information about the presence of Camogli ships in the Latin American area (late #ABCs-early #AACs)
FOSSIL FUELS
EUR (med) AFR (south) SA (east) AFR (med) EUR (atla) ASIA CA EUR (atla) * % ( " " " NA (east) # " # " " OCEA # 392
See, Legge D dicembre $>>L, n. 7L#1. Sui provvedimenti riguardo alla marina mercantile. See, also its update: Legge !7 luglio $>MD, n. 7$>. Riflettente la concessione di compensi di costruzione e premi di navigazione ai piroscafi ed ai velieri nazionali.
393
See Chapter / and also: E. Corbino, “Il protezionismo marittimo in Italia: le industrie marittime fino al &11.”, Giornale degli economisti e rivista di statistica, $&, No. &&, &5*&, pp. +)4-+15; Idem, “Il protezionismo marittimo in Italia”, Giornale degli economisti e rivista di statistica, $*, No. *, &5**, pp. $.-1&; E. Giretti, “I succhioni della marina mercantile”, Giornale degli economisti, +4, &54., pp. +)-.5.
"%(
Table +.1. Camogli’s trade in fossil fuels (&11$-&5&/). Source: ASGe, Giornali nautici.
As we have seen in the previous sections, British coal was also transported to different places than the Mediterranean. Being the most demanded merchandise of the globe, coal was shipped everywhere: not surprisingly, Table (.* illustrates how one-third of the coal shipments from Atlantic Europe were directed to South Africa (Cape Town and Port Elizabeth)394. Once again, by supplying with coal cargoes highly demanding areas, the ships of Camogli sailed along one of the most strategic routes for global shipping.
From the late "**,s, the success of a new typology of fossil fuel – oil – led to the creation of new route patterns and, in the following century, rose to wholly replace coal and, as a result, favoured the passing of the torch from the United Kingdom to the US as world-leading powers. The presence of Camogli in this trade is not intense and systematic: oil was loaded in three different ports (New York, Philadelphia and Savannah), all of them being along the US east coast. Oil, commercialised in tins or boxes, was shipped to the most different ports, Latin America (Montevideo), Southeast Asia (Batavia) and to the Mediterranean (Palermo, Catania, Alger and Alessandria).
Remaining in the discourse of fossil fuels, some Camogli ships transported shale oil from Sidney, on account of the Australian Kerosene, Oil and Minerals Company395. Shale oil was extracted from shale rocks through the application of various thermal and chemical processes. The final product showed qualities comparable to petrol. In general, the inclusion of Australia within the route pattern of Camogli took place from the "*$,s, but it reached an actual continuity in the twentieth century. To the Australian ports, Camogli ships travelled either on ballast or with the rarest general cargoes; there, they retrieved shale, railway sleepers, chrome and timber. For example, in "$,,, the barque Andaman ($"$ t.), ownership of Gaetano Olivari, reached Sidney after having discharged in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) a cargo of coal and concrete retrieved in London396. There,
394 See, A. Mabin, “The rise and decline of Port Elizabeth, &1.4-&544”, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, No. &5: *, &51$, pp. *).-+4+.
395 See, ASGe, Giornali nautici, n. &&5/&. 396
"%& the captain embarked shale destined to Genoa. After a few years spent between Marseille and the French Caribs (Martinique and Guadalupe), in "$,&, the Andaman left the French port with the load full of bricks to be discharged in Dunedin (New Zealand). Then, the return cargo was found in Queensland (Australia), where the captain filled the hold with chrome to Baltimore ("$,'). From there, not surprisingly, the Andaman returned to the well-known pitch-pine trade from Gulfport to Buenos Ayres and, finally, loaded quebracho to Genoa ("$,)).
Finally, turning back to the available cargo options for Camogli ships in the Atlantic area, it might be worth noting the few existing profitable freights for covering the passage from Europe to America. Indeed, in commenting Table (.' and (.), we underlined how most of the westward voyages to the Americas were on ballast. For Camogli, the lack of profitable outbound cargoes from Europe was associated with the absence of bulky merchandises. Indeed, the European countries exported to America mainly two cargo typologies: passengers, whose transportation was the first to be absorbed by steamships397 and general cargoes, which rapidly followed the same path. Therefore, it was natural that sailing vessels serving on tramping routes would hardly find outbound bulky cargoes to America. Nevertheless, the constant presence of Camogli's vessels in the port of Cadiz might unveil a different framework.
FOODSTUFF SA (east) EUR (atla) NA (east) EUR (med) EUR (north) AFR (equa) OCEA EUR (atla) "& # #
EUR (med) * " & ( " SA (east) ' " # "
AFR (med) ( (
NA (east) (
CA (
397 R.L. Cohn, “The transition from sail to steam in immigration to the United States”, The Journal of Economic History, $., No. *, *44., pp. /$5-/5..
"%'
ASIA (rice) " "
NA (west) "
AFR (equa) "
AFR (south) "
Table +.5. Camogli’s trade in foodstuff (&11$-&5&/). Source: ASGe, Giornali nautici.
As seen in Table (.$, from "**$ to "$"&, many ships called at Cadiz to load sea salt cargoes toward Latin America before engaging the Atlantic. The frequency and repetition of these cases might imply the inclusion of this trade within a more systematic route network in which reliability upon outbound cargoes to Latin America was fundamental to increase cost-efficiency. Among the merchandises included under the "foodstuff" category in Table (.$, sea salt is indeed the most recurrent (&#,)#%). Although Cadiz covered the absolute majority of the cases, sea salt was loaded in Ibiza and Trapani as well: then, most of the shipments went to Montevideo ("#) and Buenos Ayres ($). Less systematic seem to be the US demands for European sea salt, as it was possible to count only one cargo each for Portland and Halifax.
Another commodity which we labelled under the foodstuff category was wheat. As said, Camogli had a long history into wheat trade. However, following the loss of the commercial competition for the Black Sea grain with steam, the ships of Camogli were rarely seen engaging in this specific trade. Nevertheless, the transformation of the international wheat market and the integration of extra- European productors (United States, Argentina and Australia) provided new opportunities. Actually, the contribution of Camogli to these flows was never crucial; the load of wheat cargoes in the Americas (Montevideo, Buenos Ayres but also New York and Philadelphia) was still a rare event (#,)'% of the total routes with cargo)398. The practice of wheat trade was completely a-systematic: as in many other cases, it was transported to Europe (mostly UK and Northern European ports) as an improvised return cargo, within the lack of organisation which wholly reflects the tramp shipping model.
398
"%)
!.!.-.!. The steam fleet of Camogli: routes and shipping patterns
As said, starting from the early twentieth century, some shipowners of Camogli attempted to transition from sail to steam and purchased, with the same attitude demonstrated for sail vessels, second-hand steamers in the foreign markets. Despite the relatively minor importance of steamships within the general framework of Camogli's shipping, the analysis of the primary features of their routes and the commercial use which the shipowners of Camogli made out of them might be somehow useful. On the one hand, it will serve to outline the sharp differentiation between the shipping markets for sail and steam; on the other hand, some features will help us to outline a sort of continuity in Camogli's approach towards the two.
Among the hold logbooks in our possession, the following analysis will draw from the ones of two steamers, Deipara ("&,# t.) and Luigino ("(#" t.)399. They belonged respectively to Gaetano Maggiolo and Emanuele Bozzo who, at the same time, owned also sailing vessels400. From our recognition of the logbook archival collection kept in Genoa, we also identified the hold logbook of a third steamer, the Filippo Chicca (()% t.), ownership of Stefano Razeto. Due to its limited tonnage, it only engaged to Italian cabotage. Therefore, the inclusion of a ship presenting so strikingly different structural characteristics would have hindered the sample consistency: given that, the Filippo Chicca will remain outside of our analysis.
Firstly, the primary element to propose a distinction between sail and steam lies in the observation of the respective rates of voyages with cargo and on ballast. Indeed, whereas concerning sailing vessels the number of voyages on ballast reached almost one-fourth of the total (#&,&"%), the figure sharply decreases ("",,"%) as far as steamers are concerned. In other words, even in the hands of shipowners who were traditionally bound to sail shipping, steamers productivity was higher than its counterpart.
399 ASGe, Giornali nautici, n. ..)/& and &&++/&.
400 According to the &54* Italian register, Emanuele Bozzo possessed also the barque Maria Madre B. ()// t.) and Gaetano Maggiolo owned the barque Caterina G. ($*) t.). See, Registro Italiano per la classificazione dei bastimenti. Libro registro $M2!.
"%%
Area of discharge
WITH CARGO EUR (med) EUR (atla) AFR (med) EUR (north) SA (east)Ar
e
a
o
f
lo
a
d
in
g
EUR (med) (" ) ' " " EUR (atla) (, " AFR (med) "# % " EUR (north) " SA (east) "Table +.&4. Geography of Camogli's routes with cargo – Steamers (&11&-&5&/). Source: ASGe, Giornali
nautici, n. ..)/& and &&++/&.
Secondly, Table (.", outlines a totally different scenario with regard to route patterns. The analysis of the voyages with cargo underlines the dramatic discontinuity between sailing vessels, whose core point was the Atlantic ocean, and steamships. Indeed, most of the commercial activities concerned the Mediterranean and Atlantic Europe, with the substantial participation of Northern African ports. With the partial exception of Western Europe, all the mentioned regions covered a secondary role within the geography of Camogli's sailing tramp shipping. In the case of steamers, instead, they were central. In particular, concerning the loading ports, the share of the Mediterranean area, comprehending both the European and the Northern African shores, increased from "*,"&% to )',$*%. In broader terms, the steamers of Camogli, notwithstanding their remarkable tonnages, engaged mostly to the Mediterranean cabotage.
Moreover, a comparative overview of the cargoes transported within their traffics might lead us to achieve a better understanding of the nature of these maritime activities.
"%*
Figure +.). Merchandises transported by Deipara and Luigino. Source: ASGe, Giornali nautici, n. ..)/& and &&++/&.
First of all, in contrast to the general trends of steam shipping, Camogli's steamers rarely transported general cargoes (",,(,% of the total). Apart from the already mentioned Filippo Chicca, which engaged to national cabotage and established regular connections between Genoa and Naples, the rarest occasions in which Deipara and Luigino carried general cargoes (mainly composed of various foodstuff articles) either involved a passage to Buenos Ayres (in "$,), the first recorded voyage of Deipara) or were directed to Odessa and Alessandria. Indeed, rather than engaging to regular liner connections, the shipowners of Camogli opted for using steamers in the same manner of sailing vessels. Indeed, they were mainly deployed into the transport of bulky merchandises within the Mediterranean/Atlantic range, where sailing vessels had lost their competitiveness during the previous decades.
One of the leading indicators of such an approach might be identified in the return, after roughly three decades, to the Black Sea ports. Between "$,, and "$",, indeed, both Luigino and Deipara called at the wheat ports of Taganrog (' times), Odessa (#), Braila (#), Berdyansk, Novorossiysk and Theodosia (" time each). The commercial framework of the wheat trade was clear and well-known to the
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