COASTING TRADE. The commerce carried on by sea between the different ports of the same country. In Great Britain, 'coastwise' is de fined to mean 'from any one part of the United Kingdom to any other part thereof.' Vessels en gaged in this commerce are subject to different rates and regulations from over-sea traders, and the masters must keep their books showing that their cargoes come strictly within the definition of coasting trade. Formerly, no goods or passengers were allowed to be carried from one port of the United Kingdom to another except in British ves sels; but this restriction was repealed in 1854, and the coasting trade in Great Britain is now open to all the world, though the share of foreign nations is inconsiderable. This is seen in the fact that in 1S9S the shipping cleared from British ports to other British ports amounted to 30.504, 091 tons, but of this only 134.551 was foreign shipping.
Owing to the length of coast, this trade in the United States is far more extensive than in any other country. Of the forty-nine States and Territories (exclusive of Alaska), eighteen border on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and three border on the Pacific Ocean, to which may be added the enormous coast-line of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rieo. The extensive commerce of the Great Lakes is also included in the coasting trade. In the time of the early settlements such trading was done in small shallops, sloops, and schooners, and there was very little of it. This trade is re stricted to American vessels, and with the growth of the country in population the trade has grown enormously. At the present time many hundreds
of steamers and many more hundreds of sailing craft are constantly plying from Maine to Texas, transferring the cotton, sugar, and rice of the South to Northern, and the lumber, grain, and manufactured goods of the North to Southern markets. The swift propeller brings the oranges and strawberries of Florida to Maine, and takes back the ice of the Penobscot. In summer these coasting steamers do a large share of the pas senger as well as trade traffic. The thoroughness of the coast survey, and the introduction of the weather service whereby mariners are duly fore warned of danger, have done much to prevent the disasters which were common not long ago, and even the dreaded Cape Hatteras bas lost much of its terror. There are no records of the volume of business which is done in the coasting trade, but the fact that the licensed tonnage in the coasting trade and fisheries grew from 3,160,917 tons in 1860 to 4,338.145 in 1900, coupled with the fact that the tonnage of steam vessels increased from 770,641 tons in 1860 to 2,289,825 tons in 1900, attests its growth. Moreover, the fact that 816,795 tons of American shipping registered in 1900 in the foreign trade were represented by 4,006,314 tons in the statistics of tonnage cleared, gives us by way of comparison some idea of the enormous business which must be done in the coasting trade. The reports of the United States Commission of Navigation contain a wealth of material relating to all shipping questions.