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THE CANARIES AS PORTS OF CALL WALTER E. M1NCHINTüN © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 éJ ALEGRANZA!) CRACIOSA:; • LANZAiCOT9 TE~N':RIFE,") cruz fUERTEVEN:tJTR'" COMERA O OLMPDIr.1a. GRAN CANARIA 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- © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009
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Calificación | |
Título y subtítulo | The Canaries as ports of calis |
Autor principal | Minchinton, Walter |
Publicación fuente | VI Coloquio de historia canario - americano |
Numeración | Coloquio 06. Tomo 3 |
Tipo de documento | Congreso y conferencia |
Lugar de publicación | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |
Editorial | Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria |
Fecha | 1984 |
Páginas | p. 273-300 |
Materias | Congresos ; Historia ; Canarias ; América |
Notas | Coordinación y prólogo de Francisco Morales Padrón |
Copyright | http://biblioteca.ulpgc.es/avisomdc |
Formato digital | |
Tamaño de archivo | 882164 Bytes |
Texto | THE CANARIES AS PORTS OF CALL WALTER E. M1NCHINTüN © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 éJ ALEGRANZA!) CRACIOSA:; • LANZAiCOT9 TE~N':RIFE,") cruz fUERTEVEN:tJTR'" COMERA O OLMPDIr.1a. GRAN CANARIA 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- © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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). © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 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. © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 © Del documento, de los autores. Digitalización realizada por ULPGC. Biblioteca universitaria, 2009 |
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