The Canaries as ports of calis

              THE CANARIES AS PORTS OF CALL
WALTER E. M1NCHINTüN
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While historians have been concerned with the history of trading
companies and shipping lines and economists have analysed the flows
of commodities and the finance of foreign commerce, it is geographers
who have paid most attention to the shifts in the pattern of ports and
changes in their function and equipment. They have discussed the cha­racteristics
of ports such as general cargo ports and specialised ports
such as oil terminals, liner ports and ferry ports. They have also paid
attention to differences between terminal ports, intermediate ports ­and
ports of callo
But what is a port of call? In popular English parlance it is each of
the public houses visited by a seaman when he comes ashore to enjoy
an evening out. But it is also a term which has received more detailed
academic examination. As a result of an international congress organi­sed
in Brussels by the Société lean Bodin in 1968, three volumes were
subsequently published entitled Les grandes escales 1
, the French equi­valent
of the English term 'ports of call'. After accounts of ports of call
in many parts of the world -the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Atlan­tic
and the Pacific- from ancient times to the twentieth century, an
attempt was made to produce a general synthesis to answer the ques­tion
'what is a port of call?'. Setting the scene for the contemporary
discussion, two previous definitions were cited. In the middle of the eigh­teenth
century a French writer, Savary, defined ports of call as 'les ports
ou abordent les navires pendant leurs voyages, soit pour rafraichisse­ment
ou autres choses nécessaires, soit pour y débarquer partie de leur
l. Les grandes escales: Recueils de la Société lean Bodin pour /'Histoire Comparative
des Institutions (Bruxelles: Editions de la Librarie Encyclopédique. 1972-4) XXXII­XXXIV.
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276 Wa!ter E. Millchilltoll
fret ou pour recevoir des marchandises dans leur bord·~. A century or
so later an English author. Robert Stevens. stated that 'Ports of Call
are ports at which a charterer requires that a vessel shall call for the
purpose of receiving orders for the discharge of cargo at the port for
which she is finally destined· 3
. One hundred years on. the Brussels con­ference
produced a much wider definition. In my own contribution on
'British ports of call in the nineteenth century', I listed seven types of
port of call as follows4
:
a) ports of call for orders or market intelligence
b) for victualling or water
e) for stores (consumable or other) and for repairs
d) for or with mail
e) coaling stations, bunkering ports
f) passenger cruise ports of call
g) to take on or put off crew
h) political ports of call
I noted, further, that wartime provided a more specialised instance
of a calling port5
. And I also added that intermediate cargo ports were
regarded by sorne as ports of call but 1 excluded from consideration
harbours of refuge, the resort to ports of call under stress of weather.
and did not discuss outports where vessels take on or put off pilots() or
ports of call for naval vessels.
In the Brussels volume, three further types of ports of call were
identified:
a) fiscal ports. Of these, the best example is provided by Elsinore
in Denmark which between 1429 and 1857 was the place where the
Sound dues were collected from vessels entering or leaving the Baltic7
.
b) ports for the formation of convoys. Three examples will suffice:
2. J. SAVARY DES BRUSLONS: Dictiollnaire universal de commerce (Copenha­gen.
1759-65) II. col. 361.
3. ROBERT WHITE STEVENS: 011 the stowage of s!lIiJS a/l{1 their cargoe,\'. with
in[ormation regardingfreights. charter-parties & c. (7th ed. London. IR7R) p. SOl.
4. British ports o[ call in fhe nineteenth century in Les grandes escales. XXXIV Pé-riode
contemporaine el syntheses générales. pp. 22-3.
5. British ports ofcall in Les grandes escales. XXXIV. 23 note 4.
6. British ports ofcall in Les grandes escales. XXXIV. 23.
7. See Charles HilL The Danish SOLl/u! TolIs and the command of the Ba/tic (Dur­hamo
NC: Duke Universily Press. 1926).
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The Canaries as ports ofcall 277
Spanish convoys formed at Cuba before crossing the AtlanticK and
French convoys gathered at Martinique before returning to France'l;
other places, such as the Azores, were designated where ships which
had been delayed could rejoin their convoy 10.
e) wintering ports (Winterlage). These were places where vessels
spent the winter. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century Mozam­bique
served as an 'escale d'hivernage' on the Portuguese route to the
East lndies for vessels which had missed the monsoon 1I •
But this is to categorise rather than to explain. According to sorne,
a port of call is a port at which a vessel 'calls' rather than 'enters' and
the 'call' is in a non-freight-earning capacity. Such a 'calling' vessel
does not pay light dues nor is she liable to harbour or port charges. The
ship does not usually figure therefore in the shipping returns of tonnage
entering or clearing the port since these cornrnonly relate only to ves­seIs
which enter or c1ear in a freight-earning capacity. In consequence,
to distinguish a port of call further as fax as the vessel is concerned, a
bill of lading does not usually exist for this particular port. Ports of call
are ports visited for other than direct trading purposes. But this is a
definition which is open to challenge on several counts. First, if an
intermediate cargo port or a passenger cruise port can be accepted as
instances of ports of call, then it is not accurate to say that the call is in a
non-freight-earning capacity. Then, even if a vessel 'calls' in a non­freight-
earning capacity, it is hable to pay light dues. lt also has to pay
port or harbour dues, the chargesdepending on which part of the har­bour
and what services are used. Only naval vessels of the horne flag
are exernpt l2
.
In his discussion of a typology of ports of call, John Gilissen sug­gested
that a threefold scheme could be derived frorn the functions
which the ports of call performed 13. There were:
8. JAN A VAN HOUTIE: Les probli!mes humains et sociaux de {'eseale: rapport de
synthese' in Les grandes escales. XXXIV. 648.
9. L. DENOIX: Les escales de la Compagnie des lndes au XVllle sii!cfe in Les gran·
des escales. XXXIII Les temps modernes. p. 219.
JO. VIRGINIA RAU: Les escales de la "Carreira da índia" (XVIe-XVllle sii!cfes)"
in Les grandes escales. XXXIII. 16.25.
11. RAU: Escales de la "Carreira da índia» in Les grandes escales. XXXIII. 19.
12. Letterfrom P. E. STONHAM of 3 August 1971.
13. Une typologie des escales: hisfoire des grandes escales vue sous {'angle institufion­nel
in Les grandes escales. XXXIV. 699-715.
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278 Wa[ter E. Millehilllon
1 escales techniques: harbours of refuge, for victualling and water.
coaling stations, calls for crew, wintering ports, ports for repair or sto­res
and convoy ports
2 escales économiques: transit ports, ports for the partial un loa­ding
or loading of cargo, for orders, passenger liner calls and mail calls
3 escales politiques: military ports, fiscal ports and imperial ports
lA PALMA \J
HIERRO
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CRACIOSA:; •
LANZAiCOT9
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COMERA
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Miles
20 o rO AO eo eo
t---=-=<-"2,f- -===t.~.~~--------¡
Ihe ( tllltl,.¡n
As will be obvious from the foregoing, ports of call for sorne routes
may be terminal ports for others. Further. individual ports of call may
not serve all the range of functions set out and in sorne cases may only
have one function. Much will depend on location, on technology and
on the time involved. The pattern and employment of ports of call has
changed over time. When Europe began to develop trading relations
with the wider world in the age of sail, islands in the oceans in many
parts of the world suddenly became of importance. When steam repla­ced
sail the pattern changed and it was further altered first by the cons­truction
of the Suez Canal and then of the Panama Canal which altered
the routes of sorne vessels. The convoy port had its apogee in the se-
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The Canaries as ports ofcal/ 279
venteenth and eighteenth centuries, the coaling station its peak of im­portance
in the nineteenth century.
And so we must turn to the Canaries which, like the other islands in
the Atlantic - the Azores, the Cape Verde lslands, Ascension, St He­lena
and Tristan da Cunha - have served as ports of call in various
ways and at various times from 1600 to the present day. Situated in the
eastern Atlantic, the Canaries are about 1500 sea miles fram the En­glish
Channel, about 4500 miles fram South America and South Africa
andabout 70 miles off the African coast. They lie on the great circle
rautes between Europe and South America and between Europe and
South Africa. They consist of seven islands 14 of which Tenerife and
Gran Canaria have been the more important in maritime matters.
As is typical of the other Atlantic islands - Madeira, the Cape
Verdes, Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha - the Canaries
are lacking in harbours. On Gran Canaria the headland of La Isleta
pravided a degree of shelter for La Luz, the port of Las Palmas, and an
artificial harbour has been formed by the construction of three moles:
the inner or old breakwater, 1250 yards long; the outer or new breakwa­ter
to the seaward, 2835 yards long; and the Muelle de S Catalina which
runs at right angles to the other two and forms an inner harbour 15. A
smaller sheltered area has been formed by the Muelle Commercial.
The general depth of the outer harbour is 36 to 42 feet and the inner
harbour 3 to 42 feet. Berthing conditions are good. There are no docks
but ship-repairing is a relatively important industry. Elsewhere on Gran
Canaria there are only beaches, sorne of which have been protected by
small moles. A number are difficult to use because of swell and wind.
On Tenerife thereare two ports, the modern port of Santa Cruz
and the relatively insignificant Puerto de la Cruz. A harbour has been
formed at Santa Cruz by the construction of two moles, the Muelle del
Norte, 150 yards long, and the Muelle del Sur which was extended in
1938 fram a lenght of 250 yards to about 1200 yards. About two-thirds
of the enclosed area has a depth exceeding 26 feet. The harbour is
partly open to winds fram the north-east and a swell generally sets in
because of the prevalence of easterly winds. There are no docks here.
14. In addition to which there are numerous small islets.
15. The original breakwater at Las Palmas was built by Swanson & Miller. PETER
N. DAVIES. The trade makers: E/der Dempsler in Wesl Africa. 1852-/972 (Allen &
Unwin. 1973). p. 183. note 1.
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280 Walfer E. Minchinfon
On the eastern side of Puerto de la Cruz there is a small harbour with
two short moles but vessels usually anchor about three-quarters of a
mile offshore in 50 fathoms of water where they are sheltered frolTl
south-easterly winds but exposed to northerlies.
On Gomera, S Sebastián is the single port and the only frequcnted
anchorage. lt consists of a small sandy bay at the mouth of the barranco
about one mile south-west of Punta de S. Cristóbal. The outer anchora­ge
near the entrance to the bay has 10 to 15 fathoms of water but is
exposed to south-easterly winds and cannot offer much security in No­vember
and December. There is, however, an inner anchorage within a
small well-protected creek (Puerto de la Hila) in the northern part of
the bayo The method of discharging goods and passengers is by boat to
the landing-stage at Puerto de la Hila or by boat to the beach in front of
the town.
From a commercial point of view La Palma is the third most im­portant
island of the Canaries. The bulk of its trade passes through the
capital, Santa Cruz, and most of the remainder through Puerto de Ta­zacorte.
In addition, Santa Andrés on the north-east coast has a small
landing place with a quay that is used by fruit vessels in good weather.
The anchorage at Santa Cruz, considered one of the best in the Cana­ries,
is in 10 fathoms about 300 yards from the beach; it affords shelter
except during winds from an easterly quarter. The harbour itself is pro­tected
by a mole which projects southwards from the southern end
of the town. This mole is about 1400 feet long and 65 feet wide and
has a depth of 20 feet or more alongside pan of its lenght. lt is acces­sible
for ships drawing up to 26 feet but the depths on its inner side
range from 12 to 21 feet. The harbour provides good shelter except
from south-easterly winds. Since there is no harbour at Puerto de
Tazacorte, the inter-island vessels lie off shore and receive fruit from
boats or, during the long spells of rough weather, by means of a me­chanically-
worked aerial cable stretching from the c1iff. The usual
anchorage, in 17 fathoms at about half a mile off the beach, is exposed
to west winds.
The coasts of Hierro are steep and uninviting and the island' is
probably the most inaccessible of the Canaries. The main anchorage off
the island is on the north-east coast at Puerto del Hierro which lies
south of Punta Caleta. Here a short mole has been built which can be
used by small craft. The anchorage líes in 5 fathoms near the shore of
the bay with 17 fathoms c10se outside it. A second anchorage lies near
the southern headland of Punta Restinga in Puerto de Naos with depths
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BAIIJA
DEL
CONFITAL
PALMAS
Yards
~==~=~.~o;;,o ~~.O~O=~llOO
Plan of Las Palmas and Puerto de la Luz
I GUIa (new nreakw(/fer). 2 Esplanade. 3 Inner (oh/) /¡rrakwatrr. 4 Mue/le dr
S. (,({{({Iina. 5 Mue/le COlllrrcia/. 6 Muelle de Las P({llIIas
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282 Walter E. Minchintoll
of 9 to 11 fathoms; this is rarely used except by coastal vessels engaged
in local trade. A third exposed anchorage, seldom used, stands off the
west coast at Puerto de los Reyes.
AIl the so-called ports of Fuerteventura are mere anchorages ex­cept
Puerto de Cabras, the capital and chief port. Here there is a stone
pier which proj ects about 100 yards into the sea from the eastern end of
the town, thereby giving additional shelter to a creek 40 yards wide by
50 yards long into which small vessels can enter. Inter-island ships
berth alongside the pier or anchor in the roadstead just off the port. On
the west coast Puerto de Tostón and Puerto de la Peña are rarely visi­ted
except by small local boats or by a few sailing-vessels in summer.
On the south-east coast the Puerto de Gran Tarajal is visited by inter-is­land
vessels and by fruit boats on the way to Puerto de Cabras. The small
bay here is well sheltered except with winds from the east through
south to south-west. A small pier has been built but all cargo is tranship­ped
by surf boats and passengers are carried by waders through the
surf.
The only frequented ports of Lanzarote are about midway along
the east coast at Arrecife where an extensive series of longshore reefs
forms the two ports of Naos and Arrecife. Puerto de Naos lies in the
shelter of Islote Cruces and the submerged reef adjoining it; on the
south it is bounded by the Islote Francés. The harbour is small but
secure and has depths of between 9 and 19 feet over sand and mudo The
northern entrance between Arrecife de la Raya and the coast has a
depth of 7 to 11 feet and is generally used during winds from between
north and east. The southern entrance between the Islote Cruces reef
and Arrecife del Peregil has similar depths and is generally used when
winds are from the south or west. There is a short quay and large ships
may obtain anchorage off the port in 18 to 22 fathoms of water. Imme­diately
south-west of Puerto de Naos and connected to it by a very
shallow passage are the two basins of Santa Ginés and Estila which act as
harbours for small boats and have access by a narrow boat-passage to
the Puerto de Arrecife. Here the harbour is mainly formed by the Islo­te
de Santa Gabriel and Arrecife QuebFado. This natural protection
has been greatly increased by the construction of a breakwater from the
southern end of Santa Gabriel island. The pier is 670 feet long and of
this lenght 250 feet has a depth of 15 feet alongside at low water and
will take vessels of up to 800 tons. There are also three moles accessible
only to lighters, one at any state of the tide and the other two at high
water. Large ships may obtain anchorage in 17 to 30 fathoms in the
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The Canaries as ports ofcall 283
roadstead south of Arrecife Quebrado but this anchorage is exposed to
southerly winds 16.
The ensuing discussion will consider the Canaries as ports of call
under the following heads:
1 Escales techniques
a) for victualling and water
b) for stores and repairs
e) harbours of refuge
d) coaling and oil-fuelling stations
e) convoy ports and privateering base
2) Escales économiques
f) for orders and market intelligence
g) intermediate cargo ports
h) for or with mail
i) passenger cruise ports of call
3) Escales politiques
j) imperial ports of call
1 Ecales techniques
a) for victualling and water
To the subject of the provision of facilities for victualling and wa­ter,
little attention has been paid in studies of the shipping industry, in
histories of individual shipping lines or in accounts of the development
of ports. Yet food and water were essential for the operation of ships
and the carriage of passengers and sorne steps had to be taken to make
sure they were available at ports. For victualling and water the islands in
the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans carne into prominence. Conve­nience
was important but price was also a factor. In the Atlantic, Madei­ra,
the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, St Helena, Ascension Island
16. This account of the ports and landing places in the Canarics is taken from Spain
and Portugal IV The Atlantic islands (Naval Intelligence Division. 1945). pp. 134-i!.
162-3. 174-5. 1i!4-5. 191. 201. 212-13.
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Walter E. Minchinton
and the Falkland Islands were places where ships might obtain food
and water either as a planned and regular call or in an emergency when
food supplies ran out or water was exhausted.
Because they could provide abundant water and supplies, the Ca­naries
were indispensable ports of call on the route to the New World.
Columbus called at Gomera before setting out on his first voyage to the
Indies, taking on provisions at San Sebastián before he left on 7 Sep­tember
1492. On his second voyage he collected domestic animals at
Gomera and, like other explorers after him, called at the Canaries on
his other two outward voyages. The Canaries were important on the
outward voyages to the West Indies but, because of the pattern of winds
and currents, played little part in the return traffic. It was the Azores
which served as the 'Canaries de Retours'.
Pierre Chaunu argues that at first Gomera was the island at which
more vessels called than any other because it was furthest west but later
it gave place to Lanzarote, the nearest island to Europe. For the period
1550-60 Chaunu has calculated that 33 per cent of vessels called at Lan­zarote
and 31 por cent at Gomera. The other islands were much less
important; 12 per cent called at Gran Canaria and only 5 per cent at
Tenerife while 19 per cent of the returns did not specify at which island
in the Canaries' the vessel called 17.
In the eighteenth century the French Compagnie des Indes, for
example, arranged for its vessels to call at Tenerife regularly to reple­nish
their supplies of water, to take on fresh food and to stock up with
wine (and also WOOd)IX. The ships of other nations, including Dutch
East lndiamen Il), also called for such supplies. And if any of the crew
had fallen victim to scurvy they would be put ashore at the port of call to
be restored to health.
By the later nineteenth-century, however, the large ocean-going
sailing ships had little need for victualling or fresh-water ports except in
an emergency. The deepsea sailing vessel sailed self-contained relying
on canned foods and replenishing its fresh water supplies from rain,
17. P1ERRE CHAUNU: Sévil/e et /'At/antique V/ll (/) Les struclUres (Paris: SEV­PEN,
1959).359-60.
18. Les grandes escales. XXXII. 218.
19. JAAP R.. BRUUN. F.o S. GAASTRA and 1. SCHüFFER: Dutch-Asiatic ship­ping
in the 17th and 18th centuries. 11 Outward voyagesfrom the Netherlands to Asia ami
the Cape 1595-1794 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 1979).
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The Canaries as ports ofcalf 285
especially during doldrum showers when the salt was out of the sails.
But since the regular and passenger lines required food and water for
passengers and crew, the victualling callremained of importance in the
steamship era though the need for victualling calls was reduced in this
case also by the increased availability of canned foods. Information
about how and when these needs were satisfied is scanty. Food supplies
for vessels were usually obtained from ship chandlers but so far this
question has been little discussed in print20
. Theen, too, how was water
supplied? Was any capital investment involved? Who was responsible?
Which investors played a part? Were shipping companies involved? As
a partial answer to these questions, it is known that Elder Dempster
owned water tanks at Calle San Martin and at La Masita in Santa Cruz
on Tenerife21
•
b) for stores and repairs
In the age of sail, ports of call were of significance for supplies of
stores and for repair. Consumable stores such as canvas and cordage,
pitch, rosin, tar, billet wood, turpentine, candles and vinegar would re­quire
regular replacement and ships might require other stores in cases
of emergency. In a storm a sailing vessel might be dismasted, lose spars
or rigging or suffer damage to her sails and these might have to be
replaced. Since it would be cheaper to sail a considerable distance
under jury rig to a destination rather than put into a port partially to
re-rig, many repairs would be made at sea. But sometimes more needed
to be done and the vessel would then put into port. Certainly vessels en
route for the West Indies or South America would put into the Canaries
for repairs and it has also been stated that the treasure tleets used nor­mally
to refit in the Canaries before proceeding to Cadiz and Seville22
.
While acquiring stores and carrying out repairs were of importance
when sailing vessels ruled the seas, they continued to be of significance
in the age of steam. In the event of damage to a steamship or the break­down
of its machinery which could not easily be repaired at sea, the
possibility to seek shelter to carry out repairs in the Canaries would be
20. It has been suggested that by the second half of the nineteenth century thcrc was
a big organised structurc of agents or managing agcnts in aIl ports of call who looked after
the interests of the caIling yessels. See also JAMES S. LEARMüNT. Master in sail
(Perciyal Marshall rey. ed. 1954). pp. 152.187.
21. DAVIES: The trade makers. p. 453.
22. Spain and Portugal. p. 58.
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286 Walter E. Minchinton
taken readily if the ship was in the vicinity. Alfred Jones established a
large marine engineering workshop and a ship repair yard at Puerto de
la Luz on Gran Canaria23
•
e) harbours of refuge
Chaunu describes the Canaries as serving as shelter in two res­peets.
Though not well-endowed with the northern coasts of the islands
battered by the winds, the Canaries sometimes provided proteetion
from bad weather. In January 1582. for example. sorne ships sought
refuge from the storms at Gomera and, Chaunu continues. this was not
arare occurrence. 24 On Lanzarote. Puerto de Naos was important as a
refuge for small shipping in stormy weather.
The Canaries also served as a refuge from privateers25 although
they were not always suecessful in this role 26
•
d) eoaling and oil-fuelling stations
But the development of the steamship transformed the pattern of
ports of call. The early steamships had relatively ineffieient and eoal­hungry
engines and therefore needed to replenish their stocks on long
oeean voyages. Moreover. if eoal was carried. freight eould not be
carried. As W S Lindsay wrote in 1874:
Whatever may be gained by not requiring to stop at any inter­mediate
port 1 consider it a mistake in a commercial point of view
to suppose any advantage is to be derived from taking on board
on a steam -ship. especially when engaged on foreign voyages.
sufficient coal to carry her out and home. The space the coals
occupy in a steamer ought to be of more value. for the reception
of cargo than the cost of sending coals in sailing vessels to the
ports abroad where required. and than any loss sustained by the
expense and detention of shipping them there27
.
If therefore a vessel could coal at fairly frequent intervals she was
Iikely to operate more profitably. But coal was not everywhere availa-
23. DAVIES: Tile trade makers. p. 126.
24. CHAUNU: Séville etl'Atlantique. VIII. 357. For other examples see the notes
to tables in Séville etl'Atlantique. I1-IV.
25. CHAUNU: Séville etl'Atlantique. VIII. 357.
26. See below section e.
27. History of merchant shipping and andent commerce (Lonuon. IH74: rcprintcd
Ncw York: AMS Press. 1965). IV. 494. note l.
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The Canaries as ports ofca!! 2X7
ble; it therefore had to be supplied to the bunkering stations which were
set up from the colliery areas. Amongst the ports chosen as coaling
stations were Las Palmas and Tenerife. Before 1869 many vessels ca­lIed
at these ports on voyages to and from South America. Africa, Asia
or Australia. After the construction of the Suez Canal vessels for Asia
and Australia no longer went round the Cape but steamships trading to
and from South Africa or South America continued to coal at one of
the Atlantic islands.
Amongst the people attracted to the Canary Islands was Alfred
Jones, the founder of Elder Dempster, in search of a place to establish
a coaling depot for his ships which traded with West Africa. To make
this possible. Jones bought collieries at Garth and Maesteg in South
Wales and set up two subsidiaries, the Grand Canary Coaling Company
and the Tenerife Coaling Company, in 1884 which ran the bunkering
facilities in the Canaries2K
• The effect on the Canaries was marked. 'Be­fore
Sir Alfred established the Grand Canary Coaling station at Puerto
de la Luz in 1884'. it was asserted,
The port of Las Palmas was only an open roadstead and
about twenty ships per month caBed there. but four years later the
monthly average had increased to a hundred and Grand Canary
became one of the most important centres for the coaling of stea­mers
trading to and from South America. Australia. New Zealand
and South a~d West Africa2Y
•
Cory Brothers, the major South Wales coal exporting firmo had
bunkers in both Las Palmas and Tenerife30 while coal from the north of
England was available at Tenerife31
• A small amount of German coal
was also available in the Canaries, sorne of it brought by Norwegian
vessels which also carried timber for the crates used to pack bananas
and tomatoes for export.
28. PETER N. DAVIES: Sir Alfred iones: shipping entreprenellr par excellence
(Europa Publications. 1978). pp. 66. 105.
29. DAVIES: The trade makers. p. 126.
30. Founded in 1842 in Cardiff. Cory Brothers had 80 coaling stations by 1913. For a
list. see Les grandes escales, XXXIV. 50.
31. ADAM W. KIRKALDY: 8ritish shipping: it.l· history, organisation and impor­tance
(Kegan Paul. 1914). pp. 602-10.
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288 Walter E. Minchil1tol1
The choice of bunkering port depended on price - and the cheap­ness
of coal at the Canaries led to a growth in its coal trade. An incident
involving and individual vessel helps make the point. Lord Lugard,
who on one occasion travelled with Alfred Jones to West Africa via
the Canaries on the SS Benin in 1898 and did not enjoy his journey,
was especially annoyed when the vessel left the Canaries for she
had been stacked with coal to such an extent that it was level with the
bulwarks:
This, of course. is in utter violation of the Board of Trade
rules. which prescribe. 1 believe. a clear gangway from stem to
stern. Thus our lives are risked. and not merely to carry a little
extra cargo and make money. but because Ihis coal is cheaper
than that at Sierra Leone & c. It is wanted for her return voyage!
and so we are subject to this filth and inconvenience of constant
flying coal dust and our lives risked for Jones' pocket32
.
Elder Dempster vessels also coaled at the Canaries on their home­ward
voyages from West Africa33.
The Canaries became one of the major coaling stations provided
with British coa!. About 1900 bunkers for the British Admiralty. for
other navies and for over 200 different shipping lines meant the sale of
over a quarter of a million tons annually from Las Palmas34
. 'The coal
imported into the Canaries', one commentator wrote. 'is not needed
for local industries; there are none; it is destined to supply the bunkers
of steamships calling,35. By 1913 so great \Vas the increase in demand
that over 1 mili ion tons of British coal (out of a total of 21 mili ion tons)
was exported to Las Palmas compared with a similar amount to Monte­video
and 1.5 million tons to Port Said3ó. In this, price played a part.
When Owen Philipps (later Lord Kylsant) acquired Elder Dempster,
he thought the Grand Canary Coaling Company.
32. Davies. Sir Alfred Jones. p. 115.
33. Davies. Sir Alfred Jones. p. 67.
34. Davies. Sir Alfred Jones. p. 61.
35. A J Sargento Seaways of the empire: /lotes 011 the geogwphy of tral1sport (Black.
1918) p. 6.
36. Cornrnittee on Industry and Trade (Balfour). Survey of overseas mllrkets
(HMSO. 1925) Statistical Tables. part 11.
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The Canaries as ports afcall 289
Should have a bigger proportion of the 'Coal Pool'. The
other six members disagreed and in October 1910 a price-war bro­ke
out. This continued for several years and at one time the Las
Palmas price dropped to equal the Cardiff price. During this time
Philipps's opponents imported Newcastle coal in hired Danish
ships - tomatoes beingbackloaded for the return voyage. Even­tually,
however, the situation was regularised [by1the setting up
of the Atlantic Isles Depot AgreementJ7
•
In 1912 nearly 7000 steamships with a total tonnage of 16 million
tons called at the Canaries to bunker cheaply. More than half were
British ships but there were also ships belonging to Germany, Spain,
Norway, France, ltalyand Austria-Hungar/x.
Bunkering was facilitated at both Las Palmas and Tenerife by the
use of steam tugs and lighters, som~of which were owned by the two
Elder Dempster concerns, the Grand Canary Coaling Company and
the Tenerife Coaling Compan/l).
The bunker market was also affected by the demand for shipping.
The main influence controlling the coal trade of the Canaries was to be
found in the demands of the South American market. When the maize
crap failed in the Argentine in 1911 ships were diverted to other mar­kets
and so thenumber of calls in the Canaries for coal dropped40
.
The replacement of coal-fired snips by oil-fuelled vessels brought
about a further shift in the pattern of bunkering but the Canaries were
able to hold their position as major bunkering ports of call. An oil
refinery was established on Tenerife in 1929 with the result. that its
cargo receipts were dominated by imports of crude oil for this installa­tion
while its list of shipments were headed by petroleum products. Las
Palmas also became an important oil bunker port. lt was able to offer
oil cheaply, as it had done coal, because a number of oil companies
established oil terminals there and the competition between oil sup­pliers
kept prices down. In the 1930s it was stated that the facilities for
oil-fuelling were excellent, 'pipelines being laid on to numeraus points
on the inner and outer breakwaters'41. In 1956 Las Palmas sold
37. Davies. The trade rnakers. pp. 182-3.
38. Sargento Seaways, pp. 3-4.
39. Davies. Trade makers. p. 455.
40. Sargento Seaways, p. 8.
41. Spain ami Portugal. p. 138.
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290 Walter E. Minchinton
1.9 million tons of oil for bunkers and Tenerife 0.7 million tons42. For
Las Palmas a peak of 2.6 melian tons feached in 1970. With the oil crisis
and the world depression bunkeling fell shasply and the 1983 figure was
less than 1.5 millions.
e) convoy ports and privateering base
The Canaries served as a meeting place for Spanish convoys and
for the Portuguese also before the vessels set out on their westward
voyages across the Atlantic.
Because of their position astride the sea routes down the African
coast and across the Atlantic, the Canaries also served as a nest for
privateers. Around 1540 they served as a base for French corsairs. The
Englishman, John Hawkins, also launched his raids on Spanish ship­ping
from 'the fortunate archipelago'43. The Dutch East India vessel
Ha! van Breda which sailed from Texel on 22 May 1675 was taken in
the Canary Islands by four Turkish privateers after a heavy fight with
more than 100 casualties44. And many other examples could be cited.
2 Escales économiques
f) for orders and market intelligence
Before the age of radio, messages could usually only be sent to a
ship if she could put into port. Calling for orders or market intelligence
was therefore a method by which owners or masters could obtain later
information and masters could receive new instructions. In the seven­teenth,
eighteenth and much of the nineteenth century, it was common
for European merchants to have agents with whom they could corres­pondo
The Bolton letters, which provide a record of an English mer­chant
living in Madeira who acted for London merchants between 1690
and 1714, vividly illuminate how an agent in another Atlantic island
operated45 and no doubt other agents carried out similar functions in
the Canaries.
The position improved in the later nineteenth century when the
42. Gunnar Alexandersson and Govan Norslrom. Wor/d shipping (Wiley. 1963)
p.247.
43. Chaunu. Séville et I'Atlantique. VIII. 357.
44. Bruijn el al. Dutch·Asiatic shipping. 11. 188-9.
45. André Simon. The Solton letrers: the letters of an Englis!t merc!tant in Madeira
/695-/714. vol. 1 J695-I700(Werner Laurie.1928).
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The Canaries as ports o{ca" 291
Atlantic islands were linked with Europe and Africa by submarine ca­bles
and it then became possible to telegraph messages to the Azores,
Madeira or the Canaries. The English Eastern Telegraph Company
laid a cable from Lisbon to Madeira in 1873 -a link between Porthcur­no
(Cornwall) and Lisbon having been completed earlier- and in the
following year cables were laid from Madeira to Sto Vincent in the
Cape Verdes and then on to Recife in Brazil. The whole chain from
England to Brazil was open for traffic in June 187446
. Two Spanish-ow­ned
cables were laid connecting thc Canaries with Cadiz, one running
direct from Las Palmas and the other direct from Santa Cruz de Teneri­fe,
the first becoming operational in December 1883. An Italian cable
was laid from Malaga to Confital Bay (Las Palmas, Gran Canaria) and
another from Teij a (Tenerife) to Sao Vicente (Cape Verde Islands),
and a French cable from Teija to St Louis (Senegal). As the accompan­\'
in!! map sho",s. thc main islands of the Canaries were also linked hv
Radio ,ts(ion.s. ..........•
Submvine ClAblf1~•••••• _
Miles
JO 20.0 ~
I lit' ,\I,~III¡f ( "11111111111,',1/1111/.\ 11/'11,' <- ílll,IIÚ'S
00
o
S •
cable. Two cables ran from Regla Bay (Tenerife) to Confital Bay and
another two from Garachico (Tenerife) to Bajamar (near Santa Cruz,
La Palma). Single cables ran from Teija to San Sebastián (Gomera),
46. K C Baglehole. A century ofservice (Cable & Wireless. 1969) pp. 43-4.
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292 Walter E. Minchinton
from San Sebastián to Puerto del Hierro (Hierro). from Las Palmas to
Puerto de Cabras (Fuerteventura) and from Puerto de Cabras to Arre­cife
(Lanzarote)47. AH of these were Spanish-owned. These cables in­creased
the importance of the Canaries as calling ports for orders.
In 1878 Stevens wrote that:
The custom has much increased of late years to dírect great
numbers of vessels. especially those which are grain-laden. to a
port of call in the first place. in order that facilities may be given
for the sale and resale of cargoes at any market in the United
Kingdom or the Continent which may offer the greatest advanta­ges
up to the latest periodo This custom is fast extending. but is
now chiefly practised in the grain. seed. and sugar trades. Those
engaged in any particular trade generally agree on a form of char­ter-
party which may be best suited to the peculiar circumstances
of the case.
Stevens further noted that there were also 'ports of call on an out­ward
voyage to which the masters of vessels are directed by charter­party
to proceed for the purpose of receiving orders as to the loading
port,4H.
Not only sailing vessels but steamships also made such calls. Until
the first world war it was common practice for a considerable propor­tion
of the wheat and maize despatched from the Argentine to be con­signed
not to a fixed destination but 'for orders'. The same was true for
grain ships from Australia and California coming to Europe vía Cape
Horn. In both cases, ships would be cleared for Las Palmas or Teneri­fe,
their ultimate discharge port being left uncertain. Telegraphed ins­tructions
also provided the basis of operation for trams ships which
could receive orders directing them to the most appropriate port for the
cargo they were carrying or give instructions about future cargoes.
Their importance of this category of ports of call has inevitably
declined with the improvement in communications and the general
adoption or radio which have rendered it unnecessary for a master to
put into port to receive instructions or to obtain the latest news about
thestate of the market.
47. Spain and Portugal. pp. 106-7.
48. Stevens. 'Ports of call'. On stowage.
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The Canaries as ports o[call 293
g) intermediate cargo ports
The Canaries owed their importance more to their position as
ports of call than to their own production. Apart from coal and then oil
which were brought in to stock the bunkers, the Canaries required
foodstuffs to feed both their own population and the great numbers of
visitors who carne by sea and also -though this lies outside the imme­diate
scope of this paper- by air. Maize, wheat and flour were obtai­ned
chiefly from the Argentine, sugar, potatoes and preserves mainly
from Great Britain and fish, poultry, coffee, olive oil, canned goods
and other foodstuffs from other sources as well. The manufactured
goods needed by the population were almost entirely brought from out­side.
In the 1930s the chief imports were hardware and machinery of
various types, cotton goods and other textiles, rubber goods, paper,
matches and pottery. The iron and steel products were shared mainly
. by Belgium, Germany and Great Britain but -the latter was the most
important source of textiles. The Canaries also required imports to fos­ter
their agricultural production: artificial fertilisers and chemicals
carne from Great Britain and Belgium, sulphur from France and Italy
and fruit-packing materialsmainly from Sweden and Portugal. Most of
this trade was carried on by vessels making intermediate calls4
'J.
The export trade falls into three phases; first wine, then cochineal,
then bananas and tomatoes. In early Spanish colonial days Canary
wines were exported to the West Indies and Mexico and even over the
Isthmus of Panama to Peru. Canary wine was also carried in the later
seventeenth and during the eighteenth centuries to the English colonies
in North Arnerica and the West Indies but the market for Canary wine
in England was restricted by the limited market which the Canaries
provided for English exports50
. The trade in Canary wine fell off during
the early decades of the nineteenth century and especially after 1850.
Sorne of this wine trade had been carried on vessels which sailed direct­Iy
to the Canaries but most of it was carried on vessels which were
making intermediate calls.
The second phase was briefer. The Canaries found a rnarket for
cochineal which was used as a dye particularly in the textile trades.
Beginning with 8 lb in 1831, the shipments of cochineal rose rapidly,
especially after the collapse of the wine trade about 1850. In 1869
49. Spain and Portugal. 98-9.
50. A O Francis. The wine trade (A & e Black. 1972) pp. 133. 162.
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294 Walter E. Minchinton
exports exceeded 6 million lb (worth noo,000)51. Four years earlier
John Dempster had written to prospective clients:
Knowing that you are large importers of cochineal I take the
liberty of writing to ask your opinion with respect to our steamers
calling at Grand Canary or Teneriffe during the cochineal season.
My idea of rate would be 1/2 d. per lb., and if we thought there
was any likelihood of our getting cochineal in any quantity at that
rate, we might arrange for to call at one or both ports on the
homeward voyage52
•
With the development of aniline dyes in the 1880s, the trade in
cochineal dropped sharply. Exports of cochineal to the United King­dom
fell from f64,579 in 1885-9 to fl3,388 in 1910-1453. A small
quantity of cochineal continued to be produced for the manufacture
of rouge and lipstick and for use in silk-dyeing54.
The third and continuing phase concerns the export of agricultu­ral
products, particularly bananas and tomatoes. The banana trade is
discussed in another paper presented at this conference. Like the co­chineal
trade, the banana and tomato exports were carried on ships
which called at the Canaries as well as those whose voyages termi­nated
there. A list of the main shipping lines which were calling regu­larly
at the islands during the early part of 1939 runs as followS55:
British lines: Shaw Savill (Liverpool to S. Africa and Australia)
Elder-Dempster (Liverpool, and London to gulf of Guinea)
Blue Star (London to S. America)
Natal (London to S. and E. Africa)
Royal Mail (London to S. America)
Union-Castle (London to S. and E. Africa)
Yeoward (Liverpool to Canaries)
German lines: German Africa (Hamburg to guIf of Guinea. and to S. and
E. Africa)
Italian lines:. Italian (Naples to Vancouver; Genoa to east and west
coasts of S. America)
Lloyd Triestino (Trieste to S. Africa)
51. Spain and Portugal, p. 133.
52. Davies. The trade makers. p. 58.
53. Davies. The trade makers. p. 151.
54. Spain and Portugal, p. 159.
55. Spain and Portugal, p. 100.
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French lines:
Spanish line:
Belgian line:
Norwegian line:
The Canaries as ports ofcall
Navigation Paquet (Marseilles to Canaries)
Faire et Fraissenet (Marseilles to gulf of Guinea)
Transmediterránea (Barcelona. and Bilbao to Canaries)
Maritime Beige (Antwerp to gulf of Guinea)
Fred. ülsen
295
From this list it is c1ear that most of the steamships entering the
Canaries were calling vessels.
h) for or with mail
Since Las Palmas is conveniently situated at the crossroads ot the
oceans of the world, in addition to themail routes from Spain which
had their destination in the Canaries, other vessels called at Las Pal­mas
or Tenerife both to bring mail to these ports and to carry it away.
In addition to the Union and Castle Line vessels56
, other steamships
mademail calls in the Canaries, often bringing passengers as well.
The African Steam Ship Company's mail steamers made a call at Te­nerife
en route to West Africa57
. There were Spanish vessels on the
runs from Genoa to Cuba and back and from Southampton to Kings­ton
(Jamaica) and return, Portuguese liners on routes between Lis­bon,
Cural;ao and Fort Lauderdale and on the Lisbon-Rio de J~neiro
routes, vesseis of the L10yd Triestino and Navigazione Generale Ita­liano
sailing between Genoa and South America and Greek vessels as
well. After the amalgamation of the Union and Castle Lines in 1900
Union Castle intermediate vessels used to touch at Tenerife and Las
Palmas alternately unti11939. Since the war fortnightly mail calls were
made at Las Palmas by Union Castle Iiners, both on the outward and
homeward voyages. But these have now been withdrawn. The deve­lopment
of regular air services has provided a quicker and more fre­quent
alternative route for mails and so the. mailship service to Las
Palmas has virtually ceased, as it has done worldwide5H
•
i) passenger cruise ports of call
The economic and social history of the passenger cruise trade is
uncharted territory and only an outline can be given here. By 1884 the
attractions of the Canaries with their soft c1imate and plentiful sunshi­ne
were being set out in articles in British journals and tours were
56. Marischal Murray. Union-Cast/e chronic/e /853-/953 (Longmans. 1953) p. 299.
57. Davies. The trade makers. p. 75.
58. Themail carried by air exceeded that brought by sea for the first time in 1956.
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296 Walter E. Minchil1lon
being advertised and no doubt similar advertising appeared in publica­tions
in other European countries. In the British case, intermediate
steamers of both the Union Line and the Castle Line were doing well
fram the tourist trade. A circular of the Union Line, issued in 1889,
referred to the Canaries as islands to which there was 'a growing traf­fic
in invalids,5'!. The itineraries varied somewhat but in general the
Castle liners went to Las Palmas and the Union liners to Tenerife60
.
To inform tourists, a literature developed. Brown's Madeira. Canary
lslands. and Azores ran through many editions before it ceased pu­blication
in 1932 and was then succeeded by A Gordon Brown, Ma­deira
and {he Canary lslands (3rd edition, 1963) which was specifically
designed for the 'stop-over' visitors travelling on the Union Castle
liners.
In 1912 it was reported that the number of ship passengers visi­ting
Tenerife was 12,000. Twenty years later the number had grown to
37,000 while in the same year 43,000 passed thraugh Las Palmas61
• In
1940 the figure for Tenerife had risen to 43,00062
. The passenger crui­se
business in subject to the competition of other forms of holiday and
the whims of tourists. It declined after the second world war when the
stock of passenger vessels was low. but the demand for cruising rose
again in the 1960s. In 1968 a total of 450,000 passengers visited the
Canaries while in 1982 250,000 passengers landed at Tenerife and
268,000 at Las Palmas63
. In the brochures which can be found in 8ri­tish
travel agencies in the mid-1980s are advertised cruises by British
companies (Cunard with the QE II and P & O with the Canberra and
Sea Princess), the Norwegian line Fred. Olson and theRussian CTC
cruise firmo For a period in the 1970s the Finnish Finnjet. which was
employed in the summer, in the Baltic, operated as a cruise line out of
Las Palmas in the winter. No doubt the pattern of passenger cruising
will continue to change but in seems likely that the Canary Islands will
continue to have a place in the scheme of things.
Such traffic has a marked impact on the local economy. Where­ver
cruise liners called there was an incentive to provide for passen-
59. Murray, Union-Castle chronicle. p. 299.
ÓO. Murray, Union-Castle chronicle. p. 299.
ól. Spain {lml Portugal. p. ló2.
ó2. Alexandersson and Nürstrom, World shipping.
ó3. Instituto Nacional Estadístico, Annuario e.l'tadistico de Espwja. LXlII (19~3).
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The Canaries as parls al caN 297
gers. Cafés and restaurants, places of entertainment and shops grew
up to cater for the tourists and sorne proportion of the local popula­tion
carne to derive an incorrie from the visit of passengerliners.
3 Escales politiques
j) imperial ports of call
This is an aspect of ports of call which appears to have had very
little importance as far as the Canaries were concerned. In the early
modern period, because of the pattern of the winds and currents, Spa­nish
vessels naturally called at the Canaries on their way to the West
Indies or South America but from the nineteenth century when the
sea routes were developed predominantly by British shipping there
has been no need for purely political calis to maintain connections
between the Canaries and the outside world. But these links were
sharply reduced during the two world wars.
Finally, a rather unusual example is provided by the Dutch East
Indiaman, the Verenigde Provincien, which called at the Canaries on
its outward voyage in 1652 in order to get rid of sorne women who
had been surprised by the sudden departure of the vessel from the
NetherlandsM
.
CONCLUSION
As has been demonstrated aboye, the role of the Canaries as
ports of call was the product of their geographical position and was
greatly affected by changing trading relationships, a pattern of meteo­rological
conditions, developments in marine and communications te­chnology
and other factors. Sometimes the requirements of a port of
call had small and limited consequences and resulted in little capital
investment but in other cases, of which the Canaries provide exam­pies,
the role of a port of call was of major significance, resulting in
substantial capital investment, a spread of expertise, developments in
terms of organisation and institutions and the growth of employment.
For this reason it is appropriate to devote a paper to a discussion of
64. Bruijn et al. Dulch-Asialic shipping. 11. 108.
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298 Walter E. Minchinton
this subject for port activities and tourism are major aspects of the
islands' economy and it is also appropriate that it should be presented
by an Englishman in view of the fact, as other papers to this congress
also demonstrate, that British shipping and investment has played a
major role in the recent economic history of the Canaries. But, of
course, what is said here is only an outline. lt is, however, a story
which is worth telling at this length and, in the future. in more detail.
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