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to the shipping board for commer- cial purposes and is being operated under lease by the Boston Tidewater Terminal, Inc. Commonwealth pier, constructed by the commonwealth of Massachu- setts at a cost of approximately $4,- “400,000, is equipped with most mod- ern cargo handling devices, many of them electrically operated; the tracks are counter sunk putting the car floors on the level with the pier. The upper stories are designed especially for the accommodation of overseas passenger traffic. On the occasion of a recent inspection, this pier was pronounced by Commodore Herbert G. Hartley, formerly com- modore of the United States lines fleet, to be the finest overseas pier in the world. Passengers for Buffalo and points west arriving in steamers at Boston are landed at Commonwealth pier, a short distance from the South Sta- tion where through trains leave al- most hourly over the Boston & AIl- bany for the West. The Boston & Maine also maintains an excellent through passenger service from the North Station, Size of Vessel Increasing The type of vessels serving New England’s commerce through the port of Boston has changed very no- ticeably in the last quarter of a cen- tury. The size is steadily increasing and the sailing craft that formerly filled the harbor have practically dis- appeared, Only a few years ago, it was not unusual to see the inner har- bor fairly dotted with schooners, some of them with five or six masts, and with a cargo capacity of about 2000 tons. These sailing vessels en- gaged very largely in the coal carry- ing trade between Hampton roads and other Atlantic ports, have been superseded by steamers of 8000 tons or more capacity, which make the round voyage in a week or less, and while not making as picturesque a display as the schooners, actually transport in a given time an infinite- ly greater volume of cargo. It is a far cry from the famous clipper ship days when a voyage from Boston and the other New England ports to the Orient consumed many months and sometimes years, to the semi-monthly round-the-world serv- ice of the Dollar line, whose steam- ers circle the globe in three months. This service, which has been main- tained at Boston in recent years, is performed with almost the regularity of a railroad schedule. It affords a striking example of the advance that has been made in commercial steam- ship services, There are few foreign countries from which steamers do not ply directly to Boston and to which, either directly or indirectly, regular steamship services are not maintained from this port. The list includes Africa, Asia, Australia and 20 New Zealand, Azores, Baltic, Ceylon, Dutch East Indies, Europe, India Levant, Mediterranean, South Amer- ica, West Indies, Bermuda, Central America and Mexico. Value of Imports High It is not uncommon to observe steamers of a dozen different nation- alities at the Boston piers discharg- ing products from practically every country in the world. Cargoes brought by these steamers consist chiefly of raw materials for New England manufacturing industries. Boston is generally regarded abroad as one of the best ports on the At- lantic seaboard in respect to volume and character of westbound or im- port cargo, and, for this reason it normally ranks second only to New York in the value of its foreign im- ports, Some of the more important new commodities bringing steamers to this port in recent years are ore in full cargo lots from Spain and Algiers, molasses from the Argen- tine, coal from Soviet Russia, palm oil from Africa and cocoanut oil from the Far East, the last mentioned two commodities being used in large quantities by local industries in the manufacture of soap. Boston has the distinction of be- ing the first port in the United States from which steam vessels sailed to Great Britain, and for eight years was the only such terminal. Since Samuel Cunard brought the Brr- TANNIA, Of 2050 tons to Boston in 1840, the world’s largest steamers, such as the MAgerstic 56,000 tons, and the LrvIATHAN 59,000 tons, have en- tered the port. The modern passenger steamers now operated regularly in the Bos- ton service by the Cunard, Anchor, White Star, Furness Withy and other overseas lines, have a gross tonnage ranging from 16,000 to 28,000 tons, and frequently have a draft as great as 32 feet. Recently the foreign passenger service of the port has been aug- mented by the addition of steamers of the North German Lloyd and Hamburg-American lines to Treland and Germany; the Fabre and Co- sulich lines to the Azores and Mediterranean ports: the Greek line to Greece; the Gdynia America line to Poland, and the Canadian Na- tional steamships to Bermuda and British West Indies. Boston has the advantage of su- perior coastwise services to all of tho principal coastwise ports, St. Johns, N. F., to Jacksonville inclusive. Some of the steamers in the coastwise and provincial trades are among the finest in the world, and are the last word in luxury of appointment and general attractiveness. Two mag- nificent steamers, the ACADIA and Saint JOHN, equipped with all of the luxuries of modern up-to-date hotels, were recently placed in commission MARINE REVIEwW—May, 1934 and are notable additions to the coastwise trade of the Eastern Steam- ship Lines, Inc. Since 1914 when the Panama canal was opened and direct steamship services between North Atlantic ports and Pacific coast ports through the Panama canal was inaugurated, Boston’s intercoastal business has grown by leaps and bounds, and in actual value to New England’s in- dustries it now equals, if not sur- passes, the foreign commerce of the port, At present this service is main- tained by the American Hawaiian Steamship Co., the lLuckenbach Steamship Co., the Dollar Steamship line, the Isthmian, Quaker and Shepard lines, and the outbound sail- ings from Boston average nearly a score each month, The steamers in this service are first class, staunch and dependable. The character of the service and the rates charged therefor are such as to constitute one of the most valuable contribu- tions from a transportation stand- point that has been made available to New England industries in recent years, According to the latest available war department report, the total waterborne tonnage for the year 1932 amounted to 14,012,172 short tons, valued at $437,499,622. It will thus be seen that the steamship services maintained by the _ lines serving this port have been a very important factor in the commercial and industrial welfare of all New England, Waterborne commerce is greater now than at any time in the port’s history. Boston ranks second only to New York among United States ports in total volume of waterborne commerce, This is verified by offi- cial reports of the chief of engineers, war department, and the United States shipping board, Likewise, the improvement and expansion of the facilities of the port since the war have made pos- sible the handling of a much greater volume of waterborne tratfic, with less harbor congestion and activity than prevailed when vessels of less tonnage were employed and _ prac- tically the entire commerce of the port was restricted to the inner harbor and at railroad controlled terminals, The following table shows the growth in recent years of the com- merce of the harbor tributaries: Comparative Statement of Traffic (Short Tons) 1920 19382 Increase Chelsea Creek .. 931,149 1,463,088 531,939 Mystic River .... 1,187,565 2,744,987 1,557,372 River. cca: 1,157,230 2,095,282 938,052 Little Mysti RVers ccs *175,150 241,386 66,236 Weymouth Fore Riveru cen 129,466 1,949,091 1,819,625 (Continued on Page 36)