.  As an average person, you aren't too likely to take a boat somewhere because you need to, unless its a ferry to cross a river, or something of the kind.  But they're still hugely significant commercially, and as present as ever.  And like horses, our association with them is so strong, we still cling to them, naturally, for enjoyment.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Related Threads.

Horsepower

Riding Bicycles

Walking