Seafarers Under Steam: "Each Task Has Its Man, and Each Man His Place"
The Victorian era saw a revolution in merchant shipping. Unaffected by changes in weather and wind, the steam engine guaranteed the supremacy of steam over sail. At the turn of the century, the seas were dominated by the huge iron and steel steamships and liners carrying hundreds of people across thousands of miles of open ocean. The advent of steam drastically changed the role of seafarers in the operation of deep sea merchant vessels. It created new occupations. Some contemporaries suggested that seafarers were now part of a machine, a "living appendage" to technology (Sager, 247). In 1871, seamen on foreign going ships outnumbered engine room and stokehold men by two to one. By 1911, seamen were outnumbered by firemen and trimmers (Burton: 1985, 314).
Beginning in the 1830s, the transition to steam reduced the work done by seamen (250). The Able Bodied Seaman's watch-keeping routine had similarities across different ship-types, but most steam vessels carried sails only as auxiliary power, and the handling of sails was significantly reduced. In undermanned vessels, Able Seamen could be found in the stokehold firing and trimming (Committee on Manning, 452). By the end of the First World War, seamen comprised only one-tenth of merchant seafarers. If seamen were not to be deskilled as a result of the steam revolution they would have to lay claim to new ones in vessels which progressively dispensed with sails.
Specialists comprised roughly half of the crews of Atlantic Canadian steam vessels, according to historian, Eric Sager (Sager, 247). During the late-19th and early 20th century, the Bowring Brothers' steamer Florizel was primarily used as a passenger liner, although it was seasonally modified for the seal hunt. The ship's crew would alter depending on which of these functions it assumed. Like all Bowring vessels, the interior was luxurious, complete with first-class accommodations for 145 passengers and second-class accommodations for 36. According to a 1909 Crew Agreement, when the vessel travelled from Glasgow to St. John's, the crew consisted of 26 men. Deck seamen comprised only a quarter of the crew, but the men of the engine room accounted for more than half (ON 127957, 1909, MHA).
What types of specialized occupations were created with the advent of steam? As licensed mechanics, certified by the Board of Trade, the Chief Engineers oversaw the engine department and were responsible for its operation and maintenance. Chief Engineers sometimes earned as much as the master of a sailing vessel. Many had first class engineers' certificates long before they served in this capacity. For the larger, foreign going steamers, the engineers were likely to have come from related shore-based mechanical trades (McMurray 1980, 41). Then there were the laborers toiling away in the depths of the stokehold. Firemen maintained the fires which supplied steam to the engine room. Each fireman supervised several fires, working four hours on and eight hours off. High wages attracted the best men: firemen might earn £3 15s. to £4 per month in 1871, £5 15s. to £6 in 1913 and £12 10s. in 1921. Firemen were assisted by coal trimmers who loaded the coal into the furnace. For them, the coal bunker could be a deadly place. At the outset of a voyage, coal was piled up as far as the entranceway to the bunkers. As more and more coal was used, trimmers were forced to dig deeper into the unventilated bunker. Over the long term they, rather than seamen, were vulnerable to respiratory disorders. Firemen were susceptible to more acute injuries such as burns from steam and heat asphyxiation. Because of the physical demands of the job, few men working in the stokehold were under the age of twenty-one or over the age of forty-forty (Sager 1989, 137).
As steam came to prominence in the 1860s, the skills of sailors became less needed. But many steam-powered ocean liners still carried auxiliary sails, and companies continued to employ a significant number of deckhands. Often experienced sailors found stability on steamers. The regular schedule allowed them to have a home and family on shore.
The Board of Trade's select committee, convened in 1886 to inquire into the manning of British merchant ships, interviewed dozens of seamen, including men of the stokehold. The commissioners indicated a reticence amongst engineering and deck officers to testify lest their career prospects be prejudiced by evidence which showed companies to have under-manned vessels (Committee on Manning 1896, 6). Even without this testimony the committee reported a tendency to underman, particularly in tramp vessels. In 1883, 31-year-old fireman Peter Cregan joined the Glenochil, a tramp steamer of 1,582 net tons, which made regular runs between England and South America. Of the fifteen-man engine room crew, nine were firemen. During the voyage, in Cregan's words, "they took two away" (Committee on Manning 1896, 69). Generally, firemen and coal trimmers earned higher wages than seamen. Seamen sometimes worked with crews below deck, hauling ash and shoveling coal, for example.
