COMMERCIAL SHIPPING

Although Bermudians have spanned the world’s oceans in search of trade since the early days of the, colony, it was not until 1807 that vessels of any type made scheduled calls at the Island. In that year, to meet the demands of the naval commander-in-chief for a mail service to carry his despatches while he was wintering at Bermuda, the British post office packets were ordered to call in on their way from Falmouth, England to New York during the four winter months.

During the War of 1812, the need for regular communication between the naval bases at Halifax and Bermuda led to the establishment of a monthly mail service between the two ports, using brigs or sloops of the squadron. These carried passengers and supplies on occasion. In 1827, the packet route was changed to include Bermuda as the turn-around point, with calls at Halifax both outbound and inbound. This continued until June 1833, when the packets terminated at Halifax, and Samual Cunard was given a contract by the British Admiralty to provide a monthly mailboat service between Halifax and Bermuda. In one form or another, the Cunard Halifax-Bermuda contract continued until July 1886. Steam vessels replaced sail in 1848 and the route was extended to St. Thomas, V.I. in 1854.

In November 1850, Cunard introduced a steam packet service from New York to St. Thomas, with a call at Bermuda both ways. This service was not a commercial success and was cancelled in May 1854, and the Halifax-Bermuda service extended in its stead. This route was followed until January 1880, when a number of West Indian islands replaced St. Thomas as ports of call, until the contract was cancelled in ]uly 1886. Two years later, the Cunard vessels Alpha and Beta, which had been operating on the Halifax-Bermuda -West Indies run, were sold to Pickford & Black of Halifax. The

The Cunard contract steamer Delta being escorted
through the reefs by the steam tug Clover 1872.
(Courtesy St. George’s Historical Society)

Alpha was used to provide a monthly Halifax-Bermuda-Turks Island service, until replaced by a refitted Beta in 1897. In 1889, Pickford & Black introduced a second service from St. John, New Brunswick and Halifax, via Bermuda and the Windward Islands, to Demerara with the Tayworth castle and the Duart Castle. They withdrew from this route in 1913, when the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. signed a contract with the Canadian Government to operate the service, using the Cobequid, Caraquet, Chignecto and Chaleur. The Cobequid was wrecked on her first voyage and the Caraquet was lost on the Bermuda reefs in 1923. In June 1922, the Canadian Government Merchant Marine, a government-financed company, inaugurated a Montreal-Bermuda-West Indies service, with Halifax replacing Montreal during the winter months, using the Canadian Fisher and the Canadian Forester.

As the result of a trade agreement signed between the Canadian Government and a number of the British West Indies administrations in 1925, the Canadian Government undertook to provide the necessary shipping links to carry the trade and took over the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. route

Quebec & Golf Ports Steamship Co. S.S. Canima. (L Webb)

the following year. In 1927, the Canadian National Steamships was established by act of parliament to consolidate the two former services. Five new "Lady" boats were constructed and the Lady Nelson called at Bermuda on her maiden voyage in December 1928. During World War II, all were requisitioned for war service and three were torpedoed and sunk. The Lady Nelson and the Lady Rodney returned to the old routes in the summer of 1947 and continued until the end of 1952, when the service was discontinued and the ships sold.

Bermuda was without a steamer link to the United States following the withdrawal of Cunard from the New York-Bermuda run in 1854 for 14 years. By then, the need for regular communication was pressing and the Colonial Government chartered a ship for this service. The first contract steamer was the Fah-Kee, which made her first trip in September 1868. For the next eight years, contracts were negotiated for a succession of steamers, until an agreement was entered into with the Quebec & Gulf Ports Steamship Co., and the Canima took over the route in January 1874. This company retained its contract until World War I providing larger and improved ships as the years passed. Their last steamer, the Bermudian, was withdrawn to serve as a troopship.

Model of the Furness Bermuda Line
Q.T.E.V. Queen of Bermuda. (L. Webb)

In December 1909, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. placed the Orotava on the New York-Bermuda run to augment the contract steamer and continued to ply the route until 1931, when the American Munson Line operated ships for a few years.

Following World War I, in 1919, the Furness Bermuda Line was awarded the New York-Bermuda contract and began the service with the Fort Victoria and the Fort Hamilton; the latter being the former Bermudian of the Quebec Steamship Line. Thus began the service long to be remembered by Bermudians, which, at its peak before World War II, had the Monarch of Bermuda and the Queen of Bermuda, two of the world’s luxury liners, docking at Hamilton each week. During the war, the Monarch served as a troopship, while the Queen was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. The Monarch was sold after the war and the Queen, with a new smaller companion, the Ocean Monarch, returned to the New York-Bermuda run and fought a losing battle against air travel until 1966, when they were withdrawn from service and the Queen scrapped.

Binnacle from open bridge of Q.T.E.V.
Queen of Bermuda. (L. Webb)

Since that time, a number of shipping lines have operated weekly cruises from New York and other North American ports for 7-8 months of the year, while freighters of all sizes supply most of the Island’s needs from all parts of the world.