Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor and Waterfront

Boston offers to steamship lines serving the United States exceptional inducements to bring their through immigrant passengers via Boston. Photographs, Maps, Articles and Information on the History of the Port of Boston and Immigration and usage by Steamships.

Flag and Seal of Boston Massachusetts

Boston was so named in honor of the birthplace of the Rev. John Cotton, their second minister, who was from Boston, England.

PORT OF BOSTON, MASS.—1923

View of Boston Harbor.

View of Boston Harbor. GGA Image ID # 1444e31821

THE City of Boston, Massachusetts, is endowed with splendid natural port facilities, consisting of a broad, deep, sheltered harbor, among the finest in the world, with an area of 47 square miles, less than nine  miles to the open sea and from 200 to 400 miles nearer to Europe than any other North Atlantic port.

Three channels connect the sea with the harbor, two through Broad Sound and one known as the Narrows Channel. There are 146 wharves and docks controlled largely by railroads and the Commonwealth, capable of loading and unloading vessels of any size.

There is berthing space for over 40 ocean steamers at piers with a mean low water depth of from thirty to forty feet, all having connections with the various railroads entering the city, thus eliminating lighterage charges and saving time in handling.

The entrance to Boston Harbor through North Channel from Broad Sound has a depth at mean low water of 35 feet. The depth in President Roads varies from that depth to 60 feet at mean low water.

There is no entrance bar to Boston Harbor and the average tidal range within the latter is 9.8 feet.

 

Cunard Line Office in Boston.

Cunard Line Office in Boston. GGA Image ID # 12760bb6a4

 

Coal and Oil Bunkering Storage capacity for about 300,000 tons of bunker coal, also ample lighterage facilities are available, and in the matter of fuel oil, the plant of the Mexican Petroleum Oil Co., located on Chelsea Creek, maintains a storage capacity of four 55.000 barrel tanks.

The mean low water depth is 25 feet alongside the two wharves. each of which are 60 feet long and 20 feet wide, to dolphins on which vessels are moored. Tanks connect with wharves by pipeline, so arranged that two boats may be loaded or unloaded at one time.

Oil is pumped to the oil storage tanks from the ships hy the ship's pumps. The oil loading apparatus consists of steam pumps located at the power station on the property. Capacity for loading is 1,500 barrels per hour.

Grain Elevators and Storage Facilities

Boston & Albany Railroad—Total capacity of grain elevator 1.017.191 bushels: 700,000 to 800,000 bushels working capacity. Rate of loading from cars to elevator 15.000 bushels per hour. Rate of unloading from elevator to ship, 20,000 bushels per hour on. each side of the pier.

Boston & Maine Railroad, "Hoosac Tunnel Docks" —Total capacity 1.000,000 bushels, with working capacity of 850,000 bushels. Rate of loading from cars to elevator, 8,000 to 10,000 bushels per hour. Rate of unloading from elevator to ships, 10,000 bushels per hour.

Boston & Maine Railroad, "Mystic Wharf"—Total capacity 420,000 bushels, with working capacity of 350,000 bushels. Rate of loading from cars to elevator, 8.000 bushels per hour. Rate of unloading from elevator to ships is 6,000 to 12,000 bushels per hour.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts—One floating grain elevator, the Ellen M. Colder; built about 1873; length 152.5 feet: beam 35 feet: depth 17.1 feet; net tonnage 619; capacity about 24.000 bushels: operated by steam, but with no power for locomotion.

Berthing Capacity in Linear Feet

Boston & Albany Railroad—Grand Junction wharves. 6 berths, 35 feet depth.

Boston & Maine Railroad— Mystic Wharf. 2 berths, 29 feet depth; 2 berths. 30 feet depth; 3 berths, 35 feet depth.

Roston & Maine Railroad—Hoosac Tunnel docks, 2 berths, 27 feet depth; 3 berths. 30 feet depth; 1 berth. 32 feet depth; 1 berth. 35 feet depth.

New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad— South Boston docks, 6 berths. 30 feet depth.

Navy Department—Commonwealth Pier No. 5. 5 berths," 40 feet depth.

U. S. Army Supply Base—Nine to 10 berths, 30 feet depth.

Railroad Lines Serving Port

Boston & Maine Railroad: Boston & Albany Railroad: New York. New. Haven &• Hartford Railroad; Union Freight Railroad (local): Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn, a narrow-range passenger line running from Boston, to Lynn, Mass.

Dry Docking Facilities

Atlantic Works—Marine Railway No. 1. 1.000 tons; No. 2. 2.000 tons; No. 3, 500 tons.

Commonwealth Dry Dock—Graving Dock, 1,170 feet long. 114.75 feet wide at the bottom. 35 feet depth of water over the sill at mean low water.

Richard T. Green Co. (Inc.)—Marine Railway No. 1, 2,250 tons; Xo. 2. 600 tons; No. 3, 250 tons; No. 4, 1,500 tons.

Section of Port of Boston Waterfront Showing Steamship Piers and Coal Bunkering Berths.

Section of Port of Boston Waterfront Showing Steamship Piers and Coal Bunkering Berths. GGA Image ID # 1444e38c74

Simpson's Patent Dry Dock Co.—Graving Dock, wood construction. No. 1, 465 feet long, 49.3 feet wide, 9.5 feet depth of water over the sill at mean low water. Graving Dock, wood construction, No. 2, 163 feet long, 34 feet wide, 7.5 feet depth of water over the sill at mean low water. Graving Dock, wood construction. No. 3, 256 feet long, 28 feet wide, 3j4 feet depth of water over the sill at mean low water.

Boston Navy Yard. United States Navy—Graving Dock No. 1, 389 feet long, 60 feet wide, 25 feet depth of water at high water, ordinary spring tide. Graving Dock No. 2, 750 feet long, 101.5 feet wide, 30 feet depth of water at high water, ordinary spring tide.

Wharf and floating cranes and derricks of various types and capacities are available up to 40 tons.

Boston is the industrial and commercial center, the marketplace and natural outlet of New England. In total foreign trade, Boston ranks high among American cities, and in imports alone, it is second only to New York.

What has been classed as the finest freight and passenger pier in the world was built by the Commonwealth just before the war and is known as Commonwealth Pier. Its length of 1.200 feet and width of 400 feet provide space for five large ocean-going ships at one time.

It comprises three large two-story buildings of steel and concrete, with a floor space of 900,000 square feet. It is connected with the railroads by six tracks, two of which run alongside the ships at their pier berths.

The United States Army Base, built by the Government during the war, is now used. for commercial purposes and has accommodation for nine or ten large ocean steamers. The storehouse proper is 1.638 feet long and 126 feet wide with a floor area of nearly forty acres.

There are also three supplementary buildings—one 1.638 by 100 feet of two stories, and two of 924 by 100 feet each, three stories high—having a total area of about 900,000 square feet. With its modern equipment, shipments at this pier can be handled in record time.

Through the opening of the new Commonwealth dry dock, the Port of Boston has become one of the leading ports in its offering of ship repair facilities. This dock is one of the largest in the world, the only others approaching it in size being at Liverpool and Southampton. England.

Tn addition to the foregoing pier and dock facilities, there are the large terminals in Charlestown of the Boston & Maine Railroad, the Hoosac Tunnel Terminal with five large piers, freight sheds and a large grain elevator, and the Mystic wharves, comprising seven wharves with freight sheds, coal pockets and a grain elevator; also the terminal of the Boston & Albany Railroad at East Boston, comprising six piers with warehouses and a large grain elevator.

There is also a large pier in East Boston constructed by the Commonwealth. In South Boston the New York. New Haven and Hartford R. R. has extensive wharf facilities. There are also a number of piers owned by coastwise shipping, coal, private pier and warehouse concerns.

As evidence that the port development is not being allowed to lag in the slightest degree, at the present time, a large reclamation project is being carried out at the East Boston flats over an area of 600 acres.

The Boston Fish Pier, built by the Commonwealth, is the largest in the world, devoted entirely to the fishing industry. It provides berthing accommodation for at least forty vessels and is linked up by a trolley freight line and with the traction system of Boston.

Boston is the center of the American boot, shoe and leather trade and is a leading market for the importation of coffee, hides, skins, wool, Egyptian cotton and for the exportation of boots, shoes and numerous other manufactured articles.

The grain elevators have a combined storage capacity of about 2.500,000 bushels and a loading capacity of about 40,000 bushels an hour. Large, well equipped storage warehouses, four large cold storage plants and a modern immigration station, form necessary accompaniments and accessories of a progressive 20th century port such as is the nationally historical Port of Boston, Mass.

One of the Big Steamship Piers of the Port of Boston Connecting with the New York Central Lines and Boston & Albany Railroad.

One of the Big Steamship Piers of the Port of Boston Connecting with the New York Central Lines and Boston & Albany Railroad. Showing Also Grain Elevator and Leyland Line Berthage. GGA Image ID # 14450d64e0

There is also a large pier in East Boston constructed by the Commonwealth. In South Boston the New York. New Haven and Hartford R. R. has extensive wharf facilities. There are also a number of piers owned by coastwise shipping, coal, private pier and warehouse concerns.

As evidence that the port development is not being allowed to lag in the slightest degree, at the present time, a large reclamation project is being carried out at the East Boston flats over an area of 600 acres.

The Boston Fish Pier, built by the Commonwealth, is the largest in the world, devoted entirely to the fishing industry. It provides berthing accommodation for at least forty vessels and is linked up by a trolley freight line and with the traction system of Boston. Boston is the center of the American boot, shoe and leather trade and is a leading market for the importation of coffee, hides, skins, wool, Egyptian cotton and for the exportation of boots, shoes and numerous other manufactured articles.

 

Cunard Line Docks at East Boston.

Cunard Line Docks at East Boston. GGA Image ID # 12769aa8c3

 

The grain elevators have a combined storage capacity of about 2.500,000 bushels and a loading capacity of about 40,000 bushels an hour. Large, well equipped storage warehouses, four large cold storage plants and a modern immigration station, form necessary accompaniments and accessories of a progressive 20th century port such as is the nationally historical Port of Boston, Mass.

Boston's hold on immigrant traffic

Boston offers to steamship lines serving the United States exceptional inducements to bring their through immigrant passengers via Boston. These inducements are: a shorter ocean voyage to Boston; an inland rate to the West $1.00 under New York, free piers in Boston with spacious quarters for handling immigrants; finally, examination of immigrants on the piers where they are landed, without the necessity of transporting these passengers, at steamship expense, to a union immigrant station for examination. Immigrants entering the United States through the Port of Bostong were processed in an immigration center on Commonwealth Pier.

Commonwealth Pier as a Joint Passenger Terminal at the Port of Boston (1916)

Of equal importance with the transfer of freight between land and water carriers is the provision made for the transfer of passengers.

Why Boston must seek passengers

There are several reasons why Boston should pay particular attention to this matter. Passengers are much more sensitive than freight to every inconvenience experienced in transfer. Boston’s advantage in its situation near Europe is neutralized, so far as western freight is concerned, by the action of differential (lower) inland rates accorded to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newport News, Portland, St. John and Montreal. The strongest effort must be made to provide steamship lines at Boston with passenger earnings to compensate them for the lower freight earnings that the inland differentials impose.

The opportunity

Finally, it is possible here, as perhaps nowhere else on the North Atlantic coast, to provide for direct interchange of passengers, at least steerage passengers, between cars and vessels. This, however, is not the method at present followed. At the present time, every Boston transatlantic pier handling a passenger steamer has its own layout, where immigrants may be examined and admitted to the country.

If rejected or detained for further examination, they are sent to the present inadequate detention station on the end of Long Wharf. If there are enough admitted immigrants destined to points west of the Hudson River to justify making up a passenger train at the steamer pier, such a train is made up. However, it is not always that this occurs.

Half the time the westbound immigrants, like those for New England, are carted to the railroad stations and there put into their cars. Similarly, through trains are run from the West to a steamer pier when there are enough western third-class passengers sailing by a Boston steamer to justify a special train. This has occurred, however, only in connection with Christmas sailings, particularly those of the Cunard Line, for which trains of Scandinavian third class passengers are run from the Northwest. Most third-class travelers destined for Boston sailings come into Boston passenger stations on the regular Boston trains, and find their own way to the piers.

Practice at Ellis Island

It is instructive to compare this situation with that at New York. In New York no immigrants are examined at the steamer pier. Every steamship loads its immigrants into barges that carry them to Ellis Island, the United States Immigration Station. It is thus a joint immigration station for all lines. There are eight trunk lines operating west from Jersey City—the Pennsylvania, West Shore, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Lehigh Valley, Erie, Ontario & Western, Baltimore & Ohio, Jersey Central.

Successively, each of these roads is assigned a day on which it has the transportation of all westbound immigrants from Ellis Island. As fast as a group of immigrants is examined and admitted, they are taken to the joint railroad waiting room at Ellis Island, where they exchange their railroad orders for railroad tickets. Then, as soon as a barge load of them has accumulated, they are floated up to the Jersey City terminal of the road of the day. (Note 1)

By evening enough immigrants have been brought to the Jersey railroad station to make up one or more direct immigrant trains. A daily special immigrant train to the West is made possible by the concentration upon that train of all westbound immigrants arriving in New York that day.

Concentrated examination

This convenience and economy for railroad and steamship lines in the handling of immigrants is of course a by-product of the establishment of the Immigration Station at Ellis Island; it is not the object which Ellis Island was designed to serve. Ellis Island was built in order to concentrate at one point the Government‘s handling of all New York immigrants. They are brought to the immigration officers. The latter do not, as in Boston and Philadelphia, disperse themselves over all passenger steamship piers in the port and examine the immigrants where the vessels dock.

It is realized that as the immigrant business of Philadelphia and Boston grows, it will be necessary to have an immigration station at each of these ports, where will be concentrated the examination and detention of all immigrants. Such stations are now slowly under way. The Ellis Island station consists of four parts—offices, examination quarters, detention quarters and hospital quarters. Hospital quarters are not planned for the Boston or Philadelphia stations, which will continue to send cases of sickness to city hospitals.

The Philadelphia station

At Philadelphia $100,000 has been spent by the Government in acquiring a site for an immigration station. This sum bought an estate, including a house, in Gloucester, N. J. The residence is used as an administration building. One hundred thousand dollars more has been spent on the construction of a detention station; $100,000 more has gone to construct a wharf which will contain examination rooms for immigrants, who must all be barged there by the steamship companies.

An appropriation of $55,000 is still unspent; $23,000 more has been asked of Congress. This $88,000 will suffice to shed the immigrant wharf. There is no present intention of applying for a government appropriation for the construction of a hospital. In 1914 it seems likely that within two years the Philadelphia Immigrant Station will be in complete operation. It is many years since the first active steps were taken towards its building.

The Boston station

In the meantime, no constructive step has been taken at Boston. For $30,000 a site was acquired at East Boston. Local interests were not satisfied with this location, so the Government was persuaded to exchange it for another site, paying about $35,000 additional therefore. Plans were approved by the Treasury Department for the construction of an immigration station on the site chosen, on a total appropriation of $250,000 secured from Congress. It was then discovered that the appropriation was insufficient to carry out the plans. Massachusetts's congressmen have asked an, additional appropriation, bringing the total up to $375,000.

Judging from the many years it took to get the new Philadelphia immigration quarters, whose completion is still probably two years away, viewing the method in which the rebuilding of the Boston Customs House has proceeded, and recalling the manner in which government contracts are usually carried out, it is not easy to imagine an early completion of the needed Boston Immigration Station.

Cunard Wharf, East Boston, Circa 1915

Cunard Wharf, East Boston, circa 1915

 

BRB&L Railroad yard, East Boston, circa 1910

BRB&L Railroad yard, East Boston, circa 1910

 

Suggested station on Commonwealth Pier

It is here suggested that such an immigration station be fitted up for the United States Government on a part of the second floor of Commonwealth Pier. (Note 2) There are three second floor spaces—the second floors of the middle and of the two outer sheds. The second floor of the middle shed is connected by a viaduct with Summer Street, which crosses the South Boston freight yards at an elevation. (Note 3)

This middle shed has been fitted up with accommodations for the customs examination of first- and second-class passengers, and with large examination rooms for the third-class passengers. These examination rooms are large enough to take care of all immigrant passengers arriving in Boston.

What a station consists of

The Boston Immigration Station should consist of office rooms, detention quarters and examination quarters. Whether now proposed by the Boston immigration authorities or not, centralized examination of all immigrants will be necessary as soon as the Boston immigrant movement advances materially beyond its present proportions.

The Philadelphia station recognizes this necessity and provides for it in its immigration station; the Boston station should do the same. Examination rooms already exist at Commonwealth Pier. It would be a simple matter to fit up offices and detention rooms on a part of the second floor of one of the outer sheds. The immigrants detained would pass from the examination rooms directly across a bridge (Note 4) to the detention station.

The fact that the sheds are separate provides for complete isolation of detention quarters from the rest of the pier. No sick cases will ever be harbored in these detention quarters. It is well known that the third-class examination rooms are separated from the accommodations for first- and second-class passengers. The latter would have no cause to know that there was a detention station on one of the other sheds of the pier; and not the slightest cause to fear it if they did know.

Fitting up offices and detention quarters to please the immigration service would involve only the laying of floors and partitions, perhaps the provision of extra windows, and an extension of the present water and lighting connections and heating plant already serving the second floor of the middle shed.

It was once proposed that an immigration station should be constructed for the Government on the second floor of the Leyland Line Pier in the Boston & Albany terminals at East Boston. The proposition failed because of the unwillingness of the Government to lease such quarters from a private railroad company. No such difficulty would arise in devising a proper form of co-operation between the State of Massachusetts and the Federal Government.

Advantages of plan

There would be several desirable results of such an arrangement. The Government would be provided with roomy quarters, all on one floor, far more convenient to operate than quarters that can be constructed on the very narrow piece of land acquired at East Boston. The location at South Boston is one much more accessible to the immigration officials.

Within a few months these quarters at South Boston can be provided. The proposed immigration station should largely reduce the present heavy expense entailed by a dispersed immigration service. The saving, instead of beginning five or ten years from now, could begin at once. The Port Directors would receive substantial additional revenue from Commonwealth Pier. The large space on present piers now occupied by this multiplicity of examination and waiting rooms would become available for freight or storage purposes.

Convenience of location

Assuming that conditions existing before the war will be resumed when it is over, three of the principal immigrant lines in the port will then be berthed at Commonwealth Pier—the Hamburg-American, the White Star-Liverpool, and the White Star-Mediterranean services. No other one location for an immigrant station will serve directly so many arriving immigrants as a location on Commonwealth Pier.

Consolidate there the immigrants from other lines and they are in the most accessible location in the port of Boston, both with regard to direct loading of immigrant trains for the West, and with regard to carting the immigrants to the Boston railroad stations. Immigrants destined for New England will continue to be so handled. The location chosen at East Boston is not one that can have direct railroad connection, for it is east of the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad. (Note 5)

Attractions for immigrants

From the Commonwealth Pier the New England immigrants would be carted over the viaduct to Summer Street and so to South or North Station. The westbound immigrants would descend the stairs to the train waiting on the first floor of the middle shed. Though there might not every day be enough immigrants to form a western train, one could be made up very frequently, especially in the summer months, when the tide of immigration is running heavy.

The New Haven, Boston & Albany and Boston & Maine could alternate in running trains to the West. This is what they have already been doing in the case of immigrants of the Hamburg America Line landing at Commonwealth Pier; each road has assigned to it every third boat, and, for that boat, runs a through train to the West.

Philadelphia’s mistake

Philadelphia has made the great mistake of marooning its immigration station three miles down the Delaware River, on the New Jersey side. Immigrants must be barged down there and then barged back again, in order to get to the railroad stations and be on their way to the interior.

The immigrant appreciates convenience just as any one else does. He writes back home of the comfort with which he is at Boston transferred from vessel to car. Later, when returning home for the winter, he sails from Boston. When he buys prepaid tickets for the family left on the other side, he buys them on a steamer sailing to Boston. No one thing can do more to interest steamship lines in this port than to make it attractive to third-class travelers. The money in the North Atlantic trade is made in carrying immigrants.

The pier a landing stage

There is at the outer end of Commonwealth Pier a berth 400 feet long, available for the use of any steamship that may want to land its passengers there. All Boston transatlantic passenger lines not berthing at Commonwealth Pier should be invited to stop at this end berth for the hour necessary to land or take on passengers of all classes, and mails, in- and out-bound. The berth would thus serve as a union passenger station, or landing stage, such as the Prince ‘s Landing Stage at Liverpool or the Landing Stage at Tillbury Docks, London, each used’ jointly by all steamship lines.

Advantages for steamship lines

There are reasons why the Boston lines not now using Commonwealth Pier might be glad to take advantage of such an offer. The berth is so situated that it could be reached with ease and with no danger, involving only a slight change in the vessel ‘s course, inward or outward. To stop there inbound would save the vessel the cost of barging or carting immigrants to the immigration station at Commonwealth Pier, and save the immigrants the inconvenience of being so transferred.

The steamship line would have thrown open to it the splendid, accessible first- and second-class passenger accommodations of Commonwealth Pier. If all Boston lines will agree to use this as a passenger terminal, then, in the joint advertising which should be undertaken, the simplest directions can be issued for prospective travelers, for all would sail to or from Commonwealth Pier. A landing stage, such as this pier will be, would be an attraction towards Boston whose effect would be countrywide.

Practicability of plan

It does not seem impracticable for even the Cunard boats to make the call. Inbound, these boats must turn at right angles before entering their berth at East Boston. It would seem to be little more difficult to make this turn after lying for an hour along the end of Commonwealth Pier than to make it upon entering directly from the sea.

In the crowded waters of the Hudson River at New York, with its heavy currents, steamers of 10,000 to 11,000 tons, like the "Creole" of the Southern Pacific ‘s New Orleans service, and the "Cristobal" of the Panama Canal Steamship Company, use different piers for inward and outward cargo.

In either case the shift involves taking these vessels out into the Hudson River and towing them to the outward pier. The "Cristobal," 11,000 tons, discharges at Pier 52 and proceeds to Pier 67 to load. It would not seem an insuperable difficulty to move a vessel of any size across the quiet waters of Boston harbor.

Pullman service to pier

Prior to the war the Hamburg America Line announced that when the number of passengers justified so doing it would run a Pullman from Chicago and one on the midnight train from New York, to be switched at Boston to Commonwealth Pier and connect with the Hamburg-American sailings.

The Boston & Albany and New Haven roads are perfectly willing to put on a Pullman either eastbound or westbound, at any time, if a minimum number of passengers present themselves. If all lines were using Commonwealth Pier it would be simple to arrange to have all first- and second-class passengers from New York or the West, sailing from Boston on a single day, given the opportunity of using Pullmans run from New York and the West to the ship ‘s side on that day.

That is, there would be Port of Boston Pullmans run on the important sailing days of the year. It is not impossible that the plan would work so well that the steamship lines would arrange to have their sailings more frequently fall on the same day. Similarly westbound; by wireless the first- and second-class passengers on all lines arriving on a given day could be notified of the opportunity of taking Pullmans for New York and the West at the ship ‘s side.

At the pier they would find awaiting them enough cars to accommodate them. These cars would be switched to South Station during the evening, and would be put into the Boston & Albany evening train for the West, or the New Haven ‘s midnight train for New York. A first-class restaurant upon the pier would be necessary to the success of this plan, but one is sure to be provided if the passenger business of the port is consolidated there, to serve travelers and their friends.

Unique features of plan

The convenience of such arrangements can be understood by any one who has traveled abroad and has debarked at Liverpool, Tillbury, Southampton, Cuxhaven or Bremerhaven, directly into a train for the interior. The convenience would appeal particularly to elderly persons, women traveling alone or persons traveling with families. For all these people, in addition to the comfort offered them, there would be the not inconsiderable saving of the cost of being transferred from railroad station to ship.

Manhattan, located across the river from the railroads, can never have such facilities for contact between passenger car and ship. For first-and second-class travelers, this contact is now made in this country only by the Canadian Pacific Railroad at Quebec, where Canadian Pacific trains, one of them a transcontinental, meet the "Empress" steamers of the Canadian Pacific’s Liverpool service.’ (Note 6)

(Note 1)This barging from Ellis Island costs the railroads an average of 10¢ per passenger. It is fair to assume that the cost to the steamship companies of barging passengers to the island is the same. Return

(Note 2)Commonwealth Pier is 1,200 feet long and 400 feet wide. It is covered by three two-story concrete sheds, so connected as to form practically one continuous shed. The location of Commonwealth Pier is shown on Plan B, below. Return

PlateA_BostonHarbor.jpg (63370 bytes) Plan B, a diagrammatic modification of plan A is intended to show the sections of the waterfront, intermediate and outer belt lines at Boston, and the parts they play, or can play, in the coordination of interchange between railroads or between railroads and water carriers.

(Note 3)Summer Street crossing South Boston at an elevation is seen in the panorama of South Boston terminals, (see below). Return

RailroadTerminalsAndPiersAtSouthBoston1915.jpg (59863 bytes)

Railroad Terminals and Piers at South Boston, circa 1915

(Note 4)Connecting the second stories of the three pier sheds. Return

(Note 5)This road terminates at grade at a ferry house to the east of the Boston & Albany. See Plan B, above. Return

(Note 6)If a universal use by the Boston lines of Commonwealth Pier as a landing stage came to pass, it would probably be necessary to enlarge the present first- and second-class passenger accommodations on the second floor of the middle shed, extending them to include a small part of the second floor of the outer shed not occupied by the Immigration Station. The rest of this second floor should be devoted to another purpose.

Commonwealth Pier is a terminal, not a pier in the ordinary sense of the word. After the war, there will be three transatlantic lines discharging cargo upon it: the Hamburg America Line, the White Star from Liverpool, the White Star from the Mediterranean. No terminal is complete without a warehouse to store free of bonded goods that are not destined for immediate shipment inland. No other terminal is without such a warehouse; both the Boston & Albany and Boston & Maine roads operate warehouses at East Boston and Charlestown respectively.

The second story of an outer shed of Commonwealth Pier contains 100,000 square feet of floor space; enough, if divided into bonded and free stores, to amply care for warehoused cargo of the three lines. The establishment of such a free and bonded warehouse, caring for stored import freight, would be another step towards making the Pier self-supporting, in addition to being a convenience to the steamship lines and their shippers.

The East Boston warehouse of the Boston & Albany is a separate building of permanent fireproof construction. Its accounts are kept separately, and it is charged with a loading and switching charge on all freight taken to it from the Boston & Albany Piers. Yet it is fairly profitable. The warehouse on Commonwealth Pier would be instituted by merely putting up partitions in a fireproof building already constructed and supplied with water and lighting connections, and a heating plant capable of expansion.

There wilt be no loading or switching charge to absorb to get goods from the Pier to the warehouse; these goods would come up in freight elevators already constructed, elevators whose prospective use otherwise would not be easy to describe. Therefore, the Commonwealth Pier warehouse would be a profitable thing. The State should not operate a warehouse, but should re-fit the space for such quarters and lease them for operation. The initial storage and profits of the business would be increased as more oversea piers are built at South Boston, the stored import freight from these piers to be switched over to the warehouse at Commonwealth Pier.

New Steamship Lines at Boston (1914)

Much of the public interest in port development which culminated in the passage of the $9,000,000 appropriation in 1911 was due to the agitation to make Boston a great passenger port, particularly in the transatlantic trade. It appears that very little consideration was given to the ocean freight business which was expected to follow as a matter of course.

The apparent theory was that by providing the most up-to-date passenger facilities money could buy, much of the transatlantic passenger business of the country which had been for years going through the port of New York would be attracted to the port of Boston.

The experience of the Hamburg America Line, the first steamship company to use the new facilities provided by the State, was, however, to the contrary, passenger business being below and freight business above expectations.

The following story of the steamship situation at the port of Boston in July, 1914, prior to any interruption on account of the war in Europe, will be of interest when contrasted with the first chapter of the report of the Directors for 1913.

Cunard Line

The Cunard Line, with a passenger and freight service to and from Boston for over forty years, was in 1913 building the "Aquitania" for their New York-Liverpool service, which boat, together with the "Lusitania" and the "Mauretania," could well take care of the Cunard Line business at that port.

In the fall of 1913 the Cunard Company announced that the "Caronia" and "Carmania" would be transferred from the New York service to Boston, making, with the "Franconia" and "Laconia," a weekly in place of a fortnightly service to and from this port.

Application was unsuccessfully made to the Port Directors for use of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, to accommodate the improved service. The new railings started in the spring of 1914 were disarranged in August, when the "Carmania," "Caronia" and "Laconia" were requisitioned by the British government for war services, forcing the "Franconia" to the New York trade, so that the service at Boston is now entirely a fortnightly freight one, maintained by vessels chartered by the Cunard Line. The boats dock at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal, East Boston.

 

Cunard Steamship Company Ltd. Minimum Cabin and Second Class Rates for the Port of Boston to and From Other Ports, 1927.

Cunard Steamship Company Ltd. Minimum Cabin and Second Class Rates for the Port of Boston to and From Other Ports, 1927. Port of Calls Include Liverpool, Queenstown (Cobh), Cherbourg, Antwerp, Ostend, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Hamburg (via Grimsby), Danzig, Pillau, Riga, Labau, Memel, Select Scandinavian Ports, Stockholm, and Abo, Hango, and Helsingfors. GGA Image ID # 1dbba4c74d

 

 

White Star Line

The White Star Line, with services fortnightly to Liverpool and every three weeks to the Mediterranean, had been docking at the Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown for years. The piers and sheds used were in very had condition and the docking accommodations too small and crowded to permit larger boats being put on by this line at the port of Boston.

RMS Arabic Twin-Screw 15,000 Tons - The Largest and Fastest Steamship in the Boston Trade.

RMS Arabic Twin-Screw 15,000 Tons - The Largest and Fastest Steamship in the Boston Trade. GGA Image ID # 1448b9e273

Accordingly, the White Star Line made application in the fall of 1913 for the use of the east half of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, which was then nearing completion. The Cunard Line also made application, but the Directors of the Tort decided in favor of the White Star Line, and entered into a contract whereby that line agreed to place in service at Boston within two years large boats of their line of the "Celtic" type (680 feet long), which they never would have been able to put on at Boston had they remained at the Boston & Maine Railroad terminal at Charlestown.

Hamburg America Line

In 1912, the Hamburg America Line had been running a triangular freight service, Hamburg-Boston-Baltimore, for about ten years, and was building the world's largest ship "Imperator" for its New York service. Negotiations had been started by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company the year before to have this line inaugurate a direct passenger and freight service between Hamburg and Boston.

Meanwhile, the Directors of the Port began arrangements with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company for the release to the State of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, and with the Hamburg America Line for the use of this pier. Both became a matter of contract in the fall of 1912.

The new Boston service of this line was to start in the spring of 1913, at which time the "Imperator," (900 feet long) was to make her maiden trip in the New York service. The passenger piers at the port of New York were then about 800 feet in length and therefore unable properly to handle a ship of this size. Petition had been made to the War Department. for a 100 foot extension of the pier head line so that extra temporary accommodations might be built, but without avail.

The Secretary of War refused to allow further encroachment on the navigable waters of the Hudson River. The Hamburg America Line having secured the lease of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, 1,200 feet long, where the "Imperator" could be docked and have 300 feet to spare, sent the ranking captain of the ship to this port to look the ground over.

When these facts were brought to the attention of the New York press and it seemed as though the world's largest ship would enter the Boston service on her maiden voyage rather than New York, public opinion and pressure at that port became so strong and insistent that the War Department finally granted the extension.

The Hamburg America Line being able to secure at New York the desired accommodations, the steamships "Cleveland" and "Cincinnati," supplanted on the New York service by the new "Imperator," were transferred to Boston, and, likewise, when the yet larger steamship " Vaterland" came to New York in the summer of 1914, the "Amerika" from New York was added to the Boston service. The Boston boats berth at Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston. The service is at present entirely discontinued, the "Amerika" and "Cincinnati" being tied up at this port on account of the war in Europe.

The German Steamship Companies

The North German Lloyd and Hamburg America Line agreement regarding the division of passenger business to and front American and German ports expired in the spring of 1913, and temporary agreements were made from time to time until the matter could be more definitely settled.

The Hamburg America Line claimed that they were entitled to a better division of the passenger business than under the previous contract on account of the new large ships they had brought out. The North German Lloyd then invaded the field of the other company by inaugurating a passenger and freight service to Boston in September, 1913, and the Hamburg America Line made a like entry at the port of Baltimore, hitherto the exclusive passenger territory of the North German Lloyd Line for German business.

The service to Boston started without any preliminaries, and although the two companies afterward came to an agreement, the North German Lloyd to Boston continued sending a boat every three weeks, Bremen-Boston-New Orleans-Bremen, up to August of this year, when the service was interrupted on account of the war in Europe.

The North German Lloyd boats, when coming to Boston, docked at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal in East Boston. Four North German Lloyd steamships are now interned at this port on account of the war in Europe, the "Willehad" and "Wittekind" from Montreal together with the "Koeln" of the Boston service, at Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, and the "Kronprinzessin Cecilie" at the site of Commonwealth Pier No. 1, East Boston (old Eastern Railroad Pier).

Russian-American Line

The Russian-American Line has conic to Boston only twice in recent years, once in October and again in December, 1913. The Port Directors became interested in a Russian line to Boston in the spring of 1912. The matter came up again in the summer of 1913 through the foreign representative of one of the Boston railroads, who had interested a director of the Russian-American Line in Boston.

The Port Directors induced the New York agents of the line to come to Boston in October, 1913, for a conference, awl as a result a boat was sent to Boston that month and again in December. These two were the only sailings made. The boats docked at the Mystic and I Hoosac terminals of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and brought each time only a small number of passengers and a small amount of freight for this port.

Italian Steamship Lines

Four of the six Italian steamship lines trailing to New York were controlled by the Navigazione Generale Italiana Company, and the six or seven sailings a month from that port often conflicted with one another, making unnecessary duplicating of service awl expense, with no additional revenue therefore.

During the winter of 1912-13, the Port Directors tried to interest the Italian lines in Boston again. They had been here for the three years previous to 1912. at which time their boats in service to this port had been requisitioned by the Italian government for war purposes.

The Hamburg America Line, in its contract with the Port Directors, had reserved the right to inaugurate a Mediterranean service from this port, and when a prominent member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce while in Europe took up the matter of a resumption of its Boston mailings with the directors of the Italian line, the effort was successful, and the Navigazione Generale Italiana resumed its Boston service in July, 1913, continuing the same with four boats during the balance of that year 811(1 with four boats during 1914 to date. The service is it valuable addition to our otherwise single direct Mediterranean connection. The boats dock at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal in East Boston.

The Warren Line

The action of the Warren Line to Liverpool in fitting up their Boston vessels during the spring of 1913 to carry passengers as well as freight was due to the many inquiries made of the company from time to time by individuals wishing to sail abroad by this line. The Warren Line vessels (lock at the Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad at Charlestown.

The service has not been appreciably disturbed on account of the war, only one of the boats trading to Boston having been requisitioned by the British government. However, the lines of this company running to other ports have been so disturbed that the services have had to be rearranged, and the Boston sailings have been taken by the purely freight -boats of the line, most of which are larger than their predecessors.

The Allan Line

The improvement in the Boston service of the Allan Line to Glasgow by the addition of the large steamship "Pretorian" in the summer of 1914 was due to the bringing out of the two new boats "Alsatian" and "Calgarian" in the Montreal-Glasgow trade, which allowed the transfer of the "Pretorian" from Montreal to Boston and the disposal by sale of the old Boston-Glasgow boat "Parisian."

The closing to navigation of the St. Lawrence River in Canada forces the extensive Montreal sailings of this line to St. John, N. B., and to Portland, Me., for the winter, and the requisition of boats for war service by the British government has resulted in changing around the boats of this line so that the Boston service is now maintained by one regular and one chartered vessel, with a sailing once a month instead of fortnightly. This line docks at the Mystic terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown.

Sweden-Norway Line

In October, 1912, representatives of the Sweden-Norway Line were in Boston and called at the Port Directors' offices for information. This company controls the Norway-Mexico-Gulf and the Swedish-America-Mexico lines operating from the Scandinavian Peninsula to Newport News, Galveston, Mexican ports and Cuba.

The company at the time was engaged in constructing new oil-burning boats for its Gulf of Mexico service, and contemplated running the coal-burning boats in a Boston-Philadelphia-Newport News trade from Christiania, Norway, and Gothenburg, Sweden. The plans materialized, and in January 1914, the line started monthly sailings to and from Boston, taking passengers and freight both ways.

The War in Europe

The advent of the war in Europe and the interruption of the business of the German lines has so boomed the ocean carrying business of this company that the monthly sailings to and from Boston have been increased to more than one a week, and the regular passenger and freight boats have been augmented by purely freight boats. This line docks at Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown.

United Fruit Company

The United Fruit Company in November, 1913, announced a new weekly service from Boston to Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica, sailings to begin in January, 1914. The company was at the time building. or bringing out in their New York service time three new boats "Pastures," "Calmares" and "Tenadores," making it possible to transfer the large combination passenger and freight steamships "Sixaola," "Carrillo" and "Tithes" from New York to Boston, to take the place of the purely freight boats running to this port from the West Indies and Central America.

In April. 1914, the company was forced, on account of lack of business originating at Boston, to change their Jamaica-Panama-Costa Rica service to a Havana-Costa Rica service, and in October, 1914, on account of lack of passenger support at Boston, the new boats were sent back to New York to inaugurate a new service to Santiago, Cuba.

Boston still has the weekly United Fruit service to and from Havana and Costa Rica, but has lost the direct sailings to and from Jamaica and Panama and must again be content with the slower boats carrying freight only. This line docks at Long Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

Effect of the War in Europe

The effect of the war in Europe and the suspension of the former rigid navigation laws of the United States by Congress have resulted in the abandonment of the British registry by the boats of this line, and they are now all sailing under the American flag.

Boston-Pacific Line

The Boston-Pacific Line through the Panama Canal to Pacific coast ports is a tribute to the enterprise of an old time Boston shipping concern, .John S. Emery Co., Inc. Two ocean-going steamers built at Fore River, Quincy, and one steamship chartered from the Porto Rico Steamship Company, are maintaining the sailings of the line, giving a distinct service to New England manufacturers and shippers by opening to them the markets of the Pacific coast and of the northwest, from which they have hitherto been almost excluded on account of either a long and costly overland rail haul, or steamship services necessitating many rehandlings and delays.

Request was made to the Port Directors in September, 1913, by the promoters of this line to call a meeting of New England manufacturers and shippers to see what tonnage was available from this part of the country to support such a line, if established.

A conference of manufacturers, shippers and traffic men was held at the office of the Port Directors, at which was presented a report of a canvass made by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, showing the tonnage of freight that could advantageously he forwarded by the individual shippers to and from New England via this service.

The establishment of the Boston-Pacific line is a concrete example of what the construction of the Panama Canal means to New England, and how it has opened and made available to New England by means of cheap direct water transportation, with the minimum amount of costly rekindling, the markets of the Pacific roast and of the northwest.

This line is an important factor in New England's prosperity and industrial supremacy, and deserves the united support of this section of the country. Its presence at this port brings other lines to Boston in competition with it, providing additional services of which the New England shipper can take advantage.

The first sailing of the Boston-Pacific Line from Boston was in September, 1914, and a regular monthly service to and from Boston and the Pacific coast is now established. The boats dock at the piers of the Terminal Wharf and Railroad Warehouse Company in Charlestown, on the Mystic River.

As a result of the formation in 1913 of the Boston-Pacific Line, the American-Hawaiian Line from Pacific coast ports of the United States extended their services to Boston in December of that year, and ran boats monthly to this port until Mardi, 1914, when the service was discontinued on account of the Mexican revolutions, which interfered with the transshipment of freight via this line across the Tehuantepec Railroad in Mexico.

Until September, 1914, the service to Boston was one way only, bringing freight to this port but taking no cargo on the return voyage. With the Panama Canal opened for traffic, and the Boston-Pacific Line thoroughly established, a regular schedule of monthly railings, carrying freight both in and out of Boston. was inaugurated.

This company gains no particular advantage in coining to Boston, but the New England manufacturers and shippers gain a decided advantage by means of the lower inland railroad rate to and front Boston and New England points, and also by the direct and expeditious delivery of their goods with the minimum amount of handling and re-handling. The boats of this company dock at Pier No. 4, New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, in South Boston. They have announced three sailings a month for 1915.

This line, with the Boston-Pacific, is Boston's contribution to the Panama Canal trade, offering Massachusetts and New England manufacturers and shippers four boats a month at least to and from the markets of the Pacific coast and the northwest.

The improvement in the Savannah Line service to and from Boston in September, 1913, by the addition of the 5,000 ton steamship "City of Atlanta's was due to the coming out in 1912 of the new steamer "St. Louis" of this line in the New York-Savannah service, forcing the "City of Atlanta" to lay up at New York in reserve.

A change of policy in the company in 1913 to abandon holding an emergency ship in reserve at New York released the "City of Atlanta'' and made her available for the Boston-Savannah service, in which she was placed in September of that year. The two boats running in the Boston trade were transferred to the New York-Galveston Line, and afterwards requisitioned by the United States government to carry troops to Mexico.

The steamers "Nacoochee" and "City of Atlanta" give Boston two sailings a week to and from Savannah, Ga., carrying both passengers and freight. The boats dock at Lewis Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

Clyde Line

Another line to increase its sailings at the port of Boston in 1913 was the Clyde Line to Charleston, S. C., awl Jacksonville, Ha., which in November of that year inaugurated biweekly in place of weekly sailings.

This was due to the natural increase of business to awl from this port, to the heavy movement of potatoes from State of Maine points southbound via Boston, and to a very good business in lumber .and cotton northbound that year.

The improved service lasted until the spring of 1911, when it was reduced to one boat a week on account of the falling off of the southbound food-potato business from Maine, because the northbound business was greatly affected by the poor market for lumber, and finally to the war in Europe, which greatly injured the movement of cotton from the south, much of which, particularly from the southeast, comes to Boston via the coastwise steamship lines for export to Europe.

This line is now maintaining a weekly service to and from this port. The boats dock at Lewis Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

Plant Line

The Plant Line to and from Boston and the Canadian provinces, in the natural growth and extension of its business, brought out from Scotland in 1912 the new 5,000 ton steamship "Evangeline," and chartered her for the winter of 1912-13 for southern service, using her for the regular Boston-Halifax sailings in the summer of 1913. The same procedure was allowed through the winter of 1913-14 and the summer of 1914.

The Company maintains one sailing a week during the winter, with more frequent sailings in the summer. The boats dock at Commercial Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.
It has been felt necessary to publish the above information, giving the facts in each case, in order to point out the real causes and conditions governing the improved and new services at Boston, calling particular attention to the intense competition among American North Atlantic ports, and the strategy of the transatlantic steamship companies in taking advantage of the same.

The Fabre Line

A particularly flagrant instance of the playing of ports one against the other by the steamship companies in order to force concessions to be given them is that of the Fabre Line in 1913.

This line had been running a service to Providence, R. I., for some few years, and was negotiating with the Rhode Island State Harbor Commission for accommodations at a new State pier being built at Providence. The steamship company wanted certain concessions in connection with the use of this pier which the State harbor commission did not feel like granting.

So, in October, 1913, the Fabre Line sent one of their Providence boats into the port of Boston, announcing that they were to make Boston rather than Providence their terminus thereafter as the facilities offered here were better. A director of the line, accompanied by the agent, came to Boston to confer with the Port Directors and Boston merchants about a Fabre Line service from Marseilles to this port.

The very same day a Fabre Line boat was sent to Boston, took on a few passengers, and sailed. She was in port only a few hours. Publicity was given to the arrival of another new line at Boston and the Providence papers printed the news and entered the discussion.

Editorials were published criticizing the Rhode Island harbor commissioners for driving the Fabre Line out of Providence, for building a new State pier and then losing the prospective tenant, until finally public opinion and pressure became so strong in the matter that the harbor commission was forced to accede to the demands of the steamship company, and the Fabre Line went back to Providence for the next sailing and has not been seen at the port of Boston since.

Competition in North Atlantic Ports

The above shows the competition to which American North Atlantic ports are subjected and how it is taken advantage of by the steamship companies. It results at Boston in a non revenue-producing port development, because of the custom of giving transatlantic steamship lines the free use of piers and water-front terminals costing — either millions of public money directly appropriated, if a public port authority is in control, or millions of public money indirectly appropriated, where there is railroad or private ownership of the piers. In either case, the public eventually bears the burden.

Steamship Line Boston Berths Assignments (1914)

Foreign Passenger Steamship Lines at Boston Harbor

If your ancestors immigrated to America via Boston, here are the wharf that the ships would have docked at circa 1914.

The regular steamship lines serving Boston to and from foreign ports are berthed at Boston Wharfs as follows:

Cunard Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Liverpool
  • Frequency: Weekly (Note 1)
  • Berth: Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Franconia, Laconia, Carpathia, Saxonia, Ivernia, Alaunia, Ultonia

White Star Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Mediterranean Ports
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves (Note 2), Charlestown.
  • Steamship Vessels: Cretic, Canopic
  • Route: Between Boston and Liverpool
  • Frequency: Every three weeks
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves (Note 2), Charlestown.
  • Steamship Vessels: Arabic, Cymric

Leyland Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Liverpool
  • Frequency: Weekly
  • Berth: Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Devonian, Winifredian, Canadian
  • Route: Between Boston and Manchester
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Median, Mephian, Mercian, Iberian, Caledonian, Bostonian

Warren Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Liverpool
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Sachem, Sagamore, Michigan

Wilson's and Furness-Leyland Line

  • Route: Between Boston and London
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves, Charlestown, and Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston, alternately
  • Steamship Vessels: Cestrian, Kingstonian, Cambrian, Anglian, Georgian

Allan

  • Route: Between Boston and Glasgow
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Scandinavian, Hesperian, Scotian, Ionian, Pretorian, Sicilian, Parisian, Numidian

Wilson Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Hull, England
  • Frequency: Every three weeks
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Toronto, Marengo, Galileo, Francisco, Buffalo, Idaho

Clay Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Fowey, England
  • Frequency: Periodically
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Crown Point, North Point, Pennine Range, Avals, Richmond

Red Star Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Antwerp
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Marquette, Menominee, Minitou

Holland-American Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Rotterdam
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Westerdyk, Amsteldyk, Sloterdyk, Zuiderdyk, St. Leonards, Epsom, Cliftonian, Zijldyk, Zaandyk

North German Lloyd

  • Route: Between Boston and Bremen
  • Frequency: Every two to three weeks
  • Berth: Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Cassel, Frankfurt, Koln, Hannover

Hamburg America Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Hamburg
  • Frequency: Three per month (Note 3)
  • Berth: Commonwealth Pier 5, South Boston (direct service)
    Mystic Wharves, Charlestown (indirect service).
  • Steamship Vessels: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pretoria, Blucher, Moltke, Bativia, Bulgaria, Hamburg, Bosnia

Scandinavian-American Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Copenhagen
  • Frequency: Fortnightly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Dania, Louisiana

Russian-American Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Libau
  • Frequency: Monthly
  • Berth: Hoosac Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Berma

Navigazione Generale (Italian Line)

  • Route: Between Boston and Mediterranean Ports
  • Frequency: Monthly
  • Berth: Boston & Albany Wharves, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Napoli, Palermo

American-Indian Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Calcutta, (Note 4)
  • Frequency: Periodically
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Braunfels, Hobenfels, Bloemfontein, Koranna

China-Japan Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Yokohama, (Note 4)
  • Frequency: Periodically
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Indraymayo, Schuylkill, Afghan Prince, Jeseric

Houston Line

  • Route: Between Boston and River Plate, (Note 4)
  • Frequency: Periodically
  • Berth: National Docks, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Herminius, Hesperides, Hilarius

Barber Lines

  • Route: Between Boston and River Plate, (Note 4)
  • Frequency: Periodically
  • Berth: National Docks, East Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Dochra, Istina

Havana Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Havana
  • Frequency: Monthly
  • Berth: Mystic Wharves, Charlestown
  • Steamship Vessels: Sangstad, Trym, Ottar

United Fruit Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Costa Rica and Panama Canal
  • Frequency: Weekly
  • Berth: Long Wharf, Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Tivives, Greenbrier, Esparta, Limon, San Jose, Saramacca, Coppername, Jose
  • Route: Between Boston and Jamaica
  • Frequency: One to two per week
  • Berth: Long Wharf, Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Banan, Lillie, Verona, Belita

Plant Line

  • Route: Between Boston and Halifax, N, S.
  • Frequency: One per week
  • Berth: Commercial Wharf, Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Evangeline, Halifax, A. W. Perry, Aranmore

Eastern Steamship Corporation

  • Route: Between Boston and St. John, N. B., (Note 5)
  • Frequency: Two per week
  • Berth: Central Wharf, Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: Calvin Austin, Governor Dingley, Governor Cobb

Boston & Yarmouth Steamship Company

  • Route: Between Boston and Yarmouth
  • Frequency: Two per week
  • Berth: Central Wharf, Boston
  • Steamship Vessels: North Star, Covernor Cobb, Prince Arthur, Boston

Notes

  1. At present fortnightly; weekly beginning spring, 1914. 4 Do not load out from Boston; inward service only.
  2. At Commonwealth Pier 5, South Boston, beginning spring, 1914. 5 More frequent sailings in the summer.
  3. Service fortnightly now, schedule of three sailings per month begins June, 1914.
  4. Do not load out from Boston; inward service only
  5. More frequent sailings in the summer

Fortnightly: Every Two Weeks (Fourteen Nights)

Quarantine Department at the Port of Boston - Gallops Island (1913)

QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT.
100 Summer Street.
Telephone, Main 6084.
F. X. Mahoney, M.D.
Chairman
P. H. Mullowney, M.D.V.
Commissioner
Location of quarantine, Gallops Island, reached by the quarantine boat, the steamer "Vigilant."
Hours of quarantine, sunrise to sunset
F. X. CRAWFORD, M.D.
Port Physician,
EDWARD M. LOONEY, M.D.
Assistant Port Physician,

The Quarantine Department is under the control of the Health Department of the city of Boston. The Board of Health makes regulations governing quarantine which are enforced by the Port Physician. The Port Physician, Assistant Port Physician, and all other employees on Gallops Island and on the boats necessary to carry into effect the rules, orders and regulations of the Board of Health, are appointed by this department.

The instructions and orders of the national government regarding the quarantine are enforced by the Port Physician through this department. The latter has entire charge and supervision of the quarantine station at Gallops Island where he or his assistant is in attendance continually.

On Gallops Island are located a dwelling house, two hospitalst dining hall, two buildings for the reception and care of immigrants, disinfecting plant, electric light plant, store house, etc. The quarantine steamer "Vigilant," 73} tons burden, about 5 feet in length, 17 feet beams, 8 feet deep, was built in Boston in 1866 at a cost of $18,000; rebuilt in 1912 at a cost of $15,000. The steamer "Relief," which is an auxiliary quarantine boat was purchased in 1904, $3800.

QUARANTINE REGULATIONS AT THE PORT OF BOSTON.

Any vessel arriving at this port, which has on board at the time of her arrival, or has had during her passage to this port, any sickness of a contagious, infectious or doubtful character which may be dangerous to the public health, or which has come from or has been in any port or place which has been epidemically infected with any contagious or infectious disease within the six months next preceding such arrival, or has on board any merchandise which has come by transhipment from any such infected port or place within the six months next preceding, or has on board any immigrants (except from British America) shall be anchored at Quarantine.

Infected persons found on such vessels shall be removed to the hospital on Gallop's Island, and there detained until all power to infect others shall have ceased. Cargoes and personal baggage, which in the opinion of the Port Physician or the Board of Health may be infected, shall be removed to Gallop's Island and there disinfected, when such disinfection cannot be properly done on board the vessel or on lighters.
All immigrants on arrival at Quarantine, shall be subjected to examination, as regards their freedom from contagious or infectious disease and their protection from smallpox.

All persons under ten years of age who have not been successfully vacci- nated, and all persons over ten years of age who have not recently been suc- c ally vaccinated or revaccinated, shall be considered as unprotected from the effect of the contagion of smallpox, persons having had an attack of smallpox excepted.

All persons not so protected shall be vaccinated or subjected to a Quarantine of fifteen days' observation.

All old rap, paper stock, hair, feathers, hides, skins, wool and similar materials which are liable to convey disease germs must be accompanied by satisfactory certificates as to their place of collection and packing for shipment.

No article of clothing or bedding in use shall be thrown overboard from any vessel in Boston Harbor without the written consent of the Board of Health or the Quarantine Physician; nor shall any such article be removed from any vessel at her dock without such permission; all such articles which are to be destroyed shall be burned in the harbor under the supervision of the Quarantine Physician, in the furnaces of the steamers.

No vessel shall leave Quarantine, nor shall her cargo, or any part thereof, be discharged, nor any person be allowed to go on board or to leave her while in Quarantine, without the written permit of the Port Physician, who is hereby authorized and instructed to take such measures with regard to said vessel, cargo, and persons, as, in his judgment, the public health may require.

It is also hereby ordered, that during June, July, August, September, and October of each year, subject to such changes as circumstances may from time to time require, all vessels arriving in this harbor from the following ports shall be inspected at the Quarantine Station, viz.: All vessels from any port in Europe, from the Western Madeira, Canary, or Cape de Verde Islands; from the Mediterranean or Straits thereof, from the west coast of Africa, or around the Cape of Good Hope; from the West India, Bahama, or Bermuda Islands, from any American port south of Savannah, including Mexico? Central and South America; and vessels arriving from any place in the United States or British America, where they may have touched on their way from any foreign port or place above named.

No such vessel shall leave Quarantine or unload her cargo or any part thereof, nor shall any person go on board or leave the vessel while in Quarantine without the written permit of the Port Physician, who is hereby authorized and instructed to take any measures in regard to such vessels as in his judgment the public health may require.

The Port Physician is hereby authorized and instructed to demand and receive the Quarantine fees which are hereby made and established by this Board and which are as follows:

  • For examination of vessels, five dollars.
  • For disinfecting vessels, from ten to fifty dollars.
  • For baths and disinfecting personal clothing and baggage, one dollar for each person.
  • For vaccination, twenty-five cents for each person.
  • For board of patients in hospital ten dollars a week.
  • Such fees to be by the Port Physician paid to the City Collector.

New Steamship Lines at Boston (1912)

Much of the public interest in port development, which culminated in the passage of the $9,000,000 appropriation in 1911, was due to the agitation to make Boston a great passenger port, particularly in the transatlantic trade. It appears that very little consideration was given to the ocean freight business, which was expected to follow as a matter of course.

The apparent theory was that by providing the most up-to date passenger facilities money could buy, much of the transatlantic passenger business of the country, which had been for years going through the port of New York, would be attracted to the port of Boston.

The experience of the Hamburg America Line, the first steamship company to use the new facilities provided by the State, was, however, to the contrary, passenger business being below and freight business above expectations.

The following story of the steamship situation at the port of Boston in July 1914, prior to any interruption on account of the war in Europe, will be of interest when contrasted with the first chapter of the report of the Directors for 1913.

The Cunard Line

The Cunard Line, with a passenger and freight service to and from Boston for over forty years, was in 1913 building the “Aquitania” for their New York-Liverpool service, which boat, together with the “Lusitania” and the “Mauretania,” could well take care of the Cunard Line business at that port. In the fall of 1913, the Cunard Company announced that the “Caronia” and “Carmania” would be transferred from the New York service to Boston, making, with the “Franconia” and “Laconia,” a weekly in place of a fortnightly service to and from this port.

Application was unsuccessfully made to the Port Directors for use of Commonwealth Pier N o. 5, South Boston, to accommodate the improved service. The new sailings started in the spring of 1914 were disarranged in August, when the “Carmania,” “Caronia” and “Laconia” were requisitioned by the British government for war services, forcing the “Franconia” to the New York trade, so that the service at Boston is now entirely a fortnightly freight one, maintained by vessels chartered by the Cunard Line. The boats dock at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal, East Boston.

The White Star Line

The White Star Line, with services fortnightly to Liverpool and every three weeks to the Mediterranean, had been docking at the Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown for years. The piers and sheds used were in very bad condition and the docking accommodations too small and crowded to permit larger boats being put on by this line at the port of Boston.

Accordingly, the White Star Line made application in the fall of 1913 for the use of the east half of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, which was then nearing completion. The Cunard Line also made application, but the Directors of the Port decided in favor of the White Star Line, and entered into a contract whereby that line agreed to place in service at Boston within two years,  large boats of their line of the “Celtic” type (680 feet long), which they never would have been able to put on at Boston had they remained at the Boston & Maine Railroad terminal at Charlestown.

Hamburg America Line

In 1912, the Hamburg America Line had been running a triangular freight service, Hamburg-Boston-Baltimore, for about ten years, and was building the world’s largest ship “Imperator” for its New York service. Negotiations had been started by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company the year before to have this line inaugurate a direct passenger and freight service between Hamburg and Boston.

Meanwhile, the Directors of the Port began arrangements with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company for the release to the State of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, and with the Hamburg America Line for the use of this pier. Both became a matter of contract in the fall of 1912.

The new Boston service of this line was to start in the spring of 1913, at which time the “Imperator,” (900 feet long) was to make her maiden trip in the New York service. The passenger piers at the port of New York were then about 800 feet in length and therefore unable properly to handle a ship of this size.

Petition had been made to the War Department for a 100-foot extension of the pier head line so that extra temporary accommodations might be built, but without avail. The Secretary of War refused to allow further encroachment on the navigable waters of the Hudson River.

The Hamburg American Line having secured the lease of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, 1,200 feet long, where the “Imperator” could be docked and have 300 feet to spare, sent the ranking captain of the ship to this port to look the ground over.

When these facts were brought to the attention of the New York press and it seemed as though the world’s largest ship would enter the Boston service on her maiden voyage rather than New York, public opinion and pressure at that port became so strong and insistent that the War Department finally granted the extension.

The Hamburg America Line being able to secure at New York the desired accommodations, the steamships’ “Cleveland” and “Cincinnati,” supplanted on the New York service by the new “Imperator,” were transferred to Boston, and, likewise, when the yet larger steamship “Vaterland” came to New York in the summer of 1914, the “Amerika” from New York was added to the Boston service.

The Boston boats berth at Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston. The service is at present entirely discontinued, the “Amerika” and “Cincinnati” being tied up at this port on account of the war in Europe.

North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen)

The North German Lloyd and Hamburg America Line agreement regarding the division of passenger business to and from American and German ports expired in the spring of 1913, and temporary agreements were made from time to time until the matter could be more definitely settled. The Hamburg American Line claimed that they were entitled to a better division of the passenger business than under the previous contract on account of the new large ships they had brought out.

The North German Lloyd then invaded the field of the other company by inaugurating a passenger and freight service to Boston in September 1913, and the Hamburg America Line made a like entry at the port of Baltimore, hitherto the exclusive passenger territory of the North German Lloyd Line for German business.

The service to Boston started without any preliminaries, and although the two companies afterward came to an agreement the North German Lloyd to Boston continued sending a boat every three weeks, Bremen-Boston-New Orleans-Bremen, up to August of this year, when the service was interrupted on account of the war in Europe.

The North German Lloyd boats, when coming to Boston, docked at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal in East Boston. Four North German Lloyd steamships are now interned at this port on account of the war in Europe, the “Willehad” and “Wittekind” from Montreal together with the “Koeln” of the Boston service, at Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, and the “Kronprinzessin Cecilie” at the site of Commonwealth Pier No. 1, East Boston (old Eastern Railroad Pier).

The Russain-American Line

The Russian-American Line has come to Boston only twice in recent years, once in October and again in December 1913. The Port Directors became interested in a Russian line to Boston in the spring of 1912. The matter came up again in the summer of 1913 through the foreign representative of one of the Boston railroads, who had interested a director of the Russian-American Line in Boston.

The Port Directors induced the New York agents of the line to come to Boston in October 1913, for a conference, and as a result, a boat was sent to Boston that month and again in December. These two were the only sailings made. The boats docked at the Mystic and Hoosac terminals of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and brought each time only a small number of passengers and a small amount of freight for this port.

The Navigazione Generale Italiana

The Navigazione Generale Italiana Company controlled four of the six Italian steamship lines trading to New York. The six or seven sailings a month from that port often conflicted with one another, making unnecessary duplicating of service and expense, with no additional revenue therefor.

During the winter of 1912-13, the Port Directors tried to interest the Italian lines in Boston again. They had been here for the three years previous to 1912, at which time their boats in service to this port had been requisitioned by the Italian government for war purposes.

The Hamburg America Line, in its contract with the Port Directors, had reserved the right to inaugurate a Mediterranean service from this port. When a prominent member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce while in Europe took up the matter of a resumption of its Boston sailings with the directors of the Italian line, the effort was successful.

The Navigazione Generale Italiana resumed its Boston service in July 1913, continuing the same with four boats during the balance of that year and with four boats during 1914 to date. The service is a valuable addition to our otherwise single direct Mediterranean connection. The boats dock at the Boston & Albany Railroad terminal in East Boston.

Warren Line

The action of the Warren Line to Liverpool in fitting up their Boston vessels during the spring of 1913 to carry passengers as well as freight was due to the many inquiries made of the company from time to time by individuals wishing to sail abroad by this line. The Warren Line vessels dock at the Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad at Charlestown.

The service has not been appreciably disturbed on account of the war, only one of the boats trading to Boston having been requisitioned by the British government. However, the lines of this company running to other ports have been so disturbed that the services have had to be rearranged, and the Boston sailings have been taken by the purely freight boats of the line, most of which are larger than their predecessors.

Allan Line

The improvement in the Boston service of the Allan Line to Glasgow by the addition of the large steamship “Pretorian” in the summer of 1914 was due to the bringing out of the two new boats “Alsatian” and “Calgarian,” In the Montreal-Glasgow trade, which allowed the transfer of the “Pretorian” from Montreal to Boston and the disposal by sale of the old Boston Glasgow boat “Parisian.”

The closing to navigation of the St. Lawrence River in Canada forces the extensive Montreal sailings of this line to St. John, N. B., and to Portland, Me., for the winter, and the requisition of boats for war service by the British government has resulted in changing around the boats of this line so that the Boston service is now maintained by one regular and one chartered vessel, with a sailing once a month instead of fortnightly. This line docks at the Mystic terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown.

Sweden-Norway Line

In October 1912, representatives of the Sweden-Norway Line were in Boston and called at the Port Directors’ offices for information. This company controls the Norway-Mexico-Gulf and the Swedish-America-Mexico lines operating from the Scandinavian Peninsula to Newport News, Galveston, Mexican ports and Cuba.

The company at the time was engaged in constructing new oil-burning boats for its Gulf of Mexico service, and contemplated running the coal-burning boats in a Boston-Philadelphia-Newport News trade from Christiania, Norway, and Gothenburg, Sweden. The plans materialized, and in January 1914, the line started monthly sailings to and from Boston, taking passengers and freight both ways.

The advent of the war in Europe and the interruption of the business of the German lines has so boomed the ocean carrying business of this company that the monthly sailings to and from Boston have been increased to more than one a week, and the regular passenger and freight boats have been augmented by purely freight boats. This line docks at Hoosac terminal of the Boston & Maine Railroad in Charlestown.

The United Fruit Company

The United Fruit Company in November 1913 announced a new weekly service from Boston to Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica, sailings to begin in January 1914. The company was at the time building or bringing out in their New York service the three new boats “Pastores,” “Calmares” and “Tenadores.” This made it possible to transfer the large combination passenger and freight steamships “Sixaola,” “Carrillo” and “Tivives” from New York to Boston, to take the place of the purely freight boats running to this port from the West Indies and Central America.

 In April 1914, the company was forced, on account of lack of business originating at Boston, to change their Jamaica-Panama-Costa Rica service to a Havana-Costa Rica service, and in October, 1914, on account of lack of passenger support at Boston, the new boats were sent back to New York to inaugurate a new service to Santiago, Cuba.

Boston still has the weekly United Fruit service to and from Havana and Costa Rica, but has lost the direct sailings to and from Jamaica and Panama and must again be content with the slower boats carrying freight only. This line docks at Long Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

The effect of the war in Europe and the suspension of the former rigid navigation laws of the United States by Congress have resulted in the abandonment of the British registry by the boats of this line, and they are now all sailing under the American flag.

The Boston-Pacific Line

The Boston-Pacific Line through the Panama Canal to Pacific coast ports is a tribute to the enterprise of an old time Boston shipping concern, John S. Emery & Co., Inc. Two ocean-going steamers built at Fore River, Quincy, and one steamship chartered from the Porto Rico Steamship Company, are maintaining the sailings of the line, giving a distinct service to New England manufacturers and shippers by opening to them the markets of the Pacific coast and of the northwest, from which they have hitherto been almost excluded on account of either a long and costly overland rail haul, or steamship services necessitating many rehandlings and delays.

Request was made to the Port Directors in September 1913, by the promoters of this line to call a meeting of New England manufacturers and shippers to see what tonnage was available from this part of the country to support such a line, if established. A conference of manufacturers, shippers and traffic men was held at the office of the Port Directors, at which was presented a report of a canvass made by the Boston Chamber of Commerce, showing the tonnage of freight that could advantageously be forwarded by the individual shippers to and from New England via this service.

The establishment of the Boston-Pacific line is a concrete example of what the construction of the Panama Canal means to New England, and how it has opened and made available to New England by means of cheap direct water transportation, with the minimum amount of costly rehandling, the markets of the Pacific coast and of the northwest.

This line is an important factor in New England’s prosperity and industrial supremacy, and deserves the united support of this section of the country. Its presence at this port brings other lines to Boston in competition with it, providing additional services of which the New England shipper can take advantage.

The first sailing of the Boston-Pacific Line from Boston was in September 1914, and a regular monthly service to and from Boston and the Pacific coast is now established. The boats dock at the piers of the Terminal Wharf and Railroad Warehouse Company in Charlestown, on the Mystic River.

As a result of the formation in 1913 of the Boston-Pacific Line, the American-Hawaiian Line from Pacific coast ports of the United States extended their services to Boston in December of that year, and ran boats monthly to this port until March, 1914, when the service was discontinued on account of the Mexican revolutions, which interfered with the transshipment of freight via this line across the Tehuantepec Railroad in Mexico.

Until September 1914, the service to Boston was one way only, bringing freight to this port but taking no cargo on the return voyage. With the Panama Canal opened for traffic, and the Boston-Pacific Line thoroughly established, a regular " schedule of monthly sailings, carrying freight both in and out of Boston, was inaugurated.

This company gains no particular advantage in coming to Boston, but the New England manufacturers and shippers gain a decided advantage by means of the lower inland railroad rate to and from Boston and New  England points, and also by the direct and expeditious delivery of their goods with the minimum amount of handling and rehandling. The boats of this company dock at Pier No. 4, New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, in South Boston. They have announced three sailings a month for 1915.

This line, with the Boston-Pacific, is Boston’s contribution to the Panama Canal trade, offering Massachusetts and New England manufacturers and shippers four boats a month at least to and from the markets of the Pacific coast and the northwest.

Savannah Line

The improvement in the Savannah Line service to and from Boston in September, 1913, by the addition of the 5,000 ton steamship “City of Atlanta” was due to the coming out in 1912 of the new steamer “St. Louis” of this line in the New York-Savannah service, forcing the “City of Atlanta” to lay up at New York in reserve.

A change of policy in the company in 1913 to abandon holding an emergency ship in reserve at New York released the “City of Atlanta” and made her available for the Boston-Savannah service, in which she was placed in September of that year. The two boats running in the Boston trade were transferred to the New York-Galveston Line, and afterwards requisitioned by the United States government to carry troops to Mexico.

The steamers “Nacoochee” and “City of Atlanta” give Boston two sailings a week to and from Savannah, Ga., carrying both passengers and freight. The boats dock at Lewis Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

Clyde Line

Another line to increase its sailings at the port of Boston in 1913 was the Clyde Line to Charleston, S. C., and Jacksonville, Fla., which in November of that year inaugurated biweekly in place of weekly sailings.

This was due to the natural increase of business to and from this port, to the heavy movement of potatoes from State of Maine points southbound via Boston, and to a very good business in lumber and cotton northbound that year.

The improved service lasted until the spring of 1914, when it was reduced to one boat a week on account of the falling off of the southbound food-potato business from Maine, because the "New Steamship Lines at Boston,"  northbound business was greatly affected by the poor market for lumber, and finally to the war in Europe, which greatly injured the movement of cotton from the south, much of which, particularly from the southeast, comes to Boston via the coast-wise steamship lines for export to Europe.

This line is now maintaining a weekly service to and from this port. The boats dock at Lewis Wharf, Atlantic Avenue. The Plant Line to and from Boston and the Canadian provinces, in the natural growth and extension of its business, brought out from Scotland in 1912 the new 5,000 ton steamship “Evangeline,” and chartered her for the winter of 1912-13 for southern service, using her for the regular Boston-Halifax sailings in the summer of 1913.

The same procedure was followed through the winter of 1913-14 and the summer of 1914. The Company maintains one sailing a week during the winter, with more frequent sailings in the summer. The boats dock at Commercial Wharf, Atlantic Avenue.

The Result of New Service

It has been felt necessary to publish the above information, giving the facts in each case, in order to point out the real causes and conditions governing the improved and new services at Boston, calling particular attention to the intense competition among American North Atlantic ports, and the strategy of the transatlantic steamship companies in taking advantage of the same.

A particularly flagrant instance of the playing of ports one against the other by the steamship companies in order to force concessions to be given them is that of the Fabre Line in 1913.

This line had been running a service to Providence, RI for some few years, and was negotiating with the Rhode Island State Harbor Commission for accommodations at a new State pier being built at Providence. The steamship company wanted certain concessions in connection with the use of this pier which the State harbor commission did not feel like granting.

Fabre Line

So, in October, 1913, the Fabre Line sent one of their Providence boats into the port of Boston, announcing that they were to make Boston rather than Providence their terminus thereafter as the facilities offered here were better. A director of the line, accompanied by the agent, came to Boston to confer with the Port Directors and Boston merchants about a Fabre Line service from Marseilles to this port.

The very same day a Fabre Line boat was sent to Boston, took on a few passengers, and sailed. She was in port only a few hours. Publicity was given to the arrival of another new line at Boston and the Providence papers printed the news and entered the discussion.

Editorials were published criticizing the Rhode Island harbor commissioners for driving the Fabre Line out of Providence, for building a new State pier and then losing the prospective tenant. Finally, public opinion and pressure became so strong in the matter that the harbor commission was forced to accede to the demands of the steamship company, and the Fabre Line went back to Providence for the next sailing and has not been seen at the port of Boston since.

Conclusion

The above shows the competition to which American North Atlantic ports are subjected and how it is taken advantage of by the steamship companies. It results at Boston in a non-revenue-producing port development, because of the custom of giving transatlantic steamship lines the free use of piers and waterfront terminals costing millions, — either millions of public money directly appropriated, if a public port authority is in control, or millions of public money indirectly appropriated, where there is railroad or private ownership of the piers. In either case, the public eventually bears the burden.  

Map of Boston Harbor, 1899

Map of Boston Harbor, 1899. GGA Image ID # 147b34a5ad

 

 

Sailing Schedules

 

White Star Line American and Colonial Services. Proposed Sailings from 22 August 1905 to 28 October 1905.

White Star Line American and Colonial Services. Proposed Sailings from 22 August 1905 to 28 October 1905. Ships Include the Arabic, Baltic, Canopic, Cedric, Celtic, Cretic, Cymric, Majestic, Oceanic, Republic, Romanic, and Teutonic. MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE—The "Arabic" sails from New York on Feb. 8th, 1906, for an extended Cruise to the Mediterranean under charter to Mr. F. C. Clark and will call at Madeira, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Algiers, Malta, Athens (Phaleron Bay), Constantinople, Smyrna. Haifa, Jaffa, Alexandria, Naples, and Villefranche, returning thence via Liverpool to New York, particulars on application to any of the Company's offices. RMS Majestic Passenger List, 30 August 1905. GGA Image ID # 1dd41e606f

 

White Star Line Mediterranean Service from 6 July 1905 to 16 April 1906.

White Star Line Mediterranean Service from 6 July 1905 to 16 April 1906. Ships Include the Canopic, Celtic, Cretic, Republic, and Romanic. Ports Include New York, Boston, Azores, Gibraltar, Algiers, Naples, Genoa, and Alexandria. Will Call at Palermo and Almeria on some voyages. RMS Majestic Passenger List, 30 August 1905. GGA Image ID # 1dd4405a37. Click to View Larger Image.

 

White Star Line Mediterranean Service Proposed Sailings from 29 August 1922 to 13 April 1923.

White Star Line Mediterranean Service Proposed Sailings from 29 August 1922 to 13 April 1923. Ships Included the Adriatic, Arabic, Cretic, and Lapland. Ports Included New York, Boston, Azores, Madeira, Gibraltar, Algiers, Monaco, Naples, Genoa, Alexandria, Haifa, Athens (Phaleron Bay), and Nice. RMS Majestic Passenger List, 6 September 1922. GGA Image ID # 1dd525881f. Click to View Larger Image.

 

Bibliography

"III: PORT OF BOSTON, MASS.," American Port Equipment and Service, A Series of Articles demonstrating what our Leading Ports have to offer in the way of Shipping, Shipbuilding, Ship Repair and Dry Docking Facilities, in American Shipping, New York: Shipping Publishing Co., Inc., Vol. XVII, No. 5, May 1923, p. 25-26.

Edwin J. Clapp, Commonwealth Pier as a Joint Passenger Terminal at the Port of Boston, ChapterXVII, The Port of Boston: A Study and A Solution of the Traffic and Operating Problems of Boston, and its Place in the Competition of the North Atlantic Seaports by Edwin J. Clapp, Professor of Economics, New York University, Published by the Yale University Press, © 1916. Pages 297-308

"New Steamship Lines at Boston," in Public Document No. 94, Report of the Directors of the Port of Boston, Year Ending 30 November 1914.

"Steamship Line Boston Berths Assignments," in Public Document No. 94, Report of Directors of the Port of Boston 1913, Year Ending November 30, 1913, Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, Boston. © 1914, Apendix, Page 85.

Quarantine Department at the Port of Boston - Gallops Island, Report for 1913.

“New Steamship Lines at Boston,” in the Report of the Directors of the Port of Boston, December 6 to December 31, 1911, Public Document No. 94, Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co. (1912), P.  72-82

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