After the outbreak of the World War in 1914 shipping service to South America was of course anything but normal. The price of charters advanced as much as 1,000 per cent, and ships were often not to be had at any price that would justify the dispatch of cargo. Any description of shipping conditions during the war would give little indication of the ordinary state of ocean transportation. The following account will, therefore, be confined to a review of the service offered immediately before the beginning of the war, although most of the lines mentioned have maintained a more or less in terrupted service during its continuance.
European shipping, carrying mostly food stuffs, hides and skins, and similar commodities to Europe, has been much more in evidence in the ports of Brazil and the river Plata than on the west and north coasts and scores of vessels, some of them registering as high as 20,000 tons, have come and gone at all seasons of the year. The port of Buenos Aires saw its business grow so rapidly that elaborate con struction of docks was hardly sufficient by the time it was completed to take care of the grow ing traffic. In 1913 a total of 700 passenger carrying vessels entered• the port from over seas, bringing 316,000 passengers. Many of the large liners that reached Buenos Aires put in also at Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo, and these also were busy ports. Liners flying the flags of European countries, together with the ships of one Brazilian line, afforded most of the regular communication between the east coast and New York, and the American flag, carried only by an occasional sailing vessel or tank steamer or the monthly vessels of one American line to Brazil, was counted a rarity along the east coast.
England has enjoyed the bulk of South American trade and English lines have been more numerous than any other. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was perhaps the most prominent of these. It maintained a weekly service, its modern steamers of 15,000 tons and more making the voyage from Liver pool to Buenos Aires in 18 days regularly, and on occasion covering the distance from Cadiz, Spain, to Rio de Janeiro in 11 days. The Lam port and Holt Line had passenger and freight steamers running to the river Plata both from New York and from English ports, and steam ers of the Booth Line plied regularly between England and North Brazil and Amazon ports, and between New York and these ports. Other
lines offering service the east coast of South America and England were the Harri son Line, the Houston Line, the London and Northern Steamship Company, Ltd., the Blue Star Line, the British and Argentine Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., the Nautilus Steam Shipping Company, Ltd., the Nelson Line, the Prince Line and a line operated by the New Zealand Shipping Company, Ltd., and Shaw, Savill and Albim Company, Ltd. All these sent their ships to the river and the Royal Mail, in addition, had regular boats to Venezuela and to Panama, offering service, through transshipment, to the west coast. Direct service to the west coast was maintained by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, a subsidiary of the Royal Mail. The fastest of the river Plata steamers made Lisbon in about 14 days and Southampton in 17 days from Buenos Aires, and the first-class fare ranged from $110 to $160.
Next to the English the ships of the Ital ian lines were most numerous in traffic to the east coast. This was due to the large move ment of Italian immigrants into Argentina and Brazil, many of them going over for the har vests and returning to Italy to spend the rest of the year at home. Those who settled per manently brought their tastes with them and the demand for Italian articles built a trade of considerable proportions. The following lines maintained a service consisting mostly of monthly sailings each way between Italian ports, usually gienoa and Naples, and the river Plata: Italia Line, La Veloce, Italian Lloyd, Lloyd del Pacifico, Lloyd Sabaudo, Navigazione Gen erale Italiana, Ligure Braziliana and Sicula Americana. The German flag was carried by the large vessels of the Hamburg-South Amer ican and the North German Lloyd to Brazilian and Argentine ports, and by the Roland Line to west coast ports. The first-named line maintained a weekly service to European ports, including Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton, Bou logne and Hamburg, calling at Rio de Janeiro on the way and covering the distance between the river Plata and Lisbon in about 16 days. The first-class passenger fare to Europe was about $160. Regular liners were also to be seen in the river Plata in weekly, fortnightly of monthly service from France. Denmark, Hol land, Spain, Belgium and Sweden, and even the interior countries of Russia and Austria Hungary found it desirable to maintain a regu lar service through their own national lines.